Demon

by Laura DeLuca

  “I guess … I mean.” Rebecca sighed and put her head in her hands. “I just can’t help thinking about what happened with Debbie….”

  Justyn shook his head. “This isn’t the same, Becca. Scott died of a drug overdose.”

  “I know that. But I found his body, just like Wendy … and then after that, you got shot … and I thought … I thought I was going to lose you forever.”

  And there were the hysterics, coupled with barely comprehensible babbling. She should have realized she wouldn’t be able to hold it back forever. Luckily, Justyn was like her own all-natural Prozac. As soon as he pulled her close, she felt a little calmer, a little safer. She hadn’t even realized she’d started crying until he used the clean end of the towel to gently wipe away her tears.

  “Shhhh,” he whispered. “Look at me, Becca. Look at me,” he insisted when she refused to meet his gaze. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere. You’re never going to lose me. You’re stuck with me. For better or worse.”

  “It seems like there’s been a lot more ‘worse’ lately,” Rebecca said with a loud sigh.

  “Well, that just means we have plenty ‘better’ to look forward to in the future.”

  When he smiled at her like that, it was hard not to smile back. “You know,” she observed, “you have to be the most upbeat and optimistic Goth in the world.”

  “It’s just another misguided stereotype that all Goths are depressed and angry at the world,” Justyn teased. “But seriously, it’s going to be okay, Becca. You’re safe now. I promise I won’t let anything hurt you. Not again.”

  Rebecca nodded and leaned back into his arms. It made her feel more rational, if not completely better. It was just so hard to get the images out of her head. She didn’t particularly like Scott, but she had never wished anything so horrible on him. Even if he did bring it on himself, it was still a tragedy for such a young, talented person to be lost to the world forever. But as the hours passed, Justyn’s loving hands massaging her shoulders and the relaxing qualities of the herbal tea began to work their magic. Things started to seem a little less horrible. Scott’s death was still a tragedy, but one she could live with. As she pulled on her pajamas, she even dared to hope for a peaceful sleep free from nightmares.

  “Hey, Becca.” Justyn peeked his head in from the bathroom where he was brushing his teeth. “Have you seen my sweatpants? You know—the black ones?”

  Rebecca actually giggled a little. “You do realize that all of your clothes are black, right?”

  He crinkled his nose at her. “You know which ones I mean. The pair I always sleep in. I can’t find them anywhere.”

  “I saw them in the hamper the other day,” Rebecca offered.

  “No, I remember folding them at the laundry mat yesterday, and I swear I put them in the top drawer. It’s so strange how all my stuff just keeps disappearing.”

  Rebecca smiled. “Darlene would say the faeries are playing tricks on you.”

  “The faeries’ taste usually runs to glitter, not Goth.” He laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “I guess they’ll turn up eventually.”

  Rebecca nodded through a yawn. It had been an exhausting day, and she couldn’t wait to crawl into bed and get it all over with. She snuggled close to Justyn and breathed in the familiar scent of his patchouli and sandalwood cologne. She felt safe and warm beside him, despite the deepening chill in the November air. She was just on the verge of falling asleep when the musical jingle of Justyn’s cell phone jolted her back to full awareness. It was hard to ignore the melodic notes of the Phantom theme song that was his ringtone. Justyn sat up too, but still looked a little groggy. He wiped the sleep from his eyes before squinting to look at the clock on the nightstand.

  “Who’s calling me at one in the morning?” he grumbled.

  He rose from the bed and pulled the phone from the discarded cargo pants he had tossed onto the floor. But he wasn’t quick enough. By the time he fished the cell from his pocket, it had already stopped ringing.

  “Who was it?” Rebecca asked through a loud yawn.

  Justyn shrugged and pressed a few buttons to try to find his list of missed calls. He was obviously having trouble in the dim light. When he finally found what he was looking for, his eyes narrowed.

  “It was Livy.”

  “What? Why would she be calling you so late?”

  Rebecca really wanted to ask why Livy would be calling him at all or why she even had his number, but she restrained herself. She knew she had no reason to be jealous.

  Justyn shook his head. “I have no idea. Should I call her ba—”

  He didn’t get to finish the question before the phone started playing the pipe organ again. Justyn seemed unsure how to respond and looked to her for direction, probably worried he might wind up on the loveseat again if he made the wrong decision. Rebecca shrugged in resignation.

  “Just answer it already. She’ll probably keep calling until you do.”

  Justyn nodded and flipped open the phone. “Hello? Livy?”

  Justyn was silent for a few long minutes as he listened. Rebecca could hear Livy’s frazzled voice shouting through the phone, but it wasn’t clear enough to make out what she was saying. Justyn’s elusive responses weren’t helping Rebecca to maintain her patience.

  “Livy, calm down. What? Are you serious?”

  Rebecca still had no idea what was going on, but Justyn began to get that look in his eyes again—the look that made him so convincing in the role of the villain. His whole face seemed to fall into shadows.

  “What’s going on?” Rebecca mouthed.

  Justyn held up his finger to gesture for her to wait. “Okay, Livy. Yeah, thanks for letting me know. Uh huh. Yeah, she’s here. I’ll tell her.” He sighed. “I’m sorry about this, Livy. I know he was your friend. Yeah. Okay. Bye.”

  Justyn closed the phone and then just stood there for a moment, without speaking or moving—seemingly without breathing. It made Rebecca nervous. She felt her heart start to pound. She wanted to ask him what Livy had said, but suddenly she couldn’t find her voice. Finally, he moved toward the bed. He sat down beside her and grimaced as he pressed his fingers against his eyes. It made her realize that everything happening was putting just as much strain on him as it was on her—maybe more so, because he was trying so hard to be strong for both of them.

  “What is it?” She inched a little closer to him and put a supportive hand on his knee.

  “Livy just found out something about Scott,” Justyn started. “Something terrible.”

  Rebecca’s pounding heart might have actually stopped beating altogether for one awful moment. In her mind, she heard Tom telling her that Jay’s car accident had been intentional and that same all-consuming panic she had felt back then started to take hold. She had no idea how she managed to squeeze any words past the lump that suddenly materialized in her throat.

  “It wasn’t an accident, was it?”

  Justyn sighed. “No, it wasn’t an accident.”

  “Oh, God!” Rebecca felt like her air supply had just been cut off. “Not again.”

  “It’s not what you’re thinking either,” Justyn assured her quickly when he saw the familiar panic. He took both her hands. “It was an overdose, Becca, but it was intentional. Scott committed suicide.”

  “That … that’s horrible,” Rebecca whispered, shocked. “Why … why would he do that?”

  It was horrible. Not quite as terrible as murder, but it still made her shudder. But it didn’t explain why Justyn was cajoling her or why he looked so nervous or so angry. The fact that he was trying so hard to comfort her was actually making her even more anxious. She wished he would just get to the point.

  “There’s more,” Justyn continued. “Now try to stay calm, okay, Becca. I’m right here.”

  “Justyn, just tell me already,” she pleaded. “Whatever it is, I promise I can handle it.”

  “They found a note in Scott’s locker at the theater tonight,” Ju
styn explained. “It … it was a confession.”

  “A … a confession about what?”

  She already knew the answer, but she needed to hear the words out loud, just as a confirmation. Justyn squeezed her hands in reassurance before he replied, but it still didn’t stop Rebecca’s world from spinning when he finally verified what she had feared.

  “Scott confessed to being the campus rapist.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The show must go on, or so, Professor Carter proclaimed. Rebecca and the rest of the cast had no choice but to agree if they expected to move on to the professional stage one day. Scott’s understudy took his place, and though his acting started out tentative, especially beside the grieving Chad, they somehow managed to make the performance believable. Still, the chorus was dwindling. The backup singers were just as critical as the main cast members, and they couldn’t afford to lose anyone else. They could only hope they made it through the ten scheduled shows with no further incidents.

  For the next week, they practiced in a sort of calm melancholy. Chad didn’t start anymore trouble with Justyn and Rebecca. He didn’t fawn over Livy, and most importantly, there were no signs of drippy sinuses since Scott’s death. He stuck to himself, looking lost and alone, and Rebecca found herself feeling sorry for him. It reminded her of when Tom lost his faithful sidekick. Livy stayed quiet as well, but Rebecca had the strange feeling it was the calm before the storm. She kept her guard up whenever the Goth girl was around.

  Rebecca still wasn’t quite sure how she felt about Scott’s death or his confession. She had thought once the man who attacked her was brought to justice, she would feel secure again. Maybe it was just the fact that the justice was issued by his own hand, but Rebecca still felt uneasy about the situation. Another thing that made her worry was that the police hadn’t contacted her to tell her the case was officially closed. In fact, she hadn’t heard anything from them at all, which seemed odd. Confession or not, she had to wonder if it was really over. In her mind, she kept replaying the detective whispering into his phone as he walked out of her hospital room.

  “We might have a copycat on our hands,” he had said.

  Even if Scott had confessed to being the campus rapist, it didn’t mean he was the one who attacked her. There could still be some nameless, faceless monster out to get her. The thought made Rebecca shudder, much to the aggravation of the artist who was putting the finishing touches on her makeup for opening night. Rebecca wanted to be excited about the show, but with so much grief and pain looming over them, she had to wonder if the cast of Demon Barber wasn’t just as cursed as the characters they portrayed.

  “Are you ready?”

  Justyn came up behind her as she slipped out of her dressing room chair and snaked his arm around her waist. Again, she couldn’t believe how realistic he looked in his eighteenth century attire. Though not as stately as the coattails of the phantom, the Victorian-style jacket and collared shirt didn’t look out of place on him. The crazy wig only complemented the dark ensemble. He looked so irresistible she couldn’t resist messing up her newly applied lipstick to give him a peck his lips.

  “You seem in better spirits than you did the opening night of Phantom,” he teased.

  Rebecca laughed. “Well, I’m not going to throw up, if that’s what you mean.” As soon as she said it, she immediately started to doubt her own words as her stomach did a little flip-flop. She had been so busy thinking about Scott, she almost forgot to be nervous. “But I can’t guarantee I’m not going to pass out.”

  Justyn rolled his eyes. “You’re going to be fine,” he insisted. “Have faith in yourself. You’ll be as stunning as always. Everything is going to be perfect.”

  While she wasn’t sure about the stunning part, since she was dressed in rags, Justyn was right about everything being perfect. The play proceeded without incident. Rebecca stepped out onto the stage for the first scene at the docks, begging for change. Her hand trembled as she reached her dirt-encrusted fingers out to Quinn, but it was acceptable for a chilly London morning for her to be a little shaky. After he handed her a few pennies, her whole demeanor changed. Gone was the shy and scared little waif. With a ludicrous smile, Rebecca lifted up her dirty skirts and thrust her hips out toward Quinn provocatively.

  “Little sailor, young and sweet,

  give me a piece of that there meat.

  You know you’d like to split me fruit,

  or maybe I should just blow on your flute.”

  The crowd burst into an approving and appropriate burst of laughter. Quinn, in his role of Anthony, cleared his throat and tried his best to ignore her. So Lucy moves on and attempts the same crazy lines on Sweeney Todd. He acts disgusted as he shoos her off the stage, but Justyn was sure to give Rebecca a secret smile when his back was turned to the audience.

  After that scene was over, Rebecca had to stand on the sidelines and watch Justyn and Livy duet together, their voices rising and blending in perfect harmony. Despite the slight pang of envy she felt at not being beside him, Rebecca was still enthralled with his acting and his beautiful, heart-breaking voice. He managed to look both evil and furious, and yet so tortured that it was hard not to feel his pain and even justify his blood-thirsty rage. It was Mrs. Lovatt who was the true villain of Demon Barber. Her lies invoked the wrath that led to the murderous rampage, and she was happy to encourage it, so long as it kept Sweeney Todd under her thumb. It was a role Livy was perfectly suited for.

  When they reached the finale, there were gasps and more than a few sniffs when Justyn cradled Becca’s lifeless body, eventually dripping fake blood that tasted like Kool-Aid all over her face and lips after Toby/Frankie finally ended his suffering with his own blade. Once that pivotal scene was complete, the whole cast came back out for the last refrain. Both the dead and the few that were still living stood side-by-side.

  “The story of Sweeney Todd should teach us well,

  that vengeance and hatred are the road to hell.

  To follow this path will lead only to pain.

  If Sweeney taught you this lesson, his life wasn’t in vain.”

  With those closing lines, the whole cast stomped off the stage to the sound of a slamming door, just as the stage went black. It all happened so quickly, it was hard to believe the show was already over. Before she even had time to get nervous, Rebecca was running out to take her bows.

  It wasn’t quite the rush she had experienced at her debut performance, but Rebecca still got her share of hoots and whistles. Justyn and Livy, of course, received the brunt of the applause. Technically, Livy was the star, but even she was overshadowed by the wave of clapping that swept the audience when Justyn took his bow. Finally the title characters held hands for one last encore. It only bothered Rebecca a little that Livy got to hold Justyn’s hand while she was stuck beside the new guy, who had acquired the role of Beadle. She was too proud of him to be jealous.

  They all curtseyed one last time, and the crowd stood to give them a standing ovation. Rebecca felt flowers shoved into her hands by her parents and Darlene. Then the curtain closed, and it was all over.

  One down, nine to go, Rebecca thought to herself a few minutes later as she pulled her street clothes from her locker. It was rather awkward with the bundle of roses she tried to juggle. Rebecca realized she looked forward to wrapping up the show. She began to feel a little homesick. Going home for a long weekend over Thanksgiving would be a welcome break. She couldn’t wait to see Carmen and Tom. Though they talked on the phone at least twice a week, it just wasn’t the same.

  “Why so serious?” Justyn asked, coming up beside her.

  He struggled with an even larger assortment of flowers. Their apartment was going to look like a florist shop. Still, he was glowing with pride as he worked the combination, and he had every right. He had been amazing, not that she would ever expect anything less. In fact, he had been so spectacular that it took him forever to escape the throng of admirers who wanted to congratula
te him. Rebecca found they were alone at the lockers. The rest of the cast had already grabbed their gear and hit the dressing rooms to change.

  “I was just thinking about the fact that I’m in love with the most amazing, talented, and sexy serial killer who has ever stepped onto the stage.” She moved a little closer to kiss his lips, despite the fact they were both covered in fake blood.

  “Oh, really? I’d love to meet him sometime.” Justyn winked at her as he used his one free hand to reach inside his locker to grab his things. “Speaking of meeting people,” he added more seriously, “they’re having a cast party backstage, and there may be some critics coming. I think we should….”

  Rebecca had turned back to her own task, but she looked up when Justyn stopped in midsentence. “We should what?” she started, but the words died on her lips as well.

  Justyn was holding up his hand, staring in a combination of horror and disgust as blood oozed across his fingers. The dark red blended with the lighter artificial blood. It made Rebecca realize just how fake the prop blood really looked. The pasty color of Justyn’s skin was real enough though. He dropped his armload of flowers, and the petals scattered across the floor. Already drops of his blood mingled with the petals.

  “Oh my God, Justyn!”

  Rebecca released her own flowers and bags in a discarded heap. She grabbed hold of his arm, and having become a pro at dealing with his phobia of blood, she lowered his hand so the worst of the damage was out of his line of vision.

  “B-Becca….” he stuttered.

  “It’s okay. Close your eyes.”

  He nodded and did as she instructed. His face had changed from chalk-white to a cross between gray and green. Rebecca helped ease him to the ground before he could fall over and dug through her purse. There were only a few tissues in there, but she managed to sop up the worst of the blood flow from the gash she found on his index finger. It looked deep, and for a minute, she was worried it might need stitches. Luckily, the bleeding slowed down when she applied pressure to it. She grabbed a few bandages next. It took three of them to cover the whole cut. After a few minutes, all signs of the wound and the offensive blood were gone. It would have to be cleaned out better when they got home, but it would do temporarily.