Nancy’s hand grabbed Eddie by the wrist, and she pulled back with all her might. She fell onto the gravel roof with a grunt of pain when her back made impact. Eddie hit his head on the floor of the roof, cutting his forehead and snapping him out of his hallucination.
“What?” he shouted, his head moving left and right as he tried to orient himself. “Wh-where am I?”
“Eddie, you’re with me,” Nancy said.
“Nancy, what are you doing here?” he asked, touching his bloody forehead and seeing red on his fingers. He also quickly put his dick back in his pants and zipped himself up with a blush. Thank God I didn’t bang my cock on the ground, he thought.
“What are you doing up on the roof of this building, about to fall off of it to your death?” she asked. “That seems the more relevant question.”
“I was gonna fu–” he began, his eyes still darting all around the area, trying to make sense of what was going on. “Where’d the girls go? Their bedroom?” He took a tissue out of his shirt pocket.
“The girls? Their bedroom? Are you high?”
“There were three beautiful, hot girls that I was with. I was gonna get laid, then you took me from it.”
“Eddie, you were gonna die. I saved you from it. There never were any girls. At least not physically.”
“I don’t understand. What’s going on?” He was using the tissue to soak up the blood on his forehead.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Did you do any drugs before this happened?”
“No,” he said. “I drank only a half bottle of beer.”
“You almost died, just like your friends, who it seems thought they were with beautiful women, too.”
“What is this? Some kind of black magic? Is someone messing with the spirit world? Raising up demons, or something?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t believe in that kind of thing.”
“Neither do I,” he said, remembering that night with his friends and that woman, but not wanting to bring it up and remind his sister of it.
“As crazy as it sounds, still, I can’t think of any other way to explain what the hell’s going on here. There’s a lady who owns an occult bookstore downtown; It’s called ‘Raising Power.’ I understand that she believes in the supernatural; selling the books is more than just a business to her–it’s like her calling. I’ll go over there and talk to her, see if she has any insight into all this.”
“OK. I’ll go back to the bar and find Chad.”
“You stay out of the bars.”
“But I should go see if he’s OK over there,” Eddie said. “Maybe these evil spirits wanna get him, too.”
“You should come straight home with me. Chad can fend for himself, for the moment. Call him on his phone if you’re worried about him. Right now, my brother’s safety is much more important to me than Chad’s is.”
*********
As the two of them got off the roof, went down the elevator, and left the apartment building, Serena Lavin had been watching the whole scene through the eyes of her three female spirits, a vision presented to her in a crystal ball on a table in the living room of her apartment, which was on the other side of town.
Who is that woman? Serena wondered. I’ve seen her face before. Oh, wait…yes! She’s Nancy Sayers, the reporter; her photo is with all the newspaper articles I’ve been reading. She’s been following the murders of my gang-rapists, including her kid brother, Eddie, over there. Oh, well, he’s safe for the moment. I’ll get him later. I’ll take care of Chad instead. I’ll also have to do something about that Nancy before she goes to ‘Raising Power,’ where I bought all this stuff. I don’t wanna hurt her, but I can’t let her know too much about me.
Infinite Ocean 