Love Comes In Many Dangerous Forms

I dried my tears as I placed the newspaper back onto the shelf with the others.

I returned back to the desk and noticed that the blanket I had left there was folded perfectly. I frowned and looked around to see if anyone was in the room. No one was.

“Michael?” I called out wondering if he folded the duvet.

I heard a book slam nearby, and I followed trying to find the cause of the sound, and I did.

There, lying on the floor, was one of our dictionaries, it was very thick and wide. The pages were wrinkled and were slightly yellowed with age. The cover was made up of some type of red fabric; it was worn down and torn in some places. And then it flipped open.

The pages started flying on after the other in the book and it stopped at the y section. I looked at every single word, but one stuck out, ‘yes’ there was sort of a glow that surrounded the letters.

I tilted my head to the side, “Yes?”

The pages started moving again and it looked like someone was flipping through it trying to find the right words.

Then it landed on the ‘D’s’ and the first word I saw was ‘danger.’

“Why is there danger Michael, who’s coming?” I asked him.

He turned to another page, and it said, ‘can’t.’

Another page, ‘tell.’

“Why can’t you tell me Michael?” I was confused.

He showed me the words ‘kill’ and ‘you.’

“Someone will kill me?”

‘Yes.’

That one word frightened me. That one word brought my world crashing down. That one little word would be my death sentence.

I let out a shaky breath while I fiddled with my fingers nervously.

“Is the man you were warning me, this person?” I asked him.

The page did not move, and the word ‘yes’ still glowed.

I bit my lip, tearing some of the skin off in the processes and blood seeped into my mouth.

“What does he want with me?” I questioned.

The book slammed shut and was roughly shoved back into the empty spot on the bottom shelf.

I sighed, knowing he wouldn’t give me any more information than he did.

“I miss you,” I told him, not knowing if he was in the room or not.

And then ever so quietly I heard a small voice say, “I miss you too.”

I smiled slightly as I started walking out of the room.

I walked down to the kitchen guessing that Jimmy would be in there.

I saw Vera pouring blood into Jimmy’s sippy cup.

“Jimmy’s in there right?” I pointed to the dining room door.

Vera nodded and smiled sadly.

“I’ll take that,” I told her, “You can go take a break.”

“No, no. I’m fine,” she assured.

“Vera, you’re shaking,” I commented seeing her hand shaking and some of the blood sloshed out of the cup.

“I’m fine,” she repeated.

“Vera, go rest, you need it.”

She sighed and gave me the cup before leaving the cramped kitchen.

I smiled as I screwed the lid onto the cup and walked into the kitchen to see Jimmy in his highchair fiddling with his small fingers.

“Hey, Jimmy,” I greeted as I kissed the side of his head.

“Cassie!” a grin was plastered on his face.

I smiled at him and handed him the blood filled sippy cup, which he took and immediately. But he was staring at me oddly.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“Why are wour eyes awl bwack?” he asked tilting his head to the side.

“Where are they black Jimmy?” I was confused.

He reached his hand out and traced the skin under my eyes, over bridge of my nose to my other eye. He lightly stroked my eyelids, and he pulled his hand away.

“Now you’re sure there my skin is black where you traced?” I asked him and took his empty cup.

He nodded, “I saw aw lot of people hawe it.”

“Who has it Jimmy?”

“Ewebody ewept, Wera, Awdrey, Zach, Cawry, and Shawne,” he frowned.

“Okay,” I nodded and picked him up with my free hand and he climbed onto my back.

I walked over to the kitchen and dropped his cup into the sink. I carried Jimmy to my room where I thought Shane would be, and he was looking out the window.

“Hey Shane?” I asked him.

He spun on his heal and looked at me with guilt filled eyes.

“Do you still have that book on demons?” I asked.

He nodded and handed me the book that was sitting on my dresser.

“Thank you.”

“What are you looking for?” he asked, his voice was thick, like he was struggling with something.

“Jimmy said he saw something, but it’s probably nothing,” I waved it off as I flipped through the pages.

I finally found a picture of eyes that looked very pained and horror stricken. The skin around the eyes looked like it was bruised severely, but there was not swelling. It sort of looked like heavy eyeliner that had been smudged.

“Is this what you saw?” I pointed to the picture as I looked at Jimmy.

He nodded.

“Alright,” I sighed.

The tile of the section said ‘THE DEATH EYES’ which gave me an unsettling feeling.

I read word after word, my heart pounding faster with each letter written, and my hands started shaking violently.

It read, ‘Demons have the power to see death before it claims a soul. What a demon sees is very dark shadows around the eyes which move like fire consuming the person’s body. It is a symbol of death and whoever may have it is immediately sentenced to death once the death shadows cover you. Once you have death on you, you are forever cursed with the Death Eyes.’