"Becoming Technocracy"
by Osiris Brackhaus
It was in the middle of some Friday night, when Benedict Byrne-Moore heard soft steps outside his room. For a long moment, he just lay awake, listening. He could hear his mother's lithe steps right in front of his door. The sound of his brother's door being opened, and a few, hardly audible whispers in his brother's room.
What was going on there, he wondered, fighting the sleep that clung to him like a wet blanket.
It took the young man more than a few moments to remember that it was the night of his elder brother's eighteenth birthday. Probably, their parents had something special prepared for Daniel, and it was a secret only for him. A lazy look to his nightstand confirmed that indeed, it was a few minutes past midnight. Daniel was now eighteen, considered an adult by most other grown-ups. For a heartbeat, Benny felt jealous of his brother. Their parents had always made a big fuss about this date, and it irked the teenager that he apparently wasn't included in all of the celebrations the occasion offered.
But on the other hand, it was only a month by now that Benedict had had his seventeenth birthday celebrated to a truly satisfying degree, and he didn't really mind his brother having his share of secrets.
"Shh," he heard their mother's voice on the corridor. "Dad's coming home any moment, hurry up."
"Really?" Danny's voice sounded husky, apparently he was trying hard not to wake up any of his siblings. "Way cool."
That their father was coming home for the occasion at this time of the night was a real surprise. Their father was deputy sheriff at the local office, and currently working nightshift. Now that really seemed to be an important thing to celebrate if Dad even took half a shift off. But then again, not too big a surprise considering the fuss their parents had made of Danny finally 'becoming a man'.
Smiling at the expression, Benedict turned on the other side and tried to catch some more sleep. Tomorrow would be a hard day, first his football training, then two hours of Jiu-Jitsu and then, of course, Danny's big party. Sure he was curious what his parents were doing with his elder brother, but he was sure they'd do the same with him on his eighteenth, respectively.
Softly, he heard the steps of his mother and Danny disappear into the silent house, and soon, he felt himself dozing off again. It was a warm summer's night, and the magnolia tree in front of their house was swaying in the slight breeze. Benedict liked the soft, scraping sound its branches made when brushing along the roof of their veranda, it was a well-known and comforting sound. Somewhere in the distance, a car passed, its headlights casting eerie shadows on the wall of Benny's room.
In moments like these, the teenager wondered if there was more to life than the things he knew. It always felt to him that there had to be more, like another, more dangerous, more intriguing reality just lurking underneath the surface. That there was a life of adventure out there, where boys like him were heroes, not boys with posters of voluptuous women and short-lived but loud bands in their rooms. In moments like these, the air had a mystic taste to it, a promise of magic.
With a sigh, Benedict closed his eyes. Maybe there was such a life, but it was surely happening without him. He would finish High School, attempt a career in football, most probably drop out due to some accident and then end up a mediocre man in a mediocre settlement just like everyone else. So why bother?
Suddenly, another sound had him wide awake. Someone opening the door to his room, and surely not his mother, by the sound of it.
"Benny?" he heard his younger sister Alicia ask in a whisper. "Are you awake?"
"Now I am."
Sitting up in his bed, Benny grimaced at the sight. Alicia was wearing her Yankees pj's, looking quite the little tomboy she was at her ten years. And trudging behind her, as always, was little Rose, one of her hands firmly clutched to her sister's shirt, the other to her favourite rag-doll. Rose was just a little over seven by now, and the only of the Byrne children who was anything near shy. Her big, black eyes shone like marbles in the pale moonlight, and for a short, lucid moment, Benny wondered how his sisters would look as grown women.
"What's going on here?" Alicia asked, angry that she apparently was left out on something important. And in contrary to Benedict, she had no such thing as patience.
"It is Danny's birthday. He's turning eighteen right now, and Mum and Dad have something special for him."
"Why aren't we with them?"
Again, Benedict sighed soundlessly. His parents really should have thought better than to think they could keep anything secret in this house, especially not with someone like Alicia around.
"Pumpkin, dear, it is for Daniel. And for him alone. Don't spoil it for him." Trying a smile despite the sluggishness he felt, Benedict added: "You'll have you own, dear, once you turn eighteen yourself."
As to be expected, Alicia didn't feel mollified by this explanation in the slightest.
"I don't WANT to wait. I want to know now." Pushing her hands in her hips, the girl made sure there was no arguing with her this time. "I'll go down and have a look, you babies can stay up here."
Said and untangled little Rose from her shirt, only to take the child and put her down on her brother's bed.
"Alicia, please." Benedict didn't feel like arguing, but he felt something important was going on, and he really didn't want to be to blame for spoiling the event to his brother. "Don't be jerk."
"You're just being a coward."
Before Benny could get out of his bed and stop her, his little sister had turned around and opened the door again. But instead of walking out and disappearing into the night, the little troll of a girl only bumped into the last of the Byrne-Moore children.
"Ashleigh!" she hissed with indignation. "Let me through!"
"Only over my rotting body, you little pest."
At almost fourteen, Ashleigh was almost as tall as Benedict,
although she seemed to consist mainly of hair and gangly limbs. Of all the
kids, she was the most popular at school, not least due to her 'no-shit' attitude
towards all grown-ups. Especially their mother, who was teacher at the same
school the elder kids went to, had to suffer her antics.
Though right now, she shoved little Alicia back into Benny's room, firmly
closing the door behind her.
"Now, what is all this fuss about?"
"Mum and Dad are giving Danny his special birthday present, and I want to go and have a look."
"Special birthday present?"
Ashleigh's question was combined with an incredulous glance at her brother, who was still sitting on his bed.
"I don't know of any present. I just think it's something important for them and Danny tonight. And I don't think we should go snoop around, Danny will tell us anyway tomorrow."
"I wanna know NOW!" Alicia almost wailed, but still managed to keep her voice down.
Ashleigh remained utterly unfazed by her younger sister's outbreak, and instead seemed to ponder the situation carefully. Meanwhile, little Rose scrambled onto Benny's bed and snuggled in her brother's arm.
"Mum and Dad... are they going to hurt Danny?" the little girl asked, her dark eyes full of worry.
"Of course not! Mom and Dad would never harm any of us."
Benedict was absolutely sure of that. Their parents were strict, but very fair as well, and there had never been anything beyond a harsh word in their house. But still, the image was there, and no one could dispel the unease that suddenly settled among them.
"This is ridiculous" Ashleigh finally said. "Keeping secrets in a family is only poisoning everything. I say we go."
"Some things are better kept secret."
"Oh whoa Benny, since when have you become so deep?" Grinning widely, Ashleigh winked at her brother. "Come on, you oaf, take little Miss Moonlight and we'll go have a look what's happening. And we'll all be silent, so Danny will have his secret and Mum and Dad won't feel compromised."
"Little Miss Moonlight" Alicia snickered caustically. "That fits."
"Don't make me think of a name for you, little troll. You'd be surprised with what I'll come up."
---
Downstairs, everything had been calm and dark. It was only after quite some time the children had notice the faint light underneath the door that led to the basement, and then even Benedict's curiosity had been roused. What were his parents doing in the basement?
Almost soundlessly, they opened the door and sneaked down, each of them carefully avoiding the before last step of the staircase. Inwardly, Benny had to smile. No better thief than a child in his own home, he thought. Swiftly, they moved on, through the basement's main room and towards the storage room where the light was emanating from behind the half-closed door. They could hear muffled sounds from inside, and Benny couldn't quite keep himself from shuddering. This all didn't feel really festive, not at all.
Alicia, of course, was the first to reach the door and peeked through. But instead of getting a curious smile, she looked rather confused, as did Ashleigh who followed her close behind.
Benedict, who came last with Rose on his arm, hesitated for a moment, somehow feeling that this moment was one of those that would change something and could never be undone again. But still, he took the last step forward, only to remain frozen in his place with the same flabbergasted look on his face like his sisters.
The whole storage room had been rearranged. The deep-freeze box was now standing right in the middle of the room, draped in some black cloth that made it look like some makeshift altar. The racks on the walls were covered with similar drapes, and all over the place candles had been lit. A faint, sickly sweet smell was wafting into the cold corridor, and somewhere in the back of his mind, Benny noted that all the candles were black.
This was no birthday party.
Slowly, almost as if in slow motion, Ashleigh turned around to face her brother. Her face was ashen, her green eyes even larger than usual.
"Benny, what is going on here?" she whispered, confusion and fear seeping through her voice.
But before he could reply, another voice cut through the darkness.
"Right the question I am asking myself here" their father's voice rang out from the staircase, sharp and full of biting anger. "What in the name of all the hells is going on here?"
"Dad, we heard Mum wake up Danny, and the little ones got curious, and - " Benedict tried to explain, but was cut short when his father switched on the light.
"Shut up. I wasn't talking to you."
In the glaring brightness of the single light-bulb, their father was no more than a dark shadow, massive and alien.
"Mordechai..." Their mother came out of the storage room, looking shocked at the scene in front of her.
"Who's Mordechai?" Ashleigh asked half-heartedly, only to be bellowed at by her father.
"Silence!" he roared, and this time, it seemed his words carried even more command than usual. None of the children uttered a sound, and even if they tried to, it was as if their bodies had forgotten how to make sounds.
"Now to you, bitch." As he turned towards their mother, Benny could hardly believe his ears. Whoever these people were, they weren't the ones he had called his parents. These were strangers. "What is this?! What is your brood doing here?"
"It is your brood as well." Their mother hissed defensively. "And I thought I had drugged them sufficiently, as we had planned."
"You thought, of course." Their father looked at them, his eyes hard and cold. He was still wearing his uniform, but even though nothing looked out of the ordinary on him, it was like looking at someone completely different.
"Now what we do with them, stupid bitch?"
For a moment, their mother wound herself in hesitant silence, then answered:
"We could take their memories... they'll last long enough then."
But their father snorted derisively.
"You know they're too strong for that." Cursing under his breath, he spat in the corner of the room. "Whatever. We'll have more to sacrifice then."
Sacrifice?! In Benedict's head, the thoughts were racing. He was standing in the middle of their basement, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, carrying his little sister on his arm, his parents had gone completely mad and he wasn't able to move as much as a finger. What the HELL was going on here? And where was Daniel?
"Yes." Their mother didn't seem too happy, but determined none the less. "At least, it'll be over then. No more pretend. Do you think it'll be enough? Will they be satisfied?"
Again, their father snorted. "We'll see. Probably not. They don't like lesser beings like us to change plans. But then again, we come with precious gifts." With a feral grin that had neither kindness nor anything remotely human in it, he tousled Ashleigh's red hair. "To them, virgins still count a lot. And we bring three of them at once."
"Yes... Do you want to see the ritual I have prepared?"
"Show me. Maybe I can repair the worst mistakes you have made."
Both their parents disappeared into the storage room, leaving the four children standing alone in the harshly lit basement. Now with the shock slowly maturing into panic, Benedict tried to move, but to no avail. It really was as if he was captured in his body, unable to move anything but his eyes.
At least, he could see his sisters were similarly frightened, rightly so. Ashleigh was standing in a way that he could see her eyes, and she looked just as frightened and confused as he felt. What was going on here? What had happened to the people who had been their parents all their life?
For what felt like an eternity, they just stood there, afraid and helpless, confused and unable to move. Only after a long time, they heard their father's voice.
"Bring them in. We have to start now, or the night won't last."
Seconds later, their mother emerged from the former storage room. She had her blond hair bound back in a severe ponytail, and her usually pretty face looked haggard, almost emaciated. But the change wasn't so much in her features as in the way she looked, the way she moved. And the way she didn't even waste a glance at the children she had raised for the better part of the last decade. To Benny, it was as if he and his sisters had turned to mere equipment within the blink of an eye.
First, she took Alicia, hauling the kid over her shoulder like it was a sack of grains, and carried her inside. Next, she grabbed Ashleigh and pulled her away, only to return with a grim set to her mouth. She started pulling little Rose out of Benny's arm, but he couldn't let her go as little as he could move at all. With a little feeling of satisfaction, he realised that whatever held him in place also hindered his parents from separating his little sister from him.
"Of course you had to be the one making trouble" his mother stated flatly, almost to herself. "You never cared about what was expected of you."
Even despite the situation, his mother's words carried an unexpected sting with them. Benedict had always thought of himself as a perfectly ordinary, healthy young man, with all the ideas and ambitions or lack thereof that could be expected from a young man his age. And despite their occasional quarrels, his parents' opinion meant a lot to him.
"Follow me." His mother ordered, and once again, her voice carried more command than an ordinary voice should be able to.
Like sitting in the cockpit of a plane on auto-pilot, Benedict felt his legs move even though he tried to make a conscious effort not to. Like a robot, he followed his mother, still carrying a motionless Rose on his arm. At first, he was tempted to look away, trying to ignore the room he was led into, but he didn't manage. He had to look for Daniel.
The whole room had been covered in the same black drapes, and all over on the floor black candles had been lit. The deep freeze box in the middle made for an improvised altar, and now Benny could see his father working on an elaborate drawing on the drapes that covered the short wall opposite the door. It was a large circle, in red chalk on the black fabric, surrounded by strange glyphs and symbols Benedict so far had only seen in cheap horror movies.
The other children were all standing at the long wall to his left, including Daniel, who was wearing his sleeping shorts and a sweater he had apparently pulled over when his mother had come to fetch him. Unable to break the command his mother had put on him, Benedict followed her to a place next to Danny, so that all children were aligned according to their age, with Rose on his arm being the only exception.
Their father, who until then had been working at the chalk symbols, turned around, giving them a vaguely approving nod.
"Alright" he said. "Where's our robes?"
Robes. From moment to moment, this got scarier, Benny thought. This was more and more looking like some kind of satanic ritual, and by all means his parents did not give the impression they were making all this up. Could they really have failed to notice that part of their parents during all this time?
Their mother diligently left the room, only to return not a moment later with two billowing robes, black of course. With surprise that went beyond comprehension, the children watched their parents change from their normal clothes into those black shapeless vestments. And once again, the people in front of them got even less similar to the people they had known as their parents. Carelessly, their mother threw the unnecessary clothes out of the room and closed the door behind them. Swiftly, she pulled even more black cloth over the entrance, so that all the room now was veiled in black.
It felt like a coffin closing.
The air was thick and hot with the smoke of the candles, and some incense that must have been burning in a low brazier in the corner of the room. Benedict knew the thing; it was the bronze bowl their mother had always used for decoration on Christmas. This was all so... incredible, so mad, so unbelievable.
On the one hand, this was their parents, this was the very basement Benedict had known all his life. There was even a bulge in one of the drape where he knew his first computer was behind in the cupboard. But then again, these were not his parents, and this place was a black, shapeless cubicle in the very heart of some weird satanic ritual waiting to happen.
He had to think of something to do.
The realisation struck him like the blow of a sledge-hammer. Whatever spell held him here, whatever his parents had done to condition him in a way that he obeyed their order to the degree of self-destruction, he couldn't just stand here and wait. He had to DO something.
Right then, his father started singing. Only it wasn't so much singing but a low chant, a sing-song intonation of words in a language so foreign that Benedict couldn't even say if it was any language at all. It sounded ALIEN.
But there was power in the guttural words, the teenager could
feel it. The very kind of power he had always found lacking in his life, the
power to change the way things were, the power to move. It was incredible.
Even though Benny didn't understand a single word of his father's song, he
was sure he understood their meaning. And it wasn't a nice one.
His father was calling out to the Dark Ones, to those from
Beyond. Benedict had never been really in touch with occultism all his life,
all the more he was astounded that actually, this all seemed to make sense.
It wasn't the colourful mumbo-jumbo you got served in a horror movie. This
was the real thing.
Slowly, their mother joined the ritual chant, and even though her voice sounded
thin compared to the deep, vibrant bass of their father, Benny instinctively
knew she added the key component.
Like in a dream, where knowledge comes without learning, he just knew that
his father merely gave the direction, the power necessary to reach the other
side. But it was their mother, with her intellect and understanding, who wove
the portal. Her skill and his power. They were working as one, their song
uneven and sometimes dissonant, but never without rhyme or reason.
Frightened, Benedict even saw some kind of primordial beauty in the spell they were weaving, something raw and frightening and yet awesome in its uncivilized, unvarnished power.
By now, the old storage room had lost any trace of its former self. Now they truly were encapsuled in a dark cell, somewhere below the earth, beyond the reach of the sun, beyond the reach of any mortal eye. What only moments before had been cheap, black covers on equally cheap cupboards were now featureless walls of black stone, cold and unforgiving. In the centre of the room, there was an altar of black polished stone, ancient and implacable and almost humming with hidden meanings.
It puzzled Benedict where all these words in his head suddenly came from. Before tonight, even thinking a word like primordial would have given him a headache. But now, there wasn't only a meaning behind the letters, but also ideas, memories, emotions. It was as if suddenly, doors in the back of his mind were opening, allowing him access to places and ideas that had never been meant to be his. But his body was unable to move, and his mind was racing.
He had to think of something, think of something, anything...
With a loud howl, their parents' song ended on a long, dissonant
note. On the short wall, the chalk drawing had become alive, like sentient
blood on polished stone, moving and smearing and pulsing like a living thing.
In its centre, there was a gaping black nothingness on the black ground, like
an eye of darkness so profound it seemed like the shadow of the night.
Benedict could almost see the tendrils of power that his parents had woven
to open the gate, a tiny one at that, and he could almost smell their effort
to keep it open.
"Come" their father said, one of his hands reaching out to Daniel. On their father's arm, Benny could see dark shapes, like tattoos, he had never noticed before. There was a lot he had never notice with his parents, but it was quite obvious now. As if the low candle light exposed their true self, Benedict felt he could see his parents for the first time as they truly were. There was nothing masculine and cheerful in his father's features anymore. Instead, Benny could see anger, a seething anger so deep it contorted everything around. And their mother wasn't the beautiful if slightly overworked woman he remembered. In her place, a gaunt, detached scientist was standing, cruel and ruthless in her pursuit of knowledge and power. Benny didn't even ask himself where he got all this information from. He only knew.
"COME!" their father repeated as Daniel didn't immediately move. This time, Benedict saw the word form a leash, a snare of power that wound around his brother's neck and pulled him to the altar. He could even see Danny's resistance, a passionate struggle that seemed so feeble compared to the powers their parents commanded.
"Lay down."
This time, Danny didn't even try to fight the command. He only obeyed, his eyes seeking Benedict's in a hopeless plea for help. But he couldn't do anything, frozen to the place as he was by his parent's otherwordly commands.
"To you, Nephilim, we bring the ultimate sacrifice" their father intoned, fetching a black dagger from the deep folds of his robe. "To you, Nephilim, we give our firstborn on the eve of his maturity, as it was ordained."
No, Benedict thought. This must not happen.
Inside the black void at the centre of the drawing, a set of six eyes appeared, glowing red.
"To you, Nephilim" their mother affirmed, "our firstborn, and all our children."
With a swift, dreadfully practiced motion, their father drew the dagger across Daniel's throat, cutting through skin and cartilage as easy as paper.
No, Benedict thought.
Even though there was a cut through Daniel's throat deep enough for the head to fall back without any hold left, no blood was spurting. Instead, a slow, thick trickle formed, and defying all laws of physic, began to flow towards the monster that lurked in the centre of the drawing. Like a flying snake, the bright red blood reached across the room, entering the black void in the wall.
The lurking beast gave a sound that chilled Benedict to the bone, like the low groan of an addict getting his first fix in ages. The creature from Beyond was feeding on his brother's lifeblood, and with each little bit, it became more part of reality. Soon, it was reaching out of the circle in the wall, long clawed arms reaching for more of the precious fluid, then a distorted head followed, and a shadowy body. Within a few heartbeats, a ridiculously malformed but still humanoid figure was crouching over Daniel's throat, taking his blood and his life, gaining more substance with every second it was feeding.
No, Benedict thought. No, no, no.
"To you, Nephilim, we have given life." Their father intoned again. "And we have more."
As if on clue, the creature hunched over Daniel's lifeless body turned its gaze towards the other children, six red eyes in one head staring at them with alien calculation.
"We were to give you one each year, but all of these will be your feast tonight." Their mother didn't sound too convinced, but quite eager to please. "Will this be sufficient?"
More than that; the creature replied without speaking. Your family is strong, it will feed us well.
"Which one should be next?" their father asked, clearly annoyed by the lack of proper decorum.
Start with the youngest, the beast answered, once again without making any sound. The oldest, we will use as our host. He will perform to our satisfaction.
NO, Benny thought.
"Your wish is our command" their father confirmed with a sketched bow to the creature on the altar. Then he turned to Benedict, ordering "Come here!"
NO, Benny thought, and much to his surprise didn't move a single step.
"COME HERE!" his father ordered again, and once more, Benny could see the command take the form of a snare, trying to catch him.
"No." This time, Benedict voiced his thought, and watched his father's command splinter at the first resistance.
"What is this..." his father asked under his breath, concentrating on his powers to make sure his next command would be obeyed without question. "COME. HERE."
Again, Benedict could see the power of his father's words take shape, this time more a club than a snare, trying to beat him into submission. But there was only strength to his father's command, no subtlety. And it was easy to counter that.
"No." Never before such a simple word had held such power.
He has Awakened, the creature on the altar whispered soundlessly. Beware.
"Impossible!" his mother exclaimed incredulously, yet raising her hands in a defensive gesture. Together, his parents tried again, this time with more skill than power:
"COME HERE!"
And yet, even though their command was a more complex weave, it was no more than that. Power shaped to have a certain impact, and as in martial arts, your enemy's energies should always be used in destroying him.
"No."
Slowly, this was becoming fun.
Only, right then his father decided to attach him with his dagger. Hurling himself at his son with a surprising agility, Benny for a heartbeat was unable to react. Only when the cold dagger cut the skin of his upper left arm, Benny remembered that if he was able to resist his parents' current commands, he was able to ignore their old ones as well.
Suddenly, he could move again, and with a single motion, he kicked his black-robed father in the chest, then bending down deep enough to set down little Rose. Freed of her weight, he tackled their father again, ferociously, the pleading look on Daniel's eyes in his mind right before he died.
For a few heartbeats, they fought, two men against each other, both determined beyond words. In later days, Benedict always wondered if he could have tried and save his father, if there had been anything he could have done different. But right then, there was no time to think. Their struggle was hard and raw, both fighting for their lives, in one way or another.
In the end, it went too swift for Benny to remember clearly. All he could recall was that he suddenly held his father's dagger, covered with blood, and his father collapsing on the ground. With an otherworldly howl, Benedict's mother threw herself at her son, her body wreathed in something that looked like flames of midnight fire. But Benedict was beyond caring at that moment in time. He still had Daniel's pleading look in his mind, his anger and fear filling him with a power that shone merciless like the sun. Using his own blazing emotion like a shield, he grabbed his mother by her throat, the dark flames withering, almost fleeing wherever they came near him. Hauling her onto the ground with all the momentum she had had and then some, he grimaced at the ugly sound of breaking bones.
But unlike their father, she didn't accept her fate. Instead, she scrambled up again, crooked and contorted and clearly not functioning by any means available to a mere mortal.
"You have no chance." She wheezed, again building up a cloak of fiery darkness around her. "Submit, and you might still be allowed to serve..."
For a heartbeat, Benedict hesitated. What, in the name of all that was holy, was he doing here?
"Darling, please..."
This time, the person in front of him tried to sound like the mother he had known all his life. And that was all the reminder the teenager needed.
With a motion that came from within, deeper than any instinct, he felt himself reach out for his mother, not his body, but the living soul inside herself. He could feel it was corrupted, sullied, broken and contorted like the body it was hosted in, but not evil in itself. With what energy he had left inside, he set the soul ablaze, or rather something like that. It was like fire, but it only consumed the taint, the darkness, and it burned so bright it was visible even to the naked eye. When it was over, Benedict knew he had killed her, her soul separate from the body, and the body dying.
"What have I done..." he could hear her whispered, then she collapsed in a lifeless heap.
Only silence filled the chamber now, nothing to be heard except for the faint crackling of the embers in the brazier.
Impressive.
The beast from Beyond had remained motionless all the time, but now it faced Benedict with his glowing eyes, all six of them blinking in what looked like genuine respect.
"What?" Benedict was too tired to fight, too exhausted to think. Why wasn't this nightmare gone?
You fought well. We assume you want to collect the reward that would have been your parent's?
Benedict smiled mirthlessly.
"You know fucking shit, you creep, you know that?" he asked, and with a last effort grabbed the creature by its arm.
Howling in sudden agony, the thing flailed its grotesque limbs, but Benedict didn't care. With all determination that was left in him, he stuffed the monster back into the black void it had come from. With sheer rock-headedness, he forced himself to remember that this was no black tomb somewhere in the earth, but their very mundane basement. And that even though he felt the searing cold of the void on his hand where it disappeared into the circle, it was nothing but red chalk drawings on a cheap black curtain.
With a scream like a kiai, he simultaneously let go of the creature and grabbed the stone wall in front of him, yanking it away like the drapes it was. When the black fabric came down like a cloud, the whole spell seemed to unravel. Suddenly, it was all real again, simple and neat and horrifying. His parents had just killed Daniel. He had just killed his parents. And worst of all, he had banished some creature he never believed to exist, the freeze-burn wounds on his left hand remaining undeniable proof of the fact.
"Benny?" he heard Rose ask next to him, tugging his hair, trying to snuggle into his arm.
Looking around, he realized that he was sitting on the ground, with little Rose climbing onto his lap. The air suddenly was heavy with smoke, and only then he noticed Alicia running around, trying to douse the fire that was springing up everywhere. Benedict hadn't wasted a thought on the drapes and the candles on the floor when he had ripped it off the wall.
"Alicia!" he shouted, his voice coarse. "ALICIA!"
Only then the girl looked up, her face dark with soot, with white streaks where her tears were running freely.
"Get the extinguisher out of the garage" he said, trying to sound as imperative and soothing as he could. "Go. NOW."
Despite everything, Alicia was a practical being to her core, and she only nodded and whizzed off, merely leaving the sound of her steps.
By then, Rose started coughing hard, and Benedict forced himself to get up. Turning around, he saw the shapeless bodies of his parents on the ground, and stepped over them, only to halt as he realized Ashleigh standing next to the corpse of their brother.
"Ashleigh!?" he said, but it was clear the young girl was shell-shocked.
"He's dead" she replied in a leaden voice, clearly not aware of the danger she was in.
"Ashleigh, we must get out of here!"
"He was alive, and now he's just dead!"
Her voice was taking on a clear edge of hysteria, and Benedict felt the dire urge to slap her.
"Come!" he just said instead, taking Ashleigh at her upper arm, trying to pull her out of the burning room. But she only screamed, like a wounded animal, and didn't move one bit. Instead, she started clawing at her dead brother's body, and it took Benny a second to realize she would not leave him alone, dead or not.
Now, he slapped her.
Stunned out of her frenzy for a second, Benedict all but slammed Rose into her arms.
"Here" he said firmly. "Take Rose, I'll take Danny."
For another second, Ashleigh looked like frozen in place, then she firmly grabbed her little sister and went over to the door, holding the remaining drapes aside so Benedict could carry their dead brother outside. How he managed to get up the stairs, or even leave the house, he couldn't remember afterwards, only that he collapsed on the lawn in front of the house. Utterly exhausted, he dimly remembered flames reaching up the side of the house, and then noise and flashing lights and lots of people who asked senseless questions in a senseless language.
When he finally lost consciousness, it felt like a blessing.
---
"Well, how are you?" the shrink the police had sent Benedict to asked, her voice impartial and polite.
"I don't know."
It had been mere three days that Benny had dragged the dead body of his brother out of their burning home. Three days of fear, confusion and choking feelings of guilt that came and went like the wind. His parents were gone, so was his brother. His whole life had disappeared and left nothing but a gaping hole.
"Of course you know." Her voice was still polite, but there was a slight amusement ringing in the depth of it, like she had seen many such reactions. "You just can't put it into words."
"And you can?"
"No. But I might be able to show you how to. To find out and to get a grip again."
At this, Benedict grimaced. During the last days, he had seen enough concern, worry and pity to last for a lifetime. He just couldn't take anymore of it.
"How's my sisters doing?"
"Of course." With an understanding smile, the psychologist nodded and opened some file from her desk, scanning across the papers it contained. "As you might have guessed, your sister Alicia is doing amazingly well, considering the circumstances. She is an angry young woman, furious like a pack of hungry wolves. But that means she's grieving now, and dealing with the pain. She'll get by."
The shrink paused for a moment, as if expecting to see a happy smile on Benny's face. As no such thing happened, she took a sip from her coffee and continued.
"Rose is very silent, quite sad and rather confused. Once again, nothing out of the ordinary considering her age and the fact that she has always been rather calm. It seems she has suppressed most of her memories of that night, and for now, that might actually the best she can do. Ashleigh, on the other hand, is, well... complicated."
This time, Benedict had to smile despite himself. That was so very much his sister. Probably, she was trying to max the attention she was getting from everyone in this situation.
Having seen her charge smile, the shrink put the file away, turning her attention towards the teenager in front of her.
"It is you we are most concerned about."
"Me? I am fine."
"Now are you? I doubt that." Her expression was serious now. "You saw your brother being murdered by your own parents, you fought and killed them. And by what the evidence of your basement suggests that wasn't even all that happened to you down there."
"Now what do you mean with that?!"
Instantly, Benedict knew his reply had been to fast, to defensive, to carry any credibility. But the woman opposite didn't seem to take him up on it.
"Just look at your hand. Do you think I believe you got those wounds by touching a burning curtain?"
"I can't remember where I hurt my hand" Benny replied, only barely resisting the urge to hide his bandaged left hand. He just remembered all too well the scalding cold of the void he had touched when he shoved the beast back to where it belonged.
"Yes, that is what you told the police."
The way she said that, with a smug, efficient insult squeezed in between the words, made Benny hold his breath. Suddenly, he realized that there was a halo of energy around her, an almost crystalline air of crisp, controlled power. How he could have missed that until now was a complete miracle to him.
"You are no ordinary shrink." He stated flatly, only to see her smile for the first time in his presence.
"And you are an extraordinary young man, with problems to match."
"Yeah, sure." Looking at her sideways, with narrow eyes, Benedict wondered which side she was on. She surely didn't look as if she were of the demon-conjuring, child-eating variety, but then again, neither had his parents. "What are you? Are you like my parents?"
Again, she laughed, a clear, silver sound, crisp and clean like all about her.
"Yes and no. Yes, I am like them, but then you are just as well. We are Awakened, and that sets us apart from the rest of humanity. And then, no. Your parents were Nephandi, worshippers of the Dark, while I am not."
"That all sounds pretty whacky." Scratching his head, Benedict had to admit that even if it sounded rather off, it was the closest thing to an answer he had seen so far. "Are we sorcerers?" he asked tentatively.
"No, by all means." She gestured passionately, taking another sip of her coffee. "That would be like calling the room-maid a witch just because you have no idea or understanding of what a vacuum is."
"Then what are we?"
"Humans. Nothing more." She smiled at his grimace. "We are Awakened, which is just a catch-all term for an increased capacity of understanding, learning, and application of higher science. Think of it as being a step ahead in the evolution."
"X-men?"
"I am afraid it is even less glamorous than that." Smiling again, she added "But in a way, yes, X-men isn't too far off. I represent the majority of the Awakened, and we work hand in hand to ensure a safe and happy future for all humanity, be it Awakened or not."
"If so, how comes I never heard of you?"
"That's great, an inquisitive mind like yours is always welcome, and actually quite needed."
"Don't digress..."
"Even though we are quite a lot, the bulk of mankind is still made up of Sleepers. And if they knew we existed, and knew what we are capable of, we'd have another witch-hunt going for us, like the one we had seen in the Dark Ages. Good intentions don't count on a pyre, only potential for either good or bad. We have learned our lessons, then."
"Are you trying to hire me...?"
Again, the psychologist nodded. "Actually, yes. I was sent here only to check if one of you had been taken over, but now I think you are a most welcome addition to our ranks."
"And if I don't want to 'join your ranks'?"
"Oh, you do. You will learn to use equipment that will increase your natural talents beyond your imagination, you will learn more about the world than you possibly ever could, see places and meet people you haven't even dreamed of and last but not least, you will learn how to protect yourself and the ones you love from such things as those you have met so recently. So, any more arguments needed?"
"No." The answer was as short as the decision had been simple. This was all Benedict had longed for since his life had shattered. Security and answers. "Count me in."
"Very good." Again, the shrink smiled widely, taking out her palmtop that looked like nothing Benedict had ever seen before. "Then let me introduce you to the Technocratic Conventions..."
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to: Osiris Brackhaus