Falling Capricorn (8 page)

 Both found themselves in the natural appearance of humans, tender skin on tender skin. The heat rose from both of their bodies as he crashed down into her. Roxie nearly squealed with the penetration against her slick and smooth walls. Thrusting began gently before becoming forceful. Roxie groaned, and in return Eric let out a deep growl, clawing and ravaging her body.

Like the mortar and pestle of a great alchemist, they mixed, pounded, ground and stirred until sweet nectar gushed from the petals being worked. This made a rhythmic sound to which the duet shivered and moaned. This grew in force and energy until the rough fusion created an explosion of silky rain leaving two chests rising and falling next to each other. The chalice was left to drain and the sword left to glimmer. 

“Feeling better?” Roxie asked breathlessly. She was exhausted now. All she wanted was to take a long nap, but she didn’t want this moment to end, either.

“Of course, are you feeling good too?” he asked, also in a light pant. Roxie’s heart skipped a beat. She wasn’t sure if he was asking for ego reasons or asking because he actually cared. She wondered if she said no, would he actually try to please her, again?

“Very good,” she purred. She went to cuddle with him but he got up, stretching his arms over his head.

“Well then, I guess we did good,” he said casually. Roxie watched him with a slight disbelief. “I’m going to take a shower.” With that he headed into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

“Seriously?” she grumbled quietly. She glared at the door after him, shaking her head. “Wow, guess I was played the fool this time.” She scoffed at his reaction. “Next time you want some, we’ll see if you get any,” she muttered to herself, getting up. She decided to check her emails since he walked away from her. She slipped the night gown back on and headed into the living room.

She sat on the sofa, logging onto the laptop that sat on the side table. She sighed heavily as she typed in the password. She glanced to the side at the USB that sat next to the table. “Hey Eric, are the ideas for next show on this USB?” she called to him. It was silent for a moment before Eric replied.

“Yeah.” 

“Cool!” She replied back, plugging in the USB into the port of the computer. She waited as it loaded, glancing at her nails. Still perfect, she thought with a smile. The window popped up for the USB and she looked through it. She clicked to open the files, and then pressed one that was labeled "Showgirl." What popped up, though, was not what she expected.

Roxie expected to find pictures of the showgirl outfits and documents with ideas, receipts of purchases, maybe even the character profiles. That’s not what she found. There was just a file that said "Work" while the rest of the USB was full of naked pictures. All of the pictures were of different woman, all very much naked and very attractive. Roxie stared with shocked eyes as she scrolled down, down, and down.

“ERIC!!!!” she screamed, bolting up from the laptop and into the bathroom. “ERIC WHY ARE THERE NAKED WOMAN ON THAT FLASHDRIVE!?” She pulled the curtain of the shower open. She stared at him, and he stared right back. The water rolled down his body, washing away the soap. “WELL!?” she roared.

“Why are you mad? Is it because you can’t appreciate the beauty of a woman’s naked body, or is it just because you aren’t on it?” he said smoothly. With that comment, Roxie exploded.

“WHAT!?” She couldn’t keep calm about this now. It was so unnecessary, so gross, so rotten. “Beauty of a woman’s naked body? No Eric! I am glad to not be on that USB of whores! How can you not even understand why I am mad!?” she exclaimed. She wanted to punch him, or knee him right where it would hurt.

“Whores?” Eric muses over it, gaining a smirk on his face. “Wow, Roxie you are jealous aren’t you?” Roxie eyes started to tear up at his comment.

“Jealous?! No I’m stating it as it is!! Women don’t go giving naked pictures out to strangers...” Roxie eyes widened the moment she said it. “Those women aren’t even strangers, are they?” she murmured.

“No, you are right about strangers. I haven’t slept with any one of them, if that is what you are implying. I met most of these women online, and they are all way too trusting, you know? Some were even showgirls who wanted to be romantically involved,” he stated, grabbing the shampoo bottle. Roxie didn’t know how to reply to that, so she decided to just leave.

“Fuck you Eric, I’m going to my friend’s place,” she stated, turning her back on him and walking out the door. Tears started running down her face as she packed up a bag with only her important things before she stormed out of the house in her night gown. She sped off into the night leaving Eric all alone.

Joey sat in the darkness for a few days since he had given Eric the ring back. Anger was starting to rise within him. He was starting to think Eric was being a s- called friend by not giving Christen the ring back. He was also starting to feel airy and light, as though he was fading away into nothing.

"Why Christen, why are you trying to forget me?" he asked receiving no answer. "Why haven't you given her the ring!?" he exclaimed into the silence. "Damnnit," he sighed to himself. There would be no answers in this place. He sat alone among the black and purple trees. That fact brought tears to his eyes. He tried to wipe the tears away, but they continued incessantly. He lamented with loneliness . How would he ever get to touch his Christen again? How would he stop her from forgetting him when his 'best friend' wouldn't even help him do one little thing?

"If he won't help you, then why don't you just make him help you?" A dark voice whispered suddenly. Joey lifted his head, listening to the dark voices murmuring around him.

"Can I really do that?" he wondered out loud.

He was met with the answer, "Well why not? Haven't you done everything in your power to help him and now suddenly he won't help you with one little thing? That is wrong. You can force people to help you without it being a bad thing, sweet Joey. Just let us help you. Then Eric's betrayal will be replaced with that loving and warm friendship feeling again. We promise you, just trust us. You will not be betrayed, Eric will surely understand this." Joey thought, ‘Weren’t the voices right?'

And with that Joey agreed, "I will not be betrayed." He placed his hand into the darkness and the fangs sank deep into his hand as the dark voiced started crackling.

"We will help." one of the dark voices said.

"Yes, help!" the other dark voice said breaking into a laughing fit.

Eric scrubbed the shampoo in his hair doing the same with the conditioner. What he said to Roxie was very insensitive, and he was well aware of that. He felt bad afterwards. Sometimes he wondered why it brought him such great pleasure to push her buttons.

“Was I too harsh?” he asked to no one, drying off his hair. He stared into the foggy mirror as he toweled himself off. Roxie was being so sweet, taking care of him with all her heart. She was always putting him before anyone and anything; but still, she was just too easy to mess with. He shook it off, dismissing it. Why was it worth his time to ponder about it?

He kept his stare in the mirror, fixing up his hair. He watched as his eye started to twitch slightly when the lights started flickering. "Stupid light. Going to need to get that fixed now," he sighed. He wasn't a very handy man to have. In fact, when it came to fixing things around the house, he was normally making things worse. He looked down to grab his boxers and put them on. In that short time of getting dressed, he found himself gasping out of surprise when he looked at the words, "Back Stabber" written in the wet smog.

"Whose there!?" he exclaimed, but it was quiet. All seemed normal. He swallowed hard as a chill ran down his spine. It was suddenly a lot colder in the bathroom, somehow causing all the fog to disappear in a matter of seconds. Eric could see his breath. He jumped back to see Joey's reflection on the now cleared mirror. He was standing in his military outfit with the same scatterbrain look to him as there always was before. Suddenly everything became so familiar and normal again, but he couldn’t get over the fact Joey was inside the mirror.

"What the fuck!?" he yelped. ‘Did Roxie drug me!?’ Eric asked in his thoughts and sat there in a moment of shock, he honestly didn’t know if he was sane or crazy.

“I beg you Eric! Just one more time, that’s all I ask of you. I just need to see her just once and be able to touch her.” Joey's hand pressed against the mirror. Joey's eyes hardened as he waited for a response.

Eric stood there for a moment before swallowing down some fear. Joey continued staring at him with a look that gave him chills down his spine. There was a deep loneliness he had never seen in that boy’s eyes before. The weirdness of everything finally became unbearable to Eric. He rushed out of the bathroom to his bedroom hoping it would be normal, and perhaps, safer there. He was soon proved wrong. The lights started to flicker in his room, seeming to be just as confused as the bathroom lights to stay on or off.

"Roxie, you're mad, I got it. Now stop that!" Eric yelled, but she had already left and gone a while ago. His grimoire and book collection, on the other hand, did the replying instead. They flew at him violently. He managed to block some while others nailed him in the legs, arms, and torso. He rushed to the door to try and escape and get away, but the door would not budge. "Let me out," Eric demanded. In response to Eric's commands, the lights finally decided to stay off, and the bulbs exploded. The pieces flew at Eric. He defended his face with his forearms. The glass pieces jammed themselves into his arms. Blood rolled out of the wounds. A grimore in front of his feet fanned open, catching the drops of blood on a chosen page.

Demonic voices surged forth suddenly, chanting some odd language along with the sound of a drum. The page absorbed the blood, the words glowed a deep red. They slowly peeled themselves off the pages, floating about in a red glow. They started zooming around the room, looking like red streaks to the human eye. They whisked about before slitting into two vectors. One circled around Eric while another group swirled in empty space. The empty space within the red glow's swirl was soon filled with a figure. The voices and drum faded out, leaving silence as the red light's circles slowed down, allowing Eric to see the figure.

"Joey," Eric whispered in surprise before Joey gave a nod and a smile. In an instant, Joey and the red lights disappeared. "What the fuck is going on!?" Eric yelled bewildered and angry. He trembled while the blood kept pouring out of his wounds. Suddenly, there was a burning sensation in his body. Agonizing pain sunk into his core; so painful he fell to his knees. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Another pain plunged through his chest and out his back. A heavy force pushed him backwards, but his body stayed where it was. He felt as though he was in an altered dimension; feeling light but still. Eric was well aware of his body and the things around him, but strangely disconnected. "What?" he gasped as his thoughts echoed out loud. He felt his body pull itself up. "I can hear my thoughts as though I am speaking, but I don't feel my mouth moving! I'm talking but my lips aren't moving! What? What? What is going on!?" He started to freak out.

 He tried to move, but his body refused as though he was paralyzed. After intense concentration, he managed to get his hand to start pulling out the glass shards, but he didn't want to. It hurt him, as the pieces were pulled out. He tried to speak but his lips were still.  It was as though he was being controlled. He was both frozen and mute. His eyes looked around wildly.

"I'm alive!" he felt his mouth finally exclaim. His voice was so happy, so unlike Eric. He rarely was that happy, but this tone was.

"Who is it!? This is not me! That's not me! What the fuck?" Eric's scream echoed within his ears, but not to the outside world.

"It's me, Eric," a voice spoke to Eric's ears.  He then instantly knew who it was.

"Joey? What is going on!? You are supposed to be dead!" Eric yelped, but Joey just laughed bitterly.

"You betrayed me, so I am going to run around in your body. Now, shut up." Eric's fist slammed into his own stomach, and Eric coughed. As he reeled from the blow, he noticed a potion bottle materialize by the grimoire. He heard a malevolent voice come from the glass vessel.

"Help for Eriiiiiic....if he dares." His vision grew blurry as peals of evil laughter bounced around in his head. He couldn't focus on any one thought now, just on the pain from the punch. As he struggled with the hit, his body grabbed his car keys and headed out the door.

"Time to see her," Eric heard his voice whisper. With that, his world went black.

“My, that is an amazing painting, Christen.” Kat blinked a few times then gave Christen a smile. They each held a beer in hand, admiring the masterpiece she had created.

“Yeah, took me forever to do. People are very hard to paint. Did you know that?” Christen asked her with a similar smile.

“Just watch my best friend become some amazing painter. You’re going to become famous, and then they will learn about you in art history class. Then one day my kid will come home and tell me what they learned. They’ll say they learned about you. I will just smile and be like, 'I was that woman’s best friend and still am.' Then my brat of a child won’t believe me, and then I’ll have to call you up and invite you over just to prove my point.” Kat talked a mile a minute, finishing with a long inhale.

“Kat,” Christen stated before giggling, softly. "Don’t you think you’re getting a tad bit ahead of yourself?” Christen shook her head, glancing between her and the painting. "And you are already plotting how the relationship will be between you and your future children?"

“No, not at all Christen. Plus, you know how I am. My kids will be minnie 'me's'. Not many differences will happen because I want a man just like me. Screw that whole opposites attract. I hate my polar opposites,” Kat explained to Christen before both girls burst out laughing. There was a knock at the door once the laughing died down. Christen got up, stretching behind her head.