What Lay in the Dark

by Casey L. Nash

  ***

  Egan brought me back to his house and had Mikayla meet us there with a change of clothes for me. He sent me straight to the shower. I was never been gladder to get the smell of smoke off my skin. I found Egan having an in depth discussion with Mikayla and Samuel when I got back. Mikayla smiled when she saw me.

  “So, what happened?”

  “I have no idea,” I confessed. “I just stopped. If Egan wasn’t there...”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Mikayla said. Egan reached over and placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently.

  “It scares me.”

  “To be scared is to be human,” Egan told me.

  “I don’t know,” I muttered. “You seemed pretty brave.”

  “Doesn’t mean I wasn’t scared,” he mumbled.

  The sound of the door opening startled me, but I was relieved when Andy and Brenden walked into the room.

  “Egan…” Andy stopped when he noticed the looks on our faces. “What happened?” Brenden crept up behind him.

  “You don’t want to know,” Egan said.

  “Egan, we know about the demons now.”

  The four of us looked at each other.

  “Tell me,” Andy insisted.

  “Ailia’s house caught fire,” Egan said softly.

  “What? Are you okay?” Brenden asked frantically.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Wait, so a house catches fire and you put it down to demons?” Andy had a confused look on his face. “There’s something more to this story, isn’t there?”

  “You’re not as dumb as you look,” Egan smiled.

  “Hey!”

  Egan shrugged.

  “So what’s the rest of the story?”

  “Well...” Egan’s voice drifted off.

  Kieran walked in. “Ailia? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I repeated.

  “Do you know what happened?”

  “The fireman said it was electrical,” Egan responded.

  Kieran looked around at our faces. “What, that’s it?”

  All of us stood there silently.

  “Don’t do this again,” Kieran pleaded. “I’m sick of you guys hiding stuff from me, and now they’re in on it too.” He gestured towards Andy and Brenden.

  “Kieran...” Mikayla began.

  “No Mikayla, none of your stupid psychiatrist tricks. Just tell me what’s happening.”

  “Kieran, we told you…”

  “What is it? Do you think a demon started the fire or something?” he said with a hint of sarcasm.

  Nobody said anything.

  “Oh please don’t tell me that you actually think that. Have you checked the list of natural causes for fires?”

  “Kieran, there aren’t a lot of reasons Ailia would decide the fire was her friend and stand in its way to get crisped.”

  Brenden stared at me, “Did that actually happen?”

  I nodded.

  “What were you thinking?” Andy asked.

  “I don’t know,” I groaned.

  “It’s called demonic oppression guys,” Mikayla informed. “That may have even been on the verge of possession. Ailia couldn’t control herself.”

  “Guys,” Kieran almost yelled. “Demons aren’t real!”

  “You can’t know that, Kieran.”

  “Oh, and you do? Because you know everything? You’re a genius, Egan. You could be the guy who finds the cure for cancer, but instead you spend your spare time fighting creatures that don’t exist? What is the point? I suppose there really is a fine line between genius and crazy.”

  “Kieran,” Mikayla began.

  “You’re not helping either,” he interrupted. “You’re meant to help people. You’re meant to make the crazy people better, but you’re one of the craziest of them all. How are you meant to get people back to sanity when you’re not even trying to help yourself? Do you just tell them that this stuff exists? Give them a reason to believe that there are evil forces out there? That they should be scared when there is nothing to be afraid of? And you!” Kieran turned to Samuel.

  “You just help both of them with your little psychic tricks that have them all fooled. And of course there’s you,” Kieran looked at me. “You’ve let them drag you into this. Obviously there’s something going on because if you knowingly stand in a burning building, there’s something wrong in that head of yours. Once I would’ve told you that I knew a psychiatrist who could help, but...” his eyes flicked to Mikayla.

  “Kieran,” Brenden said quietly. “Leave them alone.”

  Kieran laughed. “You’re no better. You just walk around following him everywhere,” Kieran jerked his head towards Andy, “With nothing but your little gay crush. Hoping one day he’ll turn around and see you. The thing is, Brenden, he understands how the world works. How men like women, not other men. He’s not going to indulge in the disgusting thing you call your sexuality. He’s never going to love…”

  “Kieran,” Andy spoke forcefully, pushing Brenden behind him. “Shut up!”

  Kieran stared at Andy.

  “You know that Brenden’s straight!” Andy cried.

  “And that is the exact reason we never told you any of this,” Egan put forward.

  Behind Andy I noticed Brenden moving away from the argument.

  “Give it a rest, Kieran,” Andy said. “Have you ever thought that maybe you’re wrong? That maybe you are the one who is insane? Maybe the things you see aren’t good enough to believe in?”

  “You’ve all completely lost touch with reality,” Kieran said, frustrated.

  “Yeah,” Egan confirmed. “We have. That’s what happens when you spend your spare time fighting things other people don’t believe in. That’s why we never tell you anything, because we don’t want you to end up the same way. It’s exactly why I didn’t want Ailia caught up in all of this.”

  “You did well,” Kieran spoke. “She nearly died today.”

  “And he’s the only reason I’m still alive,” I said.

  “You guys are completely insane.” Kieran turned to leave.

  As Kieran left, I slipped away to follow Brenden. I found him in the hallway, leaning against the wall.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  Brenden shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

  “Doesn’t look like nothing,” I commented, noting the way he slouched and kept his eyes down. “Look, if it’s something Kieran said, we all know he’s wrong…”

  “But he’s not.” Brenden cried, throwing his hands downwards.

  “What?” I whispered.

  “I’m bi,” Brenden whimpered.

  “You mean bisexual?”

  Brenden nodded.

  “And Andy...?”

  He bit his lower lip.

  I grabbed Brenden and hugged him. He seemed to relax a bit. “Does anyone else know?”

  “No,” Brenden sighed. “I didn’t know if they’d be okay with it.”

  “Why wouldn’t they be?”

  “Kieran…”

  “Forget Kieran,” I nearly laughed. I pulled out of the hug so I could look at Brenden. “Kieran has no idea what he’s talking about,” I assured him.

  “You won’t tell them, will you?” Brenden asked quickly, “If Andy found out, I…”

  “I won’t tell them a thing.”

  Brenden nodded. “I really don’t want him to find out.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “I just can’t believe Kieran knew.”

  I smiled. “You know, he probably didn’t. It wouldn’t surprise me if he made the whole thing up on the spot.”

  “He always tells Andy and me that we’re gay.”

  “Yeah, but he never really means it.”

  “I suppose,” Brenden sighed. “Do you think Mikayla would be okay with it?” he asked. “I’ve thought about telling her before. She might be able to help me understand...”

  “I think she’d be fine with it,” I replied, remembe
ring Egan’s talk of Mikayla and Kieran fighting over Andy and Brenden being a gay couple. It wasn’t hard to work out who was on which side.

  Brenden smiled.

  “C’mon,” I encouraged. “Before they start looking for us.” I led Brenden out to the others. Mikayla raised an eyebrow when we entered, but didn’t say anything.

  “I think we’ve come to an agreement that we should all ignore everything Kieran just said,” Andy announced cheerfully.

  “Sounds good to me,” I replied.

  “He’s just going through a tough time,” Samuel informed. “He doesn’t even know what he was saying.”

  Mikayla nodded.

  “You okay Brenden?” Andy asked.

  “Yeah,” Brenden grinned. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Andy shrugged. “Just wanted to be sure.”

  “What were you here for anyway?” Egan asked suddenly.

  “Oh, uh, you know how you love me and everything?”

  Egan smiled. “What do you need fixed this time?”

  Andy looked down. “Is it that obvious?”

  Egan nodded.

  Andy sighed and pulled out an old looking game.

  “What’s wrong with it?”

  “Won’t turn on,” Andy replied.

  “Have you tried replacing the battery?”

  Andy shook his head.

  “I tried Andy,” Brenden told him.

  “Really?”

  Brenden nodded. “Still doesn’t work.”

  Egan smiled. “Leave it with me.”

  “Thanks, Egan.” “How did you know I didn’t check the battery?” Andy asked Brenden as they walked out.

  “I know you too well,” Brenden replied, looking over his shoulder at me. I gave him a small smile.

  “Okay, what was that?” Egan asked instantly.

  “What?” I replied innocently.

  “Something just happened between you and Brenden. What did he tell you?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I grinned.

  Egan stared at me.

  “What’s wrong Egan?” I teased. “Can’t handle it when you’re not in on the secret?”

  Egan continued to stare, his eyes silently growling at me.

  “You have to admit, Egan,” Mikayla called cheerily as she walked backwards out the door. “She’s good.”

  Egan’s lip twitched, and Mikayla laughed. “Keep it up, Ailia. It’s about time he didn’t know something.”

  Mikayla ignored the glare she got from Egan. “Oh,” Mikayla took Samuel’s hand. “Sam says you’re moving in together. Nice work.” Mikayla winked at me. She giggled at my wide-eyed stare as she led Samuel out of the house.

  I looked back at Egan.

  He sighed. “You need to stay somewhere and you’ve slept here the last couple of nights anyway, so...”

  My mouth dropped open. “So having me move in with you would be a really good way to keep me away from you?”

  Egan frowned. “I’m not really doing a good job of staying away from you as it is, and today... I’m not sure you should be alone.”

  I was about to argue that I could look after myself, but after standing in a burning building I wasn’t so sure. “You want me to move in with you because of the demon?”

  “Ailia, demon attacks generally start small and gradually get bigger. That was the second time your demon attacked. It nearly killed you and it wasn’t even trying.”

  Something turned deep inside my stomach. If Egan was right, the worst was still to come; the look in Egan’s eyes told me that. I leant back against the wall.

  “Stay with me until the demon is gone. We’ll find out who summoned it and banish the thing as soon as possible. Then you can get as far away from me as you possibly can.”

  My heart sank. For a moment I believed Egan wanted me to be near him, but he only wanted to get rid of the demon faster. Then he wanted me gone as soon as possible. Perhaps it would be easier if I left right then. I’d be able to find another house and continue living.

  Maybe the house fire did have an electrical cause. But if that was the case, why did I stay in the house? I looked into Egan’s eyes; the dark, mysterious, beautiful eyes that I couldn’t seem to get my mind off.

  “Okay,” I agreed.

  It wasn’t smart, but my gut told me it was right. I promised myself that in the short time I was here, I would find out what Egan was hiding and who he really was. It wasn’t simply something I was curious about. I needed to know.