The Opposites

Rose the anti-christ

Jerome's P.O.V:

"ROSE!" I heard the scream echo from the other side of the office. I tore my gaze from my monitor to the window looking into the hallway. "JEROME! RYAN!" Mitch's voice rang through the building. His screams were suddenly cut off, and the building fell eerily silent.

"Need to cut the stream short," I gave my face cam a confused look, unsure of what to say before shutting my computer off and running towards the hallway. I pushed the door open just as Lachlan sprinted past my office.

"Goddammit!" He fell to the floor, holding his head in pain. He had ran straight into the door as I opened it, and it the cut looked quite painful.

"Lachlan!" I bent down to examine the injury on his forehead. A splinter in my door had made a gash, and it began to bleed profusely. I tried to help but Lachlan kept swatting me away with his hand.

"Go help Mitch!" He commanded, pointing down the hall. I nodded, shouting an apology over my shoulder as I ran to his office.

"MITCH?" I yelled, his room completely empty. I ran to the main entrance, the doors to the building wide open, and Rob's rental car missing from the parking lot.

"Shit!" My head spun, it had to be Rose, there was no other option. He could be anywhere at this point. I ran to my car, pulling out my phone and keys. I started to text Mitch, hoping he could reach his phone, that Rose forgot to take it off of him.

Me: Sent at 9:34pm

where is he taking you

Read 9:35pm

Mitch: Sent at 9:35pm

c hur ch i thi nk on 63 str eet

I glanced at his jumbled response before starting the car, pulling onto the street. I knew exactly where that chapel was, it was one of the locations the guys and I had memorized, for Mitch's sake.

Sure enough, Rob's car was parked right in front of the building, most of the area around the place obscured in the evening's darkness. I silently parked my car and walked around to the trunk, removing a false bottom to reveal my baseball bat; well, Rome's baseball bat. I hated to even look at the thing, but I grabbed it anyway, creeping across the garden to the back of the church.

Just being near the place of worship stirred parts of my soul. I shivered in the warm summer air, feeling the blood draining from my extremities when I heard faint voices in the distance. I scrunched up against the wall, light from a fire illuminating where the two were.

"Sit still and stay quiet, it'll hurt less," Rose's stern voice commanded. I heard a grumble of complaint and a sharp hiss, along with the sloshing of liquid. "Fuck!" Rose exclaimed, and in my curiousity I poked my head around the corner to see him in industry grade gloves with a large pot in his hands. Mitch was tied to a large cross, steel wires forming a pentagram in front of him.

He looked up from the ground at the sounds of my movement. He caught my gaze, fear and despair in his fire illuminated irises. I whipped my head back around the corner as Rose glanced up at Mitch.

"Oh Jerrroooooommmmmeeee!" Rose sang, his footsteps loud and deliberate, nearing my hiding place slowly. My heart was distraught, unsure whether to run or fight. Running really wasn't an option, considering I came here to save Mitch, but trying to run from Rose would be impossible.

"Do something!" Mitch's pained voice yelled from the cross. I readied the bat in my hands, and swung as hard as I could as Rose rounded the corner.