Purgatorium (56 page)

“I am just getting my kicks and gigs. I know you can’t speak just yet. The only way you can voice an opinion in the matter is for you to gain custody over your soul. Which requires that you must gain knowledge of your own Christian name. That, Alice, is something you don’t have at this very moment. We need to get you to that finish line. Which entails me teaching and you learning how to defeat the 42:02 problem.”

Jehudiel looks over at the time: 5:57AM.

He grabs the clock by the nightstand and slams it down in front of me.

“At approximately 6:00AM on the dot you must leave this sex driven room. That is the time when you left before and that is what you must do again or fear the burn of the Valkyrie’s lips.”

I look at Jehudiel impatiently, threateningly. I have had enough waiting and stalling. Jehudiel registers my impatience and continues. “Well then, Alice, let’s not waste anymore time! I will say it two times and that is it. No pressure.”
Jehudiel
cracks his neck. “But I must warn you, you might get what you came here for, however, you will also leave with a little something more.”

The clock turns to 5:58AM.

“Right then! Five hundred begins it, five hundred ends it, five in the middle is seen. First of all figures, first of all letters, take up their stations between. Join all together, and then you will bring before you the name of an eminent king.” He stops and says it back again.

I gather every word he repeats in my head. I close my eyes, trying to concentrate on the riddle. Five hundred begins it, five hundred ends it. Five hundred. 500. Five. D. D! The Roman numeral for five hundred is D! Okay, five in the middle is seen—V, another Roman numeral. First of all figures, is 1—Roman numeral I. The first of all letters is A. Take up their stations between. Join all together. So starting with D and ending with D, V in the middle, and the other two are A and I. Then you have the name of an eminent king. King…DAVID!”

My name is David! I feel triumphant. My name is David, I continue to think but can’t say it aloud.
Why can’t I speak?
I think, panicking. I look back at the time and watch the 5:58 roll over to 5:59.

“Aw! Too bad. I really thought you had it there for a second. Saw your lips quivering at least.”

I sit there stunned. My name is David, I keep repeating in my head. I lose track of time as I stare back to the clock: 6:00AM. Jehudiel takes a lamp from the corner room and walks over to me.

“Time to count in your chips,” he says holding the bottle over my head. “Bottoms up!” He forces hard liquor down my throat, sending my thoughts and vision into the pitch black void of nothingness.

I open my eyes, body shaking, room spinning, feeling like I am drunk again. An empty bottle lies next to me. I search the area around me just to find that I am still in the room. The only difference being that’s it now night out. I walk over to the door, open it, and see the door across from mine is room number 6. I look back to the front side of my door to find that mine is room 5, letting me instantly know that I am in Stephanie’s room. No longer am I in my memory or inside the tree.

I must be back, I register to myself, scanning the hallway for the time. I stumble my way down the hall, looking at the clock at the top of the elevator.

45 Minutes

My head is still spinning, making the hallway spin even faster. Drunken thoughts once again enter my head. I can’t seem to take control. Through my drunken haze, I begin to see a pattern start to formulate as I fall into the elevator.

Gazing around the four mirrored compartment, I take a long look at myself. Waving at myself, I start to chuckle. I need to find composure.

I hear the elevator doors shut behind me. I keep my eyes to the mirrored walls and not at the painting, thinking it would not help my drunken situation. I press the R button, feeling the elevator shifting upward. I quickly gather my thoughts so as to not lose my head. I look above the R button to find a card slot. Peculiar.

I slide my finger over it, wondering of its use. My mind gets distracted as my eyes accidentally take a gander at the painting behind me. My head floods with impure thoughts like I knew it would.

The card game led me to cheating, which undoubtedly led me to this moment in time. Alone, broke, used, and hungover.

I think back to all the hidden messages that I have seen. Each sin that was written out must have been specific to that destination. I hear a fake coughing noise come from behind me. Turning my head around the four walls, I see in all of the mirrors, myself waving back to me.

“
Matthew 124345. Ring any bells?” he says, looking over to the painting. I look along with him, remembering that the title of the painting was named that.

It’s a bible verse! Matthew 12:43-45.

I get out my handbook and, turning to the quoted scripture, begin to read as my mirror image speaks along with my thoughts.

“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.”

I look back at my mirror image, not understanding what he is trying to tell me.

“Let me tell you about David,” my mirror images say at once. “David’s overconfidence in himself comes with his
pride
.” My mirror image transforms into Raphael. “Think back to the coffee shop memory where he acted prideful to Madi.” He then transforms into Gabriel. “His eating behaviors when he bottles his emotions lie within his
gluttony
. In the park, he had an eating disorder because he felt self-conscious of who he was.” He takes on Sealtiel next. “His
envy
speaks in volumes with his neediness to have something that doesn’t belong to him. The subway love triangle.”

My knees go weak. Falling to the ground, I glance up to see the fluorescent bulb that hasn’t been turned on yet. Looking back at the mirror, I see his new transformation is Michael.

“His temper, which has gotten himself more into trouble than out of, is all thanks to his
wrath
. The office slap.”

He turns around and becomes Uriel. “His way of going into situations without thinking who it could eventually hurt lies side by side with his
lust
. The high-rise mistress.”

He walks along to each mirror as he becomes Barachiel next.

“His
greed
of wanting more. The lighthouse restaurant for two. Your sin is the lie you tell yourself every day, that you think you are too good for anything or anyone else. You cheat and lie your way through life because it’s easier than the alternative. You make yourself be lazy. Another word for lazy?”

He mirrors Jehudiel, waiting for me to understand his cruel point.

I stand up and quickly press the emergency stop button. The elevator brakes. The black light comes on, revealing the hidden message on the mirror. Without having to look, I knew what it would be.

Sloth
.

I raise my head towards the word “Sloth.” Watching it bleed down the mirror, I begin to lose focus on who I am.

“Sloth was his gateway drug to other narcotics. David was a junkie towards sinful behaviors. Addicted and driven to the absolution of the mind.”

He is back to looking like me as he echoes in my head. “You see, David isn’t responsible for just one of the deadly sins. He is responsible for all of them.”

I hit the mirror, cracking it. The echoes immediately stop and my mirror image is back to normal.

No, I think to myself. I stare at the painting, not wanting to understand the undeniable truth. Looking deep into its center, the glowing cross, I have come to figure out that it’s a self-portrait of me. The seven demons taking hold of me are all my sins.

Coming to the absolution, I understand it all clearly now. There were never any angels; they were all my demons, my seven deadly sins.

I slide my body back down feeling sick. The hangover sets in and my head is in a massive amount of pain.

The latch from above the elevator kicks free, busting the black light bulb in the process. Jehudiel stumbles out like a hot mess with two wine bottles in his hands. “What in the H.E double hockey sticks are you doing?! So this is where you went off too! You owe me my silver, jag off!,” he says with a slur. He looks around the small space, confused at what just went down.

Crunch!

He lifts up his foot to see pieces of the black light broken across the floor. “Did you have a rave and forget to invite me?!” he says, handing me a bottle. “The only cure to a hangover, pal.”

I slap the bottle out of his hand.

You’re not real. None of you are real. Just demons in my head, making noise. I see you for what you really are, Sloth.

“Glad to finally meet your acquaintance!” Jehudiel screams with excitement. “I hated faking. Too much to keep up with! Never knew what to say. They even gave me the hardest name to learn. Jehudiel? Who would want a name like that? I mean, really?”

Jehudiel bends down next to me. “But any who, I am so glad to hear that you loved my work. Don’t get me wrong, without you there would be no me.” He gets closer, whispering, “But let’s keep this a secret between you and I. Let’s not bring the others’ attention towards your new findings. They have been working really hard to make you think that they are angels here to help you. Let’s not spoil it. Okay?”

I want to yell at him but realize my voice hasn’t come back. My stomach begins to ache as I feel the hangover process is on to its next step.

“Look we are on the same side as of right now. We both want the same thing. You need to finish the race and I want you to finish it. The only way we differ is by the end of said race, I rather you not wake up. But when
that
time comes we can handle our grievances towards each other.

I look back into his green eyes, disgusted that we share a small resemblance in that matter. Why should I even listen to him? Even if he is trying to help me, it’s only to fulfill his own needs. I don’t need his help.

I turn to him, thinking,
You did this. You are the reason why I am here.
Jehudiel turns to me and smiles as if he could hear what I just thought.

“Me? Little ol’ me? No, no, no. You, Alice, you are the one in charge of your own. You are being quite the selfish one. Playing the blame game is a nice card to play. My personal favorite. Well that and a single white lie. For some reason even the littlest of lies still has a grand outcome if you use them correctly, of course. Still, you got that from me.” Jehudiel smiles mischievously.

My hangover slowly starts washing away from me. I ball my fist up. My body feels as if it is on fire. I’m aware of the rage inside me burning away my soul.

“What are you going to do? Hit an angel? A poor, sweet, little, innocent angel like not myself?”
Jehudiel
laughs at his own sarcasm. Now where is my silver, my dear Alice?”

Jehudiel sticks his hands in my coat pockets, taking out the flask. He shakes it, gleefully smiling while he does. He then goes and sits passionately as he twists the top off from the flask.

He reads the message off the flask,
“Après moi, le déluge.
You have any idea it’s meaning? I do. It means ‘After me, the flood.’”

Jehudiel smirks at a thought and holds it there a little while longer.

I gaze at the flask, remembering what is inside of it. I cool down, giving me a chance to process my thoughts. I try locking down my mind again so he won’t be able to read what I am thinking.

Jehudiel
raises the silver flask. “Here’s to you and yours, and to mine and ours. And if mine and ours ever come upon you and yours, I hope you and yours will do as much for mine and ours, as mine and ours have done for you and yours!”

He brings it up and stops. Leaning in to me, he says, “Don’t underestimate laziness with genius, kid.” His sinister smile speaks volumes to all the things he has done without even having to lift a single finger.