Into The Abyss

I could see my girl’s spirit on the ground and tentacles from the pit coming for her. How the fuck was I supposed to fix this? Long-buried memories of Sunday school classes talking about how exorcisms used to be commonplace in the past but were no longer done nowadays came unbidden to my mind. There was nothing useful was coming out of those recesses of my head. The thing was almost at the gate, and I was rooted to the spot. If it touched me, I’d be shit out of luck and the pit would have another soul to take and another body to control. One thought kept running through my mind. Something out of a cheesy horror film I’d watched years ago. Shrugging off my jacket I wrapped it over my arm and hand, completely uncertain as to whether or not it would do anything to protect me. Then I pulled the crucifix I wore more for bling and to make my ma’ happy over my head and wrapped the chain around my jacketed hand so that I wouldn’t lose the damned thing by dropping it from my cloth-encumbered fingers. It had been a gift from ma’ after all. The gate swung open with a violent slam, the squeaking hinges almost screaming. Pulling back my arm I punched the crucifix into the ghoul’s chest and shouted… “May the power of Christ compel you to get the fuck out of that body!” I winced and turned my head away hoping for something to happen but not sure what to expect. When a slurpy, hissing growl started, I peeked to see my girl’s body glaring at me menacingly, the shadowy form that had possessed her still there. My hand had landed on the dog she was clutching to her chest. There was no shadow possessing the dog’s body anymore. That shadow slid down my girl’s legs and rippled over the grass back toward the pit it had slithered out of. The creature possessing my girl grabbed my extended arm and, luckily, nothing happened. My guess was right, and it needed to have direct skin contact. Or maybe it was the cross in that hand that protected me. I don’t actually know. It took a wild angry swing at my torso with its free arm as I jerked myself from its grasp. In the process, it dropped the now-empty dog body. Dodging and weaving away from its attacks, I tried the crucifix trick on it a few more times. Each attempt to come in contact with it looked like some kung-fu comedy shit as I hid behind the gate, tossed gardening supplies that had been conveniently stacked against the fence at it, stepped in a bucket which I then kick-threw at it, and used a garden hoe as a makeshift defensive staff weapon. All the while I’m repeating like one of those obnoxious talking children’s toys with a broken voice controller with each exorcism attempt… “May the power of Christ compel you. May the power of Christ compel you.” Fighting mostly one-handed while trying not to hurt the body I was fighting against was a serious disadvantage for me against a thing that just needed to touch me once. I was also trying to avoid stepping on the dog or having the creature step on the dog because hey, it might still be alive, and it would score me points with my girl. Not if she’s dragged into the pit of hell, moron. My brain chided me. “Fuck. Just give that damned body back. You. Piece. Of. Shit.” I grabbed the dog and sprinted into the yard where I could see my Mamacita being pulled toward the pit. None of the training I’d ever received had covered Hellmouths or how to sever pit tentacles. My garden hoe just sort of phased through the thing without any effect. Hoping that my crucifix could be a kind of hellspawn cure-all, I ran it over the tentacle and….yes! The tentacle was severed where the crucifix touched it. It shrieked a dark-evil-gurgling shriek and zipped back into the expanding pit while the severed end unfurled itself from around my girl’s ankle and started slithering away looking for some other lifeform to possess. “Oh, no you don’t.” Lunging after the slick nasty thing, I impaled it on my crucifix and tossed it into the pit it had come from. There was something closer to the pit that looked like it needed help. “Git your ass back in there.” I shouted after the disgusting tentacle as it plopped out of sight. “Danny?” A weak cough followed, and I looked down at an unsubstantial and terrifyingly translucent woman. I didn’t know souls could cough. And that was a totally not useful inane thought. “Yeah, Sam.” Shit. She didn’t know that I called her by that nickname in my inappropriate fantasies about her. “Um, I mean Samantha. I came by to check on you and…” “Baby…” Yess! My heart leapt with momentary joy and I did a little internal fist pump despite the seriousness of our circumstances. Did she just call me… “You have to help Baby. It’s pulling her into…it’s got her.” Damnit! My joy shattered into disappointment while I tried to focus on the here and now. “What baby? Where is it?” Samantha pointed toward the pit. “Baby is what Caleb named our dog. She’s being pulled down into the pit right now.” Oh fuck. I could see the lump of translucent fuzzy cuteness whining softly and looking at me piteously. Puppy eyes. Steeling myself against their power I resolved that I was not going to risk my life for a dog. Glancing back at spirit Sam I found her gazing at me with the same pleading piteous look as her damned puppy. “Oh, God.” I shook my head in disappointment at myself as I stood and stalked toward the Hellmouth armed with a crucifix and a garden hoe. “I’m really about to brave the depths of hell and rescue a puppy to impress a chick I like. Like a dumbass.”