Cricket: Ember's Story

Demon

I get home to a house full of chaos. Everyone is fighting. From what I gather Adam is hallucinating and screaming about demons, and Hex is trying to hold him back from Jesse, who's glaring at him with his fists clenched.

"What's going on?" I ask, dropping my stuff.

Both boys are facing off in our "living room". I think I can smell the tension, but then I realize it's meth. Ammonia claws its way down my throat, making me cough.

"Hex, he can't stay here! He's too fucked up! Until he comes down he can't be trusted!" Jesse shouts.

"SHUT UP! I'LL SLIT YOUR GODDAMN THROAT!" Adam screams, which isn't something that would normally come out of his mouth. He lunges at Jesse again, but Hex pulls him back.

"Adam tried to stab Jesse because he thought he saw a demon. He's just really cranked out right now. Everything's fine," Hex tells me breathlessly.

I look at the floor and see Adam's pocket knife open like a letter L. There's no blood on it, and I pick it up and shove it in my pocket. He doesn't need a weapon right now.

"Adam, let's try to sleep," Hex says calmly.

"No! I can't sleep here with a fucking DEMON in the living room!" Adam shouts.

"Please, Adam," says a small voice.

It's Gus. He's sitting in a dark corner of the room, his eyes wide with fear.

"Ember, Jesse, go to bed and block the door. Gus, go with them. I'll take care of Adam. You all are just making it worse," Hex says.

Adam looks at her with a horrified expression on his face. "You can't let them leave! Don't you realize it's pretending to be one of them? WE HAVE TO EXORCISE IT! I need my knife back! WHERE IS IT?!"

Adam starts frantically looking all over the room for the knife I have hidden in my pocket. He grabs his backpack and turns it upside down. Everything dumps out on the floor, and the ouija board comes out last, clattering on the hardwoods. I rub my hand across my thigh, feeling its shape, and keep my mouth shut.

When he can't find it, Adam turns on Hex. "YOU HAVE IT! YOU'RE THE FUCKING DEMON!"

It happens so fast. He closes the few feet between them in a fraction of a second and shoves her hard against the wall, and I hear the sound her skull makes when it hits, like a metal bat when it makes contact with a baseball. There's blood smeared on the wall behind her, and her hand goes to the back of her head. Hex's eyes are huge, and for the first time maybe ever, I can see that she's scared of him. She's terrified.

Adam keeps screaming. "IT'S INSIDE YOU! IT IMPREGNATED YOU! WE HAVE TO BREAK ITS FUCKING NECK! KILL IT, HEX! KILL IT BEFORE IT GETS ANY BIGGER! IF YOU WON'T THEN I WILL!"

I see Hex take her hands off her head and cover her stomach with them, turning sideways against the wall, and I can tell she's bracing for whatever is coming because I did that too. Only I'm not pregnant anymore so it doesn't matter where I get punched. It doesn't matter, I tell myself, and I start to run at them. But I don't get there first.

Gus flies past me and throws himself on Adam's back like a ninja dropping from a rooftop, and it actually works. Adam goes down. Gus isn't anywhere near strong enough to hold him though, so Jesse jumps in to help.

"Ember, get that fucking NyQuil!" Jesse yells at me.

I don't think, just run for the kitchen. I find the bottle right where I left it this morning and take it back to Jesse. He rips the cap off, and he and Gus force Adam's mouth open and poor the liquid inside, the whole rest of the bottle. I think it was maybe half full I don't know. Some of it runs down Adam's face and neck, green and slimy like alien blood, but I see him swallow and realize most of it has made contact.

I don't know if it'll work, but Gus and Jesse don't let up, and after many agonizing minutes I finally see Adam's eyes start to glaze over, his thrashing limbs becoming loose and erratic, like a fish flopping on dry land. He can't stay conscious for much longer.

I let Jesse and Gus do the work of lulling him into dreamland while I run over to Hex, who has slid down the wall and is sitting with her knees up and arms resting on them. She's staring blankly at Adam as he falls asleep.

"Are you okay?" I ask, crouching down in front of her.

She shakes her head and touches the back of her skull again. Her fingertips are bloody when they pull away.

"Let me see," I tell her.

She turns and lets me examine the wound. I don't think it needs stitches. The amount of blood makes it look worse than it is, and the actual cut is small, about an inch long, and came from a sliver of sharp wood that was sticking out of the splintery wall. I get the first aid kit I keep in my bag and go to work.

It's surreal. Hex is always the one patching me up after Jesse goes at me. I never imagined in my worst nightmares I'd have to do this for her... because of Adam. I know it was meth psychosis combined with having a fever, but my perspective of him as someone who is safe and loving, someone who's my friend, is forever altered. And my respect for him right now, in this moment, is less than nothing.

Hex's thoughts are probably mirroring my own, because I see her looking at Adam in disgust. He's out now, and Jesse and Gus are dragging his limp body toward his sleeping bag.

"Can you come to the doctor with me 'till it's born?" Hex asks me softly.

"Of course I will," I say. "I'll do whatever you need."

"He doesn't get to," she said, nodding at Adam. "Ever."

"I understand completely," I say.

She takes off the ring Adam gave her and throws it in a corner of the room.

I can tell she's trying hard not to cry. I want to tell her she can with me, that I'm safe, but that would piss her off. Instead I give her the dignity of looking away as she sets her jaw and shakes with the effort of keeping it in. I know what that's like too.