RSE CH 24 (Patreon)

Asa was frightened. She was frightened out of her wits.

‘What’s happening? Wh-why?!’

Her mind was a frenzy of jumbled emotions and horrified thoughts. She couldn’t remember ever being so terrified. Not even at the lowest point in her short life, had she been so lost.

After being exiled from the church, she had been lost and confused. All her life had been dedicated to the church’s order and the only notable skills she had were praying and healing.

That’s why, when the Fallen Angels had found her, though she had been hesitant, she would have tried anything that got her back to what she knew… as long as it could help her preserve the life she had known. How badly they would twist her and how much her soul would suffer to make it back to the Church… she didn’t know.

They had assured her that, even though they were Fallen, they were still loyal to God. She’d believed them when they’d said they wished to repent for the sins that had led to their fall. They also told her that they needed her powers to help them on their path to redemption… and that by helping them, she would bring salvation to even more people.

How could she reject such a sweet proposal? Certainly not in the vulnerable state they’d found her in.

Since then, everything had been relatively smooth sailing. Even after coming to Spartanburg, despite the things she’d been asked to do, she’d been fortunate to have made a friend—a kind and gentle young man.

But then her good luck took a turn for the worse.

After meeting the crazy priest named Freed, she’d instinctively understood that she had been duped. Shortly after that, they revealed their heinous scheme… and forced her to go along with it.

She’d refused to believe the ball of anxiety in her gut that screamed what they were doing was evil. Deep down hoped that she was wrong. It had helped that for this mission, her role was to set up the barrier and wait behind it in silence unless they called for her healing. 

She didn’t know why each of the nephilim and their Fallen leader needed so many blades… or why Freed, the crazy priest, insisted on bringing that massive sword with him. For the first fifteen minutes, she’d sat behind the barrier and followed her orders. But it kept nagging at her psyche. 

Finally, after arguing with herself for another five minutes, she’d dropped the barrier and walked into the house that was their objective. Seeing the blood sprayed across one wall, along with the mutilated corpses of the poor people this house belonged to, had made her vomit. 

When she’d long ago run out of things to throw up, no longer even having bile to bring up, she had to accept the cold reality of her circumstances. 

She was a murderer. 

Sure, she hadn’t wielded a knife or cut off anyone’s head… but she had meekly assisted those who had. She hadn’t run screaming to the police. She hadn’t even bothered to run. 

When the leering priest had walked up to her and ordered her to clean his blood-smeared blade, she had mutely accepted it from him and found a dish towel to wipe the blood off of it.

When the laughing group of nephilim had returned to their base, she’d dumbly followed them and let them lock her into her room. 

At least Regina had the key. She’d fear for her body… if that crazy Freed had it. She’d fear for herself if Duane had it. The others had to hold her ‘brother’ back even as she healed his injuries—a shattered arm and broken ribs that he claimed her ‘boyfriend’ had given him.

She didn’t know if Leo was even capable of causing the terrible injuries Duane said he’d caused. Part of her hoped it was true. That part of her wanted Leo to be powerful—powerful enough to save her from her personal hell.

***

When Asa awoke, her unfocused eyes stared blearily at the ceiling above.

‘Is it a familiar ceiling… or an unfamiliar ceiling?’

She no longer cared. Even though her mind felt sluggish and her body ached from sleeping under a thin blanket on a stained mattress on the floor, she understood she wasn’t in a place that she recognized.

Her heart began to accelerate while bloody images of the previous night’s ‘mission’ flashed in her mind.

Hurk!

She barely managed to turn her face away from her threadbare blanket when the bologna sandwich she barely remembered eating the night before raced for daylight. Heaving up her dinner, face pale with horror and fear, she rolled towards the corner of the ratty mattress  and dry heaved, coughing loudly when her spittle got caught in her throat.

She remembered the sightless eyes that stared at her in death. She remembered everything that had happened.

Hic Sob Hic 

“Wh-what… What have I done?” she wailed.

Tears streamed down her face as she hiccupped loudly between sobs. 

She had helped those wretched people… she had healed the nephilim, and even set up a concealing magic barrier for them. While she had not personally participated in the murder of those innocent people, she was an accomplice.

She’d never make it back to the Church with all this blood on her hands. 

At least she didn’t have to go to school anymore… she’d never be able to look Leo in the eye. 

She missed school. 

She missed him.

Tears continued to stream down her face as she curled into a ball on the thin mattress.