Red Vengeance

Chapter 18- Flames

                Smoke.

                Thick, black smoke made the night sky even darker. Impossibility to see the stars became an issue, but then again, I had no desire to look up. My eyes already fixated themselves on another scene, something much more pressing.

                All in slow motion, paramedics lifted my best friend onto a gurney. I tried to help; I should have at least showed Devi enough respect to help take his body away. However, once again, I was just a gentle breeze. I wanted to speak out loud, but my energy was lacking.

                I could smell the smoke filling the air, and it reminded me of the murders Devi and I had committed in the past. We had always sought out those who deserved to die, people who had harmed or wronged others. Then, we would get our victim alone and brutally rape them. It didn’t matter if the victim was a man or a woman, old or young; all that mattered was that justice was being served. After we raped our victims, or, in some cases, during, we killed them. We often used Devi’s favorite pocket knife, which I wished I could have snatched from Devi’s belongings for a keepsake when he was locked away.

                After we killed our victims, there was always smoke. This smoke came from the fire we would build to burn the bodies of our victims. It was similar to the smoke of the burning asylum, only, one difference kept it from being an exact resemblance. The smoke from our victims was bloody smoke, and the stench was absolutely terrible. It wasn’t just the scent of smoke, it was mixed with the fumes of burning flesh, which always sickened me. However, Devi had always been there to get my mind off of it.

                I watched Devi’s body get loaded into an ambulance, and I could smell the normal, blood-free smoke. Suddenly, I wished this smoke was the burning flesh-scented smoke instead, then Devi would still be there to get my mind off of it.

                I turned around to glance at all the fire trucks parked several feet away from the burning building, and the firemen who were busting inside to search for a few people who had apparently turned up missing during the evacuation. Then I looked around for anyone I recognized… McAllister, Curtis, Ross, or even Lydia, but the only people left were cops and firemen. The ambulance containing Ross was long gone, and the one carrying Devi’s body had just sped off.

                Suddenly, I heard a voice right behind me.

                “Sabi,”

                I jumped, and froze at the sound of the voice that I never expected to hear again.

                “I’m sorry for what I did to you,” the voice continued. “I… I wronged you terribly, more than any of our victims had ever wronged anyone before.”

                I spun around, and there stood my best friend who had just passed away. His spirit was trapped here now, just like mine. We were both ghosts.

                “I love you, man,” Devi said, smiling at me. I loved to see him smiling at me; it was the most innocent smile I had ever seen on his face. “I had a feeling you were still hanging around here… I could feel you.”

                I smiled back at my buddy, and found that I was able to speak to him.

                “I’ve missed you,” I said, overjoyed.

                “And I missed you,” Devi chuckled. “Come on, man… we don’t need to roam around here for all eternity.”

                “What do you mean?” I asked. Devi’s expression was serious then.

                “We need to pass on… While I was on the edge of death, an angel came to me.”

                I just stared at him.

                “You’re kidding me, right?”

                “No, man…” Devi smiled softly. “He told me what we need to do so we can just rest in peace.”

                “Rest in peace?”

                “Come on, man,” Devi said. “Let’s rest in peace together.”

                I thought about that for a moment. That sounded very nice. I smiled at my best friend again, thrilled to have the opportunity to spend the rest of eternity with him. I wondered what it was like, but then I decided it didn’t matter. As long as Devi and I were together, it didn’t matter what the rest of our eternity was like.

                “So, what do we need to do?” I asked, ready to leave this world with him.

                “Here,” Devi held his hand out to me.

                I looked into his eyes, and saw sincerity. No sign of insanity appeared in his face, and I liked seeing him this way. He no longer scared me. I took Devi’s hand, and we slowly lifted up off the ground. I gasped and looked all around us, but then, surprisingly, I felt no fear, only relaxation, as we began to slowly float upwards, towards the sky. No thoughts passed through my head as Devi drifted us higher and higher, up through the clouds.

                Below, the sound of the panicking people, the water hoses spraying down the burning building, and the smell of the thick, black smoke all faded away, as if my senses had all been numbed. It reminded me of the times during my life that I had shared with Lydia, when nothing else had mattered.

                Lydia.

                I wished her true safety and happiness.

                I wondered where it was, exactly, that we were headed. Was I going to get to meet my father in heaven? If that was the case, I didn’t understand it. Devi and I did not deserve to go to heaven.

                The higher up into the sky we went, the less our destination was important to me, and the duller my senses became. We traveled up in silence, and Devi and I, hand in hand, slowly whited out as we entered into an eternal state of rest.

                After that, all we knew was flames.