Dream Catcher

Chapter 9

The creature above him didn't wait in Ruben's queue of registration. It raised the ax once again, Ruben gathered the muscle in his shoulders and whanged it with the very strength his sleeping body could gather to the right edge of the bed. The weapon made a ringing thud followed by the crack of a coconut head, kicking up Ruben's body into action. He vigorously patted the left side of the bed, as the skinny figure hunched and lifted itself, puffing its chest, its bubbly breath quivered.

Ruben's heart shook all over the place as it pulsed in his brain. Lilith fuzzily pointed the handle like an inductee, the eye of the ax savoring him. He tried to say something to stop her, but it all came out as confused broken worded burble as he wriggled and crawled trying to balance his weight off the edge of the bed, stepping on a blunt upturned tip of the knife, the same one he used to help Lilith open her processed food cans. His foot jerked away before too much damage could be done, landing on his tailbone. He sweated and his skin screamed all kinds of panic. " wait wait stop please, fuck! ", he begged, raising his hand rising up to his feet when he noticed the knife had bled something before him. His eyes intensely shuffled from Lilith, back to the cot. The voices of Lilith's resistance filled the room as she devilishly rolled back her head letting it meet the back of her shoulders, she spoke protesting, her voice barely escaping her folded esophagus.

The cot was empty. Ruben darted towards the stairs and almost hovered over every step. His body suddenly light and throwable; his panic taking control.

He marked his way to search for Marci with every drop of his fallen blood, before Lilith's voice came screeching from close within, " Stay away from her you monster! "

Ruben paused. He carefully stepped from his path, faking a defeat as he turned to her facing him,

tears trickled down her sunken cheeks, her face scrunched with torment, with deep worry, with anger, with confusion. The stream of all negatives twisted itself within her.

He wanted to scream, me? A monster? Really? you better stay away from her you possessed piece of shit!. He wanted to take Marci away from this devilry all at once. That, only if he could find her. He could drive himself crazy if he continued stepping away from the sedated ax.

" what did I do? ", he softened his shivering voice.

" you tried to kill her ", Ruben almost convinced himself of how sure Lilith sounded. But one thing he was sure of was, it wasn't him who drenched his clothes off someone else's blood.

" Lilith, Lilith, put that down my dear love", he thumbed down, gesturing her to let her emotions follow, " Where is Marci now? ", she was coming for him, swinging the blade whistling through the air. He couldn't imagine how her petite figure could juggle a weapon. He furiously dug within his mind for any little prayer he could call the god for.

It was Lilith, and yet not Lilith. Her mouth wore a rapt thurst for the prey. The prey she could protect her child from. The prey she could feed to her child.

Ruben knew there was no walking out, if he stepped out, the authorities take her out. Perhaps not just to the institute. Perhaps somewhere unimaginably worse. He knew only he could protect her from herself. The cloak of the moralist sat badly on his shoulder and swayed as he swung abruptly gluing his feet bracing to dodge the pendulum weapon head.

" Hey, hey hey HEY! Lilith darling, is Marci safe? ", she huffed and twitched as her body forgot to kill.

" SHE IS SAFE WITH ME!! ", she struggled to shout.

" I know, I know she is. You will protect her. You will never hurt her, will you? ", he spoke as if he spoke to a 5-year-old.

" Never ", her voice suddenly stripped itself of the confusion as she lowered her grip on the throat of the wooden handle. It was clear to him that it was his neck she was after. Or whatever she let within her body.