Julia
This is a terrible idea.
Every nerve ending in my body screams for me to turn around, but it’s way too late for that.
I’m already here.
The house on the edge of the swamp rises up before me, blotting out the overcast sky. Clouds the color of fresh bruises creep overhead, threatening rain. It’s barely evening, yet the darkness is already encroaching.
There’s no sign of Jake. I’d half expected him to be waiting for me in the driveway, but the whole place seems deserted. I can only hope that Amos is lurking out in the swamp and is unaware of my arrival.
I survey the building in front of me. It looks like years have passed since I was last here, though it’s only been a few hours. It looks like it could crumble into the swamp at any moment.
The front door hangs open, as though it’s been waiting for me this whole time. I approach it cautiously, scanning for movement within, but everything is still.
Waiting.
“It’s just a house,” I whisper to myself, though I know now that it’s much more than that. Even so, the words give me the courage to slip inside.
Something must be wrong with the air conditioning because it’s absolutely stifling. Sweat prickles at the nape of my neck and courses down the fine curve of my spine to dampen the back of my borrowed T-shirt. I’m still wearing Helen’s clothes, and I’ve never felt so out of my element as I do now, creeping around my own house like the protagonist in some shitty horror movie.
Once it’s clear that nothing is going to jump out at me, I walk over to the staircase and listen. There are no footsteps upstairs, nothing to indicate that anybody is here. Maybe Jake left and ran off back to Ellie.
I try to hold onto that idea, but I still find myself reaching into the pocket of my sweatpants to clutch at the small potion bottle resting within.
“Zeke?” I whisper up the stairs. My voice seems impossibly loud in the silence. For the first time, I realize that the white noise hum of the air conditioner is gone, making everything echo in the strangest way.
I feel a little bolder when nothing happens. I wander into the living room first and then the kitchen, calling quietly for Zeke as I go. But the spirit doesn’t appear.
“Where is he?” I mutter as I return to the hallway.
This isn’t part of the plan. I hoped to find Zeke and ask him for his help in defeating Amos. I never thought he wouldn’t come when I called.
A peal of thunder rips through the silence, causing me to jump. It’s a stark reminder that we’re running out of time. Amos’s powers have been growing steadily, and I can only imagine that he’s even stronger now. And I have no way of knowing when Jake will be back. He’s more likely to aid Amos than to help me. After all, he’s made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t love me enough to fight against the demon.
Uneasy, I find my phone in the bedroom and dial Helen’s number.
“I can’t find Zeke,” I explain quickly in a hushed tone. “I think we have to do this without him.”
“I’ll be right there,” Helen assures me. She wastes no time on pleasantries and instead hangs up immediately.
I decide to wait outside until she gets here. The house feels like a mausoleum, airless, claustrophobic, and reeking of the swamp. I turn around to head back outside and freeze.
Jake looms in the doorway, blocking my path.
Only, is it really Jake? Or is it Amos?He’s swaying slightly. The undulation is almost hypnotic, but otherwise, he doesn’t move.
“Jake?” I ask. My tentative voice echoes in the silence.
He cocks his head as his body stills. His eyes look so strange. His pupils are blown, giving the illusion that his irises have overtaken the whites entirely.
“Jake, is that you?” I repeat.
“I knew you’d come,” he answers in a slow, slurred voice. His mouth moves oddly, as though he’s not fully in control.
“Are you on something?” I gasp. I want it to be true, but deep down I know there’s something far worse than coke in his system.
Ignoring my question, Jake says, “I’ve been waiting for you, Julia.” He takes a step forward, and I find myself backing away from him down the hallway.
“Leave me alone,” I warn as I try to maintain my distance from him. Something in me whispers that if I try to run, it’s over. But I get the sense he wants me to bolt, that he’s craving the chase.
I won’t give him that satisfaction.
“Alone?” Jake parrots. “You’ll never be alone again. You’re mine, Julia. Mine.”
“I’m not yours,” I spit. I know it’s not a good idea to provoke him, but I can’t help the visceral reaction that bubbles up inside me. “Why don’t you go claim Ellie instead? Or one of your other girlfriends?”
Jake darts forward before I can even process the fact that he’s moving. His open palm connects with my bruised cheek with a resounding crack. Pain slams through my face, momentarily blinding me. In that split second, Jake grabs me roughly by my wrists and pulls me to him.
“You’re mine,” he hisses.
I thrash against him, but his grip is like a pair of iron vices around the delicate bones of my wrists.
“Let me go!” I howl. “Jake, please, you’re hurting me!”
My husband’s face looms over me, and from this close proximity, I realize that his pupils aren’t dilated. His eyes are completely black. It’s like staring into the heart of a hungry, lightless void.
A sick grin spreads over his face. “Sorry, sweetheart. Jake no longer lives here.”
It’s my husband’s voice, but the words belong to Amos.
“No!” I gasp.
“Jake’s already given himself to me,” Amos croons. “And you’re the price he agreed to pay.”
“Zeke!” I scream. My voice ricochets off the shadowy walls. Where is he? He’s the only one who can help me now.
Amos lets out a horrible, grating laugh. “Hezekiah can’t save you,” it taunts. “I’m going to have you, Julia. I’m going to fuck you until you beg me to kill you.”
A bubble of fear bursts inside me, lending me strength. I shove Amos with everything I can muster. It stumbles back half a step, and its grip loosens just the tiniest amount, but it’s enough. I jerk my arms away, breaking free from the demon’s hold.
With nowhere else to go, I turn and run toward the back door.
I’m almost there, free and clear. But then a snarled hand tangles in my hair and yanks me back. I yowl in pain at the sudden harsh tug on my scalp. Amos, not wanting me to get away, wraps an arm around my waste, pinning me to Jake’s body.
Amos opens its mouth to say something, but then it freezes. The eyes clear for a moment, and I’d recognize that honeyed shade anywhere.
“Zeke?” I breathe, hardly daring to believe it.
“Run!” Zeke yells through Jake’s mouth.
I have a split second to dart away before the eyes cloud over once more, and Amos is back. At the same time, some unseen force crashes into the wall of the hallway beside me. The drywall caves, sending up a plume of dust that momentarily outlines the familiar shape of Zeke.
He staggers out of the hole and plants himself between Amos and me. Even though he can’t speak, his message is clear. He’ll hold Amos off. I just have to get to the swamp.
I have to do the ritual.
It’s the only option.
Ignoring the throbbing pain in my wrists and cheek, I scramble through the hallway and burst out onto the back porch.
It’s raining now. Droplets sting the tender flesh of my face as I try to keep my footing on the slick grass of the backyard. A ribbon of lightning curls across the sky, momentarily throwing the outstretched branches of the cypress trees into stark relief against the roiling clouds. A second later, a deep roar of thunder erupts overhead.
I instinctively know where I need to go to perform the ritual.
A good portion of the swamp has already been drained, leaving behind a vast field of bare land. The storm has churned the ground into thick mud that threatens to suck me under with every step. I lose one of Helen’s borrowed flip flops to the primordial ooze, and then the other, but I continue forward. The whole time, I keep my fingers wrapped securely over the potion bottle in my pocket.
I hope to God the incantation works, but now, after feeling Amos’s power first hand, I fear that it won’t be enough. If I want to stop the demon for good, I’ll have to use the potion.
But still, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I made somebody else drink it. That leaves only one option.
I’ll have to be the sacrifice.
It’s the only way.
Tears brim in my swollen eyes. The rain snatches them mercilessly away before they can fall. I’m knee deep in mud, wading against a veritable tide of sludge. My hair clings to my skull and soaks my clothes, but I don’t stop.
I can’t stop.
I can see the clearing in the center of the swamp where the tombstones had once stood. It’s strange to think that Zeke’s bones had lain there, undisturbed, for almost a hundred years. But now his grave is a distant, vacant pit, unmarked and forgotten as its occupant once again wanders this property.
The old cemetery is so close. It’s only about twenty feet away. I can make it. I have to.
Just as hope starts to well in my chest, a strong arm circles my waste, dragging me backward. I stumble clumsily in the mud as a second hand grasps my neck, forcing my head back.
“Did you really think you could get away from me so easily, Julia?” Amos grins.
My eyes search wildly for Zeke, but there’s no sign of him. There’s only Jake’s body at my back, though I know that the demon is the one pulling the strings.
“Nothing to say?” it smirks. “No last words?”
I squirm in its hold, trying desperately to break free of its cruel arms. It’s flush against my body, holding me so tightly I can barely breathe.
“I like it when you struggle,” Amos hisses. Its tongue courses down my neck, and I have to suppress the urge to gag at the sensation. A roll of its hips shows me just how much it’s enjoying the fight.
No.
It can’t end like this.
I squeeze my eyes shut as Amos’s hands start to wander over my body. With every rough touch, he utters the strangest words, releasing a haunting melody into the wind.
Folks, I’m goin’ down to St. James Infirmary,
See my baby there,
She’s stretched out on a long, white table…
Amos leans its head down until its lips are level to my ear. When it sings the next line, my legs fold beneath me in fear.
So sweet, so cold, so fair.