The Demon In A Suit

Mumbling In The Dark

After some hours in the dark, Gabrielle found herself back in that dance hall one more time, the music was playing and the same distinctive smell roomed the place, only people were missing in the frame, the shadows made from the colorful lights were strangely darker and longer than usual and a distinctive putrid smell hovered the room. 

-I've been here before- 

Gabrielle said while carefully glaring at all tables in search of anyone. 

A few moment's passed with no significant event or sound, then she remembered that young men, she turned to his table and saw the same glass he was holding that time, she got close and saw the beautiful lights slowly die and the shadows grew darker, the smell of flames and echoing of screams filled her head, the music from the jukebox slowly started to change, distorting into whispers with a vaguely  resemblance of a lullaby or a kid's song to go to bed. 

-Fancy meeting you here.- 

Gabrielle heard in a familiar yet playful voice, reflecting nothing but pure excitement. 

-I like the changes they made on this place, it looks way more fun.-

When Gabrielle turned around she saw that man in the drinks bar preparing a cocktail with some tequila, she reluctantly got closer but not close enough to be an easy target. 

-What are you?- 

She asked with fear, remembering the true silhouette of this mischievous entity who remained calmly preparing some drinks. 

-What do you mean? It's me, you know me.- 

-No I don't, answer me!-

She screamed back grabbing a bottle in a close table ready to defend herself. 

-What good would that do? No matter what I say it wouldn't make a difference, what if I say I'm god? would your curiosity be at peace then?- 

-Maybe...- 

-Then I'm god, I've watched you go to my temple every Sunday without missing a day, I've come to bring joy and love to you and all who deserves it - 

The man talked seriously for a moment, almost like he believed his own words.

-No, you're lying, you're one of those horrible things- 

-See? It didn't matter, in the end you all say you want answers, but you don't listen to them unless they satisfy you, it's convenience you seek, not truth, if the truth doesn't make you feel better, then you toss it aside like trash- 

 The girl looked confused into his eyes, as they started to flow in a faint light chilling everything it touched. 

-Of course there's the other ones, the ones desperate enough to believe anything, for they have nothing already, the ones still hopeful for an answer, any answer, the real seekers of truths, for those I preach, to them I extend my hand to take them out of the dust, out of their common and miserable life, filled with boredom and a schedule with nothing but trivial tasks, they cry for me and I answer, for I am a benevolent god-

The man said while holding a drink in his hand, extending it to Gabrielle with a smile, she slowly got close enough to take it and gave a little zip before saying. 

-Those eyes are not the eyes of a benevolent god...- 

The man instantly turn them to face Gabrielle, chilling her heart from the moment he bestow them upon her. 

-Those are the eyes of a narcissistic asshole- 

He stood there, frozen back from the comment, then he smiled and laugh like a mad man before gaining back the control of his emotions. 

-I guess you still only see what favors you, still, I like your honesty girl- 

-Gabrielle- 

She interrupted him. 

-Well well well, perhaps I misjudged you after all... fair enough Gabrielle, let's keep the game rolling- 

The man started walking to the door, not really looking Gabrielle in the eye anymore, he open the door and stood there for a moment. 

-There's three of them, bring them to me and maybe I'll let you out of your cage little birdy.-

The man turned again to her and a distorted grim with many sharp teeth greeted her. 

-Or stay here and play with me a little more, it's your choice really- 

There was a scream when Gabrielle woke up from that dream, still in Nicole's small room surrounded by dirty cloths and empty beer cans, Nicole came running from the other room with a rusting pipe in her right hand ready to strike somebody, when she saw it was just Gabrielle she was looking like she was gonna strike her instead. 

-Oh my god, would you shut up?! Or you wanna kill us both?- 

She whispered to her with clear dislike in her tone. 

-No, sorry, it's just...- 

-Yeah I know, nightmares, we all have them in here, get use to it- 

Nicole interrupted while going back to the other room to keep attending to her business, meanwhile Gabrielle was looking around the place, saw the dirty ruined dress she had on her the day prior and lamented how it went to waste, she was instead using the dirty cloths Nicole gave her when they got out of the streets, it wasn't nice, but it was one of the cleanest sets she had saved. Gabrielle looked thru the window and saw nothing but darkness and cold winds blowing on the decrepit town, although it felt like she slept a few hours. 

-What time is it?- 

Gabrielle asked softly to Nicole's direction. 

-It's no time at all girl, forget about it, time isn't something you ask yourself for in here, if you're waiting for the sun, then let me tell you now, it ain't coming- 

Without loosing sight of the outside Gabrielle then asked. 

-What was that thing?- 

-I call them whispers, you know, because they whisper like idiots all the time, they just don't know when to stop with it, they also are pretty hungry most of the time, so don't get close to them, luckily for you they can't see at all-  

-Then how did that thing...- 

-The same way I found you, they heard your f*****g screams- 

Nicole seem a little mad at Gabrielle, she was pretty clear about it, Gabrielle knew it was better to just let the topic rest for a bit, so she just saw the shadows move in the window, at least until a though came into her head. 

-What about that man in the alley?- 

-What about him?- 

Nicole asked back. 

-Who was he?- 

-I don't know, you tell me.

Gabrielle turned away avoiding Nicole's eyes for a moment.

-Oh... well s**t.

Nicole understood the girl problems one eventually faces in that putrid town, the tone in her voice changed from a sarcastic one to a concerned one.

-You should grab a hold of something to defend yourself just in case any asshole wants to f**k around- 

-Like this?- 

Gabrielle held the blood stained metallic pen in front of her. 

-Sure, if you wanna write them a poem, this is what I mean- 

Nicole hold a big knife in front of her, there was some tiny specs of dry blood on it barely visible. 

-The faster you find something like this, the better you're chances in here are gonna be-

After some more chatting between the two young women there was a sound outside of the room, like something been dragged around in the floor, both girls stood up and shared a look, they knew they weren't alone, Nicole gave Gabrielle the rusty pipe and signal at the door with her knife in one hand, they both waited for the door to burst open to attack anything at the other side, then a knock was heard, one with a singular rhythm, at the sound of it Nicole loose her body and took back the rusty pipe from Gabrielle's hands. 

-It's ok, it's just Danny. 

She open the door with careful to not make any noise, from the door a young looking man enter the room, he was dirty and sweating like he just run a marathon, in his hand there was a big backpack full of many different cans and bottles, in his other hand there was metal pipes and some variety of rusted gears and electronic parts. 

-I found some sweet stuff this time, some water too, check the...- 

Danny paused as he saw there was another girl in the room, one he hasn't seen before. 

-Another one? really?- 

He asked Nicole with extreme annoyance. 

-Why do you keep doing this to us Nick?- 

-She was gonna die if I left her where I found her- 

Nicole replied back trying to justify herself. 

-Good! do you remember where you are? or even better, just remember Ann, she was gonna die too, right? we take her in and what happens?- 

-That wasn't my fault Danny- 

Nicole angrily responded. 

-Why the f**k did I have to go out to get all this food for? oh, that's right! it was because the asshole you brought took ours, right? for f**k sake Nick, can't you learn your lesson for a change?- 

Gabrielle listened worried about the young man who was getting more and more agitated with every word he said, she finally managed to spotter a word.

-Hey, sorry, can you chill a little?- 

Danny turned to Gabrielle in a really serious tone.

-No, I can't "chill a little" and listen here, how long have you been in this place?- 

-Not too long ago- 

-Oh great, so you have no experience, she could have us both killed Nick, not to mention were not in a position to feed a stranger- 

Danny said with a more calm tone, trying to not make too much noise as he talked. 

-It's ok, I'll just give her some of mine- 

Nicole said in an authoritarian voice, meanwhile Danny just looked at her with no expression. 

-You'll watch her, I'm not gonna loose sleep over this- 

After more of Nicole and Danny arguing, Gabrielle finally got enough. 

-Ok that's enough! So food is a difficult thing to get in here, it's ok, I can get my own- 

Gabrielle took back the rusty pipe from Nicole's hands and walked out of the apartment alone, fast and ready to face whatever it was waiting for her in the outside, after carefully walking to the building's exit she paused and though for herself, maybe I need to be more careful this time. Outside of the building there was a only silence, from time to time one could hear a song been whisper to the wind softly, but this did not scared Gabrielle, she walked around always trying to remember her way back to Nicole's place, just in case things got too ugly, after some failed attends she finally found a house loose enough to get in, the door was just barely closed with a broken down bookshelf in the other side, she slowly pushed the door putting the bookshelf out of the way, inside the house there was mold and black water running loose from the kitchen, the smell was rotten and the air really difficult to breath, still Gabrielle pushed forward trying to prove she was up for the challenge.

in the first floor there was nothing but useless scraps of metal and glass, the electro domestics were molding from the inside out and there were barely visible pictures of a family with a dog, but no signal of anyone living there in a long time, she then walked her way to the second floor, almost tripping from the humid musk in the stairway, once in there she started searching the place, in one of the rooms she found a rusty can of boiled tomatoes sitting in a corner of the barely furnished room, she took it and quietly got out of that house, 

-I don't think this is edible anymore- 

She said to herself gaging of the mere though of eating the content of the can. 

Walking around the close streets Gabrielle found a hunting shop named Vicente's Hunting & Gear at the end of the boulevard, she remembered the knife Nicole had with her and what she said about finding something like that if she wanted to have a good chance to make it in this bizarre town, so she got close to it, quietly, she stood by a window, almost entirely covered with an old wardrove and peek thru it. She heard the sound of whispers inside, then saw the long figure of a slim man in the ceiling  crawling with no direction, his long hands reaching anything he could almost like looking for the exit of the room, it moved slowly but with every movement his bones broke into inhuman positions. 

Inside the wicked place she could also see empty shelfs for the most part, at least in the front rows there was nothing worth the danger inside, but then she thought, maybe there's a storage in the backside, who knows, it might be a good bet, and so she looked for a convenient entrance which she found in the form of a small hole in the side of the building, easy to access for someone like her, she just crawled her way in, then came the real problem, avoiding the big guy in the ceiling, Gabrielle looked at him expecting some sort of pattern but soon she learn it really just moved to random directions touching everything it could with those long cold hands of his, so she started slowly getting closer to the back, with stealth and watching where she was stepping in, there were a lot of half broken bottles of glass and rubble.

After some steps Gabrielle was in the backside of the store, where she found many empty boxes with nothing but dust and insects in the inside, for a moment she thought all of her efforts were in vain, for there was nothing useful to get from her little trip, then she looked up where a small hole in the wall led some moonlight show her a closed box in the top of a shelf, this was it she thought, but it was too far away, totally out of her reach, climbing it wasn't an option, the shelf was rotting already, on the verge of collapse, so she used the rusty pipe to slowly move the box to her direction with hopes of catching it just before it impacted the floor, but she didn't have the reflex for that, the box fell with many tiny pieces of fish roads and camping gear jumping everywhere, and with this crash, the fellow outside didn't waste a second to see where the sound was coming from, he came thru the door almost taking it down, hitting part of the wall in the process, he paused with a heavy breath, the he gave a crooked smile and got back to whispering that song, while slowly but carefully touching everything in the backroom, he putted his hands under the tables, into the shelfs, there was nowhere safe.

Gabrielle was inside a big box when the Whisper came to the room, used it as a cover while she covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming, she tried to wait for the creature to move from the door and then slowly crawl out of the room, but the Whisper never did, it was determined to find something and was not gonna let it go away, in her panic she started thinking about a distraction,  she slowly stood up from under the box and throw the rusty pipe to the corner of the backroom, far from the exit, the Whisper didn't wait to jump to the corner, slashing and biting to anything in his way,  Gabrielle used this moment to move slowly towards the hole she came thru, but in her way she kicked a little pebble, hitting some rusty shelfs in the process, this was enough, now she was gonna run, she had to get out before it was too late, and unfortunately, her chaser was way faster than her, she got so close to the hole, she could see the moonlight touch her face when the Whisper got her leg, slicing it with it's sharp and pointy fingers, the grip on her was not steady enough, she was loose enough to try to escape, and she almost did, her arms where outside the hole in the wall and she tried to use her hands to grab to the outside and pull away, but the Whisper was too strong for a 19 years old girl, then she gasped  as she felt many hands take hold of her in the outside, maybe the noise of the chase attracted more Whispers to the shop, if that was the case, they would had dismember her with ease, but luckily for her when she was pulled outside they were Nicole's and Danny's hands, after the three of them using all of their might to take Gabrielle out, Danny took a hand axe from his backpack and started chopping away, a black and sticky goo started pouring from the Whisper's severed hand, which twitched and moved like the tail of a lizard, inside the shop a scream was heard, it was loud enough to attract any Whisper close by or maybe something even worst, Nicolle and Danny knew the street was gonna be full of hungry predators in a few moments, so they started running along with Gabrielle. 

After getting out of danger they hide for a while in a dry garden close by, for it looked peaceful and quiet, they were all panting and tired from the run, after a minute of sitting next to a moldy fountain, Gabrielle took the can of roosted tomatoes and gave it to Danny. 

-Here, save it somewhere- 

Danny looked at her in disbelieve. 

-All this for a can of tomatoes?- 

-What? No, I got this too- 

Gabrielle took out from her pockets some stuff she got from the box that fell from the shelf, there was lighter fluid, duck tape, a small bottle of alcohol and a flask of vegetal oil. 

-Hey, that's not a bad find.- 

Nicole said taking some of the items. 

-True, we can use some of this.- 

Danny said taking the lighter fluid in his hand and thinking about the lighter he had waiting back in the apartment with no fluid left, after all in a place as dark as this, fire is always needed. 

-Ok listen, maybe we can work something out, but it's not gonna be for free, whatever you get from us, you'll earn it, get it?- 

-That's ok- 

Said Nicolle with relive in her face. 

 -Great, now here are the rules: no strangers in the apartment, no noise in the apartment, no fire in the apartment, no hiding food in the apartment and last but not least...- 

-No lying in the apartment- 

Nicole said interrupting Danny. 

-By the way, what was your name?- 

Asked Danny turning to Gabrielle. 

-Gabrielle- 

-Ok Gabs, now let's go back before you finally get yourself kill.- 

Said Danny in a sarcastic way.

-I had it under control.-

Gabrielle responded with annoyance. 

-Yeah I bet your friend with one hand back there agrees- 

-Danny here, play with your Rubik's cube-

Said Nicole tossing a dirty and decolored cube. 

-You know what? Maybe I will. You girls are boring anyway.- 

Responded Danny in a jokingly manner. 

There was a slide of relaxation or a moment as they forgot for a second the environment they have been forced to converge with, for the first time in a long time there was even some specs of genuine laughter from Danny but it didn't last for long, there's more important thinks to worry about, he thought. Like surviving the terrors of this town.

On their way home Gabrielle heard voices singing a low and sad song full of lament and anguish, when she looked at the origin of this depressing singing she saw the faces and hands of people crying and moaning in a close by wall. They were made of bricks and mold with insects invading any hole in their faces with no compassion what so ever. 

-There's nothing you can do to help them, trust me- 

Said Nicole dragging a sad tone in her voice. 

-Are they alive?- 

Asked Gabrielle worried. 

-No they're not- 

Answered Danny like it was the most obvious of thinks, but with this response Gabrielle saw something in Nicole's eyes. She was feeling pain because of his words almost like he just punched her in the guts. 

-We don't know that.- 

Said Nicole angrily. 

-We're not having this talk again Nicole.- 

Said Danny dismissively. 

Gabrielle was a little intrigued by the interaction it was obvious that there was more to it that they lead you to believe. She thought of asking but was quickly shut down by meaningless chit chat from Danny asking about her life and what part of town she was from. 

-Not this town of course. I mean the real one.- 

He quickly said to avoid any confusion. 

She told them details about herself like how she lived her life with her mother alone, the job she just got as a social worker for the town hall with a nasty pig as her boss and her overwhelming desire to skip this small town before it managed to suck out the young out of her. 

-Of course this wasn't what I had in mind.-

Gabrielle said jokily. 

-Yeah I guess you could had chosen a better place to start fresh girl- 

Nicole replied giggling. 

 -Well you could say this wasn't a planned trip.- 

-Don't worry. We all got stolen someway, for me it was a cute girl on a small skirt who wanted to have some fun, I should had run when I had a chance.- 

Interrupted Danny with regret. 

-It was a hitchhiker for me. That fucker asked us for a ride to leave town and go to a party with him but next thing we know we're trapped in this f*****g town- 

Said Nicole angry at the thought. 

-We?- 

Asked Gabrielle curious. Nicole turned around avoiding Gabrielle's eyes then turned down to look at the ground as they were walking carefully. Seen this Danny promptly asked.

-What about you Gabs? What's your story?- 

-Me? Well there was this mysterious and handsome man.- 

-My mom used to say that's the beginning of all problems.- 

Danny said with a smug face.

-Not the kind of problems I wanted that's for sure.- 

Gabrielle said with disappointment. 

-I hear you.-  

When they got back to the apartment they rested for there was more nightmares waiting for them in town. They were so tired from all the running, pulling and fighting that they didn't notice there was someone watching them the entire time, it watched them get in the building of the apartment with backpacks on them, a really good opportunity I guess. Soon Gabrielle would find out that the Whispers weren't the only monsters this corrupted town seem to generate almost like a machine with a mind of his own. It looked like it wasn't their first time watching them from afar cloaked into the darkness of the the roofs and alleys. 

-How much more time we need?- 

Said a tall man with a bow hanging on his back and plenty of knifes resting on his belt. 

-Not much.-

Responded a smaller but buff man watching at the group with a set of binoculars.

-Well are we gonna kill those bitches or what?- 

-Leave the pretty one alive won't cha? I haven't have any fun in weeks.- 

He said with a sinister smile.

-Ok but that means I get more stuff than you.- 

He said aiming the bow at them almost like testing how hard would it be to kill them on the spot.

-Whatever asshole just let me have my fun and don't f**k with it.- 

The man said with anger to his partner who was already starting to leave the roof of that house. He slowly followed giving a last looks at the group before doing so and thinking about the many things he would do to them with an insane expression of utter pleasure.

 The skies grew darker as there was more screams and cries in town with nothing but a thin space between Gabrielle and a certain death from rather a Whisper or something far more twisted. Feel free to reflect on the actions of this people for there is nothing more dangerous to men than men itself.