Deafened by Your Screams

Our breath steamed up the glass; faces pressed rather flush against it as we stared up at the black, swirling sky. Thick jets of what looked like darkened steam flew through the air, winding around in the empty streets, ducking and diving to the ground only to propel themselves upwards again, twirling within each other.

I felt Gavin shift beside me, an uncomfortable sound falling from his lips.

“It’s been hours,” he muttered. “They never hang around for this long.”

I couldn’t reply. I didn’t know how to. My heart thumped powerfully beneath my ribs, seeming to shake my entire body with its pulse, even my brain seemed to be convulsing with the blood that coursed through it. Worry wasn’t the word for this feeling, I felt utterly helpless.

Dad was out there. Trying to protect us, risking his own life for the rest of the country, and god knows if that was all over. I didn’t know anything about it, no one really did, it was all kept so hush-hush that we were only given the safety procedures for when an attack started.

Truth be told…Hell had come to earth. Something happened a few months ago in America and in all honest truth the spirits of the dead, demons, poured out of wherever they had been held and started wrecking havoc all over the States. It was uproar, waves of people died by the second for the first week or so, before anyone knew what to do. That’s when the fear set in, they didn’t know what they were up against or how to deal with it, and that’s the scariest thing about many situations.

People could be possessed; one of the flighty black demons that looked like nothing more than a thick jet of smoke would zip down their throat and consume their mind, their body; taking control. They would often then go on killing sprees, torturing and murdering people left right and centre. If you were possessed you’d most likely be killed by the army, that’s what my dad is doing, exorcised or slowly rot away as the demon let your body be its shield. You didn’t know who was going through this either, anyone could be a demon in disguise; trust was totally out of the window these days.

The only way you could tell, people eventually deducted, was by shining a bright light in their eyes. If it was human, the usual reactions would kick in and they’d squint away, if not, then they would stand, stoic, as their eyes turned totally black or red. They were unable to even tell what you were doing as we reckoned they didn’t have much concept of light; having been trapped in Hell and all.

Time went on and a lot of the demons moved, though the big ones took residence in America as they were content with the bloodshed going on there, but the more (for the lack of a better term) everyday bastards made their way to other countries. Africa, Australia and, of course, Europe. Mainland Europe was now overrun, only a few small, central countries currently escaping attack.

The UK, on the other hand, had been practically forgotten about until a few weeks ago. Realising the power that London had through their now-embodied selves over in the US, we were seriously fucked. I currently live in London with my dad and there hasn’t been a day in the past week where we had been free.

Luckily, we had protection.

Since we had been safe for the start of this, we had been warned about what to do in the event of the demons flying on down. People had to stay inside as much as possible, only venturing out when the sky was clear and keeping constantly wary. Every household had guns full of rock salt and silver bullets, substances so pure that they could kill or at least disperse a demon if you came up against something a little ghastly. Doorways and window ledges were lined with salt, inside and out, so that they couldn’t enter the building, as salt provided a barrier which they couldn’t cross.

Other than that, we were fucked though. It was seriously messed up.

For the first few days it went how America did, people all around Eastern England died instantly in dribs and drabs. They had a habit of killing a load of people then backing off, lulling us into a false sense of security before hitting again, killing the more naive of us.

This wasn’t the case now though. People were too scared to venture out, sticking to their houses unless absolutely necessary. A lot of people made it out of the country, taking whatever transport possible to go to safer areas. Just like in the other wars, this was the countryside and…really anything far to the West or North. They seemed pretty concentrated in London and Birmingham right now.

Soon the smog of demon air seemed the thin, the sky turning a steely grey for a few minutes before returning to black, since the attack had lasted so long that night had now fallen. My body was stiff, even thought it was over, I couldn’t be sure if it was safe. My mind rushed with possibilities, horrid thoughts of my father being possessed or brutally killed by an onslaught of pissed off spirits. He was the one trying to stop them, in their own fucked up way, it made sense to get rid of him, kill the enemy and take over the world.

My stomach churned for god knows how long while Gavin settled back, throwing me a cautious nervous look every so often. Eventually, when an hour of clear sky had trawled past there was a knock on the door. Armed with a torch, Mark; Gavin’s dad, made his out into the hallway. There was a small yelp, then laughter before I heard the familiar stamping of boots into the house.

“Sean, your dad’s here,” Mark called.

I jumped out of my seat and rushed into the hall, relief spreading over me like a cool shower after a fever. Dad was stood their rubbing his eyes, obviously having gone through the usual initiation of having a light shone in his eyes to assume he was human.

“Hey,” I grinned, scanning him over in the way I just got used to.

Me and my dad had always been close, but during a time like this, when he could die at any second, I was always pleased to see him. Shit like this, no matter how nasty, did bring people together like you’d never believe.

“Iyer,” he smiled back. “Everything ok?”

I nodded the affirmative. “Are we gonna go home?”

He paused for a moment then nodded back. “Go get your stuff then.”

I turned on my heel and darted upstairs to Gavin’s room. I’d been here for a few days now, dad had been working a lot, overrun with problems due to a few of the sergeants he worked with getting possessed. The army had been trained up in the safe period before this started here to deal with the demons, and were now glorified Ghostbusters. He didn’t say a lot about work, but I knew it was top secret stuff; I had grown used to living in the dark.

Taking my bag from the end of the camp bed in Gavin’s room, I went back downstairs to see Mark looking serious at something my dad had muttered.

“Are you sure, Howard? The act itself could be dangerous,” he mused quietly.

Dad halted him, not giving him an answer having spotted my feet on the middle step of the stairs.

“Hey, you ready then?” He asked me instead.

“…Yeah.” I replied, raising my eyebrow in curiosity. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you in the car, boyo. We should go before anything else happens.”

Knowing this was defiantly a safe judgment; I nodded and heaved my bag onto my shoulder.

“You should…go say goodbye to Gavin.”

“Bye, Gav!” I called out to my friend who was most likely watching TV, unaware that I’d left his side.

“Sean, properly,” dad encouraged.

I hesitated, not sure what he meant. What did he mean: properly? Why didn’t a “bye” suffice? I’d be seeing the spectacled weirdo tomorrow anyway; I’d seen him every day for the past five years. For lack of ability to truly ignore my father, I went into the living room with my eyebrows knitted together beneath my fringe and went over to Gavin. He turned to look at me from the sofa, staring up with piercing blue eyes.

“I’m off then,” I shrugged. “See you later.”

He blinked a little, confused by my rather unprecedented way of announcing my departure, but soon enough nodded and smiled. “Yeah, yeah, bye.”

Gavin had been my best friend for as long as I’d lived in London, and he was generally a boy of few words. I didn’t mind though, he’s a great kid, and probably the only one that took notice of me when I started his school. No one else noticed me, and in all fairness they didn’t notice him either. The usual misfit-meet-misfit sort of relationship, it worked out for the best though, and even now in Upper Sixth we’re still best mates. Not that we’re going to school anymore, not when things like this are going on.

I moved to London when my parents divorced. My mum and little brother, Jay, stayed in Wales, moving out of Merthyr Tydfil and taking residence nearer my grandparents in Pontypridd and we moved here. I was about thirteen at the time, and even though I love my mum, I just…I’ve always been more attached to my dad. I knew the divorce was killing him, he hated my mother not loving him anymore, and to have both of his kids taken away would just make it worst. It seemed like the right thing to go with him.

Turning away from Gavin, I went back into the hallway where dad was running a large hand through his dirty blonde hair, his face lined with stress as he lead me from the house with a quick “g’bye” to Mark. We drove in silence, dad obviously scanning the streets as if a demon might just be going for a little stroll with a big sign above its head saying “I’M A DEMON!”

I grinned at this thought, sinking back into the seat while we stopped at a traffic light, which held back only three other cars than ours. It was only then that the silence seemed eerie. That something didn’t feel quite right. We never usually went this way home, I mean, you could, but it wasn’t the most logical way.

“Is the road blocked again?” I asked, peering out of the window to see down the opposite highway which generally lead to our street.

“Nope.”

Again, cue confusion. It wasn’t a rarity for dad to be a little vague and mad, but it I certainly was going to have to talk to him if he was going to make my mind boggle this much in twenty minutes a common occurrence.

“Then…where are we going?”

It wasn’t like anything in town would be open, not just after an attack, and certainly not at night. Although it was generally safer at night, as less people were usually around so demons steered clear, there wasn’t much fun in it unless it was rush hour.

Dad sighed, spinning around the roundabout and turning off towards the edge of town, speeding a little more than usual as he mulled over whatever it was he was going to say.

“Sean…I want you to go home,” he eventually told me.

“We are going home, aren’t we?”

“No. I mean…home-home. I think you should go back to your mam.”

“What?!”

He didn’t reply, simply drove a little faster and turned down the high street, heading straight for the train station. I stared at him in shock, never had he asked me to go back to see my mam, sure, I did in the holidays and stuff but only if I wanted too.

“I’ve packed all your stuff into the big suitcase. I didn’t wanna take you home first because I know you’d react badly.”

“React badly?! Of course I’m going to react badly! You fucking want rid of me.”

Dad veered onto the side of the road and slammed on the breaks, sending us to a screeching halt along a stretch of abandoned shops.

“I don’t ‘want rid of’ you, Sean! Never! This is for your own good; it’s not safe for you to be here!” He reasoned loudly. It was a Smith trait to speak at high decibels anyway, so us reaching the brink of shouting was practically glass breaking volume.

“It’s not safe there either, it’ll get there soon!”

“But it’s not happening now, and even you know it won’t happen in the same magnitude in Ponty as it is here,” he said, almost glaring, our identically shaded eyes staring into each others. “And don’t even start about the train not being safe,” he snipped as I opened my mouth to argue that exact point. “There’s thousands of security methods.”

“But…I don’t want to go! You can’t make me! I’m nearly an adult!” I snapped back.

“I can and will! Sean, fucking listen to me, ok.?! I don’t like it any more than you do but … I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you here. I can’t even keep you safe when I’m out there!”

“What if something happens, though?” I mumbled back, unable to keep my voice strong and argumentative.

“Then you won’t be there to witness it. Sean, you’re going home. I can’t have you staying here. I love you too much.”

And that was the end of the discussion. There was no trying to get around that. Fucking love. It makes people so irrational.

A volatile sigh rattled out of my lips, in a true moody teenager fashion I threw myself back into the seat and crossed my arms. “Fine!” I huffed out loudly. “I’ll fucking go.”

“Good. Thank you.”