Nightfall

Chapter 4: An important decision

During that conversation Jake and I weren't quite as alone as we had thought. I didn't know it then, but we were being watched. Unannounced to us the same soldier from the church was leaning against the wall by the kitchen and listening to the entire conversation.

He walked in next to us without making a sound and got comfortable, waiting for us to unknowingly tell him all of our secrets. It took an hour or so for us to finish and begin to leave, but once we had finally started making our way out, he placed a call by pressing on a headset he was wearing. Unfortunately for the soldier, the operator was raring to go and answered on the first muffled ring, making quite a bit of noise in a very quiet room.

He slapped his hand over the earpiece as soon as he heard the first words echo from the headset, but by the time he had muffled the sounds I had already noticed. He stood as still as a statue as I stared right at him, doing his best to stop the confused operator's voice from escaping into the room. For him it was an incredibly tense few seconds, but I dismissed my curiosity and walked out with Jake, allowing him to relax.

When we had latched the hidden door and left him in the silent, pitch black room he took his hand off the headset and sighed, "Jesus Jack, don't scream into the microphone like that, you almost caused a situation... Anyway, connect me to Paladin Jacobs please."

The operator apologized profusely then replied, "Give me a sec, sending you over now."

His line fell silent and after a few seconds a deep, commanding voice answered. "Paladin Jacobs here, do you have a status report for me Faraday?"

"Yes sir, I believe I do."

"Well, let's hear it."

"Well the subject, Stone, definitely should be taken in for questioning. I believe he has been possessed with a demon and also I have reason to believe that the demon possessing him is the same demon that the team failed to destroy last week, the original demon of rage."

"So, the demon has control of him?"

"Actually sir, it's incredible, but looks like he is very much in control of his actions."

"Hmmmm... if that's correct then then this kid is as much of a monster as the demon." there was a long silence on the other end of the line. Then the voice continued, "Take him in for questioning tomorrow night at the usual spot. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Be careful Faraday; Paladin Jacobs signing off."

The line went dark and the soldier lowered his hand from the earpiece and sighed. Then after stretching, he walked up the stairs and passed through the hidden door. He oriented himself in the hall then started walking in the direction of my house.

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The ride home passed in the blink of an eye. My mind was on autopilot, leaving me to think about all that I had just heard and as soon as I got home, I made my way onto the beach. I fell into the white sand like a dropped bag of potatoes and popped open the beer I had plundered from Jake's house. There was so much information sinking into me that my legs felt like jelly in the face of it all; I was dizzy from the staggering amount of possibilities that Jakes experience had opened up. So, I stared over the blue water for a long time and sipped my beer slowly while I took it all in. It felt like I had opened the door to a whole new world and found it was worse than the one I was already in.

This thing inside me can take over my body and control me. What if it took over and went on a rampage? What if I can't stop it?

With the amount of strength Jake had described there wouldn't be much anyone could do to stop it from destroying the town; and it would probably get me killed in the process.