Witches and Devils

Woods

Third Person POV:

Michael had walked for hours, ending deep in the California woods, untucking his shirt and the scarf he had used as a makeshift tie. Rose had taught him how to dress for any witch or warlock occasion and anytime he thinks about what he is wearing, he thinks for her, only driving his rage onword. 'What did they say to her to change her?' 'What lies did they tell her?' 'How am I going to win her back?' These questions circled around in Michael's head as he marched on into the woods. Eventually, after finding a clearing among the pine trees, picking up a rock and drawing a circle in the dirt, "I'm not going any further." Michael stands in the middle of the circle. "Father, tell me what to do and I'll do it." Michael waits for a moment before drawing a star in the circle, creating a pinogram, "I'm not leaving this circle until you talk to me. They're gone. The warlocks, my Ms. Mead... My Rose... Burned alive at the stake and turned against me by the witches. Until nothing was left but ash and smoke." Michael sits in the middle of the circle, much like a toddler throwing a tantrum in a supermarket, "you tell me what to do... or you let me die here," he throws down the rock.

Michael sits in the circle for four days, listening to birds cawing. But today, he hears something new, children laughing. As Michael fights off sleep and exhaustion he turns toward the sound of the little ones, seeing a young boy, dressing in a white gown, holding something out to him, "would you like a grape Fanta?" The boy's voice echoes, "would you like a grape Fanta?"

"No," Michael shakes his head, "I'm on a mission."

"You're hungry," Michael turns and sees a young girl, in the same white gown, with a basket, "you need nourishment. Take an apple. It's so juicy." The girl's voice echoes, "it's so juicy."

Michael shakes his head again, "I have to talk to my father."

"You don't have to do anything. All are welcome. Come to the light."

"Leave me alone."

"You left me to die," Michael turns to see Ms. Mead on a bed, "why would you do this to me? You left me to die, to burn. And you left her in the hands of those witches."

"You're not real. None of this is re... real..."

"Don't listen to her," Michael turns and sees LaVey, "you've done a great job."

"No. I failed. I'm lost. I don't understand my purpose."

"You're everything we expected. The Alpha and the Omega. Who is, who was and who is to come."

"Lair!" Michael lunges forward, grabbing LaVey by the throat.

Once he does, he turns into a man with a glow around his head, "God loves you."

Michael gasps and as he does the man turns into Rose, "I love you." Michael falls back, panting as he looks up a Rose, "please, Michael, come back to me. Be the man I know you can be."

Michael falls back, laying his head back, almost beginning the internal debate of picking between Rose and his Father. But before he does, he hears a goat bleating. Michael rolls over onto his stomach and looks up, "are you my father?" Michael stabs the goat, once he does, snakes begin to come out of the creature, hissing as they do. Michael stands and screams at the sky, "what do you want from me?! What am I supposed to do?! Fuck am I supposed to do?"

"Be the man I know you can be," the being who is pretending to be Rose smiles over to Michael.

Michael shakes his head, "you're not her. You're not my Rose." He laughs, "she... she hates me now."

"No, I don't."

"She knows I'm a monster."

"You're not a monster."