I'll Be the Only Light

“Kiss me, Vic.”

Alex’s light, raspy voice marked the start of their kiss, soft and warm in Vic’s mouth. As their tongues intertwined, Vic could feel Alex’s hungry lips feeding on his, so passionate that it could devour anything else in Vic’s mind. But when he opened his eyes, Alex’s soft brown eyes were now replaced by clear blue ones. His brown hair was now replaced by long locks of black, and his gorgeous face replaced by another.

“K-Kellin?” Vic stuttered.

“Yeah. It’s me, bitch,” Kellin hissed sexily. “Kiss me.”

Without hesitating, Vic propelled himself forward, consuming Kellin’s lips with another kiss, closing his eyes as Kellin pushed him violently against the wall. With his thighs wrapped around Kellin’s, Vic sealed the kiss with a last one, one that screamed passion more than the other kisses he’d given Kellin that night. His thighs harshly brushed against Kellin’s again as his hand travelled on Kellin’s smooth skin. He didn’t care if it hurt; all he cared about was Kellin’s touch. He smiled, opening his eyes to those blue eyes once again. And that moment, he could’ve sworn that Kellin’s eyes were his sky, his sea, and his favorite shade of blue.

“How do you feel now, slut?” asked Kellin with a teasing, flirty tone in his voice.

“It hurts like hell. But I feel good,” mumbled Vic.

But reality told a different tale. Vic snapped out of his dream, finding himself sprawled out on his bed, only dressed up in a pair of boxers. Amazing, he thought sarcastically as he got up. But what amused him most was that he found his bare legs covered with yellow, blue, and purple discolorations.

“What in the world are these?” he muttered to himself, touching the bruises with curiosity. I didn’t have these when I went to sleep last night.

Was that dream about making out with Alex and Kellin real?

Well?

He decided to shrug it off. Maybe he got them when he played soccer and didn’t realize it. It hurt, though. Vic didn’t remember his thighs hurting the other day. But at least he could still walk and didn’t need anyone to carry him around. Even if it hurt to the point where he needed to be carried to class, he still had to go to school. He didn’t want to miss any day. He didn’t want to miss any test or even any class. He had to maintain his grades and reputation, after all.

*

“Me? Kellin’s party?”

Tony looked more confused than he ever was. “I wasn’t even there. I went on a date with Erin last night.”

“I’m pretty sure it was you, dude,” said Vic.

“You were drunk,” Tony pointed out. “Wait, if you were drunk, how could you remember I was there?”

“I was sober and I saw you too,” said Jeremy. “And Vic wasn’t even shitfaced, he just drank a small cup of beer. You came home with us and you couldn’t stop laughing on our way home, and then you told us that our friends would die and ran away from us.”

Tony scratched his head. “I swear I wasn’t there. I was with Erin!”

“Wow. Scary,” Jack muttered. “Could be your doppelganger. I don’t remember what exactly happened last night but I could’ve sworn I saw you last night.”

“What the hell’s a dopergayer?”

“Doppelganger. Your invisible twin.”

“Doppel-what?” asked Vic.

“Doppelganger,” said Jeremy. “Google it if you have no clue what it is.”

Alex laughed. “Where’d you get that information from? Some horror hentai?”

“Nah, man,” Jack interrupted. “They’re real. They said you could only meet your doppelganger before you die. This one time, my cousin’s friend saw his doppelganger walking next to him and that night he got robbed and killed by a street gang.”

Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, they bring bad luck and even death. Good thing Tony didn’t see his doppelganger last night.”

“Whatever,” scoffed Alex. “I gotta go to class. Jack, are you coming or not?”

“Yeah,” said Jack, following Alex to physics class.

“Um, I’d better get going too,” said Vic, gathering his things as he walked down the hall. He passed through the crowd, walking toward the empty library.

I could really use the school’s shitty wi-fi right now. It’s so goddamn shitty, but at least it still works, Vic thought, closing the door behind him and opening his laptop on the floor. He typed “doppelganger” on Google search.

“Doppelgangers, or ‘evil twins’, are doubles of living people, often mentioned in folklore. They are believed to bring bad luck or death to those who see their own doppelganger. It is not uncommon for people to see another person’s doppelganger, however; what is uncommon is when they see a person and their doppelganger in the same place. They are allegedly controlled by an undead humanlike demon called the Blue Eyed night demon. There have been rumors of sightings of the Blue Eyed night demon, recently in the U.S.”

Huh? Weird, thought Vic as he typed “Blue Eyed night demon” on Google search. Later, he found himself staring at gruesome article titles such as “Sudden Deaths in Carolina”, “Mysterious ‘Demonic’ Blue Eyed Teenager Disappears, 5 Dead”, “Demonic Baby Sitter Gets Fired”, “Grandpa: I’m Not Crazy, The Incubus Is Coming For My Family”, and “Teenage Boy Goes Missing, 10 Injured and 6 Dead.”

Out of his raging curiosity, Vic clicked and clicked, impatiently waiting for the pages to load.

“Sudden Deaths in Carolina
by Jesse Lacey
Friday (13/5/2012) – A group of teenagers were found dead in the woods earlier this morning at 4 AM. They were covered in bruises and some of them had their faces torn apart by what seemed to be claws. However, one member of the teenage camping group remains missing. Described as a boy with big, bright, “almost demonic-looking” blue eyes, the teenager has been declared missing since Thursday.”

“Demonic Baby Sitter Gets Fired at Last
by Ray Toro
Monday (06/06/2013) – Ever since the arrival of teenage baby sitter KQ (16), the Way family has witnessed their daughter Bandit (4) levitating and speaking in tongues. Both Gerard (36) and Lindsey (36) would often find their daughter laughing in a voice that wasn’t her own and writing in Latin for no apparent reason. Lindsey even testified to seeing a “double” of her daughter crawling on the wall.”

KQ…what could KQ stand for? Vic thought. Kellin Quinn? Nah…that dude’s evil but he couldn’t be a demon.

He exited the library with his laptop in his hand, trying to think of what KQ might stand for. On his way, he bumped into Jack, leaving the taller, lanky boy groaning in pain.

“Sorry, dude,” said Vic. “You okay?”

“Yeah…it’s okay, man,” said Jack.

“Hey guys!” Alex called out.

“What is it, Gaskarth?” Jack imitated Kellin’s voice in annoyance.

“My parents are out of town and I’m going out tonight, so could you—“

“Let me guess. 'Babysit my little sister?'” Jack moved on to imitating Alex’s voice. “Sure. I’ll be there at four, but I’ll have to leave, at like, seven because we have a new neighbor called ‘Lizzy Grant’ moving in and my mom’s all ‘let’s have dinner and invite her over tonight’ and shit.”

“Alright. Thanks, dude.”

“No problem.”

*

“Where are we going?” Alex asked.

“My place. Oh, look, we’re here!” Kellin shouted cheerfully, parking his car in front of a luxurious condominium complex.

“Whoa. This is where you live? You parents must be so fucking rich,” the taller boy looked around as Kellin led him inside.

“Yep,” said Kellin. “No neighbors. Everything here is owned by my extended family—Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle, Aunt, Cousin, Brother, Sister, you name it! My grandparents live in that condo across from us.”

Alex looked around him, finding the walls covered with golden, flower-patterned wallpaper. The wooden floor felt stiff under his feet, with carpets made out of real animal furs and skin laid luxuriously on top of it, reminding Alex of how Jenna would often bitch every time she heard about animal abuse.

“What do you think?” asked Kellin.

“’S nice,” nodded Alex. “I like it.”

“My grandpa used to be a hunter. He’d hunt a lot of crocodiles, tigers, and stingrays down so he could sell ‘em to factories…including the factories that made these carpets,” said Kellin, stroking a picture of an old man hung on the wall next to a portrait of Stalin and a Russian military commandant.

“Is that Stalin?” asked Alex. Jenna would go ape shit and talk about history until her mouth foams if she saw this. Good thing I didn’t bring her here.

“Yep! That’s my great-great uncle over there shaking hands with him.”

“Cool.”

Kellin grinned. “You’re cooler.”

“Really?” Alex blushed.

“I was thinking of…sexy, but cool’s also suitable.”

Alex pouted. “Not sexy anymore, am I?”

“Who am I kidding? You are,” hissed Kellin as Alex pushed him against the wall, grinding on him before he brushed his lips on the shorter boy’s lips. As they opened their eyes, the boys sighed with desire. With no hesitation Kellin pulled Alex upstairs, running like a little boy in trouble. He closed the door behind him and started unbuttoning the thinner boy’s pants, taking his shirt off in haste.

“I want you inside me,” growled Alex.

“I want you too…you’re so small, yet so exhilarating,” moaned Kellin.

“You will do as I say, okay?” Alex whispered.

Kellin nodded. “Yes…God…so…beautiful…”

“Then suck it,” Alex grinned seductively. “I want you to swallow the fuck out of it. And you—will call me Sir.”

“Sir, yes, Sir!”

“Not good enough for me, cum slut.”

“Sir, yes, Sir!” Kellin screamed louder.

“Alright, here we go.”

Kellin did his job fantastically. Alex’s dick tasted so soft in his mouth, going deeper and deeper as he went. His moans were getting louder, satisfying Kellin’s needs the shriller they got. Eventually, the moans turned into a scream, a scream so shrill that it could pierce a glass in an opera.

“Fuck, that was so good,” Alex mumbled. “And you swallowed! Whatever that was…that was out of this world.”

“I’m out of this world.”

Alex yawned in exhausted. “It was almost…not human.”

“Well, I’m not,” whispered Kellin.

“Wait, what?”

“Nothing,” Kellin smiled, stroking the taller boy to sleep. “Nothing.”

*

Jack stared at the clock, running his fingers through his hair as he turned to Alex’s step sister. “It’s almost six. What do you want for dinner?” asked the Lebanese boy. “Want me to cook for you?”

“Nuh-uh, I’m bowed of home food,” said the 4-year-old. “I want a buwwito.”

Jack smiled. “Burrito it is!”

“Yay! Thanks Jacky!”

“No problem,” Jack replied, dialing Taco Bell’s delivery number. “Hello. I’d like to order two burritos please—“

Jack couldn’t believe his sight. The little girl had been lifted off the ground. She was up in the air, in a lying position that couldn’t be real. She wasn’t jumping at all. She didn’t fall back down—she just floated on the air.

“Sir?” the voice on the phone called out.

“Um, yes, two burritos,” Jack repeated, cold sweat running down his face.

“Address?”

Jack gave the Taco Bell guy Alex’s address, still in deep shock. The girl’s body was still laid out on her back against the air with her eyes wide open, staring emptily at the ceilings. Jack stepped closer as he dropped the phone, holding his best friend’s little sister in his arms. Before he knew it, the little girl’s eyes were now staring into his teary ones. In that moment, Jack could’ve sworn he saw flames in her eyes. Yet he cradled the kid, shaking and sobbing with fear, fearing for the little girl’s life more than his own. He shuddered slightly when the girl’s mouth opened and screamed at him in a strange language that sounded like Latin.

“What the fuck?” Jack whispered to himself, laying the infant down on the couch as he began to pray in fear. He’d never been the religious type, but times like these had always scared him into praying for his life to be spared.

“A-Amen,” Jack stuttered.

“Jacky, what’s wong?” the infant asked. “Why do you look so scawed? Why awe you cwying? Big boys awen’t supposed to cwy!”

“I’m not scared…hehe,” Jack chuckled nervously, turning his back to see Alex and Kellin standing in the doorway. “I gotta go, sweetheart. See you later!”

Without even saying a thing to the couple, Jack decided to sprint his way home, afraid of everything he’d seen that evening. He knew it was cowardly and rude of him, but he’d better be safe than sorry. He arrived home drenched in sweat, opening the door to his mother and brother’s cheerful faces. “Hi, Jack!”

“Hi, Mom,” Jack exhaled. “Hi, Joe.”

Next to his brother sat a very beautiful young woman in her late twenties. She had long, dark brown hair and an exquisite face. Her lips were luscious and big and she was wearing a loose white T-shirt and a pair of American flag shorts, much like Alex’s but blue and short.

“Oh, and by the way, this is Ms. Grant,” said Mrs. Barakat. “She’s our new neighbor.”

“Hi, I’m Jack, nice to meet you,” Jack leaned forward to shake the woman’s hand.

“Hello, Jack. Nice to meet you too. The name’s Elizabeth Grant, but they call me Lana D. You can call me Lana,” said the woman in an alluring, raspy voice.

“She’s a psychic,” smiled Mrs. Barakat.

“Oh,” Jack chuckled. “That’s cool.”

“Thanks,” Lana smiled.

“Joe and I are going to pick up May at the airport. Can we leave you with Ms. Grant for a bit?” asked Mrs. Barakat.

“Sure,” said Jack.

After Joe and his mother left, Jack was left cooking some spaghetti for Lana. The woman seemed so nice, yet Jack was scared of her reading his mind. She’s a psychic, after all. But the fear subsided when Lana called out his name.

“Yeah?” Jack responded from the kitchen.

“You know, you gotta be careful these days.”

Jack raised his eyebrow as he served the spaghetti. “What do you mean?”

Lana lit her cigarette. “You and your friends are not exactly in safe hands. You might want to avoid one of them.”

“One of them? Who?”

Lana smirked. “You know damn well who it is.”

“Alex?” Jack asked.

“No, darling,” Lana shook her head. “Alexander Gaskarth is in danger too, just so you know. Everyone of your friends is in danger right now, but mostly Alex. He’s playing with fire. Whoever plays with fire risks getting burnt. When you’re near a person who plays with fire, you can also get burnt, but the burns you'd get wouldn't be as bad as his.”

“What do you mean, playing with fire? He doesn’t do that. He’s not an arsonist of some sort. Unless you’re talking about him fucking random girls at parties!”

Lana lit another cigarette and laughed, wondering how the boy could be so childish and how hard it was for him to grasp the symbolism in her speech. “Listen, darling. You’re a talented, humble, kind hearted, silly young man with good intentions and I just don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want your friends to get hurt either. Just pay attention to your surroundings, darl. Pay attention to yourself. Be aware of your power.”

“My power?” Jack asked.

“Yes,” Lana hissed. “You may not realize it, but you, Jenna, and Jeremy possess powers.”

“How am I supposed to know that I have it?”

Lana smirked again. “Remember Alex’s step sister Sydney?”

“What about her?”

“What happened this evening was a revelation that you could stop a possessed little girl from levitating. You could defeat evil.”

Jack shrugged. “I didn’t know I had it in me. But what about Alex?”

Lana sighed. “Just remember this, Jack. Those who seek hell are destined to find it.”