learn more about the full length novel featuring Tronaugh, The Demon of Petty Disturbances
rough draft of The Demon of Petty Disturbances
page 4
by K. Kylyra Ameringer
"You can't go because ..." he stopped. Because why? He felt his heart begin to pump wildly and his palms grew slick with sweat. There was nothing else for it now. "Because I want you to marry me."
He could sense her withdrawal from him in the darkness, and fell to one knee in a last desperate attempt. "You are my sun and my moon, and I would talk with you beneath the stars forever, my fair Melissa." Not bad for a quick improvisation, he thought.
Melissa stood under the shadow of a tree, so he could not see her face in the darkness. "Oh, Richard," she said softly. He could hear his doom in her voice, and he reached out to touch her, as if to grab onto that last instant before rejection. A tiny, well-manicured hand flew out of the darkness to swat his arms away.
"No, Dick," she said. Her voice was all cold stone now. "I think you should leave."
"But we were meant to be together," Dick pleaded. "Bound together by the promise we made under this very moon."
"What?" she asked incredulously. "You can't mean all that weird kid stuff we played at! Don't tell me you actually believe any of that tripe!"
Dick staggered to his feet. He felt dizzy and his ears were buzzing. He took a breath to steady himself. "You said that we'd always be together. That we'd always be friends," he said accusatorially.
"We are friends," she said firmly from the darkness. "Just not ... that kind of friends."
Dick stood there a moment searching his mind for something to say. "You should go, or you'll miss your bus," Mel told him softly.
He nodded and turned to walk down the long gravel drive. Reaching the pavement, he saw the last bus half a mile down the road, puling away from the stop. He sighed and turned to begin a long walk home. He was not at all surprised when it began to rain.
iv.
Shock, he thought. I'm in shock. Some part of his mind registered that fact and was coldly clinical in its analysis of the situation. He hadn't felt the icy pattering rain on the long walk home, and when he reached his flat he didn't bother to remove his wet clothes before tumbling into bed.
That had been ... well, a while ago. Dick couldn't remember for sure just how long ago the party was. He thought he had slept a little. He'd been aware of light slowly growing in the flat, and he could feel he was hungry but he didn't care to get out of bed. The phone had rung once, for a long time. That would have been work, he knew. He hadn't shown up for his shift and he didn't care.
He kept replaying the party in his head, searching through his memory. He was looking for anything in Mel's behaviour that might indicate a glimmer of hope for him. But to be honest with himself, he didn't find anything to lift his gloom.
He turned on his side to face the wall and a lump in his jacket pocket caught his attention. He reached down into the pocket of his still damp clothes and pulled out the jeweler's box.
She didn't even see the ring, he thought. He put the box on the small night stand by his bed and got up to head to the toilet.
Didn't even see the ring! The thought seemed to take on a life of its own inside his head, echoing around and picking up speed on its way. He thought of the extra hours at work that he'd put in, all the time he'd spent here in this hole with little food and nothing to do, scrimping and saving everything for that ring. And she didn't even look at it. All the time he and Melissa had spent together, all the secrets they'd shared ... she'd led him on the whole time! She'd flirted with him, sure she had! She'd been pretty obvious about it, too. It was all some big, sick joke to her.
Dick looked at himself in the small mirror over the sink. There was a hard set to his mouth that hadn't been there before. "Bitch," he said the word to his reflection. A new revelation swept over him. Schoolboy Dick the ditch Digger, or worse yet, Dick Chigger, didn't swear. But Richard Digger, man of the world, did.
"Goddamn fucking bitch!" he boomed. His voice amplified off the tiles in the tiny bathroom. He looked around a little guiltily and then resumed gazing at himself in the mirror. "Bitch," he said again, quieter this time. He'd show her!
He stormed out of the bathroom and crossed to his tiny bookcase by the corner desk. His precious occult books had been carefully moved from his parents' house when he left and were now stashed on the lowest shelf just behind a science fiction novel.
Dick pulled out the largest of the books and threw it down on the desk top, scattering papers as he did so. The lamp on the desk illuminated the title 'Magic Spells and Rituals of Calling'.
He opened the book and began leafing through the pages rapidly until his eyes fell on something that made his face light up with a wicked grin. He'd need time to prepare for this one. Oh, yes. But that was alright. He still had five days before the next full moon and then the timing would be perfect. Perfect. And then she'd pay. Yes, then she'd come crawling back to Richard Digger, begging for his help and protection. He thought happily of the terror he'd cause in her heart.
rough draft of The Demon of Petty Disturbances by K. Kylyra Ameringer
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learn more about the full length novel featuring Tronaugh, The Demon of Petty Disturbances
