Drugs

Chapter VII

                                                                                                              August 20th, 2016

"Why are you—" I opened the door as he walked in. My body mechanically followed him after I closed the door.

His face was amused as he looked around my apartment, from the kitchen to the living room.

"Sit," he said.

I took my seat. Sweat dripped from my forehead. My body would not do what my mind commanded it to do.

"Congratulations on passing your first trial. I can see the improvements in you already."

There was silence. I couldn't speak.

He laughed. "Cat got your tongue? You may speak."

"What the hell are you? This can't be—"

"Be what? Be real?" He came closer to me, close enough for me to feel his breath on my face. "Everything that you felt, and everything that you saw, was real."

His face changed before my eyes. I couldn't look away. Here before me was the demon—the one who had ripped the woman's arm off.

"I did tell you if you died there, you would die here. Only good things happen from here. Would you like to hear about that?"

The demon turned into a seductive model I had seen many times on a billboard. "Or would you rather cuddle?"

I knew this face. I had fantasized about it over a hundred times. Her long orange hair fell over her chest, covering her cleavage. She wore red high heels and a matching thong. It seemed like playful exposure—knowing, without revealing too much. A smile rested on her honeycomb lips as she strutted over to me.

She sat on my lap and ran her tongue along my ear. "You were so brave. I just have to reward you for all your hard work." She placed her hands around my neck and looked me deep in my eyes.

I knew it was wrong, but my body couldn't deny the warmth of what sat on me. My mind was at war between overly calm and raging panic, like there were two different forces inside me.

"Reward me?" I asked.

"Yes. After all, if you don't return to that world, all your luck will change."

She got off me, her body slender and seductive. My eyes couldn't look away as she struck a pose, lying down on my kitchen counter.

"What do you mean?"

She looked away, focusing on the pale yellow wall. For a moment, there was coldness in the wind as she rubbed her ring finger.

"Human life is a short thing, is it not? How many people suffer? How many people live a life of struggle and dead ends? What's the goal of life, really? Go to school, study hard, get a job, work hard, have a family, be a provider. Kick the bucket, and your children repeat the process. Is that really it? Don't you think that the people who are stuck in that process are the real losers? All of them are just like ants."

I wanted to speak, but I found my lips wouldn't move.

"Even now, Domenic, you're at your wits' end. Your clock is ticking. Don't you see it? I have saved you from this hell."

The intensity of the pain burned my back. My eyes were the only thing that allowed me to show the semblance of any pain.

What is Samael, a he or a she?"

"You're bonded to me. That is our contract. From the time you took that drug, you have become dead to this world. No, rather alive—you have been reborn. Don't you feel the burn of our love upon your back?"