Authors: Palvi Sharma
Melissa traced a finger on her
thigh where she had cut herself. She couldn’t feel any pain or discomfort and
she resisted the urge to actually tear off the cloth and see if there really
wasn’t a mark. She took a deep breath. No, what she really wanted to do was ask
Mark why he hadn’t told her any of these things. He knew she loved him and that
she had left everything to come to him.
A part of her reminded her that
Rafe couldn’t be trusted, but the truth was that she had stabbed herself so
that Mark could find her and now here she was, with no Mark standing by her
side and mysteriously healing wounds.
“I told him then and there that he
would have to find a way to stop this.” Rafe continued. “At first he didn’t
seem to care much, but when the riders started to hurt everyone around the
city, even kill them, Mark finally relented and called me.
“The next year, he told them he was
sorry and that he forgives them and the city. But that didn’t work. The souls
didn’t seem to care much about that. After a few days, they weakened and I
dragged them to hell, but they gained strange powers and broke free yet again.
Something keeps bringing them back here.”
Mark had come here before?
Melissa
took a deep breath to calm herself down.
Why did Mark lie to her? “
So
what was the master plan?” Melissa asked. “You convinced the people of the city
to barricade the streets, but what I don’t understand is why trap Jennifer and
me here?”
Rafe broke of a leaf from the tree
and idly stroked his palm over it. “Mark really didn’t want you there, but he
got desperate. He came up with the plan to convince everyone that some sort of
sacrifice would send the souls away for good. Even made up a convincing story,
probably the one he already told you.”
“Everyone believed him?” Melissa asked.
“How gullible can people be?”
“When you find yourself in the
midst of a nightmare, people sometimes tend to make the most terrible choices.”
Rafe said. “Even a week of this, destroyed the whole city and filled their
hearts with terror. Everyone was ready to do anything to stop the demonic souls
from killing and destroying their beloved home.”
Melissa put her hand on her
forehead so that Rafe couldn’t see that she was crying. Mark wasn’t using her
as bait, her mind screamed. He was just offering her as sacrifice to the
demonic souls.
“The sacrifice of two innocents
would then end the curse, for you see Mark had cursed them when he had thought
that they had killed their parents...”
“I get it!” Melissa cried. “If they
actually killed Jennifer and me then Mark’s curse would be enforced on them and
they would be sent off to where they belong. But why am I still alive? Is
Jennifer still alive?”
“Jennifer is with me!” Rafe said.
“But we can’t use her.”
“You can’t use her?” Melissa asked.
“Do you need to earn a special degree to qualify as sacrifice?”
“No, we can’t use her because she
isn’t an innocent.” Rafe said solemnly. “She was the reason behind her sister’s
death.”
“The demon may try to trick
you!” Mark had said. “But don’t believe him. Don’t believe a word that comes
out of his venomous mouth!”
Melissa looked at her jacket that
was lying on the soft sand. There were granola bars in there and even a small
bottle of water that Mark had given her. She should probably eat something, but
the thought of food started to make her feel nauseous. Her head felt feverish
and her nose felt stuffed up. The abrupt change in temperatures in the last few
days was making her feel sick.
She looked at Rafe who was now
sitting under a tree and looking up at the sky, probably waiting for the sun to
set so that he could go out. He seemed to feel her eyes on her and looked at
her. Melissa instinctively hugged herself and turned the other way. He had
dropped a bombshell and he knew he had gotten her curious.
Don’t give in to the temptation!
She told herself firmly. No matter what, she had to stay strong if she wanted
to get out of this alive. Rafe was toying with her. Why wouldn’t he? He was
evil after all. This had to be some elaborate plan of his to weaken her until
she broke down completely and submitted herself to his evilness. It had to be!
First he had tried to brainwash her
against Mark and half succeeded. Next he would tell her that Jennifer was evil
and had murdered her sister. Jennifer would never do that. She was too timid
and scared to even consider killing an ant.
“Aren’t you going to ask me how
Jennifer did it?” Rafe teased.
Melissa pulled her jacket closed to
her and decided she wanted to eat the granola bar after all.
“Jennifer was seventeen and Lucia
was eighteen.” Rafe said.
Melissa peeled off the foil from
the bar and smiled. “Her name was Lucy, not Lucia. You made a huge...”
“She was born Lucia Karen Greene.”
Melissa took a small bite of the
bar and gagged. She took a few sips from the small bottle as Rafe waited
patiently for her to reply.
When the feeling had passed, she
leaned her head and stared at the bar, wanting to know what Rafe was going to
tell her but resisting the urge to ask him herself.
“They were sitting by the pool in
their house.” Rafe continued. “They had an argument about a boy...I believe his
name was Peter? Anyway, Jennifer was secretly in love with him, but Lucia asked
him out. When Jennifer told her of her feelings, Lucia said she had known all
along and didn’t care. She also said that Jennifer would be a loser for the
rest of her life. To cut a short story shorter, Jennifer picked up a steel rod
and hit her sister with it.”
“That’s not true.” Melissa said.
“Lucy was like that, I agree, but never in her wildest dreams would Jennifer
ever kill her own sister.”
“She didn’t mean to.” Rafe said quickly.
“That was the first and last time that Jennifer got angry. She was so scared
that she pushed her into the water, trying to cover her tracks, assuming that
she had killed her. Unfortunately what she didn’t know was that Lucia had only
passed out. If she hadn’t been thrown into the pool, she would have survived.”
“That’s ludicrous! I can’t believe
Jennifer could do that! I know her!” Melissa cried.
Rafe shrugged his shoulders. “You
think you know someone your whole life and then before you know it, she kills
her own sister and gets away with it.”
“Where is she?” Melissa asked. “I
need to see her. I need to hear it from her.”
“You can see her later.” Rafe said.
“You should wear your jacket. It’s going to get a lot cooler.”
“I want to see her now!”
“We have more important things to
discuss now. Haven’t you wondered why you aren’t dead yet?”
“So enlighten me?” Melissa said and
took a deep breath. “Am I special or something?”
Rafe gave a malicious grin. “As you
may have learned by now, there were five souls that escape hell every year.
You’ve seen the tombstones.”
Melissa frowned. “Yeah I got that
pretty loud and clear. Are you going to tell me something I don’t know?”
Rafe leaned forward. “I’m not one
of them.”
“Yeah, you’re the caretaker of the
souls in hell...”Melissa paused. “Wait! Shane and Sara were with you and they
were killed by Mark and his friends.” She saw Rafe scoff at her, but she
ignored him. “Then there’s Fiona and Keith. Keith was...he was shot by the
policeman and then he reappeared all dazed and confused.”
She glanced at Rafe and saw him
with his hands clasped and grinning widely as if he was so pleased at himself.
“This doesn’t make any sense.” she
concluded.
“Oh, but it does.” Rafe said
cheekily. “I sent Keith to you to let you know half the truth and to scare you
enough so that you would stay here. It was getting a little difficult keeping
an eye on you when you were running all over the place.”
Melissa pushed herself back when
Rafe spoke.
“Oh, and about the fifth member...”Rafe
whispered huskily, “it’s Kevin.”
“What? No, it can’t be, he’s one of
Mark’s friends.”
“I couldn’t look like myself, so in
order to gain the others trust; I took in the form of Kevin.”
“But Kevin looks...”
“Like one of his victims when he
was a human.”
She turned back to stare at the
street and felt her heart sink. A demon was among the riders, and they had no
clue. Mark had no idea that Kevin is one of the demons he was searching for!
She had to tell him. She had to warn him! Then another thought occurred to her.
Melissa opened her mouth and then
hesitated. “After Mark killed Shane and Sara...”
Rafe snickered. “They didn’t die!
They’re demons- cursed demons! The cycle ends when two innocents are killed by
them. They are confused though. They’re dragged against their wishes every year
because of Mark’s curse. They don’t know who they are and what their potential
is until the full moon when they come to full power and kill anyone who crosses
their path.”
“But you just said that Jennifer
is...I mean she was responsible for her sister’s death.”
“I still have two innocents saved
up.” Rafe said clasping his hands gleefully. “After the initial setbacks,
things have finally worked out.”
“What? Who are you going to kill
now?” Melissa asked.
Rafe smiled. “Let me begin by
congratulating you. You’re pregnant!”
Melissa stood up quickly. “That
can’t be true!” she yelled. “I can’t be pregnant!”
Rafe started to laugh and for a
moment Melissa started to relax. He was kidding of course. Just a small joke to
play on an innocent. But should she laugh with him? He was a demon and the joke
wasn’t really that funny.
She resisted the urge to kick
herself then. When had she begun thinking of Rafe as a friend?
“It’s a joke right?” she asked
hesitatingly.
“I think you know more than I do
that what I’m saying is absolutely true.” Rafe said.
“That can’t be possible.” she said.
She couldn’t breathe anymore. Her chest ached with the heavy pressure of his
news. “It’s Mark’s then. He would never try to hurt me and his child, would he?
Of course he wouldn’t. I can’t be pregnant!” she screamed.
Rafe grabbed her by the shoulders
and then slapped her. Melissa felt a sharp twinge of pain and fell to her
knees, sobbing out loud.
“You need to grab hold of yourself.”
Rafe said firmly.
Melissa cried and then touched her
stomach. There was life growing in there now and here she was stuck in this
place. There was a child growing inside her and she couldn’t come to terms with
it only because she had never thought she would be pregnant at her age and
outside of wedlock. What would her parents think? They were disappointed in her
when she had gone after Mark and now they would hate her when she would tell
them she was pregnant.
She could feel tranquility setting
inside her as she cried. She had been so careful and she had disappointed her
parents and herself. She sat up straight and looked at the sun as it began its
journey to the other side. The nightmare was about to begin again and now
something had changed in her and inside of her. She no longer had to only protect
herself, but also the child that was growing inside of her.
“Mark said not to trust you.” Melissa
said and wiped her tears. “So please, tell me the truth. Am I really...?”
“Ask yourself that.” Rafe said
solemnly.
Melissa took a deep breath and
looked down at the ground. “What do I do?”
“Are you really asking a demon
that?” Rafe asked.
“Does Mark know?”
She saw Rafe hesitate again and
felt her limbs getting numb with cold. “Why did he send me to you?”
“He couldn’t take the
responsibility.” Rafe said. “He didn’t tell me this, but I know what he was
thinking. He’s too young and he has his whole life ahead of him. Besides, this
whole curse thing hasn’t been solved yet.”
“He...he sacrificed me?”
“He couldn’t do it himself.”
“But you didn’t.” she said quietly
and felt her throat closing in. Suddenly she could feel herself being unable to
breathe. Just relax! Her mind screamed. Think of your baby! She took a few
open mouthed breaths and relaxed her shoulders. First it was Jennifer who had
turned out to be someone she hadn’t even imagined and now Mark? It was fate
that had brought her here so that she would find out who her friend and
boyfriend really were and this was her punishment for running away from home.
“But I couldn’t kill a mother.” Rafe
said, his face softening suddenly. “Not again, anyway. My wife was pregnant
with our child and I didn’t care about her or the baby. Then I got drunk one
night and hit her. She didn’t survive and neither did the baby. Even then I
didn’t care about anything. I was so drunk that I didn’t even make it to the
funeral.”
“That’s terrible.” Melissa said.