Lifeless

CHAPTER ONE

It was in 2014, the beginning of the year. It was Upstate New York, in a small rural area known as Nedrid. I had for the most part grown up in this small quiet town and graduated from the high school, five years prior to then. Nedrid was relatively peaceful due to its low population. It was almost like it was hidden from the rest of the world, and one would hope that it was hidden from it's problems. Adrian was a common name there, so my peers always called me by my last name, Reeves. My best friend from high school and my only friend I spent a lot of time with, Zach, started the trend. It sort of stuck with the rest of the students. We were practically twins, brothers from other mothers. We even looked similar, black hair, brown eyes, tall and athletic. Only my family would call me by my first name and I honestly don't have a close bond with any of them. I don't know why entirely, just that it involves the death of my mother when I was young and whatever goes in in my dad's head. He's a military man. Captain in the Army Reserves. Not as stern as you would expect though, from such an impression. The result being, I grew up kind of weird and could debatably have some sort of mental illness or personality disorder. With music and weed, I felt very well the second half of my teenage years.

I felt that I had a spiritual connection with my soul mate, when I was a young boy. I have even felt her spirit. I had somehow lost that connection over time but figured that destiny would bring us back together one day. I have also dreamed of leaving the same little area that I grew up in all my life. I hungered for a fuller, richer, life experience. I was getting sick of the same old thing. I wanted to get out of this state and just explore the country. I don't want to depend on my family anymore and stay with them until my 30's; when I get a mediocre job that I absolutely hate, but hey, gotta' pay the bills, right?

If I mentioned such thoughts, people looked at me like they didn't know who I was. They would laugh nervously while saying, "Dude, I don't know what to tell you or what you want me to say. But it's not that bad." Not wanting to make it into a big deal, I would always give in, "Yeah, definitely. Some day though, I'll get out of here," I would repeat, as if to convince myself more than anyone else.
I was in my room and threw my coat in the chair next to the doorway. I had just got back from a concert with Zach and was exhausted. I went over to my desk, where my laptop was, and sat in the chair. I logged into my email to check for new messages real quick. It was somewhat of a tradition I had every night, since I got my first computer at sixteen years old. I had mainly spam mail, but one stuck out in particular. It was a message from my childhood friend, Jake, who had moved to Las Vegas last year. His message read:

"Hey Bro!

How have you been? It's been a while! Was just wondering how you were doing in New York. I sort of miss it, but I gotta' tell you, the West Coast is pretty rad. It's just as cool as you think it is! Vegas has some nice opportunities but it'll kill you if you're not watching your back! Anyways, I have been cutting it real close with bills, for the last couple of months and could really use a roommate! the only thing is, I don't know a whole lot of people in Vegas that I would trust, who also need a roommate. So out of desperation, I was wondering if you would like to move out here and be my roommate! Well just think about it and get back to me soon."

Love, Your bro,
Jake

I stared at the screen for a little while longer after finishing. I thought about it intensely. This could be my chance to finally get out of here and have a more fulfilling life. I kept looking at the words "So out of desperation, I was wondering..." I laughed while saying aloud to myself, "and out of desperation, I will take your offer."




CHAPTER TWO

I grabbed my big Reebok sports bag/luggage bag, which was odd to see, as it is to say. I grabbed my favorite shirts, pants, shorts, underwear, socks, sunglasses, deodorant, and anything else I might need. After an hour or so of packing I decided to take a break and watch some videos online. Lately, I had become very fascinated with conspiracy theory documentaries. Ranging from Fluoride in the tap water and chem-trails, to world leaders being Freemason satanists, who want to depopulate the world and institute a one world government, accompanied by a new religion. A lot of these videos were saying similar things about powerful people being devil worshipers and serving Satan. Over time, I became fascinated with the occult and it evolved into researching and studying the subject. The studies mainly focused on ceremonial magic, to summon a variety of spirits. It involved banishing your ritual area of all energies, summoning archangels, ascending yourself to temporarily be God's equal, and finally, manifesting your desire, or commanding some aspect of reality, to obey you. It reminded me of a favorite movie of mine, The Matrix, where the "the one," could alter reality as he saw fit.

I didn't realize how much time I had spent studying, so I shutdown my laptop and packed it in the bag, before leaving for the airport. It had all happened so fast. The opportunity presented itself, so it was time to get the hell out of this state, while I could.

When I landed in Vegas, Jake was waiting for me with a sign that had my name on it. He thought he was real funny. He grinned from ear to ear when he saw me, tossing the sign away to his side. "Brother! You're finally here!" He practically shouted it in my face. "I missed you too brother, it's good to see you. Plus, I'm just excited to be living outside of New York for the first time!" I exclaimed. He laughed with me, "Cool man, good news too. I work at this upscale pub on the Vegas strip, as a server. I got you a job there with me!" I couldn't believe it, just a few minutes in Vegas and Jake had already gotten me a job. It felt right. I felt that I was finally beginning my own journey, my own life. We got into his beat up Subaru and got on the road, when he told me, "We're gonna stop by the pub first. My friend Santiago works there and I gotta pick up some weed from him." I was relieved to hear, "Cool, I could use some weed to calm me down." I was excited and nervous to see what my new job would be like.

When we got there, I was not disappointed. The pub was huge. A large, central and rectangle bar was the first thing to notice as I walked in. Big, wooden wheel, chandeliers hung from the ceiling. I was impressed looking around, but I snapped back to focus, as two well-groomed, Mexican guys came over to Jake. They were both wearing the all black uniformed shirt, with the pub name on the shoulder. "What's Gucci, man?" said the shorter one, "Jake, what's up, are you in love?" said the other one. I could tell I would get along with these guys based on their arbitrary humor. I was also envious of their nice haircuts: buzzed short all around on the side, leaving it a little trimmed but long, on top. Jake bumped fists with them, "hey what's up Raul, it's all Gucci here! Santiago, you always know I'm in love, especially if it's my girl Mary Jane! oh, this is my friend I grew up with in New York, Adrian. He's staying with me and he'll be a busser here at the pub too." I shook both of their hands, with a proper greeting, before Jake spoke again, "We gotta get going, we just stopped by to pick up." Santiago nodded, "Yeah, we should probably do this quick and get back to work, before we get yelled at." Santiago and Jake went into the restroom so they could make the exchange. Raul turned to me and said, "So man, what brings you to Vegas?" I reluctantly gave my answer, "I grew up in that state and lived there all of my life. It's time for a change." Raul nodded in agreement. I looked and noticed that he was wearing a crucifix pendant, "Oh, you guys are Christian?" Raul snapped his fingers while almost singing, "You bet-ter be-lieve it!" He danced side to side, lost to the rhythm of his own song. Then he turned back to me, "What about you, are you a believer?" I looked at the floor before answering, "I used to be. A few years ago. I wasn't satisfied when it couldn't give me a clear vision of truth." Raul was puzzled, "What do you mean?" I sighed, knowing I would probably come off as a nut job, even though I had my reasons. "There are some contradictions, for instance, in one of the gospels, it says, Jesus came down from the mountain to give his sermon. In another gospel, of the same event, it says he goes up the mountain and sits with his disciples to give the sermon. Now that one is insignificant, so I'll let it go. There's also Leviticus 26:1 which essentially says, to not make false idols or an idol of yourself. Stating that we cannot be god. Yet Jesus says in John 10:34; of the King James Bible, 'Is it not written in your law? I said ye are gods.'" Raul was stunned and absolutely silent. I knew I would regret trying to circulate this information. He looked to be pondering something, then he looked at me while saying, "If this isn't "the way," then what is?" Such a question came off as almost hopeless, in a way. I searched my thoughts for the right answer but to no avail, I could only tell him, "I don't know yet, but I am currently studying ancient magic and mysticism." It looked like a spark was ignited and set flame to Raul's passion again, "Whoa! that's interesting stuff man, we should..." Our conversation ended abruptly as Jake and Santiago came back. Raul face me again, "We should try some magic sometime man, it sounds hella fascinating."

We got to Jake's apartment shortly after leaving the pub. It was very close, I could probably walk to and from work. The apartment was quite small, I could tell that the complex used to be a motel. It still had the layout, but at least it was fully furnished. I unpacked some of my things for a while. Mainly refolding my clothes and putting them away in the dresser. Jake fell asleep watching TV. I don't blame him though, all the excitement had me worn out, as well. I heard a knock on the door so I went to check the peephole of the door and saw that it was Raul. I was surprised as I opened the door and greeted him, "Hey Raul, long time no see. What are you doing here?" He looked like he still had a lot of energy even though it was getting pretty late, "All I could think about at work was magic and the other things you were telling me. My brother Santi', is out for the night so we could perform a ritual at our place." So they were brothers. I had no reason to object, so I grabbed one my journals from my bag, and went with him to his apartment. Raul could hardly wait to get started when we got to there, "So, what ritual are we going to try?" I opened my notebook, skipped through pages for a while before stopping on one that I was curious about. "Aha!" I said, "This is the one we will perform. We're going to summon Djinns, which are known here, in America, as Genies.'" Raul had no objections, but was curious, "So, do we have to find magic lamps or go into some cave?" I snickered a little, "No, that's just 'Aladdin.' Djinns are the Islamic counterpart to the Christian demons." Raul looked absolutely perplexed, "Demons." I assured him, "In this framework it is not like you have been led to believe. It's only natural to start looking for answers here, when Christianity doesn't work."

We set up an altar place in his bathroom, closed the door and turned off the lights. We lit three candles for the beginning of the ritual, which was all he had for candles. We performed the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram to clear the energy around the altar, to provide a pure nexus of positive energy. Then we followed the instructions I had written down in my journal. It involved writing incantations on a mirror in Arabic and binding the spirit to a personal relic. I chose my pentacle pendant. Raul chose his black and red G-Shock watch. During the course of the ritual, we would take turns taking hits of weed, from a small glass pipe. Getting a little high, as we were attempting to summon these entities. Somewhere in my thoughts I had believed that certain substances enhance, or are even needed, for some mystical experiences. We followed all the steps of the spell, but in the end we were still just two guys sitting in a dark bathroom, with a weird table and a mirror. "Sorry Raul, we tried but it looks like we won't have any success this time. Don't be discouraged though, it most likely never works for people like us, who are relatively new at this." He sighed in agreement, "Yeah, you're right. Maybe some other time."

I closed my journal and extinguished the candles. Walking out of the bathroom, I see Raul lock the front door.

"Raul, what are you doing man? I'm about to leave."

He didn't answer. He just stood there facing the door, with his back to me. He was like a statue, absolutely motionless. Lifeless. I tried again,

"Hey, are you okay, what's wrong?"

He turned around very slowly to face me. Something was very wrong, the atmosphere had suddenly changed into an unpleasant feeling. His face said it all. Completely blank and his eyes had turned to black.

"Oh shit."

I had dabbled in something I would soon regret. Even worse, no would no where I was or what happened to me. They might blame Jake. Raul began taking steps towards me. He raised his right hand, revealing that his fingers were growing and transforming into claws that looked beyond razor sharp. I didn't even have time to react,he leapt forward and was instantly in front of me. Without a single thought, Raul drove those claws right through my torso. The stab was quick but he took his time to draw the claws out of my body. I had never seen so much blood with my own eyes, and it was my blood. I laid there, in my growing puddle, feeling myself fade away. Only to deal with this excruciating pain as my last memory. This was the worst. I was going to die because from my own curiosity. The only thing left was to accept my demise.

"At least I can rest in peace now."

I assured myself as I closed my eyes. The demon answered,

"Not a chance. You belong to me now."

Then came laughing. a ceaseless choir of demonic laughter, rupturing my soul.