Page 67 of Ashes to Ash’s

Cal

I didn’t consider how it’d feel to be faced with both of them like this. It was strange, because I’d felt love for them at one point, back when I was too young to understand their damage. That’s what it was. Damage. They were so locked into their faith and beliefs, and the twisted teachings of people like Uncle Gordon, that they couldn’t see that love could exist everywhere, not just in their tiny pockets of acceptance.

“There’s no honour in the way you treated me,” I said, my voice a little softer now as emotion filled me, but not because of what they were about to suffer through. It was because that frightened little boy inside me still didn’t fully understand why his mum and dad couldn’t just love him.

“Son, they’re messing with your mind. This is how their deviant nature corrupts the good.”

Ethan snorted behind them, and they both spun to see him brandishing both knives at them. Mother screamed, but father didn’t seem at all concerned, tutting at him, like he didn’t see the literal madness in that fucker’s eyes.

“He won’t kill them right here, right?” I whispered to Ash, who looked just as worried as I was.

“Can’t guarantee that,” he replied, turning to face the doorway, “EM! Get in here!”

My parents were trying to back away from Ethan, but that brought them closer to us, and they knew that was also a risk.

Em walked into the room, immediately seeing the problem as she straightened her clothes after their way-too-noisy session upstairs. Her psycho murder-obsessed husband grinned widely at her.

“Jesus!”

“How dare you use the Lord’s name in vain! Blasphemy!” Father spat, and Ethan suddenly started to laugh. It was loud, almost unhinged, but it seemed to break that spell that’d settled over him as he faced them once more, and tightened his fingers around the knife handles. He looked so determined to cause them agony, and they deserved that, but maybe we could still get them out of this room before they died.

“Ethan, give me those!”

Ash started chuckling, and I had no idea why, until Ethan handed his wife one of those knives, and her whole demeanour seemed to shift. Suddenly I wasn’t looking at the sweet sister of Ash’s that I’d had trouble believing had any connection to the crazy fucker, Ethan. I was looking at pure evil in feminine form, and it sent chills down my spine.

“What the actual fuck,” I hissed at Ash, who laughed louder.

“Yep, that’s my big sis. She’s awesome, right? Lead them downstairs, will ya!”

I watched with complete fucking bemusement as the two of them used their chilling behaviour, and sharp knives, to corral my parents, leading them out of the room, even as father protested loudly, thinking he had any fucking power here.

“She looks terrifying,” I said to Ash as he turned to check all the locks on the door, then dug his phone out and sent a text to his dads, letting them know we were proceeding.

“Yeah, she’s no better than the rest of us, babe. She just looks so sweet nobody believes it. Back when she was more of a goth, it was easier to believe, but now? Yeah… not so much.”

We headed down to the hallway, and in the direction of the kill room. That room my own parents were being led to, never to leave it alive again. I was so fucking relieved I’d advised Ren to stay in his room watching something on the TV, away from this showdown.

“He’s going to insist on fucking her in their blood, Ash,” I suddenly said, horror filling my throat with bile, even though it had nothing to do with whose blood it’d be. Not anymore. Their behaviour when they got here had sealed their fate, and they hadn’t even let out all of their evil yet.

“Ugh, do you mind? That’s my fucking sister,” he said with a grimace. Instead of heading downstairs, he led me into a small room, that I quickly realised was where he’d lay in wait while I was trapped down there. There were multiple camera angles on the bright white room that held my parents while Ethan circled them like a ferocious predator, and Em leaned back against the door, testing the blade on her knife with her thumb.

“This is where you were,” I said pointlessly, because it was obvious.

Ash gestured to the chair beside him as he sat, and I joined him, glad to be held up by something other than my shaky legs right now.

“I was in my own hell last time I was in here, Cal. I thought I’d have to live without you… no, that’s not true. I fully planned to follow you into hell, but I’m glad we get to live first instead.”

“Jesus!”

“That’s my boy,” he murmured with a grin, reaching over to stroke my cheek.

A yell from the speakers wrenched our attention back to the screens. Father was down on his ass, and Ethan was laughing, while Em shook her head at his antics. Mother was dropping down onto her knees to try and help father, and that’s when Ash leaned toward the free-standing microphone.

“That’s right, pray to your pathetic god, but guess what… he won’t save you. He doesn’t care. Nobody fucking cares. You’ll die in there, and nobody will even notice.”

Ethan glanced up at the camera, waving the knife like… well, like a fucking serial killer.

“Can I tell them?”