“FIRM CASE DIVE PALM HALT LANE SHOP TEST DEAL DUCK GOLD PELE J… jus...huh?”

Wait, I’m speaking? I thought I was asleep just now. It certainly feels like I’m waking up…

“Still okay, Mina?”

“Uh, yeah, I think. What’s happening?”

“You blacked out. Well, I made you black out.”

She was so direct, I didn’t need to ask her “really?”. Actually, I remember something about it. She was holding the flashlight in my eyes and asking me about someone.

Taking Rose’s hand, I slowly stood myself up. I just realized that my head is throbbing.

“So, uh. You made me black out, huh?”

“Yeah. It took a bit of effort, you’re pretty strong. Mentally and physically. Dragging you in here was a huge pain.”

In where? Oh, still in that building. This is a different room, though. Unless she dragged my limp body up or down the stairs, we’re still on the second floor. It was still too dark for me to see well, but one of the boards on the windows was broken; letting in a tiny sliver of light. That light illuminated the wall behind me. It was made of brick, I think, but it had a huge design scratched into it. It was just like the chair Bunny brought outside; except this one was much, much more clear. It was a pentagram inside of a circle; each empty space filled with a different symbol. Inside the middle was another circle, with another, smaller design inside. Around the perimeter of the bigger circle were words written in letters I don’t recognize.

“What’s this? Some sort of cult?”

“No, you did that. While you were possessed.”

I gave her a confused glance. She pointed at my hand. My fingernails, on both hands, were jagged and cut. They were down to the pink, now red. My nails were chipped off in several places, exposing the weird-feeling flesh underneath.

While I panicked, Rose offered some words of reassurance.

“We’ll get those wrapped up shortly. We need to find Bunny and get out of here.”

She grabbed my wrist (more gently than usual) and led us back into the stairwell.

“I’m not sure I understand the whole ‘possesed’ thing,” I said, being entirely honest with her and myself.

“Choronzon. He’s a very powerful demon. He entered your body while I had you in a state of hypnosis. Then you freaked out with your fingers onto the wall like a cat onto expensive curtains.”

She was heading us up to the roof.

“Oh, you were hypnotizing me...”

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“Yeah, sorry. I thought now was as good of a time as any.”

“..."

“Don’t worry about it. But we need to get out. Now.”

If she was still trying to reassure me, she wasn’t being very good at it.

After passing through the intermediary floors, we made it onto the roof. Bunny was up there, in the same place we had last seen her. Thankfully, I was only possessed for about ten minutes. Rose called out to her.

“Bunny, we gotta go. Orders from the big guy.”

She turned around to face us, her camo jacket having a small new hole since I last saw it.

“Someone’s coming,” she said so quietly that it was difficult to hear.

“Who’s coming? How do you know?” Rose started grilling her, the first time tonight I’ve seen her look anxious.

“Stocky guy in a hoodie. I watched him come inside.”

Oh God. After the whole fingernail thing, I forgot that we were trespassing. Whoever’s coming up here won’t be happy. He might turn us into the police.

“I’m surprised that someone actually noticed us. I bet he’s worried we took this,” Rose said blankly as she held out a gallon bag of white powder.

“I found it while Mina was having her ‘episode’. It probably belongs to that guy. He’ll be here looking for it any second now. There’s a lot more stuff in here, but it’s probably better not to get our fingerprints all over them.”

It wasn’t long before we heard noises coming from the floors below us.

“Mina, go look over the edge again,” Bunny said. I don’t know why, but I get the feeling I should listen.

I walked over the edge of the building, staring back down onto 17th street. It was dizzying. The longer I watched, the more it seemed like the buildings around me were bending. It was such a strange height, the people below seeming miles away at times; and inches away at others. The smoke clouding my view only further obscured my sight-seeing. I wanted to drop something and watch it fall off the side. I think if I did, it wouldn’t fall straight down. It would curve unpredictably, like a funhouse mirror; ending up somewhere it didn’t belong. If I fell, I think the same would happen to me.

I quit spacing out when I heard the door to the roof open. I felt my sympathetic nervous system begin to work. He’s shouting; what is he saying? I can’t understand him at all. I know he’s speaking English, but I’m too distressed to understand that right now. The back of my head began to itch from the sweat prickling at my scalp. God, he’s upset. I’m expecting to hear a gunshot any second. I compose myself and watch the cars move below, seeming to sway with nausea along with me. I hope this isn’t the last thing I see. Rose is shouting something now. I can’t imagine what she wants to say to the guy. My ears rang with a symphony of car horns and loud sports bars. I think Messi scored a goal, I don’t know. Maybe I should get into soccer, if I still have the chance. I wiped the tears out of my eyes, making them even more wet from the sweat collecting in my palms. All at once, and with no warning, the shouting peaked. I couldn’t keep staring at the ground so far away from me, I was going to puke. I braced myself and turned around to face them.

I'll take a moment here to say that I don't know how to describe watching a friend kill someone in front of me. Bunny had taken a knife to his back, inserting it into a space between his spine and shoulder blade. She slid it sideways, like an L. I can’t think of any words to say. There are probably lots of words that come to your mind: terror, disgust, mania, et cetera. Those aren't wrong, but they have a sense of familiarity. We've all heard murders called those things countless times. If we know how to respond to a situation, it makes it less scary. I think we take comfort in those thoughts, planning our emotions out like a map.

But this wasn't familiar at all. It was a word I've never read, a word I've never heard spoken. It was smooth and slow at the start, beginning with a sibilant; ending with a damp plosive to the floor. The blood draining to her sneakers were red with vowels, no longer held by a thick consonant shell. I don’t know how to spell this word, and I don't want to know. I don't want to. I never listened, but I think my mother was telling the truth about four-letter words.