Demonspawn

by Glenn Bullion

  “Good. Your body is distracting.”

  She smiled and left. Comments like that from Cindy were enough to make a night.

  I was about to find out just how much she meant to me.

  Chapter 9

  It had been a particularly bad day at work. I loaded the wrong freight on the wrong truck. It caused quite a hassle to call the truck to get them back in and straighten everything out. My boss chewed me out, rightfully so. But as I sat there in his office I realized that loading trucks all day wasn't what I wanted to do forever. I wished I had Cindy's motivation to realize a goal and achieve it. Ever since we were little she wanted to follow in her father's footsteps. She just loved numbers and math. I can't see how.

  Even Alicia had a goal. She wanted to be a vet. She loved animals, even though Mom never let us have any growing up.

  Me, I had no idea.

  I didn't have any particular skill. Unless you count talking to ghosts. I could do things no one else could do. But I didn't see how that could turn into a job. I couldn't see what purpose it served.

  I was on my way home from work, still angry. I was at a red light when suddenly the intersection in front of me was gone.

  I was no longer in my truck. I saw Cindy. She was in front of her work, waving goodbye to her father.

  Then I was back at the intersection.

  Then it was gone again. Cindy was stretching out on the sidewalk. She was dressed to run.

  I was seeing all this in quick flashes that disoriented the hell out of me. I realized that I was seeing Cindy each time from the same angle.

  From a car in the parking lot outside her firm.

  She was being followed.

  Cindy was in danger.

  The simple fact hit me as someone behind me started laying on their car horn. This jarred me from the visions I was having and brought me completely back to my own head.

  I stomped on the gas.

  I tried to keep calm. Everything was working against me. I was about twenty minutes away from Cindy, and that was with good traffic. She had a cell phone, but I didn't. I knew at that moment, she was starting her jog through the city that she sometimes did when she got tired of jogging near home. I also knew someone was following her. Why, I didn't know. But somehow, I knew my best friend was in trouble. It was no different than knowing when an unseen ghost was watching me.

  I weaved in and out of the streets near my work till I hit the parkway. Then I sped at ninety miles an hour toward the city. As I drove I was assaulted with more visions. Each one took me out of the truck for just a few seconds. If I didn't crash, it would be a miracle.

  I could see Cindy jogging down the city sidewalk. I was in a vehicle following her slowly. It felt higher up, so I guessed it was a van. I wanted to look around, see who was driving. But these visions I was having, they weren't under my control. I couldn't look around or see anything besides Cindy jogging.

  My very last vision though, at the bottom of my field of vision, I could see a pair of hands holding a rope.

  I had to slam the brakes to keep from hitting the car in front of me. Traffic suddenly stopped. Three lanes of traffic funneled into two, and no one could move. I was just on the edge of the city.

  I turned my truck off and climbed out. I got a few looks and shouts from the drivers around me, but I didn't care. I ran to the first car in front of me and leaned into the open window. The driver was a middle-aged man fiddling with his radio.

  “Sir, please!” I said. “I need your cell phone!”

  I surprised him. He jumped and leaned away from me. “I don't have a cell phone. You have an accident?”

  I didn't answer. I ran to the next car. This driver was a woman dressed in a power suit in her mid thirties.

  “Miss! Please, I need to borrow your cell phone! I need to call the police!”

  She didn't even respond. She leaned away and pushed a button to raise the windows. I put my hands on them to try to hold them down, but that didn't work. I got my fingers out just in time to avoid some pain.

  I was actually tempted to smash the glass and steal whatever phone she had, but knew that wouldn't help.

  I started running as fast as I could. The city was huge, but I knew exactly where Cindy was. She was running near the Eighth Street Park. I knocked a few people over rounding a few corners, slowing me down even more. I had to leap over a dog that someone was walking.

  I took a shortcut down an alley that I knew ran into Eighth Street. When I hit the sidewalk I stopped to study the street. I could see Cindy ahead of me on the other side. She jogged at a steady pace. I kept losing sight of her cause of all the traffic going back and forth.

  “Cindy!”

  She stopped and turned around. She looked confused at first, then smiled and waved.

  A white van pulled up next to her, the brakes squealing. I couldn't see what was going on. I started running one more time. The van sped away five seconds later, and Cindy was gone.

  I didn't bother looking out for traffic, and almost paid for it. As I ran across the street I could hear tires screeching and a horn. The Jeep Wrangler actually didn't miss me. I vanished just in time to let it slide right through me. I didn't miss a step. I ran after the van. I could see it making a left at the next light. So I made a left as well. Although I decided the sidewalk wasn't going to work.

  I ran directly into the building next to me.

  I ran through brick, drywall, desks, a board meeting, anything that was in my way. As I passed through an office with a window I could see the white van on the street. I had the angle to it. I just had to keep running.

  Strangely, I wasn't getting tired.

  I passed through the last wall and made it onto the street. I was fifteen yards away from the van. I could make out the driver, an older man probably in his fifties, very grizzled.

  I took a breath and dove into the side of the van. As soon as I felt my feet clear the side I reappeared. I collapsed inside the van and bumped my head into the other side.

  I looked up to see the back of a large man. I could tell what was going on. He was trying to tie Cindy's hands, and she was fighting back.

  “This bitch won't sit still,” he said. “Ah! She fuckin' bit me!”

  He raised his first overhead. I was on top of him before he could bring it down. I wrapped an arm around his neck and squeezed as hard as I could. I heard him gasp for breath and start to fight me. He stood up quickly and threw my head into the roof. I almost lost my grip for a second, but then Cindy was helping. She punched the man right in the balls. He was done after that. He fell into a heap.

  Cindy's hands were halfway tied. I saw the driver struggle to drive the van while reaching for a gun at his side.

  I seemed to be getting new abilities all the time. But I didn't think any of them involved bullets.

  I threw the side door open. I grabbed Cindy's shoulders, and we both jumped.

  If the van had been moving any faster, the landing would have been deadly. A stroke of luck there, as we weren't moving too fast. We both fell forward between two parked cars. Luckily I hit the ground first, and Cindy landed on top of me. I got scraped up, but nothing serious.

  “Alex!”

  She recovered faster than me. She was pulling me to my feet. I helped her undo the rope around her wrists, then held her face in my hands. She grabbed my wrists. She started to shake, but held in whatever emotions she was feeling.

  “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “You?”

  I smiled and hugged her. If I ever lost her, I don't know what I'd do. I cared about her so much that apparently I could sense when she was in trouble. I needed her in my life, plain and smile.

  And those two men tried to take her away.

  I watched the van drive down the street. Up till then, I was worried, terrified. Now I was angry.

  I looked at Cindy. “Listen, get to the police station, and stay there. Okay? I'll be there soon.”

  I tried to leave. She held onto my ar
m. “Where are you going?”

  “To follow them.”

  She shook her head. “No. Alex, don't be stupid.”

  I gently pulled free from her grasp and grabbed her shoulders. “I'll be fine.”

  I turned and ran. I vanished once again. Hopefully Cindy wasn't freaking out behind me, as I know she was watching me. She knew what I could do, but never seen me do it out in the open.

  As soon as I saw the van making a left, I cut across the street. I ran through a few cars and even a person on the way over. It was a very strange feeling to know that nothing could stop me. I couldn't outrun a van. But I didn't need to follow the road.

  And I also didn't seem to get tired when I was vanished.

  Running felt weird. I could feel myself breathing, feel the muscles working. But they didn't tire. No pain, no fatigue. I ran full speed, and just didn't need to slow down.

  I ran through a McDonald's and a laundromat to get to them. I knew I couldn't jump inside the van again. I couldn't fight two guys with guns. I needed to follow them. But I knew if they headed toward the beltway, I'd lose them completely.

  I followed them for twenty minutes as they drove through the city. Sometimes I didn't have a problem keeping up and could run next to the van. But then they'd take a sudden turn and I'd have to run through cars and buildings to keep up.

  They finally pulled into the driveway of a beat-up house. Shingles were falling off the side. There was trash all over the yard. The two men didn't speak to each other as they got out of the van and headed toward the front door. They stepped inside with me right behind them. One of them kicked a coffee table out of frustration in the messy living room.

  They went right to the basement. I floated down through the living room floor just in time to see one of the men turn on a light and the other sit down in a chair. The one who turned on the light started pacing.

  Finally, they spoke to one another.

  “Marcus, you fuckin' idiot.”

  “Me? What did I do?”

  “I told you to grab the woman. That's it. That's not so fuckin' hard. You grab her, you pull her in the van. Why'd you pull that guy in?”

  “Look. I don't know where that fucker came from. He was just there, Tony.”

  “Oh yeah. Like a ghost, right?”

  I smiled as I stood in the corner.

  Like a ghost. Exactly.

  “Fuck you. Anyway, we trying again?”

  “Eh, the bitch will go to the cops. They'll watch her a while. Nah, not for a few weeks. We'll go to her apartment.”

  I finally had the chance to study Marcus and Tony. They looked to be around the same age. Early fifties, maybe. They both looked like they'd seen better days. Both white men, didn't look to be in too bad a shape. Both desperately needed a shave. I could tell by the way Tony paced and Marcus sat and stared at his partner that Tony was the leader of their little duo.

  “Fuck. Our one solid shot at getting the bitch, and we fuck it up,” Tony said.

  “Are you sure she's even the right one?”

  Tony grabbed a newspaper from the corner and tossed it angrily at Marcus. “Read it yourself.”

  I was confused. I crossed the basement and looked at the paper over Marcus' shoulder. It was the same newspaper article that Cindy had showed me. The one about Cindy finding money and donating it through her firm.

  “You getting it now, asshole? She found that money. And she's got the rest of it.”

  “It just says she found it near the woods.”

  “How many people you think bury money around the woods near rich douche-bag's houses? I'm telling you, she found the old man's stash. Or she knows who did.”

  My jaw dropped. It was all becoming clear.

  “Maybe you shouldn't have killed the whole family,” Marcus mumbled.

  “Hey, enough of that shit, alright? That was twenty years ago. So I got a little trigger happy. So what?”

  I reappeared. I was a step behind Marcus.

  “You killed George McEllen and his family for a hundred grand?”

  Marcus jumped from the chair and stood by Tony. Both their eyes grew wide. Marcus pointed.

  “That's him!” he said. “He was in the van!”

  Tony fumbled grabbing his gun from the inside of his coat. By the time he had it out and raised, I was already gone.

  I shook my head as I circled around them. They didn't even know I was five feet away. They were in their thirties when they killed George and his family. All just for money. Or maybe not. As I looked at Tony, I thought he probably did it for pleasure.

  He waved his gun around aimlessly. Marcus stared at each corner with a look of panic on his face, like he'd seen a ghost. I had to be careful. One small mistake by me could end badly.

  There was a toilet in the far corner. I took my time getting in good position near Tony. Then I reappeared, grabbed his gun, and tossed it in the toilet. By the time he could react, I was gone again. The whole trick took me two seconds.

  They didn't even go for the gun again. I had a huge advantage over them.

  Fear.

  Marcus grabbed a pipe from the corner and tossed a loose two-by-four to Tony. They stood close together in the center of the basement.

  “What the fuck are you!?” Tony shouted.

  I smiled. Somehow, some way, I hoped George was watching. I would make sure they never hurt anyone again.

  I stood in front of Tony and reappeared again.

  “Boo!”

  Marcus swung as hard as he could, but he was too slow. He swung through me and nailed Tony hard on the side of the head. Tony cried out in pain and fell to one knee.

  Marcus had seen enough. He dropped his pipe and ran for the basement door. I let him go. Tony was a few steps behind, but he wasn't fast enough. I kicked the door shut, then vanished again. Tony ran full force into it and fell to the ground. The side of his face and nose were bleeding. Marcus never came back to help him. I heard him leave through the front door upstairs. Guess there's no honor among thieves, or killers.

  Tony was pushing himself backwards along the ground. He looked desperate to get away from me. I let him see me now. There wasn't anything he could do to me.

  I did see him angle toward the toilet. I grabbed the pipe that Marcus dropped and slowly stalked Tony. When he put his hand in the toilet to go for the gun, I stomped the lid down on his hand. I heard some bones break.

  Tony looked up at me, terrified. As I stared down at him I noticed there was a red glow on his face. Weird. Was something on me glowing red?

  “Please don't kill me!” he shouted.

  Again, odd. Did I look like a killer?

  “You're gonna go to the police and tell them what you did.”

  “What?!”

  I nodded. “The police.”

  “Fuck you!”

  I leaned on my knee, putting more pressure on his hand. He winced.

  “I know who you are.” I noticed my own voice sounded different. “I can go myself. But it'd be easier for us both if you did.”

  Tony gave me one last defiant look. “I can run forever.”

  “And I can haunt you forever.” My voice was deep and gravely. It scared even me. “Every time you open your eyes, I'll be there. Go. And when they ask you about Marcus, you turn him in. Understand?”

  The glow on his face grew brighter. He closed his eyes. “Yes! I will! Just get the fuck away from me!”

  Marcus wasn't anywhere to be seen, but that didn't matter. Tony was scared to death. He almost ran the three miles to the station, with me right behind him.

  He ran into the waiting area and started screaming.

  “I need to confess!”

  He was so wild the police actually tackled him to the ground, handcuffed him, and dragged him away.

  After he was gone I reappeared outside the police station and rejoined the normal world of walls and getting tired when running.

  Cindy pushed open the double doors to the station and walked outside. She kept
looking back in. She was still dressed in her running clothes. When she saw me she stopped.

  “That was him, wasn't it? The guy driving the van? Jesus he just ran inside! The cops beat the shit out of him!”

  I nodded.

  “What happened?”

  “I'll tell you later. But they won't bother you again.”

  She walked forward and hugged me. She was calmer than before, but I could tell she wasn't yet over being pulled into a van and tied up.

  “Come on,” I said. “Let's go home.”

  We turned around, and I had to stop one last time. I saw three people standing across the street from the station. I could just barely see through them.

  It was George and his family.

  He held his daughter Pam's hand. His other arm was wrapped around Sharon, his wife. I saw him whisper something to his daughter. She waved shyly. George and Sharon waved as well.

  Then they were gone.

  I couldn't get the smile off my face. For the first time in my life, I finally felt like I'd done something really meaningful.

  “Alex? You okay?”

  “Never better.”

  *****

  It was a long night. We didn't talk much for a while. We walked back to her work to get her car. Then she had to drop me off near the parkway to get my truck. I got there just in time to wave off the tow-truck guy.

  We didn't get to the apartment until nearly ten o'clock. We didn't even need to say a word. She followed me inside. I gestured for her to sit down while I poured her some water. I kept my distance and sat on the weight-bench. It was a good five minutes before she spoke.

  “Please don't tell anyone about tonight.”

  I nodded. “Not a problem.”

  She was quiet again, lost in her own thoughts. I turned the TV on just to break the silence. I flipped through a few channels before I settled on the local news, and was surprised. News sure does travel fast. The hot news anchor looked into the camera.

  “A twenty-year-old mystery was solved today, when Tony DeMarco turned himself in to police and confessed that he and his brother Marcus murdered local businessman George McEllen and his family in nineteen-eighty-seven. Marcus was apprehended at the bus station a half hour after Tony gave himself up to authorities. The two will be held without bail.”