It means Charlie. Somehow the demon knows all about the voices. That has to be what he means. It’s tough to say, with how scared I am and it feels like the demon is speaking in half riddles.
“What do you meaneating?” I call out.
“His mind is delicious. I’ve seen them feasttttt.”
“Wow, hey,” Charlie holds up his hands, “no one is eating my anything. I do not consent to any feasting. This is not an all you can eat buffet.”
“Your dreams are dark. They speak of worlds you’ve never walked, but I have. Memories…memories for Meadow. I know the places you have been. I know the darkness you’ve been locked in.”
“You don’t know anything,” I tell the demon but my voice shakes. “They aren't memories.” Theycan’tbe, is what I want to say. There’s no way the terrible and awful things I’ve seen are real. I don’t say it, though. I’m not certain in what I’m saying and as much as I want answers, I’m scared. We both know it. Even in the rock the demon is running the show.
“The basement. How many years did they slide the lock in place and leave you all alone and there I was.”
In an instant, I hear the lock of the basement door click into place with asnk.That sound echoed in my ears while I lay in the dark, counting the seconds and minutes. I can see the basement. The pitch black that pressed down on me until I could hardly breathe. The demon is right, I wasn’t alone when I was down there.
“Meadow, be still…”
It’s a voice from so many years ago, one that I started to rely on more than I should have considering I thought it was a figment of my imagination and proof I was finally losing it. So how does the demon know all about it?
“How do you know about that?”
“At my age I know many things. At my age I’ve seen many things. You most of all.”
“You know a lot of things? Except getting out of a boulder? Big yikes, buddy!”
A terrifying roar rips from the rock in answer to Charlie’s sass.
I jab my elbow into his ribs. “Charlie, come on. Don’t piss the demon off,” I tell him but I’m grateful he did mouth off. Hesnapped me out of my shitty childhood memory and brought me back to the present.
“What? This isn’t good cop, bad cop? That’s what we’re doing, right? I’m the bad cop here. You’re obviously good cop.”
I take in a deep breath and shake my head. “I love you but you’re insane.”
He throws his hands out. “Obviously. That’s why I was able to convince you to come out here.”
I chuck the handle of the mini bat at Charlie and turn my attention back to the rock. “Ignore my idiot friend. How do you know what’s happening with him? Who’s eating his brain? H-how can you help us?” I ask, tacitly avoiding any mention of my dreams or the voice that whispered in the dark. One crisis at a time and right now we’re dealing with Charlie’s brain being eaten.
“Free me first, witchling. Then you’ll have the answers you seek.”
“Why should I trust you? You’re a demon.”
“Demon or not, you know me and you know I do not lie. Make haste, witchling. Tick tock. The clock runs fast and your dreams are coming for you again. There’s a tie between you and I.”
I nearly puke when he says that. Yes, he, because I can tell from the tone of his voice that he is a he, and if he knows about the dreams and the basement then has he been in my head. Is he the voice that’s whispered to me?
How many times did I answer back thinking I’d just fallen into a new dream, not a nightmare, but a proper dream. I was never scared the times I heard the voice and I thought I was just experiencing a true dream. If it was really him then…how is a demon in my head? I thought only Wrath could do that, and even then there were rules. If we invoked his name he had an allaccess pass to the thought factory, but this is a demon I’ve never met. At least not in the real world.
I point a shaking finger at the rock even though I’m sure he can’t see me. “You stay out of my head, and Charlie’s too, a-and no one is eating him, okay? Or I swear, I’ll go get a cement truck from town and seal you up in there like one of those scary movies.”
I wish I could name a single scary movie but I’m not good with names, and I’ve only ever seen a few of them scrunched in close to Nina on her phone. She tells me about them while we watch. The actor’s names, where they were filmed, why the theme was important for the genre. It’s interesting stuff even if I’m hiding behind a pillow for most of it.
“Like the one where those climbers get stuck with those mutants. Do you hear me? You’ll be crawling around in that boulder till doomsday in your very own creature feature! That’ll teach you to go into people’s dreams!”
Charlie claps in approval. “That’s ice cold. Totally bad ass threat.”
“Thanks.” I nod at Charlie before I start back in on the demon. “What do you know about my friend and why are you locked up in a rock?”
“I’m not…’locked up in a rock’,”he says with obvious effort. It seems someone doesn’t like to admit he’s been trapped when I can clearly tell he has been.“This is the gate to the Hell Maw. I’ve been…restrained.”
