I Did it For Love (On Hold)

Chapter Three | Stop

America awoke tied to a pole. It was dark in the room except for a strip of light, filtering through a tiny window that was extremely high up on the stone wall. Due to the perpetual sound of dripping, she assumed she was underground in a cellar or something of that nature. She was facing a single dark stone archway and suddenly began to feel as if she was not alone. America tried to swing her legs and move her arms but the otherworldly presence rendered her almost motionless.

The sound of many pairs footsteps echoed down the hallway that was behind the archway. Human voices, humming an indiscernible song, were getting closer and closer which only fuelled the fear that had spawned in America's heart. The presence stopped her from screaming, thus the only thing she could manage to do was blink and shiver.

A tall figure in a black hood and robe tied closed with a white cord stopped at the archway, still humming, along with all the similarly dressed people standing behind them. One by one the people began to file into the room, filling the circumference of the cellar. Once they were all in a perfect circle, aside from in front of the archway, the humming halted abruptly.

America was getting serious Salem Witch Trial vibes from the situation and she wanted nothing more than to scream at the top of her lungs. The presence stopped her again, as if it had its icy cold fingers wrapped around her vocal cords.

The first person who had entered the room walked up to the pole where America was tied. They reached into their pocket and grabbed what seemed to be a handful of crushed charcoal. They laid it down in a straight line on the ground perpendicular to America. After glancing at the hand that put the charcoal on the ground, America concluded that the person was a woman, with very bony fingers. The next person in line walked out of the circle and laid something that looked like salt over the charcoal, so the two lines were in the shape of a cross. Finally, the third person walked up to her, stepping carefully past the cross. The man with a very hairy hand grabbed America's own hand aggressively.

"Leviryth! Let thy will allow for heathens who defy you to burn for ever and ever in the valley of the shadow of death." He whispered angrily. A light so bright that America was convinced she had gone blind, filled the room. Several seconds had passed but she was still not able to see anything other than the blinding white light, until suddenly she was able to make out a shape. The shape was as white as the light and had jagged arms but it was lacking legs. It was a demon-like figure that seemed way too big to fit in the little cellar. America realized that this was the presence that she had been feeling, when she looked down to see it's long jagged fingers wrapped around her throat.

She went to scream once more but was unable to as the grip that the monster had on her throat increased exponentially.

It was roughly the middle of a hot and sticky night in Darwin. America Fayette jumped harshly out of her sleep. The only sound that could be heard in the bedroom was her heavy breathing and the whir of the air conditioning unit in the window.

Her breathing and heart rate began to go back to normal when she realized that the demon was just part of a dream. It was almost impossible to shake the feeling of anxiety that the cult dream had given her so, she decided to pace around the room until she could get her mind off of it.

The sound of the doorbell wrenched her out of her trance-like state. She leaned over to her nightstand and pressed the home button of her phone. The screen displayed the time 2:49AM. America wasn't about to go and answer the door this early in the morning, so she waited for her brother, Jared, the lightest sleeper in the world, to go and get it. She listened out for any sign of struggle from her older brother. There was none.