Unhinged (10 page)

Beside the pile of women, I see a man digging
away with a shovel. He is huge, with muscles bulging from every
facet of his body. He’s also filthy, his white tank top covered in
blood and dirt, and his jeans are faded and covered with rips and
tears. His brown hair is matted with dirt; so much so that I can
only guess that the brown is his real hair color. He stops digging
a few moments later and steps out of the pit. I am surprised to see
he isn’t wearing any shoes. I watch as he walks over to the pile of
women and grabs a girl with blonde hair stained red, carries her to
the pit, and unceremoniously tosses her into it. The sheer lack of
human emotion as he carelessly throws these women around sickens
me.

I stumble as I try to retreat, and end up
tumbling back down the small hill I'd just climbed. The vertigo
hits me as I roll, warning me that this memory is about to end. The
darkness envelops me as I return to the swirling water of the black
hole. The constant spinning is killing me. I hope beyond hope that
the black hole is returning me to Logan and Dejana.

I should have known it wouldn’t be that
easy.

After what seems like an eternity, though it
probably only lasted a minute, I’m thrown sharply to the left and I
land on a hard surface. My head hurts from the constant spinning,
but luckily, my elbow took the brunt of my landing. I look around
and realize I’m on a hard linoleum floor. It's speckled with blue
and looks like about a decade's worth of dirt has collected on it.
The small room is empty, save a small metal table nailed to the
floor in the center, with two silver metal chairs on either side.
The white walls are bare, the only decoration are chips, cracks,
and holes. The far right wall isn’t really a wall, but a large
mirror.

I pull myself up off the floor and make my
way to the other side of the table facing the mirror. I quickly
realize it's a two-way mirror because behind it I see a very large,
muscular, and scarred man in a strait jacket. He is mumbling
through the three teeth that remain in his mouth and his short
brown hair has been shaved to a buzz cut. His brown eyes are glazed
over and he’s rocking back and forth in his cheap silver chair.

There is a video camera in the corner, the
red light indicating that it’s running. Abruptly, the man looks up
at the door; something has caught his attention. I look over
through the mirror and see a policeman enter the room. He is
wearing the typical dark suit of a detective and he is carrying a
file folder. He drops the folder dramatically onto a similar silver
table and sighs heavily.

“I want to help you, Rex,” he begins, “I
really do. But if you don’t tell me where you buried all the
bodies, it’s just going to get worse for you. We know you raped and
killed Christine Penn. We have your DNA underneath her fingernails.
What we
don’t
know is how many more there are out there. As
we speak, they are digging up your dumpsite in Stone Mountain and
we will identify them all. So make it easier for yourself. Give us
the names of all of those women. Then maybe the judge will give you
life in prison instead of the death penalty.”

“Ah, Chris…..Chris….she was just a tryst. But
then she talked back and I hacked her with my axe, and now the
little girl is all bones,” cackled Rex, carrying his voice like a
rhyme. His eyes dart back and forth, obviously enjoying the act of
reliving Christine’s death.

“Shut up!” yells the detective, clearly
disturbed and doing his best to keep it together. “She is one of at
least twenty bodies that we’ve found in a wooded area next to Stone
Mountain. Help yourself dammit and give us their names.”

Rex just laughs and continues to rock back
and forth, his eyes unfocused and insane. “Twenty you found, but
more underground. What you don’t expect is that she’ll be the
next,” he chants cryptically.

Fed up, the detective slaps Rex across the
face hard, clearly hoping to elicit some kind of response from him.
When he is met with more laughter, he realizes they won’t get
anything more from him.

“Fine,” says the detective fed up. “You can
fry then for all I care.” He shoves Rex one more time for good
measure and leaves the room.

Being left alone with Rex, even behind the
two-way mirror, unsettles me. He’s the man from the forest, the
same killer that I just saw thoughtlessly disposing of multiple
women in a homemade ditch. Even though I realize that Rex can’t
hurt me, the fight or flight response that is so inbred within, is
screaming for me to run. Desperate to get away from the evil
emanating from this guy, I turn to leave. Just as I am about to
pass out of the sight of the two-way mirror, Rex suddenly stop
rocking. His head snaps up and he stares straight at me with clear,
focused grey eyes. He leans forward and smiles cryptically as he
stands up to his full seven feet of height.

“You’re next, Aimee,” he states seriously, a
stark contrast to the man I saw a second ago.

My heart stops, the air leaves my lungs and
the room starts to spin. So many fears run through my brain, but
only one thing matters.
How did he know my name?
The room
spins faster, and vertigo hits me hard as I realize that this
memory is finally coming to an end. I’ve never been happier to see
one go.

As the darkness envelopes me, I see a bright
white light up in the distance, signaling that I’m being taken back
to real life, back to Logan and Dejana. I’m left with the stark
realization that Dejana is in serious danger, we all are. Somehow,
memories of a horrific serial killer have made their way into her
brain. I don’t know how it happened, or why. But one thing is
clear: her fragile brain could neither process nor delete those
disturbing images, so it shut down to protect itself. But it makes
no sense! Dejana isn’t cursed. She can’t absorb memories, so how in
the hell did they get in there? And worse yet, how in the world am
I going to get them out?

Chapter
Ten

~ Someone’s Always Watching ~

The absence of a full moon allows for perfect
concealment amongst the bushes that surround the property. David
watches the events unfold, elated by how well his plan is panning
out. True terror is difficult to manufacture and even more grueling
to set into motion. So many pieces have to fall into place at
specific times and anything can go wrong. The fact that David is
not the average person, or the average human for that matter,
helps. He has collected thousands upon thousands of memories, which
he can use as he sees fit to help him achieve his goal. He will
become invincible, and the entire world is about to realize it.

For now, David is content watching the chaos
he had so meticulously planned wreak havoc upon all that Aimee
holds dear. David relishes in his success and gives himself this
one moment to pat himself on the back for a job well done. Sadly
though, the job is far from complete, the goal still unattainable.
Aimee’s torture, far from over. She must suffer horribly, that is
the only way to ensure that her mind is at its weakest. Her psyche
must be in a traumatic state in order for him to absorb her power.
Only then will he be able to beat her. And beat her he will.

David must not linger any longer. It’s time
for him to slink away unseen, and make his way back to the small
apartment in the city. It's time to finalize the last few pieces of
his plan for the ascension he so rightly deserves. He has a date
with destiny, and he must be ready for it.

* * * *

As David carefully makes his way out of the
bushes, he doesn’t notice the shadow of a man leaning leisurely
against the trunk of a tree behind him. This man is invisible, seen
only by those whom he chooses. He is infinitely stronger than David
and twice as deadly. And worse yet, he is angry, very angry. It
took all of his self-control not to kill David as he hid, not to
slash his throat and watch the blood splatter within the confines
of his cowardly position inside the bushes.

For now, he will let things play out, let the
chaos David has created reign as he gains more information about
the final piece of David’s plan. Although David thinks he will
ascend, he knows that David isn’t ready; is even more certain that
letting David ascend would ensure the destruction of the entire
world order. With so much at stake, he must be patient, must get
every piece of information he can to stop the ascension before it
is too late. For if David is allowed to ascend, the expression
‘hell on earth’ will be given new meaning. And he isn’t about to
let that happen. If anyone is going to create hell on earth, it
damn well will be him.

Chapter
Eleven

~ Aftermath ~

I open my eyes and the first thing I see is
the white speckle of Dejana’s bedroom ceiling. I blink a few times,
trying to acclimate myself as the cloudiness recedes from my eyes.
With each passing second, the world comes more and more into focus.
At some point, I must have fallen to the floor, because I can feel
the soft plush carpet on my back. As I lie there recovering, a face
pops into my line of vision, and the most beautiful hazel eyes
filled with concern stare back at me.

“Are you okay?” Logan asks, careful not to
touch or move me.

Now
that
is a loaded question.
Physically I'm fine, but emotionally I am nowhere near okay. My
mind is reeling from the images I just saw. The pile of women,
their pale skin fraught with bruises and dried blood, haunts me. I
can’t push the image away. How can a person be so evil?

I lift myself up off the floor yet again, a
recurring theme that seems to dominate my cursed life, and I look
over at Dejana, still lying unconscious on the floor beside me. The
memory of her happy on the beach comforts me. I sincerely hope she
manages to stay away from the storm. I shudder just thinking of
what might happen to her if she entered the black vortex that holds
those vile memories. I just wish I had some clue as to how those
memories got in there. If I solve that mystery, maybe then I can
determine a way to get them out. Desperation threatens to overtake
me. I feel like I’m losing a race against time. Logan’s voice snaps
me out of it, thank goodness, because I was damn near having a bad
panic attack.

“What did you see? What did this to her?” he
asks hopefully.

I take in a deep breath, deciding which part
I want to tell him first, when a voice yelling from downstairs
interrupts me.

“Dejana!” yells a male voice. “I have your
food. Where are you? And what the hell happened to your door?”

Beside me, Logan jumps up and runs to the
hall to look over the banister that faces the foyer so he can see
who it is. I can tell from his smile that it’s thankfully not a
stranger.

“Brett, it’s you! Hey man. What in the world
are you doing here?” he asks.

“Logan? That you, dude? I’m dropping off food
for Dejana. She texted an hour ago saying she felt bad and wanted
me to get her food. But when I texted her back to ask her where she
wanted me to get it from, she didn’t respond. Hey, what the heck
are
you
doing here? And better yet, what were you doing in
Dejana’s bedroom?” he asks, his voice a bit edgy.

“I’m up here with Aimee, you douche,” he
explains. “And something has happened to Dejana so drop the food
and get up here.”

Immediately, Brett drops the food on the
small, dark table in the foyer and takes the stairs two at a time.
The look on his face is one of agitation. He practically flies into
Dejana’s bedroom before skidding to a stop the minute he sees me
sitting on the floor beside her legs. His face is covered with
concern as he moves beside Dejana’s body and gets down on his
knees. He moves to touch her, but he must think the better of it
because he just places his hands on his knees.

“What in the world? What happened to
her?”

Why is everyone asking me that today? Even
though I do actually now know what happened to her, it isn’t
something I care to tell Brett. I don’t trust him, even if Logan
and Dejana both consider him a good friend. Hell, let’s be real.
After all the secrets I’ve absorbed, I have every reason not to
trust anybody.

“I have no idea,” I say as I look pointedly
at Logan, hoping he gets the hint that I don’t want my horrific
expedition into Dejana’s mind known. “When did she text you?”

“About an hour ago. She just said she was
sick and asked if I could bring her some food since her parents are
working. No biggie, I’ve done it plenty of times before. When she
didn’t text me back I just got her favorite burger and came on
over. Is she going to be okay?” asks Brett, clearly concerned.

The sadness on his face makes me instantly
regret keeping things from him. I debate how much I should tell to
him, when I see Logan move around Dejana to come and sit next to
me. He takes my hand and pointedly squeezes it. I got the
message.

“We don’t know.” I say. “The only thing we do
know is that she needs to go to the hospital. They’ll probably take
her to the same mental hospital that my mom is at right now. The
doctor there can help her.”

“If you say so, Aimee,” replies Brett
skeptically. “Um, should we call an ambulance or just take her
there ourselves? We should call her parents too, probably,” adds
Brett, trying his best to wade through the shock to figure out what
is best to do for Dejana.

“Her parents will ask too many questions we
can’t answer,” I interject. “Let’s just call the ambulance and tell
them we found her this way.”

“Okay,” says Brett slowly. “I guess you’re
right. I’ll call them since I was the one she texted. I can just
say that you guys showed up after me. No reason to drag you into
this.”