Time doesn’t exist in this place. I have no way to know if it’s been minutes, hours, days. Even walking here, what should have taken hours seemed to be only minutes.
Movement catches my eye. I look up and see the door open. Devin walks out, his long hair is tied back and he takes off in long strides, closing the door behind him. He unfurls his wings, taking flight. I watch him until he’s far out of my range of vision, and even past that, worried he might return.
With a deep breath and a pounding heart, I exit the vehicle, sure to hide my food stash in a nearby bush before I go knock on the door, eager to see her again.
Cora’s gentle voice tells me to come in. I enter, finding her in the hallway, trying to clean up some sort of mess. Her dark hair is pulled back into a sloppy ponytail, and she has on the same shorts and plain black tee shirt that she had on before. When she looks up, her eyes are so sad that they stop my heart from beating for just a moment.
Instead of asking, I turn to lock the door, and then move to her side. The bathroom door is in shambles, wood all over.
“What happened?” I pull her away from the mess, taking the broom from her hands.
She shakes her head. “He kicked in the door when I locked him out.” She says it as if it’s accepted behavior.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No. I thought he was going to hit me for a minute, but he never did.” She sighs.
I swallow down my anger, my comments, and take a slow, deep breath. I don’t want to know what she had to do to calm him down.
“Go sit down, I’ll clean this up.”
She blinks at me, as if confused.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that. I’ll do it. He told me to.”
I shake my head when she tries to take the broom. “No, I got it. Please let me.”
After a moment, she nods. I remove the broken door, I sweep up the mess. I manage to hang a blanket up just for a little privacy when she wants to use the bathroom. Just as I’m finishing, she shows up with a big, fluffy towel in her arms.
“I thought maybe you would want to shower. I saw you waiting in the car outside. You can sleep afterwards if you want, in the bed. I’ll stay up and watch for you.” Her voice is soft, as if she’s unsure that her act of kindness will be accepted.
On a whim, I take her face in my hands and press my lips to her forehead in a soft, gentle kiss. Her skin feels like home, and I ache to bend and taste her mouth. Instead, I pull back and look down into wide eyes, accepting the towel from her.
“Thank you, my love.”
She blushes, and it makes me smile.
“I wish I could remember you,” she whispers. “I want to so very badly.”
“Really?”
She nods. “So much. I can feel you here.” She touches her heart and takes in a breath. “But otherwise, I don’t remember.”
“I think you will. I’m just going to be a minute, okay?”
She nods.
The hot spray feels great, but I’m eager to get back to her. That, coupled with not knowing when he will return, I rush the shower. I walk out of the bathroom in my pants and white tank top under shirt and find her in the bedroom. She’s making the bed, folding back the blankets. She’s put fresh sheets on it and is fluffing up a pillow.
My heart bursts in my chest.
“Cora.”
She turns and glances over my body before meeting my eyes. I honestly don’t want to sleep. I just want to be here with her.
“I was just making the bed for you.”
I walk up, tossing my shirt over the footboard. “I don’t want to waste my time with you sleeping.”
She gives me a small smile. “You look like you are about to drop.”
I laugh. “It’s exhausting, all this mess we are in.”
“Then sit. I’ll sit with you.”
Cora sits cross legged on the bed, insisting that I lay down. She looks like she wants to touch me, but sits on her hands instead.
“Tell me about our life.”
The question warms my heart. “You want to know about everything? We’ve been married for seven years. That’s a lot of telling.”
She shrugs. “So, I don’t remember. Tell me.”
I grin at her. I spend an unknown amount of time telling her about everything. My good memories, the bad. The day to day, our jobs, families, her desire to be a mother. Her eyes mist over as I speak. I sit up and she looks down.
“What’s wrong?” I whisper. The softness in my voice brings her eyes back to my face.
“We had such a beautiful life. How did we end up in this place?”
“We can escape this place.”
“How?”
“Just come with me. Jonathan will take us home.”
Her chest rises and falls with a deep breath. “It can’t be so simple, can it?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. They seem to have been tracking you for a while, I don’t know how this works. I assume when this, whatever it is, is broken, your memories will come back. Have you even left this apartment? Maybe just a walk would help.”
She chews on her lip and looks around. “Why wouldn’t he lock the door? If I’m a prisoner, it makes no sense. It’s strange that they trust me to stay if leaving is so simple.”
I can see the gears spinning in her eyes. Yesterday she never would have posed this question.
***
Cora
His light gray eyes are heavy with fatigue, yet somehow still shine when they stare into my face. His gaze warms me deep inside. I realize now that this man is my love, despite my lack of knowledge. I feel it in my bones. The more time I spend with him, the more I feel it.
Could I really just leave? Walk out of this place? Surely one of them would come looking for me.
There must be a way to sever this bond between Devin, Xander, and myself.
I look up at Andrew and my eyes fall to his lips.
I smile, feeling my cheeks warm at the thought of true loves kiss, as if this is a fairy tale. If only it was.
“You know, you can kiss me if you want to.” His voice breaks into my thoughts.
I laugh. “What makes you think I want to kiss you?”
“Woman, I know you. And you were never shy, not with me. When we met, I was a virgin. You taught me everything I know.”
He laughs as I blush. “Did I now?” I raise an eyebrow.
He leans close to my face. “You did. I was a quick study.”
I can’t help but giggle at the mischievous glint in his eyes, the flirtatious tone in his voice.
“I don’t doubt it one bit.”
His gaze dances across my face, touching my eyes, my cheeks, my lips. My breath catches in a way that it never has with Devin. My stomach unfolds with desire created with one look. He hasn’t even touched me and somehow my skin aches to be reminded of what his feels like.
Boldly, I reach out and touch his hair. It’s damp, clinging to my fingers. Our eyes meet and I smile, but hell and darkness swirls around us, fighting against the light that shines from his soul. I dread watching him leave. The idea of Devin returning and touching me makes me sick.
I realize that this is the first time since I’ve met him that I haven’t lusted after him. That must mean something, but my clouded brain won’t allow me to think about it too deeply.
We talk about everything as the time passes. Our history, his history, and mine. We laugh and it makes me ache to remember more. When he tells me about the last six months a knot chokes me, rendering me unable to respond without bursting into tears.
How could I have hurt this man?
I shake the pain away; it’s rapidly swallowed by the evil inside me.
“It’s okay to sleep,” I whisper, taking his hand in mine. He curls his fingers around mine, struggling with heavy eyelids.
“I can’t sleep in here. I’m afraid you will fall asleep too and we will get caught. I’ll head back to my hiding spot.”
He sits up. Something inside screams at
me to stop him, but not because of danger. Just because I’m so very afraid of being alone in this murky place without his light to warm me.
“I understand,” I whisper, fearing that my voice may break if I say it louder.
He leads me to the window. “See that Dodge?”
I nod. “The one with the angel on the hood?” I motion towards the man that lays on the hood, reading what looks like an ancient, leather-bound book.
“Yes. I’ll be in there. Come get me if you need me. That angel, he’s my guardian. His name is Jonathan. He will protect you.”
I swallow, looking out the window again.
“Okay.”
***
I haven’t been able to tear my eyes from this window since I watched him slip into the front seat of that oversized SUV. The watchful Jonathan meets my eyes once in a while. He sees me watching.
Honestly, I think that he’s trying to communicate something to me without saying it. I stare into his blue eyes until he finally looks down at his book and turns a page.
Every little noise, every strange click, sets me on edge. I find myself more and more fearful that Devin may return, and I’ll be subjected to his deviant, carnal appetites once more time. I wonder if this repulsion I feel now will disintegrate in his presence, but I’d prefer never to find out.
He’s eventually going to return. I glance towards the window. Andrew is resting, waiting for me.
The door isn’t locked.
I chew on my lip.
My shoes lay by the bed. With slow, deliberate steps I move towards them. Sitting, I put them on one at a time.
Am I really considering this?
What if he follows me?
And Xander? How can I ever really hide from him?
He will protect you. Andrew spoke of his angel. Somehow, I believe him.
Glancing around the room, I see nothing worth taking with me. This place is not my home, and I want no reminders of it once it’s behind me.
With sudden urgency, my heart pounds as I move for the front door.
***
Andrew
The sound of the car door opening forces my eyes open from just about the deepest sleep of my life. Unable to process thought, or the fact that Cora is standing here staring at me with wild, expectant eyes, I sit up and blink at her for a moment.
Then, my mind finally comes back to me.
“Are you alright?” I ask, glancing around. Is he coming? Did something happen?
“Yes. Let’s go before he comes back. I want to leave.”
I scramble out of the vehicle and look down into her perfect face. Did I just hear that?
“You are ready to leave?”
I’m so happy I could cry.
She nods. “Yes, I can’t stand the thought of… him… please.”
I glance over to Jonathan. He swings his legs around to the side of the vehicle closest to us, where he sits on the hood, and closes his book.
“Go east.” He points in towards the woods behind the apartments. “You will come to a place where she will find sanctification from this evil inside her.”
I look to Cora. The darkness swirls in her once clear eyes; it’s more prominent outside than it was in the apartment.
“Are you sure you’re ready?”
She nods. “Yes, please. Let’s go.”
I look to Jonathan. He jerks his head east. “East.”
“How will we know when-”
“You will know. Have faith.”
I nod, not willing to stand here one more second to ask more questions.
We run through the complex, looking over our shoulder and up into the sky in turn, hoping that Devin isn’t following. Reaching the edge of the woods, we decide to keep running until the need to breath finally stops us.
“Can… we… just…,” she gasps, leaning on a tree and holding her chest.
I laugh at her, struggling with my own burning lungs.
“You need to do more cardio,” I gasp.
She flips me off, bending at the waist and putting her hands on her knees.
“Hard to do cardio when you are trapped in the fifth level of hell.”
I chuckle, glancing overhead. The trees are already thick, so thick that seeing the sky is almost impossible. If I can’t see, then odds are Devin can’t see if he’s overhead searching for us.
“You got me there. Hey, do you think he can track you?”
Cora stands, willing her breathing to slow down, following my eyes skyward.
“I don’t know. I suppose no more than anyone else. We should get moving though.” She pushes away from the tree.
“So let’s go.”
We walk in silence for a while. The path we started on comes and goes, overgrown in parts and worn in others. The sounds of nature is the only thing surrounding us for a while: wind rustling the leaves, the crunching of dirt and twigs under foot, birds tweeting. I don’t know what to say to her.
She walks beside me, eyes ahead or down at the ground. I see no hint of regret, nothing that tells me she’s sorry for leaving with me.
After a while, she stops after stepping over a fallen log and re-secures her ponytail.
“Andrew, can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
She glances up towards the sky, peaking at us in shades of black and gray between the canopy of leaves above us. The low sound of thunder rumbles.
“Why did you come searching for me?”
She turns and starts walking again.
I frown, taking long strides to catch up with her. “What do you mean, why? You’re my wife.”
“I know, you told me that, but I don’t understand. You left, right? Then I did… this, with Devin. You could have just left me, but you didn’t. You even came all the way here for me, sleeping in a car for all that time. I mean, if he found you… I don’t know what he might have done to you.” Her voice grows quiet.
Lightning flashes across the sky. “Why would you ask me that? I told you that I love you.”
She stops walking. I gently take her arm, turning her as thunder rolls again.
“Because I feel like I betrayed you and what we were.”
“How can you feel like that if you don’t even remember?”
“I don’t know. I suppose my heart remembers. Being near you… it does something to me.”
“You will remember, Cora. I have no doubt that when we get to wherever it is we are going, whatever happens, you will remember. This sanctification he mentioned will cleanse you, and no matter what you feel, remember that no matter what, I’m always going to find you. I’ll never give up. I’d chase you to hell and back. There isn’t anything that can stop me. Now that I know the truth, nothing can stop me.”
Small rain drops start to fall from the sky, bouncing off the leaves over our heads.
Cora looks down, and turns away from me, walking forward. I follow her, and the silence falls once more.
***
Cora
I’m so scared, of so many things. Andrew walks beside me, getting soaked right along with me in the light rain that is falling on us. My tee shirt is stuck to my skin, my hair drips water in my face and down my back. I glance up at him, only to catch him doing the same. He flashes a smile, sometimes a wink, and we both look away.
The fear of Devin and Xander are a given. Demons will be after me at some point. I guess this scares me less just because I realize now that they must have been after me for some time now. Maybe most of my life. I don’t remember why, but I can’t shake the feeling that this is the truth.
What terrifies me is Andrew. He came to this place looking for me. Memories of Devin crawling all over me, touching him, the feeling of sharing my body with him echo and make me feel as if I’m not worth the love of this man walking beside me. I must have hurt him, but he’s still here.
What if the memories come back, and I remember something too painful to bear? What if whatever split us up before comes back and we break up all over aga
in? Was it my fault? Did he hate me? Is he only here to rescue me?
If we make it back home, will he say his goodbyes and leave me to get on with my life alone?
I swallow, and wipe the falling water out of my face. The rain keeps falling. I sigh, soaked to the bone, and glance at him.
His clothes cling to his body, his muscles flexing with every move. He shed his work shirt ages ago, in favor of a plain, white tank top that accentuates amazing shoulders and biceps. My eyes travel the length of strong arms to his hands, large, callused. Water drips from his fingertips. Fingers that have loved me, only I can’t remember it. My eyes move to his lips, full, parted in a breath. Lips that have breathed words of love against my skin.
And I hurt him. I let someone else touch me and ended up dragged to this place. This alternate reality with nothing but eternity and darkness.
He even has the light, and still he wanted to find me.
My back is aching and my feet throb. My stomach is hollow and growling. I hold my mouth open, catching rainwater to quench my thirst. Just as I’m about to ask for a break, the trees break and we come to a clearing.
In the center is a small, stone shack. The roof is worn and looks to be dripping water; the door lays on the ground in overgrown weeds around what once might have been a lovely little hiding place for someone.
“This place looks a hundred years old,” Andrew mutters, taking in the sight.
I take a step into the clearing. That’s when I notice it.
“Do you see the light?” I whisper.
He nods. “I do. It almost looks like the sun is shining here,” he mutters, looking up.
We both know that there is no sun here. The weeds are waist high. Small trees in their infancy have sprouted up here and there, one even grows out of the center of the building, poking a nice hole in the roof.
“I wonder what this place is.” We trudge forward towards the door.
“I don’t know, but whatever it is, God is in this place.”
His words give me pause. He’s right, it’s the only answer for the light here. We were led here.
Fear crawls from the blackness inside me, wrapping itself around my heart. If God is here, and I’m full of this… evil, what will happen when I walk into this place?
As if sensing my silent panic, Andrew turns and takes my hand for the first time on our journey. His hot skin on mine sends fire through my veins and peace into the terror, giving me a shaking sense of calm.
Lucifer's Game Page 17