Chapter 4 Fumes by. Oscen
Will
“She asked me to meet with her on Saturday and said she had a proposition for me. Other than that, Jackie gave me zero details about what this proposition is. Also why have you never introduced us before? She’s cute.”
“Nope. You are not allowed to pursue Ophelia,” Sarah instructed me as she wandered through her kitchen., most likely with the phone wedged between her ear and shoulder as she prepared dinner.
Sarah was truly my greatest friend. I had met her our first year of getting our PhDs. I was shocked by how much younger she was than the rest of us at only eighteen, and she stated she was shocked by how much of an idiot I was.
She wasn’t wrong.
“I’m not allowed?”
“Yep, you’re banned from pursuing her. You’re banned from wanting to date her, banned from flirting with her. You are hereby banned.”
“Oh my god, now I am banned? Do you really think so little of me that I am now banned from having feelings for her?” I asked as I sat on the barstool in my kitchen.
After the meeting with Jackie, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She was smart, inquisitive, and curious. She also seemed turned off by my flirting.
Now, I didn’t like to boost my own ego, but most women were responsive to my flirting, very responsive.
Jackie’s refusal to engage in my tactics made me even more interested.
I was willing to admit that I liked the chase and I liked the idea of chasing Jackie even more.
Hell, I stood in the rain to discuss a cult with her.
She obviously interested me.
I could hear Sarah sigh at me. “No, William. I believe I think more highly of you than you do of yourself. My feelings on the matter have nothing to do with you and everything to do with Faizal. It’s hard to explain, maybe even harder to understand, but…
. they’re family in every way that matters.
They rely on each other more than he and I rely on one another,” Sarah explained.
“While I think highly of you, you and Faizal are known for not being the best of friends on your best days.”
“So your husband's unfounded hatred for me means I can’t work with Jackie?”
“No, not at all. I wouldn’t have sent her to you if I thought that. Work with her, assist her, be her friend, but under no circumstances are you allowed to date her, flirt with her, or sleep with her. Understand?”
“Yeah yeah yeah. I understand. No flirting, dating, blah blah blah,” I retorted. “I am going to meet with her on Saturday. It’s been a while since I heard anything about the Cult of Creatio. I’m curious as to why she seems to be interested in it.”
“Is that all you're curious about?”
“No, but you banned me so I am pretending like that’s it.”
I could hear Sarah’s snort at my obnoxious retort.
“I promise she has her reasonings in regards to the cult, but it’s not my place to share said reasonings.
Now I love you and love talking to you, but I am trying to get dinner finished before Ophelia and Faizal get here.
Can we talk later, maybe go out for a drink? ”
“Okay fine, I’ll call you later. Love you, Sarah! Bye,” I stated as I hung up the phone on the wall.
I looked around him at the empty kitchen and home surrounding me. By all accounts I was successful, happy, accomplished, but truthfully I was lonely.
So fucking lonely.
I had earned my PhD in sociology and another in anthropology when I was only twenty-six years old.
I was an acclaimed author and was published on countless occasions for my academic writings.
I was extremely respected in the academic community, and was a favorite professor among the students of the University of Oregon.
I was headhunted often by other universities, museums, even the US government at one point.
Despite all of this, I was alone.
The solitude may have been intentional but it was still at times suffocating.
I poured myself a drink as I began to review the documents I had printed at the university library.
The Cult of Creatio was a subject that was often disregarded as a hoax or a myth. However, I had always felt a pull to the Cult.
I first began studying it when I was in my undergrad.
There was a brief mention of the cult in my anthropology textbook and when I asked for more details from my professor, it was explained that the cult was believed to be either made up by the priest involved or a complete myth.
That was it. No other details, no other discussions.
Maybe what my professor had said was the truth, maybe the cult was of no importance, but I felt there was more to it. I always felt there was more to it.
Jackie seemed to believe the same, and she may have the answers I had always been looking for.
Maybe she had more answers for me than I knew.
“Thank you for your help, Dr. Bly! I’ll make the suggested edits. See you on Monday!”
“See you Monday, drive safe out there. The rain and wind have been picking up all day.” I looked around my office as my student closed the door behind her.
Jackie was supposed to be meeting me here any minute now.
I had spent the last few days researching in my free time so I would come prepared for this meeting.
Between the hours spent in the university library and the time spent sitting within my home office studying the Cult of Creatio, I knew I had all possible information on the cult.
I wanted to be prepared when Jackie arrived so we could discuss what brought on this meeting in the first place.
I could also admit to myself that I wanted to impress Jackie.
It was a strange feeling for me to have.
I was used to commanding any room I entered, used to not needing to work to impress those around me.
It came automatically with the last name Bly.
My father has made sure that any Bly would be respected for generations to come.
It had never mattered much to me but it felt important with Jackie that she felt impressed.
I wanted to show her I was prepared and committed to working with her.
As I began to reorganize the documents on my desk… again, I heard a knock at the door.
Taking a deep breath, I shouted, “Come in!”
As Jackie entered, I was immediately taken aback by her beauty. Her blonde hair fell in waves around her shoulders, her black sweater and jeans hugging her frame as a large worn out jeans jacket hung on her shoulders. She had obviously just come in from the storm as she closed her umbrella.
“Hey Dr. Bly, I appreciate you meeting with me, especially on your day off.”
“Jackie, please call me Will, and truthfully, no worries at all. I hold office hours on Saturdays for students who work throughout the week so I was here anyways.”
Jackie seemed taken aback by my comment. “That’s… that’s awesome of you to do. So umm…where should I sit so we can hop right into this rather odd topic of discussion we have today?” Jackie asked as she looked around my office.
The two side walls were covered with books, some fiction, some academic, all looking well-loved. On the back wall behind my desks were floor to ceiling windows showcasing the ever growing storm brewing just beyond the glass.
“Please take a seat across from me, I already prepared some materials for us to review after you explain why we are discussing the Cult of Creatio in the first place,” I stated, still completely in awe of Jackie. I watched as she shed her jacket and sat across my desk from me.
“Well, I guess I will just jump right into it. I believe the Cult of Creatio is making a resurgence or people are trying to make it seem as though it is making a resurgence,” she began as she pulled some pictures from her jacket pocket.
“There was a young boy who went missing not too long ago. He was missing for five days. It was as if he dropped off the face of the planet. The media is twisting the story to make it seem as though there are some Satanic ties. That’s how Fibonacci Files got involved.
We wanted to publish the truth, not the conspiracies.
I met with Joey, the young boy, and his mother Janice late last week. ”
“What about his disappearance connected you to the Cult of Creatio?”
“You stated you did research into the cult, is that correct?”
“Yes, quite a bit. Why do you ask?” I inquired, ignoring how Jackie disregarded my initial question. She tended to do that a lot.
“Here, look at this,” Jackie said as she pushed a polaroid across the desk towards me. “Does it look familiar?”
I began studying the image Jackie provided and immediately recognized the photo from my research. The pentagram with the three sixes shown on top of the star were the sigil for the Cult of Creatio. “Yes, where did you find this?”
“That was drawn in the back of Joey’s closet. The closet in the room in which he disappeared. The drawing was not there prior to his disappearance, and due to a lock on the door it was impossible for either Joey or Nancy to be able to draw the picture.”
“Nancy?” I asked as I began ruffling through the papers on my desk.
“Joey’s little sister, she was present at the time of his disappearance.”
I was quiet for a moment as I examined a document I pulled from one of the stacks on my desk. It could be a coincidence that this drawing was found where Joey disappeared, but the likeness to the original sigil was uncanny.
No, it was exact, down to the uneven brush strokes and the spacing between the star and the sixes. Not just uncanny, but impossible. Completely impossible.
“I think you’re right, Jackie. This is related to the Cult of Creatio.”
Jackie gasped, not expecting my immediate agreement. I could tell that she came in ready to defend her case, fight me if necessary that what she brought me was worth my time. “H-how… why do you say that?”