A Day for Demons

He awoke to organ music playing in his ears.  The organ played dissonant chords.  He knew he was the only one who could hear it, but he smiled at the sound anyway.  He stretched and paced as he woke up, he hadn’t been awake for quite some time and now he felt like he could barely move.  He did what he could to limber up because soon he’d have to run.  The dissonant chords continued in his mind.

Soon the dissonances started becoming sweeter and a soft melody began to emerge from the music.  He knew the time was coming, and if he didn’t get there soon he’d be too late.  The ritual only happened once a year and he couldn’t afford to miss it.  He began to walk to the ballroom and the organ music got louder in his ears.  The organ music got sweeter and sweeter.  He started to run, he had to get there before all the dissonances were gone and there was only the melody left.  He ran in just as the organ played its last dissonant chord.

As he stood at the edge of the ballroom, he saw them standing in the middle.  A myriad of eyes turned towards him, a thousand translucent bodies standing, waiting for him.  He walked to the center of the ballroom as the organ played its sweet melody.  The person in the exact center was more real than all the others.  They had a definite physical form as they stood there waiting for him to approach.  He walked over to them and held their hands, waiting for the music to change.  When the organ changed its tune, the ritual would start.

The organ’s timing changed and they started waltzing across the floor.  He led as they danced across the ballroom, reaching every corner of the floor.  They danced to the organ’s waltz and they kept dancing as the music transitioned.  They spun across the floor as the music became more folksy.  They started to go faster as the organ got faster.  They organ continued its forte accelerando and they began to fly across the floor.  Their feet never missed a step, they always landed ready to go faster and faster.  No matter how much the organ picked up the tempo, they always kept pace with it.

They danced the tarantella, speeding faster along the dance floor.  Then the organ stopped.  All the music, all the dancers stopped.  They stopped in the middle of the floor, paused on their toes waiting for the next phrase that will never play.  He looked at them standing poised on their feet before him.  A thousand people in one smiled up at him.  He knew it was coming, just like it did on this day every year.  Today is All Hallows’ Eve, Dia de las Brujas.  A day he both couldn’t wait for yet dreaded its occurrence.

He watched them take a slender knife out of the air.  As they held it in their hand, he could see a faint glow.  Although he couldn’t say what the light source was, he knew the knife was glowing white.  He knew what would happen next, but he wished it could be different.  But tomorrow was Dia de los Muertes, All Saints Day, it was a place he didn’t belong.  There was utter silence as they carefully took the knife and jabbed forward.  The blade ran up and cleanly slashed his carotid artery.  He just stood their looking into their eyes as blood began to pour out of his neck.

When they took their hands away from his, he fell to his knees.  He could no longer support himself.  He fell back and stared up at the ceiling, the far off ceiling.  The organ began to play his lullaby, trying to rush him away from this world.  His eyes began to water; he didn’t want to leave yet.  He had only just gotten here and he wasn’t ready to leave.  Today had been his day, a day for demons, tomorrow they would mourn his passing along with the others.  Such a sweet world and to know so little of it, he truly was sad to be leaving.  He could hear the lullaby reach its final phrase, with each passing note; the melody became more sad and dissonant.  His time was almost done.  With a tear escaping his eye, he looked up at the ever-lightening ceiling.  The light and dark that would soon swallow him.  His eyes glazed, stared at the ceiling as the organ played its final cadence.