The Pseudo Semicolon

CHAPTER 17: The Consequences of Your Actions

Life wasn't good.

Devland felt paranoid. It has been a while since he saw the devil, and seeing the Elites in school made his stomach turn. What was even worse was that whenever he saw Todd, he wanted to bury him six feet deep.

"Don't do that." Akira said, "I can't kiss you if you're in jail."

Devland pondered the answer, "That is terrible."

"Exactly."

Devland couldn't help but grin. He felt free whenever he was around Akira, no longer having to restrain himself from kissing him or touching him. Now, he could hold his hand whenever he wanted. It was amazing.

However, doubts plagued his mind; What if he fucked up? What if he did something that made Akira want to leave him? What if—Oh that's a nice sweater actually, I wonder where she got it from. Did I do the homework for AP Bio? Ah who the fuck cares, I don't have to be that diligent in my work anymore—mother doesn't care. I can relax for a while and be normal... but fuck I did not finish the homework. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck—

"Speaking of, shouldn't we talk about the elephant in the room?" Akira asked quietly as Devland checked outside and cautiously shut the door to the janitor's closet.

"I—I honestly don't know." Devland sighed, slumping onto the floor, "Maybe we can take the case to a more higher authority?"

"Even if they do go to jail, they'll just use daddy's money to get out of it." Akira grumbled, "Fuck, this is a shitty situation."

"Understatement of the century." Devland extended his arms and Akira obliged, curling up beside him and keeping his head on his chest. "We should probably decode the diary and the black book. There's so much to do."

"What if someone dies right now?" Akira asked, so horrified that he shot up from his position, looking back at Devland with fear in his eyes, "What if because we were too late in decoding the book, we let another person get killed?"

"What are they even trying to achieve? How many more people should die?" Devland removed his bag and took out the thick book, laying it on the floor and opening it. "Fuck, its in Latin."

"Wait—" Akira's eyes lit up as he brought out his own textbook in Latin, ruffling through the pages. "Remember how I said the thief left some very helpful study tips in my textbook? Well..."

He showed Devland the yellow sticky notes attached to most of the pages. The thief's handwriting looked more elegant than Akira's scritchy-scratchy one. Devland frowned, examining both the handwritings a little more carefully.

"What's wrong?" Akira asked quizzically.

"Nothing... anyway we should probably start. Fuck should we skip class today?"

Akira averted his gaze, staring uncomfortably at the floor. Devland nodded in understanding, "It's fine, I can handle this."

"I promise I'll meet you during lunch."

"No. I heard you had some tests tomorrow, and it's exam season. You should be prepping for your SATs and stuff. You can hit the library and study there if you want, I'll meet you halfway through lunch."

Akira scoffed, getting up and gathering his stuff. He lightly kicked the other's shin. "Listen up, dipshit, I'll come pick you up at lunch and then we'll both go to the library. I'll also keep an eye on the Elites, just in case they decide to run off and go all stabby stabby on people."

"Fine, fine." Devland chuckled breezily as Akira exited the room. Then, it was just him and the darkness.

'Did Max predict this far ahead?' Devland mused, 'He probably knew about the cult. I wonder what he's written in that diary. Is the grey powder some kind of ashes of bones? Did Max not report the cult to the police because of Sheriff Jeffords? How can I properly make sure that they never do this kind of thing again? How can I make sure that they don't hurt people anymore? The devil... What did Max do to piss off an actual devil? Like I knew he was annoying but sheesh. Speaking of, it's been a while since they showed their ugly face again. Should I be concerned? And what were those memories that it showed me? Why was Max running? Who was he running away from? The devil? Or something else?

"Fuck..." Devland sighed, rubbing his temples, "One thing at a time, Dev. One thing at a time."

He started focusing on decoding it; The book was filled with obscene pictures and mad writings. There were some red stains on some of the yellow pages and Devland couldn't make sense out of any of them. He finally landed on a page consisting of the altar that was drawn eerily accurate to the altar they found in the cave.

There was an image of a person being shackled to it, screaming and writhing in pain, and below it, the text said: 'Puer virginis'. The next page consisted of another grotesque image; the devil ripping open the intestines of a mortal, a woman and two children watching the whole ordeal in horror. The man was placed at a peculiar angle on the altar; arms bending in ways it shouldn't bend, legs folding in ways it shouldn't fold.

Devland closed the book, bile rising in his throat. 'Surely the things the Elites wanted could be bought without the expense of other people's pain. Why did they go down this path? What did they want and what are they gonna do?

Devland thought back to Charlie's face the first time he saw him, Todd comforting him, Mitchel, Roy... their talk in the locker room. What made them go down this path?