The Secret Life of Em De Mone
Things have taken a turn in Em's 'short' story. Enjoy this segment. Would love to hear your comments.
Happy Reading 📖 ~Aspen
A sardonic
laugh shook the space, “I’m here. RIGHT NOW, telling you the truth…and
I’m met with skepticism and threats…”
Em felt his pain stab right in her soul.
“Okay, fair enough, Tom,” Granny said, stepping up slowly, “So tell me, what
is it they took from your son? From your family? Maybe I can get it back for
you.”
“You can’t get it and give it back to my family, but you can help me find
it and destroy it,” said Tom.
“Okay, that’s a start. Now, tell me what was taken from you, and we’ll go
from there,” Granny glanced at her watch. Midnight ticked closer. “But we both
know carving out the eyeballs of innocent humans isn’t the solution, no matter
what happened before. So let’s see what we can do to help the poor folks here.
Make sure their fate isn’t…”
“You don’t understand…” he was pleading now, “My Danny… had the gift of
sight, like his mother…they took it from him, scooped his eye right out before
they murdered him.”
“That’s a hell of an accusation, Tom?” Granny said, “Are you saying this
was an elaborate setup to kill your son and steal his sight?”
“Hello?!? Haven’t you been listening?!?,” said Tom. “And the dirtbag is
still using it. My other son’s being seeing a Teller…like that one over there…”
He pointed to Violet. “The girlfriend could see Danny when they came here one
night. She left screaming. I came tonight. I wanted to help, but I’m too late. I
know these victims here tonight… don’t deserve Danny’s hell…”
Granny asked, “What do you mean
‘Danny’s hell’?”
The room quivered, then a chill wafted in, and the glass cracked with
cold. A figure, an apparition of a young man, appeared in the mirror. He
floated closer and closer, then walked right through a mirror and corporealized
right in front of them. It was Danny Wellman, or some form of him, missing his
right eye.
“Holy shit,” Violet whispered and reached for Em’s hand, “What’s
happening?”
Several immediate answers popped into her head, like ghost, spirit,
specter, fantom, but not a single word formed on her lips, so Em only shook her
head.
There were dozens of haunted stories about this casino. Some legends claimed
the ancient Egyptian gods cursed the building because modern humans
disrespected the pyramids, but other Luxor lore spoke of hauntings from murders
and suicides and those who died during the construction...
“My father speaks the truth. I am a murdered man. My sight was stolen by a
friend, a comrade, and he must pay. And I will remove the right eye of as many
innocents until he comes to answer for his crime, and he will. We are tied
together after all. And while I am still trapped in the casino, I am no longer
trapped in the cement he buried me in.”
“You see!” Tom shouted. “My poor boy. Trapped here for eternity. Tied to
this hellish existence. They have to pay!”
“Danny, son, I am so sorry this happened to you,” Granny said gently.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“It doesn’t matter what has happened in the past. All that matters is
righting this wrong. Thanks to recent events, I was able to pass through the
thinning veil this Halloween. And now I will exact vengeance. For my family,” Danny
cried.
Again, Em was awash with spittle, only this time from a ghost. It was
sticky and smelled funny, but she didn’t dare move.
“I know, son, but these are innocent people like you were. And we can’t
just rip their eyes out,” Granny said, then switched gears, “Truth be told, I’m
mortified to hear this allegation, and you have my utmost promise to
investigate this down to the very last detail, but son you can’t be scooping
out eyeballs in the meantime. Please, let’s work together, for the best of
demonkind. I don’t want to put you, or your dad, down.”
Em almost gasped out loud when a sharp blade slid out of Granny’s baton.
That was a cool trick.
Danny’s eye glowed green and he grew larger. Hunching over, he readied
for attack.
“Son, NO!” Tom pleaded. “Listen to them. Let them help us! Get real
justice.”
“I stand with her,” Rose said, “Danny, think this through. We’ll end this
now, get you out of limbo and we’ll find answers and justice. I promise.”
“Son, please listen to them!” Tom pleaded again.
“Danny, we don’t know each other, but everyone around town knows the de
Mone family, and they are legendary. Let them handle this,” Violet let go of
Em’s hand and stepped up next to her grandmother, “Give them some time. You
know they will right this wrong. Spare the innocents.”
Moved into action, Em said the first thing that came to her mind, as she
stepped up to join the other women, “Listen to them, for the sake of your soul,
let the innocents go.”
At first I thought I'd already read this post as the first section I'd read before, but the rest of it turned out to be new.
ReplyDeleteIt's some pretty flawed logic to think taking innocent people's eyes would get the friend that killed him to come back and admit it. Also, if he's able to talk to people, why not just tell them who it was and how it happened, unless he doesn't actually know for sure?
He is the tormented spirit of a supernatural creature. Clear thinking and rationale are not his M.O. at the moment. Being trapped in a concrete hell had jaded him. He knows but he can't say. Part of his curse. 😉
DeleteThe first thing to come to one's lips is often the thing to be said, so I love that you end it on that note of honesty after a tense opening!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your support and comments! ☺️
Delete