by Tim Miller
The girls all looked at each other as a knot instantly tightened up in Regina’s stomach. She knew where this was going.
“The Reverend said you ladies are witches. Is that true?”
“That old fucktard broke into our house!” Summer chimed in. “That’s why we were gonna call you earlier. He went through our stuff! That’s why he’s saying that.”
“You ladies have any proof he was in your house?”
“We came home and he was in his car right outside driving away. When we came inside the door was standing open.”
“But did any of you see him coming out of your house or forcing entry?”
“No, but—“
“So you have no proof. I can’t just go and shake down a pillar of the community here because a couple of newcomers, and witches no less said he broke into their house.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Summer yelled, but Angela pulled her back.
“Look,” Angela said. “I’m sorry for this boy who was killed. It is absolutely horrible. And to be honest, terrifying there is someone in this town who could have done this. But our religious views or practices are no one’s business.”
“Well I beg to differ. If you’re breaking the law in the practice of your religion, then it becomes my business. Reverend Bannerman said when he stopped by earlier, you were in the back yard sacrificing a puppy. Is that true?”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Summer said from behind them. Summer’s parents kicked her out when they found out she was a witch and no one in her family had spoken to her since. So she was a bit more sensitive when people wanted to give them shit.
“No officer. We were not sacrificing a puppy. We do not sacrifice animals,” Regina said. “We also don’t have big noses and fly around on brooms.”
“Ok, no need to get rude. I have a well-respected minister and expert on the occult who says he’s sure this murder was committed by a Satanist. Just before this murder, a group of witches shows up in my town. So you tell me, what am I supposed to think?” Barry said.
“We don’t worship Satan. We don’t even believe in Satan or The Devil,” Angele said. “Those are myths.”
“Well, that’s not what the Reverend said. Here’s what I need. Where were you ladies last night?”
“We were here.”
“All of you?”
“Yes, all of us. We just got moved in; we were unpacking and resting.”
“Did anyone else see you? Say after nine o’clock?” he asked.
“No. I mean we were all together,” Angela said.
“So no one can vouch for you. Mind if I have a look around?”
“Yes we mind. Go and get a warrant,” Summer said.
“I could, that wouldn’t take me long. The judge lives across the street from me. Then I’ll come back with a tactical team and we will turn this place inside out. Or you can let me have a look.”
“Go ahead,” Angela said as they each stepped aside. The Chief walked through the house including upstairs. They heard him shuffling around for several minutes as the girls looked at the two deputies. One of them had a buzz cut while the other had thick, brown hair. The one with the buzz cut kept glaring at them.
“You better not be putting no hex on us,” he said.
“Don’t worry,” Regina said.
He dug into his shirt and pulled out a crucifix pendant he was wearing and let it hang outside his shirt. Regina tried not to roll her eyes, but it was hard. After several minutes, Barry came down stairs and walked through the back door into the yard. Finally he came back inside.
“So find any animal sacrifices? Dead puppies?” Summer asked.
“No I didn’t. Doesn’t mean you couldn’t have disposed of it already. I’ll leave you all be for now. But don’t leave town. We may need to speak with you again,” he said as he left. His officers followed behind him. Once he was gone the girls looked at each other. Summer was fuming and Angela was visibly upset.
“So now what?” Regina asked.
“I’m gonna fuck up that preacher,” Summer said.
“No you’re not,” Angela said.
“So much for the protection spell,” Regina said.
“We may have to try something stronger. Maybe we can see who actually killed this boy if the spirits will tell us.”
“You think it was really Satanists or whatever?” Regina asked.
“Without seeing the sight, it’s hard to say,” Angela said. “It might be someone who wants to be, or thinks they are. Either way, we need to find out who it is before this town decides to lynch us.”
Chapter 7
Zachary was pleased when he woke up and saw he was all over the news. Well he himself wasn’t, but his sacrifice attempt had made it. Though it didn’t end up the way he was hoping. He’d gone back to the books, or more like the internet to find out why the spirits weren’t pleased with his offering. He would have to try something else soon.
He got dressed and headed into work. This was what he dreaded the most. In his daily life he was nothing, no one. He was a stocker at the grocery store. Because of his height he was good at getting things easily to the top shelves. But his mind wasn’t in it; hadn’t been in ages.
When he arrived, he headed to the back and clocked in.
“Hey Zack,” Shelly said as she walked by. She was one of the cashiers who had a crush on him for as long as he’d worked there. He wasn’t at all attracted to her though he wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t that she was ugly or even unattractive; it was just something about her. In his twenty-seven years, he’d never had a girlfriend. There’d been a few dates and some one night stands, but nothing ever stuck.
He hadn’t always been a big guy. In grade and junior high school, he was always a skinny, lanky kid. Other kids picked on him with great frequency, even though he often kept to himself, or at least tried to. It wasn’t until his junior year of high school when he began to fill out. By the time he was twenty, he towered over most people and had become quite muscular from lifting boxes and pallets all day.
“Hey Shelly, how’s it going?” Zachary said
“Oh, pretty good. Looks like we got the same shift today. What’re you doing afterwards?”
“Oh. I got some stuff to do at home.”
“You always have stuff to do. What do you always do? You look so tired. You out partying without me?” she said as she giggled.
“Naw. Nothing like that. I just have some projects I been working on and stuff.”
“I’d like to check it out sometime.”
“Well, I don’t know.”
“Oh come on, I don’t bite. Unless you want me to. Hehe.”
Her giggle was annoying, but an idea came to him.
“You know, you’re right. Maybe we could hang out for a bit. I can show you my project.”
Her eyes lit up.
“Really?”
“Sure. I’ll talk to you when we get off,” he said as he headed to the back.
The work day was pretty uneventful. His boss yelled at him a few times like he always does for various levels of stupidity. One was when he unloaded the wrong truck first. Apparently the fruit truck had arrived before the one carrying canned goods, but he started on the canned goods first.
“Jesus, Zach. Is this that fucking hard?” his manager, Tom yelled. “You have probably the simplest job here.”
“Sorry. I just thought...”
“Yeah, do me a favor. Don’t think! Now get over there and unload the fruit before the shit spoils. The only reason I haven’t fired you ages ago is your perfect attendance.”
Zachary hung his head and pulled his cart to the fruit truck. Though he was thinking of how once the spirits accepted his sacrifice just how powerful he’d be. Tom would be one of the first to go. In the years Zachary had worked for him, the man had verbally abused him on a regular basis. Once he got his powers, he’d make the asshole spontaneously combust, if he was able to do stuff like that.
After he clocked out, he we
nt by Shelly’s register and found her finishing up with a customer. Once she was done, she pulled her drawer and walked over to Zachary.
“Hey!” she said. “I have to go count out. So what do you want to do?”
“Well, I thought maybe you could meet me at the park tonight. Say around nine?”
“The park at nine? What will we do there?”
“I wanted to show you my project.”
“In the park?” she asked.
“Well yeah. I mean, it’s not like there. But I figured we could meet up there and then go see it.”
“Oh ok. Well sounds mysterious! I like surprises. I’ll see you then!”
“Great!” he said as he headed out to his car. On the drive home, for the first time in a long time he felt excited. Not that he had any interest in Shelly, at least not in a romantic or sexual way. She would be his next offering. In the reading he’d done, he had some other ideas as to what went wrong last time. He had three hours to prepare. Once he got home, he would meticulously go over every single detail in preparation for tonight’s ceremony. This time, it would be perfect. This time, it will work.
Chapter 8
“The Devil himself has arrived in Dark Rock!” Merle Bannerman declared from the pulpit. He’d been looking forward to Sunday morning the last several days, and it was finally here. He’d be delivering the sermon of a lifetime. He was glad they had begun filming sermons a few years ago. Now they had a live stream, YouTube channel, and email subscriptions.
“Lucifer was one of the most beautiful of the Heavenly Host before he was cast out. Many of us including the modern media will portray him as this silly looking man with red horns and a pitchfork. That is what he wants us to think. Satan would never be that obvious. He has arrived in our town in the form of three beautiful women. One of them is one of Dark Rock’s own daughters.” He paused for dramatic effect as a collective gasp went out from the congregation.
“That’s right. A coven of witches is on our doorstep. There are three of them living in the Tyler house. Little Regina Tyler, who I baptized right outside in our own pond is among them. She went away to Austin to the University of Texas, right into the jaws of Satan’s den! These witches got their hooks into her, and now they are here in our town. I saw them in one of their horrific rituals myself. I went to greet young Regina on her return home when I heard chanting in the back yard. I walked around the back of the house and looked over the fence. Now mind you, I’m not a peeping Tom.”
He laughed as he held his hands up. “But I had to see what was going on. The sounds were so bizarre, almost animalistic. When I looked in the back yard, there they were; all of them in a circle, nude, calling out to Satan. One of these ladies, the older one, took a small puppy out of a bag and laid him upon their altar.” His voice began to crack as he paused. “I’m sorry.” He hesitated and began to speak again. “She placed it on the altar, and with a long, sharp knife cut its heart out.” The crowd gasped once again, this time even louder. “She held up its heard and they each passed it around and took turns eating it until they’d devoured it. I tell you ladies and gentlemen. This is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
***
“He is so full of shit!” Summer said as she watched the church service on her laptop. In light of recent events, they decided attending church to make a point might not be the best idea. Angela suggested they watch the sermon online to see what Bannerman said about them. Turns out that was a good call. “Sacrificing puppies? Eating its heart? Is he fucking serious? And you grew up with this guy?”
“Yeah,” Regina said. “I don’t remember him being this crazy. It’s scary. He’s gonna work people up into a frenzy.”
“Don’t worry,” Angela said. “I won’t let it get that far.”
“What will you do? Another protection spell?” Summer said. Angela cast her The Look, causing Summer to shrink in her seat and look back at her laptop. “Now he’s saying the people of the town need to stand up against Satan’s harlots.”
“I heard what he’s saying,” Angela said. “Maybe we should stop watching. It’s only pissing us off. I get what he is saying and what we’re up against. Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”
“Will Satan protect us?” Regina asked. That got a laugh from all three of them.
“Only if you eat a chicken heart,” Angela said.
***
Merle wasn’t quite done yet.
“Ladies and gentleman. We all know about the murder that occurred here in our very town. I find it no coincidence that this satanic human sacrifice occurred just days after these witches landed on our doorstep. We must take a stand against the Devil! Do not let him get a foothold in this town. We must cast him out lest our children be corrupted!” He pounded his fist on the pulpit as he yelled.
“What do we do?” someone called out from the back. “We should get rid of those witches!”
“Yeah! Run them out of town!” someone else called out.
“My son works for the paper! He saw the body of the Williams boy. It was awful. These witches need to burn!” a woman screamed.
“That’s right! Burn them!” several more shouted.
This wasn’t quite the reaction Merle had been expecting. He put his hands out in an attempt to calm everyone down.
“Now, let’s all calm down. I wasn’t saying...”
“You’re right Reverend! We can’t sit around and let these whores kill our children!” Several men stood and began filing out of the church. Everyone else got up and followed.
“Wait!” Merle said. “Don’t do this!” He jumped down from the pulpit and followed as everyone ran to their cars. “Oh no,” he said as he watched them driving away. He ran to the Cadillac where Gladys was already waiting for him.
“What’s going on? Are they really going to burn those girls?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I hope not.”
“Me either. We haven’t had something this good in town in years. I bet attendance picks up with witches here in town. People will be scared out of their minds,” she said.
Merle looked at her, but wasn’t surprised. Gladys had always been a skeptic. She wasn’t when he met her in Bible College, but over the years she had become so jaded. He always maintained his faith, though it was shaky at times. He had no doubts he was God’s instrument to lead the people of Dark Rock. Gladys was more concerned with that latest fashions or her wine.
Merle pulled the Cadillac out of the parking lot and drove to the Tyler house. When he got there, cars were lined up all along the street. People were crowded around the front of the house, as several men were dragging Regina and her friends out of the house.
“Oh no.”
Chapter 9
Regina kicked and struggled against the two men who were dragging her from the house. They knew it got crazy when watching the church’s feed, people in the church began yelling and the live feed cut off. A few minutes later, their front door burst open and in came an angry mob.
“What are you doing?” Summer yelled. “Get the fuck off me!”
“You’re making a big mistake!” Angela shouted, but no one was listening. Once they were outside, the men threw them into the back of a pickup truck where another group began wrapping them in duct tape. Regina was still young in her learning of the Craft, but she didn’t know why Angela wasn’t doing anything.
The truck started up and they began moving as the truck pulled away. They had duct taped each of the girls’ mouths so none of them could speak. Regina looked at Angela who was trying to appear as calm as possible.
“We’re almost there bitches. You all are gonna burn!” one of the men said. “And this fire here will be nothing. The fire in hell will torture you whores forever!”
After a few minutes the truck stopped. They were at the park where the men and some of the women from the church pulled the girls out and dragged them to the barbecue pit. This was the huge one for big events. They took chains out and wrapped it around al
l three girls and threw them into the pit. Regina had lost all feeling in her hands from the tightness of the tape.
Another man stood over the pit and began dousing them with gasoline. The odor stung Regina’s nose as some seeped into her mouth. She kicked and flopped but all three of them were trapped. She closed her eyes as the crowd cheered. All she could hope for at this point was that she would die quickly before the pain got too bad.
“Say goodbye whores of Satan!” one of the men said, and then there was a gunshot. The crowd got silent and turned around as Regina opened her eyes. They burned from the gasoline, so she couldn’t see who was shooting at what. It wasn’t until he spoke that she recognized Chief Barry Harmon’s voice.
“Have you people lost your goddamn minds?” he yelled. “Everyone get in your cars and get the hell out of here! Now! Before I start making arrests!”
“But Chief! These women are witches! They killed the Williams kid. Sacrificed him to Satan!” someone yelled to the cheers of the crowd.
“We don’t know that for sure. And as the police chief, if anyone is gonna be going after killers and Satanists, it will be me! For the time being, no matter how weird we think these ladies are, we can’t just fucking set them on fire. Now git! All of ya!” he said as he fired another shot into the air.
The crowd dispersed as everyone headed back to their cars and trucks. Barry walked up to the pit along with a couple of deputies and cut the girls loose.
“You ladies ok?” he asked.
“About as ok as we could be for having almost been burned at the stake,” Regina said, rubbing her wrists.
“Yeah. I’m real sorry about that. Apparently Reverend Bannerman got folks fired up in church today.”
“Fired up? They almost fucking killed us,” Regina said. “We want to press charges against all these people for assault, breaking and entering too. They broke into our house. Shit, this was kidnapping!”
“Now calm down. No one is getting arrested. These are good people. They’re just scared. You all are different and they don’t like that. Hell, I’m not totally convinced you didn’t have something to do with that boy’s death. But as a peace officer, I have to have evidence. Which I don’t. Not yet anyway. So in the meantime, I’ll take you all back home and I can promise you this won’t happen again.”