12

It circled around the outside of Stephen’s house. In Stephen’s body, there were limitations. It couldn’t move around as quickly as it wanted to. All because of that b*****d, thirty years ago. People have no respect for others’ belongings. No respect at all! He just tipped it over, no regard!

Scratching at Stephen’s cheek, it noticed blood on its fingernails. Too much for their own good, no doubt about it. He should’ve snatched that boy when he had the chance. The group was in chaos, all were confused, and Stephen was the calmest out of all of them. The witch doctor spilling his blood, and then, stepping in it, along with a couple others… No, sir. It didn’t think the witch doctor was as bad as the leader of that group. He just taints what was once clean, and then, runs off. If it weren’t for that b*****d, it would be with Him right now. No point in wasting precious energy on Earth.

As much help as this body was, as far as surviving, it couldn’t perform what it needed to, in order to start His reign. At least it had the pendent. If it weren’t for that, of course, it wouldn’t have survived this long. It wasn’t enough, though, and it knew that for a fact, if nothing else. The witch doctor was next, but making that mistake years ago, on his chest, didn’t help things at all… Not one bit. That petty nonsense she was spouting was the cherry for them.

Spiders circled around it, as it called to them, slowly. Taking random shapes, it couldn’t take Stephen’s eyes off of them. Its own eyes, as far as it was concerned. This body, this mind belonged to it. Its blood ran in Stephen’s veins, no matter how much or how little was in him. Walking into his parents’ house, the place’s smells filled its (Stephen’s) nostrils immediately. The stench of alcohol and old fires made its (Stephen’s) eyes water.

“That b*****d and his w***e,” it whispered.

It didn’t know where they were, but it could take a guess. The fact that it couldn’t find that dog’s granddaughter and her follower meant that they met the cross-keeper. Even in a damn body, it couldn’t enter that old barn. One little thing it was never told. It had to figure, though. With all the knowledge it gathered from Stephen’s brain, this part was plain common sense, stuff five-year olds learn in Sunday school.

The winds were cold and harsh toward its (Stephen’s) face but it wouldn’t be in this shithole without reason. After it disappeared from Lane Prairie, it needed to find another way to get inside of the witch doctor. The dog’s whelp had to be eliminated and it knew that for a fact. No witnesses, whatsoever, to the incident thirty years ago. It already knocked off the daughter of the dog. It just never thought the Alpha would be so stupid. Why fill her head with the same bullshit he had been hearing his whole life?!

A mission for an end, that’s all it was, it figured. The dumbass wouldn’t have known it then, but the groupie in the hole, thirty years ago, protected the witch doctor in a way she would never know about. Oh, sure, the intention she had was clear, but clearly, she wasn’t well-educated. Probably just a victim of inbreeding…

Dumping the house over, shelf by shelf, Stephen’s body was blanketed with dust. Still, the spiders wouldn’t move out of their rhythm. By the size of them, there was no mistaking them. Wolf spiders, the fastest it had heard of, in over one hundred years. Perfect for hunting, but all it needed was a simple location.

“Where are they?” it asked them.

Its, or rather Stephen’s, arms were itching as the wolf spiders gathered in an odd formation. It was something it never noticed before. Oh no, the spiders weren’t exactly spelling out words, but making a picture. Scoffing, it remembered the old saying that a picture’s worth a thousand words, but this picture looked unclear. All it saw was a stairway. Stairway to what? Many of these homes were too small for stairways. The spiders were faster than any human could hope to be, but the image never changed. Stairs. No other signs of a home or business. It, for being a so-called spirit, would have guessed for a long time about what those stairs meant.

“What was it Momma would say?” it joked. “Am I a spirit or am I a particular gender?”

Well, of course it would know the answer to that. However, that was beside the point of this little sketch, so to speak. It knew, already, who it was, physically speaking. Taking over those bodies didn’t mean it lost its sense of identity. When one was born a certain gender, they stay that gender for life… Or so it was told. Kana was the name. That’s what it knew. Kana, male, what was it? About twenty eight when he died? Or, like it thought before, so it was told. Momma told him too much while he grew up and he couldn’t always take her word for it.

But what did this damn stairs mean? Yes, he was male, and was now in a male body. How stupid would one have to be to forget who they physically are? He told Stephen that all who interfered with his family, in any way, would suffer. As he thought, the Alpha dog was dead, so he would think that there would be nothing left.

“There’s always something left, dipshit,” he thought.

He wouldn’t dare say that out loud. Who knows if this place had other visitors? Yes, he’s been in the drunks for a while, but they shoved their kin under the house, for Christ’s sake! If dear Moses could summon frogs and lice on a single country, someone could hear Kana’s verbal communications, loud and clear.

Dumping books and papers all over the floors, he searched for anything that could have a clue to “stairs”. The pendent around Stephen’s neck glowed a bright blue as Kana searched. Not time to feed, not yet. He, the goat with human legs, would have to give him the extra strength, but not until the execution of all witnesses. If they were to know about His plan, Kana wouldn’t receive his final reward.

The idea of continuing to eat raw animals made him shiver. Blood crawled out of Stephen’s nose as he rubbed his arms slowly. Too much blood, not enough brains. That figures. There was always something stopping the human psyche from continuing to move, and Kana knew damn well what it was: fear. Fear of the unknown. By instinct, no one really wants to give up on living. Not truly. Of course, as he consumed life in the past, he always noticed the same behavior with his victims, humans or animals. “Give me one more week, one more day, one more minute. Always, one more. What a crock of s**t.

“Confess all sins and ye shall be welcomed in the gates of Heaven,” he murmured. “Such horseshit!” Momma told him the truth at the last minute, and what did that get her? Justice by Him, the goat with human legs, that’s what. So much for forgiveness…

The wolf spiders continued moving around his feet as he searched. This time, their shape was different. What looked like a box and a cross on top of it, was drawn five feet away from where he stood. Raising his eyebrows, Kana slapped Stephen’s head.

“Of course I know what that means. But what’s with the stairs. Where are they?”

As if on command, the wolf spiders were joined by a few tarantulas. They started eating each other right in front of him. He could hear the tiny shrieks coming from them as they bit into each other. It reminded him of his last meal, the dog outside of the witch doctor’s shelter. He would have sworn he heard a few crunching noises, but that could have just been wishful thinking. Tiny spots of blood appeared like paint across the wood floors. Different types of spiders, fighting until the death.

Of course he knew what that symbolized. Only a complete idiot would see past that factor.

It couldn’t have been the cemetery at Lane Prairie. That was a little far for his comfort. Nothing historical was there. All it held was a shelter for a few runaway brats along the road. Not Cleburne, because, again, it was too far. Looking out a window next to the dining room table, he saw the Bethesda Cemetery. The sky was getting darker, even though it was only, now, half past six in the evening. He noticed a small moon creep past the clouds, growing bigger as he stared. It shone on the cemetery a bluish gray.

The moon was in a Cheshire-cat smile, but the light gleamed down on a particular area of the yard. What was it doing in particular, though? Of course, he knew the answer to that question, even before finishing the thought. But there was no point in alerting those who walked among him, if there wasn’t an emergency to tell. He would have to find this you whelp, this Kailie Hartman, alone. They lived among a small town, so, some weren’t too difficult to come across.

Looking down on the wood, many of the wolf spiders were dead, and very few of the tarantulas followed. The bloodstains of the dead spiders looked lie ink, drawing out the staircase. Staircase to what, though?! He still didn’t know. Oh sure, he could get a hint as to who tainted his history, but a simple staircase was shown to him, and it was like knowledge no longer existed with him. Stephen was a smart person, Kana knew that. He had his memories after all. Even there, however, there was no sign of any staircase. A staircase heading downward, that is.

“Think! What has to do with a staircase going down?” The ideas were screaming at him, but he still couldn’t see anything. That damn couple and the head dog! What did that have that he didn’t? Staircases had more to do with Heaven, that much he knew. But they were never mentioned in the opposite direction. As he continued staring, the message began to slowly change.

The arachnids’ blood began swirling around, blending in the wood. Nails slowly unhooked to the wood and tossed themselves aside in the corners of his eyes. He never looked to see where they landed, just kept his eyes on the wood. As he continued staring, the blood lifted off of the wood, clean. A fire quietly appeared in the blood’s place, burning any evidence it might have had. The smells of iron and smoke erupted around the room as his eyes glued to the scene. The fire expanded, even when the blood and legs were gone from the air. It was a bright yellowish orange, glowing, as the winds picked up. He could feel its warmth and brightness against his face, as he moved closer to it. It was dragging him near, before he had a chance to think.

It blew his hair as the fire continued to grow in the air. It stretched into a circle, forming around his head. All he could do was stare at the phenomenon. It slowly took shapes of people without any faces, getting closer to his own. Before he had time to blink, the people-shaped flames suddenly puffed out like a candle in the wind. They had disappeared, almost as quickly as they were formed. It looked more like whip lashes, rather than smoke as they disappeared. From behind him, there was a slow, loud scratching on the wood. Deep and specific, he covered his ears and smoothly turned around to see what the noise had been.

A leftover nail hovered next to him, scratching into the wood, like chalk on a chalkboard. Only much louder. He wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn’t look away. This nail was small and silver against, at least, fifty year-old wood. The marks were around six inches long when he finally was able to read words on the floor. Words that suddenly made sense, from everything else:

Burn thy enemy, cleanse and bury.

Smiling, he was no longer baffled by tonight’s actions. The goat with human legs was helping him. He wouldn’t fight this alone. Even if he did, he knew what he had to do to rid the world of the ones who tainted him. Stepping in his blood forced him to this world, and he would be free soon, he just knew it! He had to follow what the original plan was: All will writhe, all for eternity.

The fire disappeared and so did the scratching on the wood. It was clean and smooth, like it was never touched. There wasn’t even smoke left over to smell. He knew what he had to do, and he knew how it would be done. Slaughter them… Burn them. Fire as a form of purification will work on the enemies that soiled him.

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