Edge of End (12 page)

“
We’ll buy everything you
want. Let us stay, where are we supposed to go?” I said
bravely.

“
Shut up, you miserable
little soul,” she hissed in a hushed voice. Her right hand balled
into a fist and real flames encircled it, flickering in the
air.

Having seen this town, ugly dogs, a
deadly storm and evil demons, I doubted her flaming fist would
catch me by surprise, but we obviously didn’t need her wrath
either.

Elizabeth moved slightly back, putting
her hand over her mouth in horror. A chill ran up her
neck.

“
I hate such smug people
like you. You little brat! You’ve got your own house, why don’t you
go there?”

She was another one wanting me to go
into that damned house. There was definitely a mysterious and
inconceivable secret lying in it. Why else would everyone be trying
to push me towards it?

Malcolm took a step towards her and
stood between us, “Do me one last favor. I won’t ask you for
anything else again. You’re not like your brothers and sisters,
you’re different. You have your own mind, your own place,” he
opened his arms wide indicating the café. “Let them stay and you
won’t see them again afterwards. Me either,” he added after a
pause.

For a little while there was silence.
A silence mixed with the somber creaking of the storm.

She was talking to herself, muttering,
wondering what to do with us. Then, all of a sudden, she turned on
her heels and left.

I wondered what was lurking behind
that door where she had entered and left. However, I wasn’t going
to push my luck by trying to find out. We were lucky enough not to
have been booted out, back into that vicious storm’s
path.

Malcolm sighed in relief, “She doesn’t
like unwelcome guests,” he explained under his breath.

“
That was obvious,” I said
and struggled back onto my feet. My clothes were dusty; my white
undershirt was spotted with black stubborn stains.

“
When her mood is right,
she’s much better than those others out in the storm,” Malcolm
explained.

“
Who is she? She isn’t
human, is she?”

“
Not exactly. She’s a
resident as are the storm’s demons and those ugly dogs you met. She
just prefers the look of a human. It’s her way of seducing others
into her café. Then she sucks them dry, draining their souls slowly
and painfully. She likes watching people suffer. You won’t find a
good whiskey or wine on the counter.” Malcolm came up to the bar,
and the broken pieces of the glass crunched beneath his boots.
“These are her special recipes. You drink, and you don’t notice her
sucking your soul ever so slowly. She isn’t greedy, she only takes
a little bit each time,” he poured a drink into a glass–a dense,
murky yellow liquid. Small bubbles formed as it boiled itself
without any heat. “Would you like?” He pointed to the
bottle.

I shook my head remembering the last
drink he had ordered for me.

“
What do you mean? How
does she suck souls?” Elizabeth frowned at him.

“
Every human soul has a
special energy. It’s what the demons feed off. I don’t know what it
is exactly, but when they suck it out…Oh God, it tortures you, it
burns,” he drained his glass, pursed his lips and went on. “Her
drinks are like pain killers. They alleviate the burning
sensation.”

“
Then why was she sending
her meal away.” When I said the word meal, I meant us–Elizabeth and
I. She could have got us drunk and sucked our souls, or whatever
Malcolm had said.

“
She’s sentimental,” he
answered shortly.

I looked around the café again;
nothing had changed, the tables were clean and the chairs were
empty. Maybe the only difference was the windows covered with more
dust than last time I was here.

I felt giddy. I put my hand to rest on
my head and closed my eyes for a moment.

“
How do you feel?”
Elizabeth asked reaching for my hand.

“
Well, there were worse
things in the past, I guess.”

“
You can remember
something worse than this town?” Malcolm asked in a surprised
voice. “There is nothing worse than here, other than hell,
maybe.”

“
Okay, so we’re not in
hell?” Elizabeth asked cheerfully. “At least we have one piece of
good news.”

“
She hopes we aren’t dead
yet,” I told Malcolm. “But if we aren’t in hell then where are we?”
I looked piercingly into his eyes, demanding an answer. “You know,
Malcolm, don’t you? Spit it out!”

He shook his head and paced towards
the table. He looked out the window curiously. What was he hoping
to find outside?

“
Is it true? Do you know
what this town is?” Elizabeth spluttered.

“
I want to hear your
opinion first
,
Jonathan,” Malcolm replied quietly. “What do you think about
these abnormal animals? What about these empty streets? What do you
think about these superhuman powers you have?”

“
You forgot to ask me
about my lost memories,” I chuckled sarcastically. Holding
Elizabeth’s hand I led her towards Malcolm.

Nothing could be seen
outside, the storm had covered the whole
town
. “I have two options. Either
this is some sort of experiment town running by scientists, a pack
of crazy bitches that have been doing experiments on animals and
humans. We were abducted, poisoned to erase our memories, given a
new discovered lectin that would charge us with superhuman power
and sent here to fight, survive. Or, I believed I was dead, but you
say we aren’t in hell. It means we’re alive and–”

“
Also we might be abducted
by aliens,” Elizabeth interrupted but Malcolm ignored
her.

“
I said we weren’t in
hell, I didn’t say we weren’t dead,” Malcolm eyed me up with a smug
smile across his face.

Elizabeth and I both stood
frozen. This
town
was definitely not Heaven, and it had materialized that it
was not hell either. So, where the hell were we?

“
What is life to you
Jonathan?” he asked. “You don’t remember your past, but you must
have had some kind of visions. What were you before you woke up in
the desert? The answer to where you are now lies there, back in
your previous life. Remember, when you asked me your first
question, I said it was wrong one.”

“
Yeah,” I muttered tilting
my head. “I guess I know the right one now.”

“
Really? Go on
then.”

“
What have I done to
deserve this town?
”

“
Bingo,” Malcolm’s eyes
twinkled in delight, he appeared happy that I was finally getting
somewhere with my inquisition. “What was it you each did to end up
here? That’s the question I had pondered over myself for a very
long time. What have all the residents in this town done wrong in
their past lives to find themselves stuck here in
limbo?”

“
Excuse me,” Elizabeth
joined our conversation. “But if we’ve done bad things before, and
now we’re dead, then why can’t we call this town hell?”

“
Because you are not fully
dead,” Malcolm replied loftily.

“
What the fuck is that
supposed to mean?” she demanded indignantly. “Jonathan, this sounds
absolutely insane. I really appreciate that you helped us defeat
that monster on the street. I appreciate that you saved us sir, but
I’m not going to listen to…”

“
Look, woman,” Malcolm cut
her off dryly. He was growing increasingly grumpy. “Are you blind?
Where on Earth can you find such storm? Where on Earth can you see
such hideous dogs such as the ones that are guarding the houses?
Those soul-eating creatures are waiting for us. If you want, leave.
Let them capture you, then you’ll see what will happen!”

“
Soul-eaters?” Elizabeth
repeated dumbfounded.

“
Demons flying in the
storm,” I guessed. “Horrible faces with long teeth and transparent
bodies. I saw them.”

“
You’re lucky they let you
pass,” Malcolm reassured me. “They will stay here until the storm
weakens and eventually passes. I have seen them brutally tear apart
poor souls who appeared outside naïvely. They showed no mercy.
There was no way you could have a conversation with them and try to
reason with them. If they caught up with you, you wouldn’t be able
to beg. They’re remorseless creatures. It’s their job to seize
souls, our souls, human’s souls.”

Fear was evident in Elizabeth’s face
as soon as Malcolm trailed off. I could feel her terror that
consumed her as quickly as if the floodgates had been opened,
bringing torrents of dread with them.

“
We aren’t human’s
anymore?” I asked. “I mean these are our souls, aren’t they. Or
have I been separated from my body?”

“
I can’t tell you for sure
what we are now,” Malcolm sighed. He pulled up the nearest chair
and perched on its edge. “What I’m guessing is that these, I mean
WE are our souls and our souls have been given a human’s look.
Somehow they are directly connected to our bodies, therefore we can
still feel.”

“
Like an internet
connection?” I teased.

“
Like whatever your brain
can think,” Malcolm said dryly not amused at my attempts to be
funny. He raised his right hand and pointed at the window. “This is
the beauty of this place. It takes your memories and gives you
nothing in return. All you get is a few measly visions from your
past, that’s it. It’s up to you to guess the rest. It’s your job to
fill in the gaps and connect the dots. Both of you had visions,
didn’t you?”

I nodded.

“
Those visions,” he went
on, “They make a lot of people crazy. If you lose control of them,
you’re finished, done! With time, they become more frequent. It
gets kind of confusing, and it makes you wonder whether it’s all a
dream. You doubt which the dream is–the town or your visions. You
lose the sense of reality afterwards. Though, if I’m going to be
honest with you, I don’t really have any idea which one is real
myself. But, at least I can feel, which leads me to believe that
this town is realer than the visions.”

I glanced out the window, with disgust
remembering those nasty-looking faces that roamed about
purposefully, accompanying the storm, and the desperate eerie
whining of the wind. Although we couldn’t see the demons now, I
could distinctly feel their presence.

I managed to tear my eyes away from
the window. Sitting down just in front of Malcolm, I pointed to the
chair next to me, indicating for Elizabeth to join me. “This means
we are stuck between life and death, aren’t we?”

Malcolm lifted his eye to look at me.
I didn’t need him to confirm my words. He murmured, “Yes.
Practically, we are dead or in a coma back there on Earth.”
Elizabeth and I exchanged a look. “You know how it works. You must
have heard of such a thing happening before. You’ve heard of people
coming back from the dead, haven’t you? You might die for a minute
on Earth, but wander here for almost eternity.”

“
How long have you been
here?” That was Elizabeth, her voice barely a whisper.

Malcolm dropped his stare to look at
her, “Several eternities, my dear.” He grinned slightly.

“
Haven’t you tried to get
out of here? There should be a way back to our bodies, right?”
Elizabeth looked up at me enthusiastically, her eyes filled with
hope, waiting for me to confirm her suppositions.

“
I haven’t, because the
way back for me is beyond my reach,” Malcolm said gloomily. “It
won’t show itself for me, but it’ll reveal itself around you,” he
gestured towards me. Three eyes (Elizabeth’s two and Malcolm’s one)
fell on me. If my own had been able to unlatch themselves from my
face and observe me from another’s perspective, they would have
looked at me in a distracted manner, just like
Elizabeth’s.

“
Me?” I heard my stunned
voice. “Why me?”

“
You haven’t been to your
house yet, have you?” Malcolm leaned in from his chair. His chest
pushed against the table, he brought his face closer to
mine.

I shook my head in
response.

“
Why? What kind of man are
you that you didn’t have any powerful visions that seduced you into
your house? I’m just curious.”

Powerless, I just stared at Malcolm.
His question had made me wonder.

What kind of man are
you?
Malcolm’s words replayed in my mind
over and over again, spinning fast, a hundred times in a second.
That’s how fast my mind was racing.

“
He was just about to
enter,” Elizabeth spoke on my behalf.

She saw that I had grown
perplexed and confused by Malcolm’s rude question. His voice was
different to the words that escaped his mouth. They were asking
me:
what kind of monster were you back in
life that the powerful visions had no influence on
you
?

Had I been a monster in
life?

In the same instance I recalled one of
my visions, remembering that woman, the one who had been sobbing,
the one who had shouted at me, insisting that I leave her house.
And then there had been the little girl, her daughter. She had
tearfully begged me not to hurt her mommy. I had seen them a few
times since that depressing moment when I had awoken in the middle
of the desert.