Being Human: When will my Death Begin?
By Ldynwaitin
Chapter Nine
Breaking down the Walls
Aidan pressed the button on his wristwatch, an eerie green glow on the watch lit up the coffin for a few seconds. He saw 11:26 PM on the watch. It was a Friday.
"Friday," Aidan whispered. He could hear the dryness in his throat. He lost track how long he was down there, was it four months or five? He just didn't know. His throat was so parched it was painful to swallow. "Payday," he said out loud. "Josh and I would be drinking at the bar right now." He tried to gather enough spit to swallow, but it just would not go down his throat.
"Josh, what happened to you, did Mother get you?" He banged his fist on the coffins lid, "Damn it Cecil, where are you?" He began to cough, as the roughness in his throat choked him.
"You…promised," he croaked.
He wanted to close his eyes, but it made no difference, he was always in total darkness. Only closing his eyes meant he would dream, or have nightmares. His time was spent keeping awake, and living with the hunger that ate him up inside. His eyes stared into the darkness, it seemed to grow lighter, he faintly heard a small boy's voice softly singing.
"Lavender's green, diddle, diddle, Lavender's blue."
Aidan began to cry, "I sang that to you," he sobbed, but no tears came out.
"To help me sleep," the boy's voice said. "Sing with me, Fa."
"I'll try, son," Aidan said.
Clearing his throat he hesitantly croaked, "You must…love me, diddle, diddle…'Cause I love you."
Aidan faintly saw a small boy's face begin to appear above him, he smiled down at him. "There you go, Fa. Keep singing."
Aidan flinched when he heard a man's voice loudly declare, "Why are you singing? You were going to help me run the printing business, boy. Instead you go off to fight in your fool war."
"I'm sorry, father," Aidan sobbed.
"You're a man, men don't cry," he bellowed. "No wonder Mother grounded you, you're a foolish boy who wouldn't listen to your father."
"He never listened to me too," Aidan heard Bishop say. "Mother was right to ground you, such a bad boy, she let you off easy. I can't protect you anymore, Aidan. You saw to that, if only you had listened to me."
"Fa," Aidan heard his son say. "Why didn't you listen to your fathers?"
"Why?" Aidan heard his father and Bishop say.
"Why?" his son said, repeatedly he heard them ask him. He dug his fists in his ears and shouted at them to be quiet. He screamed and screamed to drown out their voices until his voice failed him.
A Vampire that was guarding the grave looked down. He could faintly hear a muffled scream from below. He quickly nudged his companion. "Call Mother, she said to let her know when he starts to go crazy."
As his companion called Mother, the vampire sadly shook his head, "Man, I'm never going to get on Mother's bad side as long as I live."
Josh stared out a broken window. He was standing on the second floor of a building so old he was shocked it hadn't fallen down decades ago. Green and orange mold seemed to be growing on everything, its earthy smell was so strong he covered his nose. Deanna was on one of her chants again. Almost seven months had gone by since she first snapped that cursed bracelet on his wrist. This was the fourth place they had visited since they left the cottage.
Seven months to visit four places, it should have taken a week. It was Deanna that held things up. She spent several hours a day in a trance looking for the next place. When they'd find one, she would tell Josh it was wrong and the chanting would start again. It seemed to be an endless cycle. When she was in a trance, Josh would have to sit and wait for her to snap out of it. One of her trances actually lasted a week.
Looking out the window Josh saw Fidele playing with a stray dog. Fidele, he wasn't as bad as Josh first thought. After that prank he played copying Aidan, Josh found that he was really quite harmless. He was just a fun loving spirit. Josh realized if it wasn't for Fidele the only entertainment he'd have was to watch the gaudy wallpaper peeling off the walls of the motels they stayed in.
Josh saw the stray dog jump back when the Pooka changed into a dog. Yipping in joy their play turned rougher. They were in the lower part of Texas now, near the small town of Mission. Fortunately, he didn't have to worry about Mother tracing his credit card when he needed money. Deanna had the next best thing, gold coins. They would stop off at a local bank and cash them in for paper money.
Glancing back Josh saw Deanna slowly walking around the room. He flinched when he saw her eyes. They were always dead white when she was humming.
Hearing a loud bark Josh looked out the window. He saw two other dogs trotting towards Fidele. Their heads bowed close to the ground they were growling at Fidele.
Josh grinned widely, he knew what was about to happen next. Fidele suddenly changed into a wolf. Startled the dogs turned tail and ran into the woods. The small dog that Fidele first played with also ran away. Looking up Fidele changed into a raven and flew into the air.
'On one of his sweeps for a sign of Mother,' Josh thought.
He slowly made his way to the hallway that led to the stairs going down, or what was left of them. Turning around he could tell Deanna was almost done, her eyes were beginning to turn back to their normal color.
He stood on the threshold of the doorway, waiting for her humming to stop. That was a sure sign she was done. Instead, he heard a loud crack. Looking down he saw the wooden floor slowly begin to shift. He thought it had to be the combined weight of him and Deanna on the ancient floor.
"Deanna, we need to get out of here, NOW!" he shouted to her. But she did not hear him, she was still under a trance. "Damn it," Josh cursed. He knew when she was in a deep trance a jet could fall on top of her and she still would not wake her.
Slowly turning he gingerly began to walk towards her. He could actually feel the boards under his feet creaking and groaning. "Deanna, time to wake up," he nervously sung.
She was carrying the carved figure like a baby in her arms. Josh could see the eyes on the figure were still closed. She was not done, but he knew he had minutes to get him, and Deanna out of there. Suddenly a voice inside told him to stop. Her command for him to protect her from Mother did not include this. He could stand back, leave her here and let her die. Then the bracelet's spell over him would be over.
Slowly he began to walk back. Then he saw her smile as the eyes on the statue opened up. Josh saw a smile that was not from someone evil, it was a loving smile. Fidele had to have a reason for staying with her. He had to admit, she never physically hurt him. Cursing himself he found his reason's for leaving her growing weaker. He realized that he was just not the kind of man to leave her here and let her die like that.
Angrily pursing his lips, he headed back into the room. Hearing a groan and seeing a dust cloud puffing on the other side of the room he ran to Deanna. He then heard a crashing sound below, the floor was going. Glancing back, he knew he would never be able to grab her and make it out of the room in time. He only had one way out. He ran to Deanna, wrapping his arm around her waist he lifted her and threw her over his shoulder.
He then ran to the only other exit of the room, he sprinted towards the open window. His footing became slippery as the floor below him began to lean one way, than the other. Just as he heard another crashing sound, he leaped towards the window. He reached it as the floor below him dropped. Pulling himself through the window he landed on a small roof. He held onto Deanna as he slid down the shingled roof until he came close to the edge.
He tried to stop his momentum, but the shingles on the roof were so loose they broke under his and Deanna's weight. Josh lashed out his hand, searching for something to grab.
He found a thin board under the loose shingles. Grabbing it, he felt his legs go over the edge. He held onto the board with one hand, while the other tightly gripped Deanna.
"FIDELE!" Josh shouted. "Need a little help here."
He didn't know how long he could hold on. "Deanna," Josh screamed, "Wake up, I need you to wake up now."
He felt her stirring from her trance. She tightly hugged the carving to her chest. "That's it," Josh said. "Wake up Deanna, or we're both going to end up in traction at the local hospital, that or their morgue." Josh mumbled. "FIDELE," he shouted.
"W…what is going on?" Deanna said. The last thing she could remember was walking into a room of the abandoned house. Searching around she couldn't believe where she was. Lying on the wolfs shoulder twenty feet in the air.
"Deanna, you need to do something….FIDELE!" Josh screamed. "I can't hold on much longer. FIDELE, get your dog ass, or raven's beak or I don't care what you get here. Get it here fast because I can't hold on much longer."
Looking below Josh saw the broken up concrete that used to be the driveway. Of course they wouldn't be hanging over something soft, it had to be something that could break every bone in their bodies.
"Deanna, can't you do something?" he pleaded with her.
"I don't know what to do, let me think."
The thin board Josh held onto suddenly splintered. He screamed as he slid down, he found another board and latched onto it. Gripping it tight he shouted, "Think faster, think faster."
Deanna closed her eyes, she searched for something that could save them. Finding it, Josh heard her humming again. He felt her sliding down, gripping her tighter, he closed his eyes and tried to concentrated every ounce of energy on his hands.
"They're coming," Josh heard Deanna say.
"What's coming?' Josh shouted.
He didn't see what was coming at first, but he heard it, a loud flapping sound. The moon was bright that night, he saw large shadows flying towards them. He could make out large wings. The huge birds soared slowly in the air. As they came closer, he could see their red baldheads. There were twenty, no thirty of them flying overhead. Circling him they began to look like a bird tornado. Huge vultures were flying over them.
Deanna's humming took on a different pitch. Josh saw one of the vultures swoop down, its claws opened up, another, then another came down. Their claws gripped his legs, his arms, his jacket. Holding him tight their wings vigorously began flapping.
"Let go," Deanna shouted.
Josh's instinct for survival screamed at him not to, but he knew for them to live he needed to listen to Deanna. He released his grip. He gasped as they fell a few inches, more birds came down. Josh flinched in pain as he felt their sharp talons cutting into his legs. The birds flew them safely to the ground below. As they touched down, they released Josh.
Once they were safe, the birds immediately flew away, joining the bird tornado. Josh quickly stood up, he helped Deanna off the ground.
"Turkey vultures," Deanna said, as she pointed up. "They are simple creatures of nature. The goddess protects them, and they protect us as well. Magnificent, aren't they?"
"I always thought they were ugly," Josh admitted. "But tonight I agree, magnificent."
Josh could hear groaning and crashing from inside the house. The entire house was collapsing. Jumping out of the window was the only way out of that death trap.
"You, you saved me," Deanna said. She suddenly realized that if Josh had not carried her out that window, she would be dead.
Josh held up the bracelet, "As you ordered me to do."
Deanna slowly shook her head. "No, my order was to protect me from Mother and her Vampires. You could have stepped away and let me die in there. You did that on your own."
Josh looked down at her, he didn't need her to remind him. He had his chance, and his damn conscious took it away from him. "Let's go," he softly said.
He took a step and stumbled. Deanna pointed to his leg, "You are injured."
Josh looked down, he saw three growing blood spots on his legs. The vulture's sharp talons pierced his legs.
Deanna looked up at him, he could see sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry, my magic does not heal."
Josh began to walk back to the car, "Don't worry, I'm sure it's not bad, I can take care of it, just need to stop off at a drug store."
"What did I miss," Josh heard Fidele shout from above. He was falling from the ground, feathers on his arms were just beginning to disappear. "I saw the vultures circling over the house. I came here as fast as I could."
Deanna tightly held the statue in her hands. "The house, it collapsed as I finished the spell. Josh was injured as we tried to escape. We need to get those wounds tended to."
Josh realized this was the first time she called him by his name since they left the cottage, not wolf, but Josh.
Deanna quickly made her way back to where Josh had parked the car. As Josh followed her he saw Fidele curiously staring at him. "I don't know what I missed, but it looks like things here may have shifted a bit."
Josh slightly nodded his head, "Just a bit."
Josh looked back at Deanna, he saw something in her eyes he had not seen before, concern. Well, he thought, her brick wall may just be breaking down. This old witch just may have a heart. It was something that he would work on, for now he had to tend to the wounds on his leg.