Edge of End Page 13

  Chapter thirteen: The night

  I ran through the haze. It felt like I was in a completely different time and place.

  I threw myself into the dimly lit room–large with two small windows to my left. A table stood between them. Against the wall in front of me, there was a broken cupboard, and Malcolm lying beside it, surrounded by broken pieces of glass and plates. Whatever had snatched Malcolm had slammed him right into the cupboard with a brutal force.

  There in the furthest corner Elizabeth was cowering, her legs up against her chest and her chin resting on her knees. Her eyes lowered to the floor, she was shivering–she paid me no heed.

  Before I could turn my head to take a look around and find out what had caused the disorder in there, somebody or something had grabbed me from my left. I found myself in the air, my feet kicking uselessly as I was pulled up off the floor. My eyes fell on the creature holding me–its long and nasty fingers gripped tightly around my neck.

  It was a human, a robust-looking man of about forty. His face was chubby, his skin worn and his long straggly hair was filthy and hung carelessly over his shoulders. With his bloody eyes he was trying to stare me out with his furious look. I was certain he was ready to snap my neck or decapitate me.

  Without even thinking about it, I raised my fist and punched him squarely in the face. My strike made him lower me, but his nasty fingers remained where they were.

  He raised his evil looking eyes full of malice and looked me dead in the eye. My stomach began to do flips; I suddenly felt sick. Then he lifted me into the air again and punched me right in my stomach.

  I flew back slamming into the wall and in slow motion I slid down the wall and fell in a heap on the ground.

  “Jonathan!” Elizabeth’s voice was distant. She was curled up in the corner.

  All the air had left my lungs. I choked and spluttered trying to catch my breath. I couldn’t seem to get any air into my lungs, but when I did I sucked it in greedily.

  My eyes slowly adjusted to the dimness. Malcolm was scrambling to his feet several feet away, and then I turned my eyes to Elizabeth. She too had managed to find her feet again.

  There were heavy footsteps above my head. Somebody grabbed a clump of my hair and pulled me up. A sharp pain shot from my head down to my tail bone. I yelped in shock unable to help myself get up again, and instinctively I grabbed a hold of the hand that was hoisting me up.

  “Little prick,” he snarled sarcastically as he watched in delight. I hopelessly tried to free myself from his grasp.

  “Jonathan, no! Fight him!” Elizabeth begged me as if I had had a chance, and had refused to take it. Probably I had, but the unexpected attack had disorientated me.

  Malcolm came to help again. He lunged at the man punching him in the face. With a single hit, he had made him let go of my hair and driven him back. I was still on my knees as I watched Malcolm fight furiously against the beefy man, but no matter how strong and big your muscles were, they meant nothing in this afterlife. It was only power that counted, and he was super strong. Perhaps he was even mightier than Malcolm; it was his house, his territory after all.

  I recalled Malcolm saying that each resident was at its peak in terms of strength in its own house. We were just guests; we had become significantly weaker when we had crossed the house’s threshold.

  As I had expected, Malcolm was unable to defeat the owner with ease. He was tossed back against the wall, and he fell to the floor right next to me.

  “Fuckin’ guy is too strong,” he said coughing up blood.

  “That means we are too close to the light,” I remarked.

  “If we can ever leave this house.” A playful smile appeared on his face. Again the game. “Your power is different. It doesn’t depend on your house.”

  I rose. It was my turn to test my strength.

  “Jonathan,” Elizabeth called out with a sobbing voice. “What should I do?”

  “Help Malcolm,” I replied and faced the man. “Come on,” I roared, balling my right hand into a fist, my nails digging deep into my palm.

  He smiled, his eyes twinkling with pleasure. Probably he was imagining squashing me like a butterfly and crushing my bones. With a heavy slap, he interlocked his fingers and then spread his arms wide, welcoming me into his deadly embrace. But I remained put. I was going to let him attack first.

  He read me like a book and immediately charged towards me. I remained still, my fists clenched and ready to do what they could.

  From just one step away, he took a strike. It was meant for my face, but I ducked just in time, punching back right into his gut, like he had previously done to me. With that one hit, his feet left the floor and he landed a foot away.

  I saw surprise register in his eyes. With a roar, I launched myself towards him grabbing his neck and punching him hard in the face with every ounce of my power. He tumbled to the floor and spat out two of his bloodied teeth. I was possessed, and I continued kicking him maliciously, sending him to sliding across the wooden floorboards, finally smashing against the table.

  I glanced back at Malcolm. Elizabeth was knelt beside him, helping the old man to stand up.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Elizabeth.

  “I guess so,” she said. “I’m sorry Jonathan. I had nowhere to run. That beast was behind me, I panicked and–”

  “It’s okay Elizabeth,” I interrupted gently. “You’re safe with me now.”

  The man let out an almighty howl, attracting my attention away from Elizabeth. He was on all-fours, struggling to his feet.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said over my shoulder. I approached the man calmly and snatched his right arm, and twisting it back. The crack of his bone echoed through the air, followed quickly by his scream of pain. I let him go, and he crashed to the floor.

  When I swung around Malcolm was already standing up. I threw him a brief look of thanks and hurried towards Elizabeth. She threw her arms around my neck in relief.

  “I thought I had lost you,” she whispered in my ear. “I was running without really thinking. I didn’t look back, and I threw myself into darkness without even considering what kind of danger was dwelling here,” she explained.

  “You’re with me now, you’ll be okay,” I reassured her.

  “Yes, and we’d better get moving,” Malcolm interrupted.

  I ran my eyes over his excited face.

  “The wall’s cracking,” he pointed behind him. It was splitting as though a huge force on the other side was pushing the wall to get through. “Jonathan, you know what is behind the wall, don’t you?”

  Nothingness–sucking souls to imprison them in the darkness forever. What would happen to us if it broke free?

  “What is there?” Elizabeth asked worriedly.

  “It’s better you never find out,” I replied releasing her from my hug.

  “We can’t leave the same way we entered,” Malcolm mused his eyes lowered as if he was deep in thought. “We can check for a back door somewhere.”

  “I’ve got a better plan,” I announced as I moved towards the man who was lying on the floor.

  Elizabeth and Malcolm’s eyes followed me. I hoisted that beefy man with great ease, as simple as picking up an apple off the ground. Taking him to the window, I tossed him out. He fell accompanied by a shower of broken glass, and through the gap the misty cloud seeped quickly into the room encircling me, and reaching towards Elizabeth.

  I turned around and held my hand out, “Come!”

  Elizabeth shuffled towards me and took my hand. She looked at me in confusion with narrowed eyes. With no hesitation, I pulled her into my arms and jumped onto the windowsill.

  “We can’t be sure there is ground down there Jonathan,” Malcolm said coming up to the window. He brushed back his graying hair from his eye and surveyed the area in search of any sign of ground outside. “The mist covers everything.”

  “At least this is better than the darkness.”

  “Who knows?” Malcolm
forced a thin smile and looked at me.

  He was right. Who knew? By making the jump I might never reach the ground. But I had already made my decision.

  “Do you trust me?” I asked, smiling affectionately at Elizabeth.

  “Yes,” she nodded. “Wherever you go, I’ll follow.”

  “Then here we go,” I teased and jumped into nothingness.

  The mist outside hid the ground from my view. I had thrown myself into its arms without having any clue where it would take me. We had been on the ground floor, but who knew where the dark corridor and the haze had taken us. If I had found myself at the beginning of the town again, I wouldn’t have been so shocked.

  We fell and fell through a cloudy mist a cold wind biting into my face. I contemplated the drop in awe; we were encircled by whiteness blanketing everything from our sight.

  I looked down into Elizabeth’s frightened eyes. She was in my arms, her hold onto my neck tightening.

  Had I been wrong? This fall seemed to be carrying on for an eternity. Elizabeth said nothing, she just looked at me.

  Then the cloud beneath us began darkening.

  “I think there is something there,” I said hopefully.

  But Elizabeth kept staring at me like she had stopped believing in me anymore.

  “Elizabeth, are you okay?” I asked, my voice leaving my lungs with difficulty.

  “You set me up, Jonathan,” she accused.

  “What?” I cried out taken aback.

  Before she could say anything, I was enveloped in the darkness beneath my dangling feet. My eyes couldn’t see anything, but I could still felt the wind rushing past my face.

  Suddenly the weight in my arms was gone.

  “Elizabeth?” I called out to her. There was no answer.

  As the darkness faded away momentarily, I hit the ground hard and rolled over, overcome by dust. I lay there winded for a moment or two. Finally catching my breath, I struggled into my feet.

  The heavy mist let me see about five metres in any direction.

  From nowhere, with an unexpected clap, a chunky man appeared sitting in an armchair, a hole made by a bullet in his forehead and his face covered with blood. I stared at him uncomprehendingly.

  Melissa’s voice washed over me, again with the promise to kill me as soon as she grew up. I looked about, her voice floating in the mist and echoing in my ears.

  “Elizabeth, where are you?” I called out.

  As the last word left my mouth, she appeared standing right in front of me.

  “Elizabeth,” my jaw dropped. She was unharmed, and she looked beautiful but her expression was lifeless.

  “Look who you are, Jonathan,” her lips moved, letting out those words regretfully.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I thought you weren’t like the other residents,” she went on, her eyes pinned on me. “Your mask was very good, though. But you’re as much a monster within as the others. Nobody gets to this town by mistake. Even me,” she added.

  “What came over you?” I raised my eyebrows. “Are you all right? I know, I’m not perfect, nor are you, but we’re going to change that. Take my hand, please. We’re going to make ourselves better people.”

  “Only one can get into the passage,” she said tonelessly. “You can’t take me with you. Am I worthy enough to be saved instead of you?”

  “We’ll do it together,” I insisted as before. “Trust me.”

  “Only one,” she said.

  I regarded her for a long moment. She wasn’t like herself. Something was talking to me through her.

  And then I whispered, “Yes, you’re worthy enough to be saved instead of me. You’re better than me.”

  “You barely know her,” the voice coming from her mouth was now creepy and devilish. Elizabeth’s own dulcet and soft voice was no longer there. “What makes you believe she’s better?”

  I bravely faced the monster inhabiting Elizabeth’s form. “Despite you, I can feel. I trust my instinct.”

  She laughed with monster’s voice, her eyes widening and becoming green. With a broad and wicked smile on her face she suddenly dashed towards me.

  I had no time to react. Reaching me, she slapped me in the face, hard. I closed my eyes in pain.

  When I opened them again the mist had gone. I was again in the gloomy room where I had just brought the wicked man down. Elizabeth, the one I knew, the real one, was knelt beside me, my head on her knees. I felt another slap to my face.

  “What the...?” I cried out. “Will you stop hitting me?”

  “Oh, Jonathan,” she hugged me. “You’re back.”

  “What happened? Where are we?”

  “We’re in that damned house. Remember, the flying demons lured me here. You came to rescue me.”

  “Yeah, I remember that,” I screwed up my eyes. “But I fought that man, and then the wall cracked and we jumped out through the window.”

  “No we didn’t,” she interrupted me, her hands still on my face. “You knocked that man out, then turned to me and just collapsed to the floor unconscious.”

  “What? But?” I trailed off. The fall, the chunky man and the devil in Elizabeth’s form had been a vision. “Where is Malcolm?” I asked taking a huge breath.

  “He’s lying over there,” she indicated the cracked wall. “Both of you fell simultaneously. You had glazed eyes. I don’t know what was wrong, Jonathan.”

  “And you decided to slap me? Again?”

  “At least I know that way worked on you,” she smirked, then placed a quick kiss on my forehead.

  “Never thought I would thank anybody who slapped me,” I muttered, displeasure in my voice.

  “Never mind. You can thank me next time.”

  “There won’t be a next time,” I grumbled as I tried to sit up.

  Elizabeth helped me. I felt weak, all my strength had been sucked out of me. I leaned my back against the wall and looked up at the broken window. The mist seeped in slowly and fell onto me.

  My eyes traveled over the room and came to a stop at the cracked wall. Through the hundreds of cracks black liquid oozed down onto the floor. Streams of it stretched towards Malcolm who lay unconscious just to the side.

  “Stay here. I’ll get Malcolm,” Elizabeth told me.

  “Hey,” I called to her. “Look,” raising my hand I indicated the wall.

  “What the hell is it?” she stopped stunned.

  I guessed it was the nothingness behind the wall, and taking the form of liquid, it was working its way towards us.

  “Whatever it is, don’t touch it,” I said. “I guess that was what caused Malcolm and I to black out. But it hasn’t had any influence on you. Don’t touch it.”

  “It does have some sort of effect on me,” Elizabeth told me as she knelt down beside Malcolm.

  “It weakened us in the corridor,” I thought aloud. “The second time its hand blocked our consciousness successfully.”

  “Ah!,” Elizabeth cried out in agony. She cupped her head and fell on her side still shrieking loudly.

  “Elizabeth!” I bawled. Trying to stand up I aggravated my situation and I found myself facedown on the floor.

  “It’s in my head!” she screamed. “Jonathan, it’s in my head!”

  “Leave Malcolm there and crawl to me,” I told her. “You can’t help him. You’re too close to that stuff.”

  She managed to look me in the eyes. I didn’t see any weakness in them. I saw a strong and determined woman there. Howling she pushed herself back up with difficulty. The pain was still in her head, but no scream escaped her mouth. I saw her hands tremble, whatever was carried by the black liquid, it had managed to get into her and affect her whole body.

  Elizabeth grabbed Malcolm’s coat and began dragging him to me.

  “He’s surprisingly heavy for such a short and old man,” she muttered.

  I watched her struggling with Malcolm and was unable to help her. On the contrary, I still needed her aid. I wonde
red why she cared about saving him at all. Malcolm was the one who hadn’t wanted her around. He had seen her as being weak and useless.

  Elizabeth dragged him closer and let him go, leaning him against the wall beside me and gasping for air. We looked at each other and grinned awkwardly.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” she murmured.

  “Maybe the window isn’t the best option?” I said.

  “Maybe. But it’s all we have.” Then she added, “Don’t even think that. I’m not going to carry both you and Malcolm to the door we came through.”

  She struggled to her feet and peered out the window. Then she took a deep breath and lifted Malcolm onto the windowsill. With a kick she managed to get him out.

  “I know you don’t like him, but he won’t remember your kick as he wakes up,” I smirked looking weakly at her.

  “It’s a pity,” was her quizzical remark. “But I’ll learn to live with it. Come on,” she reached down to help me.

  I threw my arm around her shoulder and, gathering the last of my strength pulled myself up. Feeling pain in my legs I leaned on the windowsill. Outside the dense mist floated, covering everything. I looked for Malcolm but to no avail.

  “I’m going to kick you out, too,” she said in my ear. “Ready?”

  I laughed. “You promise to follow me?”

  “I’ll be right after you,” a thin smile curled her lips.

  “Then go on.”

  She pushed me and I fell down, the fear of dropping endlessly causing a rapid pumping of my heart. Despite my fears, I landed fast and found myself on the musty smelling ground. The effects of the black oily liquid wore off instantly and I keeled over backward.

  Elizabeth landed next to me. Both of us lay there for a long while, catching our breaths and gazing at each other.

  “Thank you,” I murmured tracing my finger over her cheek.

  She grinned at me affectionately and, closing in, we kissed. The taste of her lips mixed with the ground dust coating my tongue as our lips met.

  Malcolm’s howl, unfortunately, interrupted us.

  The old man had come back from his dreamlike state and now, regaining his senses, tried to sit up.

  “What the fuck happened here?” he asked as his eyes worked their way to us.

  Elizabeth giggled, pulling herself off me. Feeling better now, I stood up with ease. During the next few minutes I told Malcolm how Elizabeth had saved us from the monstrous mouth of the nothingness. The old man didn’t thank her by words, his look at her was enough.

  “Where are we?” she asked then. She scanned the new surroundings. The mist covered everything making it difficult to see anything.

  “At least we’re out of that hellish house,” I noted. I took a quick look at my palms. My power was seemingly gone. I felt weak, like an average human.

  “Jonathan,” Elizabeth said with fearful voice. I looked at her worriedly. “The mist,” she said, “It’s retreating.”

  The dense cloud that had come over the town was clearing away in a great speed. Within seconds my view cleared and I could see a mile away.

  “Night is falling,” she whispered.

  “It’s odd,” I heard Malcolm murmur.

  “What’s odd?” I asked.

  “As long as I’ve been here, and it’s a very long period, I’ve never seen nightfall.”

  “You think the town has put much power against us?” I asked and my mouth remained opened as I glanced at the house behind me. The one we had entered before and escaped from the window appeared to be down, four columns and a half-standing wall that were left the only reminder of it.

  “What’s going on?” I found my voice weak. “Malcolm?”

  “I don’t know,” the old man replied.

  I looked at where the road was supposed to be, but saw another demolished old house, then another one. We were in the middle of the grave of thousands houses.

  “Are we still in the town?” Elizabeth asked looking around as astonished as I was.

  “I don’t know,” Malcolm repeated.

  “You’ve been here much longer than any of us,” I said. “You should know–”

  “I can’t know everything about the town, Jonathan,” he said angrily.

  “Yeah,” I mumbled. “We’ve too far. Don’t you feel different?” I asked Malcolm.

  “I do,” he replied as mildly as before. He picked up a stone and tossed it up into the air. “Wherever we are, our power doesn’t work here, at least, in the same way as in the town,” he said as soon as the stone hit the ground.

  “Wait a minute,” that was Elizabeth. “If we aren’t in the town then we may be–”

  “In hell?” I guessed.

  “I doubt our bodies died back on Earth simultaneously,” Malcolm said. “We rather somewhere between the town and–”

  “Hell,” I interrupted again.

  “Get over with the hell,” Malcolm snapped. “Don’t worry, you’ll have your time in hell. Don’t rush it.”

  “Hey,” I said back grumpily. “If we are not in the town and at the same time in hell, then what is this place?”

  “I don’t know where the darkness in the house has taken us to,” Malcolm looked about with his single eye. “Hell only knows what Satan has created from darkness. Not every soul goes directly either to heaven or to hell Jonathan. Some of them get lost forever.”

  “Okay,” I didn’t find anything else to say.

  “So, we’re lost then,” Elizabeth said.

  “If there is a way in here, then there have to be the way out, haven’t it?” I mused. “We may go back to the house and check.”

  “You’ve got two eyes and I’ve got only one,” Malcolm smirked. “Don’t they see that there isn’t any house there?”

  “Let’s hear you then,” I balled my hand to keep my anger locked. “What do you suppose?”

  He kept silence as he hadn’t anything to say to me. I waved a dismissive hand and marched towards the remains of the house we had come from. Elizabeth followed me reluctantly, but Malcolm just stood there examining the surroundings.

  Night was dark, but my eyes adjusted to see through. Like the town there was an indecipherable source of light that helped me to avoid the absolute darkness.

  “This is my fault,” Elizabeth whispered as we widened the distance between us and Malcolm.

  “You couldn’t know,” I sighed mournfully.

  “Yeah.”

  “Looks to me we must look for the way out somewhere else,” I said as I was in the middle of the demolished house scanning the debris.

  “I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said. “I should’ve entered that house. Why did you come after me? You had a good chance to escape.”

  “Yeah,” I said. I could’ve listened to Malcolm and left her in that house. I would’ve been much closer to the light by now, but I had gone after her.

  Elizabeth tilted her head dropping her eyes to the ground. I sighed and reached for her hand.

  “We’re here Elizabeth,” I said. “We’d better to start thinking about the way out of here instead the chances I had to escape the afterlife in the town. So,” I looked about narrowing my eyes. In four sides were demolished houses and gardens that stretched as long as my eyes caught the sigh of and were lost in the darkness of the night. No trees, no grass, nothing to remind me about life at all, stones and black sand being disturbed by breeze and then calmly resting down on the ground again. When my eyes returned and rested on Elizabeth, she was looking at my touch. I wanted to tell her that I knew why she had found such afterlife in that hellish town, the she had committed a suicide, but I couldn’t do that.

  I remembered to breath and inhaled a lungful air. I looked at the old man standing some steps afar and staring ahead. Elizabeth’s eyes followed my gaze.

  “You should be gentle to him,” she whispered. “He’s the only one amongst us who is able to understand where we are.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And where we should look for the
way out,” Elizabeth went on.

  “But you don’t like him,” I reminded.

  “Neither does he. He hates me because I slow you down, and because of me the town puts its all power against us. He was a soldier and he counted that with me your chances go down and reach zero. So I understand him.”

  “Don’t give him too much credit,” I put my hand on her cheek, and she looked me in the eye. Even night couldn’t cover her beauty. The way she was looking at me, no, it wasn’t mournful and it wasn’t happy either, it had a spatial magic that led me to believe I’d work my way out of there. “He’s a gamer,” I found the words. “He might stab your back.”

  “Maybe. But we need him.”

  Yes, we needed the old man. If there was someone who could find out where we were that was Malcolm. But even he was at a loss.

  Abruptly he turned to us, and I cocked my head hoping the old man had found out the way. He waved to me and hurried to us.

  “What is it?” I asked as he reached us.

  “Hide!” He ordered. “Quick!”

  Without questioning him, Elizabeth and I followed Malcolm and ran to the half-broken wall and hid ourselves behind it. As we were seated on the ground our backs against the wall, I calmed down my breath and asked Malcolm:

  “What is it? What did you see?”

  “We aren’t alone,” he replied his voice hardly audible. Not something I didn’t know. “In the places like this or the town you must always be on guard and never let you relax.”

  “Just tell me what it is,” I sniffed. There was a coin size hole on the wall. Without waiting for the old man to answer, I looked through it with my one eye seeking whatever Malcolm had seen in the night.

  “Can you see anything?” Malcolm asked.

  At first I didn’t, but then I saw a ghostly thing, a man’s height, gliding over the grounds of the next destroyed house.

  “Jonathan?” Elizabeth hissed in my ear.

  “I know what it is,” I said in a whisper. “The faces from the storm, the demons, soul-eaters. But this one isn’t transparent. Malcolm?” I unlatched my eye from the hole and looked at him, “What does this mean?”

  The thing was wandering some steps afar from us with its blackness mingled with the night. Its body wasn’t static, it was like his insides were burning and his skin was smoking with dense black smoke. It didn’t have legs to help him walk; it seemed to me as light as the gravitation let the demon to crawl over the ground with ease. Two wings were attached to its back that weren’t moving, just smoking.

  “From what Mangaliny told me,” he began.

  “Mangaliny,” I interrupted.

  “The barwoman,” he added and went on quickly, “The town isn’t the only place where the demons we saw before live. They have other words too, like us–humans–have countries and cities. Of course they don’t travel by car or by plane.”

  “They teleport like we did,” Elizabeth said. I peered at her uncomprehendingly. “We were teleported in the other town, accidently I guess.”

  “The darkness lurking behind that wall tried to swallow us,” Malcolm said. “I told you that much stronger evil dwells in the last houses and jumping out of the window we couldn’t know for sure where it would take us. I guess the darkness reached us at the very last moment and changed the,” he hesitated for the next word, “Door,” he whispered. “So we opened the door leading us into the night.”

  The next moment silence fell, everybody deep in thoughts. Then I reached for the hole and peeked at where I last saw the demon. It was moving away unfazed.

  “I thought there were the town and hell,” I found myself whispering my eyes pressed to the hole. Then I pulled myself back and added, “Okay, we only have to find the right door which will lead us back to the town.” Saying that I smirked.

  “What is it?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Never thought I’d wish myself back to the town,” I said.

  “Yeah, rather in hell than be lost in godforsaken places,” Malcolm remarked.

  “Malcolm,” a thought washed over me. “What if the demons find us? They’ll suck our soul, the energy, and what then? I mean our souls can’t be fully destroyed, can them? Maybe afterwards they send us to hell?”

  “Mangaliny once told me about lost souls,” Malcolm answered trying to seem calm, but, for the first time since I had met him, I noted anxiety in his voice. “They suck everything from you. You wouldn’t have strength to keep your soul united. You’ll be living your souls debris scattered all over the Satan’s worlds and become the part of,” he paused looking up, “Night, I guess, or ground. Practically you wouldn’t exist or you’d be suffering forever. I can’t imagine what happens to those souls.”

  His words made the chill run over my spine. With horrified eyes Elizabeth stared at me, and I guessed I was looking at her like that too.

  “I told you there are much horrible things Jonathan. And you cared about the dogs and flying demons,” he chortled.

  “We just need to find the door leading to the town,” I murmured after a little while.

  “Can you see a door around?” he teased.

  “If we sit here and wait, we sure wouldn’t.” I stirred and was about to stand up when Malcolm put his hand on my shoulder and held me. “What?” I asked in indignation.

  “We don’t know where to go,” he said. “More we deepen, less chances we got. This place doesn’t have roads or anything else to help us find our ways back here. We can’t orientate, and eventually we’ll get ourselves lost.”

  “We’re already lost,” I grumbled.

  “Look, Jonathan, now I want you to forget about the light and sit tight. You rush the things and your soul will be sucked up, it debris scattered all over around. Right now your main goal is to reach the town, not the light. Prey that the light won’t go down by then which I doubt.”

  “You want me to give up on my only salvation?” I widened my eyes in surprise.

  He grabbed my collar curtly. Elizabeth flung onto me and tried to help, but Malcolm shoved her away. “You lost your chance when you picked her up,” he said with husky voice. “You want to be on your own, go on then,” he loosened my shirt his eye piercingly looking into mines. “We don’t know how many demons dwell here, we don’t know where to go which leads me to believe we’ll rather serve our souls to demons on a tray than find the way out.”

  Malcolm trailed off and leaned against the wall. I breathed out deeply. The old man was right, this place wasn’t like the town, we didn’t know what our power was capable of here–in the night. There was nothing to guide us to anywhere.

  I relaxed my hands and put my head against the wall my eyes looking at the sky–the absolute darkness hang above us. Somehow we were able to see through night, not as good as in the town, but at least it was something.

  Elizabeth pulled her legs up to wrap her arms around her knees and rested her chin on them. Silence fell, every so often being broken by the breeze.