by N. Phillips
“Speaking of the virus, you never told me why you have such a strong desire for knowing the truth. Are you finally gonna open up to me, partner?”
He half-smiled. “Let’s just say, it’s because of my line of work.” He walked to the entrance door of the apartment building before speaking again. “I think you and your friends should head home before school starts. I look forward to working with you again, Aliyah. Until then.”
After watching him step inside, I headed back to Ray’s minivan and hopped into the vehicle.
“So? What happened?” Maylene asked.
“Well, there’s gonna be a search team sent out by Obsidian to find everyone who escaped from the lab. So, it’s possible Tyler and Valeria can still be found. Other than that, he kinda offered me a job as an FBI agent once I’m done with college.”
“Nice,” Ray congratulated. “Man, this was a crazy night. I’m ready to get my ass in the bed and sleep for days.”
“Me too,” Maylene agreed.
The three of us reflected on the events that transpired as Ray drove down the long, narrow street. Although I was unsure of my friends’ whereabouts and what was to come next, a smile crept across my face. With the shackles created by Alvin now gone, a heavy weight had been lifted off my heart.
CHAPTER 30
Dawn approached with the light of the rising sun gleaming through the windows of the minivan. Ray had dropped Maylene off first before driving me to my house, but as we neared the street I lived on, my cell phone vibrated with Lucas’s number appearing on the screen. “Hello?”
“Ali, I need you to come over to my house, right now. Robyn’s having some kind of complications with the baby. She’s screaming and said not to call the ambulance, but I think she’s in labor.”
“I’ll be there in a second,” I told him before ending the call.
“Oh, come on,” Ray complained. “Dammit, Aliyah. Expect a gas bill under your door later today.”
“Yeah, whatever. Just turn around. We’re going to my boyfriend’s house.”
When we arrived, Ray offered to wait and bring me home, but I declined. He had done enough for me for one day.
After he drove off, I ran to Lucas’s door and knocked until he opened it and gave me scrutinizing look. “Ali, what happened to—”
“I’m fine.”
I walked in the house and scanned the living room until I saw Robyn’s unconscious body on the couch. Her bare and bloated stomach was showing, and a towel was wrapped around her lower area.
“What happened?” I asked.
“She passed out a little after I called you. Maybe it was due to the pain, I don’t know.”
“Where’s your dad?”
“Probably drunk somewhere on the street. He went out last night and never came home. But speaking of last night, where were you? I can tell something went down.”
Lucas already had enough going on. I didn’t want him to worry about me as well.
“It’s a long story. Don’t worry about it,” I said while walking further into the house to distance myself from him.
But of course, he followed behind me. “No, I am going to worry about it. I feel like we’re losing connection and there’s a lot happening that you’re not telling me. What happened to not keeping secrets?”
He just had to bring that back up.
“I’m not, it’s just that I don’t want to pull you into this stuff, okay? It’s getting dangerous. There’s demons, evil organizations, cults, and a bunch of other things that can harm you. I just...”
He placed his hands on my waist and gazed into my eyes. “Babe, listen to me, alright? Whatever you’re involved in, so am I. I wanna protect you. I wanna be the person you come to when you feel like there’s no hope. And I wanna be the man who tells you it’s all gonna be okay. Please, let me into your life.”
My eyes dropped to the floor as I let his words sink in. He placed his finger under my chin and got back my attention. “Please,” he said with a smile.
I returned a smile back. “Alright. I’ll start from the beginning.”
We walked back to the living room and sat together in a recliner chair. It was there that I told him everything that had happened involving me and the rest of my friends. Unsurprisingly, he looked at me in disbelief and sat in silence while trying to rationalize it all.
“What has this world come to?” he questioned. “I mean, where are the people who desire world peace or the prevention of death? All of this is mind blowing. Our lives don’t feel like reality anymore. It’s all weird and impossible.”
“And what about you? How’s the music deal?”
He sighed and stared into space before speaking. “It’s amazing... Too amazing. My dreams are coming true, but this isn’t the way I thought I’d feel. Regardless, I’m gonna keep pushing forward despite the fact that it could all be fake. Hell, I’ll need the money to take care of a child, after all, right?”
Ugh. Why Lucas, why? Why bring that up now?
I looked away and shook my head. He must’ve noticed my unhappy reaction, because he stood up and said, “I don’t wanna be like my dad.” He took me by the hand and stood me up to face him. “In some bizarre way, if I’m really that child’s father, I have to be there and love that baby, Ali. It’s my responsibility. I know it’s crazy, but I have to do it.”
I hated this shit, but…
“I know. And I’ll find a way to reverse everything that’s happening.
I feel like that’s my responsibility.”
“Alright. Then we both have goals to accomplish. Let’s achieve them together.”
We held each other close until Robyn’s mouth opened with a loud shriek. The lights began to flicker as shockwaves of black energy shook the home and tore through the walls of the house.
“What’s happening?” Lucas panicked. “Something really bad. I want you to leave and—”
“No. I’m going to protect you. You don’t have to fight these monsters alone.”
His bravery and love for me was appreciated, but being afraid for his safety, I feared the worst. Before long, the horrifying birth of Robyn’s child had begun. Her eyes shot open as she hollered in despair through the tortuous process. A murky hand clawed its way out of the darkness between her legs, its black arms stretching further every second. It was soon apparent that the dark, humanoid figure wasn’t the size of an infant, but a mature life form with a solid physique.
She cried out in agony as the shady organism continued to slither out of her. The more its body released from her abdomen, the stronger the shockwaves became.
“W-what the hell is that?” Lucas questioned in trepidation, his mouth quivering as he pointed in the direction of the lanky entity that stood motionless in his home.
If he could see it, that must’ve meant… “This thing is real. It’s not just a Shadow.”
The demon’s head rotated upside down until it completed its abnormal contortion. Red liquid oozed out of its eye sockets onto the floor before it opened its hollow mouth and screeched.
I manifested a chakram and threw it with as much strength as I could manage, but it did little to bother the skeletal creature. It retaliated by lurching toward me with its thin arms circulating in an unorthodox motion. Both Lucas and I dodged its frontal attack that broke the dining table in half.
“Grab Robyn,” I told him, running halfway up the stairs. Lucas lifted her body off the couch and carried her into his bedroom while the demon tore through the living room in a frenzy.
“This is insane,” he voiced in fear, placing Robyn down on his bed. “Ali, how do we kill it? Should I call the police?”
I locked the door and replied, “No, they’ll get killed. I have to be the one to stop it.”
“No way, that’s not happening. That’s a real demon down there. A real-life demon. I’m not letting you risk your life trying to fight it.”
“I have to. I’ve been doing this for a while now. I know what I have to do to—”
> “No,” he shouted with pain and sadness in his voice. “I had to live without you for almost an entire month, and those were some of the hardest days of my life. I can’t risk losing you again, Aliyah. Seeing with my own eyes what you’ve been fighting has changed my mind. I don’t want you doing this anymore.”
Robyn, who shed tears of heartache and hopelessness, brought us out of our debate.
“Th-there’s … There’s something else inside of me.”
We stood over her with our eyes widened in shock and dread. “We’re trapped if another demon comes out of her.”
“No,” she retorted back at me through her sniffles. “Not this time. This time is different. I’m sure it’s an actual baby.”
We locked eyes for the first time without cruel intentions. I felt a surprising urge to comfort her and believe her words.
“Lucas, stay here and help her deliver the baby, however you can. I have to go downstairs and deal with the demon. It’s the only way any of us are going to survive.”
“I can’t let you do that. I—”
“Lucas, please. This is my desire. My dream. I have to do this. I need to do this.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but chose to nod in acceptance. “Alright.”
Our lips locked together before an ear-splitting cry shattered our embrace.
“I’ll win, I promise. I love you.”
“I love you too, Ali.”
The creature’s shrill grew louder the moment the door opened. Standing at the top of the stairway, I looked down at the demonic figure and the carnage it had caused in its wake. I decided to take the boldest option available: charge at the demon head-on.
With adrenaline fueling my actions, I sprinted down the stairs and hurled a chakram in hopes of an easy victory. Instead, the creature turned around and leered at me, unruffled by the attack.
It began its ravaging assault by thrusting its talon-like nails in my direction. I managed to avoid a fatal blow, but the tips of its claws grazed my skin. The demon refused to cease its offense, showing that it was stronger, faster, and more relentless than my last adversary.
After a continuous pursuit, it halted and distorted its head in a one-eighty-degree angle. I used this time to generate a collection of light energy in my left hand before discharging a powerful blast.
Nothing happened, though. The demon stood motionless with its mouth opening, almost as if it were transforming into a smile.
Thrown off guard by its expression, I stupidly took my eyes off its tentacle-like arms, which wrapped around my body and lifted me in the air. It swung me against the walls of the house before slamming me on the floor with force.
My arms and legs were weak and ready to give out. The creature took advantage of my paralyzed state by wrapping its long arms around my waist and lifting me in the air once more. It then threw me through the glass window to the outside, where my body laid hopelessly. I hollered not only from the pain, but from the sight of glass shards impaled into my arm.
It would’ve been easier to remain on the ground and accept defeat, but thoughts of my friends, family, and Lucas forced me to keep fighting. My life meant something to them; I couldn’t let it end here. Not like this.
The demon made its way out of the house, and my hands scraped against the concrete in an attempt to drag myself away from it. A flash halted its pursuit of me, but the light wasn’t mine. It belonged to someone else.
I looked across the street and saw a guy my age with his phone pointed at the demon. Cars began to stop, and people started coming out of their homes to observe the creature in shock and fear.
This was it. The moment I knew was coming, but never wanted to happen. Whether I survive or not wouldn’t change the fact that people were going to know the truth about the world we lived in. About the demons.
About me.
I endured the pain of standing up and mustered enough strength to release a beam of light at the demon. The attack regained its attention, but still failed to do any damage.
Multiple terrified comments were voiced as onlookers began recording with their cell phones or driving away from the scene with screams. A “Hello, 911?” was heard through the commotion, but I couldn’t worry about that now. My biggest challenge was right in front of me. Staring me down with an empty heart.
I generated a chakram and hobbled toward the demon, slashing away in hopes of hitting a weak spot. When I did manage to land a blow, it countered with its whip-like tentacles that struck my body and crippled me further. All I could feel were my limbs desperately trying to function again.
With a hard swipe to my chest, my feet lifted off the ground and I was sent flying a few feet away. With what appeared to be a cynical smile, the demon took its time to walk over to me. All I could do is wait for it to be over.
But just when I thought it was the end, an object from above hit the demon on the side of its head. It was Lucas’s guitar.
“Ali.” I looked up at his window and saw his face. “Don’t give up,” he cried out. “You got this.”
You know what? He was right. I did have this.
“I am not going to lose to you,” I assured the demon, my aching bones struggling to maintain a sturdy posture as I stood back on my feet. “You hear me? I am not losing. My dreams are my reality, and the reality is, I’m going to protect everyone in this city from monsters like you. My light is stronger than your darkness.”
An abundance of light energy formed around me. It shone until the radiance traveled through my body. My entire vision became black and white, with the houses, the streets, the cars, the people, the trees, and even the sky all losing its color except for one thing: the demon’s red eyes.
What’s happening? I questioned myself, though now was not the time to worry about the strange phenomenon. The creature’s sudden screech meant it was ready for the final round.
I braced myself when out of nowhere, a giant ring of light manifested above the demon’s head. It quickly dropped down on the fiend and shrunk in size, creating a bind so tight that not even its slim body could slither out.
To my surprise, the demon had been completely immobilized. But something else happened during this unbelievable turn of events. Two chakrams were generated in both my left hand and my right hand, which had never happened before.
In a relentless sequence, I flung both chakrams at the demon endlessly due to the weapons manifesting back in my hands after they were thrown. The onslaught brought the demonic entity down to my level, which allowed me to grip its face with my left hand and release all of the light stored within me. The luminescence liberated the area from darkness, engulfing the street in a dome of purity and light.
When the blinding illumination faded, my vision returned to normal and the demon was no more. I fell to my knees and crawled back inside Lucas’s house, using every ounce of energy left in me to drag my body. It took a while, but I made my way up the stairs to reunite with him and heard the whimpering of a child outside of the closed room.
Using the knob on the door as support to stand, I turned it and stepped inside. My eyes then landed on a small boy crying in Lucas’s arms.
“Ali.” He held the child in one arm and hugged me with the other. “You did it. You saved us.”
“And you saved the baby.”
I looked at Robyn, who was unconscious with blood painting the towel around her bottom half.
“We need to get her to a hospital,” I told him. “Now.”
Several hours passed before Lucas and I received confirmation that Robyn and her child were going to live. After the two of us were medically cleared, we took the elevator down to the first floor of the hospital and stood inside the doorway of the entrance. Outside the glass doors were officers waiting to bring us to the police station for questioning, and I could sense that the days of keeping my life a secret were over.
“Lucas, I’m scared,” I confessed. “People took pictures of the demon and recorded me using my power. I don’t think what hap
pened is gonna pass as some online prank. It’s gonna go viral, and our lives won’t be the same after today.”
He shrugged with a smile. “Ali, after what I saw you do, I think we can take on the world if we had to. We’ll figure it out, I promise.”
Looking down at my hands, I addressed him with another concern. “The light that defeated the demon was something different. What do you think it was?”
“I wish I knew. Your eyes were glowing white, and before Robyn passed out, she told me you were ready to go beyond the boundaries. Whatever that means.”
Of course. Leave it to Robyn to still be keeping secrets.
“Well, whatever it was, I’m glad it happened and we’re both alive. I’m so happy we’re still together, Lucas. I want to protect you forever because...” I stopped and stared into his eyes, ready to speak those three words that meant so much to us.
“I love you.”
“I love you too, Aliyah. Come on; we’ve got dreams to chase. Together.”
We pushed open the doors and stepped out to a new world. A new life. The winds of jubilation breezed through the air as Lucas and I walked hand in hand to the police car. The ever-haunting nightmare of the Shadows had been subdued for now, but in a city where dreams become reality, endless possibilities were on the horizon.
THE END
Book 1.5: Shadows of Our Society. Available now on Amazon.
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Thank You for reading. Until next time… Keep Dreaming.
