The Seventh Day: Day Seven

Friday morning, I woke up on the couch after another fitful night. From the second I laid down the night before I was stuck in an unending series of lucid nightmares, always with Alichino and most ending in my death, or even worse, Kristina’s. Most of the time it was hard to tell if I was dreaming or if he was actually chasing me through the house. Based on the knocked over coffee table it could have been a little of both.

In the bathroom I was horrified by what I saw. Gaunt and gray, I looked like I hadn’t slept in a week. My eyes were now completely black. Soulless and empty, the reflection was the demon and nothing else. Anything that resembled me was gone, even my face, which yesterday held the last vestiges of my humanity had vanished. The sight was enough for me to throw up.

As I rinsed the black bile down the sink, I heard a car pulled up outside, I hobbled to the window, hoping it was Kris. If I was going to die today, at least I could tell her I was sorry and say goodbye. At the same time, I was terrified that it could be Kris, for her sake. She was still safe and I was going to keep it that way.

I peeked out the window and saw her coming up the porch. The fear instantly won out and I couched behind the door just as the knocking started. After two rounds the knocking stopped briefly before my cell started to ring in the other room. “I know you’re home, Josh. Open the damn door!”

Her being here made me want to cry, for a lot of reasons. It wasn’t safe and I didn’t want to spent my last hours on earth hurting her. On the other hand, her presence after the other day proved just how forgiving and loving she was, something I didn’t deserve at all. This was my fault. Yes, Tyler brought that thing in the house and threw it at me, but if I had listened to her, I never would have been here in the first place. She warned me about moving in with Tyler and I ignored her.

At that point, I didn’t know what to say. Maybe I should just come clean and tell her the truth. Not that she would believe me, no sane person would, but at least that way she’d know that I still cared. Maybe that could help her to move on when this thing finally took me. But it still wasn’t safe for us to be in the same room together. While I wrestled with what to do, Kris made the decision for me when she thrust the key into the lock.

I could feel my left hand start to twitch and burn, but did everything to push it out of my mind. “Kris, wait!”

“Why?”

I stood up and looked out the window at her while I held the deadbolt so she couldn’t open it. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I need you to do something.”

A look of relief washed across her face, “Anything.”

“I’m going to my room and will lock the door. I need you to first, stick a chair under the handle so I can’t get out.”

“Josh, you’re clearly out of your mind. I’m calling 911 –“

“No! Please! Do you trust me?”

“Yeah.”

“Then will do that for me?” There was a long pause, before she finally acquiesced. “Good, then after that, and this is vital, get every knife in the house especially the big chef’s knife and lock it in your trunk.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Then we can talk?”

“Yes. There’s a lot to talk about.”

“Fine.”

“Thank you. Give me a few seconds then come in.” I turned away from the door and Alichino was sitting in the entrance to living room. “You’re coming with me.” I picked him up and carried him to my room, locking the door behind me.

True to her word, Kris did like I asked and within a few minutes gently rapped on my bedroom door. “The knives are in the car. Now, for the love of God tell me what is going on?”

“Are you sure you got them all?”

“Yes!”

“Alright, move the chair.” After Kris, moved the chair I wrapped the statue in a sheet, then my comforter and stowed it under the bed. I knew if he wanted out, he was going to get out, but it was better than nothing. When I opened the door, Kris gave me a gigantic hug before telling me I looked terrible. I agreed as I led her to the living room then collapsed on the couch.
She stood over me and shook her head. “You have two seconds to tell me what’s going on before I call 911 and have you put on a psych hold.”

“I’ll tell you but you’re not going to believe me.”

Kris crossed her arms over her chest. “Try me,” she said defiantly.

I patted the cushion next to me. “Have a seat.” Before she sat down, she sized me up. Looking for any sign of danger. I didn’t blame her in the least and frankly was shocked at the level of trust she had shown so far today. She eventually took a seat but at the opposite end of the couch.

“Talk, Josh, or I’m leaving.”

With a deep breath I explained everything that happened as best as I could remember. While I spoke, even during the most disturbing parts she didn’t look at me like I was completely insane. Several times she stopped me to ask a couple of questions but she mostly just let me talk.

When I finished recanting the nightmare that was the last week, I was exhausted and looked to Kris. She scooted across the couch and gave me a hug. “Do you think, I’m crazy?” I asked.

Kris paused to pick her words very carefully. “I don’t think you’re crazy, Josh. I do think you’re very sick and it’s affecting your mind.”

“So I am nuts.”

“No. I think you’ve got a physical illness that’s making you hallucinate. Like your eyes, they look fine to me but clearly not to you. That’s not crazy. People can see stuff all of time if they’re got a fever or God forbid a brain tumor which I don’t-” The words that got caught in Kris’s throat morphed into a scream. Her arm flew up as she pointed to the other side of the room. “What’s that?” she yelled.

I looked over and sighed heavily. “That’s him. That’s Alichino and apparently, he likes hearing his name. My guess is he’s a little egotistical.”
“Was that always sitting there?”

“No,” I chuckled. “He was under my bed wrapped in a blanket and a comforter.”

“No way!” Kris snapped her eyes to me. “Don’t lie to me, Joshua. This isn’t funny.”

“I’m not.” I glanced over and found he was now even closer, just few feet peeking around the chair. “See, it moves by itself.”

The color drained from Kris’s face. Her shaking hand clamped down on my arm hard enough to leave deep marks when I was finally able to get it free. “How?”

“Still think I’m crazy? Or hallucinating?

“What the hell?! If you are, then so am I! What are we going to do?”

“I don’t think there’s anything to do.”

“We’re not going to let this thing kill you.”

“I don’t think there’s much else to do, because I can’t pass it on to someone else. Speaking of that, I need to move him back to the other room. We can’t risk you getting cut.” I locked the statue back in my bedroom for whatever that was worth, and then went to the kitchen with Kris to make some breakfast while we brainstormed a possible solution. Before the coffee was finished, we heard a car pull into the drive then someone entered the front door.

“Anyone here?” Tyler asked softly.

Kris looked instantly angry and was getting ready to go tear into Tyler, but I stopped her. I wanted to see what he was going to do before revealing ourselves. He started going through the living room, searching every corner, for the statue I assumed. I heard his footsteps coming towards the kitchen and with nowhere to hide, stepped around the corner and surprised him.

“Holy shit! It’s Saturday, how are you still alive?” he marveled, mouth agape.

To that point I had pinned my hope on this whole thing being a mistake on his part. Either he didn’t mean to do it, or didn’t know what was going to happen if he did. Clearly though, I had once again given him the benefit of the doubt when he didn’t deserve it. In a blind rage I grabbed the bent and twisted golf club from the attack on the statue that was leaning against the couch and raised it above my head. Tyler looked at the club and tried to run. He made it as far as the living room before I mustered the last bit of strength in my body and brought it down in the center of his back.

Tyler yelled and ripped the club from my hand as he stepped away. He tossed it into the corner then drew a small revolver from his coat pocket. “Don’t make me do it, Josh! If I have to I will! Just give me the idol and I’m out of here,” he said with the gun pointed at the center of my chest.
I frantically looked around from help. I didn’t see Kris, but I saw in the corner of my eye that Alichino had left my room and was sitting in the middle of the coffee table, silently watching. “Why’d you do it?”

“Sorry bro,” he said shaking his head. In a disturbingly calm voice he continued, “It wasn’t supposed to go down like that. I hoped that Kris was here. That way we could get rid of bitch face and make a ton of money. But she wasn’t and I kind of freaked. Now where’s the –.”

“Go to hell, Tyler!” Kris yelled as she smashed a cast iron pan into his face. Spatter from the blood that was pouring from his nose covered my shirt and face when his head snapped back. Staggered, but not down he tried to raise the gun. As I tried to wrestle it away, Kris hit him again. Tyler dropped the gun and staggered backwards a few steps before he fell back and struck the coffee table on his way to the floor.

To my amazement, the jolt sent the idol rocking hard enough to roll off of its flat bottom and onto its rounded side. Rolling towards the edge, gradually picking up speed until it reached the end of the table and stopped. I thought it was done, but it slowly rotated until the point of the sword was facing out then fell off the edge of the table.

The sharp point of the idol’s sword struck Tyler in the middle of his forehead and left a long, deep gash as it rolled off the side of his head then came to rest upright on the floor. Kris and I watched with a mix of horror and fascination as the blood that was smeared across the top of the idol collected into a ball the size of a penny. The blood rolled off the head and up the side of the sword until it balanced on the tip.

For several seconds the gravity defying ball of blood sat motionless before popping itself on the tip. The blood ran down the short blade, then followed the crook of Alichino’s arm into his open mouth. Though the rock never let out any sound nor moved at all, the blood disappeared into the accursed idol leaving no trace.

I instantly felt weak, and unable to catch my breath collapsed to my knees. Kris knelt down next to me, and called my name but I couldn’t respond. What started as a radiating coolness in my chest, in seconds turned to an electric tingle that grew and grew. The feeling filled my being then moved through my body, collecting in my left arm. I thought I was having a heart attack as the electricity welled up in my shoulder until in an instant it shot down my arm and out of the cut in my palm.

I blacked out for a minute before returning to consciousness at the sound of Kris yelling my name and Tyler groaning. I shook my head a few times and with Kris’ help got off the floor. Ignoring Tyler, I went to the sink and splashed some water on my face. I turned to the mirror but kept my eyes tightly closed and gripped the sink as hard as I could. Paralyzed with fear, I couldn’t bear to look. If I opened my eyes and the soulless reflection was still there, I was doomed and now so was my former friend.

I stood there for a few seconds with my eyes tightly shut, until I could force myself to look. I threw opened my eyes and peered into the mirror then let out a scream.

Kris came running down the hall, with the revolver now in hand. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s gone!” My eyes were normal, the only blackness that remained was in my pupils. I blinked several times and rubbed my eyes, but each time I looked in the mirror the result was the same. “I’m saved.” The words came out barely as a whisper and I collapsed on the floor.

Kris set the gun on the sink then dropped down to give me a massive hug. “Thank God!”

It took a moment to get adjusted to the heaviness being gone. That thing had become such a part of me over the last week that it was odd feeling so light. I got up off of the floor and again looked in the mirror. Not only were my eyes normal but the sickly pallor was gone too. As I turned over my left hand, I couldn’t help but smile because no trace of the cut remained.

The celebration was short lived though. Tyler was starting to groan in the other room and we knew he’d be getting up soon. I ran to my bedroom and with each step, each passing second, I felt better and better. Not like my old self either, new and improved. I pulled the toolbox out from under the bed and found my duct tape.

In the living room, Tyler was just starting to come to but the idol was conspicuously missing. Fearing what would happen if Kris or I got cut, I started to panic and fanatically began to look for it. I found it sitting on the rug by the front door like it was ready to leave. The sight was creepy but after the last week not unexpected in the least.

When I got back to the living room, Tyler was on his stomach and starting to push himself up. I sprang and held him down with one knee on his upper back while I bound his hands and feet with the tape before he had enough wits about him to fight back. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked weakly.

“Making sure you can’t get away.”

“What … why?”

“So you can’t try and poke me with it again. He’s got you now and no take backs.”

“It’s got me? NOOOO!” Wild eyed, Tyler started to scream and thrash on the floor.

“Kris, can you bring me the gun?”

She came from the back hall, nervously clutching it to her chest. “You’re not going to kill him, are you?”

I shook my head. “Nope, it’s just insurance in case he gets free.”

She reservedly passed it off to me, but looked relieved when I stuck it in my pocket. I dug Tyler’s keys from his pocket and handed them to Kris. “Can you dispose of these somewhere? Trashcan, sewer, it doesn’t really matter.”
“No!” Tyler yelled and started to thrash.

I silenced him with a kick to the ribs. “Shut up!”

Kris snatched up the keys with a grin. “No problem.”

“Great. Then go to your dorm and pack. We’re taking a trip.”

“Where?”

I kissed her on the forehead, “It’s a surprise.”

“Works for me.”

Kris gathered her purse and phone, but I stopped her before she got to the door. “Wait! I need to take care of something first. I went to my bedroom to get a pair of work gloves then to the bathroom for some towels. In the living room Kris kept an eye on Tyler who was again struggling to get free, but not yet making any headway. After I found a small box, I carefully carried the idol to the kitchen where I used tongs and a hammer to cover the tip of the sword with half of an old wine cork then as cautiously as possible wrapped it in several towels. I sealed the box and placed it near the door, hopeful that it was now done moving around the house on a whim and most importantly, let me leave with it. “Great, now you can go.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay? Like seriously, you aren’t going to murder him?”

“I swear, I’m not going to kill him. He’s got way worse things coming than a bullet to the head.”

Kris smiled and bounced on her feet. “Excellent. I don’t want you going to jail over his scumbag.” Before she left, Kris walked over to Tyler and gave him a hard kick to the ribs. “That’s for trying to kill Josh!” She kicked him again, harder this time. “That’s for planning to kill me! And this is for that stupid haircut that I’ve had to look at for the last four years!” she said with a final and even harder kick. Satisfied with Tyler’s pained groans, Kris gathered her stuff, gave me a kiss and left.

I watched Kris pull away from the house then returned to living room and knelt next to Tyler’s face and pulled out the gun.

“Are you going to kill me?” he asked with a waiver in his voice.
“No,” I chuckled. “But he will.”

“It doesn’t have to go down like this,” he pleaded.

“Shut up.” I kept the revolver pointed at the ground but brought it up in front of his face. “You’re going to listen to me and only speak when asked a question. First, were you going to do the ceremony?”

“How did you know about that?”

“Research. Answer the damn question.”

“Lawrence was.”

“After everything I’ve done for you over the years, you were going to let a demon kill me so you could make money?”

“No. I mean look. I didn’t want to man. I hoped that that Kris was here so I could have poked her with it. Then I’d be rich and she’d be gone and things could go back to the way they were before. But when she wasn’t here, I panicked because I just wanted to get rid of the thing. I never meant for any of this to happen in the first place. I had no idea what this thing was and even though he told me not to touch it, I was messing around with it at Lawrence’s house when he went to the bathroom and cut myself on it. When he saw what happened he told me all about the curse told me I was screwed. I guess he was going to try and use it on an ex-girlfriend but he didn’t tell me about that part. Since I had the curse we had to find someone else quick, so I thought of Kris.”

I wanted to punch Tyler in the face, but kept my anger in check as he continued.

Lawrence was going to do research to see if there was a way to reverse it, but if not, well nothing personal but if you’re dead, you’re dead and we can’t fix it so might as well get the money. But look, that wasn’t our first choice.”

“We’ve got to do something!”

I clicked my tongue and nodded in agreement. “I don’t know about we, but I’ve got something to do.” Tyler started to demand I let him go. Tired of his constant complaining I put a piece of duct tape over his mouth then left him to struggle and think about his predicament while I packed and made some calls.

When I returned, I picked up the box which was now sitting right next to Ty’s face. A quick shake told me the damnable piece of rock was still safely tucked inside. I went throughout the house, making a last check that I had everything when Ty started trying to scream through the tape. With a heavy sigh I crouched down next to him and tore off the tape.

“Where are you going?” Tyler hissed.

I looked at Tyler as I began ticking off items on my fingers. “Pull through somewhere to get a burger since I haven’t eaten in days. Then to a jewelry store to get the ring I should have bought two years ago, then to pick up Kris. I called my boss and got a week’s vacation and since Kris is on spring break as of today, we’re just going to pick a direction and drive.”

“You’re just going to leave me here?”

“I’m just giving you the same amount of help that you gave me, pal,” I added sarcastically and punched him the shoulder. “Oh, and you’re gonna love this next part. Whenever we get where we’re going I’ll find a nice place to propose. Then in a few days I’ll mail that lousy thing back to the museum, timing it just right so it gets there in just about a week, so good luck getting to it.”

“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done it! Please let me go and we can just find someone else.” Tyler struggled with his bonds as he pled his case, but I didn’t care. This was his mess and he was going to have to face the consequences.

I patted Tyler on the back as I shook my head. “No, I think it wants you. I really do. Though you might want to ask your buddy Lawrence on that. See he may have been the one to finger you on this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I found out that thing has to basically get turned on before it can attach to someone. Some sort of magic ceremony. That’s why it can float around museums or private collections and never have a problem. My guess is, Lawrence saw you as an easy mark and was willing to let it have you to get stuff from it, then sell it off and keep all the money. Assuming he was even going to sell it. It could have been a story just to get you to help him. Either way, when you get out of here, you might want to go talk to him.” I replaced the tape and started to leave when something struck me. Returning to Ty’s side I again freed his mouth. “I need know something, why are you here a day early.”

Despondently Tyler shook his head. “From the second I woke up, my phone said it was Saturday. I knew we only had a day to do the ceremony so I came over first thing to get it.”

I pulled his phone up from his pocket and held it up to him. “It says Friday now.”

“I checked before I left and when I pulled up. Hell, the clock in the car even said it was Saturday.”

“Interesting. You know, I’m surprised that you came in with Kris’s car parked out front.”

“No it wasn’t,” Tyler insisted.

I started to cackle, “I guess Alichino really wanted you back.”

“Let’s just find someone else,” he pleaded. “I bet we can go downtown and find a homeless guy or something.”

“Uh no.”

“But what about the money? We can find someone else and get rich.”
“I don’t care.”

“What about me?”

I felt the rage building and had to step away before I killed him myself and as he started to protest again, on went the tape. Ty watched as I silently paced back and forth while I tried to keep some semblance of calm. After a minute I finally couldn’t hold it anymore and exploded.

“How delusional are you? After what you did to me? After what you wanted to do to Kris? You deserve this Ty, and I’m not sure what I’d rather see most, the demon getting you, or dealing with your extremely dangerous buyer.”
After I gathered my things and loaded my bags into the trunk I came back to find Tyler struggling in vain to get loose. I told him it was too bad that it had to go down this way because I always planned on having him as my best man, then turned out the lights and left. I let the air out of his tires and threw his phone into the sewer as insurance that he’d never be able to catch up before we left town, in case he was able to wriggle out of the duct tape bonds and hotwire it.

Everything I said to him at the end was the truth, save for mailing it back to the museum. I decided Kristi and I would go to the coast and visit her parents for the week. But first, a stop at the marina where her parents kept their boat. When I called her dad, he was happy to let us borrow it so I could take Kristi to her favorite place, the ocean. Her parents would have the keys, along with a nice dinner packed on board for us.

It was going to be an eventful trip. Somewhere, miles out from shore when land was no longer in sight, I’d carefully unwrap the accursed hunk of rock and throw it into the ocean where it would hopefully never again be touched by human hands. Then, I’d try to make up for the last few years and finally ask Kristi to marry me. Thankfully her dad was okay with that too and his response to me was something to the effect of “Well, it’s about damn time, Josh.”

I was honest with Tyler about the rest, especially when I said that it wanted him, but that still didn’t make it easy. As I pulled out of the jewelry store parking lot after carefully hiding the small ring box in my suitcase, a twinge of guilt hit me. I had essentially condemned my best friend. Moving from anger, to guilt, to remorse and back again and again, I pulled up to Kristi’s dorm and before I could even text her that I was there she came bounding from the front door with her bags and a massive smile. Then I realized that perhaps it was a fitting end for someone who lived their life roving from one scam, one cheat, one lie, to another. I wished I could have helped Tyler, but maybe the darkness was inside of him all along and cursed statue or not, he was already beyond help.

I was greeted with a quick kiss and a big hug before I put her bags in the trunk. As we drove out of campus, Kristi excitedly chatted away trying to guess where we were going but I assured her it was a secret and was going to stay that way. I thought back on the horrors of the last week and at first wished that it never happened. It was horrible, gut wrenching, traumatic, and would surely haunt me the rest of my days. But a few miles down the road as I turned to the right towards route 146 I caught her smile and it struck me that I was lucky to have struggled through the last week. Though it was horrifying, for me it took truly seeing the darkness that dwelt inside before I could finally step into the light.

If you haven’t read the past installments the links are below.

I – II –III– IV– V–VI–VII–VIII– IX

© 2018 Robert Crouse  All Rights Reserved