Chapter
4 – Rehab Through Violence
Heading into the tunnels
underneath, Exquista Caro, Thaddeus, and I find that they’re all lit up with
electronic lights. On the walls are various satanic images drawn in blood, and
scattered along the floor are broken pieces of crucifixes, pieces of the broken
Eucharist, shattered statues of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and other saints. Further
in, we find more blood and pieces of bodies, especially those of infant
children and people dressed as nuns and priests. The entire place smells worse
than the city above, and makes my head start to spin.
“I should start burning all this,”
Thaddeus says.
I can’t agree more. It could also make
the upcoming fight easier and may even destroy the cultists in the tunnels
before they can attack us, so I tell him to do it. Thaddeus’s flames fill the
tunnels and strangely make it easier to breathe. The sound of screaming,
similar to that of the demon who's been bothering me, echoes throughout the tunnels
and breaks the light bulbs, lighting up the tunnels, leaving Thaddeus and my
blue flames our only source of light.
“Get ready. Here they come,” Thaddeus
says, which scares me.
I raise my left arm to burn the tunnels
with Thaddeus; however, a ground of dark figures descends on us, and makes
everything pitch black around me. My body feels numb, and I’m even more afraid
than before, so I start praying and begging God and my guardian angel for help.
“Your quest has led you straight
back to me. How else did you think it would end?” the demon, who wears my face,
says in my voice.
I try to use the powers given to
me, but find that I’m back to normal, so I instead fall to the ground in prayer
and beg even more for help to the point of crying. A hand in the dark forcibly
lifts my head and makes me open my eyes. In the distance, I see a light, and
not knowing what else to do, I head to it.
“Keep going, Tanith! We have them
on the run,” I hear the muffled voice of Thaddeus say.
I do as he says, for what purpose? This
demon and my temptations will be with me for the rest of my life. I have this feeling
in my bones, in my soul, that I’ll never feel alive or happy again until the
day I die, but is that really such a bad thing?
“Why isn’t it? How can you live a
life that isn’t enjoyable to live?” the demon says.
What did my parents say? Jesus was
born on Earth, knowing the suffering and horrible death He would die, but He
did it anyway for us. Huh. I have a bit of pep in my step now, and the light
ahead of me feels closer and warmer than ever.
“That isn’t what you want. That isn’t
what anyone wants. All everyone wants to do is live a happy and comfortable
life, and you know it.”
That’s what I’ve told myself and
felt my entire life. Still, I never asked myself if that’s the truth, or just what
I wanted to believe. My parents learn about the perverted things I was doing
for extra money, and still, they forgave me and told me that pleasure and money
aren’t all that people live for. Feelings and wealth come and go, but what
comes after death is forever. Where is this wisdom coming from? Is it an answer
to my prayers, or me finally remembering what my parents taught me? The light
is so close now that I can almost touch it.
“You’ll never escape the suffering
of this life, and you’ll be miserable for the rest of it, until you die.”
That’s fine with me. My parents
said to offer the pain up, and now, that’s what I’m doing. The light overtakes
me. On the other side of it, I find myself back in my old room on my knees with
my guardian angel floating above me.
“What happened today?” my guardian
angel asks.
Remembering this moment, I
automatically say, “I…failed another test. I’m not passing for sure, despite
all the studying and extra work I did. Why do I even bother doing it when I find
work on the streets and clubs more fun and satisfying?”
“Because you love your parents, and
you don’t want to chain yourself to corrupting pleasures. Your body is a temple
and not meant to be used like some common, disposable object, and is meant to
be respected in the way God intended.”
“That’s right,” I say outside of
the memory. “I’m not going to chain myself to it anymore.”
My appearance changes to one that
looks like my guardian angel.
“Finish it and break your chains.”
My guardian angel points towards
the demon with my face, who I freeze with my blue flames before it can speak,
and then stab it through the head. When I blink, I see that I’m back in the
tunnels, except they’re burning with red and blue flames. The demon, who was in
front of me, looks more like a medusa now, with snakes coming out of its head
and lower half. It also has horns coming out of its head and body, and looks
like a hermaphrodite. I don’t have much more time to look at it as the tunnels
start to collapse and Thaddeus yells at me to rush out of here. Both of us are
suddenly lifted into the air, and we go through the collapsing ground as if we
were ghosts.
Flying above Exquista Caro, I watch
the entire city burn and freeze as it collapses in on itself, until all the
buildings crumble into the ground, and nothing is left of the city but a hole with
red and blue flames coming out of it. Thaddeus and I fly to the outskirts of
the city and continue to marvel at it.
“Good job, Tanith. You did it,”
Thaddeus says.
“I couldn’t have done it without your
help, but this isn’t the end, is it?” I ask.
“Not at all. My guardian angel
tells me there’s another sinful soul that we need to add to our group of
misfits and way more sinners that need punishment and a long-awaited wake-up
call. Together, I’m sure we’ll save many souls and secure our place in Heaven.”
“Yeah. Guess there’s no rest for us
then.”
“Kind of. I’m sure we can get some
rest along the way.”
“Right, but we probably shouldn’t
sleep in the same room, given our past sins.”
“We’ll be traveling together, so I’m
not sure how well that’ll work, but we’ll give it a try.”
The sound of a motorcycle makes me
turn my head to see who’s approaching. I’m surprised to see it’s a flaming
chopper motorcycle that turns into a normal one that's not hot at all to touch
when it stops in front of Thaddeus.
“What’s this? We aren’t going to
fly to the next place?” I ask.
“We have to keep a low profile. I’m
a wanted criminal, and the authorities will think you are as well. Your
guardian angel should be giving you a vehicle of your own.”
Turning to my guardian angel, he
agrees and makes a sports motorcycle arrive in much the same manner as Thaddeus’s,
except mine comes in covered in blue flames, before turning normal when it
parks itself in front of me.
“Oh, sweet,” Thaddeus says as he
admires the motorcycle. “I like how we both have a motorcycle. Anyways, let’s head
out. My angel will lead the way, so follow me.”
Thaddeus and I drive away from the
outskirts of Exquista Caro. A muffled voice from behind me makes me turn to see
the burning, torn-apart demon with my face crawling at high speed toward me.
For some reason, I’m neither afraid nor surprised. I tell my guardian angel to
take care of it, and the demon is launched back into the fiery ruins of
Exquista Caro, where my past belongs. No longer will I use my body for
meaningless and short-lived pleasures. I’m above it now. Instead, it’s a weapon
and servant of God, fulfilling the purpose for which I was created.
The
End
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