14
MADYSEN
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My chest is heaving, just standing here staring at the empty air where she was a second ago.
I haven’t ever seen a human person fall like that.
Usually, it’s just the deer.
Poor souls’ll jump right off, misjudging the drop, and plenty of other animals have ended up on those hellish rocks down yonder.
Me and Shawn, we live on 150 acres of farmland; there isn't any reason for anyone to ever set foot on this part of our property. The trees are so thick and green that it’s hard for anyone to see what’s waiting at the bottom.
My heart is drumming. It’s the adrenaline. That pure, righteous rush you get when you send a demon back to Hell.
Then an idea strikes me, and I feel like a little girl again, giddy and full of purpose.
I turn and run.
Run all the way towards the garage shed, a little closer than the house, my boots thumping hard against the dirt. Now, I could take the ATV back, but there’s too much vigor in my veins. I need to run it off. Furthermore, this silence after death need not be disturbed by the rough ignition.
It takes five minutes of solid running like a bat out of hell just to reach the back porch of the shed garage where I find Shawn’s drone. My fingers are trembling with excitement. I grab the controller and run those five minutes all the way back to the cliff’s edge.
Standing in the little field right before the trees break and the ground disappears, I power it on, and the whirring of those blades sounds like a hymn to me.
Guiding the drone down, I dip it under the heavy branches and navigate through the leaves until the animal carcasses appear… and then, there she is.
Focusing the camera right on Zosha’s broken body, I can hear a wet gurgling coming through the speaker. The drone makes a loud, mechanical buzz, but showing no concern, I zoom in tight on her face.
She is flat on her back.
Blood is everywhere, staining those gray stones.
Her arm is twisted at a sickening angle, clearly shattered. Her blue eyes are unfocused and dark, giving these shallow little ticks, like she isn't really seeing anything at all. Noticing a tiny bloom of blood on the white of her left eye, I study the damage.
Then, the gurgling stops. There is a final, rattling breath.
The death rattle.
Fascinating.
Her eyes stay open, staring at nothing. They don't close again.
Good.
I gasp, staring at the small screen on the controller.
"I did this for You, Lord," I whisper. "And for Brother King. I know how much You love him. I know how much You care about Your people. I did this for You, to the glory of God."
I start to bring the drone back up, but my hands are shaking and a wing gets hooked on a low-hanging branch.
Son of a bee sting.
If I lose it down there, everything is ruined, but I give the joystick a quick tug. It dislodges, buzzing back up into the clear air, and I let out a huge breath of relief.
There is something really heady about getting rid of someone for good.
The peace of knowing they will never be a problem again is intoxicating. And, my my, I can’t help but wonder if that girl did something to Brother King.
I’ve watched him lately; I’ve seen him slowly dipping, falling away from the heights he reached. And now he's missing church?
It all kicked off when he went tryin' to "help" Erica, and man, that girl is a straight-up Jezebel if I ever saw one. Just nothing but trouble.
But then Zosha, acting all sweet and innocent like she wouldn't hurt a fly, but she’s just as much to blame. Between the two of them, Erica was the one who really greased the wheels for him to go fallin' off the wagon like that.
Enough was enough.
I remember my father. My parents were the perfect couple, the light of the community.
And then someone just had to come and taint my entire family.
It’s always the same story: everything can be good, and then a person, a woman like that, has to do something to ruin it for everyone else.
It’s why Shawn is so... broken. He spends his time watching feet and talking to those harlots online.
I never say anything to him because I know he ain’t the real problem. Men are just weak, plain and simple.
See, God gave Adam Eve because she had that pull over him.
She was supposed to be there to help him make the right calls.
Men are built for the heavy liftin' and the hard work, but women? We’re the ones lookin' after their hearts. We hold the power over the spirit. That’s the gift God gave us, and it's why men can’t survive without us.
They protect us from other men, sure, but we gotta protect them from other women.
I got stuck with a weak one. Shawn was already damaged goods by the time I got to him, but Brother King?
He’s different. If I couldn't fix my husband, I am sure as heck gonna save King. He’s like an angel walkin' the earth; I feel it in my soul. I’ve seen the way he holds this town together and brings folks to Jesus. He’s a powerhouse for the Lord.
That’s exactly why Satan wants him so bad.
And now he’s missing. No one knows where he is. And now, so is Sister Zosha. And Erica, that demon; she’s gone too. She did something to him, I just know it.
Part of me is feelin' kinda twisted-happy about it. I wonder how Erica’s gonna feel with her little bestie dead. Not that she’ll ever get the real story. Maybe I’ll just tell her the last thing Zosha told me was how much she regretted ever being her friend.
Yeah.
That sounds like justice to me.