##
Copyright JC
Wallace 2014
Welcome to
another installment of Diventando: Becoming. Each week a group of authors
participate weekly in Wednesday Briefs Flash Fiction. Each installment is
500-1000 words long and is posted to our blogs each week. After you read the
latest in my story, click on the link at the end to visit other flashers.
If you are
new to Diventando: Becoming and haven’t read the previous chapters, click on
Wednesday Briefs in the left hand column and start with #1. Enjoy and leave a
comment to let me know what you think.
Owen
lowered his head, remembering that day in the hospital hallway when Turk had
aimed the gun at his head. Turk could have had his revenge and ended the demon
responsible for killing his father. Instead, he’d chosen to save Owen, had
chosen to find a way to rid him of the demon. Turk had turned his back on
hundreds of years of tradition, on duty and honor and on his family’s vengeance
and chosen Owen, at least for now. That was a decision Owen couldn’t ever let
Turk regret. Owen could either continue to believe he was better off dead or
accept the monumental sacrifice Turk had made in saving him. When Owen decided to honor Turk’s
efforts, something foreign bloomed in his chest closely resembling hope.
“If there’s
any chance to change this, to get this demon out of me and keep me whole and
alive, I’ll take it. I’ve had a death sentence over my head for so long that I
have no clue what it’s like to actually live without it.” What would a life be
like without the daily fear of a disease that was slowly destroying his body or
the threat of that disease fighting its way out of remission? Was that even
possible?
“Wayne said they
thought you had leukemia.”
Owen
snorted. “I thought I had leukemia. I
was told I had some form of leukemia that kept coming back. I’m not sure what
the rest of my family thought.” But that wasn’t totally true. The Incubus had
shown him the past where his mother had spoken with Dr. Celo about the Incubus
and...
“Exorcism,” Owen
said his tone of excitement raising Turk’s brow.
“Yes. Like I’ve
said it’s rumored to be possible—”
“No, I heard
about the exorcism from my mother.”
Turk dropped
his arms, his face showing his confusion. “Your mother?”
Owen nodded
surprised by his enthusiasm. Turk had “heard” of the possibility of exorcism, a
rumor, something that had never added up, but Owen didn’t have the luxuries for
maybes or possibilities. However, Dr. Celo had mentioned the exorcism in that
memory which Owen had thought the demon conjured. Apparently, that had been an actual
memory. Hearing the same information twice from more than one person increased
the likelihood of its truth, right?
“I don’t
know how but the Incubus showed me something from my past. I was in the clinic.
I have no clue which time since I’ve been there many times when my illness...”
Fuck, not illness. Dr. Celo knew about the Incubus, his mother knew, and while
they were working to help him they could have told him the truth, should have
fucking told him. “...whenever I needed medication. Anyway, my mother and Dr.
Celo were talking in my room. I don’t remember this happening but, then again,
generally by the time I needed to go to the clinic I was really sick.”
Turk rested
his hand on Owen’s shoulder and Owen smiled, grateful that Turk saw that he was
still there despite a demon that’d killed his father living inside of him.
“They were
whispering and Dr. Celo said that they needed to do something more or he feared
my body eventually would shut down. My mother asked him about someone in South
America who might be able to an exorcism.”
“Dr. Celo’s
records indicate he was continually working on more effective ways to stop the
Incubus from emerging. Each time you were ill, those were times when the
formula he’d come up with would start to have negative side effects on your
body, making you really sick.”
“This was
all in the records I had sent to the hospital?”
Turk nodded.
“I guess I
should have read them.” Owen chuckled. “My friend Drew hacked Dr. Celo’s
computer and downloaded the files. He printed them for me and sent them to Dr.
Noel for my appointment. Guess Drew didn’t read them either.”
“Dr. Noel
knew of the secret research happening at the hospital into non-human entities
and shared the information with the director. Apparently, you’d used your
mother’s address. They had people staking out your house since those records
arrived but you were nowhere to be found apparently. When you send idiots to do
a job...” He shook his head. “Anyway I think we need to talk with your mother and
Dr. Celo.”
My gut
clenched at the thought of seeing my mother, confronting her. I nodded slowly,
as a wave of fatigue washed over my body, my mind ready to shut down from
overload. Despite that, one thought, though sent my heart racing.
“How long is
this medication going to work?”
Turk looked
away, and Owen saw him swallow several times before he looked back. “Each time
the Incubus has come forth, he’s gained strength. Each time he will need less
energy to take over and...”
“How long
Turk?” Owen asked forcefully. He needed the truth no matter how crappy that
truth was.
“From the
tests they ran, they estimated about a month.”
Owen chewed
on his bottom lip. “A month from now or a month from when I started getting the
drug?”
“When you
first got it.”
Fuck that
meant he only had about two weeks left — maybe. Two weeks to find some rumored
priestess who may or may not be somewhere in South America. Suddenly, his odds
had dropped drastically.
When Turk
wrapped his arms around Owen and pulled him close, Owen laid his head on Turk’s
chest, reveling in the warmth soaking into his body. He couldn’t explain how
right being in Turk’s arms felt, how safe.
“I’ve called
in some favors from some powerful people. Let’s just say they aren’t the most
upstanding of humans beings however, they owe me, and I believe they can help
us to locate this priestess. I can tell you that she does exist and one of my
sources has possibly pinpointed her location but she is not in South America.
She’s in Jamaica. But as to the claim she can exorcise the demon? That truth
has yet to be proven.”
More hope
welled in Owen’s gut, pooling and rising and this time he allowed the
expansion.
Turk touched
Owen’s chin and prompted him to look up. What Owen saw at that moment, in that
beautiful face, caught his breath. No one in his twenty-seven years had ever
looked at him with such caring or longing...or love? “I promise with everything that I have and
everything that I am, I will find this person and get that asshole out of you.”
Turk leaned
down and kissed Owen, slowly and gently, the kiss sealing his vow.
# #
Check out the other flashers this week.
Nephylim
MA Church
Chris T. Kat
Grace Duncan
Lily Sawyer
Cia Nordwell
Shelly Schulz
Sarah Hayes
Elyzabeth VaLey
Andrew Q. Gordon
Tali Spencer
No comments:
Post a Comment