God, why was this man bent on keeping everything secret?
“Some things in this town must be properly unearthed by the right persons, son,” he went on. “Some things ain’t fuh me to touch. And that there be one of ‘em.”
Solomon felt it was important enough to ask, “Who’s supposed to unearth it?”
“You is,” he said in quiet excitement. “Dat one you ask about is fuh you. And dat woman lil Miss Chaos inquirin bout, is fuh her.” He held his hands up in wide eyed innocence. “It ain’t my call, you is the one who called it. Bof’a ya did,” he said with a grin and nod. “I just know’d that you didn’t walk ova there and pick dem pictures on the wall… dey picked you.”
Solomon got a sudden vibe that said they should take the puzzle to the next five states over to figure it out. “You ready?” he asked his uncle when panic hit him. Felt like something bad was about to come.
His uncle saw it right away in his eyes and nodded. “I can come back another time to ask questions, sure,” he said, heading for the door.
“I don’t think you be leavin these woods, Mr. Solomon,” Jimmy said while stirring the pot.
Solomon froze, looking at him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” he said as he stirred, his voice ominous, “you’s got a job to do here, das why you here. Can’t be skippin town, now, you hear?”
Fuck. “Let’s go,” he hurried to his uncle.
“You can go but you ain’t goin far,” Jimmy said before cackling. “Dey comin fuh yuh. You need to go on and take care of business Mr. Gorge.”
Solomon dragged Chaos out the house and looked around in the dark as he did. They came from all over, black figures. One tackled him to the ground, yanking Chaos from him.
“Run!” he roared to her, grunting under the heavy pressure on his back as material went over his head.
“Run Uncle Joe!”
“Don’t hurt him,” Chaos cried.
“You should have called sooner,” a deep voice said nearby.
“I’m sorry,” she gasped, “I called first chance I had.”
“You need to leave that one here,” he heard Jimmy say.
“He’s seen too much,” that same deep voice said.
“No matta. He ain’t a part of this,” Jimmy said. “You got what you needed to end this, now get on outta my woods and go end it.”
Solomon roared and struggled as they tied his hands behind him then yanked him to his feet. “Chaos, please. This is wrong,” Solomon yelled. “There is no sin Christ can’t forgive, he’s lying, he’s been lying to you! Christ wants to forgive—” Pain exploded in his stomach, stealing his words and breath.
“Don’t hit him!” she cried.
“Oh daughter,” that deep voice said. “This is nothing compared to what is coming. Nothing at all.”
“Do we have to?” she cried. “Can’t we just do the sacrifice?”
“Take him to the asylum,” the same voice said. “We’ll start preparations. Six days,” he said louder. “Six days of divine preparation. And then, the Desecration of Desecrations will come. But don’t worry, child,” he soothed. “You shall be right with him through it all.”
“What if you prepared me,” she gasped, “and just sacrificed him? Since we’re together? Please!” she screamed.
At hearing her struggle, Solomon fought again. “Uncle Joe!”
“I’ll find you son,” he vowed, his voice straining. “Don’t you worry. I’ll find you!”
****
Solomon grit his teeth as invisible hands stripped him down naked, removed the cover from his head, and shoved him. Hitting the floor, he looked around and ran for the door. “Hey!” he banged, trying to see through the small metal grill at the top. “Where’s Chaos!”
“I’m here.”
The tiny voice came from the corner and he spun around, searching the dark. A shadow moved and he hurried through the space that smelled of ancient death. “Where are you,” he gasped, reaching.
“Here, I’m here.”
His hand finally brushed hair and he pulled her in his embrace. Dread slammed him at finding her naked too. “Listen to me Beautiful,” he put her before him. “We have to get out of here, we have to escape.” He petted her face with both hands.
“But…” she wailed, sounding confused. “I thought…”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered heatedly, finding her lips in the dark and kissing her. “I played along, I was planning to take you out of this town, away from this insanity,” he said, tears flooding his eyes. “This is wrong!” he said now, furious. “You have to believe me, and if we leave, I’ll prove it to you, okay? Okay? I’ll prove it to you, I promise you. Wouldn’t you like to not do this? Wouldn’t you like to live with me in a nice home, where I can love you and take care of you? Have children together?”
She let out a sob. “Stop,” she strained. “We can’t. We can’t leave now. Even if I wanted to, I can’t! They’ll keep suffering, the people will keep suffering, the kids!” she gasped.”
He shook his head in the dark. “It’s not our place to take that Beautiful, we don’t have that kind of power, that’s what I’m telling you,” he whispered. “The curse is a lie, whatever is happening isn’t because of a curse, I can prove it.”
Her crying was nearly constant now. “How?” she said, sounding hopeless.
“By me and you searching to find a way, that’s how. That’s why God put us together, see? See? To find the real answer that will end this curse. Listen to me,” he said, holding her shoulders firmly, trembling with panic for them. “Remember the dream I had about you?”
“Yes,” she gasped, distraught.
“I never told you the rest of it, do you want to hear? Yeah? You and me, we were saving the town, but get this. We didn’t die, we went on to live together, happily. We had a family,” he choked, desperate to convince her.
“Really?” she squeaked, giving Solomon hope. “How is that possible? I mean Master would know, right? He doesn’t want this, he’s a good man,” she assured, the words trembling.
Solomon again shook his head. “No, no, Master wouldn’t know, you know why?”
“Why?” she finally managed through her jerky breaths.
“Because he’s under the same curse!” Again he kissed her lips over and over. “He doesn’t even know it. He’s not doing this on purpose, he’s blind to the truth, the curse has blinded him!”
She gasped a few times before whispering what he desperately needed to hear. “Oh my God.”
“But you and me, we can fix this, see?” He stroked her face in the dark. “That’s what our job is, but I need your help, okay?”
She began to wail softly again. “He’s going to prepare us,” she whispered, the words trembling and full of dread.
Fear clutched Solomon at hearing it. “Tell me Beautiful. Help me understand what’s coming.”
“Six days,” she whispered. “Just like always. Every week the congregation must suffer. He has tools for it in a special room at the asylum. But he’s going to do it all in six days.” The words ended in a frail sob. “He’s going to break you,” she said now, panic in her voice. “He’s going to make you wish you were dead,” she wept bitterly. “I don’t want him to hurt you,” she said, forcefully, “I don’t!”
Solomon gasped, hugging her tight to him. “Shhhh, shhh.” His mind raced as he fought to think past the six days of torture, six days of hell. “And then he kills us, is that his plan? Torture then kill us, is that Masters plan?”
“Kill?” Confusion weighed in her whisper. “No, no, he won’t kill us.”
“What?” Hope surged through Solomon at realizing he might be wrong. “What do you mean he doesn’t kill us?”
She let out several shaky breaths, grabbing hold of his forearms tight. “The sacrifice must be a living sacrifice. That means the body has to be alive.” Terror slowly crawled through Solomon now as he listened. “He only takes the mind,” she whispered in the dark. “He ca
lls it… a lobotomy.”
OH MY GOD HOLY SHIT!!!
TO BE CONTINUED!!!
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