SKULLCRUSHERS

Chapter 21: My Heart is Burning

Dave and AJ reach the house as they hold hands but soon they let go as they walk onto the porch with no sign of Skull anywhere, AJ looks over at Dave as he stands by her "Hey Dave where's Skull?" Dave shrugs "Not for sure probably in the backyard of our house you go ahead check on him i'm gonna put the rootbeer and your chips up i got some stuff to do so love you AJ'' Dave kisses AJ as she smiles and kisses back "Love you too goofball" Dave and AJ go inside the house as Dave goes to put the stuff up as for AJ she goes to check on Skull, she passes Surge's door and noticed its open and sees Surge working on something on a table, he seems really busy so she lets him be as she proceeds to the backyard. Skull gets out this training dummy for him to practice as he begins to punch it with quick hits, each hit makes the training dummy wobble around from the hard hits that Skull delivers. AJ opens the door and sees him hitting the training dummy so she sits down on the steps by the door and watches, Skull right hand lights on fire as he picks up the speed of his punches as he begins to remember the voices of the demons that burnt his right hand, the voices in his head begin to echo and get louder "You failed to be a demon cause you didn't do your job as one why!? what made you want to stop torturing those filthy humans huh!? Felt bad for them? You didn't want to hurt their feelings or see them cry in pain!? Tell us you useless worm!" He goes faster with his punches as the voices continue to echo "I didn't want to hurt them. I have a soul. I feel guilty for hurting them. I don't want to do this anymore!" The demon laugh echos "Too bad it's what your life will always be, a worthless bag of meat that kills with no guilt now burns this worthless demon's right hand as a punishment for having a soul and betraying our kind!" Tears start to go down Skull's face as he remembers the pain in his right hand from being dipped into the lava "NO NO PLEASE DON'T DO THIS" the demon laughs "Too late! Accept your punishment, you worthless worm!" The demons stick Skull's hand into the lava as he feels the extreme pain in his right hand "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Skull's scream echoes loudly as he feels everything melting off his right hand, they take his right hand out of the lava, the flesh melts away and the muscle tissue melts away with it, all there's left is his boney right hand "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" the demons laugh as Skull looks at his right hand in pain and terror hearing the demons laughs echo. "AHHHHHHHH!" Skull yells filled with rage he swings his right arm with all his strength he punches a hole through the dummy's chest as his flaming hand burns right through it. AJ eyes go wide wondering what caused him to hit the dummy faster and make him yell? Soon before she can think of anything else Skull falls to his knees "Skull!" She gets up quickly and runs towards Skull, Skull is on his hands and knees as he cries from remembering the voices and painful memories "Skull! You alright?" AJ gets on her knees and leans down making sure he's ok. Skull sniffles as he slowly turns his head to face AJ "AJ?..." he says softly "Skull what's wrong?" she wipes one of the tears off his cheek "Here" she helps him up "Let's sit down and explain to me what made you flip out and fall down" Skull nods slowly as they head towards the stars near the backdoor, they sit down and AJ looks at Skull in the eyes "Alright tell me what was going and don't lie either" Skull sighs and wipe away the rest of the tears off his cheek and then clears his throat "I was just training to keep myself prepared for future battles after what happened to Dave when he was badly hurt." AJ shakes her head "I don't want to know why you were hitting the dummy. I want to know what caused you to hit the dummy with fast speed and then you yelled and fell to the ground. Did you remember something that made you do that?" Skull looks away showing that he doesn't want to talk about it, "Is it the memories of you being in hell and them burning your hand?" Skull slowly looks back at AJ and tries to say something but words fail to come out knowing that AJ is right, so he doesn't say anything he gives a simple nod agreeing. "Skull I know it's hard to forget the past but you gotta move on to better things. If you keep thinking about the past the more it'll bring yourself down, i know how you feel Skull as much i don't have experience cause i was mostly in heaven" Skull shakes his head and stands and walks off the stairs "So you don't understand me your lying to make me feel better!" AJ stands up quickly "No Skull! I really do understand it's hard to forget the past sometimes so please don't think I'm lying! Don't think that!" Skull quickly turns to face AJ and yells "ITS HARD TO FUCKING FORGET OK!? THEY BURNT MY RIGHT HAND OFF AND THEY MADE ME WATCH SO KINDA HARD TO FORGET THINGS LIKE!!" Skull's voice was loud and made AJ scared as tears go down her face she slowly backs away from him, Skull's right hand was on fire soon goes out when Skull realized he just yelled at AJ "I.....im so sorry i didn't mean to yell i lost myself there....its my fault.... I'm sorry AJ....i don't feel like myself..... I'm a monster ...." Skull quickly runs away "Skull wait!" AJ runs after him "You're no monster!" Skull disappears "Skull i seen the pain in your eyes, your hurt and i know you didn't mean to yell..." AJ tries to find him but he's gone "Skull...." AJ tears up soon making her wings come out and spread open and flies to the air to go look for him. Someone sees her fly in the air and then they contact someone on the walkie-talkie "Captain...i just saw someone fly with feathered wings i think its an angel sir." Skull runs into an and stops "I'm so sorry AJ! Stupid me loosing myself there i scared her so bad DAMMIT!!!" Skull slams his head against the wall leaving a print on the wall, blood slowly goes down his head as it hurt him but he doesn't care he continues to slam his head "STUPID.......ME........SCARING.......AJ.......GOD.........DAMMIT!" blood pours down from his head he soon stops because of the pain "AJ...*Sobs* i'm so sorry" Skull's vision begins to go blurry soon slowly begins to fade to black. Someone's voice echos "SKULL!" he can't tell who it is everythings fading but then it clears up and he can see again, soon he feels someone holding onto him "AJ?...." he mumbles under his breath "Yes Skull it's me!" he slowly turns to his right and sees AJ beside him holding onto him "What are you doing here?" "I was looking for you. I was so damn worried about you so much and when I saw you laying against the wall bleeding from your head I rushed to ya quickly and healed your wound. Why did you hurt yourself? Skull please tell me!" "I......" tears rush down his face quickly as he begins to cry "I just scared you so bad I felt horrible and wanted to punish myself for doing that!" "Skull its ok i forgive you you didn't mean to yell its ok" Skull shakes his head quickly "No i can't i should be punished for what i did!" AJ grabs Skulls head and leans in towards his face "Skull you don't deserve to be punished for a simple mistake so please stop" Skull and AJ look at each other in the eyes soon AJ says "I know i may be an angel and your a demon but it's the only way to help" "What do you mean-" AJ pulls him by his leather jacket and kisses him, Skull's eyes go wide and then she stops kissing him "AJ....did you.....just.....kiss me?" "I care about you Skull. I wanted to show how much i care about ya i hate seeing you down and upset over a simple mistake so its ok Skull so don't ever hurt yourself again ya hear me? Do it again, you'll get something worse." Skull tilts his head "What are you going to do?" AJ gives this evil smirk "I'll cut your dick off or pull it off and cook it and make you eat it" Skull's eyes go wide "Y-your joking r-right?...." she leans in and gives this creepy smile that looks cute and says "No....heh heh heh heh..." her voice sounded sexual but creepy at the same time giving Skull chills down his spin "Ok.....sounds good i will never hurt myself again and blame myself for messing up on simple mistakes!" AJ chuckles "Good" She kisses him on the cheek "Now come on Skull let's head home" Skull nods quickly still looking scared "O-Ok...." AJ holds onto Skull's arm as they head home. A shadow figure stands in the dark part of the alley way and watches Skull and AJ leave "She just left with Skull, proceed to follow them if they arrive at the home, wait on my command, I need to talk to the guys about this".