“Of course, they are. They’ve been watching other children die.” I stopped a moment and studied the ghost children and the ones that were already poltergeists. Shit. That was the worst part. We wouldn’t be able to ascend the new poltergeists. Their fear, hatred, or maybe it was their confusion and unfairness they felt that festered and turned them, but it was too late to save them. The Devil owned them. And that was shitty altogether. It wasn’t their fault they were stolen from their homes and brought here.
“I sent August a text,” Maureen said, moving closer to the children. “It’s okay, we aren’t going to hurt you guys. We’re gonna get you home.”
“Can I go back to my mom now?” one of them asked, and I turned to see that the little girl was a ghost. “I want to go home.” She tugged at her dark strands.
Maureen bent down. I watched as she swallowed her emotions and gave the child a small smile. “Hmm, I think you’re gonna get to go somewhere different. Someplace that’s always fun and bright, never dark,” she tried to laugh it off but she sounded hoarse, “or so I think.”
The child started whimpering. “I want my mommy.” I looked away at that point.
“You can get the poltergeists, right? I’ll take care of these.” Her voice cracked. She didn’t want to be the bad guy and send the kids to the Devil.
I didn’t answer. Instead, I turned toward the black masses covering the ones that were, and they started screaming at me in a shrilly voice because they knew I was coming for them. They transitioned into something matching their hatred—something pure evil. I opened the passage to the fiery pit and got to work.
???
“Can you tell us what they were doing to you guys?” Maureen asked each child that was still alive.
After she ascended the ghosts, and I descended the poltergeists, all that was left was to figure out what was happening here and get these kids home. We’d have to erase the human children’s memory, but the demon ones already knew because this was their world.
“This big man would c-c-come. He ordered the tiny creatures w-w-who brought us here and the ones k-k-killing us.”the boy stammered. He was doing his best to tell us what we needed.
“It’s okay, we’re taking you home. He can’t hurt you now…. Do you know what they wanted with all of you?” Maureen asked slowly.
“They were feeding the man with the flaming red hair,” a little girl chimed in.
“Flaming red…” Maureen looked to me, then to the little girl. “Feeding him what?” I knew there wasn’t going to be an answer we liked when she asked that question.
I waited for the little girl to answer. “Our hearts,” she voiced with a look so bone-deep and honest that she shuddered at her own words. “The man was eating our hearts.”
I thought my jaw might break with how hard I clenched my teeth together. Maureen looked just as consumed with her own anger.
“There was something else,” the boy added like he was seeing the girl’s bravery and wanting to do the same. “I saw you talking to someone I couldn’t see. Was it the ones that were killed?” Smart for a little kid. Maureen nodded, and he continued, “They kept saying something about using the ghost children. I don’t know what they meant.”
“I’m here,” August appeared at the other end of the cave. “I gotta get a picture of this,” he went on talking to himself as I heard the snapping of his phone’s camera. He had to be taking pictures of his brothers. I turned around and glared at him. His eyes met mine then fell on all the children. “What the… What happened?”
Maureen scowled at August before gazing back at the boy. “Do you remember what the man looked like?”
“Any distinctive features?” I added.
“His hair was really red, like flames,” the same little girl added.
Another boy jumped in. “I saw him as a woman!”
“Me too,” another piped in.
I turned and made eye contact with Maureen and August, who stood near us watching. “Are you sure it wasn’t just a different person?” Maureen asked.
“No!” the boy yelled. “I watched him change faces!”
That put one person in my mind. From the slants in Maureen and August’s eyebrows, I had a feeling they were thinking the same person I was.
Of course, there were a lot of demons that could change forms. Take witches and warlocks, or shapeshifters… But I could picture only one being in my head as we erased the children’s memories one by one.
He reigned these depths. He controlled everything in the darkness.
Yeah, I was talking about the same person that cursed the Reaper’s, and my dad’s creator.
The Devil.
