Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Patty hesitated. Was it all just a dream? The last thing she remembered was talking on the phone with...what was his name again? It seemed as though he said something important. She licked her lips, tasted something sweet and dabbed her fingers against them.

        Before her from a swirling wake of mist he stepped forward. His piercing stare held level her intrigue as he lifted a finger to his lips and clicked his tongue.

"You will notice a change soon," he said. "Those whom have managed to pollute this realm with desires and selfish determination will know another life, another reality."

"But is…"

"Your soon to be ex-husband isn't truly dead," he interjected. "Death is just an illusion anyway. What one perceives as death is just a physical plague sweeping flesh and bone away."

 Patty slouched, searched the brief length of the hallway for a chair and collapsed short of the recliner basked in darkness. Its outline blurred as she lowered her face.  "I can't do this," she whispered. "I can't hurt anyone."

 "You don't have a choice," he said smoothly. "The wheels are already in motion and there is nothing you can do to cease them."

She forced out a breath and winced. Pressing a hand between her breasts she stifled a sob as a hot bullet of agony seared through her. Heat flushed her face as blood swooshed in her ears. Listening to the pounding drum of her heart she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth.

"What are you implying," she strained.

"Does it apply to you now?"

Her eyes widened.  He was hovering inches off the carpet!   His bleak boots turned and turned again. Gazing at her fuzzy reflection in the brilliant buckles and fasteners she straightened and turned toward the hall. Its light beckoned her.

"You wanted hell," he continued. "You wanted nightmares to wash over them. I am simply giving you these wishes."

"And I am damned," she said. "I am damned to spend eternity in hell with them."

"Perhaps," he sang.

Her focus shifted.  He was now drifting slowly and aimlessly about the room. She crawled to the burgundy recliner and climbed into it. With a fluttering hand she cradled her forehead.

“Sometimes during night's fall the ink from hell's pen writes a fantastic story, but weaving fiction is harder than it seems. Eyes fail to gaze upon it lest it be riddled with fornication. Perhaps humans have soiled themselves far more than ever imagined. Carnal delight lingers behind closed eyes and never truly subsides from minds absent on wisdom,” he explained.

Patty stared. From unoccupied space evolved shadows that consumed every inch of stucco wall across from her. Her hands gripped the arms of the chair. She exhaled a long breath. She had been holding it for quite some time now. Her ribs ached as she drew in a fresh breath and looked away.

"What did you do to him? What did you do to my husband? The police stopped by not more than five minutes ago. His body is missing from the morgue. I need to know, Ronan," she said.

“Perhaps the answer is not ready. I wondered if it would even matter much. He will serve a purpose now. That is all you need to know.”

Patty shook her head. Her fingers curled in the floral fabric of the cushion. It hadn't been her choice to upholster the damn chair in the first place, but now it reminded her of...?

"But how can a body go missing from a morgue? He couldn't have just got up and walked out."

Ronan laughed.  “How do you know that wasn't what happened?

Patty grimaced. The taste of her lipstick on her tongue as she licked her lips made his sentence all the more repugnant. She turned. The window's view now called to her. Though the sky was a rick blanket of navy blue it no longer seemed clear. Soon clouds would push in. They would blot out the moon and push the stars into obscurity.

Sirens sliced through her. Rotating red and blue lights flooded the avenue below, splashed across wet pavement and seemed to shine for an eternity before reaching the end of the block. Soon a parade of emergency vehicles followed and Patty lifted herself out of her chair to wander over for a closer view.  The pane was cool to the touch, but she pulled back as though it were hot. With a fist between her breasts she forced in a breath. Streams of people were running, bumping into one another and screaming. It was muffled, but all she needed was to see the expressions on their faces to know something awful happened.

 "What's going on, Ronan," she asked softly.

She turned and there he was fully embodied. His face came slowly into the lights that filled the night and she stepped back, pressed up against the glass as his eyes scoured the speeding police cars and fire trucks. There was something dark and dangerous in them as their gaze momentarily locked.

"What you wanted to happen," came his reply.

She resumed her watch out the window. "I need to know exactly what it is."

"We've been through this already."

 "Yes, and I still don't understand why you won't tell me anything. You said you came to me because my sorrow called you out or something, right? Well, since it was my sorrow don't you think that should give me some rights?"

"It doesn't work that way, but you humans and your beliefs never grow intriguing. Actually they are anything but. I imagine times before when maybe you might have matter, but humans are never going to evolve. They are going to remain the same slime as always."

 "But how can you be so sure? Humanity is something to have trust in. I believe there is still good in people. You just have to look for it."

 "I am tired of looking," he stated sourly. "I granted your wish. Our business is finished. Should I happen to stay around it would only be to watch the madness unfold."

And in a lightning flash he was gone. Alone in the darkness of her living room she sobbed as another set of emergency vehicles whipped by with lights flashing and sirens blaring.

Your husband was the first. Soon he will visit you. Then others will succumb to the same understanding. Making deals will get you nowhere. It is not possible to avoid. I will make examples out of Liam and anyone else who endorsed your misery. That is our bargain. That is what shall be.