Experiment in Terror 05 On Demon Wings (32 page)

body.

“I’m sorry,” I said, trying to focus on my parents as

Maximus picked me up and put me back into bed.

“We know you are,” he said to me. His drawl was so

gentle that I almost forgot he thought it was al in my head.

“We’re going to have to keep you tied up, though. You

understand, darling’?”

“Don’t cal me darlin’,” I managed to say.

He smiled. “Good to see you’re stil with us. But just so

your, er, other self knows...your father has the police alerted

to what’s going on. In case you get any more out of hand.

And, I’m afraid, that despite what your sister thinks, the

hospital
is
going to be the best place for you. I’m just sorry I

didn’t know about this sooner, Perry. I’m sorry I actual y

thought you were haunted. I would have never gone along

with the clearing thing; it just made things worse. It gave

proof to the delusion.”

But you saw!
I thought, now too weak to say anything.

You saw the beast! You’re a liar. A goddamn liar!

He stroked the hair off my forehead. I flinched and glared

at him, which only made him point at my dad. “I think we

might need some more rope here.”

“You guys are fucking sick,” Ada snarled from the back

of the room. She shook her head and held herself tightly. “I

can’t stand here and watch you do this. I won’t.”

She shot me one last look. It was a look I couldn’t read.

She left the room and my heart sank.

My dad re-did the ropes on my arms and legs so I was

strapped down to the bed. There was a moment where I

was free. Where I thought about shoving him off and running

away. I didn’t know where, but I would leave the house and

run to the river and just run and run until they couldn’t find

me. I’d be safe there. I wouldn’t be dragged off to the

hospital. I’d stil have this thing inside of me, Abby, a

demon, whatever it was, but at least I wouldn’t be carted off

to a hospital. I didn’t want to destroy myself in a sterile

room. Like a dying dog, I wanted to go somewhere far

away and quiet. It was the last thing left that I could control.

But I didn’t move. I didn’t make a run for it, even though I

could have. My dad finished tying me up, avoiding my eyes

the whole time. He left the room with my mother. Then it

was just Maximus and me.

He pul ed up the chair from the desk and looked me

over. His green eyes glittered apologetical y but it wasn’t

enough. I had wanted more from him. I had wanted

someone who would have fought to the death over me. I

wanted someone who’d sacrifice for me. Someone who

had my back. Someone who would save me if I couldn’t

save myself.

That was not Maximus. It never had been. I was just a

quick fuck to him. Never anything else.

Story of my life.

“I’m sorry it has to be this way, Perry,” he said, knowing

better than to cal me darling again. “I real y like you. A lot. I

mean an awful, ridiculous amount.”

You’ve got to be kidding me. Was he breaking up with

me? We weren’t even in a relationship.

“But you need so much more than I can give you,” he

went on, running his fingers down my arm. “You need help

and I’m going to help you as much as I can, but you have to

help yourself too. It’s a darn shame this had to happen. I

think we could have real y had something. And, wel , maybe

someday we can. I think we’d make quite the team. You

know, outside of al this. Especial y if you agree to doing the

show with me. When you’re better, of course.”

That did it.

“Maximus,” I said.

He gave me an inquisitive look. “What?”

I spat in his face with al the nastiness I could muster. The

bal of spit landed right on his nose.

I smiled viciously at the look of shock on his face. “That

was from me, too. The real Perry.”

He gave me a mean little smile, then wiped his nose and

got up. He put the chair back, saying “I’l be staying

overnight here. I’l come see you later.”

He pul ed the door behind him until it was a few inches

open. I was alone with my thoughts until the pil s kicked in

and pul ed me into a haze.

Of course, I was never real y alone anymore.

I might never be alone again.

The rest of the day passed by in radical shifts. I was

drugged and under for periods of time. Then I’d awake,

squirming in the bed, almost rising above it, kept in place

only by the ropes that kept me down. I was out of control,

then in control, then out of control, then in control. The thing

and I switched on and off but I didn’t get to cal the shots. I

could only get him/her/it to leave when I concentrated hard

enough. But it drained me and I’d fal back asleep again.

People came and went. Time slowed down. My mother

came in and sat beside me for awhile. She couldn’t look

me in the eyes. I didn’t know if it was because she was

ashamed or hurt or because my eyes now belonged to

someone else. She said, “This doesn’t get easier,” and

patted my arm.

I never got any more out of it. My dad was even briefer. I

could see the guilt in his face was eating him alive. I should

have been happy about that, but it just made me feel sad.

Maximus offered to spoon feed me dinner. I told him I’d

barf on him like Linda Blair in
The Excorcist
. He didn’t

broach the topic of food after that.

But the one person I wanted to see, Ada, had stayed

away. I knew she was aching and I knew I must have hurt

her terribly when I attacked her. I stil didn’t know exactly

what had gone down but I knew it must have been

traumatizing to be attacked by your sister, even one as

unpredictable as me. Stil , I figured she’d come by and visit.

Tel me something to cheer me up. Talking about fixing me

and getting me out of there and how I wouldn’t have to go to

a mental institute (because, let’s face it, that’s where I’d be

going in the long run). But it would have just been talk

anyway. She wouldn’t be able to help me. And that’s why

she was staying away. It hurt too much to see me like this.

But it would hurt me less if I could see her.

I sighed and closed my eyes. It was night and stil raining

steadily. Cold seeped in through the windows and sat

thickly in the air. I had heard my parents talking earlier

about how cold it was in the room, that the thermostat must

be broken. They were so oblivious, I swear.

“How are you feeling?” Maximus asked.

He was back in the room with me, sitting at the desk and

using my computer. He turned in his seat, watching me.

“How do you think I’m feeling?”

“Do you feel like kil ing anyone?”

“Aside from you?”

He got up and came over to me, towering high and

mighty, his red coif almost reaching the ceiling.

“Are you scared?” he asked.

I shot him a testy look. “What do you think? I’m tied to my

fucking bed.”

“It’s for your own safety. And everyone else’s. If we were

to let you loose...”

“Loose? I’m not a fucking animal.”

“Part of you is. You know it.”

I did know it. I knew why I was tied down. I knew, and I

was almost grateful because it meant I couldn’t hurt the

ones I loved. I knew the minute I was free that’s exactly what

the thing would make me do.

“Just get through tonight,” he said soothingly. “Things wil

turn around tomorrow.”

“And what wil you do when the men in the white coats

take me away? What wil you say then? Wil you stil ask me

if I’m scared?” My voice started to tremble. I couldn’t help it.

I felt the thing entering part of my head and squatting,

waiting for an opportunity. When I was scared, upset, when

waiting for an opportunity. When I was scared, upset, when

my guard was down, that’s when it would prey on me. I was

starting to predict it. I wanted to warn Maximus, to tel him to

step away from me. But part of me wanted to hurt him for

hurting me and I didn’t know what part.

“Wherever you end up, Perry, it’l be for the best,” he

said, as if he knew. “They’l make you new again. The

doctors wil help you. They’l treat you. You’l be given

medicine and it’l fix you. Those mental institutions have a

bad rap, you know that. But they do more good than harm,

especial y for people like you. It may be scary at first, but

you’l be fixed. You’l be as good as new.”

“Are you sure about that,
Max
?” someone said.

The voice was shocking in its familiarity, the way it made

the arms on my hair stand up. It was low, rich, deep.

And hardened.

Maximus flinched and whipped his head toward the

door. His burly frame was blocking my view and I could only

crane my neck so far to see who else was in the room.

I saw Ada walk past the foot of the bed, her eyes locked

to mine, warning me about something.

Then Maximus, in his most disbelieving drawl, said,

“What in God’s name are
you
doing here?” and moved

over just enough so that I could see Dex standing in the

doorway.

The room swirled in slow motion. I couldn’t breathe. My

eyes widened and froze that way. My body tensed up. My

heart lurched around from a mil ion emotions I couldn’t even

name.

Dex. My Dex. My Dex who broke up my heart.
My
Dex

was in
my
bedroom.

He looked older somehow. My mind was barely

processing thought but somehow I was able to fixate on the

little details of him. Time stood stil .

His shoulders seemed a bit wider and there was a bit

more beef to his arms, which poked out of black t-shirt, his

damp cargo jacket flung over one forearm. I don’t know why

I thought he would have gone skinnier with grief or

something. Wishful thinking. His face was different too. The

eyebrow ring was gone and he had a thin layer of scruffy

facial hair like he only shaved every couple of days. It suited

him. His eyes were the same. Deep brown, shiny and a

mil ion degrees of intensity.

He wasn’t moving, just standing there. His expression

went from surprise to indignation to rage as he looked me

over, taking in the sorry sight that I was.

Then he sprang into action. He stormed into the room,

his arms gesturing wildly to me, and marched right up to

Maximus and got in his face. Or almost his face, since

Maximus was tal er.

“What the fuck is this?” Dex yel ed waving his arms

wildly. “What are you doing to her?”

“What the fuck is this? What the fuck are you? Why are

you here? You shouldn’t be here!” Maximus said right back

to him, not backing down.

“You should thank your freckled ass that I’m here,” he

shot back, closing the space between them.

“Guys!” Ada yel ed from the other side of me. “It’s OK, I

invited him.”

I looked at her incredulously. She mouthed “sorry” to me.

“Why would you do a stupid thing like that?” Maximus

said to her across the bed.

“Stupid?” she squawked. “I’m not going to sit back and

let you tie
my
sister to her own bed, pretend you know what

the hel is going on with her and then cart her off to a

hospital tomorrow when we al know she’s probably not

going to be coming back!”

I was touched by my sister’s loyalty and her built-in

ferocity. I felt the tears creeping up in my eyes, al too

overwhelmed by the situation, what was going to happen to

me, and the fact that the man who had broken my soul and

made my last few months a living hel , was standing a few

feet away from me.

And then I felt that little twitch in my brain, like bugs were

crawling in underneath a door. Something was choosing

this time, of al times, to take over. I tried to force the

blackness out, the suffocating cloak or pure evil. My eyes

rol ed back in my head and fluttered involuntarily as I

concentrated.

“What’s wrong with her?” Dex asked gently, his voice

strained. He came closer.

“I’d stay away if I were you, son,” Maximus said, putting

his arm out to stop him.

Dex shot him a dirty look and threw his arm off of him.

He stopped right by the bed and crouched down so that his

face was at my level. I wanted to look at him but I couldn’t. I

had to fight and fight harder because I was losing.

“She’s not wel ,” he said absently.

“No shit, Sherlock,” said Maximus.