The Wicked End

It had been months since I'd seen Johnny's ghost. Yes, ghost. I was convinced that what I saw of him standing in his room was just a projection of all the memories I had of the two of us. He was my first boyfriend -- my first everything, actually -- and what I saw was just something my brain made up because I missed Johnny too much.

On the other hand, I had given birth to a healthy, beautiful little baby boy, which Matt and I named Nicholas, or Nicky for short. It was painful, more than I imagined it would have ever been, but it was worth it. Nicky was six months old now. It had been a year and a half since the Great Disappearance. Surprisingly, the world seemed to get along just fine without all the poeple who'd gone. Except for the creepy religious people rallying in the streets, claiming we were meeting the end of our time, and the masses of insane people tioting, life had almost gone back to normal. Matt and I got a new house - one that belonged to a family of missing peple, but was a great house to raise Nicky in. Matt still went off with Brian a lot, but it didn't bother me as much as it had before beacuse I had Nicky to look after and it kept my mind off it. It really bugged me that neither of the two would tell me what they were doing while they were away. For months I'd ask, but I'd never get an answer so I finally gave up and let them be. They always came back in one piece so as long as they weren't getting hurt, i didn't feel the need to bother them over it.

Matt walked in the front door one morning as I was in the kitchen with Nicky, getting breakfast ready. Matt looked tired and worn-out -- he'd been ot with Brian the entire night 'working'.

"Hey baby," he sighed as he came over to kiss my cheek.

"Dada!" giggled Nicky. He'd started talking, just saying little words. I thought it was weird because he was only six months ols, but Matt said he was just exceptionally smart for his age, and there was no further discussion of the matter.

Matt smiled and headed over to the high-chair Nicky was sat in in the middle of the kitchen. "How's my boy?" he asked, ruffling his light brown hair. Nicky giggled again, touching Matt's face with one small hand as they stared at each other. Sometimes I felt they had this internal connection, but it might've just been that Matt was really attached to his only child.

"He's been a little angel, which is a change, cuz usually he's always a little demon when you're away," I said, getting in the fridge to pull out some baby food.

"Oh please, he's so not demonic when I'm away," Matt scoffed, still smiling at Nicky.

"How would you know? You're not even here to see him become a little psycho baby," I laughed.

"I can just tell. He's my boy. How could he be evil?" Matt asked, turning to face me. I smiled and walked over to Matt, leaning down to give him a kiss as he sat in a chair next to Nicky. He pulled me down so I was straddling him on the chair.

I kissed him again, pulling away and resting my forehead against Matt's. "If your son grows up to be anything like you, he'll be a real sweetheart," I smiled.

"Hahaha, yeah right. He'll be a total bad-ass is what he'll be," Matt laughed.

"Well, either way, he'll be a good guy," I said and then kissed Matt again. He pulled me closer to him, slipping his tongue into my mouth.

"No no no no no no!" shouted Nicky, almost growling as he slapped his hands on the tray of the high chair.

Matt pulled away and gave our son a stern look. "Cool it, Rufio," he said. I laughed at the nickname.

"No no no no!" shouted Nicky again.

"Just because you're jealous you can't kiss girls like this doesn't mean you can growl at me," Matt laughed, and then kissed me again.

"He's probably just hungry," I said as I got up. As soon as I took one step forward, I heard it. The high-pitched whistling in my ears. I winced my eyes shut and stopped moving.

"...Davy, you alright?" I heard Matt ask, almost like he was far away because the whistling. I stumbled to the counter to hold onto something and keep from falling.

"...Something's going to happen," I said once the whistling stopped and a migraine started to take its place.

"...This whistle?" he asked. I nodded. We both stood silent, waiting to hear for any objects flying overhead, waiting to see if our new home would be destroyed and our lives possibly ended. But nothing came, much to both our reliefs.

"Can you start feeling him for me? I need to take some Advil or something," I said, handing the baby food and spoon to Matt, who nodded. I got into the cabinet and found the bottle of Advil, taking out three of them. I pulled out a glass, and turned the water on. A the glass filled, I looked out the windoe in front of me, shutting off the faudet after a bit. I took the glass and the pills and turned to Matt and Nicky. I sighed and put the three pulls in my mouth, closing my eyes as I took a sip of water. Only... there was something funny about it. It tasted... metallic. And it was thicker than normal. I opened my eyes as I swallowed and looked down at the glass.

My stomach turned and I screamed as I dropped the glass. It was full of blood. The glass shattered, and I turned to throw up in the sink. I just drank blood. Who knows whose it was. I turned the faucet on to wash my mouth out, and the crimson liquid poured out, filling up the sink.

"Matt," I said, shaking and about to cry. "The water's blood..." I spat out. I turned abck to them and both Matt and Nicky just stared at me.

"Are you okay?" Matt asked.

"God, no," I said, and ran to the fridge. There was a large bottle of Coke in it, and I didn't hesitate to chug about a third of it. I just wanted that disgusting taste out of my mouth. I wiped my mouth off, which had some blood on it from throwing up the blood I drank, and wiped my hand on a dishrag.

I need some fucking water," I gasped out. Just some nice cool water.

"Hey, language," Matt scolded.

"Sorry... there's a creek out back, right?" I asked, thinking that even if it was a stream of unfiltered water, it was better than the blood flowing through the water lines. Matt nodded. "I'll be right back," I said, and I ran out the front door and around to the back of the house. I was about to just jump right into the creek, but stopped short. The water in the creek was of blood. The sight of so much blood made me want to throw up again.

I turned when I heard footsteps in the leaves, coming from behind. There stood Zacky.

"Oh... it's you again, Psycho-Boy. Come to take me back and lock me up?" I sneered.

"Cool it, alright Davanee? I'm not here to take you anywhere. You've chosen your destiny, now you get to deal with it. Confused about the blood?" he asked, coming to stand next to me with his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, what the hell happened? Did people die in the reservoir or something?" I asked, taking a step away from Zacky. I didn't want him to put any... freaky magic spells on me or something.

"When the second angel blew his trumpet, something like a great fiery mountain was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, a third of living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed," Zacky quoted, much like Sarah had a long time ago.

As if to prove a point, I looked down at the creek and saw all the little fishes flopping around on the shore until they died. Then I looked at Zacky. "Well then... where's the fiery mountain, hmm?" I asked snidely.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Figurative language."

"Ahh... excuses excuses. So, how've you been, oh magical prophet? Should I courtsy for you?" I asked.

"You're not funny. I've been fine, having to run around and attempt to fix this mess you've made. It's not been working out so I gave up. You can get yourself outta this one now," he shrugged.

"So, talk of the town is that you're sleeping with that Sarah prophet.... or prophetess, I should say," I smirked, pushing his buttons.

"Yeah -- what? Wait a minute... how did you --?" he stuttered, and then glared at me. "She told you, didn't she?"

"Yup, she did. Well, I kinda guessed and THEN she told me, but same thing," I shrugged.

"Thank you Sarah," Zacky grumbled looking up at the sky. "Now she's not getting laid for a millenium," he said to me, and then turned to the sky again. "You hear that Sarah!? A millenium, yeah! We'll see how you like that!" he shouted.

"Wow, that's kinda harsh, don't you think?" I asked, laughing at him.

"Hah, like I could even last that long... She'll get some in a week," Zacky grumbled, and then just disappeared from next to me into thin air.

I shook my head and went back inside.