by K M Stross
Cross felt a spray of fresh blood across his sweaty face. He fell back onto the shards of splintered wood. The thick, heavy body of the sheriff followed, landing on Cross’s right hand. Wet blood from the sheriff’s open abdomen temporarily doused the flames.
Darkness.
He gripped his knife tightly in his left hand.
Ringing. A church bell calling the flock in, slowly fading. A body shuffling along the carpeting, legs dragging. Shards of wood cast aside, bouncing off the nearest pew. Cross’s own breath, raspy in his ears, the blood in his throat gurgling with each exhale.
A pair of thin wet hands wrapped around Cross’s knife, prying his fingers from the hilt. Cross pulled his arm out from under the sheriff’s corpse and reached up with his hand extended in a claw, jabbing at Morrissey’s torso and digging into the wet wounds along his stomach and ribs. Morrissey screamed. Cross dug his fingers deeper, twisting his nails between chunks of loose flesh. Morrissey screamed louder and loosened his grip on the knife.
Cross wrapped his fingers tightly around the hilt, his other hand continuing its kneading of soft flesh under Morrissey’s armpit while Morrissey’s hands grabbed at his arm, twisting and pulling. Hot, fresh blood ran down Cross’s bare skin.
“Even if Father Aaron were venerated,” Cross said, “it wouldn’t be you, Morrissey. You’re not Father Aaron.”
“All I’ve wanted,” Morrissey whispered, “was not to be me.”
Cross brought the knife up, digging it deep between two of Morrissey’s ribs, piercing the stiff muscles protecting the soft lung.
The weight of Morrissey’s body weighed heavily on Cross’s. He let the limp body rest on him, feeling its weight and smelling the blood. His shirt soaked in the warm liquid shared between them, their exposed blood mingling together until Cross’s arms tired and began to buckle. Morrissey’s cold cheek rested gently on Cross’s face. He could feel the scar rubbing against his lips.
Slowly, Cross pushed the body off of him. He got to his knees, feeling around on the carpet for the thin strip of metal that lined the aisle between the pews. He followed it to the center of the church, between the two columns of pews, turning left and making his way to the front doors. He pushed on them, feeling the cool night air brush by his body, cooling the wet blood on his face. Darkness replaced darkness, but Cross relished it nonetheless.
It took a moment for him to realize there was a sound hiding under the ringing in his ears. He listened more closely: it was an engine, worn by years of choking dry dust through its gears.
A pair of hands wrapped gently around Cross’s armpits. He resisted, so the figure sat down on the steps next to him. Above there was only darkness. Cross longed for the familiar constellations.
“Ramon’s dead,” Cross whispered. He held the knife in front of his vision, but saw only a dark shadow, barely visible and tinted a dark red from the blood that had seeped between the swollen slit of skin around his right eye.
The figure grunted. Cross heard a cigarette light, smelled the smoke disperse.
“Father Belmont’s body is on the edge of the ranch,” Cross said. “Take it to the authorities. Make sure it’s examined.” He groaned quietly when he exhaled. “And make sure Maria’s all right. Tell her I said thank you.”
“You’re going, then.”
“I’m going,” Cross said. He stood up, waiting, then laughed. “You know, I really did think for a moment this curse might lift.”
The man lit a cigarette and pulled Cross back down onto the steps. “Why don’t you just wait awhile.”
“Why.”
“Because. Maybe all ain’t lost.”
Cross took a deep breath and looked up into darkness, waiting for the constellations to return. His eyes ached for the stars to return. Then: something, a spot, a bright dot that seemed to be a figment of his imagination. Too bright to be a star—a satellite, maybe—but bright enough that his right eye could make it out between the swollen lids.
Maybe, just maybe, the stars would return.
He would wait a few moments more.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
