What Remains of You

The Ritual

"Who's he?" Kyle asked behind her, also now noticing Dennis's body. Max looked back over to her inquisitively, asking the same question with his eyes, still wary of Rebecca. She froze, finally stuck in a situation where she was unsure of what to do.

"I don't know, how about you tell me?" she asked, almost unable to stop the waver in her voice. Max glanced at Kyle almost in question, and a silent conversation passed through them with that simple look. He nodded slightly behind her, but she still felt the movement on her head. She narrowed her eyes at what she thought they were about to do and squirmed a little more. She would not let them touch her precious brother.

Max walked towards Dennis and poked his head with his finger. He fell over with a small plop and that was enough to send Rebecca into a tizzy. She screamed and clamped her teeth down hard onto Kyle's hand that was wrapped around her mouth. He swore viciously, loosening his grip on her for a moment and that was enough for her to yank free. She twisted out of his arms and swung the knife that was still in her grip blindly towards him. All it took was a small grunt of pain that meant she must have hit something for her to turn and race for Max.

She runned to him, and just as he realised what was happening, Rebecca was already on him, toppling him over. She straddled and gripped his head, lifting it up and proceeding to smash it back down on the floor. The sound echoed and she did it again, yelling out.

Bringing the knife out, red with all the blood she had spilled, Rebecca struck him in his chest in anger. It slipped into his skin easily, and he cried out in pain.

"Don't," stab, "you dare," stab, "touch him!" His screams reached her ears as her hand got caught mid-air. The knife was still firmly clutched in her grip, but Kyle had come up behind her and snatched her wrist. He pulled her off Max and yanked her backwards. Rebecca turned around and noticed red blood seeping onto his grey shirt from his side where she had stabbed him. She smiled again and started to fight him by lashing out with the knife. He kept dodging it, trying to catch her off guard, but she kept forcing him back.

Her aim began to falter, but she would not stop swinging. Kyle seemed to also be tiring, swaying on his feet about to faint from the blood loss. She continued to drive him backwards, as he twisted around and they made their way in circles.

It was almost like a dance. She would swing out with her knife, he would pull away. She would reach back to get more momentum and he would pull forward and try to knock her out. At a few points, they collided, Rebecca slicing a thin line down his cheek, blood seeping. It dripped down his face and neck, falling down his shirt mingling with the red mass from his previous wound. He grunted and brought his fist to her cheek in retaliation.

Her face snapped back and pain spread through her neck as her cheek stung and throbbed. She turned back, sending a deathifying glare his way. This continued for an agonizing amount of time, and Rebecca wasn't sure whether it had been seconds or hours since they started fighting. Time seemed endless in her eyes at the moment.

Finally, as she was driving him backward, his foot slipped, sending him toppling backwards. His eyes widened when he saw what he tripped over, turning into tiny white plates as his face paled. It was Max's body.

He had died sometime when they were fighting, a multitude of holes gouged into his shirt and chest leaving a slick pool of blood. Kyle started gagging and when she thought the place couldn't get any messier, he threw up right over Max. It was all watery and mixed with the red to create an ugly liquid that looked like its own version of oil in vinegar. Rebecca almost gagged back at the smell of it all.

She took the opportunity finally given to her, and with one last final charge she rammed into Kyle pushing him over and sliding the blade across his throat. She drew it in a jagged line, courtesy of her shaking and tired hands and watched as his life was being leached away from him thanks to her. Unlike the movies and his friends, he didn't die right away and began sputtering and choking on his own blood as it grew in his throat. Every second was one step closer to seeing Dennis, and as impatience took her over, she lifted the knife for one last time and brought it down right on his eyeball. He choked out one last breath, gurgling blood as his other eye bulged in pain until he finally laid his head and a sheen grazed his scarlet face.

Rebecca let out a breath, relishing in the fact that the four before her couldn't.

The beings came out from a dark corner in the shadows of the warehouse, power rippling off them like waves. It flowed through the air and trembled through the building like a continuous shock. If not for the fact that she was about to see Dennis wake up, Rebecca would have been terrified.

It was freezing and her dress did nothing to stop the cold chill from spreading until she was shivering in the cool morning light. She rushed over to Dennis, brushing her bloody hand over his brown hair to try and smooth it down.

"It will be alright, you're gonna wake up soon. I'll be right here."

She picked him up under his arms and brought him to the middle of the clearing.

The things made no move closer to him but Rebecca sensed that she should bring him closer to them. She continued moving forward, getting colder by the second. By the time she got close enough to reach out and touch the shadowy darkness breaching from the emptiness under their cloaks, she was shaking like a leaf. After a few moments, they finally spoke as one.

"Bring the sacrifice over here."

"Yes, of course, of course!" Rebecca spoke out almost like a soldier under command and scrambled around for the remains of the people she just killed.

All of this had left her terribly tired and she let out a small yawn as she dragged them roughly through the ground to where they were. She made sure to place them as far away from Dennis as she could and chuckled slightly while rubbing the back of her head.

"I hope it doesn't matter that they aren't totally intact," she noted almost politely, referring to Avery's head and Kyle's eye that were somewhere lost behind her. They didn't respond.

Instead a force shot through her and only one thought rang clear.

Turn around. If you look, you die.

Rebecca cowered and swung around, fighting the urge to reach out for Dennis's hand. Power rippled around her, crackling like a fire. She could see white flashes behind her closed eyelids, and a searing burning sensation ripped through her. Still, she stayed there, crouching on the dirty floor waiting for the thought to go away.

What seemed like hours later of nothing but those seven words as the only thing she could think of, it finally disappeared, leaving a blank slate in her mind. The air felt ultimately cool around her after the flash of heat, but she no longer felt like shivering.

Instead she was shaking. Something had happened, and she didn't know what it was for a moment, as she scrambled to refill her mind with thoughts and memories. She stopped when something that wasn't in her memories shattered the air. It was only one word, but it stopped her short and she whipped around at the sound. 

"Rebecca?"