All Roads Lead to Ruin

He made it to the fireplace as the creature paced slowly around the room, its head swaying on its neck in a very unnatural manner. Seth reached for the fire poker, lifting it carefully off of the hook before the barb on the back caught the shovel, rattling the tool set. The creature let out a horrendous scream, its head swinging to face Seth as it bolted towards him, legs bending to launch him off of the back of the couch and towards Seth.

Seth braced himself, then swung, the fire iron striking the beast in the head and knocking it to the floor. It hissed, righting itself, before charging again and taking another strike to the head. The creature backed up, shrieked a blood-curdling scream, then pounced for him. Seth ducked to the floor, the creature flying overhead and crashing head-first into the fire, wailing in agony as burning bits of log and coal were flung around the room.

Layla couldn't help screaming at the sight. Her parents, the monster... It's like it all fell on her like a pallet of bricks. Limbs trembling, and her eyes welling with tears... It all built and built as the freckles on her back stung and burned like white-hot needles pressing into her skin in a perfect semicircle. Her mind raced and lept and scrambled and burned.

Seth paused a moment, looking back at Layla to ensure she was still safe and her screams stemmed only from terror and not danger, before swinging the fire iron again as the beast clambered out of the mantle. The blow threw it back into the fireplace, before it finally darted out and past Seth. The beast flailed and moaned, writhing and smashing its body against the walls and furniture. Seth danced around with it, avoiding its frantic movements before a well placed strike to the back sent the breast toppling onto its belly.

The curtains and walls burned from where the creature struck itself, the carpet beginning to catch as the wood knocked from the fire began to ignite the floor, the creature's body making a rather large burning area as well. Seth drew his knife again, stomping on the beast's shoulder before sinking his blade into the base of the creatures skull, twisting it and wrenching it back and forth.

He jerked the blade from the creature's head, stumbling back a bit with a grunt as he stood over its burning body, panting.

Layla's finger's dug into her shoulders through the tshirt she was sleeping in, the screaming tearing at her vocal cords as her fingers tore at skin. Her back, the burning, her head... She'd pull herself out of her skin to make it stop.

As the girl's screaming continued, Seth turned to face her writhing form, dropping his red-stained knife on the floor. He moved quickly to her side, grabbing her wrists and keeping her from clawing at her skin. "Hey! Hey, what the fuck? What's wrong?" He said, trying to peak at her back while the flames began to engulf the living room.

"It burns!" she cried, trembling, not really in control of her body, "It's burning, please, make it stop!"

"Ah, shit." Grumbled Seth as he looked around the room. He bent down, scooping Layla up and tossing her over his shoulder. He carried her through the living room, dodging the advancing flames as he dropped her on her side in the cool grass of her back yard. He then jogged off, around her house toward the front. A few moments later he returned with a small, leather bag with a drawstring. He opened it, pulling one of the fangs he had pulled from the tree a week or so before and turning it about in his hands before dropping it onto Layla. The burning in her back slowly abated as her skin touched the enamel.

The screams gave way to sobs, pain to trauma. As the house she had grown up in slowly went up in flames, the girl with the pale blue hair cried and cried and cried, words not forming on her trembling lips, and tears rolling down her cheeks to quickly to be wiped away. Gone. All of it. Gone. Everything she had ever known. And worse, that thing in her house... Whatever it was. She'd never escape that thing.

Seth stood awkwardly over the girl as she cried and sobbed, reaching up to awkwardly scratch the back of his neck while she balled her eyes out. In the distance, he began to hear the wail of sirens, firetrucks apparently on their way. "Look, uh... kid, I'm sorry about your folks... you're gonna be all right, now, though. I gotta... I gotta get lost before the cops get here. Stay safe." He awkwardly told to her as his parting words, before turning around, speed walking towards his truck while flicking his hood on. He climbed into the vehicle, peeling off into the town.

"Don't go!" she cried out as he took off, "Please don't leave me here..." But, it appeared to be too late. She sat motionless in the grass, her world burning down behind her.

Seth paused, faltering in his step as he looked back at the girl; his eyes shone with sorrow, or regret on her behalf, but he didn't stop. He turned away and continued to his truck.

Two days later, the vehicle lingered outside of the Taco Bell. The sun was setting, and the familiar struggling sound of a straw sucking at the remnants of a soda in the bottom of a cup resounded as Seth glared down at the rest of his five dollar box. He just didn't have much of an appetite. These jobs never really messed with him much, but, that girl... she looked so hurt.

Sneaky little bastard she was, before he could notice her there she was banging on the window of his vehicle, screaming something that couldn't be understood through the glass.

Seth jumped at the sudden banging, soda dropping into his lap and cup popping open, ice scattering near the pedals. He cursed, tossing the empty cup aside as he opened the door, brushing off his pants and kicking out the ice. He grimaced, looking up at the girl. "What?"

"I thought you left!" the words rushed out, like a waterfall. Her eyes were sunken and hollow; clearly someone who hadn't slept in a very long time. And she looked even thinner as well. As enthusiastic as her words were, she damn near looked like a dead girl. "You never explained any of that. I didn't know what to tell the cops so I said I couldn't remember. That I blocked it out. But no one is ever going to believe that. Just tell me, okay? Please?"

"I was just about to." He replied, turning sideways in his seat, resting the heels of his shoes on the doorframe of his truck, elbows resting on his knees and hands clasped together. "I figured it was mostly self explanatory. Tell the cops whatever. It's a little late for them to help, anyway." He said to her before frowning a bit. "Tell you what?"

She paused a moment, "first off, who are you anyways?"

He looked at her for a moment, then his eyes aimed upwards, as if considering an answer, before he looked back at her and shrugged. "Nobody, really."

"Bullshit." She spat, "You followed me around, then suddenly whatever it was gets into my house and destroys everything?!" She shook her head, "That's not a nobody thing."

He shrugged again. "I'm sorry, I stand corrected; I'm a creep. A creep that needs to hit the road." He said, nodding his head towards the street in a motion that essentially said "Get lost."

Layla didn't leave, moving in front of his car, "No, you're not. You left once, and I couldn't stop you. I'm not going to sit in the grass again."

Seth grimaced, frowning at her. "Look, kid, not that I'm not sorry for you, but I can't give you back your parents or your house. I did what I could. I saved your ass. Tell the cops what happened, just leave my part out of it. They don't believe you? Who coulda guessed. They do believe you? Step in the right direction."

"All I want is an answer!" She shouted, "Why is that so hard? Just tell me what it was, what it wanted with me, and where you fit in and I'm gone!"

Seth looked at her with a stern grimace, raising a hand with three fingers extended. "A monster." He said, using his other hand to bend the first finger down, with sarcastic emphasis. "Beats me." He gave his second answer, putting the next finger down. "I killed it." He replied as he lowered his final finger. "Happy? Goodbye."

Layla frowned, "You're lying. What's the point of keeping me in the dark? You get off on it, or something? Terrifying young girls, taking away everything they had, and not even leaving them with any information about what it was? Glad I'm giving you some material to work with." She spat, brow furrowed, refusing to budge from her place.

Seth frowned, grabbing his cigarette pack from the cup holder and pulling one from the pack with his lips. "As a matter of fact, I do." He replied sarcastically before lighting the cigarette, blowing the smoke of the first puff in her face. "Look; I don't know what it was. It was weird, and ritualistic, and after you, and I saved your ass so you should thank me and be on your merry way." He replied, pulling the cigarette from his lips to exhale. "If anything, I should be asking you what the fuck is up with your birthmark and that thing. But I'm not. Because I don't care. So emulate me a little here, and stop caring so damn much. You have until the end of this cigarette, then I'm gone."