by Adam Moon
Jack consciously put the pillowcase down beside him on the couch. “So if I play along Jessie gets to go back to normal?”
“We don’t know,” said Daniel, “but we’re pretty sure.”
Oliver added, “Just go through the motions, if you don’t like it, tell Lucifer no. He isn’t who you think he is. He will trouble you no more and neither will we. But give him a chance to convince you.”
Jack thought about that for a full minute before nodding his approval. There was a part of him that thought he had to go through with this or else all the deaths at the facility were for nothing.
Melanie joined them. She had on a flimsy sun dress that accentuated all her curves and left just enough to the imagination. She was breathtaking.
She said, “Jessie’s watching TV. I left him a snack but that boy needs to put on some weight. He’s skin and bones.”
Oliver said, “It took me five straight minutes of arguing to convince him to wear regular clothes instead of pajamas all day. A lot of things out here might be overwhelming to him. The Doctor didn’t exactly have two shits to give for the boy’s welfare.”
Melanie stood. “Well I’m going to make him a sandwich and make him eat it.”
“Good luck with that.”
Jack didn’t react right away; it took a few seconds for the realization to hit him. Melanie, a stranger to Jessie, cared more about his welfare than his own father did. He had to get used to this new dad role.
He joined Melanie in the kitchen. She spread mayo and dressing on the bread while he went in search of veggies and meats to fill the sandwich.
It was all so normal now. They’d spent the morning slaughtering strangers and here they were, making a sandwich together for a hungry kid like an average suburban couple. He snorted but when she asked him what he was thinking he didn’t respond. The absurdity of their situation was too much to articulate.
Daniel’s kitchen was well stocked and Jack had the funny feeling that was because he knew he’d be having Lucifer over for dinner. It explained why the house was so immaculate too. He thought, I thought cleanliness was next to Godliness. Then he thought, then again Daniel thinks Lucifer will be the next God. Then he thought, shut up Jack, you’re losing it man.
He let Melanie finish arranging the contents of the sandwich, he poured a glass of milk and they went to Jessie’s bedroom together.
Jessie was watching Dragon ball-Z when they opened the door. He fumbled with the remote until he found the pause button. He said thank you for the meal and waited for them to leave. Melanie took a seat on a chair beside the bed and Jack just stood there with his arms folded.
“Take a bite Jessie, Melanie made it herself.”
Jessie picked the sandwich up and nibbled a tiny corner of crust off.
“Mmm, it’s good,” he mumbled.
“You didn’t get to the best part, it’s in the middle.”
Jessie looked as though he’d like to throw the sandwich at his face but instead he caved in and ate half of it before they decided that was victory enough and left him to his cartoons.
Chapter 67: Hidden Danger
When they returned to the living room everyone there was staring at the same point in space. Something was off. Daniel was backing up and Oliver was wild eyed.
Jack saw his pillowcase jittering about on the sofa and realized the ball within was reacting to something. He felt its fear and anger and confusion but he didn’t understand its intent. The pillowcase floated a foot off the sofa and the ball burned through the pillowcase like a cigarette through newspaper.
It flitted about the room under its own control. This scared Jack more than anything. The ball had its own agenda and he had no control over it.
Then he noticed that the white folks in their mid twenties with the indecipherable names were acting odd. The man was smiling but it was a cruel smile full of murder. The woman had her fists clenched in preparation for an attack. They both seemed keyed up. Oliver sensed it too.
He started to say, “Everyone calm down and take cover,” but the white guy shot him a crazed look that shut him down. The woman ran at the whizzing death ball. She had what looked like an old fashioned key in her hand, or maybe it was a small knife with a really crooked blade.
It evaded her attempts to stab at it. Jack wanted to tell them not to touch it but he thought better of it. From the way they were acting, they seemed to know more about it than he did.
The guy turned his attention to Jack and sneered as he approached. The look on his face was unquestionably murderous.
As Jack reflexively retreated a step he saw out of the corner of his eye, the woman walking towards Jessie’s room, apparently she’d given up on going after the ball and found a better, less evasive target
Everything became crystal clear at that point. These people were enemies and there was about to be a fight to the death.
Jack suddenly felt the tether of the death ball and he forced it under his control. It zipped through the air into his outstretched hand.
He lobbed it at the maniac coming at him but somehow the guy was too fast and dodged it. His movements were not quite human.
Jack panicked and sent the death ball zooming about like an angry hornet. The guy was fast but not fast enough for such a frenzied attack.
As soon as the ball hit him in the temple he fell over dead.
Then he lit up like a flare. It was almost, but not quite like the creatures did when they died. When the blinding light was gone so too was the man.
Shit, thought Jack, as he ran to Jessie’s bedroom. The woman hadn’t gotten her hands on the boy yet. Jessie’s eyes were wide with terror as she came at him.
Jack sent the ball crashing into the back of her skull which sent her head first into the boy’s bed. She erupted into bright light and vanished.
Jack was breathless and confused. Daniel came rushing into the room and Jack got ready to deal with him too but Daniel said, “I’m ok. Don’t kill me.”
He lowered his hand for the time being.
Jessie started to sob which brought Jack right back to the here and now. He jammed the death ball into his jeans pocket where it barely fit, scooped the child up and carried him to the living room. Melanie smoothed Jessie’s hair as Jack told him everything was ok now.
Oliver was pacing frantically but he held his tongue until Jessie could be calmed. After a few minutes Jessie started to relax so Jack gently placed him back in bed and tucked him in. He left the bedroom door open just in case something else crazy happened.
Oliver was revved up.
“You have to believe that I didn’t know they were going to do anything like that.”
Jack asked, “What were they? The guy was like a blur of motion. They weren’t real people.”
Oliver said, “They died like Jessie’s dream creatures died, with the light taking them. Maybe he created them from a dream before we discovered him last year and they’ve been biding their time.”
“No way. The light was different and his creatures and objects have all helped. They were something different.”
Oliver mulled this over.
“You’re right. Jessie’s creatures are of single minded purpose. Those two were thinking rational human beings, at least until now. Plus I’ve known them for about three years and I never suspected anything unusual.”
It was Melanie who confronted the elephant in the room, “Maybe they were sent by God to stop us.”
Oliver shook his head defiantly. There was a hint of disgust in his tone, “God doesn’t interfere no matter what. He didn’t stop Hitler or Stalin or Pol Pot. He crosses his arms and turns his back when there are tsunamis and volcanic eruptions that take life by the millions. He truly doesn’t give a shit. This was not his doing, that’s giving him too much credit.”
Melanie shrugged. Jack thought she might be right but Oliver was livid at the thought that God would try and stop them so they all let the conversation fizzle out.
Daniel was visibl
y shaken, “They were my friends. I never suspected they’d…”
His dialogue was interrupted by a vibration in the air all around them. It was accompanied by an audible hum that seemed to come from inside each of their skulls.
Jack only then noticed that he was holding the death ball in his hand. He didn’t remember taking it from his pocket. It was warm to the touch which was odd. The heat increased until Jack had to let it go for fear of burning himself.
Chapter 68: Lucifer
The pulsating death ball hovered off the floor by five feet. It spun on an axis radiating a heat they could feel even from a distance.
It spun faster and faster until it was moving so quickly the motion was impossible to detect.
Everyone moved away from it except Jack. The ball was calling for him and he felt compelled to help.
He put one hand on one side of the ball and the other on the opposite side. His hands were now a mere six inches from either side but the heat no longer bothered him.
All eyes were on Jack. This was the moment they’d all been waiting for.
Jack clapped his hands together, crushing the death ball flat as a pancake. The ball had willed him to do this and he had obeyed.
When he pulled his hands apart, instead of a floating ball, there was a floating hole. It had gone from three dimensional to two.
Jack felt a wind escape from the hole in space. It smelled like charcoal and burnt hair and bacon grease. A nearly opaque wisp of smoke floated from the hole.
He looked through the hole to the realm on the other side. It was fantastical. Flames danced around and dark indistinguishable shapes flitted past in the distance. He could even hear a type of moaning, punctuated by an occasional scream. It was hell, he knew and he was the first mortal to ever lay eyes on it.
This should have frightened him. His survival instincts should have kicked in by now.
He put his eye right up to the hole to get a wider, panoramic view.
Then, not an inch in front of the hole another eye appeared from the hell side. It was looking straight into his eye and Jack imagined, straight into his soul too.
He was stunned by the sudden appearance but despite his trepidation he held his ground.
The eye on that side was ancient and contained a beauty Jack could barely comprehend. The color of the eye was unknowable. It was simply soulful and contained equal measures of despair and hope.
Tears streamed down Jack’s face.
This was a fucking perfect angel stuck in hell to suffer for an eternity. It was a fucking travesty and he wasn’t going to stand for it.
He put both hands inside the hole and, with his fingers, started to pry it apart with all his might. The hole widened by a few inches which made his heart leap with joy.
There was a part of his brain that was screaming for him to stop and assess the situation first but he was on cruise control now, he knew what had to be done.
He felt something touch his fingers from the other side of the hole. Lucifer had touched him to stop him. Jack felt dizzy from it. It was like a shot of adrenaline to the soul.
Lucifer telepathically asked him to stop. They had to agree before commencing. There had to be mutual consent.
Jack left his hands in the hole as Lucifer opened a vivid telepathic link between them. As he did, Jack regained his senses and yanked his hands away. He realized he’d nearly let him out without so much as thinking about the consequences.
Chapter 69: Sympathy for the Devil
The fallen angel on the other side of the hole said, “I’m sorry for my brothers’ behavior. They’re always looking for brownie points with the big guy. They were wasting their time though because he wouldn’t care if they stopped me.”
Jack understood fully that Lucifer meant that the white man and woman he’d killed just fifteen minutes ago were actually rouge angels. It came out of the blue as an epiphany.
“Some of them will never learn that he’s beyond pleasing. He’s beyond anything anymore.”
Jack sensed a profound sadness as Lucifer spoke.
He changed the subject, “I understand you need my permission to cross over to this side.”
“Yes but I don’t need a yes or a no, I need your acceptance. I need you to remove doubt from your mind. I’ll be disappointed if you won’t allow me to be free but I’ll accept it.”
Jack appreciated the fact that Lucifer already knew he’d say no and had forgiven him in advance for it.
“Then I say no. Sorry for wasting your time.”
Lucifer laughed. “It’s not about words Jack. Let me try and convince you.”
Jack mentally buffered himself against any kind of brainwashing that Lucifer might try but it turned out to be unnecessary. Lucifer spoke plainly:
“I don’t send souls to hell, God does. But he also doesn’t do a damn thing to help those poor forsaken souls. God has had nothing to do with his creation for a very long time. You are truly on your own. You know this innately. He did nothing to stop your family from being killed. He didn’t intervene when your high school sweet heart was murdered. He didn’t lend a helping hand when your uncle left you all alone. These are slights that affect you on a personal level. We won’t even get into Genocide or natural disasters. He left humanity marooned on island earth and has found better things to occupy his time. You have every right to be angry about this.”
Lucifer paused and his eye looked about, like he was trying to take things in all around him.
He resumed, “Do you know what Samantha’s up to right now? She’s being fitted for her wedding dress. She’s forgotten about you. She hurt and warped you but now she’s in a type of pre-marital bliss, but with a different man.
Your uncle Nick’s living in a hippie commune in Florida. When people ask him if he has any family he says they were all killed in a car wreck, you included.
The guy who murdered your girlfriend in high school is a successful realtor with a family. He plays golf on the weekends.
The cop that wrote that unfair ticket that has stalled your life is retired now, living on a fat pension you paid for with your tax dollars. If you walked right up to him and told him who you were and what he did to you he wouldn’t have the foggiest idea what you were talking about. He forgot about you a decade ago.
The mother of your child, who abandoned him for dead, is two states away watching a romantic comedy, laughing with her new boyfriend. She hasn’t thought of Jessie in months and she certainly hasn’t thought about you.”
Lucifer’s eye shimmered with tears, “God doesn’t care about any of that. He thinks it’s petty.”
Jack was seething with indignant anger. Everyone who had hurt him throughout his life had forgotten he ever existed. He was a bane to them and they’d all been happy to move on. He was a speed bump on their way to a real life.
He took a deep breath and then remembered Melanie. She loved him. She wasn’t trying to get away from him. And he was a new dad too. Well, a new dad to a ten year old, but still.
With a great deal of concentration he broke eye contact with Lucifer and looked at Melanie. She was rigid, as were Daniel and Oliver. Even the air around them appeared still. Jack somehow realized that time had frozen for them. That or he was having this conversation outside of the normal constrictions of time. Dust particles hung in the air free of gravity’s pull. The world was silent.
He looked into that bright eye once again and said, “So they didn’t like me and they’re happier without me? What’s the problem with that? It’s called free will.”
Lucifer sighed. “So are you telling me that the guy who murdered your old girlfriend should be let off the hook because he didn’t get caught, because his free will allowed him to do it? Your uncle was free to abandon you and he did. Does that mean he should have in the first place? I’m not saying God should intervene in all things mortal but how about just the big ones, like stopping people from murdering and raping? Couldn’t he try and discourage that just a bit?”
> Jack asked, “If I set you free would you help stop these atrocities?”
“Absolutely I would. There needs to be checks and balances or the whole machine breaks down. Look about you, it’s already happening.”
“So you would replace our old complacent boss with a new improved version. You would be a micro manager type, right?”
“Now Jack, you’re missing the point. I have a strong desire to right the wrongs he’s inflicted upon you, to all of his creation. I only want to help and to protect.”
Jack tried a new tactic, one completely out of left field. “And how would you treat an atheist then? I choose to disbelieve. This supernatural stuff makes me sick. How would you handle someone like me?”
Lucifer said, “You are willfully blind to the obvious. I do not see what purpose that serves.”
“It keeps me sane I guess.”
Lucifer said, "If you were standing on a bridge and you suddenly had the thought that bridges can't possibly exist, would it actually disappear? Would you fall to your death because of a thought? No you wouldn't. I'm giving you facts and you're saying you'd prefer to side with your beliefs. Isn't that kind of the opposite stance of an average atheist? Shouldn't you be inclined to believe evidence over theory? Listen, we need to break through this unreal wall you've built up as a means of protecting yourself before we can continue."
Jack hesitated. Lucifer was right. He'd built this wall within his mind because he refused to believe a God would willfully ignore his personal trials and tribulations.
"Ok, I'm listening."
"You know, Jack, I shouldn't even be having this conversation with you. You just rescued a child who can make his dreams manifest into reality. Supernatural creatures that I, Lucifer provided via those dreams helped you in your escape. Now you're having a psychic conversation with a fallen angel through a gateway that was once an orb that killed on contact. What more proof do you need?"
