by Wood, Rick
It was mayhem. Death stank the air, hundreds of bodies piled upon a sea of skulls as far as the eye could see.
Then it all froze. The fire, the death, the mutiny – it stood completely still. The whole of the setting appeared to be like a photograph, halted.
All except for two people.
Young people, maybe in their early teens. Sitting on the swings. A boy, and a girl.
They looked familiar.
The girl… Jenny.
Younger, yes. Before she became a woman; her skin clearer, her hair brighter, and a child’s body – but it was Jenny, without a doubt.
Then who was it next to her?
“Do you think we’ll still be friends like this when we’re older?” came the innocent young boy’s voice. Dried tears stained his cheeks.
“Of course,” replied Jenny.
Who was this boy?
Martin opened his eyes.
He was back on the drive.
But it wasn’t over yet.
The very last image he saw was that of a swing set in a field.
The young boy and girl.
The boy cried.
The swing set launched on fire.
Then it all went dark.
He didn’t remember the numerous times during the night he opened his eyes, screaming until his lungs grew sore. He didn’t recall the times Derek and Jenny stood over him, shouting at him to stay calm. He didn’t even acknowledge the moment his bloodshot eyes sprang open and his pupils dilated, just as he shrieked into Jenny’s face that she was going to die.
It was light when his eyes peacefully opened.
He propped his head up, to find himself laid on the living room floor, a crowd of faces watching. Light gracefully adorned the room, filling it with a peaceful amber glow.
Except Martin’s mind was anything but peaceful.
In an instant, he remembered everything.
With no idea where they came from, Derek and Jenny were at his side, ushering him to lay back down.
“No, no, you don’t understand,” Martin argued.
They tried to comfort him, tell him he needed to rest, assure him it was all okay.
“It is not okay!” he exclaimed, shoving them off his arms. “You need to listen to me.”
Derek and Jenny remained stationary, staring at him with sceptical apprehension.
“I saw something. I… I saw through his eyes. Through the heir’s eyes.” He turned to Jenny. “I saw through Eddie’s eyes.”
Martin saw Jenny’s eyes melt into pain.
“What did you see?” Derek urgently prompted, finally taking him seriously.
“Death. Fire. A lot of death. He – he killed everyone.”
“Martin, this happened to Eddie, and it’s a startling experience,” Derek knowledgably, yet cautiously, informed him. “It is a vision. It gives you some kind of sight, some kind of awareness. You say you saw through his eyes?”
“Yes. I saw him, except…” He shook his head, willing the fuzziness of his recollection to fade. “Except I wasn’t watching him. I was him.”
“Do you have any idea where this was?” Derek pleaded.
“No. No, I don’t.”
Derek bowed his head with an exasperated exhale.
“Actually,” Martin decided, racking his brain to make the memory clearer. “Actually, I did see something.”
“What?”
“Swings. I saw, I saw a swing set.”
Derek frowned at Jenny. “A swing set?”
“Yes. Yes, it had a boy and a girl on it. The boy was crying.”
Jenny peered across the room in contemplation. The thought struck her. Her hands instantly clasped over her mouth, gasping, and she rose to her feet in shock.
“Oh my God.” Her arms shook.
“What?” Derek rushed over to her, putting his hands on her arms. “What is it? What do you know?”
“The swing set…” she whispered, peering again across the room, racking her brain.
“What about it, Jenny?”
“With a boy crying. It’s a memory.”
“Yes, we know it’s a memory.”
“No, Derek, you don’t get it. It’s a memory from Eddie. It’s one of Eddie’s memories. The creature was having one of Eddie’s memories. Surely this means, he must be in there somewhere…”
Derek’s fingers grew stiff with agitation. No matter how many times this conversation arose, it was still the same argument.
And now was not a time for it.
If the heir was assembling, it would be sending a message as to where it was. A message targeted at Jenny.
A memory that only she shared with Eddie.
If anything, she was the most vulnerable. The creature was luring her. Using her love against her.
But that was a conversation Derek was to have with her at a later date.
“I think we should go there and face him,” Martin declared.
Derek turned to him with caution. “If you’re sure. I do warn you, Martin – when something tragic occurs, it leaves a mark. The evil behind awful acts lingers there for decades. If the heir has chosen this place, it could be for a reason – he could be intending to use the evil that remains.”
“I don’t think it is,” Martin insisted. “I think he’s chosen it because it’s a place that’s important to him and Jenny. After all, the flashback had Jenny in it.”
Martin nodded in understanding. “I don’t know, what do you think?”
Derek paused. He turned his head slowly to Jenny.
“Jenny, do you know where this swing set is?”
“Yes,” Jenny acknowledged. “Yes, I know exactly where it is. I know where he is.”
39
Jenny slumped in the corner, hunched over, her legs shaking, biting her nails.
The house exploded into an organised chaos. The soldiers of Humanity’s Hope bustled back and forth, every person preparing themselves for war. Preparing spells, armour, weapons. Anything they needed for fighting or protection.
To Jenny, the excitement hung in the air like poisonous gas.
A few people strode past her on phones, calling loved ones, telling them how much they cared for them. Trying to say their goodbyes without giving away they were saying goodbye.
They were all physically, mentally, and strategically preparing.
Preparing to kill.
Preparing. To kill. Her best friend.
Eddie…
The vision. Martin had seen through the eyes of the beast, exactly through its eyes. The creature had shown everything it planned to do, everything it planned to destroy, all the maiming and the torturing it was going to commit.
But it had also shown a piece of the man she loved. The man she had grown up with, grown close to.
Eddie had come through, but only fractionally – seeping through the chaotic vision of Martin’s mind. Behind all the destruction there was a single memory Martin had mentioned. A memory only Jenny could know.
A memory from 15 July 1984.
A memory of her and Eddie at eleven years old, shortly after the death of Eddie’s sister. Eddie cried that day. Her memories were hazy, but she could still see his weeping eyes as clearly as if he was sat next to her.
It was a memory Jenny treasured. An image of them both as children, sitting on a swing set, Eddie crying.
The creature had the same image.
Eddie had the same image.
It was a message. It must be. What else could it be?
A message from Eddie, trapped within. Somewhere in there, trying to show Jenny he was still around.
Begging to be freed. Begging to be helped.
But Derek wouldn’t have it. Derek was so adamant Eddie was dead, such an idea wouldn’t even be a conversation he would be willing to have. It would be dismissed immediately.
Martin was headstrong, yes, but he was young. And he admired Derek so much he followed him absentmindedly, just as Eddie had done.
Neither of them woul
d listen to her.
Now here they were. Humanity’s Hope, dashing back and forth around the house, preparing to kill the beast.
Kill the heir.
Kill her Eddie.
If there was even a single piece of Eddie left in there, even a minute, tiny chance that he could be saved, then this expedition was wrong. All wrong.
She had to do something about it.
She knew where he was. She knew where Eddie was.
So did they.
But they weren’t leaving yet. They needed to mobilise, organise, plan tactics.
This would leave enough time for her. Enough time for her to get to him first. Enough time to appeal to Eddie within the beast, to lure him out, to defeat the disgusting, demonic, destitute casing this hell-beast had wrapped him in.
Then it hit her. An instant moment of clarity.
How to save Eddie.
She remembered what Derek had said to Martin.
“When something tragic occurs, it leaves a mark. The evil behind awful acts lingers there for decades. If the heir has chosen this place, it could be for a reason.”
Derek had told her how a tragic incident leaves a mark. The evil that was there lingers for years. Eddie had many tragic incidents in his life…
The death of his sister. The death of Kelly. The visit to hell.
And that swing set. That swings set he so often visited with Jenny, baring his soul. When tragedy hits, the resonance lingers – which means a part of Eddie could linger at that swing set.
Maybe, just maybe – instead of evil lingering at this swing set, it was a part of Eddie. And that part of Eddie could aid Jenny when fighting the demon. And this was Eddie giving her that message.
She just needed to appeal to that part of Eddie.
She grabbed a pen and paper and wrote furiously.
Derek – I’ve gone to get Eddie,
Remember how you told us that every act of tragedy leaves a mark – well, what about Eddie’s marks? What if we revisit those incidents where Eddie had experienced tragedy?
That is where we will find Eddie’s true soul still lingering.
This is what I’m going to do.
Jenny
She placed the note in the spare bedroom, next to a pile of her clothes and a washbag she had left at Derek’s. Hopefully, once Derek realised she had gone, he would search here, read the letter – and realise what she was doing.
Realise that Eddie could be saved.
Without a second thought, she marched to the door.
“Where are you going?”
She froze.
She turned to her side. Martin sat in the study, watching the commotion.
“Erm…” Jenny thought quickly. “I’m just getting some air. Getting some water and stuff, you know. Whilst all the powerful people prepare, I’m going to go get the essentials. Derek sent me.”
“Fair,” Martin nodded. “Seems like a plan.”
She looked into the eyes of Martin, gazing back at her with that wounded look she had seen in Eddie so many times.
Funnily enough, Martin reminded her so much of Eddie when he was younger. So beautifully damaged. Torn into pieces that reformed into something magnificent.
She wished Martin had known the Edward King she had known.
Not this beast he had been instructed to kill.
“I’ll see you later, Martin,” Jenny smiled at him, stifling a stray tear she felt brewing in the corner of her eye.
“Later.”
She opened the door and left.
The driveway was also a scene of hectic preparation. People practising spells, talking each other through various techniques, people praying, taking a last look at the sky.
She barged past all of them.
Eventually, she was clear of the noise, of the energy of an army assembling.
She made her way to her car and got in.
For a moment, she was stuck. Her hand held the key, hovering over the ignition.
A sinking feeling filled her chest.
Like something bad was going to happen.
She shook it off, turned the engine and sped away.
40
The door swung open, smacking against the wall. Jenny barged in. She had little time to lose.
She swept through her house, searching for the items she was after, her frantic mind unaware of where she had left them.
Lacy appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
“You’re home?” she asked optimistically.
Jenny turned to her and shook her head despondently.
“Sorry, Lace, I’ve got to do something,” she pled.
“Of course.” Lacy folded her arms and nodded. She pursed her lips; another look of disappointment.
Jenny finally found what she was after, in a draw in the cupboard under the stairs. She pulled it open, grabbed a photo album, and shoved it in a bag. She closed the door, pulled the bag over her shoulder, and made her way to the door.
Lacy stood in the doorway, blocking Jenny’s exit, her arms folded.
“Lacy, look.” Jenny reached her arms out, rubbing Lacy’s shoulders with her hands. “This is likely to be the last thing. Honestly, the last thing. If I’m successful in this, then… well, it will all be over.”
“It’s never over,” Lacy muttered, shaking her head.
“Yeah, but this time, it really is.”
“Jen, I haven’t seen you in days. You’ve been sleeping God knows where–”
“I’ve been at Derek’s. Helping with the army. With Martin.”
“Then the two minutes you do actually come home, when you’re not running off to Israel, or God knows where, you’re now running off telling me it’s the last thing.”
“But it is, I swear.”
Lacy unfolded her arms, dropping them rigidly by her side, her hands clamped up into fists. She looked away from Jenny, her head furiously shaking and her teeth grinding.
Finally, her eyes locked onto Jenny’s.
“Jenny. I love you. Isn’t that enough?”
“Lacy, God, I love you,” Jenny pleaded, placing her hands on the side of Lacy’s face. “But there’s not going to be a tomorrow if I don’t–”
“If you don’t what?” Lacy pushed the hands from off her face. “You’re not Eddie. You’re not Derek. You don’t have magical powers. You don’t have a big knowledge about demons. You’re not anything.”
Jenny’s mouth dropped. “What do you mean, I’m not anything?”
“I mean, you are a human, a normal person. Leave saving the world to the experts. Your place is here, beside me. That’s where you belong.”
“I’m not anything?” Jenny spat. “I’m Eddie’s best friend. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be comfortable enough in myself to have even gone out with you in the first place! We owe so much to him.”
“No, Jen. We owe so much to us.”
Jenny closed her eyes and bowed her head. Humanity’s Hope were arming themselves. They would be attacking soon. She didn’t have much time.
“Lacy, I’m sorry, but we really are going to have to finish this another time. I promise, when I get back.”
“No.”
“I really need to go. Please, Lacy, just get out of the way.”
Eddie. The beast. They are going to kill him.
“Please just get out of the way.”
“No, Jenny. I won’t.”
“Please.”
The swing set. There’s hope. But I have to get there first. I have to.
“I’m not moving, Jenny.”
Jenny barged into Lacy, knocking her against the side of the doorway, and marched into the front garden.
“Jenny!” Lacy shouted, grabbing hold of Jenny’s arm, swinging her girlfriend around to face her.
“Lacy, please, when I get back. I’ve got to go to the swings, it’s the only way.”
“Jenny,” Lacy begged, tears dripping down her cheek. “If you leave now, don’t ever come back.”
Jenn
y’s heart melted. She had never seen Lacy cry.
Lacy’s defiant, weakened stance propped against the door. Staring at Jenny. Pleading to her with her tears, pleading to Jenny not to make this decision.
Begging with her eyes for Jenny not to go.
Jenny didn’t have time for this.
But it was Lacy. She always had time for Lacy.
“Jenny. Don’t go.”
Jenny closed her eyes and shook her head. She couldn’t bear to look at Lacy.
So she didn’t.
She strode away from the house and into her car. She drove away without looking back.
Lacy slumped against the doorway, dropping to the floor. Inconsolable. Her tears like bullets, and her heart like fragments of shattered glass.
41
Derek felt a sting of pride. Humanity’s Hope were almost set. Less than an hour and they would be marching into battle.
He only hoped they were ready.
He wandered through the house, looking over the various warriors he had recruited, readying themselves.
“When are we going?” a young man enquired to Derek.
“Less than an hour, we will make our way. Just make sure you are prepared. Do me a favour, and please let everyone know.” Derek smiled and nodded at the young man.
Nodding, the young man retreated to do as he was asked.
Martin appeared at Derek’s side. Both men stood in a strong, content stance, their body language echoing each other.
“Are you ready?” Derek asked.
“No,” Martin shook his head. “This just feels… I don’t know. Premature.”
“Premature?” Derek stuck out his bottom lip to feign being impressed. “Someone’s been improving his vocabulary.”
“Yeah,” Martin sniggered. “Took the apocalypse to make me read.”
Martin looked around, peering through a few door ways.
“Jenny back yet?” he asked.
“Back? From where?” Derek gave Martin a quizzical look.
“She said you sent her out to get water and stuff.”
Derek’s face dropped. His eyes grew wide.
He rushed to the study, peering around every face. He ran to the living room. The kitchen. The bathrooms. The bedrooms. Upstairs. Downstairs. The garden. The front garden.