Chained

Nine

I step aside, shame and nausea warring inside of me as I allow the monster inside. Michael enters as if he knew all along that I would give in.

He picks up the candle and leans close. Too close as he examines my eyes. I jerk back before he can touch me. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I am trying to ascertain how bad the effects are," Michael says. "I need to be cautious. You might decide to knock me down the stairs, rip out my heart and eat it."

I laugh humorlessly. "Right. Like that's going to happen."

Michael doesn't blink. "As I said, this isn't my first time with one of Freddie's victims."

Everything blurs. It has to be the drug that is poisoning me, but I'm afraid that it's Michael's poisonous words.

My hand around her throat.

The room churns with an utter mercilessness. A similar mercilessness coats Michael's dead eyes, as if he is staring at a corpse.

As if I'm already dead.

"Let's get one thing straight!" I snap, holding myself steady against the swaying. "I don't like you one bit. You are the leader of some messed up cult and if Freddie is this way, it's from your 'family'."

Michael doesn't react to my mocking air quotes at the end. "Yes. She is this way because of us. But it doesn't change the fact that you are another one of her victims. If she had her way, you'd be chained to our family. She just had to open your eyes up to the impossible first."

"Even if it killed her?" I ask in disbelief.

"Belief is a powerful thing, Jason Hill. You believed that Freddie was a helpless victim and treated her in such a way. So you allowed her to turn you into a victim. Your belief allowed you to enter the world of her beliefs."

I don't think that would have made sense even if I was in my right mind. "Can we just go find her?" I ask belligerently.

He inclines his head. "Of course. After you."

"You go first," I say, not wanting him behind me.

And the ground rocked too much. I wasn't sure if I could navigate the undulating floor.

"If you forgive me, I will not," Michael says. "I want to keep an eye on you. It is not my time to die this night, Jason Hill. Although Freddie probably hoped that you would be the instrument of my destruction."

"What are you saying?" I scoff. "Freddie wanted me to kill you?"

"Yes."

I grab onto the wall, trying futilely to gain some semblance of stability. "Stop trying to make her out to be a monster. Do you know I offered to get my rifle and she told me not to do it?"

"Because you aren't in your right mind," Michael says. "She was afraid that you would turn it on her."

"Whatever," I mumble. "Fine. I'll go first. Let's just get this done and then you two can get the hell out."

I begin climbing the stairs, but the stairs swirl into oblivion. Everything shakes and I wince as a searing pain touches my back.

It's Michael. He is steadying me.

"Let go!" I growl.

I force myself up the churning steps, feeling very much like I'm ascending a tidal wave. My feet seem to slip through the insubstantial surface and it takes longer than it should to make it to the second floor. Michael shows no sign of impatience, simply waiting for my ridiculously long climb.