“It’s faux rabbit fur.” He pulls the coverlet back and pats the mattress. “Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”
The sheets are warm and soft like brushed cotton when I sit down and rub my palm across them. Joshua holds the blankets up, waiting for me to tuck my legs under, before covering me up to my waist. “How’s that feel?”
I curl my good arm fingers over the blanket’s edge, tuck it under my chin and snuggle into the warmth. “Perfect.”
He smiles at me before turning toward a chair in the corner. The armchair staggers across the floor, making me cringe, before he drops it at my bedside.
“What does it mean?” I ask, pointing to the tattoo running down his arm.
His arm twists toward me. “Redemption through forgiveness means saving someone by bringing the person back from a state of sin through forgiveness.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning…” he leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. “…you confess everything—all your sins. Take responsibility for your actions and change, not just because you may be forgiven, but because your sins will continue to eat away at your soul until nothing is left.” His hand warms the side of my face, and I close my eyes. “I can forgive you for everything you may have done, Contessa, but you may never find your inner peace unless you change.”
“I don’t think I could ever be forgiven for everything I’ve done.” I open my eyes, and a tear slides down my face, soaking into the feather pillow beneath my head. “It’s too late for me.”
He wipes the next tear that falls from my eyes with his finger. “This demon, or whatever it is that you’re afraid of, is preying on you, using deception and lies disguised as truth to justify its actions. It’s controlling you by keeping you focused on life’s physicality. You need to focus on saving your soul—your spirit. Steer clear of his temptations, his promises, because I can guarantee you, they are only half-truths.”
“But I owe him my life?” I whimper. “He saved me.”
“Contessa, why do you keep saying that?”
I roll over, turning my back on him. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. It’s not going to make a difference. No one can stop him. Not even God.”
He sighs heavily behind me, and the chair creaks. Footsteps grow fainter and then descend the stairs. I’m alone in this, forced to face the music when the next full moon comes or when the next flame ignites nearby. I can feel it coming—my death. Hope is slipping further away by the second. All is lost.
His footsteps grow closer as he ascends the steps, reentering the loft space. He carries the chair around to the other side of the bed, so he’s facing me once more. When he sinks into the floral cushion of the chair, I see he’s holding a book on his lap.
“I’m going to stay here, right by your side, reading aloud, until you fall asleep.” The spine cracks, and he begins to read.
It’s the bible. He’s reading verses from the bible.
The longer his smooth voice drones on with words I’ve never understood, the heavier my eyes feel. They flicker closed, and I force them back open, trying hard to stay conscious.
“Be sober-minded: be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour…1 Peter 5:8-9”
???
Darkness consumes me, and I dream of a place where the landscape is covered in wildflowers and the sun warms my face. Butterflies flutter around me, and bees bob in and out of tulips, collecting nectar and pollen.
The crisp air fills my lungs, and I stretch them wide open, heaving in its freshness with a broad smile. I pluck a rose and bring it to my nose, sniffing its fragrance.
A thorn pricks my finger, and I drop the red flower, watching the droplet of blood fall in slow motion before striking the ground, turning the grass by my feet black.
I step away as a plague of darkness spreads around me, and the sun disappears behind an angry cloud. Thunder claps loudly in the sky, rumbling the ground beneath my bare feet. A bolt of lightning travels from the onyx sky down to the earth, striking a wayward tree on a hill in the distance, setting it on fire. I run toward it, hoping that this destruction doesn’t extend into the valley below. When I reach the burning tree, its flames lash out at me, keeping me from coming any closer, from seeing what lies beyond the fire.
A hissing sound draws my eyes down to the space by my feet. A black cobra slithers around my legs before wrapping around them tightly. I lose balance and fall to the ground, crawling backward and sliding my bottom through blackened ash that stirs up in a cloud around me.
The serpent slithers closer, its scaly body coils in and out of my legs before gliding across my chest. Flames rise in its eyes, and its mouth opens wide, revealing overly long, hooked fangs. It hisses in a low, gritty tone. “Mine.”
“No!” I scream, and with my mouth wide open, the serpent strikes, only it doesn’t bite me. It’s inside my mouth, forcing its head further and further inside my throat. I feel it slithering its way down my esophagus, writhing back and forth, trying to fit its whole body inside me. I grab its center and pull it hard, but it won’t budge.
I can’t breathe.
“Contessa!” Joshua shouts from somewhere far away.
My nails dig into the scales of the serpent as I wake to find Josuha standing over me, his eyes wild and in a panic. But my nails aren’t trying to pull a scaly creature from my airway, it’s Mastyx tongue.
