Chapter 14. Ashes to Ashes, Dawn to Dusk
"Andrea!" Mum's voice woke me up early this morning. Monday morning, parent/teacher conference break day. I wanted to sleep in. I had no boyfriend to meet, he was probably on his way to work, I had no school to attend, and no friends to meet up with, Hanako being at her Aunt's. I wanted to sleep. I peeked at my clock which only said 8:37. Ugh...
I rolled over on the bed and covered myself with the sheets. "It's parent teacher conference! Ugh!" I groaned. "Two more hours please!" I shouted to my mom.
"Andrea!" This time mum's voice was outside my bedroom door. I looked over to Tanya's bed and it was messy and empty. I wonder where she was off to this early. She usually slept in, too. When my bedroom door opened, mum blasting in, I shot up on my bed. She ran over to my bed and started slapping the bed covers in a mommy frenzy. "Get up!"
"What?" I said sleepily, wiping my eyes with the back of my hands.
"It's Mr. Daugherty's house. It's been burned down."
'Things are starting to heat up.' The words Asmodeus had said to me last night rang in my ears. Oh my god... No...
I breathed out slow, panicked breaths. A sickening thud pressed into me, like gravity wanting me to sink to the floor. Fear gripped me. Is Seamus okay?! Was he hurt in the fire? "Mum... is Seamus alright? Is he okay?"
"Oh, he's fine, dear. But he has 2nd degree burns and-"
"He got burnt?!" I freaked out, the panick shooting me up from my bed. I flurried around the room, struggling to pull on some leggings and a skirt. "I have to go see him."
"He insisted he not go to the hospital. He's right downstairs and won't leave until you see him. So get dressed and see him."
That stopped me dead in my tracks, a sock halfway on my feet suspended in the air as I stood still. He's right downstairs. Seamus, or Asmodeus...? I gulped. "I'll be dressed in a few. Are you still going to Sears?"
"Yes... I have to leave in just a minute. Dress faster so he won't have to be by himself while I go. He has no place to go, and you were the first person he thought of to contact. Isn't that nice? Well, considering his own relatives live 50 miles away, it makes sense. I tried to convince him to go to the doctor, but he is more stubborn than you are, Andrea. I already dressed his wounds and gave him some breakfast. Please, keep him company while I'm at Sears. If you can convince him to see the doctor better than I can, please do so."
"Alright, alright, I got it, mum." I rushed over to mum and gave her a big hug.
"Okay, just making sure. Oh, also. Do the laundry later. It's dark clothes today. No putting the whites in with the darks. Your dad's socks turned stained wine last week!"
I laughed and my cheeks flushed, remembering how distracted I was doing laundry the other night. "Oops. Go go get outta here!" I ushered mum out of my room.
"Bye, honey!"
"Bye, mum!" I shut my door and got dressed. Good thing I took 'had' a shower last night, and took another one when he brought me home. I was anxious to see Seamus so soon after last night. Even more so that he was injured and his house was burnt down! It was too much to handle. House burnt down?! So scary. I couldn't imagine what it must be like.
I went to the bathroom and glanced in the mirror, looking over myself real quick, applying strawberry lip balm. My hair was ratty and frizzy wavy, having no time to brush and shine properly after last night... I wore a pink lace poncho over a black corset stretch top, matching pink lace tutu over black leggings, and pink and black polka dot flats with black star earrings. I hurried out of the bathroom, and practically skid down the hallway in a hurry to get to Seamus. If I had a skateboard I woulda flown down the stair rail like a pro. Meaning, I would have won an award for tumbler queen.
I ran into the foyer hallway just as mum was grabbing her keys and jacket at the front door. I ran and gave her a hug and she kissed me cheek.
"Be safe, mum." I said.
"You, too, Andie. If there's any trouble, call me. I'll be back at 4 o'clock for the conference."
"Okay, mum. Bu-bye." I escorted mum out of the front door and she disappeared down the walkway to her car.
I shut the front door and headed straight to the living room, where many memories of Seamus and I studying chemistry to my mind. Well, memories of me trying to study and Seamus trying to get me to stop being detrimental to his cause! I entered the room holding my breath, hoping that Seamus' burns were not worse than I imagined. He was sitting on the lazy-boy, one of his usual seats when we studied. I smelled smoke and singed hair, equal in sight was the tips of his dark wavy locks, frayed and burnt to a crisp. I walked around to the center of the room and approached him at the side, placing my hands on his hands, still on the lazy-boy armrest.
"Seamus, hey." I greeted softly.
He turned his head to the left, to face me and look at me and that's when I saw the bandage on the left side of his face. I did no justice stifling the gasp of fright at seeing a burn wound on the most vulnerable and beautiful part of his body!
"Hey, Andrea." He gave me a smile and I hugged him.
"Did my mum use the Plantain and Comfrey root salve?" I asked.
"Aye, she did. Don't worry, she took great care of me."
I leaned back, gripping his neck gently in my hands and he looked at me with calm eyes, almost too calm. "Why didn't you go to the hospital? You have blisters, don't you?"
"I've handled burns worse than this without a hospital. At home we got a mechanic shop full of welding, electrical cables, the works. Besides, the skin-graphing... ugh..." He shuddered.
I nodded in understanding. "What happened?" I asked. "Did you report to the police?"
"The police?" Those dark eyebrows knit together in confusion.
"I figured you would have to tell the police what you saw-"
"Didn't see a thing." Thin lips bent into a frown.
A cold, dark chill balanced itself in my gut, beckoning to be released and freeze my entire being. "Oh my god... did you... Seamus... did you black out before the fire?"
"Andrea..." Seamus' voice stuttered as his jaw tensed, and I knew the answer. I saw a fear in his eyes and I felt at this very moment the need to tell him what I've been seeing, who I've been talking to. I need to tell him about Asmodeus!
"Seamus... remember when you were telling me of the supernatural stories of other cultures, of Egypt, the lotus, all that..."
He nodded. "Aye, what 'bout it?"
"Well... Here's something that might be hard to believe..." I took a deep breath, that dark chill churning inside of me, vibrating, waiting to burst into a million stars of icicles.
"Andrea!" He interrupted me, his eyes widened in a sort of epiphany. "The God of the floods, I remember his name."
"God of the floods?" I muttered, trying to recall myself. "Oh, the God to communicate with using the lotus-"
"Aye, his name is Asmodeus."
I felt like dark chill burst inside of me and I coughed a large, stale breath from my stomach, as if a metaphysical iceberg leapt up my throat.
'Asmodeus!'
"Asmodeus... Asmodeus..." Slick as a serpent, sharp as a fang, smooth as silk, and sweet as chocolate did his voice seep into every pore in my body and awaken senses to heights I've never imagined. "Yes, my name."
And somehow... in the middle of all the ice breaking, I knew... that Seamus was gone. Fading, behind the repossession of this ghost. Slipping away, like a tiny crumb swirling down a drain and I can't see him, but I know he's there...
"Asmodeus. I am not Sarai. Please, let Seamus go." I took a step back from him to distance myself.
I heard a singe, then a crackling, and finally a burst. The white bandage on Seamus' face turned yellow, then orangish grey, and finally black. It fell into a decay of ashes that fell to the rug, revealing quarter-sized red hot blisters all over his face.
Meow!
"Snow!" I breathed out, hoping that will have cast Asmodeus away. Asmodeus caused that fire. I could not let him back on a whim.
My white kitty cat bounced around and curled her legs around Seamus' pants. I looked over Seamus and noticed he had stopped moving, stopped breathing. His eyes were wide open, lips parted slightly, arms limp and slack. I touched his lips and they were warm, not icy cool like that of vacuumed energy.
"Seamus..." I said. He did not answer. "Asmodeus."
Breath swelled in Seamus' chest, inhaling sharply with fluttering eyelids. He licked his lips, now red and swollen like being touched by flames and I exhaled in disappointment.
"Sarai, come home with me."
Snow's curse guard was no longer working! Oh god... "You burnt Seamus!" I hissed, standing up in a fright and stepping backwards. The blisters were permanently etched in my mind. "I helped you-"
"I burned myself."
An echo. His voice was echoing with another... Like hearing double, the same voice but different tones. Oh my god... Both of them are speaking at once.
"Ash, resist! Come back to me." I cried out.
His eyes... they turned black and I became petrified to the spot as he spoke. "You come back to me, Sarai."
"I am not your Sarai." I replied in gritted teeth.
"You dreamed of my demise. You are my Sarai." He took a step towards me and I took a step backwards. "And I am yours. You claimed me last night."
"I was with Seamus! Your possession would have frozen me to death!"
"You are mine, Ash." He repeated the words I had said last night.
"Dammit, Seamus. That's it. Fight back. Don't let Asmodeus take over your body!" He took another step towards me and I bumped into the couch, almost falling. I limberly stepped upon the couch and jumped behind it, turning his eyes into a subtle glare, with a sharp cock of his neck sideways.
"I am Ash. We are Ash. You are Sarai. You are Andrea. Don't you see?" He took the last step to the couch. I braced for him about to climb over it and approach me, but he didn't. He reached out his hand, placed it on the cushions, and I watched as the entire sofa sizzled and burned before my very eyes. The entire piece of furniture was engulfed in a rapid fire and broke down to ashes in mere seconds, creating a huge pile on the carpet.
"You are Ash..." I let out a shuddering breath. "But I am not Sarai. How many times must I repeat that?"
"Do you still not understand? We are Ash. Asmodeus, Seamus, one and the same."
"No." I shook my head vigourously. "I know Seamus. He wouldn't burn his own house down or lie to me, or hide his intentions-"
"But I haven't hidden my intentions," was his smooth reply. I was losing a foothold on whether Seamur or Asmodeus was talking. "I want you. I have said many times, that is all I want. You. Can't you see that?"
I shook my head, a tear peeking at the corner of my eye as he took another step towards me. "You want Sarai. Your past lover-"
"And present, and future. Sarai, why do you resist? You were so willing to trade your life force to sustain me and now you recant."
God! My heartbeat was to the roof, my teeth gritted so tightly I thought they'd break. There was no use in resisting and trying to convince this ghost to leave Seamus. I would have to fight another way. I would have to fight by not fighting.
"Why am I your Sarai?" I asked in the most calmest voice I could muster.
"Because you chose me."
I chose him?! I mean... Sarai chose Asmodeus?! "Why? Why did I choose you?"
"Once, you were not afraid of my eyes..." I felt longing and a metaphysical tear crinkled down my side from his grief-ridden tone. "Everyone else was afraid of me... even my mother's midwife was afraid of me. These black eyes... the eyes of a God. A demon god of ashes...
"An Ash Mo Deus."
The truth behind his name... Literally 'I am God of Ashes'. Wow...
I stared into those black eyes, wondering what was frightful about them, apart from the fact they were not blue, green, or brown. "What happened... after I chose you?"
He took another step forward and this time I could not take a step back. I had reached the windowsill and his tall body was looming over mine. "We loved each other... When my mother died, I ran to your side. Your stepfather-"
KNOCK KNOCK BANG BANG KNOCK BANG.
I gasped in shock and Seamus' head just slowly creaked its gaze towards the front door, that sinister glare growing deeper. "Strange, the customs of mortals two millennia old." I glanced in the same direction with my hand on my chest just as he turned back to look at me. "You better not keep your guest waiting, Andrea."
He said Andrea... that's Seamus! Oh please don't fade away!
I nodded in response and inched my way out of Seamus' grasp, practically running to the front door as the banging knocks grew louder and more frequent. I felt Seamus' looming presence glide behind me, remaining extremely close and a burning hole on my back. I took a deep breath and opened the door, startled not only by a familiar face, but by an unfriendly one. A blond girl's red, puffy eyed face raging with fire and brimstone.
"Andrea! You stupid bitch!" Lacey stormed into the doorway and lunged at me with a swirling fist. I barely caught it in my hand, gasping in shock at my fast reflexes. "We were happy together! You just had to go and screw things up. Fugly bitch!"
Oh no... This is about her and Richard. He probably broke up with her. "Lacey! It was you who went behind my back with him." I pointed out.
I was even more shocked as her hoarse voice came out in wracking sobs, cheeks stained with messed up foundation from a crash load of tears. "I tried..." She swiped at me with her other hand, about to slap me in the face when I stopped it too. What was up with my reflexes? They were on overload. "I tried to make it obvious that I wanted him. Over and over and over. At the dance! At the fucking parties! At school!" She was practically screaming now so I pulled her into the house so the neighbors wouldn't butt in.
"Lacey-" I started but she interrupted.
"And now?!?! You couldn't leave it alone! And now?!?! Now he's dead! You insensitive bitch! You killed him!"
Now he's dead! You killed him!
Those words hiccuped a tearful gasp from my throat. "No..." I breathed out. Disbelief. Then no disbelief. The wracking, uncontrollable cries from Lacey as she dropped to the floor and I with her were proof enough.
"Lace..." I muttered in a shaking voice, tears rolling down my cheeks from the side. "How?"
"He drove to you... this morning... to apologize and- and-" Her hiccuping cries shook me apart as I held her to me, cradling her when she had just tried to punch me less than a minute ago. "And his car wrecked..."
I felt warm palms on my shoulders, applying mild pressure. I welcomed the massage. Ghost or not, I welcomed that comfort as I hiccuped dry sobs from my throat. "I'm sorry, Lace... I'm sorry." I cradled her in my arms and stroked her hair. She was much more broken up by this than I was... Oh, how she wept and moaned in pain, agonizing grief, terrorizing suffering. I didn't realize that even a person I had judged with hate still had a heart, until now...
I judged Asmodeus with hate... and he lost his Sarai...
"I have to go..." Lacey pushed herself from me and wiped her eyes. "I have to..."
"Lace. Lemme drive you home. You're in no condition-"
"Yeah, right. I'm gonna get in a car wreck, too! Freaking-"
"Lace." I placed a hand on her shoulder and she inhaled a shuddering breath.
"Fine," she muttered, breaking into more sobs. "You're still... not forgiven."
I looked down as she turned from my front door and headed towards her car. Tears were shaking me apart, sadness was gripping me. But I couldn't help but feel this numbness take over, ride me like a surfer in a curling wave. Like the wave was truth and I was in the center... blissfully surfing.
"Come with me," I commanded, my hand clasped his. Ghost or not, I wasn't leaving Seamus alone. Ever. Especially not in my house.
He didn't resist. He didn't speak. I didn't have time to check whether Seamus was himself or not. I was on a mission. I was going to keep Lacey company as long as possible on the car ride to her house. I felt obligated to explain to her exactly what had happened between me and Richard.
When we got to the car I slid into the driver's seat and Lacey sat in the front. Seamus sat in the back and Lacey didn't care, not noticing her surroundings perhaps. I started the car and drove out, heading towards her house. I called my mum and told her that Rich had died and was taking Lacey home. Mum took that really hard, knowing that it hadn't been days since I stopped 'being with him'. She took it harder than me I think... I assured her I was fine, that Lacey was completely devastated and heartbroken, and I had to be the strong one. Or otherwise Lacey might do something insane...
After hanging up the phone I wasn't too far off from Lacey's house, about to cross a bridge. She was still bursting into a storm of tears, leaning against the window, her cheek pressed against the cold glass. Almost forgetting the presence of my current beau, and ghost, I glanced in the rear view mirror to see him watching me, observing me. His eyes were still black... deep and stargazing mysterious. As if I could sit there for hours and still not scratch the surface of their depth. And he stared back at me...
Why are your eyes black? What does it mean? Ash...
Time seemed to slow down as I dwelt on his eyes. If I stared long enough maybe they would tell me the story I'd been so curious about for over a week... I only knew a part of the story... Asmodeus was opening up to me, telling me about Sarai when Lacey had showed up... Maybe if I stared long enough... yes... his eyes would tell me.
It was from staring at his eyes that I noticed below them, his blistered face was no longer so. The blisters were gone, barely a pink tint on his cheek from a scald. How?! It's impossible to heal that fast! Unless... ye were a God, I would say-
SCCCCRRRRRR NNG.
The sound of the car swerving out of the way, my hand jerked the steering wheel brought me back to my senses. Only long enough to hear a shrill scream from Lacey's hoarse throat as a deadening THUD shocked me into a dark unconsciousness.