Car Accidents and Mysteriously Placed Trees

Chapter Seven

December 5th

12:30 AM

            "Do you see that?," asked Lauren.  They had just gotten back from visiting Faith at the Andrews' house, where she and Salem told Faith all about their relationship.  (For some reason, I have a problem when babysitters’ friends visit them while babysitting.  That just bugs me.)  Faith also told them what she had been hiding.  She thought that Colby had been possesed.  Lauren was having trouble believeing that, and so was Salem.  (Which is unsurprising.  I wonder what Faith expected them to think?)

"What is that," Salem said.  There was a person in the middle of the road, and something was lying at his feet.  (In case this isn’t blatantly obvious, the car that River saw before being soul-sucked was Salem’s, and the person in the road and the “something” at his feet are actually the demon and River.  Just wanted to clear that up.)  When they got closer, they saw that it was actually River lying at someone's feet, they same someone who was carving some tthing in his back with a knife.  The carvings weren't very deep.

Okay, seriously, how are Salem and Lauren supposed to know the carvings aren’t deep?  Did they get out of the car and investigate River’s back while the demon just stood to the side, waiting for them to finish?  And, why did I feel the need to establish the fact that the cuts weren’t deep?  I think I felt the need to show my readers that I wasn’t some sort of sadistic creep.  Apparently, I forgot the parts of the story involving impaled boyfriends and teenage girls pinned to walls with knives.

  "Oh my gosh! That's River!," said Lauren.  The attacker turned around and they saw his face.  It was demon.  Suddenly everything made sense.  The pocessed Colby story, the lasting sleep, the dead guy in Kris's garden, and the strange markings.  (I don’t see how seeing someone with an apparently demonic face clears everything up.  How do Salem and Lauren know that this person isn’t just a serial killer who likes to wear masks or has some sort of developmental defect?  This doesn’t clear up anything, but rather creates more questions.)  It didn't make perfect sense, but it was clearer then it had been.  (Obviously, my young self was thinking the same thing, but instead of deleting the last couple of sentences, I just wrote another.  That makes perfect sense.)

The demon walked  toward them after throwing River to the side of the road and jumped to the roof of their car.  It stuck it's foot through, hitting Lauren in the head.  "Ouch!," she said.  (This is supposed to create a feeling of suspense, not be unintentionally funny.  Sadly, it fails.)  Salem sped away, knocking the demon to the road again.  "What was that?," asked Lauren.  "How should I know!," Salem yelled.  (For people who everything made sense to a few seconds ago, you don’t seem to know anything remotely useful.  Clearly, you thought it was a demon, but now you’re not so sure I guess.) "Where are we going?,"  "To the hospital," (As opposed to oh, I don’t know, the POLICE STATION maybe!!!  You people should all be slaughtered.)

            About ten minutes later Lauren noticed the demon was following them.  It was flying very fast and it caught up to them.  It flew around the car, which caused Salem to stop suddenly.  Since he wasn't wearing his seatbelt, he went through the windshieild.  (This is the biggest plot contrivance in the history of plot contrivances.  Why would Salem not want to hit the demon with his car?  It’s trying to steal your soul and cut symbols into your back!  You should hit it with your car!  Instead, you’re lying on the road, merciless.  Serves you right, Salem.  Let’s hope Lauren’s smarter than you.)

The demon went to him as Lauren climbed into the driver's seat.  The demon opened a box.  Lauren saw a bright light leave Salem.  Lauren drove around them and started to the hospital.  (Hit the freaking demon!  Kill it!)  She knew the demon wasn't following her becauseit still had to make the marks on Salem's back.  (Since Lauren is fully familiar with the demon’s modus operandi by now.)

            When she was almost to the hospital, Lauren looked back to see if the demon was following her, she didn't sse the tree next to the road, which was next to the hospital.  (Just the lone tree on the curb.  To clarify, I did imagine it this way when I wrote this, since I pictured the hospital in a city area, and I pictured a single tree on the corner of an intersection.  Since, you know, that happens all the time.)  She looked and saw it just in time to put the brakes on but, but since she didn't have anti lock brakes, she crashed into the tree anyways.  (To be fair, I’m still not sure of the difference between anti-lock and non-anti-lock brakes when it comes to bad weather.  Not that I mentioned that there was bad weather.  I always pictured there being ice on the road from the freezing rain I didn’t mention earlier.  Apparently, I expected my readers to be mind-readers as well.)  The last thing she remembered were bright red flashing lights.

***

December 5th

1:21  AM

            Maryn came downstairs, followed by Drew.  "Were are mommy and daddy?," Maryn asked Faith.  "They said they would be home real late, but that they would wake you when they got home," she said.  (This is completely unrealistic.  At least I think it is.  Do parents actually wake their kids up when they get home late?)  She took them upstairs to their bedroom.  "Good night," she said as she turned off the light.  Suddenly the phone rang.  "I'll get it," said Drew.  "No! I'll do it," said Faith.  Drew got to the phone in the room next door first.  (So, Drew climbed out of her bed and sprinted to the phone before Faith could get there?  Is Drew on some sort of steroid or something?  She’s five.) 

"Hello?," she said.  There was a brief silence once Faith came into the room.  "No," said Drew," my mommy and daddy aren't home."  (On the other hand, this would totally happen.  I always told people who called when my parents weren’t home.)  Faith froze.  When she regained controll of her body, she lunged toward the phone.  (Wait, is Faith possessed?  Or are her reflexes just the worst ever?  I’m going with the latter.)  "He hung up," said Drew.  Faith wondered who that was.  (You seemed pretty sure that it was the attacker calling when you lunged yourself at the phone, Faith.  What’s with all these characters second-guessing themselves?  Oh, that’s right, THEY’RE COMPLETE IDIOTS!  I keep forgetting this story isn’t populated by normal people.)

***

December 5th

2:00 AM

            Lauren opened her eyes.  She was in a hospital bed.  She had badages on her head and on her arm.  Her nose ached.  "Salem, River!," she said out loud.  "They've already been found," someone said.  (Okay, that’s creepy.  What was this person just doing sitting in here, watching Lauren sleep?  That’s weird.)

For the first time Lauren noticed that someone else in the room with her.  She sat up and saw it was a nurse.  "They have?" saked Lauren.  "Yes," said the nurse.  "Are they in the lasting sleep?"  The nurse just nodded.  "I know how it happened," said Lauren.  The nurse jumped up.  "Did you see who did it?," she asked Lauren.  "Yes," said Lauren,"it was a demon.  The demon opens a box which sucks out, well I think, the victims soul, then it makes the markings on their backs."  (How in the world does Lauren even suspect that this mysterious box sucks out souls?  It’s one thing to experience the process and feel the soul being sucked out, like River, Salem, Lily, and Kris, but it’s quite another to just see a bright light and think, “hmm, that looks like a soul.  Or at least what I think a soul looks like, seeing as no one in the universe has ever actually seen one,” which is probably what Lauren thought to herself.)

The nurse just looked at her.  "Oh, dear," she ssaid," You must have hit your head harder then I thought."  (Which exactly the right reaction to this sort of outburst.)

"I didn't hit my head! Well, I did, but I'm fine now!  (Way to eliminate what little credibility you still had left, Lauren.) Why is there even a nurse in here.  I don't need one," said Lauren angerly.  "I'm not here for you," said the nurse, pointing to a patient.  Lauren saw that her room mate was Colby.  (I thought Colby was Kris’s roommate.  I guess the staff at this hospital has figured out that it’s better to keep patients who can’t have visitors out of the rooms of patients who can.  They have not, however, figured out that they should not room men and women together.)  "Colby!,"  said Lauren.  "I'm going to get a doctor for your head," said the nurse.

            As she started to walk out of the room the demon came in.  It cut the nurses throat and in 3 swift movements made a mark on her face before she fell to the ground.  (That was sudden and unexpected, which was not the way I did things back in the day.  Usually, one had to endure a lot of heavy-handed foreshadowing before such a thing happened.  I was probably getting bored with this story.) "Aagggggghhhh!," screamed Lauren as the demon knocked her into the corner. 

It went to Colby.  "Help me Lauren! Help-aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!," he said as the demon opened a box and sucked out his soul.  Lauren got to her feet.  She ran out of the room while the demon made the marks on Colby's back.  (So the demon turned Colby around, exposed his back, and begin cutting symbols into it before Lauren left the room.  Way to eff your hope of escape, Lauren.  Also, why did the demon kill the nurse but take Colby’s soul?  Does the demon of some sort of soul-screening process?  Perhaps its victims have be complete and utter morons…but he did take the soul of arguably the smartest person in town, Lily, so who knows?)  Lauren ran down the hallway.  The demon didn't waste anytime with the markings because in the next minute it was chasing Lauren.  "Help! Someone please help me!," she said.  She ran into a room with about 4 people in it.  Lauren saw that these people were the lasting sleep victims: Kris, Lily, River and Salem.  (Well, isn’t that convenient?)  Lauren closed the door.  The demon banged on it, but Lauren wasn't afraid because she locked it.  (Oh come on!  There’s a demon with supernatural ability after you!  It can fly for God’s sake!  What makes you think a locked door’s gonna keep it out?)  But she should have been afraid.  The demon knocked the door over.  It landed on Lauren and pinned her to ground.  The demon oped the box and sucked out Lauren's soul.  Then it pushed the door off of her and started to make the markings.

Okay, so that’s it for this entry.  This story is almost over, which means there will be just one more entry.  Does Faith stop the demon (considering her lack of intelligence, it’s unlikely)?  Does the demon steal anymore souls?  Why does the demon even need the souls?  More importantly, of all the idiots in this town, why is the demon stalking a bunch of teenagers who do things like examine mysterious corpses, climb onto roofs instead of jumping to relative safety, and avoid running down said demon with a car before crashing into a single tree on the side of the road?  Actually, I think I just answered my own question:  because these people are incredibly easy targets.  This town doesn’t stand a chance.

Next time:  Faith earns the title of Worst Babysitter Ever (as if she hasn’t already), the demon enacts its evil plan, and we’ll learn just how easy it is to locate a Satan-worshiping cult.