The Rede Breaker

Chapter 28: The Demons out of the bag

I am relieved as we pull up to our house.

It feels divine to finally be home. My energy is positively drained. I successfully dodge all of Sierra's questions with a half-hearted questioning of my own body.

I can still smell the rotting smell of Anarch's skin in my nose.

Sierra questions me one last time and I sidestep her questions in favor of a nap. I slyly slip out of the conversation and head up to my room to get some rest.

For the first time in months, my sleep is not plagued by the demonic presence. I am aroused out of my nap by loud voices coming from downstairs. My pillow is wet with drool as I groggily roll onto my back, staring up at the growing shadows on my ceiling.

I sit up when something falls in my closet.

I clumsily roll off the bed and stumble over to the closet. A terrifying feeling rises from the depths of my being as I approach the closet. It feels as if I am not alone in the room. I stop halfway to the closet, trying to will myself forward.

A deep, calming breath relaxes me enough to march forward and wrench the door open.

Nothing is there.

The only thing on the floor of my closet is a shoe box. It has fallen from the stack in the back of the closet. I bend down to pick up the box when something moves in front of me.

I stumble backwards, out of the closet, and stare into the darkness. Rushing to the light switch, I turn on the light to reveal that nothing is there. My mind is unable to reconcile what I feel and what is real.

Anarch's presence in the waking world has given me a case of the hibbies.

My phone beeps on the end table behind me, alerting me to a new message. A quick glance at the empty closet settles me enough to assure myself I am being paranoid. The message is from Archer. He asks if he can see me tonight.

My entire body stiffens for a total of three seconds before I respond that he can come over. The truth is that I need to see him. I have questions only he can answer. My feelings for him have grown but so has my suspicion.

I beam down at the phone as I reply. It is almost enough to forget about my hallucination in the closet. I close the closet before leaving the room entirely and head downstairs to find Sierra sitting in the living room with Mor, Diego and Leon.

I lean on the doorway until Mori notices me.

"What's going on? Are we partying again?" I ask.

"We were worried after today. You looked like crap after you guys left." Mori says. "How are you feeling now?"

I snort at her honesty and smile, even though the thought of Anarch breaking into our reality unsettles me. "Fine. I just had a panic attack. Nothing major. It's been happening since I was a kid."

"Right. But you looked like you saw a ghost." Diego says.

"I'm fine. So, party, or no?"

"Well, Eric invited me over to go over some case stuff. Mori and Leon werew already here when I got here." Diego says. "I texted him about five minutes ago. He says he's stopping to get a few pizzas."

"Best news I've heard all day. I'm starving. Did he get--"

"Ground beef and black olives? So disgusting and yes." Sierra says.

There is a knock on the door. The knock is suspiciously hard, almost as if someone is pounding on the door. I wonder out loud if Sierra called Audrey, to which she confirms she is not expecting anyone else. Diego makes a joke that if it's Eric, he moves faster than a speeding bullet.