Crazy Files

by Yvi Valentin

  “I saw Evan talking to War and Pestilence,” I started. “It seemed like they were all getting along well. It could have been a social visit.”

  “Does Evan know where you’re keeping the artifacts?” Michael asked.

  “No,” Andy answered. “We never trusted him enough.”

  “We thought it would be best if only two of us know where any given object is,” Jen added.

  “That is a dangerous technique,” Michael pointed out.

  “Yeah, but we had to separate so Evan wouldn’t find out where any of the artifacts are,” Andy replied.

  “The point is, because of this vision we think Evan is going to try to get the objects back to War and Pestilence,” I said.

  “Were you able to hear what they were talking about?” Michael asked.

  “No, but it didn’t seem like Evan was scared of the horsemen and the horsemen didn’t seem to be mad at Evan,” I answered. “If they knew he was working with us, wouldn’t they be just as hostile towards him as they are with us?”

  “That is correct,” Michael said. “Evan has been in contact with Lucifer the entire time.”

  “How is that possible?” Jen asked. “He never left our sight until we flew back from Amsterdam.”

  “He could have told Lucifer everything through his dreams,” I explained. “Lucifer can control and look into people’s dreams too and that’s how Andy and I communicated while I was forced to stay with Lucifer.”

  “We didn’t really give him much to report back though,” Brian mentioned.

  “But he knows about your mission to capture the horsemen’s artifacts,” Michael pointed out.

  “And now that Lucifer probably knows about it, we’re going to have a harder time getting the last two artifacts,” Andy stated.

  “I think we can handle it,” I started. “What are we going to do about our current threat?”

  “He’s attacking the building from outside,” Michael began. “The only way he will stop is if he obtains Aimee.”

  “Then we give him what he wants,” I said.

  “Are you crazy!?” Andy exclaimed.

  “Maybe,” I answered. “It’s the only thing that will save headquarters and everyone here.”

  “It’s too risky, Aimee, I’m not going to let you do this!” Andy yelled.

  “We might not have any other choice!” I shouted.

  “Aimee, I know you’re in there!” Lucifer yelled.

  “How could he?” Then it dawned on me. “We have to get back to earth!”

  “Why?” Brian asked.

  “Now!” I yelled. “There’s no time to explain!”

  “Aimee, calm down,” Andy said.

  “Andy, my body is down there and Evan isn’t here.” I couldn’t calm myself down. “This could be part of their plan to get me back. My body is down there, defenseless. It would be so easy for Evan to take it wherever he wanted. He knows where we’re staying. Why didn’t I think of this before?”

  “This must have been their plan the whole time,” Jen said.

  “What are we going to do?” Andy asked. I could feel how upset he was. He didn’t want to lose me again and it seemed like the only possible outcome.

  “I’m afraid Aimee is right,” Michael replied.

  “No!” Andy snapped. “There has to be another way!”

  “Andy, if I go willingly I’ll stand a better chance,” I explained.

  Andy tried holding back his tears. “I can’t lose you again.”

  “You won’t,” I replied while holding onto Andy. “If I go willingly I’ll be able to fight and Lucifer can’t do half the things I can, if he could, he wouldn’t need me.”

  “But what if Evan erases your memory again and replaces them with new ones, evil ones?” Andy asked.

  “I’ll keep a constant shield up,” I replied. “None of them can tear down shields like I can and I’ll work on tearing down their shields so I can control them.”

  “Do you think it’ll work?” Andy asked, facing Michael.

  “It is the best plan we have,” Michael answered.

  “That’s reassuring,” Andy mumbled.

  “Where do we start?” I asked.

  “We have to get you out of the building to meet with Lucifer,” Michael said.

  “Alright, let’s go,” I sighed.

  Michael led us back the way we came. I couldn’t stop thinking about what was going to happen next. It wasn’t going to be easy. I wondered if I could pull it off. I hadn’t successfully shattered a shield yet and I didn’t have time to practice. Everyone was counting on me and it was a lot of pressure.

  It seemed to take forever but we finally reached the door. I was scared knowing Lucifer was on the other side. Soon the fate of the world would be in my hands. It seemed pretentious to me even thinking it. I hoped to wake up soon and tried pinching myself, but nothing worked.

  “Be safe.” Jen gave me a hug.

  “You too,” I replied. “And make sure Andy doesn’t do anything stupid.”

  “I will,” she said as she choked up.

  Brian gave me a big squeeze. “Get back to us in one piece, kiddo.”

  “It’s them who will be left in pieces,” I smiled.

  “I hope so,” Brian replied.

  I turned to Andy and held him tightly. I didn’t want to let go. “Take care of yourself,” I managed to whisper through my tears.

  “You too,” he said. “Come back soon.”

  “I will.” I squeezed Andy tighter and took a deep breath. “Do you think we’ll be able to talk through my dreams while I’m away?”

  “That is not a good idea,” Michael answered.

  “Even if I know how to keep Lucifer from looking into my dreams?” I asked.

  “Only if you have been able to do it successfully,” Michael said.

  “I have,” I answered.

  “Then that will be fine,” Michael replied. “Andy will give you important information through your dreams. You should go out there before Lucifer completely destroys this place.”

  I turned to Andy and gave him a kiss. “I love you.”

  “I love you too. Stay safe sweetheart,” Andy said as he gave me one last kiss.

  Michael opened the door for me. “You can do this.”

  I nodded and crossed the threshold. It immediately closed behind me. I looked around to find myself back in what appeared to be space. In the distance I saw what looked like a spaceship. It was getting closer. It happened so fast, but eventually it stopped right in front of me.

  “I’m glad you’ve finally come to your senses,” Lucifer said with a huge grin on his face as he stepped out of the ship.

  “Well you hardly gave me any other choice,” I replied.

  “You had a choice.”

  “No I didn’t! If I hadn’t come out you would have destroyed this building and killed a lot of innocent people!”

  “Well, no matter, you’re here now. Let’s go.”

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “Do you really have to ask?”

  “Last time I was stuck on a farm in Illinois with you…so…yeah I do have to ask.”

  “Fair enough.” Lucifer had a smirk on his face I didn’t like. “We’re going to hell, darling. You may have heard of it.”

  “Hell!?” I yelled. “You expect me to go to hell? Am I even allowed there?”

  “Of course you are,” Lucifer laughed. “You’re my daughter.”

  “I’m not your daughter!” I snapped.

  “Don’t be silly, of course you are. Now let’s go, there’s lots to be done.”

  “Okay,” I said suspiciously. “How do we get there?”

  He took a step back into the ship. “Come on.”

  I stepped inside and it quickly flew away. I watched as we passed stars, planets and comets. It was a beautiful sight and I wished Andy was with me to enjoy the view. I couldn’t believe I was about to go to hell. After comparing my nightmare to hell for so long, I was about to fin
d out what it was really like and I wasn’t thrilled. The closer we got the worse I felt. My skin was burning up and I could have sworn for a split second I saw my tattoo glow bright red.

  “We’re here,” Lucifer said cheerfully.

  We stopped in front of a fiery star. I had the worst feeling I’ve ever gotten. It was far worse than the feeling I got when I was near War. Something felt incredibly wrong. Lucifer stepped towards the star and reached a hand out to me. I refused to touch him and got out on my own. We were on some sort of lift that slowly glided down to wherever it was we were going. All I saw were flames around me.

  “What’s the plan?” I asked. I didn’t really care what his plan was; I had a plan of my own. I just wanted to fill the awkward silence.

  “I’m going to test your abilities and we’ll see what needs to be done from there,” Lucifer answered happily.

  “Shouldn’t we be on earth for that?”

  “Yes, but there’s something I want you to try first.”

  “What is it?” Whatever it was, I had a bad feeling.

  “You’ll see.” He had an evil smirk on his face. The lift finally came to a stop and I didn’t know if I was relieved or scared, maybe a little of both. “Here we are.” We stood in front of a door that had the letters T.U. on it.

  “What’s T.U.?” I asked.

  “It stands for Torture Unit,” Lucifer answered casually as we walked through the door.

  “Torture!?” I shouted.

  “Yes, torture,” he replied pleasantly. I shouldn’t have been surprised. “Now come on, we have work to do.” I followed him down the hall where I saw a row of doors on both sides. I heard screams from some of the rooms. I tried not to let my fear show. We went through a maze of hallways filled with what I assumed were all torture rooms. We stopped in front of a door at the end of a hallway. “In here.”

  “What are we going to do?” I was hesitant to go in. I didn’t want to be tortured and I definitely didn’t want to torture anyone.

  “Go in and I’ll tell you.” He opened the door and gestured for me to walk in before him. I walked in and heard the door close behind me.

  “Please, don’t do this,” pleaded a woman who was chained to the wall.

  “You’re going to watch me torture her for a little and once I’ve shown you how to do everything, I want you to give it a try.”

  Before I could say anything Lucifer started torturing the woman. It broke my heart to hear her screams pierce the room. I couldn’t bear to watch whatever Lucifer was doing so I looked everywhere else. The lights made everything look red. There was a metal cart filled with all sorts of tools from scalpels to hammers to saws and every other torture device imaginable.

  “Please, stop!” the woman screamed. “Help me!”

  I tried my best not to cry but eventually the tears streamed down my face. I wondered if this was his plan all along. I knew he wanted to break me and what better way to do that than psychological torture. No matter what he did, there was no way I was ever going to be willing to help him in his quest to destroy the world. I took a deep breath, wiped away my tears and regained my composure.

  Lucifer faced me with a knife in hand. “Your turn.”

  “I’m not doing it,” I replied weakly.

  “Yes you are.” He forced the knife in my hand.

  “No I’m not!” I shouted as I threw the knife down and stormed off towards the door.

  “You’re going to do it whether you like it or not!” he yelled as he turned me around and forced the knife back into my hand.

  “What are you going to do? Control me?” I asked. “Oh wait, you can’t!”

  “Don’t you dare talk to me that way!” Lucifer yelled.

  “Oh I’m sorry!” I yelled sarcastically. “Did I hurt your feelings?”

  The woman giggled in response to my attitude. He slapped her to prove a point and she let out a scream. “You better start showing me some respect!” I could tell I was getting to him. “Now take that knife and start slicing!”

  “Why is this so important to you?” I asked suspiciously.

  “I ask the questions around here!” He was losing his temper and I hoped I could use it to manipulate him.

  “I’m not doing anything without knowing the purpose.”

  “Fine, you want to know the reason?” he asked, exasperated.

  “Yeah, that’s why I asked.”

  He pulled me in close I assumed because he didn’t want the woman to hear. “I’m trying to build an army. I need to torture the good children to make them want to fight for me.”

  “That doesn’t explain why I have to do any torturing.”

  “To show that you’re committed to this cause.”

  “You know I’m not!” I yelled. “The only reason I came here was so you would stop attacking innocent souls!”

  “Maybe you need to be tortured,” he said as he hurried out of the room.

  I went to follow him out, but couldn’t open the door. “Crap,” I mumbled to myself. I turned to the woman and asked, “Was he telling the truth? Is he really trying to get you to fight on his side?”

  “Yes,” she answered weakly.

  I walked over to her and healed her wounds. “I’m going to do everything I can to get you out of here.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  I smiled. “What’s your name?”

  “Holly.”

  “I’m Aimee,” I said as I unchained her from the wall.

  “I know who you are, everyone around here does,” Holly began. “You’re the one who can end this war. You can stop Lucifer.”

  “I’m going to try. You saw him react to me just now; I think I can break him.”

  “That was Lucifer?” Holly’s jaw dropped.

  “Yeah, you didn’t know?” I thought everyone knew what Lucifer looked like.

  “No I didn’t.” She looked deep in thought. “Do you have a plan?”

  “Up until now, the plan was to force Lucifer to stop trying to bring on the apocalypse.”

  “How can you stop him?” she asked.

  “Have you heard anything about my abilities?”

  “All I know is that you can do things nobody else can.”

  “I can control people. I can make anyone do anything I want. Lucifer always has a shield up to protect himself from it but I can break it down and force him to stop what he’s doing. I plan on making him forget who he is and make sure he never tries to destroy the world again,” I explained.

  “You said up until now, so what’s changed?”

  “I found out he’s torturing people to try to get them to join his twisted little army.”

  “What’s the plan now?”

  “I have to get all these star children out of here. Do you know how many he’s torturing just for this purpose?”

  “I think the entire section was made for this reason.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “I heard someone say they were going to have to make it bigger. That they were going to need an even bigger army.”

  “Okay, then we’ll have to clean out the unit.” It hurt to know this entire area was built to torture people into joining an army of evil.

  “What do you mean, we?” Holly asked. I could feel her level of fear skyrocket. She didn’t want to risk more torture.

  “If this is going to work, I’m going to need your help,” I answered. “I know it’s risky, but it has to be done, these people need to be saved.”

  “What if we get caught?”

  “I’ll handle it. I’ll force anyone who tries to get in our way to leave us alone.”

  “Have you done it before?” she asked apprehensively.

  “I’ve been able to control large groups of people at once. This won’t be anything I haven’t done before.”

  “Okay, I’ll help, where do we start?”

  “We have to get out of this room. The door is either locked or barricaded.”

  “How do we do that?”

>   “We’re going to have to use our abilities.”

  The door flung open and in walked Lucifer. “Well, I see where your loyalties lie.”

  “Are you surprised?” I asked.

  “No, but now it’s your turn,” Lucifer answered. I didn’t like the evil expression on his face.

  “My turn for what?” I asked suspiciously.

  He smirked. “I think you already know the answer. If you’re not going to torture the girl, I’m going to have to torture you myself.”

  “Torture away,” I challenged.

  Lucifer took a step closer and stared me down. I stared right back at him, unwilling to back down. I knew he wanted to keep me safe as long as he needed me so I didn’t think he had any intentions of torturing me.

  “Brave girl.”

  “I kind of have to be, don’t I?”

  “Alright, you called my bluff. Let’s go, there’s lots of work to do.”

  He walked out of the room and I looked back at Holly before I followed behind him. Holly nodded, signaling that she knew what to do. I made sure the door didn’t completely close behind me so Holly could get out. I followed Lucifer through the maze and out of the unit.

  “Where are we going now?” I asked.

  “Now we’re going back to earth to start you training,” Lucifer answered.

  “What was the point of bringing me here?” I asked angrily.

  “I wanted to test your bravery. What you’re about to do is very dangerous and I can’t have you getting scared or backing down.”

  “Well now you know.”

  “It’s time to leave.”

  “Yeah, I got that part. We’re going back to earth. How do I get out of here? Is it the same as when I leave headquarters?”

  “No, you have to leave hell before you can go back to earth,” he explained. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to keep anyone in hell.”

  “Great,” I mumbled as I stepped onto the lift.

  “I’m surprised you did as well as you did back there.”

  “Why?”

  “I just wasn’t sure about how brave you are.”

  “If you were ever around you would know just how brave I am,” I snapped. I was relieved when we finally got out of hell. The burning sensations slowly subsided as I got away from that horrid place. We stepped inside the spaceship and flew off into space. “Where are we going now?”