Evil in Me, page 23
She shook her head. “Of course not!”
“Okay. Then I take it you’re staying here. Right?”
She didn’t answer, just clutched her hands together.
He let out a huff. “Just can’t let you come along, Martha. I’m sorry. I’d never forgive myself if you got hurt.”
She touched the image of Ruby again. “You bring her back and they’ll put her in prison this time. You know that.”
He did, was counting on it.
“She’s gonna hate me,” Martha said.
“For a little while. But you’re doing what’s best. She’ll understand that in time. Trust me, it’ll sure beat where she’s heading now.”
“You promise to call me the second you find out anything. I mean anything.”
“Of course.”
“Okay,” Martha said.
“Okay?”
She looked at him, tears brimming. “Go get her, Eduardo. Please go get my baby.”
Eduardo had to fight not to smile.
* * *
“Park over there,” Tina said, pointing to a small empty lot. She wanted another cup of coffee, her head still groggy even after a long nap. They’d all napped, even Vutto, sleeping through most of the day, all drained from the chaos of the night before.
Ruby pulled in and parked in front of a sign reading PET HEAVEN MEMORIAL PARK.
“What’s this?” Ruby asked. “Wait, you gotta be kidding me? Is this a cemetery just for pets?”
“Sure is,” Tina replied. “Andre asked us to park away from the church.” She pointed to a large redbrick building sitting just on the other side of the graveyard, the sign out front read BETHAL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL. “It’s so his grandfather won’t see us. His grandfather’s the preacher, and if he finds out what we’re up to, then the whole thing’s off.”
They got out of the car and stretched, then unloaded the guitar and bass from the trunk.
“Okay, Vutto,” Ruby said. “C’mon.”
Vutto climbed out and Ruby straightened his wig, pulling the hair down to cover most of his face. Ruby had applied some makeup and with the glasses, he almost, almost, passed for your run-of-the-mill cretin, as opposed to a servant of Satan. Tina just hoped no one looked too closely.
Vutto grinned at her, revealing his jagged little teeth.
Tina shivered. Don’t touch me, she thought. Please, God, do not let it touch me. She felt sure his touch would spread his vileness, like some kind of satanic disease. An overwhelming compulsion to run came over her, to run away from this creature, to run away from all of this nightmare. This wasn’t a game; she’d seen enough to know whatever was going on here was real, sure now that more than just her life was at stake.
Tina closed her eyes. Indomitable spirit, she thought. Indomitable spirit, indomitable spirit. She visualized the words. It was easy to do, because she’d seen them almost every day of her childhood. They were from a plaque hanging in her father’s living room, the five tenets of Tae Kwon Do: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit. She’d never paid much attention to the first four, but that last one had resonated.
Her father often told her she was in control of who she was, how she felt. And if she worked at it, she could not only feel like a success, but be successful at anything she applied herself to. He had added, if you dwell on failure, you will fail. Which sounded cheesy to her now, like some inspiring quote from Confucius. But cheesy or not, it worked, at least for her, maybe not every time, but most times. So, whenever she felt doubt or fear creeping up on her, she would repeat those words, her mantra, her spell of empowerment. Often followed by saying or doing something positive, even if it was as simple as smiling.
“Let’s go make some mojo,” Tina said, and led them across the cemetery.
“Look at this one,” Ruby called, stooping over a gravestone. “Speck, a loyal friend. That’s so sad.”
“Why’s it sad? That dog probably had a long, wonderful life.”
“Not sad for the dog. Sad for the heartache of those left behind. They miss their furry friend.”
The graves became older as they went, they found a mix of dogs, cats, even rabbits and birds.
“Oh, lord, this one,” Ruby said. “Bingo, 1934–1950. Let a little dog into your heart and he will tear it to pieces. Geesh, that makes me wanna cry.”
Tina caught the look of profound sadness on Ruby’s face and couldn’t help loving her. Here Ruby was, with an actual demon trying to eat her soul, and she still found room to hurt for some long-gone pet owner.
We gotta get you through this, Tina thought. Whatever it takes, because I can’t lose you. You’re the only real friend I got … only one I’ve ever had really. And she wasn’t being melodramatic, she’d always been awkward around people—adults, or kids, didn’t matter—feeling like an alien, feeling like every word out of her mouth was the wrong word. People just seemed to sense she was odd, making her wonder if maybe she gave off some kind of weirdo scent. She’d like to blame it on folks being prejudice because she was Asian, only even the Korean kids at her church all but shunned her. At some point she’d learned to reject people before they could reject her. One of the many reasons she’d fallen in love with punk—that, and that it helped her to pretend she was socially awkward on purpose. And all of this had a lot to do with why she’d fallen in so tight with Ruby, because weirdos tended to like other weirdos.
There was a little more to it. Ruby had her back, always had her back. Tina thought about what Ruby had done to Stacy back in school. Tina’s grandmother lived with Tina’s family. She’d been making her own kimchi that week, the smell permeating the whole house, including Tina’s clothes. Tina and Ruby happened to be standing in line next to Stacy and her pack of friends, when Stacy pinched her nose. “Lord, y’all smell that? Why, someone smells like week-old Chinese food.” The whole group clamped their noses and started laughing at Tina.
Tina turned on them, but Ruby held her back, told her the bitch wasn’t worth getting suspended over. The next day Ruby brought in a small perfume mister, only there wasn’t perfume in it, but some horrible mixture of fish oil and minced horseradish juice. During second period PE class, Ruby snuck in and gave a couple of quick squirts inside Stacy’s locker, on her clothes and books—not a lot, but enough that for the rest of the day, Stacy smelled like the dumpster behind a fish house. Stacy went home early that day.
Tina found herself smiling as they walked up to the basement door of the church. She knocked lightly. When no one answered, she opened the door, peeked in. Andre sat at a large round table playing a game with five of his friends—four guys and some gal. They all appeared to be in their late teens. Andre was only nineteen himself.
“Psst.”
Andre saw her and hopped up. “Y’all can keep playing,” he said to his friends. “This shouldn’t take too long.” He came over and stuck his head out the door. He barely gave Ruby and Vutto a glance, his eyes scanning the parking lot, like he was under surveillance. He quickly ushered them in and Tina made a point of keeping Vutto behind her as they entered, grateful that the basement was so dim.
The basement was one long room with a small kitchen area partitioned off. The place smelled of casseroles and fresh gingerbread. One wall was loaded with photos of the congregation, mostly folks in choir robes, with a few paintings of Jesus in the mix. The other wall held dozens of children’s drawings and craft projects, like colorful crosses made from popsicle sticks. Hand-me-down sofas and recliners were lined up below the photos, while several round tables sat in the middle of the room surrounded by folding metal chairs.
“You got the cash?” Andre asked.
“Dang, Andre,” Tina said. “Straight to business.”
Andre was slim with glasses, his hair trimmed into a tall flattop, which Tina felt made his large ears look all the larger. His glasses were vintage, like something Buddy Holly would have worn. He looked nerdy, but as though on purpose—a lot of plaid. Tina knew he had good taste in music at least, because he was at most of the same shows she was.
Andre sighed. “You still haven’t paid me for the last time.”
“Aw, Andre, you know I’m good for it.”
“Do I?”
“How much is the session?” Ruby asked.
“Forty.”
Ruby tugged out a roll of bills and gave him two twenties.
He gave Ruby a kind smile. “What was your name again?”
“Ruby.”
“Thank you, Ruby.”
Ruby pulled out two more twenties. “Does this cover Tina’s tab?”
“It sure does.”
“Ruby,” Tina said. “You don’t need to—”
“Consider it your birthday present.”
Andre slipped the money away. “Happy birthday, Tina.”
“My birthday’s five months away.” She shook her head at Ruby. “Thank you, Ruby. That was sweet.”
“Are you kidding?” Ruby rolled her eyes. “I can’t even think about how much I owe you right now.”
The girl at the table rolled several dice and the whole table let out a groan.
“Looks like your arrow hit the troll, but,” the boy checked his sheet, “you only did two points damage.”
“Shit!” the girl exclaimed. “We’re in deep doo-doo now.”
“Oh, heck,” Ruby said. “They’re playing D&D.” She walked over. “Hey, that’s Lair of Blood Spider. Tina, we played that one, remember?”
“Not sure what you’re talking about,” Andre said.
“Huh?”
“That’s not D&D.”
“What? Yeah it is.”
“Nope, can’t be, because we’re not allowed to play D&D down here. Says so right there.” He pointed to sign written in marker. The sign read GOD’S HOUSE RULES in bold, below it, a list of don’ts, and there, right under NO GAMBLING was NO DUNGEON OR DRAGON GAMES. “Only thing going on at this table is Bible studies. Ain’t that so?”
“Amen,” all five of the kids said at once, one of them thumping the Bible sitting next to his character sheet.
Andre herded them past the game, and Tina caught Ruby’s wistful look. They’d spent plenty of long nights in Tina’s basement outsmarting necromancers and slaying bands of goblins, usually with her neighbor Shawn, Billy, and sometimes her brother.
They entered the studio—a small setup, partly partitioned off at the far end of the room, the wall and ceiling lined with egg cartons. There was a piano, a drum kit, and several mics set up.
“What’s your favorite gospel song?” Andre asked.
“We don’t really know any,” Ruby said.
“Sure, you do. Have to. You’re a gospel band after all.”
Ruby looked at Tina confused.
Tina grinned. “We are today, because his grandpa only allows gospel bands to record here.”
Andre smirked and pointed back at the sign; the third line down read NO ROCKNROLL. “If we move quick, we can get you out of here before he comes down and checks on us.”
Tina handed him a tape, while Ruby plugged in. Andre turned the system on and shoved the cassette in the recorder.
Ruby tapped the mic; everything seemed to be working. They strummed out a few chords, loosening up their fingers.
“Let’s play a verse for warm-up then just go into it,” Tina said. “Andre, just keep everything recording until we’re done. I can edit it later, at home.”
Andre gave her the thumbs up and hit record.
Tina caught the strain on Ruby’s face. “You’re kung fu, Ruby Duby. Don’t you forget it.”
Ruby gave her a weak smile and they started playing. Everything was sounding tight, but just when Ruby hit the vocals a bright red light started flashing from behind a bookcase.
Andre waved for them to stop, a look of panic on his face.
They quit playing and watched as Andre sprinted over and clicked off the flashing light, then over to help the kids as they scrambled to stow away the miniatures and dice. They threw a tablecloth over the game and pulled out Bibles and notebooks.
All eyes went to the walled-off stairs as something began clumping slowly down the steps. The clumping stopped at the bottom and an old man’s bearded face peered round at them. He narrowed his eyes.
“Well, hey, Grandpa,” Andre called.
“Well, hey, yourself.” Andre’s grandfather, the preacher, snapped back. He entered the room clutching his cane, a wiry old man with a white head of hair. He wore suspenders over a striped shirt buttoned up to his neck, and tucked into brown plaid pants, leaving Tina to wondered if he and Andre shopped at the same clothing store.
The preacher made his way down the room, his cane punctuating every step. He passed the kids at the table without a look, his eyes—his stern, judging eyes—were on the band. He walked up and pushed his glasses back up on his nose.
Vutto kept his head down.
“Who are you?” the preacher asked.
“We’re … uhm,” Tina started.
“That’s the Sweet Peas,” Andre put in.
“The Sweet Peas, huh? Ain’t never heard of ’em. Y’all don’t look like no gospel band to me.” He gave Vutto a hard stare. “How about y’all playing me one of your songs.”
Tina and Ruby exchanged a tense glance.
“Sure … thing,” Tina said. “How about … uh … how about … ‘Amazing Grace’? What do you think, Ruby?”
Ruby looked like a deer in headlights.
“Ruby? ‘Amazing Grace’?”
Ruby just nodded.
Tina started the tune, and after a couple of seconds Ruby joined in, bumbling along the best she could, while Vutto timidly tapped the drums. Tina started to sing.
The preacher’s face soured. “Good gracious! Stop that! Please stop that racket. Why that’s just plain awful!”
“Grandpa, now,” Andre said. “Don’t be rude. They’re just starting out. They’re doing their best.”
“Well, they need to do better, cause they’re gonna scare away the Holy Spirit himself if they keep making that racket.”
“Maybe your hearing aid is acting up again.”
The old man scrutinized Andre. “If I didn’t know better, I’d be suspecting you’re recording some of that Devil music again.”
“No sir! I’d never record Devil music. Not here, not anywhere.”
“Uh-huh. Now, I done told you once, but I’m telling you again. That Devil music is a doorway into your soul. You hear me?”
“Yes, sir! I most certainly do.”
“I see you smirking, don’t think I don’t. You think it’s funny now, but that’s how he gets you. He sneaks in through your music, your TV, your games, next thing you know … he’s GOT yah!”
Ruby jumped.
Hang in there, Ruby, Tina thought.
The old preacher turned away, shuffling past the kids as they diligently studied their Bibles. He reached the stairs and stopped. “That’s a pretty neat trick, Calvin.”
“Sir?” one of the boys replied.
“You being able to read that Bible upside down and all.”
Calvin gasped and spun his Bible around.
“Y’all ain’t as smart as you all think you is. I done told you, and I’ll keep telling you, them Devil games are an invitation to Satan.” He let out a final huff and headed back up the stairs.
“Okay,” Andre said. “Let’s wrap this up.”
“We’re ready,” Ruby said.
He hit record and Tina began to play again, and this time Ruby didn’t miss a beat, she fell right in. The song flowed and in short order, Tina felt that familiar tingle in the air, the hair on her arms standing up as that warm, sweet sensation flowed around them. All of them singing together for the chorus.
‘Gonna give you all my heart and soul, give you all my heart and soul. Burnin’ like a demon bowl, I give you all my heart and soul.
They finished the song to find Andre and the kids staring at them, mouths agape, tears rolling down their cheeks.
“Quick, one more,” Tina said, and started again. “Keep it flowing.”
This time when they hit the chorus, the kids joined in. The room swelled with the magical song. Then, somewhere around the second verse, another voice joined them, only it was more of a wail.
Tina spotted a white dog, a collie, by the door, howling. No, she thought, not white … pale and wispy. She saw it had hollow eyes; its mangy fur matted to its skeletal frame.
Oh no! she thought as a chill crawled up her spine.
A moment later another ghostly dog, a dachshund, came trotting in, coming right through the wall, grinning death’s grin, followed quickly by a beagle, a German shepherd, and two pugs, filling the room with their long mournful howls.
Tina did her best to keep playing, backing away until her back hit the wall, hoping these ghosts, spirits, whatever they were, kept away from her.
And just when Tina didn’t think it could get any weirder, several cats followed, then more dogs, at least a dozen of them, turning the room into a cacophony of yowls and howls and screams—the sound of lost souls.
“What’s going on!” someone shouted. The preacher stood at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes ready to pop from his head. He banged his cane atop the table, knocking dice and miniatures all over the floor.
The “Evil in Me” song sputtered out, yet the howls continued, the ghosts drifting and swirling about the room like pale smoke.
“I done told you kids!” the preacher yelled, swatting at the ghosts with his cane. “I done told you!”
The kids blinked, rubbing their eyes as though awakened from a dream, bewildered looks on their faces. Andre kept backing up until he fell into one of the recliners, clasping his hands to his mouth.
“Look what you done!” the preacher shouted. “The Devil! You done brought the Devil into the house of God. Lord Jesus, help us all!”
Ruby appeared to be in a trance; Tina gave her a shake. “C’mon, let’s get out of here!”
Tina grabbed the tape and the three of them dashed out the door, the preacher’s booming voice echoing behind them as they sprinted across the lot.
