Demonic Designs (To Absolve the Fallen) (39 page)

“Well, yeah, but I still don’t understand--”

“Somehow,” Abbie interrupted, “you got a message to me, even though you had no intention of doing so.
 
Through some form of technology, you told me you were in need.”

Elizabeth’s eyes went wide, “Abbie, you’re not suggesting...”

“You are a prophet, Liz.
 
We knew that your powers would begin manifesting soon.”

“But how?”

Abbie breathed deeply.
 
“I doubt that I can fully explain.
 
I can hypothesize that, because you are so connected to technology, technology has become sympathetic to you.”

Elizabeth pointed at the computer.
 
“It claims it’s alive.”

Abbie shrugged.
 
“Maybe it is.
 
However, it’s definitely not alive in the way you and I are.”

At that moment, Abbie’s phone rang.

“Ah,” she groaned.
 
“Now what?”
 
She looked at the caller ID and shot Elizabeth a curious glance.
 
“This is Abbie,” she said.
 
After a silence, she stated, “Jeremiah, I was just telling Elizabeth how ugly you look in chain mail.”
 
She paused again and smiled at Elizabeth, who couldn’t help but smile back.
 
Then, Abbie’s face contorted.
 
“What?”

She walked out of the computer lab and moved toward the stairs.
 
Elizabeth, sensing distress, followed her.
 
Abbie was descending the stairs quickly.
 
“How long ago were they found like that?” she asked the demon.
 
“Damn it, Jeremiah, I told you not to let Matt go with him, that it wasn’t time yet....
 
This is your show.
 
How can you say you don’t have any control?”
 
By this time, she had reached the bottom of the stairs.

“What is it?” Elizabeth yelled at her.
 
Her heart had leapt into her throat when Abbie indicated something had happened to Matt and Alex.

Abbie said, “Hold on,” to the phone.
 
She turned back to Elizabeth.
 
“I’ve got to go,” she explained.
 
“Something’s wrong.”

“What’s
wrong, Abbie?”

“I don’t know yet,” she answered honestly.
 
She put the phone back to her ear and headed for the door.

***

Alex had been accustomed to waking up after he could no longer see, but this time was different.
 
He felt like he was in for quite a ride with this vision.
 
He was in a different place.
 
It looked to be a high school gymnasium, and there was a crowd of people standing in the middle of the floor, shouting and cheering.
 
Alex moved closer to the crowd.

He could hear one boy, above the murmur of the mob of teenagers, yelling something.

“Fucking faggot!” he screamed.

It was surreal how the crowd parted for Alex.
 
A wall of people stood aside, like a door, and filled in behind him.
 
It gave him a better view, but it trapped him near the action.

There was a boy standing in the middle of the crowd, looking very scared.
 
There was no doubt about it.
 
It was Matt.
 
He was younger and much smaller than the Matt whom Alex knew, but it was Matt.
 
He looked like he was going to cry.
 
His eyes were scanning the crowd.
 
Alex wondered what he hoped to find.
 
A way out?
 
A friend?
 
Alex wanted, so badly, to go to him.
 
He wanted to get between Matt and this adversary, but it was impossible.
 
He tried to touch Matt, but his fingers passed right through Matt’s arm.
 
No.
 
There would be no intervening.
 
The other boy was enormous.
 
Alex guessed he must have been a linebacker for the high school football team at some point.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Derek,” Matt said.

“Don’t you fucking lie to me, you goddamn cocksucker,” Derek shouted.
 
“You’re not getting out of this one.
 
I saw you staring at me in the showers.
 
I warned you once.”

A quick jab from Derek sent Matt falling backwards, flailing his arms.
 
In a second, Derek was on top of him, pinning Matt’s arms to the ground with his knees.
 
He was pummeling Matt’s face, and the back of the would-be prophet’s head was bouncing against the hard wood floor of the gym.
 
Derek just laid into him, and no one stepped in to help or even questioned what was going on.
 
Matt’s head rocked from one side to the other from a couple strikes, and blood flew into the air.
 

Alex felt that he’d seen this before.
 
Then, he remembered this was what he’d felt in the car, on the night that he’d first met Matt and Elizabeth.

Derek stood up; it looked like he was finally done smashing Matt’s face.
 
He had blood all over his own face and arms.
 
He looked down at his shirt and, horrified, he saw blood there, too.
 
He motioned to someone in the crowd.

“Pick him up,” Derek commanded.

Another pretty big guy did as was commanded.
 
He held Matt in a full nelson, and Derek walked up.

“This shirt cost sixty bucks, which is more than you’re worth.”
 
With that, he kneed Matt in the groin.
 
Matt tried to double over but couldn’t.
 
“And this,” Derek added as he kneed him again, “is for the blood all over my face.”
 
Again, Matt tried to double over, but the brute behind him held fast.
 
“Drop him,” Derek commanded.

The brute dropped Matt, and the prophet landed with a dull thud.
 
Matt curled up on the ground, in a pool of his own blood.
 
Moments later, he threw up.
 
That made the crowd part a little.
 
Matt looked like he would soon lose consciousness.

Derek spat on him.
 
“You better not have AIDS, faggot, or I’ll fucking kill you.”

And Alex believed he would have, too.

Alex looked at Matt as the boy moaned on the floor, and the mob of teenagers walked away, unconcernedly.
 
Derek kicked Matt in the ribs before leaving, for good measure.
 
Matt recoiled, but only a little.
 
As they were leaving, Matt just lay there.
 
He looked like he was crying.
 
Blood, mixed with vomit, mixed with tears.
 
Alex looked away, and the scene faded.

***

Elizabeth stood midway on the stairs.
 
She was in a state of disbelief.
 
She didn’t know what to do, and her heart was racing.
 
Even though Abbie was the most accomplished prophet Elizabeth had ever met, it gave her little comfort to know that she was going to help Matt, who was, for all Elizabeth knew, dying.
 
She couldn’t call anyone because anyone who would be able to help either couldn’t get there in time or was already there.
 
So she stood, motionless, helpless.

“Is there something wrong?” a soft voice from below queried.

Elizabeth looked down and saw a tan-complexioned young man with a nearly shaved head.
 
His clothing was very modest, very plain.
 
He held himself completely upright, and Elizabeth couldn’t help but feel the peace that radiated from him.
 
Lao Shi.
 
She wondered if the commotion had woken him, but the walls in the mansion were thick enough that a concert could be held in the foyer, and nothing would be heard in the bedrooms.

“I hope not,” Elizabeth replied.

“You look distressed,” Lao Shi observed.

“I think my friend may be in danger.”

“Alex?” Lao Shi asked.

“No,” she returned, looking at him sternly, “Matt.”

“I think he will be fine,” Lao Shi commented, coolly

Her look changed.
 
“Why?”

“He has much to do yet,” the Lama replied.

“Doesn’t Alex?”

“Of course,” Lao Shi affirmed.
 
“But he will soon be in danger.
 
So, naturally, I thought that it was for him that you worried.”

Elizabeth was intrigued.
 
“You’ve seen that?”

“Not as you see things.”

“I know,” Elizabeth agreed.
 
“But you dream things, the future.”

“I do not always dream of the future.
 
Sometimes, I dream of the past, and sometimes I dream of the present.
 
Sometimes, I dream of things that never happened and never will happen.”

“And you know that Alex will be in danger?”

“Is he not in a constant state of danger?” Lao Shi countered.

“That isn’t what I’m asking, and I think you know it.”

“Then, you should be specific in your meaning.”

Elizabeth sighed deeply.
 
“Will Alex soon be in mortal danger?”

Lao Shi looked at her, curiously, for a moment and answered, “Yes.”

Elizabeth was shocked.
 
“From what?”

“Demons,” Lao Shi answered, shortly.

“You’re very difficult to talk to.”

“That is interesting.”

“Why?” she asked.

“I have been told that I am very easy to talk to but very difficult to understand.”

“Okay,” she said, giving up.
 
“I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to find out what’s going on.
 
I may be needed, soon.”

“I think you do mean to be rude, but you do not want to appear that way,” Lao Shi responded.
 
“But I understand your concern.
 
And if it is any consolation, I believe he does need you, and will continue to need you, more than you know.”
 
With that, the Lama walked back the way he had come.

***

Alex found himself sitting at a bar.
 
He’d never been in a bar before, but this one seemed odd.
 
There was a crazy light show going on, and people were moving to the rhythm.
 
It wasn’t so much an issue of dancing; they were just really getting into the music.
 
It was at this point that Alex realized why the bar seemed so out of the ordinary—there were no women.

Alex looked around, and he saw Matt, sitting two stools down from where he was sitting.
 
Matt slammed a clear liquid out of a shot glass and peered into the empty receptacle.
 
He was slouching over the bar.
 
The Matt that Alex saw in this vision was not much older than the one he’d seen in the last.
 
He looked like he could have gotten into an R-rated movie, but he looked too young to be in a bar.
 
Alex figured that he had probably obtained a fake ID to get in this place.

Again, Alex felt the need to speak to Matt, to make him feel better, to draw him out of this nightmare.
 
In doing so, maybe Alex could also get out.
 
But, as in the other cases, Alex was a helpless observer.
 
Over the course of a few minutes, two different guys walked up to Matt.
 
One stroked Matt’s hair and asked him if he wanted to dance.
 
Matt brushed the hand away and said he didn’t feel like it.
 
Another asked Matt if he could buy him a drink, and Matt agreed.
 
He was having Vodka, and that was just fine with his new friend.
 
That guy ended up ordering Matt a couple more shots before getting to the point.
 
He wanted to go somewhere more secluded, but Matt didn’t look like he wanted to move from his spot, and the guy got a little agitated.
 
Matt told him that he wasn’t in the mood.
 
The guy put his hand on Matt’s thigh, and Matt pushed it off.