Deamons

Chapter 14 Splat part 2

     The days pass in peace. Starke's great aunt explains his parents promised they would stay away unless Starke wants to see them. He does not. He misses his friends though. His great aunt is looking into him going to the all boy catholic high school. He may not be able to start there until next year. She never mentions him going back home to finish this school year, so neither does he.

All boy catholic school. Scary. Not knowing a soul there and all. By Friday the idea of the new school is starting to take hold. No more dead bodies and pressure of people finding out his secret. He could do it, even if he had to redo the year or something. It is nice there too. Homecooked meals every night, not even having to hide going to the refrigerator. His great aunt actually took him to the store and made him pick out food he liked. Then came Friday.

"I'm not supposed to tell you Starke, but they are coming." "Whose coming?" Starke asks. "Your mother and father," his great aunt explains. Starke panics. He is frantic. This cannot be happening he thinks.

The deamons are dancing about like it's a hoedown inside. "You called it Rejection, you da man," Envy squeals. "Yes, I did. Never doubt my knowledge base again," Rejection proclaims. "How did you know? Was it those big ears of yours?" Death questions. "Not this time. Come you're a deamon and can't figure basic human motivation," Rejection says. He pauses not waiting for an answer, but just to dramatically make the point how dumb he finds them all to be. "Greed. Your deamons and you don't understand greed. Come on. They pay Starke half the money they pay anyone else to help haul out dead bodies. Then he is right there in the house with them. No running around picking up the help. Also, they make him wait in the funeral homes. Grown men want to be paid if they sit around waiting to go home. So, Allan must drive those men home then drive back to the funeral home to embalm the bodies. Ha, ha it's greed boys, and sloth. Every one of you should have seen that coming." "Whatever," Envy says. "It's a party up in this bitch and I want to get my evil on." They gather around the orbs of the eyes ready to feast and party.

Starke is frantic. Fear makes his heart beat much faster then is comfortable. Sweat runs down his face where none existed a second before. He is pacing in the short hall between the kitchen and living room staring at the phone parked there like it is a coiled snake. "What are you doing, Starke?" his great aunt asks. Starke Runs upstairs. He grabs his clothes dirty and clean and stuffs them back in the old olive drab laundry bag. "Starke! Starke what are you doing?" his aunt is calling up the steps to him. There is concern in her voice. Perhaps she is sincere. Maybe she wants to help, but no matter what they are coming and it is time to go.

He stumbles back down the twisty, skinny stairwell from the upstairs bedrooms. His great aunt stands between him and the door to the outside. "Starke what are you doing," she asks. "I gotta go," he answers. "Where are you going to go Starke. You came here because there was no where else for you to go?" His great aunt moves out of his way and into the dining room. "Just sit down and let's talk about it," she says pulling a chair out for him.

His pulse is raising the veins in his arms are standing out now. The sweat is heavier too, he wipes it out of his eyes. He looks down at the outside door. The panic is getting worse. His parents could come marching in at any second. His head on swivel between his loving great aunt and the hell that may come through the door he asks, "How long ago did they call?" "About forty-five minutes," she answers.

"No time then," he answers and breaks towards the door. His adrenaline so high the bag he carries feels like nothing. He is up the road and on a side street he knows his parents never took on the way to her house. What to do, what to do, he asks himself. The peace he had let come into him during the short stay at his great aunt's is gone. The idea of the new school and the thought of a tranquil life are dreams passing in the night now. He picks his bag back up. Nothing to but run before they start looking for him in the neighborhood. He runs down a main drag in the direction of Baltimore city.