by Tony C. Skye
Julianna stands speechless.
“No words?”, Lilith questions mockingly, “The young all powerful Mother has no words?”
Julianna looks down at the black sand around her pale feet. She speaks quietly with no confidence in her tone, “Why didn’t you say all of this whenever I first told you what I was going to do?”
“Would any of this stopped you? Or would you have believed me to be a deceitful liar?”
Julianna pauses before guiltily nodding in agreement with Lilith’s last statement.
“You do no trust outside of you comfort area, child. This is your biggest problem. And it is your biggest weakness. Your future child’s father knows this about you.”
Julianna looks up, “Knows what?”
“He knows if you think you understand, then you will trust your evaluations without question. The boy and your father are proof of this. Trusting me would have been outside of your comfort area. Would it not?”
Julianna stares.
“Weakness, child – it leads to the kind of decisions you have been making.”
Lilith turns and sits back down upon her rock. A few silent minutes pass by before Julianna interrupts the heavy atmosphere.
“I need to go and find him,” Julianna quietly speaks.
Lilith looks out over the earth-line, “Where is he from your physical body?”
“I don’t know.”
Lilith looks down and shakes her head. A couple of seconds later, she looks back up. Julianna has made it around the rock and is standing to her left.
“He is new to this part of his existence. If he was not of the Chosen, he will probably be close to the place where you ended his physical life. It takes time to learn how to move within this place. The rules are so much different than what his mind is telling him.”
“How do I get there? It is too far to walk it.”
Lilith gets up and walks towards the earth-line without giving Julianna a single look. When she nears the border, she pauses. Julianna stops at her left side.
“Next lesson,” Lilith begins, “You must cross the earth-line. Remember what my beach looks like. Remember how the sand between your toes feels. You will need this to get back. On that side of the line, you will be unable to appear here as you do whenever you come from your physical body. Over there, the governing rules are followed by everyone – including you. It is like how your physical laws must be followed by the living. You cannot just appear on the beach. You will have to appear at the line and then cross over. This is my punishment. Not yours. Do you understand me so far?”
“I get it.”
“Remember,” Lilith continues, “Coming back is the same as leaving.”
Julianna nods, covers her head with her hoodie, and crosses the earth-line. She turns back around and looks at Lilith.
“Close your eyes,” Lilith instructs. Whenever Julianna complies, Lilith begins speaking again.
“Think of the place where you ended his physical existence. What does it look like? How does it feel? How does it smell? How does it…”
Lilith pauses. She turns back and walks towards her rock.
Julianna begins thinking of her father’s house. One image sticks out above the rest – the scene of the gore spewing onto the plastic-covered wall behind him. She gasps as she feels like a roller coaster speeding down its first hill. The sudden unexpected rush causes her to panic. She quickly opens her eyes and sees an empty room. It is clean. There is no furniture – no gore. But she easily recognizes it as the place of where she grew up.
“Are you dead?”, a voice speaks from behind her. Julianna’s eyes widen. Lilith has taught her to not trust voices within this realm. She follows Lilith’s rules by bowing her head and slowly turning around to face the voice behind her. When she sees her father, he is shaking from fear and glancing nervously all around the room.
“Why are you here?”, the frightened man exuberates his panic, “Do you hear me?”
Julianna slips the hoodie down to her shoulders. Her father’s eyes water and his lips tremble. He staggers backwards and trips over his feet landing his buttocks upon the floor.
“Who - who are you?”, the man desperately calls out, “Why do you look like my daughter?”
“Why did you kill my mom?”, Julianna responds coldly.
“Ju - Julia?”, the man questions. He quickly crawls on his hands and knees. When he approaches her feet, he attempts to take hold of her ankles, “Oh thank God.”
Julianna backs away, “Don’t you say that again. Have you not figured out He has sentenced you to burn?”
The man’s tears increase as he looks upward into his daughter’s familiar green eyes.
“But why? I asked Him to forgive me for Theresa.”
Julianna has the sudden urge to kick him in the face. Instead, she squats down to eye-level.
“Do you not know your own God’s rules?”, Julianna smirks, “Whenever you ask for forgiveness, dear father, you must turn away from the deeds He despises.”
Julianna touches her left pointer finger to her father’s nose, “And you were a drunk.”
The young woman stands up and presents the room with her hands, “Welcome to hell, daddy – right where you sent my mother.”
Julianna pulls her hoodie back up, “Enjoy.”
“Wait!”, the man pleas, “Pl-please Julia. This place is horrible. I will explain it to you. Just please stay a little longer. Please.”
Julianna crosses her arms. Out of the corner of her right eye, she sees a shadow dart along the wall.
“Come out,” Julianna’s tone is the reflection of boredom, “I will not harm you.” She notices her father scrambling away from the wall. He turns to view his tormentor.
The shadow exhibits compliance as it shrinks to the size of a child and speaks with a high pitched voice.
“Julie - ahh - na.”
“The one and only,” Julianna impatiently answers, “Now tell me, what is your name demon?”
“Hee-hee,” the demon laughs, “No - no - no, Julie - ahh - na.”
“Shall I call on Dranestan to deal with you?”, Julianna counters.
“Dranestan,” the demon panics, “No - no - no, Julie - ahh - na. No - no.”
A moment later, the child demon disappears and reappears again between herself and her father. He shoves his little right hand into the gaping hole within the back of her father’s head. The man screams out in agony. The demon looks up at Julianna and smiles.
“Stop that,” Julianna scolds, “You can play later.”
The child demon frowns and pulls his hand out of the man’s head. The tortured soul falls into the floor, takes a fetal position, and cries.
“Tell me your name, demon,” Julianna sounds irritated, “Last chance or its Dranestan.”
“Jamés,” the demon pronounces his name as Jaw-mayes.
Julianna smiles and lowers herself to the child’s perspective. She understands this demon is showing itself as a child in order to appeal to her softer side. Jamés is low-ranking. He has no military authority outside of foot soldier. This is one of the oddities of this place. To see a demon, is to instantly know its rank, power, and authority.
“Can I please talk to my father?”, Julianna questions with a set of puppy dog eyes.
“You not hurt Jamés?”
“I love you little guys,” Julianna says while holding out her arms, “Come here.”
Jamés nervously looks at her offered hands. He has been warned not to touch her. However, he has also been instructed to obey her until his master is done with her. His orders seemed clear until now. Now, he is just plain confused.
Julianna laughs like a loving mother, “It is okay, Jamés. I just want to hold your cute little hands. You’re so adorable.”
Julianna’s father regains enough composure to look at these so-called adorable hands. They are covered black with long jagged nails. There’s nothing adorable about those hands.
“Okay - okay,” the child dem
on agrees, “Okay - okay.”
Julianna smiles as the demon takes hold of her hands. She winks.
“Go home, Jamés.”
The demon cocks his head to the right and laughs.
“Jamés is home.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Julianna realizes her mistake. She forgot that this whole place is considered their domain. She winks again, “Thank you.”
The demon frowns.
“Go look at the earth-line until I leave, Jamés.”
“No - no,” the child demon stamps his feet, “You trick Jamés.”
An instant later, the child demon vanishes.
Julianna’s nose crinkles as she looks at her father’s gore on her hand. She stands up, walks over to him, and wipes the gore on his jeans.
“Get up. He is gone as long as I’m here. But if you don’t start talking, I’m outta here.”
The trembling and weak man forces himself to a sitting position.
“Talk.”
“I’m so sorry, Julia,” the man begins sobbing, “I’m so - so sorry.”
“Quit your bawling. You have an eternity to do that.”
The man reaches up and feels the large hole in the back of his head. He does his best to not break down again.
“You know,” Julianna explains her father’s recent irony, “That demon’s name is spelled like yours.”
James Atwood lifts his watery eyes to view his angry daughter, “Why?”
“I have no idea. Now talk or I’m gone.”
“Have - have you seen Theresa? Pl-please take me to her.”
“Are you freakin’ serious right now?!”, Julianna screams at him, “I can’t believe you just asked me that!”
“Did - did you ask her what happened?”
“I didn’t have to! I read it for myself!”
James looks down at the floor. His shoulders begin shaking with each new sob.
“I didn’t want to…”
Sniffle.
“Theresa, my dear love…”
Sniffle.
James looks up at his daughter, “She made me promise.”
Julianna takes a step back. Her anger is quickly being replaced with an unexpected horror.
“She tried to separate the prophecy-line so it would skip you…”
Sniffle.
“…She told me everything about the wall and made me promise to raise you in church. She - she said her first attempt failed and said the only way to save you was to kill her.”
The man shakes his head, “I didn’t want to. Gawd, I didn’t want to.”
Julianna covers her mouth with her left hand. Her lips quake in sync with the tears filling her eyes. She shakes her head with denial.
“I failed her…”
Sniffle.
His dark eyes begs his daughter, “…I failed you both.”
Julianna backs up some more. She closes her eyes to rip herself away from the scene of her broken father. She thinks about Lilith’s beach. A rush flows through her. An instant later, she can see the earth-line. She briefly glances at Lilith while she rushes across it. The woman of many braids looks away. Julianna falls to her hands and knees and screams out hysterically. The beach fills with the sounds of her anguish.
Lilith observes faces across the earth-line beginning to gather around the hypnotic choruses of Julianna’s wailing. They gather in hopeful anticipation. Lilith lifts her right hand and flips them off.
“You need to concentrate, child. Go home to your body,” Lilith calmly instructs, “This place is designed to feed off of despair. Come back when you calm.”
Julianna vaguely distinguishes Lilith’s comments within her confused mind. She understands what the woman is trying to convey to her – not even the Mother can override the way something is designed by Him. She gags.
* * *
Julianna throws off her covers and leans over the side of her bed. Nyquil PM spews all over the marble flooring. Tears rush down her cheeks and drop into the putrid mess as her stomach convulses again. She vomits until there is nothing left and continues vomiting long after. With each successive stomach spasm, she groans against the pain of her dry-heaves. When the spasms finally slow themselves, Julianna Cora Atwood – murderer of her father – passes out from exhaustion. Despair is the new blanket upon her bed. Regret is her new pillow. Pain is the stuffed animal in which she must now embrace for comfort.
* * *
Chapter 13
Friends
“Uh…”, Julianna moans while swiping at hands, “Leave me alone.”
“No can do, Julianna,” a woman’s voice defies her weak command.
Two sets of hands man-handle her ragdoll body by flipping her onto her back. She bats at them, but is quickly subdued.
“Ssstop…”, Julianna demands in a barely audible voice.
“Is there a tub nearby?”, a stranger’s voice swirls within the fog of Julianna’s sleepy mind.
“Yes,” another voice responds. Julianna recognizes it as her grams.
“Let’s get her in there,” the voice that does not belong speaks again.
Julianna attempts to open her eyes, but they are too heavy. Large hands find their way underneath her and lift her into the air effortlessly. She feels as though she is floating upon a magical carpet while being whisked away down the hallway leading to the washroom.
“Put her in the tub. We can take it from there.”
Julianna hears the sounds of water as her body is gently seated into the tub. The forthcoming warm water begins to wrap itself around her chilled body. It comforts like a sleeping bag on a cool autumn’s morning.
“Uh…ssstop,” Julianna begs as hands begin maneuvering her body while stealing her clothing.
“Not going to happen, Julianna,” a second stranger’s voice informs, “Do you have this under control?”
“She’s worn out,” the other stranger replies, “She won’t be a problem.”
“Okay. I’ve got the room,” the second stranger speaks again, “I’ll get the saline ready once I get it all cleaned up. Give me about thirty minutes.”
“Ssstop it,” Julianna commands while pushing at a hand trying to suffocate her with a wet washcloth. She immediately feels an arm force her hands into the water. It stops in a locked position underneath her breasts. She attempts to raise her arms back up out of the water, but can’t. Her attacker is too strong.
“You suck,” Julianna quietly complains while giving up.
“I love you, too,” the stranger’s womanly voice reflects her slight amusement.
Julianna spits against the washcloth wiping away the scum of her sickness. When she realizes her attacker is rubbing her own saliva all over her face, she decides it was a terrible idea. The young woman, then, relaxes and calms herself by giving up the pointless fight.
* * *
After leaving his granddaughter in the tub, Frank returns to Julianna’s bedroom. The wretched smell fills the room’s air. His wife sits at the desk across the room. She is holding the half empty bottle of Nyquil.
“Do you think it’s another attempt?”, Martha sadly questions.
Frank shakes his head, “I don’t.”
The man points at the bottle, “It would be empty if she were trying something like that. I’m with the nurses on this one. I think she overdosed by accident. She didn’t take into account the prescription the doctor put her on.”
“She definitely overdosed,” a woman’s voice says while approaching Frank’s backside, “But she’s going to be fine.”
The woman rounds Frank and looks directly at Martha. She sees a stack of fresh linen on the desk’s top next to her.
“Replacement bed-linen?”
“Yes. I’ve already bagged up everything. I’ll wash it up later,” Martha says while looking over towards Julianna’s bed, “The mattress seems fine.”
The nurse looks at the floor next to the bed’s left side and then glances back to Martha, “I’m going to need some rags, a mop, and some c
leaning supplies. If you don’t have them, that’s okay. One of us can run out and pick it all up.”
Martha points towards the adjacent hall next to the one leading to the washroom, “You can find all of that stuff in the cleaning closet. Just follow the hall to the kitchen. The cleaning closet is the one in the far left of the room.”
“Thank you,” the nurse responds while turning to look at the hallway on the left.
“Let’s go upstairs,” Frank speaks to his wife, “These women were chosen by Julia for a reason. We should probably give them some space to work.”
Martha looks at Frank. The woman sits the medicine bottle on the desk and then stands. She glances over at the nurse making her way to the hallway that leads to the kitchen.
“Gale.”
The nurse stops and turns around.
Martha continues, “You two are the first to ever be in here without my supervision.”
The nurse watches Martha walk up next to her husband and take hold of his right hand. Her red hair is frizzy from her morning bed head. Her blue eyes tell the story of mental exhaustion.
“Take care of her,” Martha says before looking into her husband’s eyes.
Gale sees Frank smile a comforting grin before turning to escort his wife up the stairs.
“We will,” Gale attempts to comfort the woman with words, “And we’ll be the ones to wash everything up. You try and get some rest.”
Martha pats her husband’s gentle tugging hand with her right. She silently allows him to lead her up the stairs and out of the library. And for the first time ever, Martha walks the length of the candelabra hallway with the doors to the Collection left wide open.
* * *
