Pursuers (1)

His sister.

His sister.

His sister.

His older sister. His image of her, as he remembered her, was unfortunately that piece of dead flesh lying in the bathtub. He hadn't been able to help it.

She had been so young, after all, and seeing her like that had affected him so....

But the resemblance was impossible to miss. It was her. Only her skin wasn't dead, blue, cold skin. Only her eyes weren't staring into nothingness.

Only she was breathing.

She looked normal, fitting for a girl her age.

That's right. The only thing out of place was herself. The fact that she shouldn't be here.

I mean, he had seen her die.

No, no, no, no, no, die wasn't the right word, it wasn't. He had been too late to do anything. To save her. He'd arrived when she was already dead.

So what was here? What was this?

"So what do you say?" The demon on the other side of the screen repeated, smiling. The demon who had his older sister on a leash.

Calm down. Calm the fuck down. You have to think rationally. You have to calm down.

But he couldn't calm down. For the first time in a long time, his body wasn't obeying his commands. He was shaking so hard he felt like a pane of glass in the process of cracking.

He could forget about hiding his weakness, about standing his ground... and keeping control of the situation. He could forget all that.

"Jonathan..." Jamie called out to him.

That's not my name!, he thought, gritting his teeth. Filled with a rage pointing in the wrong direction.

Oh, fuck. Oh, he was getting dizzy. He was getting...

Jonathan grabbed one of the seats in order to keep his balance. In addition to this he ducked his head simply to make sure his feet were touching the floor, because his brain wasn't so convinced.

Yes. He was definitely falling apart.

"She... She's dead," he stammered at last. "I don't know how you know about me, but you can't fool me..."

Jonathan raised his head, staring at the screen, his eyes wide and wild, his animalistic grin showing all his teeth.

"Son of a bitch!"

He didn't know what this abomination was, but he had suddenly stopped caring.

And he had stopped being afraid of it.

He knew he would make sure he died in the worst possible way, for this insult. He wasn't going to let it go! And when he was done with it, he would finally seek out those guys who had no right to call themselves parents, and he would pull their guts out through their mouths.

Get over it? No, something like that couldn't be gotten over.

And even if you could, the world wasn't about to let him put it behind him. So all right. He'd play its game. To the fucking, miserable end.

"That's no way to talk to God."

If it wasn't strange enough, this fucker thought himself a god on top of it all. Give me a break.

"But I'll let you off the hook for the time being. Because I need you. And the weapon you're holding. How do I know about you? It's very simple. She told me."

"Stop it. Stop it. "Jonathan was gritting his teeth more and more, his teeth were chattering harder and harder. "You're going to die... in the worst possible way! I won't forgive you!"

On top of everything else, his fake sister was naked from head to toe, except for the chains. Just as he found her in the bathtub. Naked. Between everything that had happened, his panic, the brief flicker of hope that flared in his heart, he hadn't really noticed until now.

This was completely unforgivable. He would wipe it off the face of the earth.

"If you want proof, here it is. Speak, child."

The girl on the other side of the screen (by god, it couldn't be his sister, even if she hadn't died, even if that thing had her, it couldn't be his sister, if she didn't look like she'd aged a day, what was this?) looked at him.

And then the background noise in his thoughts died away. Because maybe his mind didn't remember, but his heart did.

Jonathan thought he recognized something in that look. Even if it was just a spark of.... of something.

He went completely mute.

"Brother."

Her voice. Was her voice like that?

"Daniel..."

Jonathan shuddered. He hadn't heard that name for over a decade, after all. His real name.

"Is it really you? You're so big..."

Her voice. Her voice. Was that really her voice, or was he just fooling himself, thinking what he wanted to believe?

It was awakening something in him, and... It wasn't fake.

It wasn't a mistake.

That was what he believed, from the bottom of his heart. But if it really was her, this situation wouldn't get any better. Quite the opposite. In that sense, at the same time he didn't want to believe it was real.

"Help me. Please help me."

Daniel... No, Jonathan looked away from the screen. Suddenly he couldn't hold her gaze. Suddenly, in fact, he could barely breathe.

"Shut up," the demon commanded, and she fell silent just like that. "That was enough, I trust."

He was silent. Staring at the floor. With one hand still on the seat. Because he still needed it. But he had a feeling that soon that wouldn't be enough to keep him on his feet at all.

"Jonathan Townshend, or whatever you want me to call you. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes," he said, before he realized it.

"Very well. I'll send you the coordinates."

Jonathan took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, to no avail. All right, it's a deal. Now what?

Now what, even if the deal went well?

He couldn't believe this was really happening. It was completely insane.

"Jonathan," Roxy said, "You have to see this."

Though with some trepidation, Jonathan raised his head. The image of that pale"skinned demon and his.... his sister had disappeared, however.

On the screen now there was nothing but coordinates written in red. Not a map. Nothing but loose coordinates. Enough to find the right place, that wasn't the point.

Jamie set about jotting them down with shaky hands.

Okay, good. Jonathan couldn't even if he tried.

Then...

The coordinates disappeared, and on the screen there was that demon again. Staring at him. It gave him the feeling that his soul might sink into those black eyes and never come back.

Soul, such a stupid idea, what was he talking about now?

I'm going to go crazy, Jonathan thought. Before this is over, I'm going to lose my mind completely.

"See you soon," the demon said, and cut the transmission.

At last, he was free from the pressure of his gaze.

"Open the door!" Jonathan shouted, with more force than he thought he could muster in his voice until he opened his mouth.

Mary turned to look at him in surprise.

"Open the door!"

A part of him felt guilty for yelling at her like that, she didn't deserve it. But he had no time to waste.

Mary did as he asked, and through said door Jonathan staggered outside.

To his surprise, he was able to walk a few steps more or less steadily. He didn't get very far, though. But no matter, he hadn't intended to get anywhere.

Jonathan doubled over, getting down on all fours, and threw up on the sand at the side of the road.

He vomited with great force, agonizingly. It felt almost as if he had a knife stuck in his throat. The experience had been too much for him.

It was still too much for him.

At the edges of his vision, he had the impression that the world was literally beginning to come crashing down on his head.

Jonathan felt hands on his shoulders.

He didn't know whose they were, but he didn't care. It was a nice feeling, a bit of comfort, of human warmth, when he needed it. And that was enough. For the moment.

It was only after he finished vomiting, after throwing up everything he had eaten, and also a good while after that he spent shaking and retching, that he realized that those hands belonged to Jamie.

He noticed, moreover, the wetness on his cheeks. That he had begun to cry without realizing it.

Partly from vomiting violently, a natural reaction.

Some of it. But not all of it.

Jonathan also realized that he wasn't the only one crying, as soon as he returned Jamie's gaze. She was doing it out of sympathy, though.

Though? Did that make her suffering any less real? Of course it didn't. Jonathan was truly thrown off balance. Not thinking clearly.

But, even though he realized his thoughts were taking a direction he didn't like, even though he would normally have concentrated on reassuring the girl, his family, Jonathan's (Daniel's) next words were to himself.

"I don't understand," he admitted, "I don't understand."

"Easy, Jonathan," Jamie said, hugging him. "Easy."

She squeezed him tighter.

Jonathan couldn't help noticing that she hadn't called him by "that name," even though she'd obviously heard it, loud and clear. Just like all the others.

Jonathan was still shaking.

He closed his eyes, sinking into her warm embrace. Time passed, but he still wouldn't calm down at all. Even with his eyes closed, he could still see that monstrosity.

And the girl kneeling beside the creature. His sister.

He could still hear her voice.

How big you are, she had told him. Jonathan gritted his teeth.

He returned Jamie's hug, but roughly. Sinking his fingers into her back and one shoulder as if he meant to hurt her.

But he wasn't. He wasn't.

Jonathan was simply clinging to her with all his might, as if she were a lifeline.

"I don't understand," he repeated once more. Surely not for the last time.