Darkly Rising

by J. D. Matheny

  “Good, sooner the better. I got plans and I’m eager to get them rolling.”

  When Kai pushed through the metal double doors of the school he was immediately hit by a wave of chaotic energy and the sharp smells of teenage bodies and cheap fragrances, heavily applied. The hallway that led from one end of the school to the other was a beehive of activity, each student enjoying the last few minutes of freedom before the bell called them to class. Huddled in groups of twos, threes, and fours, girls stood in front of open lockers chatting animatedly while similarly sized groups of boys strutted back and forth trying to capture their attention, while at the same time looking like they weren’t attempting to do so.

  Walking down the center of the hallway and through the maddening crowd, it was Kai who attracted the attention, and he did so from both boys and girls alike. The writhing sea of bodies parted for him then quickly closed after he passed. A bubble of silence surrounded him as girls stopped chatting to cast shy smiles and boys stopped strutting to give reverent nods. He is a sun, pulling all bodies around him into his orbit, and they are circling him while keeping a respectful distance.

  Physics dictate that our own sun, whose energy and heat keep us alive and happy, will eventually use up its fuel source. In doing so, its inner core will contract while its exterior expands, first cooking the Earth, then swallowing it up. This death sentence is billions of years off, but it is inevitable.

  Jenny’s locker was at roughly the halfway point of the long hallway, and it was there that she stood now, talking to her two best friends, with her back turned toward Kai as he approached. Drawing near, both friends took notice of his tall, dark form and quickly hushed, casting their eyes down toward their feet. Kai smiled. He caught up Jenny in his strong arms as she was half turned to inspect what had affected her friends in such a way. Lifting her from her feet, he brought her reddening face up to his and pressed his lips to hers, taking in the sweet but subtle scent of her that was so unlike the others. Out of respect, or embarrassment, the two friends drifted away to find other conversations.

  “Kai, you’ll get us in trouble!” The protest came out masked in a squeal of delight.

  “That so?” He kissed her again before setting her gently back to her feet.

  “Well, good morning, sir!”

  Her smile was a dazzling white crescent moon, her cheeks flushed. Kai had never seen any woman look so beautiful. “I’ve missed you.”

  “And I you. It’s been days and each day has been a week! Have you been working out?” She ran her delicate white fingers along his dark arms.

  “Genetics. Listen, I need some alone time with you and it can’t wait until your daddy’s next service.”

  Her cheeks reddened further from raspberries to dark cherries, which only served to further stoke his fire. He dipped his nose into her hair of pale fire and took in the smell of strawberries and cream.

  “I think I could come up with something that would buy us a couple hours after school. Tell my dad I was going to study hall, maybe.”

  “Too long. I don’t think you understand. Listen, the gymnasium doesn’t get used until lunch time. There’s the rehab room, with the massage tables. Meet me there. Now.”

  “Kai, I can’t . . .”

  He pressed himself on her again, kissing her firm lips and feeling them soften beneath his own. When he pulled away, she put her hand to her chest and took a deep breath.

  “Give me a few minutes. I’m just going to tell Ms. Simons that I’m going to visit the nurses station and I’ll be late.”

  “A few minutes. No more.”

  His dark eyes burned and danced as they bored into her. Reluctantly, she pulled her gaze away and skipped off toward her first period classroom. Kai turned down a side hallway, passing between a series of group photos on both walls showing graduating classes of years past. At the end of the hall he passed through another set of double metal doors that led to an outdoor covered walkway. A blast of crisp autumn air hit him, causing steam to drift up from his head and shoulders.

  The walkway led to a rear parking lot and he crossed it without passing anyone along the way. First bell rang out, a long assault on his ears, and he knew that, by now, Jenny would be trailing along after him. He felt himself harden painfully. Up a short set of concrete stairs was a walkway that ran the length of the gymnasium and the first door he came to he knew to be the weight-room, which was attached to the therapy room where the massage tables were.

  He pressed down on the thumb latch and the door swung open. The room was dark but for a single-bulb light hanging overhead. For a moment, he was blinded, and instead of a dark weight-room he saw a different room. One he shared in his mind with his Other self. The bigger, more powerful self that beckoned him forward. That version was hungry and primal.

  He left the door cracked open and weaved around various pieces of equipment, taking in the odor of testosterone and stale sweat. The door on the other side of the room wasn’t even closed. He stood in the doorway, leaning against the jamb to wait.

  Only a minute passed before the door creaked slowly open and a girl’s head popped on, exploring the environment before entering it.

  “Kai?” The voice came soft and secretive and the sound of it redlined him.

  “We’re alone. Come here.”

  He watched her walk carefully through the room with her hands clenched together in front of her abdomen and kneading at themselves. She was nervous and that too revved him up further. As she drew near, he backed slowly away, never taking his eyes from her. The cut of her modest, brown blouse showed only a hint of what lay beneath, but he drank it up. The long skirt she wore hung nearly to her ankles and was the drab color of storm clouds, but it couldn’t hide the sensual sway of her hips.

  When he had backed up to the foot of the nearest massage table he stopped and waited. She approached to within a foot of him and stared up into the dark pool where she knew his face would be.

  “This is risky, Kai.” Her voice had a slight shake to it and he wondered if it was fear or excitement that made it so.

  “It’s a risk worth taking,” he said. Then he kissed her and felt her body slowly melt against him.

  When he pulled away, her breath came in quick gasps and he could hear the beating of her heart pounding against her breast. In a smooth and easy motion, he picked her up and sat her on the tall massage table. Immediately, she scooted back and laid down, holding her arms out for him to join her.

  Yet again, Kai was pulled back into that dark room. He saw Jenny lying before him once more, only this time on a rough slab, with torchlight dancing across her pale flesh.

  “No, not like that.”

  He stood at the foot of the table and unsheathed himself. Then he pushed her skirt up and tore away her panties as easily as unwrapping a present. Grabbing her thighs, he pulled her to him.

  “Kai, please don’t let the Other have me.”

  He froze. “What did you say?”

  She laughed nervously. “Sorry, I sound stupid, I know. I’m still really nervous with this. I said, do you have something to put on your thing? You’re . . . you know,” she whispered the last part.

  He laughed. “No.”

  Then he took her.

  It was nearly an hour later when Kai led Jenny by the hand out into the warm daylight. As they stood out behind the backdoor of the gym they both surveyed themselves, looking for any clues that might hint at what they’d been up to. Then they looked at each other and laughed. Kai reached out to smooth the side of Jenny’s fiery hair.

  He was relieved to see her smiling and happy. His lovemaking had been urgent and aggressive, and it wasn’t until immediately after they finally finished that he realized just how animalistic he had been. She had given no indications that she was bothered by it. Quite the opposite, but still, he knew what a large and powerful person he was, especially by comparison. But here she was, her face beaming and flushed.

  “You’re OK then?”

  “Oh
yes,” she said, giggling. “You’re really something. I hope I did OK.”

  “You’re perfect, Jenny. In every way.” He took her hand and they strolled back toward their lockers to prepare for the next class.

  “Kai?”

  “Yes, love.”

  “Don’t you think we should be using protection? I think we should be using some. We’re too young to have a child, and my father would disown me if he knew I was having pre-marital sex.”

  Yes, he wanted to say. We absolutely should. I’m only seventeen, I don’t want to be a father yet. But he couldn’t say it. He could barely think it. The thought of having offspring was somehow exhilarating to him. He didn’t understand it. Not long ago he would have the thought the idea to be terrifying and unthinkable. But a lot had changed in him recently. In body and mind.

  “One flesh,” was all he said.

  She looked at him curiously, then smiled. “Well, let’s try to act like responsible adults in the future. I’d love to give you a son. Some day in the future, not now. He’d be so tall and handsome, with his father’s mysterious black eyes.”

  A son. Yes. That thought exhilarated him a great deal.

  26

  Sophie’s water was poured into a wine glass, which she thought was silly and just a bit grandiose, but she appreciated the way the sun reflected off the clear water and cast a ray of bright light over a portion of the table. It made her feel like she was drinking from a magical potion, made not from a witch, but from an angel. Maybe it was just her mood, which was currently fantastic.

  “How did you get into the float business to begin with? It seems like a very unknown practice; I imagine it was a risky business venture.”

  Blaine paused as he was tilting his own water glass, watching the condensation run off the bottom, then folding his white cloth napkin on which he sat the glass. “It’s funny how life works out sometimes. The most random, everyday things can lead to changes that affect your entire life. I used to manage a grocery store, Yoke’s, up on the North-side. Got pretty burnt out on it though, it’s a stressful job. You deal with such a high volume of merchandise, theft, complaints, on and on. I used to sit up in my office and listen to the Joe Rogan podcast while I worked. Have you ever heard of him?”

  Sophie concentrated for a moment, searching for something in the shifting fogs of her memory. It sounded familiar. Then she remembered the Donkey Kong slam. “Wait, you mean that guy that talks about the fights?”

  “That’s the one,” Blaine said with a smile. “Surprisingly he’s into a lot of different stuff. Fighting, Egypt, Psychedelics, all kinds of things. Including float tanks. That’s where I really got to know about them. Listening to Joe talk about the amazing benefits of floating got me enamored with the idea. I found one here in Spokane, just this single tank down in some lady’s basement, and I gave it a shot.”

  “Wait, you went down in some stranger’s basement and locked yourself in a coffin full of water? That sounds like a death wish!”

  Blaine laughed and shook his head. “And there you have one of the biggest obstacles to getting first-timers to try out the tanks. You know they don’t lock, Sophie. My first time was strange, though. It took me half of my ninety minutes before my mind shut off and let me be. At one point, I had some hallucinations. Something to do with a troll and a bridge. You’ve never experienced that part of it?”

  “No,” she said quietly, thinking about her other hallucinations from the past. She’d never even considered the idea she might go in a tank and wake up back there. The thought disturbed her, and she wondered briefly if her days of float tanks were now over. Then she took a bite of her salad and chewed slowly.

  “Well, it happens for many, but not for all. Either way, people come out feeling enormously relaxed and vibrant and I love that. It’s so much more rewarding than anything else I’ve done before.”

  “I’m very happy for you. Most people toil away at jobs they can’t stand. It’s a sad fact of life.” She was staring at her water glass. A cloud must have passed over the sun, for the light faded and the magical affects were gone. Now it was just plain old water once again. “Do you think that Kai would fit into one of your tanks?”

  “Well, sure. You’ve mentioned he’s a big one, but the pods I use are eight and a half feet long. I’d like to get him in the shop, have a chance to meet him. You think he’d be interested?”

  Sophie didn’t know what to think about her son anymore, but she wasn’t about to say that to Blaine. “I think it’s worth mentioning,” she said with a smile, “I’m sure he’s interested in meeting you, at the very least.”

  Their hands met on the center of the table, between the basket of bread and pitcher of ice water, and the conversation turned to more intimate things.

  When Jenny walked through the front door of her home, she was nervous and feeling more than a little guilty. Being with Kai was like being in the middle of a storm but without fear. She experienced only the excitement and the mystery. After, though, she felt the guilt. She felt her father’s shrewd and judging eyes looking into her soul. Those eyes would scrutinize her from head to toe, as they always did, and she just knew that they would find something displeasing. If he knew what she had been up to she would be dead meat, and she was convinced that not only would he see it all over her face, but that he’d smell it on her. He’d smell the guilt and the deception. He’d smell the sex.

  What she smelled when she walked in the door made things much worse. It was the sharp and smoky smell of her dad’s favorite drink. The one that made him get a little strange and out of character sometimes.

  She paused at the door, then bravely took a couple steps forward and peeked into his study. The smell was a little stronger.

  He was there, tilted back in his fancy office chair, a bottle of Lagavulin Scotch and a half-full glass on his desk. His hair was in slight disarray, which was rare for her proud and mighty father. She decided that now wasn’t the best time to disturb him, and stepped lightly past the doorway.

  “Do you know what I love, daughter? Other than you, of course.”

  She froze, cursing silently in her mind, then chastising herself for the curse. “What’s that, daddy?”

  He inhaled deeply through his nose, causing her to tense. “I love the rich smell of leather and mahogany. I love the smoky, sweet flavor of my favorite scotch. I love the feel of cashmere against my skin. Life is good, is it not?” He opened his eyes and looked over at her.

  She noticed that his eyes were red, but his voice was clear. “Yes, absolutely. Life is good. God is good.” She hoped that would satisfy him as she started to move off once again. All she wanted was to get to her room. She didn’t like when he drank.

  “Did you see him today?” He sat upright, then rose from the chair with a slight grunt. Taking a moment to steady himself, and take another pull from the glass, he turned to face her. “No, don’t answer that. You don’t have to, I can see it all over you.” His eyes traveled slowly down the length of her, crawling over her skin and causing her to shift uncomfortably.

  He moved toward her, with just the slightest sway as he walked. The red of his eyes was matched by two apple sized blotches on his cheeks. He stopped in front of her, loomed over her, their toes touching. Then he ran a meaty hand through the side of her hair and fanned it out.

  “My exquisite daughter. Such a beauty! So much like your mother, with your flaming hair and creamy white skin, like a virgin. A prize that any man would desire.” He dipped down, putting his nose to her hair, and took in a deep breath.

  Jenny stood there, stiff as a board, trying not to show him the terror that was bubbling up inside her. Any moment now he would pause, ask her what that musky scent was upon her. Tell her he knew what the scent was, then tell her she was just like her mother.

  Instead, he let her hair fall back down to her shoulder and stroked her pale cheek with the back of his fingers. “The beasts will come calling, won’t they dear? Sniffing around with drool upon t
heir lips and their pink little peckers poking out obscenely.”

  “Daddy! I’m going to my room.”

  She turned to go but he locked her in place with a tight grip on her shoulder. “You don’t know, you’re too young. Too naive and easily fooled. They’re heathens, my love! All of them, interested in one thing only. This,” he said, placing his other hand over her left breast, “and this.” His hand slid down her belly toward her waist.

  Before he could find what he was groping for, she brought her left hand up in a flash and smacked him hard on the cheek. She didn’t know where it came from, nor did she realize it was coming until it happened.

  They both froze. Her held in place by his still tight grip on her shoulder and him frozen in shock, one hand pressing over her belly button, but thankfully unmoving. Then his moment of stunned silence passed and the hand gripping her shoulder moved up to take a her by the neck.

  The next moment she was hurtling through the air and bouncing across the carpet with such force she felt she might have gone on forever, if the table hadn’t stopped her. She thudded into the dining room table, feeling a deep flare of pain explode in her right shoulder, and hearing salt and pepper shakers rattle and roll along the wood tabletop.

  Everything around her had moved in such a blur, yet she felt as if she had seen everything in the room clearly all at the same time. The clock next to the living room sofa read 3:13 p.m. Her mother’s kind green eyes stared down at her from a picture over the fireplace mantle. There had been a single grain of rice leftover from the previous evening’s dinner near the leg of her father’s chair.

  Then all she saw was her father standing over her. She felt his hand take a tight grip on the back of her neck, then she was being hoisted up and half-dragged through the room. As she was dragged through the kitchen, she looked for a weapon to come within reach, but the only thing she had a shot at was a paper tablet, and even that she tried for and missed. She’d seen her father angry before, and had been surprised at some of his actions, but this was another thing entirely. With this action, all predictable moves were off the board.