“Your body,” he shoots back.
Morgan and Calder spray holy water on the demon, and it burns.
“Well, that’s accurate,” Kit mumbles.
Morgan starts to recite the exorcism prayer in Latin. Now or never. I take control of my arm and slowly take the remote in my hand, sliding it out of Kit’s reach and sight.
Kit flinches, spilling a bit of his drink. “Shit…that’s not…” He flinches so hard, I’m knocked off the chair in the void. “Fuck, Lacy, this is accurate.Fuck! Where is the remote?” He cries out in pain, throwing the seltzer can onto the coffee table, it landing on its side with the rest of the contents bubbling out. His eyes search wildly for the remote. He does not yet realize that I’m holding it. He relaxes when the fictional demon knocks away the notebook holding the prayer.
That wasn’t all, right? My heart is pounding in my chest. This has to work. Thishastowork.
“That was…ouch.” Kit laughs nervously, stretching forward to pick up the can. “I’ll clean this up.”
Before he can stand, Morgan continues to recite the exorcism prayer. Kit’s entire body convulses. I stumble in the void, a red light flashing on and off with an alarm blaring. He sees the remote in my hand, and even though I can’t see his face, I know it floods with relief. He thinks I’m helping him. “You found it! Fast forward.”
I won’t.
My soul clogs with remorse, but I cannot give up. I need to befree. This isn’t about Kit. This is about me.
He realizes I’m not helping, and I canfeelthe betrayal as it spreads over him like a sheet of ice. I’m hurting him. I don’t want to hurt him, but it can’t be helped. This is the way it has to be.
He reaches for the remote, but I hold it out of his reach, moving my arm away from his snatching hand. “Lacy,please.”
“Don’t make this harder, Kit,” I croak, throat raw as tears stream down my face.
The void starts to shake violently, and I squeeze the remote tighter so I don’t drop it. The walls around me start to crumble. I leap to dodge falling debris, backing myself up against the window where I feel safe as I watch the void destroy itself, knowing I won’t need it anymore once Kit is gone.
I’m sobbing, tears flowing out of my body’s eyes as well. There’s water in the void, rubble splashing in it. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, unsure if he can hear me over the alarm.
Kit gets up, determined to turn the TV off by hand, to halt Morgan Asher mid-sentence. But I’m still fighting. In his weakened state, I gain control of my left leg and hold him in place. The momentum of his leg moving and mine not throws us to the floor with a thump. Kit screams in agony, the sound clawing into me. I’m blubbering—I’m not ready to say goodbye to him.
“Lacy, please!” he cries, the pain in his voice scraping my heart like a serrated knife. “Don’t do this, sweetness,please.”
It’s too late. Yellow smoke—Kit—explodes from my chest, barreling downward into the floor. Back to Hell.
Hell. A place he never wanted to return to. My stomach churns.
Back in full control of my body, the void nothing but a memory, I furiously wipe at my eyes and lift the remote to switch off the TV, their demon gone as well. I drop the remote to the ground and curl myself into a ball on the floor, my sobs so loud in my silent apartment. Even louder in my silent mind. I’m alone. He’s gone. Banished and pushed away like I’ve done to everyone else in my life.
part two
Girl Saves Boy
thirty
. . .
Present Day
The tears continueto flow steadily out of my eyes. I hate crying, but I’ve cried more in these days with Kit than I have in the past three years.
He’s gone, but this isn’t over. The first thing I do is line every entrance of my apartment with salt, pouring it heavily.
Next, I grab my laptop and my phone so I can call Matthias, who picks up on the second ring.
“Lacy?”
“Hey,” I whisper then say louder, “Hey. I—” I cut myself off with a huge sniff. “I’m free. He’s gone.”
