Menu:

Picture

Phase 20

Never, ever in my whole life of knowing Lucas did I expect this.  Never.  …EVER!  He seems so masculine and… gentle?!  I turned away from him quickly, blushed and started at my hands in my lap.  I whispered a muffled, “sorry.”  I saw Lucas roll his eyes, aggravated, and he pulled his knees to his chest, his toes hanging off the couch.  He leaned back and looked away from me, towards the kitchen.

“It’s stupid.” He said.  My ears perked up and I turned to him and said, “no, no it’s not.  It’s totally fine.  There’s nothing wrong with that.”  He was embarrassed by it, and I felt bad now for judging him.

Lucas is blunt, too blunt for me.  He then turned to stare into my eyes and he said, “you’re falling for me, Roslyn.”  My heart skipped a beat as my eyebrows raised into a pyramid-like shape.  I bit my bottom lip and said, “what?  N-no.”  We both sat in silence.  So many questions...  Too much confusion.

“Hey,” he began, “I’m going to go out.” He stood, lifted his jacket from the couch arm and walked to the door.  I turn on my couch and said, “Wait, Lucas!”  But he had already shut the door behind him and was gone.  I shut my eyes to just relax a moment and I turned back around on the couch to face the coffee table.  I opened them and saw a red glimmer in the corner of my eye.  I gave a quick shrieked and turned my face that way to see what I had just seen.  Mercy was sitting at the end of the couch, looking at her long, nails.

“M-Mercy!” I began, “Am I glad to see you…” She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head in my direction.

“Yeah, well, what do you want?” She said.

“Wait…” I began, “shouldn’t be out with Lucas?  Following him or something?”

“Please honey, it’s due time I get a break for the day.  The whole time you were gone I was with him.” She didn’t change her blank facial expression.  The hairs on my arms rose… poor Lucas.  “Now get on with it.” She said.

“I’ve got a serious question.” I continued by asking her very directly and boldly, “what does it take to move up a Class?”

“You’re still mourning over Denzel?  Child…”

“Mercy!” I said, “Please, just tell me.”

She rolled her eyes, stopped examining her fingers, and turned to face me.  “You gotta get shot.”  My eyes widened, I didn’t expect such a plain, simple answer like that.

“Well… that doesn’t sound like it would take years to master?!” I gave a little chuckle.

“There’s more to it than that!” She took a deep breath.  “You have to get shot… without flinching a muscle.  You just have to stand there and stare down the barrel of the gun and get shot.  One shot without flinching for Class 1…  Two for Class 2…  You get the point.”

“Holy shit.” I covered my mouth.  “Are you serious?”

“Yeah.  But that’s not the most of it.  Your senses are heightened, so when you get shot, the pain feels like an explosion tearing at your nerves, ripping open your insides.  Anyway, for them to be able to withstand that pain without any flinching, not even an eye squint or blink, they move up a class.”

“Oh my God…”  Besides the fact that I was shocked by what Mercy just told me, I was also shocked at how open she was.  When I first met Denzel, I thought that all guardian demons were like him.  Secretive, mysterious, protective and harsh.  But I was wrong…  Mercy is mysterious, protective and harsh, yes, but she is also open.  She’s been so honest with me, it’s strange.  I continued.  “Why is Denzel just a Class 2 demon?  Could he withstand the third bullet?”

“Denzel’s a weak fool.” Mercy said, “it took him one year to get to Class 2.  Regret and I?  It took us all of a few weeks.”  I wanted to scream at Mercy and tell her that Denzel wasn’t weak, but I had another question.  I then asked, “how in the world do you train for that?!”

“You shoot yourself.”

“Wouldn’t you die?!”

“We are already dead, Roslyn…  But we could still feel pain, like nothing we’ve ever felt before other.”

“How did you die, Mercy?” My turn to be blunt.  “How did you become what you are now?”

Mercy’s eyes glared down at me, but there was a glimmer of fear in her face…  Something I’ve never seen before.

“I have to go now.” She said, looking the other way.

“Why won’t you answer me?!” I yelled.

“Shut up!” She yelled.

I felt my mouth freeze, it was frozen, it was paralyzed.  I saw Mercy lean closer to me.  I looked into her black eyes and she said, “I’ll help you feel what it’s like to be shot three times, and thanks to my power, you won’t be able to move either way.”  I wanted to lift my hands to shield myself.  I wanted to jump up from the couch and defend myself.  But I couldn’t.

Immediately, I felt a strange, strong breeze in the room, and some papers from the coffee table blew to the wall.  I then saw Mercy do something strange.  She cringed and grasped at the side of her head.  She shrieked out loud and yelled, “Bastard!  Stop!”  I began to breath heavily as I saw this.  Then….

“DON’T TOUCH HER.” Regret’s voice was heard like a stereo around the whole room.  Then, Mercy vanished.  I felt the spell cast upon me release, and my shoulder relaxed and I dropped my jaw.  I then stood quickly from the couch and asked, “What happened?!  What did you do to Mercy?!”

“YOU’RE MINE.” Regret said.  “IT’S TIME YOU HEARD THE TRUTH ABOUT HOW MERCY DIED.”

Phase 19 ----- Phase 21