Page 59 of Blaze of Our Lives

“Hey, Shaun,” I said with a smile. “I heard you were performing a rock concert in the town square. You know, singing all your hits.”

“You did?” he asked, confused but intrigued.

“Yep. It’s sold out.”

“When does it start,” he asked.

I glanced at my watch, then looked up at him. My face was full of concern and alarm. I was acting. “Umm… five minutes ago.”

“Oh NO!” he shouted. “I must sing for my fans. Please, excuse me, Bitch Goddess Cecily. I’m late. I’m late.” He tapped a watch that appeared on his wrist. “For a very important date.”

On that note, the dude who definitely wasn’t the Higher Power sprinted from the room. It was now just me, Pandora, the grotesque big face of Shaun and the puppet master behind the curtain.

“Get your ass out here, Phyllis. I’m onto youse,” I called out.

“Get out of town,” Pandora shouted. “The talking fucking ashtray is the Higher Power?”

Phyllis’ cackle came before her entrance. In a trail of cigarette smoke, she came out from behind the curtain. “Took youse a while,” she said, grinning like a fool.

I just shrugged. “You owe me.”

She shook her head. “Nope. I don’t owe youse nothin’.”

Technically she was right. However, she did owe someone and that someone was here.

“Take it, Shitty Whore. It’s your turn,” I said.

“With pleasure,” she purred. “You screwed me over, Phyllis.”

Phyllis chuckled and lit up a ciggie. “Youse are the one who opened the box, Pandora. Not me.”

“You never told me what was in it,” she hissed.

“Not my problem,” the pontificating ashtray snapped. “I told youse not to open it. Do the crime. Pay the time.”

Pandora was at a loss for words.

I was not.

“Listen to me, you crunchy-haired shit,” I ground out. “No, Pandora shouldn’t have opened the damned box. But you shouldn’t have gifted something that would destroy lives. That’s an asshole move. Someone who has no compassion would do that. No morals. Nothing. You have nothing. You’re lower than any being I’ve ever come across.” I began to pace I was so pissed. “I have no clue why everyone thinks you’re so great. I think you’re a dick. Only a heartless piece of stinky crap would have set people up to fail like this. You failed Lilith. You failed Pandora. You failed the fucking world.”

The Higher Power’s eyes were wide, and she watched me with an expression I couldn’t decipher. I couldn’t tell if she wanted to kill me or worse. I didn’t care.

“Here’s the deal,” I snarled.

“You go, guuurl,” Pandora shouted.

“I will,” I assured her. “You’ve already caused more harm than good. The end will come if there aren’t two Goddesses of the Darkness—a rule you freaking made. Right now, I’m both of them. That’s not going to work. You’re going to let Pandora out, and we’re leaving.”

“Am I?” Phyllis inquired, taking a long, painfully slow drag on her butt until the entire stick turned cherry red.

“You are,” Pandora shouted. “Bitch Goddess Cecily doesn’t deserve this. I might but she doesn’t. Let me out of her so she can live her life, you bitch.”

“Hang on,” I told Pandora. “Pandora doesn’t deserve this either. Finally, after trillions of years, the hope was released from the box. Pandora absorbed it. She should be given a chance to live a life of happiness and goodness.”

“I’m not sure I’d go that far,” Pandora commented.

“Shut up, Stinky Whore,” I snapped. “Let me handle this.”

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