The Fractured Fallen (A Dark Fantasy Horror): The Edge of Reflection Book 4

by Carver Pike

  Oddity was somewhat similar in appearance, without the moldy sores and lumpy skin. His flesh had a bluish tint to it and seemed loose on his bones. His head was large, much larger than the average man, and veins throbbed with each beat of his heart. Just seeing the veins pulsating nearly gave Gabe a headache of his own, and he instantly felt sorry for the man.

  Oddity was short. Sitting in his chair Gabe guessed he couldn’t be any taller than four feet. His eyes were dark pits, the eyeballs set far back, beady with a strange metallic sheen. He wore a simple tan robe, similar to a karate gi.

  As Oddity leaned forward, Vincent and Vision both began to cry.

  “It is okay, little ones,” Oddity said. “Unbelievable. I’ve seen them in my visions, but seeing them in person…extraordinary. They both look so innocent.”

  “You’ve seen them? In visions?” Gabe asked.

  “Ohhhhhh yes,” Oddity said as he leaned back again and pressed his hands together as if joining them for prayer, cracking his knuckles in the process.

  “What else have you seen?” Gabe asked.

  “In due time, sir. We will chat. They will not be here for some time.”

  “Who will not be here?” Lisa asked.

  “My God,” Oddity exclaimed with great excitement. “To see you in person, Lisa. You are absolutely striking, even more radiant than how you looked in my mind.”

  Gabe knew she was blushing, even if he couldn’t see her.

  “Thank you,” she replied.

  “Who will not be here for some time?” Gabe asked, making sure Lisa’s question didn’t go unanswered.

  “Those who will take the baby, of course,” Oddity said.

  Lisa gasped and held onto Vision tightly in her arms.

  “No one is taking my baby!” she exclaimed.

  Oddity leaned forward again, aiming his gaze at Lisa.

  “Child, I’m afraid it was all planned long before you even existed. My dear, they will come, and they will take him.”

  “It’s Vincent, isn’t it?” Gabe heard himself ask. Somehow it had just blurted out. “Something’s different about him.”

  Oddity let out a chuckle, not malicious in any way, but more like a child’s amused laughter.

  “Something is different about them both,” he answered.

  Chapter 13 - The Hardest Part

  The apartment reeked of stale cigarette smoke and garbage. Haylay looked at the room around him and thought of how similar it was to Heather’s Uncle Hank’s trailer. Empty beer cans were stacked one atop the other on the coffee table, threatening to topple over, like a redneck game of Jenga.

  Billy sat on the couch, staring straight ahead. Haylay figured he was either terrified, or desperately in need of whatever drug he was hooked on. His buddy sat next to him. Both men were silent.

  The anger pulsing through Haylay’s veins kept his finger on the trigger, tracing the smooth crescent shape, urging him to pull just a little bit harder and blow a hole in the foreheads of both men. He wanted to. He wanted to so bad it made his lips twitch.

  “Nice place you got here,” Haylay joked.

  Neither man laughed.

  “Hell, I expected y’all to be a hell of a lot tougher, especially after stompin’ that poor boy half to death.”

  Neither man answered.

  “A motherfuckin’ cat got your tongue?”

  Billy opened his mouth and was about to speak when Haylay interrupted him.

  “Let me tell you somethin’, motherfucker! You best think long and hard ‘bout the words fixin’ to come out your mouth. ‘Cause Miss Haylay got his finger on the trigger, and believe me, I’m just itchin’ to kill both a you motherfuckers and end this shit right here.”

  “Please don’t kill me,” Billy said.

  His buddy shot him a questioning look.

  “Us. Please don’t kill us,” Billy added.

  “After what you done did, you think you gonna beg your way outta this? That boy was beaten to a bloody pulp.”

  “I’m sorry,” Billy said. “And…and I’m confused.”

  “Confused? Motherfucker, what you confused about? You kick the shit outta some boy, just ‘cause he gay, and he a dancer. I come up in here to make you pay for that shit. What part of that shit got you confused? I need to explain it more slowly? You dumb hillbilly son of a bitch.”

  “I…I’m confused because…well…you keep talkin’ about that boy like he ain’t you. But he is you, right? I mean…I’m sorry. I’ll just shut up.”

  “Listen up. You just look in my face and understand somethin’. That whimpy brotha you beat up the other night, that motherfucker ain’t me. You think I woulda let you pull some shit like that? Oh, hell no!”

  “How do we even know that gun is loaded?” Billy’s buddy asked.

  Haylay pointed the gun at the man’s leg and blew a hole in it, just below the knee. The man screamed in agony and fell forward, knocking over the beer can tower as he collapsed to the floor and gripped his leg, howling in pain.

  “Holy shit, this thing is loaded,” Haylay said as he howled with laughter and slapped his own leg. “And there’s a lot of bone in that part of the leg, so I know that shit hurt.”

  “I’m gonna die!” Billy’s buddy yelled.

  “Got that right,” Haylay agreed.

  He pointed the gun at Billy, and Billy suddenly fell from the couch onto his knees and closed his hands in front of his face in prayer.

  “Please, please, please. God please. Please don’t let her kill us. Or him. Or her. Please don’t let…” Billy opened his eyes to get a close look at Haylay. “…please don’t let him?” He tilted his head to the right and raised his eyebrows, as if waiting for Haylay to answer. When he didn’t, Billy continued. “Him. Please don’t let him kill us. We didn’t mean to take that shit from the church storage. It was just storage. We didn’t think the church needed it anymore. And we’re sorry for beating up that man. He didn’t deserve it. We was just bein’ a couple a assholes.”

  Haylay was tempted to interrupt him. He didn’t know much about God and he didn’t really believe in any of that superstition. As far as he was concerned, God had never done anything right by him. Still, somehow interrupting a man’s prayer, especially when he was busy begging for God’s mercy, just seemed wrong.

  So Haylay stood with one hand on his hip and the other holding the gun in Billy’s direction, just waiting patiently for him to finish, so he could put a bullet between his eyes.

  “Look, Mister, I know what we did was wrong. We shoulda never gone to that church and we shoulda never took all that stuff and we shoulda never beat you…er…the man up. He came to us sayin’ he saw us takin’ stuff from his daddy’s church and he was gonna report us if we didn’t give it back…”

  “Wait!” Haylay yelled out, trying to stop the man in between breaths. “Hold up. What you mean? You mean Hollis came to you and told you he saw you robbin’ the church?”

  “Yeah,” Billy replied. “Didn’t he tell you that?”

  “Motherfucker, I’m the one askin’ the motherfuckin’ questions,” Haylay said as he smacked the pistol against Billy’s forehead.

  Billy howled and put his hand to his head. He rubbed at the tender spot.

  “So you didn’t kick his ass because he was a gay dancer?”

  Billy had to think about that for a second.

  “Umm, I mean that was part of it I guess, but mostly it was ‘cause he threatened to turn us in.”

  “So, all this time I’ve been thinkin’ he was a big coward, and in reality, he was brave enough to confront y’all on this shit?”

  Billy had to think about that, too.

  “Umm, I don’t…I mean…I guess. Just please don’t hit me again.”

  “Hit you?” Billy’s friend squealed from his position on the floor. “Hit you? Man, she fuckin’ shot me!”

  “It’s a he, not a she, dumbass!” Billy corrected his friend.

  “I’ll be damned,” Haylay said as he backed u
p a couple of steps and scratched his head with his gun. “I’m actually proud a that son of a bitch.”

  “Look, if you let us go, I swear we’ll return everything we done took from that church!” Billy promised.

  “Yeah, all of it!” his friend yelled. “Just get me to a hospital.”

  “Let me see this shit you took from the church,” Haylay demanded. “Where’d y’all stash it?”

  “Stash it?” Billy asked.

  “Where did you stash it?” Haylay repeated. “Where did you hide all the shit you took from the church?”

  “We didn’t hide it. It’s here,” Billy answered.

  Haylay laughed.

  “You mean to tell me that you two stole a bunch of stuff from a church, then beat the living shit out of a guy who tells you he’s going to rat you out. And you don’t think to hide the stuff somewhere other than in your apartment?”

  “I told you we shoulda put that shit in the storage!” Billy’s buddy yelled.

  “You two must be the worst criminals on the planet,” Haylay said. “I know you motherfuckers ain’t images. If your images ever caught a glimpse of your sorry asses, they’d cut your throats out of sheer embarrassment. Now show me the shit, Billy, before I shoot you just for wastin’ my time.”

  The stash wasn’t tucked safely inside some secret hideaway. It wasn’t hidden beneath loose planks in the floor or anything that might’ve made a lick of sense. Instead, Billy led Haylay to his bedroom, opened the door to the walk-in closet, and pulled a string to turn on the light.

  There, piled up on the floor, not even situated nicely, was a collection of religious artifacts that looked to have been centuries old. From framed art to golden chalices to beaded rosaries and wooden crosses, almost every religious relic imaginable was piled up in the room. Haylay wished he’d brought Heather along to ask her where her father’s church had rounded up such a stunning collection.

  “I don’t even know what to say,” Haylay muttered.

  And he wasn’t kidding. Not only were the men complete idiots, but they’d stolen from a house of God. Even though Haylay wasn’t religious, he knew that burglarizing a church wasn’t worth the risk taken. If there was a god and he found out you didn’t believe, there was still a chance he’d let you slide. But if there was a god and you didn’t believe and you broke into his house and stole a bunch of his shit, now that, Haylay believed, could get you a first-class ticket straight to hell.

  “What about stealing from a couple of guys who stole from God’s house?” Haylay wondered aloud.

  “What?” Billy asked.

  “Never mind. Sit down on the bed and don’t fuckin’ move,” he warned Billy. “Wait. First go get your dipshit partner, help him limp his lame ass in here, and then both of you sit on the bed and don’t move.”

  “And you won’t kill us?” he asked.

  Haylay pointed the gun at Billy, who got the point, turned to leave the room, and returned moments later with his buddy, howling in pain with each step.

  “Would you shut the fuck up?” Haylay commanded. “That’s like a flesh wound or somethin’, ya big pansy ass.”

  Billy and his buddy sat on the bed, watching Haylay, who watched the stash piled up in the closet. He still couldn’t believe it. He’d never in his life seen so much gold. As he focused on each item, he fought back the urge to take some of it himself.

  There was a large mirror in the corner. It wasn’t just any mirror, but a mirror with a frame around it that was so unique and so intricate, it was easily the most striking piece of antique treasure in the room.

  Haylay looked at his reflection in the mirror and thought of the dark side. Gabe and the others were somewhere over there, probably oblivious to the fact that their camp had been sacked and most of their friends were dead.

  As Haylay studied the mirror, he noticed a strange jewel set in the wooden frame, right at the top center, like a crowned jewel looking down at the mirror. It was a strange blue, and as Haylay looked at it, he swore he saw it shimmering, as if electrified. The jewel seemed to have a life of its own. Haylay reached out to touch it, but then stopped, suddenly afraid that it might zap him somehow. He wanted to grab it, though. It seemed to be calling to him, but it somehow also seemed strangely dangerous.

  “Billy, come here for a second,” Haylay called out.

  Billy did as he was told and came into the closet. He just looked at Haylay and shrugged his shoulders.

  “See that blue jewel right there?” he asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Touch it.”

  “Why?”

  “Just reach out and grab it.”

  “But why?”

  “Motherfucker…” Haylay smacked him in the forehead once more with the gun.

  Billy howled, rubbed at his head, and fell to his knees.

  “Okay. Dang,” Billy said as he crawled over to the mirror and touched the jewel.

  His fingers ran over it and nothing at all happened.

  “It’s safe,” Haylay said.

  Billy yanked his hand away and scowled at Haylay.

  “You thought it wasn’t?”

  “Alright, go sit on the bed,” Haylay ordered.

  Billy did as he was told.

  Haylay looked around the pile of treasure for something he could use to pry the jewel out of the frame. He didn’t know why, but he had the sudden urge to take the jewel with him. It didn’t seem like stealing, but rather like something God wanted him to do. Was he starting to believe? No, he didn’t think so. Yet, maybe he was. Something or someone was telling him that he needed to take that pretty blue stone with him back through the mirror.

  Haylay moved some of the items in the pile around until he found a dagger. He stuck the tip of it into the groove around the jewel and pushed down until it popped out and landed right in his hand. It shined in his palm and an odd white light radiated from it. Hayaly tucked it into his skirt pocket and turned back to the two men on the bed. He was finished with them. It was time to do what he’d come to do.

  Haylay raised the gun and pointed it at the man he’d already shot. For some reason, over the course of their ridiculous conversation, Haylay started to feel a little bit bad about Billy. The other guy hadn’t really said or done anything to change his mind about him, but Billy was just an idiot. Still, he was here for a reason, and he knew what that reason was. These two needed to be killed.

  “I’m not particularly proud of what I’m ‘bout to do, but I came here for a reason. You two idiots robbed a church and beat a man very badly, and I’m here to kill you both.”

  Haylay couldn’t believe his eyes. Billy’s eyes welled up. He was about to cry. A grown man like Billy, who’d seemed like such a bad ass in the dark alley where he first met the men, was about to cry. That alone would get him killed on the dark side.

  Haylay closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing, but instead of calming down, his heart began to pound again like it had earlier, and his breathing picked up. It’s like his body knew what he needed to do and was preparing him for it.

  Haylay opened his eyes, and something about seeing the two men begging for mercy just infuriated him more. Flashes of Hollis being beaten hit him. He could hear the men again, yelling out hateful curses at Hollis as they stomped on him and spit on him. He could feel the helplessness Hollis felt and he could actually hear the thoughts that had run through his head. He thought he was going to die. That brought tremors to Haylay and his hand began to shake. Hollis truly believed he was going to die and he’d been petrified.

  He could sense the relief Hollis had felt when the last kick hit his ribcage and he heard someone, somewhere, yell into the alley, “Hey, what’s going on back there!” That had sent the men running and saved Hollis’ life. Had it not been for that one voice cutting through the darkness, Hollis knew he would’ve died that night.

  “You were going to kill him,” Haylay said.

  “What?” Billy said through his tears. “The guy in the alley? No,
never. We weren’t gonna kill him. We just wanted to scare him.”

  “No!” Haylay’s voice shaked as he yelled the word, letting it stretch out and fill the silent void.

  “I swear it! Please!” Billy yelled.

  “You wanted to kill him. I can feel it. The hate, the anger, the rage, the joy mixed in, knowing you were going to beat him to death!”