Chapter 2
I grew up collecting dead things. It’s one of the reasons that seeing the dead doesn’t make me vomit or feel otherwise ill like other girls might.
Rats, moths, and other oddities decorate my room at home. Wet and dry specimens that otherwise may make a normal girl scream but to me, I find them fascinating. Amelia thinks it’s disgusting, but I think death is beautiful.
Maybe it’s because I grew up with so much death in my life. My grandparents died when I was young, and seeing their corpses up close did something to me. Made me see the world in a new, macabre way.
Yet when I looked upon mystery man’s corpse, lifeless and smattered in fresh blood, I felt terror like nothing before. Not because he’s dead, per se, but because I could be next.
It’s dark. That’s all I can really make out when I open my eyes from a fitful sleep that I never asked for.
The room is draped in pitch-black shadows, with the only light wafting in from a tiny filthy window. It almost looks like I’m a basement of sorts.
I try to move my arms, but my hands are bound. What the hell…
Hearing a door open at the top of the stairs in the room, my breath catches, and I stop struggling to break free from the rope.
Just like before, the footsteps carry an air of authority, of knowing, that makes me shudder. Yet it is the not knowing what awaits me that truly sets my pulse on edge.
Why am I here? What the hell happened? I could remember blood, so much blood. But it wasn’t mine.
The guy from Jinxed… he was dead.
But the questions still spin around my brain, not stopping until I was heaving for air and panic started to overtake me.
Amelia. My sister. I had to get that money to her to help cover her latest chemo.
I have to get out of here, a thought that holds me like a vice as those sinister footsteps draw closer and the basement light switches on.
The man from before, this time wearing only a simple black polo and slacks.
He comes to kneel before where I sit on the ground, but I shrink back into the wall behind me. Hearing a clink, I look down to realize a manacle holds my right foot in place in addition to the ropes on my hands. Alarm bells scream at me that this man is dangerous, that I’m not safe.
And then he speaks, his voice smooth and comforting like silk. “Amy. I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances.” It’s such a contrast to the terrible situation. He sounds… almost empathetic. Like he feels sorry for having to do this.
“H-how do you know my name?” I stammer. I don’t recognize him from anywhere besides that alleyway.
“I’ve been watching you.”
His words do nothing to alleviate my terror. Some guy has been watching me? Not to mention I’m now his captive.
Yet this close, with him right before me, I can see so many details I didn’t before. The cross tattoo that spans from his chest to his neck. Words of Scripture coiling and entwining with imagery of God and the Devil on his left and right arm. A snake around his right wrist. A rosary around the left.
“What do you mean?” I whisper, furrowing my brows. Not to mention that whatever truth this guy is offering, I don’t think I want any part of it.
“I know you crave darkness. That you allow yourself to live in a world of sin, of death.” The man raises to stand at his full height. “I’ve come to provide you an offer, Amy. An offer of eternal life and enlightenment.”
This guy was officially fucking crazy. Rage simmered beneath my skin, warming me from the inside out.
“If you’re talking about the usual Jesus crap, I grew up Catholic, so it’s nothing new. Is this how we’re doing new converts now?” I demand.
He smiles—actually fucking smiles.
“No, Amy, I offer something better. The truth,” he drawls. “Either you accept that truth,” he said, revealing the blade he used to kill mystery man from Jinxed, “or you perish.”
My blood runs cold. This can’t be real.
This guy is clearly off his rocker.
Is this seriously how I die? Getting off a work shift, cornered during a make-out with some nobody in an alley, kidnapped, and then preached to?
Jesus Christ. Literally.
“And what, pray tell, is this truth you have to share? It better be fucking good,” I snap, losing my patience. I may have been kidnapped, but I’m not going out without fighting first.
The man smiles again, that stupid fucking smile, and I snarl.
“Very… primal,” he muses. “You’re overtaken by your worldly emotions and urges, and I understand. I was once that way, too. But I’ve been reborn, and I’m offering you the same option today.
“The ‘truth’ is that we all must abide by three rules. Three absolutes in this life. We all are sinners, sin must be purged, and the truth must be shared with the world.”
“And what is sin to you?” I challenge.
The man smirks. “Being a stripper might evoke lustful urges, correct? Sexual immorality?”
I flush, looking away.
He tilts his head. “I know you’re comfortable with death just as I am. You know there’s another world on the other side.”
It’s true. To be absent from the body is to go to the afterlife; I grew up being taught it was to be judged by God, and I still think that.
“Sin must be purged, Amy. If you will not join me, I’ll have no choice but to cleanse you.”
Cleanse. “Like with holy water?” I scoff.
His expression darkens, and he lifts his blade. “With this. Until you join me in submission. You’re not the first, Amy. I can only hope you will be the last. Perhaps you should hope so, as well.”
Above all, I had to get to Amelia. I had to reach my sister and give her the money needed for her chemo. Not to mention I was the only one paying the bills in our house.
No. I wouldn’t die here. I refused.
And so… I lie.
“I accept,” I whisper.