The Others

Chapter 18: The Daruma San

I glanced at Joan.

A stranger who possessed her likeness now stood in her place. The smiling, laughing buffoon who I had grown fond of disappeared, replaced by a hardened child soldier. Joan bounced on the balls of her feet, her stance wide and unfaltering as she stared into the forest. The air around her grew thick and crackled with static electricity. The sixteen-year-old looked completely lethal in her white, polyester suit, like a science experiment gone wrong.

Joan offered my hand a tight squeeze upon noticing my stare. That was her real superpower, I realized, making people feel better in times of utter hopelessness. There was a light that existed within her and when she looked upon you, even for the brevity of a second, that light could warm your soul. I had grown dependent on her light but like most things, I didn't notice until it was gone.

"I'm going to do something really stupid, Phe." She whispered in my ear.

I pulled back, frightened by her morbid tone. "What do you mean?"

Stupid implied she was about to do something silly or dumb. Like the time Nic and I raided her mother's closet, stealing her finest dresses made of silk and satin fabrics, imported from fancy Parisian boutiques with names I could never pronounce. That day we situated Nic's stuffies into two parallel lines, creating a makeshift catwalk. We performed the most outrageous child fashion show to be seen in toy history. Looking back on the whole affair now, I would call it pretty stupid. But Joan's tone implied a degree of severity that did not quite match my definition.

"Remember what we discovered at the canteen," she said, "you need a lot of energy to manifest your power."

"I can't do anything here, Joan. I can't make an electrical surge from trees." I gestured to our surroundings.

"Everything possesses energy." Joan released my hand and took a step forward.

Baited by her sudden movement the demon also stepped forward, not yet exposing itself to us. They looked to be playing a twisted game of chess, with each step bringing them closer to an attack. With one final movement, Joan drew the creature into the light revealing its foul profile. The rotting figure towered over Joan, its face a gnarled mess of shredded skin and exposed bone. Its mouth, a perpetual smile carved onto its face with daggers replacing teeth and black ink oozing from its lizard-like tongue. The metallic odor of its victims blood hung to its skin like a repugnant cologne.

For one breathless second the two stared at each other, predator and prey, trapped in a deadly dance. Then, Joan stepped around the creature and darted into the woods. Thrilled by the hunt, the demon took after her. It was not long after the chase began did I hear Joan's scream and the hungered snarl of the beast's stomach. Joan's body soared through the trees before landing into a crumpled ball at my feet. I crouched over her body noticing the deep gash which ran along the length of her arm. She whimpered as her whole body began to convulse in my embrace.

I stood as Daruma San made its dramatic return. If possible the demon looked smug with its beedy eyes staring at me, begging for me to try next. My blood simmered as an uncontrollable rage consumed me. A powerful wind swept across the forest floor, shaking the ground beneath my feet as it uprooted centuries old trees. The demon stumbled back as the wind raged on. I watched through a film of tears as the Daruma San attempted to brave the elements. It swiped through the air with one clawed hand in a vain attempt to grab me. At this point, the wind carried its body to the edge of the treeline.

Untouched by the gusts of wind, I stalked towards the beast. My hands twisted in and out of fists as the murderous fire continued to ravage my body. I acted without abandon, reaching out and grabbing the demon by its face. In one swift motion, I stabbed my thumbs into its sockets and gouged out its beedy, red eyes. I became a spectator as a darker presence lingering within my body rose to consciousness. This presence, this thing trapped inside of me was the source of the insidious fire which licked at limbs, propelling me to brutally maime the beast in front of me. I had no idea how to gouge someone's eyes out nor did I possess the ability or desire to do so but the darker being refused to settle for anything less than blood.