Monday 2 p.m. October 3rd
"Hey, aren't you going to card me?" Vergil asked.
"We only gotta card you if you look under thirty, so you're good to go boss." said the new cashier scratching flakes of dry skin off of his face.
"Lucky me," Vergil said with a sigh.
He swiped the brown paper bag containing a plastic bottle of green apple Vodka and retreated towards the door with his head hung low. He'd never managed to shake that feeling of guilt mixed with a dash of shame that resulted from buying hard alcohol in a seedy liquor store. He could still hear her voice in his head, Vergil, my daddy and his daddy before him were both alcoholics and I'll be gosh darned if I see you go down that path. He knew wherever she was she'd be looking down on him with disapproval, but he'd hit rock bottom in his pit of self-loathing quite some time ago.
Vergil stepped outside to be assaulted by a blast of cold air. He rubbed his hands together and blew into them. This brief injection of heat seemed to travel through his body and settle inside him pooling with the rest of the lilac energy. The first time he noticed it was in the shower, but it had even started before that. The omelette this morning, the light of the morning sun, and the heat from this morning's shower had all gathered inside of his body. It had started in his ankles, but now he could feel it stored all the way from the soles of his feet to his pelvis. The way he thought of it was the little indicator on a phone that shows someone how much battery they have when they're charging their phone except the color wasn't green, it was a vibrant violet color. Beyond that, he didn't put too much thought into it. His body felt great, why question a good thing?
Lancet Street, the main street of Lancet Falls, sprawled out before Vergil. The grass strip that ran along its length was populated with trees undergoing the first transformations of autumn. He didn't understand why everyone thought that was so beautiful. Yeah, watching something full of life and color turn a sickly yellow and die was so goddamn beautiful. What a miracle of nature. Luke and Quinn had been there with him when these trees were first planted. At six years old, they'd been so excited to watch them grow and thrive, and now Vergil was watching them die alone. God, I'm thirsty.
Vergil twisted off the cap and took a long pull right out of the bottle still nestled in its brown paper bag. The stinging warmth added itself to roiling pool of violet power. Fueled by the fire in his body, Vergil hopped on his bike and pedaled as fast as he could away from memory lane, but it was never something he would leave behind.
Familiar houses whizzed by, snapshots of days long gone. He scrunched his eyes shut straining his body to pedal even faster. The full weight of his memories was too much to handle with a clear mind. Even with his eyes closed, he knew every nook and cranny of the town all too well, and it was killing him. The left turn of Lancet Street onto Falls Avenue, and another left a half mile down the road onto Jackson Street, were as familiar to him as his own two hands.
"Well, I'll be tickled pink, if it isn't Vergil Wilson!" a voice that could only be Trudy Studebaker shouted in glee.
Tires squealed against pavement as Vergil slammed on his brakes. "Hi, there Mrs. S." he panted.
"You been keeping yourself busy? You look like you've been burning the candle at both ends!"
Without getting off of his bike, he replied, "You bet. I've been living the American Dream."
Trudy stood there smiling trying to think of some small talk to fill the silence of things better left unsaid that gaped between them. A light bulb may as well have shone over her head the way her eyes lit up when she thought of something.
"Did you hear that Lisa just started her second year of medical school? She's over at UC Davis."
"I don't have a phone, so no, I had not heard that, but that doesn't surprise me at all. Good for her." he said trying not to sound bitter.
"She always mentions you when she calls," she smiled.
"No," he paused, "she doesn't."
She cast her eyes downward, "But I know she's thinkin' about you Vergil. That girl loves you."
"I know she used to... Listen Mrs. S, I've really got to get going."
"Don't be a stranger alright?"
"Don't worry. I won't," he lied.
Vergil offered her a weak smile waiting until she was out of view before taking another long drink. A fuzzy feeling washed over his mind dulling the edges of cutting memories. Lisa always was better than this town, and me. Another swallow was in order to wash that one back into the vault he'd constructed with tender loving care over the years. The faded lines of the road started to grow blurry. Something must've gotten in my eye, he thought stopping his bike in front of the lone duplex a quarter mile from the drive-in. A lone tear ran down his cheek, the source of his blurry vision.
"You over there, stop crying this instant. I find myself in a bit of a predicament and could use some assistance," the voice of a man called from the direction of the house.
Vergil gave the structure a quick glance to try and see where the voice could be coming from, but he didn't see anything. In fact, the driveways to both homes were empty, and he didn't detect any movement in the windows. Dead bird on the lawn though. "Who said that?" Vergil called out.
"Never mind that. There's no time. I need you to break into the house on your right, and do be sharp about it. It's almost inside."
"What's almost inside?" he shouted.
"Just my luck, the only person that wanders by is a blithering idiot," the voice muttered under its breath, but it sounded like it was right next to Vergil.
"Where are you?" he said looking around the desolate tracts of land that was going to be a new subdivision.
"You're not going to be able to get over this are you? I'm in the upstairs window."
Upon further inspection, Vergil did see something in the window, but it wasn't a person. A black miniature schnauzer looked down on him with bushy, furrowed brows.
"You're a dog!"
With no discernible movement of its lips, the dog replied, "It seems as if your grasp of the obvious is intact. Now, if you would be so kind as to remove your head from your posterior and help me out, I would be most grateful."
That dog is speaking with its mind. Vergil took a look at the bottle in his hand, and it still had two thirds of its contents left. As crazy as he felt, this was happening, and an animal was in trouble. Without waiting for his mind to catch up, his body sprung into action. He felt the energy that had been gathering in his body all day start to stir.
The bottle he'd been clutching in his hand clattered to the ground, forgotten. Energy in his body, that Vergil had been picturing as a storage container of some kind, started to coalesce in the soles of his feet and ankles. He felt the power inside of him and knew what he had to do. Vergil jumped, and the next instant the outcropping of roof just below the second story window was knocking the air out of his lungs. The top half of his body on the landing while his legs dangled in the open air. Meanwhile, the dog was scratching at the clasp on the window in a frenzy, eyes wide in terror. "Get up! Get up! Get up!" he shouted in a frenzied litany, all sense of decorum abandoned.
Vergil kicked his legs in a futile attempt to lever himself onto the roof, but the energy remaining in his system didn't respond. He struggled to regain the breath he had lost to the lip of the roof and use his upper body instead to muscle his way onto the roof. Every time he lifted his arm to try and pull himself up, his other arm would lose ground not strong enough to bear the full weight of his body. Without anything for Vergil to use as a handhold, he had been forced to brace his fingertips on the shingles of the roof, and now they were starting to slide off burning the skin off in the process. I wish I'd taken Saul up on that offer to train me.
The scrabbling at the window stopped, "Oh dear, I think it's heard you.
Vergil looked up in time to see a shape silhouetted by the sun. If it wasn't on the roof, he would have assumed it was a badger based on its size and shape. His observation was cut short when it launched itself off the roof right at Vergil. Cowardice saved him. The second it had moved, Vergil had let go of the roof leaving it to sail over the place where his head used to be. Eyes closed, he braced himself for an impact that never came. Instead, when his back touched the ground, a surge of energy, that made everything else up to this point feel like a trickle, rushed into his body. That's all he had time to process before its weight landed on his chest.
Hind legs corded with muscle and tipped with long white claws rested on his shoulders. A pink, hairless tail whipped back and forth above his belying a power that Vergil had a feeling he didn't want to experience firsthand. Its forelegs were perched over his abdomen prepped to dig into his flesh. This thing's been killing the birds.
Adrenaline and lavender energy flowed through his body in equal measure, and he reacted on pure instinct. He visualized it converging into his arms, and shoved with all he had on its hindquarters. The creature launched off of his chest as if weighed nothing at all. It tumbled end over end through the air like a ragdoll landing about 100 yards away in the field between the duplex and the Nueva Vista. It hopped to its feet and stared at Vergil weighing whether or not to press the attack or flee. A few seconds passed before the small figure bounded off towards the drive-in. What it had perceived would be an easy meal proved to be more difficult than it had anticipated, so it must've decided that Vergil wasn't worth the risk.
"Well done lad, now get me out of here, and do be quick about it. There's no telling when that abominable brute will be back. I suggest trying the front door this time," the dog said.
"Here's a thought, maybe don't condescend to people that have just saved your ass. You'll last longer," Vergil said struggling to stand up.
"I'll be sure to take into consideration the advice of a drunken sot," he said.
As the adrenaline drained out of his system, the pain set in. His arms felt like lead weights attached to his frame, but worse, because every contraction of muscles sent pain shooting through his body. The act of lifting them was the extent of their usefulness. At least his legs were a little better, but not by much. At least I can use them.
Vergil staggered towards the front door, questioning whether or not he'd be able to open the door at all. If it was locked, then the dog was going to have to fend for itself. The stairs leading up to the landing were pure agony. This must be why people hate the StairMaster. With concentrated effort, Vergil mustered the last reserves of the strength in his arms to grasp the door handle and push. It creaked open with ease. "Hey buddy, who's the idiot now, the door wasn't locked. Thanks for the heads up."
"Excuse me, I do believe you're the genius who thought it was a good idea to jump on the roof," the dog quipped.
"You could've at least told me," Vergil sighed.
"How could I be expected to know when the humans decide to lock the door. I am just a humble family pet."
"Yeah, real humble alright." Vergil said steeling himself for the journey up the stairs.
The twenty-one steps leading upstairs loomed before him, and he began to question why he was helping an arrogant prick of a canine. Because it's the right thing to do. Taking a deep breath, he started his trek trying not dwell on the incessant throbbing of his muscles. He had to grit his teeth to not exclaim in pain, but somehow he forged onwards. It was anyone's guess how long he took climbing those stairs, but after what felt like an eternity, he lifted his next foot and there wasn't a stair in front of it.
"It's the first door on the right," the dog chimed in.
"Super," he replied and forced himself into motion.
It was at this moment that Vergil came to the realization if he stopped moving, he wouldn't be able to start again. The only strategy Vergil could think of was to lean his body against the door, so that when he did turn the handle it would swing open without the use of his arms.
"Dog, if there's not something in there for me to eat, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."
"The Little Master always has a bag of treats on her desk in the event I perform a task well. Would that be sufficient?'
"Dog treats?" he asked.
"Yes, I believe that is what they are called."
"Beggars can't be choosers," Vergil said putting his bodyweight against the door.
Gravity got the better of Vergil. He didn't have the strength to hold onto the door as it swung open, and he tumbled to the floor face first. That final push had burnt the last of his reserves, so Vergil closed his eyes face pressed against the carpet.
"Dog, why don't you make yourself useful and fetch me those treats. Pun intended."
"I resent the usage of such demeaning terms, and my name is not Dog, it is Albert. You are in luck. These ones are lamb marinated in ranch, I must admit these ones are my favorite," he said jumping from the chair, onto the desk, and then back onto the floor.
"Alright Albert, you're going to have to feed them to me. You can just drop them into my mouth. Let's try to avoid as much awkward as possible," said Vergil rolling onto his back, "Oh, and try not to lick them."
"I'll be sure not to lick the next one," said Albert dropping the first treat into his mouth.
The moisture from the dog's mouth in an ironic twist made the treat more palatable. He tried to chew in a way that bypassed the tongue, but a few stray pieces of treat stayed behind. It tasted like lamb that had been through the digestive tract of a human and then been dried for canine consumption. The next five minutes was an assembly line of dog treats being dropped into his mouth, and Vergil trying to choke them down.
Staring at the ceiling and waiting for the energy to kick in, Vergil asked, "So, what kind of name is Albert anyways?"
"The Master chose it, the name of one of you famous humans. Einstein was his name if I'm not mistaken."
"Yeah sounds about right, soooo talking dog huh? What's going on there?"
"Last night, I woke up to this infernal racket outside my window. Needless to say, I was quite distraught, and yelled at the culprit to keep it down. An effervescence the likes of which I cannot adequately describe came over me, and I'm afraid that's the last thing I remember. When I woke up, the Little Master was gone, and had shut me in here. I waited here patiently for her return until that thing tried to make me an afternoon snack." Albert said as if the events he had just described were business as usual.
The memory of waking up with his body halfway through a wall jumped to the forefront of his mind, "Now that you mention it, I've felt weird since last night too, but I don't remember anything happening."
It appears as if our little experiment had an adverse effect on our friend here.
Where have I heard that before? Is it all connected? What's happening to me? He thought as the familiar violet energy started to flow through his veins.
SaintCole here,
Thank you guys for reading this far. This one was a long one, but I had a lot that needed to be introduced. Vergil's power is starting to make itself more apparent even if he himself doesn't understand it yet.
Friendly reminder from a fragile writer, Please vote XD
I would like to know your thoughts on this point. What do you think is going on here? What did you all think of Albert? I know it's been a long time in coming, but I hope the payoff was as enjoyable for you as it was for me.