Ascent, p.22
Ascent, page 22
part #2 of The Lit Series Series
Reluctantly Sam walked towards Jason, who looked out over the city skyline. He felt nervous. It would be 20 stories up at least. He stood at Jason's side, looking over a small ledge, no more than one foot high. Looking down to the dark alley below, vertigo and fear grabbed him as he took a quick step back.
“Aw shit, no. I’m going inside.”
“No! No wait and see. You see that there?” Jason gripped his arm. “It's OK. Look. I’ll show you.”
Cautiously Sam shuffled slightly closer. What was he meant to be looking at? He put his head next to Jason’s, trying to find what it was he was supposed to see.
Jason turned his head, his mouth almost upon Sam's ear. “You know, in some countries their God tells them to chuck your kind off roofs… hail Mary full of grace…” Jason said in an almost seductive whisper. Sam froze as the danger of his situation became obvious. Jason's hand tightened around his arm as he brought the other to Sam's neck and pulled.
Sam screamed before stumbling to the side and then over the ledge. Jason was still holding onto him. He felt his grip as they both plummeted. Screaming hysterically, he fought against Jason's hold, fought against gravity. He was going to die.
An abrupt crushing sensation pushed the air from him. A feeling of being encapsulated, wrapped, and bound squeezed him a second before he and Jason landed hard on the wet ground. The air knocked out of his lungs, his mind frantically tried to process what had happened. His hip hurt. His body burnt and someone was laughing. Dazed and panting he lifted his shaking head to see Jason lying at his side, cackling as he gripped his shoulder in pain “Ow!”
Jason's laughter began to fade. Laying on his back, he turned his head to Sam, his eyes black and hypnotic.
“Our God, however,” he panted, shaking a finger in the air. “Our God would never let that happen to us.”
Jesus. He is insane.
Sam staggered to his feet. The Dark Child sat crossed legged on the ground beside him. She had her hand up in the air.
You got an Owie.
Shaking his head, Sam turned from Jason, who continued to laugh in between cries of pain. “Aw come on! Don't be like that! Ow! Jesus that hurts! Come back!”
Sam shook his head. “Uh uh… nope… nope.” His stagger became a painful run. He needed to get away from here. He had thought he was going to die, and that was all done so that Jason could make a point. What was wrong with him?
“Sam! I’ll call you! Ouch my fucking hand!” Jason's shout echoed from the alley.
Sam wandered down the increasingly quiet streets. His mind was full, his nerves shot. Looking about, he let himself fall heavily onto a concrete bench outside a closed department store. He had learnt so much, but until it was clear in his own mind, he didn't want to share any of it with Ellie. How would he tell her?
Yes, these people have Grimoires. Oh, and it’s possible to separate monsters from people but - bad news - they’re looking for you in particular so that they can kill you. At least I think It’ll kill you, but I’m not sure. Remember, you told me what you were worried about? Other people making your life more complicated? It’s actually happening. If they find out who you are, they will hunt you down because you have liberty to the only thing that will stop us all being taken! Oh, and let's not forget Josh! Bael and his Dog are like, best friends! …sorry.
Sam's phone began to vibrate. He sighed. It was Ellie. Grimacing as he reached inside his pocket, he answered “Yeah, yeah I know I was gonna call but I’ve had one hell of a night. I got thrown off a building.”
“Josh rang and I can’t find him. Where are you now?”
Sam shook his head in disbelief. “Are you listening to me? I just got thrown… off a building.”
The phone went quiet, before Ellie asked. “What, like literally off a building?”
“Yes! Why would I say I just got thrown off a building, as a metaphor?” Sam shook his head in amazement.
“Who threw you off a building?” Ellie was bewildered. “Why?”
Sam stood back up, gripping his painful hip. “This is me making new friends. I’ll tell you when I see you. Where is he? What happened?”
“I don’t know, I can't find him,” Ellie spoke into the phone, turning her back to the horrific creatures that hovered silently about the school grounds. “I’m at the school, I thought he might be here, but I can’t…” There were so many of them standing, motionless under the moonless sky. She could hear their voices, their weird sounds, mutters, and whispers.
“He’ll be looking for you,” Sam replied. Ellie turned around glancing at the beings about her.
“They’re back,” she said quietly; “Something’s wrong… I don't know if either of you are safe around me. I’ve got to go. Find him Sam… somethings going on. I’m not sure what it means.” Ignoring Sam's protests, she hung up, slowly placing her phone back in her pocket.
Before her was the darkness of the path that ran past the oval and to the other side of the dimly lit school. In her path were these mutated creatures. As disinterested as these things were in her, she would have to walk through the dozens of twisted monsters to get to the other side of the building. The scourge in her life was getting worse. She never thought that would've been possible, but here it was. She had the choice to avoid them, but what next? They would simply return elsewhere and cast this terrifying image on her again and again. Just like Bael did.
Slowly, she placed one foot in front of the other. They were never too close. She would not push their proximity, not bring them closer but she wouldn't avoid them either. The first creature was to her left. A large ball of fat holding a chain in its bulbous hand. It wore a simple pair of overalls, rudimentary. Whatever this creature tried to mimic would only make sense to the poor soul it had tormented. As she approached, she could see the tell-tale jerks and small twitches that she knew all too well. Its eyes, though embedded in puffy flesh, were white slits that stared unblinking towards the direction Ellie was walking.
Fear rose, Ellie’s breathing became short. She would count her steps and keep moving forward.
The next Leviathan was lithe and short. Standing upright it was considerably smaller than the others she could see. Its small size meant nothing. Its lethality would be the same. Standing the same height as Ellie, she could see it wearing a simple, sickly yellow dress with small black flowers upon it. Its thick bobbed hair, the twisted ragged grin that ripped across its face from one ear to the other, reminded Ellie of a bad 1960s sitcom mother. Its hands, with inhumanly long fingers, were held in front of it. Pleasant, ladylike humming radiated around it. Its head cocked bizarrely to the right, its white eyes like golf balls rolling about in its head.
Ellie walked faster, fighting the urge to run. Strangely, as the freakshow of hell-like oddities passed her, the urge became significantly less. Bael was standing in front of her, watching her walk through the creatures. With every grunt, scream and sound, Ellie pushed back against the natural urge to react. She would not grant Bael the pleasure. She had dealt with It for many years. Her ability for fear had been exhausted quite some time ago. They were just like It. No different. Their intrusion into her life was not an improvement or a worsening. It was what it was.
She approached Bael and stood right in front of It. Her defiance, her stoicism strengthened. She looked up at It. It returned the gaze and looked down at her. With a lump in her throat, she pushed out the words “What now?”
Bael’s head cocked to the side, It’s mouth snapped back into that disgusting, evil smile. It gave her the slightest of nods. An almost indistinguishable nuance that if she hadn't watched that damned face for so many years, she never would have noticed. It was impressive. Pride? She wanted It to speak, It had before. The gig was up. She knew It could speak to her and now she had asked It a direct, straight-forward question. Would It take the bait? Ellie’s mind whirled. This was about control. It had spoken to her directly, but only at Its own choosing. If It answered now, it would have been at her demand. Perhaps Bael would consider that she had earned it.
“You won't make me,” she muttered. “No matter how many of them you bring, you won't put me over the edge. They are no different to you and me… I know you.”
Bael straightened up, lifted Its hands above Its head and opened them, as if greeting those behind her. A wretched bellowing caused her to spin around. They all staggered forward just one step and stopped. She held her breath.
“Elenore. Will you die for him?”
All of them were now looking straight at her; she could feel dozens of dead white eyes crawling on her skin. This was a threat. This was Bael; It could not attack her. It couldn’t touch anyone unless she lit them. It stood to reason that neither could these others that now stood before her. They may have seen her, maybe Bael could grant them that, but the act of lighting someone was hers alone. If they set upon her, it would be against everything she understood, everything she had seen It do. No. Bael would not let her be taken. This was a ruse. Bael and these things were still bound by the rules, she was almost positive…. but she had to be sure, for all their sakes.
Hands trembling, she turned to face Bael who continued looking down at her. Its smile was gone leaving Its face flat and impenetrable.
“Do it,” she prodded, feeling her stomach twist and her hands shake. “Do it. Give me to another. Go on.” To her surprise, she felt a smile of mocking contempt spread across her face. “You can’t do it can you? You can't give me to them anymore than you can touch me. Fuck you.”
It dropped Its face to hers. She met Its challenge. It would not give her up, and she knew it. These things were not here for her and Bael knew it. Piece of shit. Was this how desperate It had become? What was he trying to do? Threaten her into answering that single question?
“Would you die for him?”
No, she would not die for Bael. She would not die for anything It represented. But for another, that she didn’t know. For the Conduit in from the underpass? She couldn't. This question was a riddle.
It moved, Its large, long hand came to her face. She flinched, heart thumping in her chest. Large, decaying white fingers ever so gently attempted to touch her forehead. Quickly, it pulled away. Unlike the underpass, unlike the times in the Circle, the barrier between them was fully in place. It was testing the boundary. It couldn't touch her and, she hoped to God, it was safe to assume the others couldn't either. She was overcome with an urge to push It. To see what It could do. It had done it before.
“If I hold you, I hold them as well. Remember that,” she sneered, gesturing to the monsters behind her. “So tell me. Where is Josh?”
Its long mouth widened into a sickening smile, then It and its grotesque smile faded from in front of her. It had moved, standing in the shadows of a tree at the school gate. Glancing at the beings behind her, Ellie turned and began to follow.
“Find him Sam,” she had said. As he hobbled towards the most obvious place that Josh would be, he couldn't help but marvel that the possibility of falling 20 stories was somehow lost on Ellie. The Pantheon ended up being closer to Ellie's apartment but further from his car. Walking across the street, he stopped to catch his breath. Taking in a huge gasp of air, he stared into the dark sky, letting the rain run down his face. This night had to end.
Wiping his brow, he could see Ellie's apartment building. He felt uneasy. It made sense that if Josh was not at the school then he would've come here. He would have been seeking Ellie just as she was seeking him. He wasn't sure what that all meant, with the most recent revelations in play. Civilisations ended when Bael and the Firewolf were reunited. That was what Jason had told him. What he didn't tell Jason, however, was that the meeting of these two old friends had already taken place.
Walking up the stairs to the entrance hall, he peered in through the glass door. Two dormant elevators and a few randomly chosen pot plants. No sign of Josh. He trotted back down the stairs, gazing up at the side of the building. He was sure her apartment was on the sixth floor. The lights were off. Sam was sure Josh would be here.
Rounding back, Sam had one last look through the glass doors. There he was. Sitting around the corner; visible only as two small shoes poking out from behind the wall. He must have the code to the main door. Well, why wouldn't he? He had stayed here long enough. Sam gave three sharp knocks. The feet were quickly pulled from sight.
“Josh!” he called. There was no reply. Sam thought for a moment. Josh wouldn’t come to simply to anyone who called his name.
“It's Sam! Josh, open the door!” Sam leant his head, exhausted on the glass. “Come on… please. I would really like tonight to end on a positive,” he laughed to himself.
A small head poke around the corner and quickly vanished from sight. Sam waited, cold, sore and with growing impatience. He knew the words to get Josh's attention.
“Ellies been looking for you,” he said loudly.
Josh again glanced around the corner. Sam watched as his body followed excitedly, frowned, and then ducked back behind the corner. Relief washed over Josh, but so did frustration. He wasn't happy with Sam. If it wasn't for Sam, he wouldn't have had to leave. Ellie told him that it wasn't Sam's fault, but Josh wasn't sure if he believed her.
In the reflection of the chrome elevator door, Sam strained to see Josh standing up against the wall, his fingers rising one after the other in front of his face.
“What are you doing?”
Josh, embarrassed and annoyed, took a step to the side. “I’m counting to 10!” he shouted back.
Tired, beaten, and weary Sam knocked on the door again. “Come on Josh, cut that shit out now. I’m tired and I bet you're tired too. I really don't wanna end tonight running and screaming and I’m sure you don't either, so just open the door.”
Josh and Sam’s eyes met once more in the door’s reflection. Sam could see Josh lowering his hands, a rapid change in a child's mood.
Hesitating for a moment, Josh ran out from behind the wall and hit the button next to the door, bringing it open. Sam stumbled in as Josh stepped back, looking at him in amazement. “Why do you look so bad?”
“I got thrown off a building, but that doesn't seem to concern anyone,” Sam shrugged, crappy humour being his default. “What's going on? What happened?”
Fidgeting, Josh walked around Sam suspiciously. His eyes were fearful and anxious. “You told Ellie to make me go and everything went wrong. Everything was different. I don't like everything being different.”
“What is different, tell me.” Sam dropped his gaze, speaking soothingly which was very foreign to him.
“It’s there all the time.” Josh's eyes filled with tears. “I can't make it go away. I feel sick in my belly all the time. I can't go to sleep because I see bad things. I think bad things. It's like a blackness over me.”
Sam nodded. Expressed through a child’s words, but this was how it felt. He understood, and he needed Josh to know that. That as alone as Josh felt, there were others who knew this feeling and lived with the same burden.
“I know,” Sam nodded. “I know.”
“Why won’t it stop?” Josh began to cry. “Did I do something bad?”
“No,” Sam said sternly. “No. You did nothing bad.”
Josh nodded. He needed to believe this. He needed to believe that he wasn't bad. “Why do things hate me, but not leave me alone? And things that like leave?”
Sam didn't know how to answer. He knew the reason. He knew the challenge but couldn't find the words to explain it to a child in a way that would make sense.
“Who went away?”
“Mum.” Tears streamed down his face. “My friends. Ellie. You, you all went away. But Ron stayed, and Jamie stayed, and the dog… he stays. Why does that happen? I didn’t want it. I just want to be Josh again!”
Sam stepped forward, placing his hands on the child's shoulders, leaning into him as the room began to dim. “You are Josh. Do you hear me? You are Josh. Josh is cool!”
Sam was surprised as Josh stepped forward sobbing, wrapping his arms around him. Slowly, Sam clasped Josh, patting him gently on his back. The two Conduits held each other, embracing in a rare moment of complete understanding.
“You are Josh. Josh is cool, and strong, and funny. We really like Josh!” Sam said softly, ruffing Josh's beanie.
He felt Josh nod into his shoulder, saying in a small, muffled voice. “And you are too.”
Touched, Sam chuckled. Josh thought he was now making Sam feel better. Perhaps he was.
“Sam I am,” he joked quietly, pretty sure Josh wouldn't get the reference.
The door behind them swung open as Ellie raced in. Seeing Josh, she breathed a sigh of relief as he ran to her.
“Where were you!” she cried.
“I was waiting for you!” Josh replied, as if it was obvious.
She shook her head, pulling him towards her and watched, concerned, as Sam painfully stood. “Are you OK?”
“Yeah I’m OK. It was a fun-filled night.”
Taking Josh's hand, Ellie led them to the door. Noticing her agitation, Sam went to ask her why. Anxiously, she shook her head. Not yet. She would settle Josh and then take him home. Assuming, she hoped, there was one to go back to.
The elevator door opened to the Pantheon and Luka quickly entered. Message from Jason.
TAKE IT ALL DOWN NOW
Luka wasn't sure if the sense of urgency was embedded in the text or was being fed by his paranoia. Here, alone and at 1AM. Mika wouldn’t be pleased. He wasn't allowed to have the code, let alone get the swipe card. Mika would kick both their asses. The securities he had put in place had to be removed. Now. He stepped back from the elevator door as it closed. Above it, on a barely visible stamp-sized piece of parchment, was a symbol. There, upon the hall table, sitting amongst expensive pieces of shit art that Mika had acquired, was the dollar shop vase Luka had used for the occasion. It had to be destroyed. The symbol had to be removed.
