by Charlyne Yi
“BORING!!” nasalized Donald. He laughed at his own joke and turned off the TV. His lanky arms reached for me and pulled me right onto his chest. Things were getting too hot.
Murder and chaos wreaked havoc on our land. Hell was getting bigger. The bigger it got, the bigger the trouble there was on the streets. I couldn’t just watch the world go down in flames.
My plan: To Kill the Devil and Save the World.
I kept hearing Donald’s echoing voice, “I love you—I love you—I LOVE YOU . . .”
Donald lived in his own world unaffected. He was a nice kid, but nice wasn’t good enough. I couldn’t feel anything for him—I couldn’t feel anything at all but pain. Pain in my forehead from smashing Donald in the face.
I was being followed. I couldn’t shake them.
The clouds were made of ghosts of unfinished business. It was difficult to point my gun at them when they kept shape-shifting into things I recognized . . . My head was burning. Could I trust myself? Did I have a fever? Was I turning into a demon?
The clouds didn’t make it easy—they howled and cried, “Taste my pain. TASTE MY PAIN . . . JOIN US!!!”
I reached for my pistol, shot, and punctured one of the clouds hovering over my head. The cloud’s blood splashed all over my face. I had never killed anything before. I felt fine.
There were far too many so I retired my pistol.
My fever was getting worse. I had driven for hours straight with those goddamn clouds hovering over me. As I got closer to the shiny lights of Vegas, I felt myself slowly fading away.
And then . . . I was there. I WAS FINALLY SOMEWHERE WITH SHELTER! And just as I made it to the building, everything turned black . . .
When I regained consciousness, I was lying in a bed in a dusty room. I looked around to find some sort of clue to where I was—FOOTSTEPS. No time. WHERE WAS MY GUN?
I scrambled. Opened every cabinet and drawer. I rushed over to the side table.
AHA! My familiar friend! Griselda, my pistol from Argentina.
As the footsteps got closer, I held my gun in my foot, ready . . .
The door opened, revealing Elvis’s silhouette. As he got closer, I realized he was an impersonator.
Words came tumbling out from my mouth, “What do you want?!”
“Nothing. I just want to help.”
Could I trust him? I stood still. He didn’t. He continued to get closer and for some reason I cocked the gun. My head felt strange. And then, everything went black.
I felt arms holding me, then darkness swallowed me whole. Chills ran all over my body . . . and a wet towel laid on my forehead.
“You have a fever.”
I looked around and saw an Elvis impersonator.
“I’m Cassady.”
“Agatha.”
“Where were you headed before you crashed into our building?”
“I’m off on a mission.”
“Oh . . .” he stared. “To find God?”
“No. The Devil. I’m going to kill him.”
I could see this resonate with him as he stoically nodded.
“I too have some unfinished business with that demon.”
“We all do.”
I squinted as if that would help me see what kind of person he is. He squinted back.
“You need to take me with you . . .”
THE SILVER MOON BEAMED A SPOTLIGHT ONTO CASSADY
Around the time of the first big heat wave, I confessed my love to sweet Lily. We decided to run away together and get married. Thought it would be funny to do an Elvis-themed wedding. Little did I know I would be wearing this suit for the rest of my life . . .
My love, Lily, walked down the aisle, while just outside the church was the beginning of the end of the world.
In the midst of our vows the doors broke open, and in splurged a wild-eyed man.
The man yelled gibberish at us. I assumed he wanted money and offered what we had to him.
The fever was severe. He started to bark at us in tongues. We tried our best to communicate but it was no use, he was no longer himself but a demon instead.
He pulled out his pistol, pointed it at me, and pulled the trigger.
Lily, a fool, saved my life by ending hers.
Her beautiful face, broken like a puzzle. I kept trying to put her back together. But I couldn’t.
The Devil came and claimed her as his. Said it was self-sacrifice. Suicide. Who knew saving someone’s life was a sin?
It’s funny, the one thing Lily tried to prevent happening happened. That night I died. I don’t know if I believe in God, but I sure as hell believe in the Devil.
So now I live in this motel. I never knew how long I’d be out here, so I am permanently on an impermanent stay. I sing at the lounge as Elvis by night, and work on this organ by day.
Cassady stared at me with weight. I stared back at him. He stood up and walked toward a trunk in the corner of his room and opened it. “I want to show you something.”
The room began to fill with an awful smell. I couldn’t tell what he was pulling out . . . it looked like a sewn doll . . . and then . . . I pieced it together. He was holding—
“This is my ex-wife, Lily.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“I built this organ. When I hook her body up to it, the sound waves make her body move again.”
He began to play the keys and Lily’s body started slowly dancing. “The only thing is, when she actually gets moving, she’s still just an empty vessel. A dud-eyed zombie.”
Cassady stopped playing and Lily’s body began to lose its balance. Cassady caught her. He looked at her lovingly, “She needs her soul to be complete and the Devil has it. That’s why you need to take me with you to Hell. We can fight side by side.”
“You know . . . you could’ve just asked. You didn’t have to make your ex-wife’s corpse do a song and dance for me . . . You’re even crazier than I thought. Let’s go.”
I looked out the window, saw my convertible, and jumped.
Cassady hesitated.
“Sometimes you’ve got to take a leap!”
He nodded and followed my footsteps through the air and into the passenger seat.
Along our drive we found ourselves crossing paths with a child whose mother had succumbed to the fever. Cassady and I pulled over.
We walked down the alley and made a vow to defend the world together. Cassady winked at me, curled into a stepping plateau, and I took that extra step to kick that mother right in the face!
A man watching from the fire escape yelled, “Damn, she’s all legs!”
I turned to the man and looked him in the eye, “Damn straight.”
Cassady smiled at me, but it was soon washed away when a shadow loomed over us. When we turned around we were face-to-face with a large Russian man. His arms lunged for us, I tried to dodge them but it was no use, he lifted us both and let out a big belly laugh.
He yelled, “THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR KICKING WIFE IN FACE AND SAVING OUR CHILD!! I am Natchesky!” He was red with joy. “Come follow us.” He took his little girl’s hand.
“We live underground where it’s safe. We will show you good time. Celebrate with me life—for my child is alive! And BONUS, I have lived long enough to see wife get kicked in face!”
He handed us a beer and introduced us to his village, each time retelling his favorite story of how I kicked his wife in the face. We celebrated all night, but our victory was yet to be had.
I couldn’t sleep, so I sat at the end of the road and let my feet dangle. I heard footsteps. I turned—it was Cassady.
Cassady stared at me with his heart, “Wild night, huh?” I nodded and took a swig of my beer. His lips broke apart, “Have you ever lost anyone?”
“When I was really young . . . I remember being at my grandfather’s funeral. You know that game when you’re a kid where you jump from one thing to another and pretend the ground is lava?”
Cassady nodded.
“Well, I remember jumping from one gra
vestone to another, trying not to fall onto the grass. I didn’t realize how disrespectful it was. I didn’t realize what was underneath those stones. I remember seeing my grandfather’s body in the open casket later that morning, but I couldn’t absorb that that was actually him. It didn’t look like him. A soulless body isn’t the same person . . . And with all that they do to their bodies to prepare them for the viewing . . . The word ‘death’ had no meaning until months later . . .”
I tried to stop myself from crying, but I couldn’t. So Cassady held me, and I cried anyway. “I’m so dumb, Cassady. I was staring right at his face. It wasn’t til almost six months after he died that I realized that was him . . . He was the only person I’ve ever loved.”
Cassady picked me up, letting my face drip all over his shoulder, and carried me to the roof. He sang me a beautiful melody til my heart could rest again.
I could feel the shy, peeking light of the morning kiss me on my cheek. When I opened my eyes I was lying on Cassady’s chest. He was glowing, illuminated by the sunrise. Embarrassed, we both smiled.
I got up and started to run toward my convertible. “Let’s hit the road, shall we?”
Cassady nodded, “We’ll race the sun.”
We followed all the “Hell” signs that lead us to its exact whereabouts. Hell was hidden at the bottom level of a parking structure.
We got out of the car and marched right up to those huge wooden doors. The doors cracked open, and darkness spilled all around us.
A gust of cold wind blew from the hall of howling souls. We stuck close, so we wouldn’t get lost. And at the end of the hall we were confronted with a new challenge . . . a game of Hot Lava.
Cassady jumped first. I followed.
The Devil had been watching us the whole way, he was smiling.
Cassady lunged at the Devil with a dance, kicking the Devil’s beady eyes. I climbed onto the Devil while he was down. I tried to wrestle the old cow by his horns, but he shook me right off, throwing me through the roof of Hell and into a sky abyss.
I flew an unfathomable distance, landing all the way on the other side of the planet in the North Pole. That’s where everything good is like Santa’s Village.
I saw God.
I asked Him, “Why aren’t you helping? The world needs you.”
“IT SEEMS LIKE YOU AND CASSADY ARE DOING A PRETTY GOOD JOB HANDLING IT YOURSELVES . . . BESIDES, IMAGINE HOW BORING LIFE WOULD BE IF YOU DIDN’T HAVE POWER OVER YOUR OWN DESTINY. THIS IS YOUR ADVENTURE, NOT MINE . . .”
I nodded, “Thank you.” I started to walk back but remembered I was all the way at the North Pole. I had a long way to go. I turned to Him again, “God?”
“OF COURSE . . .”
He took my little body into a slingshot and shot me back to the other side.
I screamed as I fell deeper and deeper into the pits of Hell again.
Cassady recognized my voice and I fell right back into his arms again. “Are you trying to tell me something?”
For a moment I forgot the Devil was there.
The Devil roared, “I’M GOING TO EAT YOU LIKE A BANANA, SKIN PEELED FIRST!” He chased us.
We hopped from one stone to another, trying not to fall into the lava. But we had lead ourselves to a dead end.
The Devil kicked dust into Cassady’s eyes then stamped him in the gut. Cassady collapsed to his knees, he couldn’t breathe, he started to curl into a ball.
I couldn’t take another disgusting second of this—so I took a leap and kicked that MOTHER right in the face.
The pendulum of our hearts swung hard and fast. We had destroyed the Devil. We won. I felt our bodies getting closer.
I could feel his beautiful breath against my skin. We were alive. We had gotten exactly what we wanted . . . except . . .
A voice echoed in the distance yelling Cassady’s name, and my heart sunk to the bottom of my gut.
It was Lily.
Cassady turned to catch her as she jumped and wrapped her arms around him. Something I could never do.
From the way he looked into her eyes I could tell he still loved her. Her soul was glowing like a billion golden dust particles in the sun. She was beautiful.
They spoke to each other in low voices. I couldn’t make out the words. Cassady slowly made his way over to me.
He looked at me with weight in his eyes and said, “I was a widower when we met.”
“I know.” I wanted to pretend I didn’t understand.
“Maybe we’ll meet in another life.”
“I look forward to that.”
Cassady nodded, then climbed out of Hell with his beloved Lily.
The end.
Love is a living, breathing thing.
Love Interlude
“I never learned how to pray . . . but I hope this works . . .
There’s been a drought for over a decade now. So many people have died, and keep dying. Please help. I am losing hope.”
Many battles have happened throughout the span of time. And many lives were lost.
Those who could not continue on burst into a billion molecules and floated back into the sky, turning into clouds.
To follow through with the cloud cycle, they would need to precipitate.
Fearful of disappearing, they held on to themselves and refused to rain. But the more they held on to their grief, the heavier and darker their hearts got. And soon, the living things of Earth began to fall.
“HAVE YOU COME FOR RAIN?!” bellowed the Cloud.
But the girl could not speak.
“YOU DO NOT KNOW SUFFERING AS WE DO. WE HAVE ROAMED THE EARTH UNLOVED AND MEANINGLESS, HAUNTED BY THE LIVING.”
“TASTE OUR PAIN!!!” sang the Cloud as he filled the girl with his tears.
A rush of memories that the Cloud had held on to rushed through the girl as she drank down the Cloud’s pain.
And then she spoke, “The people that loved you . . . the memories you shared . . . will always live with them.”
She stared at the Cloud, “Will you tell that to my family as well?”
The knot in her throat loosened and untangled her sorrow, and she finally let out her rain.
The other clouds gathered around.
“. . . We did not mean to carry on the cycle of pain. We did not mean for more death. We were foolish and hurt. We just wanted to feel important.”
“You are, since the day you were born and forever more.”
The clouds lost their darkness and dissipated into the world again.
The end.
I’ve waited so long to meet you.
Growing Interlude
Forty-seven-year-old Leonard was drunk again.
He hadn’t slept for days, he’d forgotten how.
There are nights you run into pockets of gravity heavier than others. Tonight, Leonard was in the heaviest pocket of all.
He sat alone just like he had the night before, practicing conversations he longed to have.
Leonard entered the photo booth and pretended it was a time machine. He put three dollars in and hoped he could zoom himself into the future far from his sorrow.
Dizzy with whiskey, memories swam and circled him. Gravity seemed to have no mercy on Leonard’s heart. It pressed so heavily on him, he felt as if he might burst into a billion pieces.
His thoughts raced, “If we are energy and energy cannot be created or destroyed—I WILL NOT BE DESTROYED.”
A grenade of light flashed and shook Leonard, and at the exact moment his last photo was taken,
Leonard chose to live.
“I’m tired of self-destruction.” The war inside him was over. “It’s time for a self-revolution!” And with that he decided to celebrate with another drink.
Leonard locked eyes with a stranger.
A woman stood across the room but he could feel space and distance becoming less relevant.
An then they were face-to-face.
“I can’t tell if you’re staring at me because you wanna ask me to dance, o
r if you’re trying to make my head explode.”
“Maybe a little of both. I’m Leonard.”
“Marie.”
“I like how your soul bends your face.”
Her face became stone, “I’ve got a lot of baggage.”
Leonard smiles, “Don’t worry, I’ve got a pickup truck.”
“I don’t know.” She stood up and indeed had a lot of baggage.
“You weren’t kidding.”
She started to walk away.
