After making sure Abby could handle the maid that would be coming here soon, and pay her. I started walking towards the self-driving car, once I got to my car, I leaned on the hood of it and let out a deep sigh. That was a close call, why did Abby even come to save me? Did she really not care about the money? After catching my breath for a while, Abby walked over to me, she probably handled the maid already.
She smiled at me before speaking up, with that lovely smile of hers, those gleaning eyes, “I explained to the maid we went, brutally wild on each other.”
I laughed, “Oh my god, that is horrible, but thanks. My life is just.”
Abby nodded, “I know, are you certain that you do not want me to come with you, to work, I mean?”
I exhaled a deep sigh, “Would you be so kind?”
Abby shrugged, “It won’t be the first time, oh, and a good lie if anyone asks what happened to you, just say you have been in a bar fight.”
I nodded and got into the car, Abby stepped into the passenger seat, she looked at me, “You deserve to live, Steve.”
I started the car and sighed, as the car drove to work, I looked at Abby, “I swear, I saw some kind of woman when I almost died, she has red hair and I think her name feels like Alice. And, she was feeding the pigeons, I swear, I am not lying, it felt as if, I could feel her feelings, and read her, core, or energy, or whatever you can call it.”
Abby looked at me, “I believe you.”
I shook my head, “Seriously? I just throw the weirdest shit at you, and you are just, like, sure.”
Abby shrugged and smiled, “What can I say? Perhaps, I can see more of the honest man who is underneath all of this self—loathing crap, maybe one day, you will become a butterfly.”
I grinned, “I hope that butterfly will have more friends.”
When my car finally arrived at the bakery, I got out and Abby followed me, I took a good look around. It felt like I was having a déjà vu. I pointed towards the park, “Alice was in this park, she was sitting on that bench near the playground.” Deciding that work could wait a few more minutes, I went to the bench that I remembered from whatever it was that I had experienced. When I found the right bench, I only found a few pigeons, they were eating the bird seed that Alice had thrown.
I was shocked, what I saw, it most likely happened in real-time, I somehow used my rage to look at a different event in real time, but how? Why do I feel different now? I touched the bench and could feel something, as if, focusing enough, would show me where Alice would be, I felt a connection with her.
Suddenly, I heard a voice in my head, “Hurry Steve, your time is running out!”
I turned away from the bench and looked around, but I saw nothing but empty air.
Abby looked around, “Is there something going on here?”
I simply nodded and spoke up, “However, I do not know what is going on, it is time to get to work, Paul is most likely working the counter today.” I walked back with this strange feeling in my gut, something was about to go down, big time.
As I walked into the bakery, I indeed saw Paul working the counter, there were barely any customers at this time. Two people stood out, one was a man with a blond ponytail drinking coffee, his face hidden well behind a newspaper. I also saw a plump woman, Blonde, shoulder-length hair is pulled back to reveal a full, radiant face, her eyes were hidden behind the smoke of her coffee, and she ate an entire apple pie.
Abby looked at me, “There are already quite some customers for this hour.”
I just nodded, confident with my decision to make things better, I strolled towards Paul. Who is wearing pristine clothing as always, He is wearing a green shirt with stripes and black jeans. His boots looked like he could climb a mountain with it. He is a white man from Texas, swearing is something he could do well. Blonde, short hair gently hangs over a craggy, lived-in face, narrow green eyes, set appealingly within his sockets, He is married and could use the money well.
It was not uncommon for me to give him some extra cash, As I walked into Paul’s direction, he looked uncomfortable at me as I spoke up, “How are things going Paul?”
He sighed and gathered air before talking, “Steve, you look horrible, I know that you like to wear comfortable clothing, and I am fine with that, however it looks like you got drunk in a bar and got smashed to pieces, my apologies if I am offending you, I don't want to lose my job.”
Abby walked over to save my ass, “Damn, you should have seen him fight last night, the other guys looked much worse!”
Paul sighed, “You need to try to get your act together, boss.”
I pointed at Abby, “She has been saying the same thing, perhaps, I need to listen for once,” I walked into the back and just sat down on the chair near my desk. I grabbed a bottle of rum that I had stashed here and a joint.
Abby walked in and put her hands on her waist. “What did I say about smoking weed in your office?”
I looked at her, “Only do it when you are in the room?”
Abby let her head hang, “No, but after today, I could use a hit,” she walked over and lit my joint, then she took the joint with a smile and gladly started smoking it. She shivered a bit, “holy crap, how did you get this?”
I just stared at her while I took the weed and smoked some as well. “Money. I took two glasses and filled them with rum.”
Abby sat down on the other chair. “This is the dream, owning a business, earning money and still doing nothing.”
I laughed softly, “I am getting rich while I smoke weed and sleep, Paul does most of the work, before this, Haley,” I shook my head.
Abby nodded, “I know, your wife, how did she die?”
I drank the rum in one gulp, letting her know, I was not going to answer her question, She smiled and nodded.
We just sat there, getting baked, for a while, Abby closed all the doors and windows, this way the smoke stayed in the office, Abby sighed, “We smoked all three of your joints, now what?”
I smiled as I stood up and walked over to an ugly painting of a derping cat, Behind it, I had a considerable stash of weed, Abby gasped, “You sneaky bastard!”
We smoked some more until someone knocked on the door, we both looked at each other, I shrugged and called out, “Come in and close the door behind you.”
Paul walked in and coughed a few times, “Holy smokes, what are you motherfucking doing in this place? Getting wasted again!?”
Abby lifted her glass, “Arr matey.”
Paul sighed. “We have an important meeting today, remember?”
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I jumped up, “Oh fuck, that is right, the healthcare inspection. When will they be here?”
Paul looked at his expensive watch, “I think, we have five minutes.”
Abby looked at me, “I think we should freshen up.”
Paul approached and grabbed my joint, then he pushed it down into the ashtray. “Now, go, get cleaned up, I will get the weed air out of this place, my grandpa taught me a few tricks.”
Abby and I walked to the bathroom. I splashed some water on my face, as I looked into the mirror, I sighed deeply, “What am I fucking doing with my life?”
Abby looked at me, “Wasting it.”
“Thanks, I got that.”
Abby smiled, “Do you seriously have a moment of sanity due to being wasted?”
I looked at her, “Do I look wasted?”
“Hell yes, How about me?”
I came closer and grabbed her cheeks and laughed, “Yep, as wasted as a brick, or something.”
Abby chuckled, “What do we do now?”
“Keep on splashing water!” I focused back on the sink and kept throwing my face under the water. I laughed, “I am dripping like a rain man!”
Abby looked at me, she walked over and hugged me, I was not steady on my feet and I fell down.
She laughed, “Oh my god, you can’t even catch me, at least I made a soft landing.”
I just looked up, the ceiling that started spinning. “Abby?”
“Yes?”
“Do you ever feel, as if you are not yourself?”
She looked at me, “That must be the liquor.”
“No seriously, What happened to me, it should not be possible.”
A voice called out, “But, it is really happening!”
I looked at the entrance of the bathroom door, there, I saw the shadow man.
Abby looked at him, “Man, I am so stoned, I think that I am seeing the shadow thing again, but this time it has a body,” I just lay my head down and closed my eyes.
Abby sat up and looked at the shadow man, she started talking. “What are you?”
“I am the shadow man, and I am going to take his soul!”
I raised my hand and gave him a thumbs up, “Awesome, good luck with that.”
Abby sighed, “Don’t listen to him Steve, he is just trying to feed on our fears, isn’t that what boogeymen do?”
The shadow man sighed, he snapped his fingers and shadows started to appear all over the room, “How did I even end up with this task?”
Abby got up, and she helped me up. I was not sure what to feel, fear, excitement that something happened. Acceptance of death?
A voice spoke up in my mind, the voice that guided me my whole life, I knew it was there, I knew it gave me the drive, but never has it spoken to me directly. “You have to fight Steve, do not be afraid, I will protect you.”
I sighed, if the voice said that, then I have to obey. I looked at Abby, to see if she was scared, but rather than seeing her being intoxicated, or even frightened, she just stared down the shadow man as if she's looking at a normal man. If only I could sense what she is thinking, like what happened with Alice. It seemed to work, but all I got from Abby was a garbled mess, as if something was telling her something. But it all sounded, demonic, backwards, I could not place it.
Having made up my decision, I walked over to the mirror and smashed my fist against it, giving me some minor cuts, Abby jumped back in surprise while yelling, “What are you doing, Steve?”
I grabbed one of the sharp pieces and handed it to Abby, “Well, it wants our souls, right?” I picked up another piece of the glass, “if it wants our souls, it is going to have to fight for it, that is what you told me in the kitchen, right? We need to fight to stay alive, you made me fight back, now, I am tapping into my rage, instead of my sorrow, ready to fight back and try to get a decent life again.”
Abby nodded, she accepted the sharp piece of mirror without cutting herself, “You know that we’re probably going to get killed by this thing, right?”
I laughed, “Fine, I welcome death, but I am not going down without a fight this time.”
Abby looked at me, “This is real, right? We are not laying somewhere, shitfaced?”
I could see from earlier, she was pretending, if she pretends, I will pretend as well.
A giant shadow hand came my way and punched me in my face, that sobered me up quite well, “It is real!”
Abby ran at the shadow man and tried to slash him but, she got waved back by some invisible energy the shadow man had under his control, meanwhile, I had been busy trying to keep that shadow hand busy. However, it kicked my ass, as it punched me repeatedly, I moved my head just in time by sheer luck. It hit the wall behind me, I saw a massive crater appear. I stabbed my mirror shard in the shadow hand, something leaked out of it, it dripped on my leg and it burned me.
Abby flew against the wall next to me and I heard something crack, I just had to ask, “Hey, how are you doing?”
She looked at her leg, a gaping wound on the upper part of her leg had ripped through her jeans, “Oh, you know, bleeding and getting slaughtered,” As the shadow hand came for Abby, I pushed her aside. We both went psycho on it as it hit the wall, stabbing it multiple times as acidic shadows flew out of it.
As the shadow hand fell down, we looked at the shadow man, he chuckled, “Well, it seems, they were right, you do have some fight in you.”
I sighed as I felt blood dripping down from my cheek, “What do you mean by they?”
The shadow man came over to me, “That is not relevant, soon, both of you will be dead, I will have taken your soul, I still do not understand why both my masters, gave me different orders.” The shadow man held up some kind of orb, “now, it is time to take your soul.”
Abby and I tried to crawl away, but invisible energy blocked us in, the shadow man came closer as he took my bloodied hand.
He was about to put the orb in my hand when Abby suddenly stabbed the orb, “Take that fucker!” The orb shattered and exploded.
The shadow man stepped back, “How dare you? I am going to murder both of you, you only made me angry,” the shadow man unsheathed long shadow nails from all of his fingertips.
I looked at Abby, “I think you pissed him off.”
She looked at me, “I'm sorry for saving your life.”
“Oh, no, I am grateful for that, it is just, those nails look very sharp.”
Abby looked at them, “You have a point.”
The shadow man came closer, “It is time to finish this, screw my orders.”
I shuffled in front of Abby, “If you want to kill her, then you will need to kill me first.”
The shadow man stood in front of me, “Fine, I do not have a problem with that,” The man raised his claw—like hand, he slashed it down, and I backed off as far as I possibly could. But the nails scraped through my skin and blood splattered everywhere, I fell against Abby, and she clutched her arms around me.
She whispered, “I've got you.”
The shadow man did a step closer, “Now, it is time to finish this.”