A Night of Flame and Blood

by Elisabeth Huerta

  My suspicion rose. They were covering their tracks, leaving no evidence behind. This room should not be clean. There should be grime and dust coating the floors. The walls should have at least a couple of spider webs, and there should be piss marks and litter on the ground. But there was nothing. No evidence to incriminate a person. No splattered blood, not even a fingerprint.

  This was the room Michelle spent her last moments alive. It looked different without the dust, the candlelight, and the shadow, but this was the room. I walked around the room, hoping I would find something, anything. But it was useless. This person was good.

  Rebecca followed me throughout the small room, her mouth dropped open. She too was confused over the state of the room. “It actually smells good in here, clean. That’s weird.” She ran her fingertips across the top of the armoire and inspected them closely. Marveling over the fact that there was no dust.

  Footsteps broke my concentration. I had been examining the wall I saw the shadow lean against in my dream. The footsteps were getting louder, they were heavy. They stopped right in front of the door, and when it burst open, I expected to see an angry adult screaming at us for trespassing. Who I did not expect was Derik.

  Chapter 13

  Derik was standing in the entrance of the room. His wisps of dirty blond hair sticking to his forehead and his flat brown eyes stared at us expectantly. His eyes settled on me. I noticed that there was something in his pug face that did not sit well with me. It was almost like he was expecting us there.

  The silence stretched on until finally, Rebecca broke it. “What are you doing here you little weasel?” He looked at her with a creepy grin, before returning his gaze to me. I noticed that Derik was tall, clearing a good six feet, and had a slightly stocky build.

  “Shouldn’t I be asking you ladies the same question. Or is it normal for you two to visit a cemetery.”

  “Absolutely not, we don’t hang around here, that’s reserved for creeps like you.” Rebecca said giving him a haughty look before she grabbed my hand. “Come on Brianna, let’s go before more creeps come out.” She led the way out, dragging me with her, but Derik was blocking the door. He leaned casually against the door frame blocking us from leaving. “Move.” Rebecca growled.

  “Are you sure you want that? I do remember you wanting to be near me last night. Your lips were practically glued to mine.” Rebecca’s face paled. “So, you do remember.” He grinned.

  My head whipped back and forth between Derik and Rebecca. It was impossible. Rebecca kissing Derik? That would never happen. But one look at Rebecca’s face confirmed it.

  His creepy gaze turned towards me. “Rebecca told me some interesting news yesterday. Apparently, you and Daston got together for a little chat. Word of advice,” he moved closer to me and whispered against my cheek, “don’t go near him.” His hot breath brushed against my face. I resisted the urge to scrub my face clean of his smell.

  Rebecca stood frozen as Derik turned away and left. I waited until I could not see his figure before I led Rebecca out of the room. Rebecca was quiet the whole way back. She seemed out of it and did not protest when I drove the car.

  I knew she did not want to mention the kiss; she was emanating an aurora of hostility. What would lead Rebecca to kiss Derik? And when did she even have the time to do it. It had to be after my date with Daston, after Rebecca saw me get out of his car. She must have snuck out, upset. And Rebecca does stupid things when she’s upset. Derik being, by far, the worst.

  What I could not explain was why Derik was there to begin with. Derik who was just Derik, the kid who had sat behind me in first period for half a year. Why would he be there? And more importantly why did I get such a bad vibe from him. He always seemed perfectly harmless in school. And what was with that comment about Daston. They sat together for two weeks, but they never talked. They would ignore each other completely. Why did Derik suddenly think he was an expert on Daston? This trip was supposed to answer my questions, not add new ones.

  ∆∆∆

  “Girls, you’re home.” My mother said as she set the dinner plates on the table. She had piled them up with chicken, mash potatoes and vegetables. My mouth watered at the sight.

  We sat down on the table. I wasted no time digging in.

  “So,” My mother clamped her hands together, a forced smile on her face. “You two went out and did some sisterly bonding. That’s great.” She said, unenthusiastically. “It’s just that, even though I love that you two are going places together, I would prefer it if you did not do it right now. You heard what was on the news.” Her eyes became concerned, they slightly waters. “I don’t want what happened to that poor Michelle girl to happen to you. If you want to do things together do them here at home, not outside, ok. Can you two promise me that?”

  “Yes mom.” We said simultaneously.

  “Good. Go ahead and eat, I made a lot of food.” I continued eating and hardly noticed when my dad joined us, the only coherent thought going through my head was dang this chicken is good.

  I had eaten every bit of food off my plate and wiped it clean, when I noticed that Rebecca had hardly touched hers. She was pushing it around with her fork. I was not the only one who noticed.

  “Sweetie, why aren’t you eating your food?” Mom’s stern voice penetrated our silence.

  “I am not very hungry. Can I just go to my room?” I had to admit, Rebecca did not look so well. Her face was still pale, and there was a look in her eyes that hinted towards desperation.

  “Sure, honey. Do you want me to bring you some Tylenol or Advil—“

  “No, I’m fine, just having that time of the month.” Rebecca shrugged. She was lying.

  “Woah.” My dad put his arms up in a please stop jester. “I know I live in a house full of girls, but can we refrain from talking about that thing until after I am done eating. I don’t want to get the mental image of a bloody pad while I have food in front of me.”

  My mother’s nose wrinkled up in disgust. “Why would that pop up in your head?” She asked.

  “Because you girls have left a good share of those in the bathroom, and I’ve had the misfortune of seeing them.” He confessed, horrified.

  “They’re not that bad. It’s natural.”

  They continued to banter all throughout dinner. Rebecca slipped to her bedroom, but they were too caught up to notice. They didn’t even notice when I left soon after. Their discussion had escalated to bloody tampons, and I could only handle so much weirdness in one conversation before it got too weird.

  I went upstairs and in and impulse took a left turn in the hallway towards Rebecca’s room. I had given her enough time to recuperate. I needed to know what the real deal was between Rebecca and Derik.

  I found Rebecca lying on her bed, her face buried in one of her many pillows. She looked up when she heard the door shut.

  “Took you long enough.” She said.

  I looked at her in question.

  “Don’t look at me like that. We both know you were dying to ask me about Derik.” She shivered in disgust.

  “Why’d you do it? I mean Derik. It’s just not something you would do.” Rebecca went for hot guys, with good abs and a cool status. Derik was by all means a loser.

  “I don’t know. I was just really upset so I snuck out. I cruised around town for a while and went to eat at that burger place by Western. He found me there and started talking to me. I told him to go away.” She looked at me desperately, willing me to understand. “I did. I told him to go; to leave me alone, but he wouldn’t. He started creeping me out, so I decided to leave. But then he just grabbed me and kissed me. And I tried to make him stop, I did.” She sounded close to tears now. “And then, I don’t know. Suddenly I started to kiss him back. I don’t know why I did; it was like my lips had a mind of their own.” She took a deep breath. “We started talking after that, I still wanted to leave, but I couldn’t make myself go. He was comforting me, and I needed it. I told him everything that bothered
me, and he just listened. I needed someone to listen to me, to my problems, and he provided that. I know I shouldn’t have done it, but in that moment, it felt like the right thing to do.” Her shoulders slumped sadly.

  I knew Rebecca, she would never go around and kiss Derik. Something did happen. Just being next to Derik made it clear something was wrong with him. I did not know what it was, but I was going to find out. Rebecca looked frightened she had no idea what was going on. I hated him for making her feel that way.

  “Brianna.” She sobbed. “What do I do? What if Derik decides to tell the whole school what we did? My social status will be ruined.”

  “Even if he does tell, no one will believe him. Hell, the only reason I believed him was because of the look on your face. You just have to pretend that he’s a big liar.”

  She looked up at me teary eyed. “You think that will work.” She sniffed.

  “Absolutely.” I assured her. I spent the rest of the evening in Rebecca’s room talking. It was the first time in years we had done that. We both laid back in her bed and I held her in my arms. She told me about her friends, about all the times she had kissed boys. I even, embarrassingly, asked her to describe how a kiss felt like.

  To my surprise she didn’t laugh at my request. She told me how a kiss was warm and wonderful. How feeling a guy beneath your lips—one you liked—felt like you were both sharing a connection.

  “You’re so lucky.” I told her once she finished describing one of her most passionate of kisses. “You can actually attract guys, and you have so many friends. You don’t repel them like I do.”

  Her head snapped to me. “I am not lucky. You don’t know how good you have it. You think having a lot of friends is great.” Her eyes were ablaze. “All those friends would ditch me in a second if my social status dropped. I don’t have any real friends, they’re all fakes. You are lucky that you have Robert. I’ve seen the way you two are together. I’ve seen the way you protect each other when you’re being insulted.” Her tone became sad. “My friends would never do that for me. I know I make fun of you and Robert a lot, but the truth is, I wish I had a friendship like the one you two share, even if you two are a pair of weirdos. You look so happy when you’re together. Like you don’t have a care in the world. I wish I could do that, just go around not caring what anyone thinks.” She smiled sadly at me. “You’re special you know. I always envied that you could dress like shit and still pull it off. You don’t have to try like the rest of us do.”

  I stared at Rebecca in shock. I never knew she harbored those feelings. I always thought she was happy with being popular and beautiful. She never let on how she was really feeling. I found myself being somewhat grateful for my life, except for the obvious things I had no control over. The demon and the murder haunting my dreams were at the forefront, but they were all things I could not mention to Rebecca.

  “At least when you move on with your life you could leave this routine and be someone new. I will always be me, the freak. Or have you forgotten that me not caring what anyone thinks comes from being referred to as the town freak. Even if I were to change my look, I would still be an outcast.”

  “But you’re happy.”

  “No, I just make the best with what has been given.” And I did, I made the best of my time with Robert. When I first met him, I did not want to be friends with him. I thought he was creepy. But seeing as I did not have many choices, I went along with it and became his friend. I ended up getting a best friend out of it. To this day it has been the best choice I have ever made.

  “It’s good that you do. I think I would have cried myself to sleep each night if it were me. But you didn’t. You’re so strong. I wish I had some of your strength. Then maybe you wouldn’t have to comfort me all the time.” Rebecca whispered timidly her head tucked down close to her neck.

  “Naw, I’d still do it.” We looked at each other and laughed. It was nice, freeing almost.

  We talked more after that. This time I told her what Robert and I do. I told her about his weird obsession with the underworld, all the books I had to read with him. I even got to see her wide eyed expression when I told her of all the times we attempted to contact the dead.

  I told her of a particular story when Robert and I got a book instructing us how to contact the dead. It said we had to get an item the dead person owned, so Robert got his grandmother’s pendant and thought it’d be a smart idea to contact her. I snuck out and went to his house in the dead of night. We turned off all the lights in his bedroom and lit three red candles, putting them in a triangle between us. We were facing each other and we put the pendent in the middle of the candles.

  The book said we had to join hands and say the phrase, dead in this world speak now from the other, in Latin. We had to say them over and over for a period of an hour so that the spirit could hear us.

  Even though Robert did not want to admit he was afraid, I could feel his hands shaking from fear. For an hour we repeated the verse and when the hour was up, we had to spread Rudas—a green minty spiritual plant— around us. The house was so silent we could hear each other’s breath. Our hearts were pounding, and the air was fast becoming too thick to breathe in. All at once the candles extinguished and a dark shadow passed over us.

  Robert and I screamed so loud, he ran to the light switch and turned it on. The wide fear was apparent in both our faces. The room was empty and there was no sign of the shadow. We both chalked it up to overactive imaginations.

  That night we slept together—not in that way. We just slept in the same room together. He offered me the bed, but I told him I would sleep on the floor. We both ended up camping out on the floor. He told me he would not feel comfortable on the bed if I was on the floor.

  Even though Robert would never admit it, he was afraid of sleeping in that room by himself. I took pity on him and told him I would sleep there that night. I would not want to sleep by myself in that room either. At least not for that first night when it had freshly happened.

  When I finished telling Rebecca the story, she stared at me slack jawed. “You slept with a boy.” She screeched out.

  “Calm down. I didn’t sleep with a boy. I slept with Robert, who doesn’t count as a boy.”

  “Still, I can’t believe you sneaked out. I always thought it was only me who snuck out.”

  “Yeah, not quite. I do my share of bad things. I just don’t get caught.”

  “Oh, is that a jab at me, because I always get caught.”

  “Yep.” I looked outside her window and noticed it was dark. We had been talking for a long time. I knew I had to go already, but I didn’t want to. I was afraid that when I left what we had would disappear.

  “Wow, it’s getting late huh.” Rebecca pointed out. “I guess we need to go to sleep and all cause it’s.” She glanced at her clock. “Eleven. How’d it get so late?”

  I did not know. It felt like six minutes had past instead of six hours.

  “I guess I’ll go.” I whispered quietly as I walked out the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow Becca.”

  The last thing I saw was her wide smile as I closed the door. The last time I had called Rebecca, Becca, was when we were kids. Back then we would have sleep overs in each other’s rooms. We used to stay up all night and tell our secrets. It somehow seemed appropriate to call her that again. It was my way of reminding her how much I missed her.

  When I went into my room I did not go to sleep. I knew that I had to go to Robert’s house in the early morning—probably at one or two am. I was breaking the promise I made to Datson, but I could not let this go. I knew that Robert had the book. Even if he denied it, I knew that it was there. I saw it.

  I decide to go at one am. I put on and all black ensemble to blend into the night. I felt like a robber, a criminal. I cracked open my window slowly—I didn’t want it to squeak—and climbed out. The morning air came with a chill. The streets were completely abandoned.

  I used the mossy vines attached to my house to bal
ance myself before I landed with a thud on our lawn. I quickly righted myself and looked around. Everything was still undisturbed. There was no car’s driving in the streets, no lingering voices. It was dead silence.

  Walking to Robert’s house at night was not a rare occurrence. I had done it plenty of times. But this was going to be the first time we did not arrange the meeting. I felt like I was betraying him. Robert whom I do everything with; suddenly I was leaving him out of the loop. He did not know what was going on with me. I did not know how to tell him. I knew I should. He was one of the few people who would believe me. But I couldn’t, not yet at least. I needed to figure a few things out first.

  Towards the end of the block a large figure stepped out and blocked my path. I jumped, letting out a loud screech that was immediately covered by a large hand. He had it pressed against my lips, and I bit down on it hard.

  “Ouch.” A very familiar voice said as they tore their hand away from my mouth.

  “What the fuck, Daston?” I yelled. He too was dressed from head to toe in black, his piercing green eyes glared down at me as he massaged his hand.

  “Damn you bite hard. Next time aim for my neck, I don’t mind pain there.”

  I crossed my arms shooting him my own glare. “What are you doing here? Are you stalking me?” I said annoyed.

  His face hardened. “What did I tell you about going out alone?” Anger was starting to radiate off of him. “Do you know what could have happened? You could have been killed. Why don’t you ever listen?” He ranted.

  I was taken aback. Daston was concerned over me. I could see it plainly on his face. “I am sorry.” I said sincerely. It was all I could say.

  “Sorry? Do you think this is a game, Brianna? Because, trust me, the next time you do something stupid you won’t be thinking it’s a game.” He looked so mad, so worried. I bit my tongue, otherwise I would say something that would anger him further. I did not like his tone with me, but I knew there was a reason for it.