NIGHTMARE SUBURBIA

Part 10

Ashley slinked back into the mist and into the shower stall.

The door swung open.

Maxine stood shaking by the door frame, mouth hanging open, covering it with her hands. She couldn’t scream. She couldn’t process what was in front of her—Adam lying on the ground, eyes wide open, covered in blood, his throat slashed clean to the bone.

“A-d-am?” Maxine let out a stuttered breath.

Seeing her husband’s body was enough to plummet her Resolve from a bright orange to a hungry darker shade. Her heart rate sped up as she stepped closer to the corpse. Then she noticed Ashley’s silhouette in the mist and backed away slowly.

“Ash,” She whispered to her. “What did you do to him?”

“I didn’t mean to, Max,” Ashley whimpered. I was impressed by how the demon could imitate them uncannily lifelike, almost close to trolling Maxine’s grief. The demon mocked a sob. “I didn’t mean to! You have to believe me!”

“You killed him, Ashley,” Maxine whispered as if saying it out loud made it untrue.

“It’s not me!”

“You...you killed him!” Maxine regained a little bit of her strength, stepping forward. “You killed my husband! Fuck! I’m calling the cops!”

“No, don’t!”

“I’m calling the cops, Ash! You stay right where you are!”

“Maxine! Please! You have to believe me!”

“Stay back!” Maxine pulled out her phone from her back pocket. “You stay back, Ash!”

“Ashley isn’t here, you stupid fucking bitch!” Ashley shouted. “We’re feasting on their souls in Hell!”

Ashley lunged out of the mist, but Maxine was faster, pivoted around, and hid behind the door frame, avoiding Ashley’s tight grasp. Ashley crashed into the bed, thrashing to get back up.

Maxine ran out of the door and dashed down the stairs, trying to dial 911, but she dialed 901 instead. “Shit!”

“You’re next!” Ashley cackled, rolling off the bed. “You’re next, little piggy! Oink! Oink!”

Maxine reached the front door’s handle, sobbing, hand still clutching her phone, when suddenly, the rug underneath engulfed her. The force lifted her off the floor and threw her across the room, crashing against the wall; the hanging portraits fell on top of her.

“Oink! Oink!” Ashley laughed maniacally as she climbed up the railing on all fours and stalked toward Maxine like a spider, licking her lips.

“No!” Maxine screamed, trying to get the rug off her, suffocatingly wrapped her body. “Let me go! Let me go!”

Ashley hopped on top of her, prying the rug off until she and Maxine were face to face.

“What is it, girlie? Like what you see?” Ashley grinned, showing rows of rotting teeth.

“You’re not Ashley.”

“Of course not, you bulimic cunt! Why don’t you choke on a fucking carrot?!”

Suddenly, Maxine’s Resolve returned to a lighter orange as she yanked her necklace off her neck, a silver pendant etched with symbols, and pressed it against Ashley’s forehead.

“Relinquo Daemonium!” Maxine shouted.

Ashley shrieked and jumped off Maxine, screaming at the top of her lungs. The house shook. The walls rattled. What’s left of the portraits hanging on the wall swayed loose and shattered on the ground. Pieces of broken glass rose from the floor as Ashley let out a piercing wail. The glass flew, breaking Ashley’s skin, and a couple sliced Maxine’s cheek and arm.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

“Snap out of it!” I commanded the demon.

But the demon wouldn’t listen. I could feel its pain, like it was being pulled apart piece by piece, limb by limb. Half of the neighborhood must have heard her by now. After a few seconds, she stopped screaming, letting out real sobs as she strained against Maxine’s pendant, still trying to reach her.

Maxine stood up and raised the pendant directly at Ashley. “Demon!” She shouted. “I am your master’s servant. You will not harm me!”

Ashley’s flesh under her cheeks began to peel off, revealing the reddish meat; her eyes were bloodshot. Ashley tried to lunge at her, but the pendant pulled up an invisible force around Maxine, preventing Ashley from getting within inches of her throat.

Maxine took a step back, her voice trembling. “I said, you will not harm me, demon! I am a disciple of Beelzebub, of Asmodias, of Aamon, of Lucifer, and Astaroth! I have wielded the powers of the Nine Hells! I serve your masters, demon. So, you will not harm me.”

Straining against an invisible force, Ashley glared at Maxine…and began to chuckle. “Servant,” she muttered. “Servant!” She let out a boisterous laugh. “Servant! Servant!”

Maxine kept her pendant raised. “You will not harm me,” she said, less confident this time.

“You have angered my master, Maxine Fairlie,” Ashley said.

“I compel you to tell me who your master is, demon!”

Ashley laughed and glanced over Maxine’s shoulder. “Behind you, bitch.”

Maxine whirled around, and I summoned [Telekinesis].

[Power: 5/10]

Grasping her by the throat, I lifted her body a foot from the ground and hurled her across the dining room, knocking off the vases, candles, and a bowl of fruit along the way. Behind us, Ashley guffawed. “Master! Master! Get her, master!”

I held my grip as Maxine struggled, still clutching her pendant while she tried to cast another spell.

“Re-lin-quo! Dae-mon-i-um—!” She raised the pendant toward me.

I flinched for a split second, imagining Ashley’s pain in my body and my consciousness, but it increased tenfold. Nothing happened. I remained in the air, telekinesis still wrapped around Maxine’s neck.

I smiled and gripped tighter, shedding her Resolve into a darker orange. “Just what I like to see,” I hissed.

She kicked. Screamed. I threw her through the window, shattering upon impact. Maxine tumbled out into the patio deck in the backyard, shards of glass cutting through her skin. She rolled, loosened her grip on the pendant, and it went flying into the grass. She scrambled to look for it.

“No. No. No, no, no, no…” She muttered.

I sensed Ashley’s presence behind me, and Maxine whirled around, must have had a fright to find Ashley leering through the opening, grinning at her. Without her pendant, it shed her Resolve down to red. She ran for the side gates, but my telekinesis was still up. I grabbed her entire body, lifted her off the grass again, and dragged her back toward the broken window.

She reached out, grabbed hold of a drain pipe by the side of the house, and screamed for help. She caught sight of two teenagers up on the second-floor window next door. Spreading out my many-eyes, I was bombarded by loud music as the two teenagers started making out on the girl’s bed, oblivious to Maxine’s cries fifty feet away.

“Help me! Help me!”

But her grip loosened, and I dragged her back into the patio deck by her ankles, her skin scraping through the broken shards of glass and then through the broken window. She howled in pain, and I realized a large piece of the glass still attached to the windowsill stabbed her abdomen and kept her there momentarily.

“I don’t have time for this.” I yanked hard on Maxine’s ankles, and the glass split into two and embedded deep into Maxine’s belly. With the last second of telekinesis, I chucked her across the dining table, rolled over, and dropped right in front of Ashley’s feet.

Ashley straddled her, and Maxine tried to get her off weakly. It was no use. With a wide grin, Ashley vomited a torrent of blood and chunks of her gut all over Maxine’s face and open mouth. Such force looked like Maxine got hosed down by it. I wanted to gag.

Ashley’s eyes rolled over, and she collapsed beside Maxine.

She stopped moving.

Maxine wiped the blood off her face and crawled away from Ashley’s body, taking in labored breaths. I watched the demon emerge from Ashley’s pores, now hovering above Maxine’s. Maxine’s Resolve dropped to a dull red as she stared at Ashley’s body, too shocked to move.

Her phone rang. On the screen:

HODGE.

She was about to click the green button when I sent a sliver of [Mind Shock] her way, stunning her momentarily.

[Power: 4/10]

She started shaking like she was having a seizure, her hands twitching violently, and dropped the phone. I watched, fascinated, as the demon, in the form of her husband, stood above her.

“A—Adam?” Maxine croaked.

Adam crouched down in front of her. “I love you,” he said. “I love you so much, Maxine.”

She was still under my psychic grasp, and all Maxine could do was shed a single tear running down her cheek. She’s afraid, so afraid I relished with her pain like putting in new clothes. It made me smile, my heart beating faster, anticipating what the demon would do next.

Maxine knew she was hallucinating her husband, but her emotions overwhelmed her, kept her in place, and whispered, “Love you” between clenched teeth.

Demon Adam smiled and caressed her chin with his thumb. “I know, baby. I know. I love you the way I love sliding my cock inside half the town because you are a shriveled old hag. All I wanted to do was skin you alive so my parents could see what a gold-digging slut you are inside. I’m going to enjoy wearing your skin.”

And then he dissipated into a puff of black smoke and slid inside her open mouth, eyes, nose, and ears.

Maxine’s eyes glazed over, convulsing for several seconds. Then, she stopped moving, laying there for a handful of heartbeats before she opened her eyes again and stood up.