The coffee maker beeped several times. Aaron filled two coffee mugs and sat at the kitchen table next to Maria. He grabbed the sports section of the newspaper and read an article about an Austin native stock car driver signing a NASCAR contract with Donatelli Racing. The driver was scheduled to compete in a charity race at Edison Raceway in Austin next weekend. Aaron wasn’t much of a stock car racing fan, but he had attended a few short track races there and found them somewhat entertaining. Plus, it was for charity.
“You think Cody would like to go to this?” Aaron showed Maria the article.
“Car racing?” She shook her head. “You know he’s more into baseball.”
“Yeah, but baseball season is over, and he doesn’t like football, either.”
“I don’t know.” Maria glanced at the clock hanging in the kitchen and set the newspaper down while rising from her chair. “I’m going to make breakfast. Could you wake the kids? I don’t want to be late for church.”
Aaron rubbed his still-sore neck and got out of his chair, popping a few bones in his back in the process. That hit the spot. In the bedroom hallway, Aaron turned the knob on Samantha’s door, but it was locked. “Rise and shine, Samantha. You’ve got church in a couple of hours.” Across the hall, Cody’s bedroom door was open. He knocked on Samantha’s door again. “Unlock the door, Sam. Your mom is about to make breakfast and doesn’t want to be late for church.”
“I don’t think she’ll be going to church this morning.”
Aaron turned around as Cody stepped out of his bedroom covered in blood. He smiled and licked blood from his lips. Aaron gripped the knob and slammed against Samantha’s door with his shoulder. After his third attempt of forcing the door open, the frame broke. He stumbled into the bedroom, slipped on the hardwood floor, and fell next to Samantha’s lifeless body. Aaron’s eyes met empty eye sockets. She had a deep knife wound slit across her neck.
“No!” Aaron screamed and held his stepdaughter in his arms.
Cody entered the room and tossed Samantha’s eyeballs onto the floor. They bounced twice, rolled through her blood, and rested next to Aaron. Cody held a curved dagger and tapped Aaron’s cheek with it. “Wake up, Aaron. Wake up!”
Aaron felt a hand on his shoulder, and as soon as he grabbed it, he woke from his nightmare. He felt the warmth of someone’s wrist held tight in his hand when he opened his eyes.
“It’s me.”
The voice was Cody’s but all Aaron could see was a dark silhouette of someone standing over him. Aaron let go of Cody’s wrist and turned on the lamp. They both squinted from the sudden brightness in the room.
“You had a nightmare, didn’t you?” Cody asked.
“Yeah.” Aaron rested his forehead in his hands. “What time is it?”
“Three o’clock.”
“Did you have the same dream?” he asked, and rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes.
Cody laughed.
Aaron lifted his head and glared at him.
“Worried we’d have one less family member?”
Aaron stood and took a few steps away from him. He glared at Cody and rushed towards his bedroom. He turned on the light and found Cody asleep in bed. The apparition stood next to Aaron with a curved dagger in his hand. He offered it to him.
Aaron glanced at the demon spawn and tried to wake Cody. He grabbed his shoulders and shook him several times.
“He’s not going to wake up, Aaron.” He set the blade next to Cody’s head on the pillow. “Take the dagger.”
“Fuck you.”
The Cody thing grinned and picked up the weapon. “Fine.” It stepped towards the hallway. “I guess I’ll have a little fun with that pretty little stepdaughter of yours.” Aaron tried to wake Cody again. “I’m getting closer to her bedroom,” a sing-song voice said from the hallway.
Aaron rushed into the hallway and stepped in front of Samantha’s bedroom door. “What the hell do you want from us?”
“That sleeping doll in there. That’s what I want.” He curled his lips upward. “But, I’m willing to delay spilling that virgin blood of hers for just a tad bit longer.” He lifted the dagger out to Aaron again. “Take it.”
Aaron stared at it for a few seconds and then took the dagger. The demonic double returned to Cody’s bedroom. “What are you waiting for?” the voice said from inside the room.
Cody was no longer in his bed, but standing in the middle of the bedroom when Aaron returned. “Cody?”
He gazed at the dagger in Aaron’s hand. “You have to stop it. You’ve got to finish what was started. I don’t want anybody else to die.” Bloody tears dropped from Cody’s eyes. “Do it before it’s too late.” His eyes turned dark red and claws protruded from his fingers. He ripped his shirt open and tore at his scarred chest. Black blood flowed from his wounds. He dug his clawed fingers deep into his body and ripped his chest open, revealing a blackened beating heart.
Aaron tightened his grip on the handle. Cody’s beating heart echoed in his ears until he finally stepped forward and cut it out of his chest. Cody’s bloodied and damaged body fell limp while his heart continued beating in Aaron’s hand.
†
The faint beat of a heart thumped in Aaron’s head as his eyes gradually opened. He was still on the couch in the living room, but Maria wasn’t with him. He turned on the light and scanned the living room. Was he awake or was he still dreaming? The house was quiet. Too quiet.
Aaron checked the bedrooms, beginning with Cody’s. He was in bed resting on his stomach. His breathing was soft and steady. The time on his digital clock flashed 3:13. Aaron pressed a button to stop the flashing sequence and watched Cody sleep for a minute before checking on Samantha. She, too, was safely in her bed asleep.
As Aaron made his way across the house to the master bedroom, a strong chill ran up his spine. This increased his pace towards the bedroom. The door was closed, but it was unlocked. He swung it open and entered the room, flipping on the light switch. Maria was lying in the bed on her side with one arm tucked underneath her pillow. Aaron let out an exasperated sigh of relief and flipped the light switch down. The instant the room went dark, a hand gripped his arm. He jumped, startled by the sudden fear induced by the unexpected clasp.
“Aaron,” the voice said in a whisper.
He turned around. A dark silhouette stood in front of him. Moonlight seeping through the living room windows revealed that it was Cody. Or was it? After the double-waking nightmare he had experienced, he wasn’t certain. He pulled the door closed behind him, squinting his eyes, and tightened his jaw. He grabbed Cody’s neck and pushed him backwards towards the couch, lifting him an inch off the floor while he did it. Cody’s eyes widened. He grasped Aaron’s wrists with both hands and made a dry gurgling noise in this throat.
“You leave my family alone,” Aaron said as he tightened his grip.
Tears filled Cody’s widening eyes. His desperate attempts to pull Aaron’s strong hand away failed, leaving scratch marks in his skin. He stared into Aaron’s eyes and opened his mouth. He tried to speak, but he couldn’t. Aaron squeezed again and then released his grip. Cody fell to the floor on his hands and knees. As Cody coughed and gasped for air, Aaron walked over to the boy’s bedroom. He flipped up the light switch. The bed was empty.
He pressed both hands against the sides of his forehead. “Oh, my God. What did I do?”
He rushed back to the living room and found Cody holding his neck and still coughing. He gazed at the boy with remorseful eyes. He knelt next to Cody and wrapped his arms around him. “I’m so sorry, Cody. I… I didn’t…”
Cody cried and leaned against Aaron. He held Cody’s head and apologized again, trying to hold back his own emotions, but one angry and fearful tear managed to slip through.
Cody coughed and took in a deep breath. He coughed twice more. “I had a dream about Sam,” he said through choked tears.
Aaron got up and led Cody back to his bedroom. “Tell me everything,” he said while c
losing the door behind him.
Cody rubbed his throat. “It was bad.”
Aaron closed his eyes out of guilt. He opened them again and asked Cody to explain what he’d seen in his dream.
Cody looked away and bit on his lip. “I attacked her… I…” He made eye contact with Aaron again. “I killed her,” he whimpered.
He had killed her in his dream, but unlike the other dreams he’d had, that one hadn’t actually happened. That gave Aaron some odd sense of relief. When the others had died, Cody had witnessed their deaths through his nightmares as they happened. Cody had never mentioned having a premonition of someone’s death that Aaron could remember. At least, one that had actually happened. There was still one concern, however. They had both had similar dreams about Samantha’s death.
“I don’t want to hurt her,” Cody said, his eyes red from his tears.
“Nothing is going to happen to her,” Aaron promised. “Don’t worry about that.”
“You don’t know that. You saw it. Tonight in your nightmare.” Cody sniffed and quivered his chin. “Why is this happening to me? Why doesn’t God make it stop? I pray for Him to take it away, but the nightmares keep getting worse. People keep dying.”
“I don’t know, Cody.” Aaron pulsed the muscles in his jaw. “Do you trust me?”
Cody looked at Aaron, but he did not answer.
“Do you trust me?” he asked again. Cody only offered a slight nod, which didn’t give Aaron much assurance of his trust, but it would have to do. “You and I have a connection that goes much deeper than our dreams. Remember that. We’re family now, and I would lay my life down for you if it came to that.” Aaron knelt and grasped Cody’s shoulders. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Or Samantha.”
Cody gazed into Aaron’s eyes and nodded. While that suggested trust in Aaron’s promising words, his eyes told a different story.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Insane Assumptions
Cody’s eyes followed each stroke as Samantha ran a brush through her long hair in the bathroom across from his bedroom. It was Sunday morning, and after Mass, the church was going to have a fall festival, with lots of food, games, and plenty of socializing. At one point in his life, he would have jumped at the opportunity to attend such an event, but now he just wanted to stay home.
Samantha turned towards him while she stroked her hair. “You sure you don’t want to come? The fall fest is going to be a lot of fun. A little fun will be good for you.”
“Nah, I don’t think so.”
“Why not?” Samantha stepped out of the bathroom. She pulled her hair back and twisted a scrunchie into place. “It’s not like you haven’t been there before. It’s not Saint Hedwig, Cody. It’s a good church.”
“I don’t want to go, okay?”
“Sorry. I just thought you might want to.”
“Well, I don’t.” Cody brushed past Samantha and entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
Samantha rolled her eyes and headed to the living room.
†
Aaron put on a pair of blue jeans and grabbed his shoes from the floor by his bed. He sat on the edge as Maria brushed her hair in front of the floor vanity mirror. She wore an elegant dress and high-heeled shoes. He breathed in the scent of her perfume and gazed at her reflection in the mirror.
“You coming to church with us?” she said, glancing at him through the mirror.
“I don’t think so.” He slipped on his left shoe. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Bad dreams again?”
“Yeah.” He tied the shoe and pulled the other shoe onto his right foot. “It’s getting to be an irritating normal occurrence.”
“You know, going to church might help you deal with those nightmares on a spiritual level. It’d be good for you.”
“Nice try,” he said, tying the shoe laces on his right shoe, “but I’m not going to church.”
“And we should talk to Father Sotoro about Cody.”
Aaron stopped tying and tilted his head up towards his wife. “I have to admit, the thought has crossed my mind.”
“It has?”
“Yeah, but…” Aaron finished tying his shoe. “…I don’t know where to even start that conversation.” He adjusted the tongues on his shoes and sat up. “What are we supposed to say? ‘Hey, padre, there’s a demon running around killing people and using our fourteen-year-old as a conduit through astral projection. Think you can help us? Splash some holy water in his face or something? Say a few Hail Mary prayers for us?’”
Maria frowned and set her brush down. “You don’t have to be a smartass about it.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound insensitive. I know how much you believe in the church and faith in God and all. I just—”
“You don’t have to explain, Aaron. I know how you feel.”
“Mom!” Samantha called from the living room. “Are you ready yet?”
“I’ll be there in a sec.” Maria put on her crucifix necklace and gave Aaron a kiss. “I love you. Just do me a favor and think about it, okay? We don’t have anywhere else to turn. Nobody in law enforcement will believe us or understand.”
Aaron took in a breath through his nose and exhaled. “All right. I’ll think about it.”
†
Cody stared at himself in the hallway bathroom mirror above the vanity. The mirror fogged up from the steam generated by the hot water running in the shower. Screams echoed in his head. Screams of his mother. Screams of his stepfather. Screams of his friends being ripped apart by the chimera. Peter pleading for his life and the sound of sharp steel meeting flesh over and over. Samantha yelled in his subconscious for him to stop, and then there was sudden silence.
His foggy reflection formed a grim smile. He closed his eyes tight and reopened them a few seconds later, but the evil smile remained in his reflection. Demonic eyes followed his movements as he opened the cabinet next to the mirror. He removed a blue disposable shaving razor and set it on the counter next to the sink. He stared at the plastic shaving tool for a moment, then removed the straight razor from the head. Steam covered Cody’s reflection in the mirror and disappeared as he stepped into the shower with the razor blade held between his fingers.
†
Aaron drank his morning coffee while reading the Lost Maples Record. Unlike most Sunday mornings, Maria hadn’t cooked breakfast before heading off to church with Samantha. He had cravings for a special deluxe omelet and pancakes anyway, one of the few dishes he savored at Trudy’s. If Cody would hurry up and get out of the bathroom, they could make it in time for the early bird discount. The shower was still running. Aaron checked the time on his watch. It was almost ten-thirty. He’d give Cody another ten minutes before encouraging him to speed up. Not even Samantha took that long in the bathroom.
Another ten minutes passed and the shower was still running. Aaron drank his last ounce of coffee and headed towards the hallway bathroom. He knocked on the door a couple of times. “You fall in the drain or something? You’ve been in there for almost an hour already.” No response. “Cody? You hear me?” Aaron raised his voice. “I’m getting hungry, kid. Hurry up.” Aaron knocked on the door again. “Cody? Will you answer me?”
Aaron twisted the bathroom doorknob, but it was locked. He banged on the door. “Open the door.” He still did not get a response. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a butter knife out of the silverware drawer and used it to jimmy the lock. He knocked a couple of times and announced that he was entering the bathroom. It was full of steam.
He found Cody wrapped in a towel and sitting on the toilet seat with his head lowered and a disposable razor blade pressed between the tips of his fingers. Water dripped onto his face from his wet hair. He lifted his head and looked at Aaron with droopy eyes. “I couldn’t do it.” He then gazed at the razor blade. “I wanted to, but… I couldn’t.”
Aaron stood there for a moment, uncertain of what to say or do. He listened to the water
splashing onto the tiles in the shower and stared at the hand holding the razor. He took it from Cody with a gentle pull of his fingers and tossed it in the sink with the empty plastic housing.
“Do you want to… um…” Aaron ran his hand over his mouth and chin. “You want to talk about it?” Cody shook his head. “All right,” Aaron said, respecting his wishes for the time being, but mainly because he was caught off guard from another contemplation of suicide. He didn’t know what to do. He shut off the showerhead, gathered the razor and plastic housing from the sink, and stepped into the hallway. “I know you don’t want to talk about it right now.” He turned around and showed Cody the razor. “But this is not the answer.”
“I know,” Cody said in a soft voice, and ran his hand under his nose. “I’m sorry for scaring you.”
Aaron stared at Cody for a few seconds and let out a trembling sigh. “We’ll-uh.” He scratched his nose. “We’ll talk about it when you’re ready. Okay?”
Cody nodded.
“I love you, Cody. You know that, right?”
He nodded again. “I won’t do it again.”
In a state of depression, Cody had numerous reasons to consider taking his own life. Aaron had never told anybody, but he had contemplated it himself when he’d lost his parents. But he had never acted on it. Cody had almost succeeded with carbon monoxide poisoning in the garage. But he’d stopped himself in the bathroom. That proved he valued his life more than he realized.
“I tell you what,” Aaron gripped the doorknob. “I won’t bring this up again if you promise me that next time you have these thoughts you talk to me about it. Deal?”
Cody formed a subtle smile and nodded.
“All right. Now get dressed so we can get something to eat.”
Aaron pulled the bathroom door shut and tossed the razor and plastic holder in the kitchen trashcan. He held the edge of the counter and lowered his head and fought to hold back a flood of emotions. He lost that battle and wept. “God, help him,” he pleaded in a choked whisper. “Help me figure out what I need to do, because I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
Devil's Nightmare: Premonitions (Devil's Nightmare, Book 2) Page 39