Page 123 of Death is My BFF

“He wants your blood, he wants your flesh,”the little girl sang.

“Your soul is gone, your brain is dead. Don’t you see? His eyes, they hunt.

His mouth, it bites, his nails, they cut. Blood. Blood. Blood.”

I found the courage to stand up and slowly tiptoed the opposite way. “Can’t say I’ve heard that nursery rhyme before, but I’ll take your word for it.”

“Please, don’t leave me.” The girl’s head bowed, and she started to sob into her hands. “The Bad Man is coming!”

I halted. Her voice sounded so familiar. “Who are you?”

“I’m you!” the little girl sobbed.

I staggered back.

The girl’s eyes were identical to mine, her facial features identical to mine as a kid, except her skin was suctioned to her face like a skeleton, and her lips were purpling.

“You’re not me.” This was a figment of my imagination. It had to be. “You’re not real.”

Her smile was two rows of rotted teeth. “Of course, I’m you, dummy! I’m you after you died!” As she approached, the bones in her legs shook like delicate pins threatening to snap. A piece of her skin slowly slid off her cheek. “You don’t remember me, do you? I remember you, and I remember him too. Death. He said his name was Death.Blood. Blood. Blood.”

A violent chill overtook my body. I shut my eyes, willing the hallucination to go away.

“Why won’t you look at me? Look at what you would have been!”

“Leave me alone!”

“I’ll haunt you forever, Faith! You’ll never be normal, youdied!”

I opened my eyes as the girl cackled, blood seeping from her rotten teeth. My face fell as her image distorted again, into an ugly creature with scaly gray skin and cloudy eyes that bore into mine. When I tried to get away, my feet chugged at a sluggish pace, like running in a dream. I tried to call out, but I couldn’t, as a heaviness overtook my limbs. Nothing felt real. A screeching noise that resembled a shriek resounded through the field, followed by a thunderous roar. The creature before me ceased any movement, snapping its head toward the direction of the sounds, and I felt ripped free from an invisible hold on me.

I took off, staggering and zigzagging at first in a drunken state.

It took a few moments for the fuzziness in my vision to dissipate enough for me to gain speed. When I did, I thought for sure I would collapse. Grasping my second wind by the throat, I burst with energy and gained enough strength to finally run at full speed again.

“Faith! Faith, where are you?”

My aunt’s voice. She sounded so far away.

“Here!” I wheezed out, coming out onto a path and turning down another maze route. Her voice came from all directions.

Unable to amplify my voice, I continued to cough as loud as I could, expelling some of that gray fog from my mouth. “I’m right here! I’m in the maze!” almost there! mocked the same wooden sign I’d seen earlier.

I’d gone in circles.

“Help,” I panted out, wiping at my bleary, tear-soaked eyes.

“Help! Aunt Sarah, I need you!” I couldn’t catch my breath, the constant sensation that someone was watching me beckoning a panic attack as I scanned the cornstalks on either side of me.

A man emerged into the pathway. Alexandru Cruscellio.

He wore his gladiator uniform, the one with various intricate designs carved into lavish armor, held together with brass hooks and leather. He was enormous, almost filling the width of the path with rippling, sun-kissed muscle. He appeared exactly as he did in Death’s memory.

He stalked closer with a leopard-like grace, and I couldn’t move.

His face was so alike David’s, but even more perfect—a sculpture chiseled from stone, angular cheekbones, skin unlined by wrinkles or imperfections. A strong Roman nose, and full, sinfully pouty lips, curved into a sly smile. His unusual eyes were two lustrous shades of green with vertical slits for pupils. The irises altered underneath the stadium lights, like metamorphosing kaleidoscopes, flickering between mint and lime in the one iris, and emerald and moss in the other. Despite his wicked features, I found him magnetic—unequivocally beautiful.

He stopped in front of me and just stood there, staring at me in a curious way. I gulped, and my mouth became cotton. I tasted bitter acid which made me long for something to drink, anything to quench my thirst.

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