[Clara 02]

After the pain.

Everything in Clara's life would now be divided between before and after the pain.

Now she slept.

Some place dark and warm a pervasive red light pulsed around her and she slept.

With the cessation of the burning pistons churning away in her skull a clarity had come Clara had not felt since childhood.

Everything made perfect sense and with the supreme understanding of each preceding event there was no fear.

After what may have been seconds or an eternity Clara acknowledged the presence of another.

Her mind began to take stock of this other but came only to the conclusion that it should be classified as a thing.

There was nothing prior to the pain that may have helped Clara to understand what she was now in the company of.

"What are you?" Clara wondered and so wondering made real the question.

In this place she was safe and all things were possible though not all things imagined made real.

The thing expanded and contracted like a cloud seeming to make these liquid movements its language "I am. In you I am. In you I have become. From you I will become further. From you I will consume and become what you are but unlike any other of you. I am the end. I am the abyssal plane made real. I am the void made flesh."

"Am I going to die?" The warm red light surrounding Clara waned and the other seemed to fill the space with its darkness.

Still Clara felt no fear.

This was a place made for her. It would not allow the intrusion of an enemy but the essence of the other seemed to defy the very fabric of life.

The very atoms which made the real things real and kept the boundaries strong against the dark things.

"You will die. All living things must secede from life and in doing so become mulch for the great churning ovens of life. You will die. Not this day. Not the next. I am in you. I will become further. You must not die this day or the next." The other twisted and in doing so made known its answer.

Before and after.

This was after and the red light drained away the way water drains from a sink.

Sound returned.

Smells returned.

Light that was mean and cold returned.

Only for a handful of heartbeats.

Then the other decreased until it wasn't there at all.

The warm red returned and Clara slept.

Safe.

Unafraid.

-Contributed by Cogent Ascending

[Darvin 02]

Darvin's head buzzed softly as he wandered the halls of the county general hospital.

Last stop for the uninsured.

Normally he would have avoided this place.

The last thoughts of the dying and those in pain were especially bright to a person such as himself and after more than an hour everything became a bit fuzzy.

The fact that he'd spent the better part of last night up to his eyeballs in booze and boys probably didn't help either.

"If you like pina colada's" was repeating itself endlessly in his head and while he hated the song it was helping to stave off the increasing weight of all those hateful oppressive thoughts.

Stopping a pretty black nurse Darvin asked "Could you point me to room 774? My sister was admitted here last night."

The nurse stared at Darvin for a moment as if contemplating whether or not he'd make a good meal, pointed to her left, and then rolled her eyes as she walked away.

Darvin wondered how she had managed to find a pair of scrubs that would not only fit over her gargantuan ass but also came in a kitten print that matched the walls of what appeared to be the hallway containing the children's ward.

Entering the room he could see Angelique was already present and already in a foul mood.

Obviously because Clara was not dead, as had been his job last night, and which he had neglected to complete once she'd disappeared from the bar.

Darvin believed in fate and also didn't have quite as much nerve as he'd thought once he started to really think about what it'd mean to kill a person.

Sure it was all fun and games to say funny prayers that rhyme and chant to the dark god of the abyss and "summon" the crawling chaos but when it came right down to doing the really dark shit Darvin drew the line at dosing somebody and shoving them off a balcony just to see what sort of nasty demon might crawl out of the wreckage.

Angelique gave Darvin one last snotty look before speaking "I couldn't have made the instructions any simpler. You put the liquid in a drink. You serve my sister the drink. You wait five, maybe ten, seconds before it makes her higher than she's ever been. Then you push her off the fucking balcony. At what point did you think braining her with a potted plant would be a necessary? And explain to me how she's still alive?" Angelique hissed through clenched teeth.

Darvin was not intimidated "It never got that far. I dosed her, I fed her the booze, and I went to the bathroom while it took affect. I wasn't gone for more than a minute or two and by the time I came back she had disappeared. I thought she had wandered off with someone else so I went looking for her. Maybe you got the dosage wrong." Darvin suggested shrugging and turning to Clara.

"I did not get the dosage wrong. I chose the wrong person to help me out. That's all. Besides I can tell you didn't spend very long looking. You smell like a brewery full of used jock straps." Searching her purse Angelique pulled out a small grey tome and began leafing through it. Shadows that had not been present before suddenly deepened.

"Can we still kill her? She's still weak. I can feel it. Her body is healing but what the pain did to her mind hasn't healed as fast. The dark thing grows inside her." Darvin asked tracing his fingers over the contours of Clara's face.

Angelique shook her head "I don't know yet and I don't want to risk destroying one of His children. I may never earn His favor again."

Darvin shuddered involuntarily "What on earth did you do to earn it in the first place?"

Ignoring him she closed the little grey tome and stuffed it back in her purse "It doesn't say anything about an expiration date or the effect of the dosage wearing off. I suppose if we do it now the end results will be the same. Technically if we leave the dark thing inside of Clara it'd be the same as killing it."

"So?" Darvin asked looking up from the bed.

"Kill her."

Darvin raised his eyebrows?

"Excuse me?"

Angelique sighed and crossed her arms "I said kill her!"

"Oh fuck this shit you can't be serious?" Darvin asked in a whisper all incredulity and shock.

Angelique mimicked his face "Of course I'm serious. Aren't you serious? Don't you take what we are trying to accomplish seriously? My success is your success. Doesn't that make sense to you? If I can raise the dark thing from her corpse it will only help you become like me that much faster or do you need to be reminded of what an apprentice is?"

Darvin had seen the seductive act before.

It was a part of what made Angelique so fascinating in the beginning but this wasn't playing at being some sort of dark sorcerer.

This was taking a human life and Darvin didn't want to play anymore.

"Fuck you Angie. I'm not doing that. This is just a stupid fucking game. You can't raise demons and you can't make corpses do your bidding. Your just a lonely skinny girl that nobody wanted to play with in grade school. Then you were the greasy pimply kid that nobody wanted to fuck in high school and now your just the ugly fucking sister that can't get over the fact that daddy doesn't love you as much. So you can just go fuck yourself."

Angelique's mouth dropped open just a little bit and Darvin felt the bitter chill of her rage bloom from the crown of her skull and fill the room just as he felt the ebb and flow of Clara's consciousness weaken in the face of it's inevitability.

Without warning she bent over covered Clara's nose and mouth with her hand and pressed down hard enough to stop the flow of air.

Within seconds the monitors tracking Clara's vital signs began to panic and Clara jerked and twisted involuntarily trying to breathe.

Darvin held his breath in time with Clara and felt his heart begin to jack hammer at the sight of her twisting form struggling for life.

Just as the heart beats began to taper off and the monitors really began to make a racket Darvin felt a strange heaviness pass through his body as everything in the room was suddenly and violently pushed backwards though most notably himself and Angelique.

Lying face down next to Angelique near the door together they helped each other stand and both wiped at the heavy flow of blood running from their noses.

"What the fuck was that?" Darvin gasped turning to look at Clara. She lay peacefully a serene aura surrounding her motionless figure.

Angelique shook her head "I don't know. I'll have to do more research."

"Good news." A burly man with a white beard shouted entering the room with an open folder in his hands and a broad smile on his face.

Darvin and Angelique turned to stare at the oddly comical man in the midst of such confusion.

The doctors smile faltered and he raised the folder trying again "Good news folks. It turns out along with your sisters rapid and unexplainable recovery she's also managed to save the life of another. Your sister is pregnant."

-Contributed by Cogent Ascending

[Angelique 02]

"I couldn't have made the instructions any simpler. You put the liquid in a drink. You serve my sister the drink. You wait five, maybe ten, seconds before it makes her higher than she's ever been. Then you push her off the fucking balcony. At what point did you think braining her with a potted plant would be a necessary? And explain to me how she's still alive?" Angelique hissed through clenched teeth.
Between Angelique and Darvin lay Clara nestled in a field of wires and hoses.
The machinery monitoring her life showed signs of improved health by the hour.
It was baffling the doctors and many on the nursing staff were calling it a miracle.
If only they'd known Clara when she was conscious they might not be blaming god for this little miracle.
Darvin was not intimidated "It never got that far. I dosed her, I fed her the booze, and I went to the bathroom while it took affect. I wasn't gone for more than a minute or two and by the time I came back she had disappeared. I thought she had wandered off with someone else so I went looking for her. Maybe you got the dosage wrong." Darvin suggested shrugging and turning to Clara.
As he watched a deep contusion spanning the bridge of Clara's nose raised up and healed disappearing completely from sight in seconds. The only proof that it had been there at all the sick crunch and pop as the broken cartilage reset itself spontaneously.
"I did not get the dosage wrong. I chose the wrong person to help me out. That's all. Besides I can tell you didn't spend very long looking. You smell like a brewery full of used jock straps." Searching her purse Angelique pulled out a small grey tome and began leafing through it. Shadows that had not been present before suddenly deepened.
"Can we still kill her? She's still weak. I can feel it. Her body is healing but what the pain did to her mind hasn't healed as fast. The dark thing grows inside her." Darvin asked tracing his fingers over the contours of Clara's face.
Angelique shook her head "I don't know yet and I don't want to risk destroying one of His children. I may never earn His favor again."
Darvin shuddered involuntarily "What on earth did you do to earn it in the first place?"
Ignoring him she closed the little grey tome and stuffed it back in her purse "It doesn't say anything about an expiration date or the effect of the dosage wearing off. I suppose if we do it now the end results will be the same. Technically if we leave the dark thing inside of Clara it'd be the same as killing it."
"So?" Darvin asked looking up from the bed.
"Kill her."

-Contributed by Cogent Ascending

[Clara 01]

Clara was fucking legendary.
Right?
She felt like she should have been.
Or maybe was and had forgotten how to be tonight.
The dark liquor made it hard to remember who she was or if she may have been legendary when she'd walked through the door.
The door, the windows, the bathroom door . . .
Hadn't she come in with someone?
A group of some one's perhaps?
How could she have suddenly forgotten what had taken place five seconds ago?
It didn't matter.
In another five minutes some guy would walk into the bar and buy her another drink, or two, or three.
He would say something stupid about her tits or her ass and she'd toss her hair back and laugh as though it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard.
Then they'd find someplace dark to fuck and she'd grab his wallet while he grabbed both her ass cheeks and at some point she'd make her way home either richer in cash or credit.
And that was what made Clara fucking legendary.
Stumbling outside she lit a cigarette and leaned against the balcony overlooking the river.
Inside the music thumped so loudly it felt like a second heart beat in her chest.
"Hello darlin."
Clara turned to see an old familiar face and smiled warmly at the shared recollection of the good time connected to the image of the scruffy cleft chin and clever green eyes.
"Hullo Remi. What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were Canadian?" Clara said chiding herself mentally even as she spoke for saying something so stupid.
Remi laughed "You stupid fucking cunt. You don't remember do you?"
"Excuse me?" Clara laughed leaning back against the balconies railing.
"You stole almost three thousand dollars from me. After you fucked me into a god damn coma you stole two thousand eight hundred and fifty seven dollars from me. I don't even know your fucking name. What the fuck is your name?" Remi barked getting close enough for Clara to smell the drinks on his breath and see the coke left around the bottom of each nostril.
Too late Clara saw she couldn't go left.
Couldn't go right.
The only way to escape was down.
Even while Clara's sluggish gin soaked mind made this broken analysis of escape routes Remi lifted a heavy potted plant above his head and brought it down hard on Clara's pretty face.
The force knocked her backwards so swiftly it would have been comical if the height had not been so lethal.
She thought as she fell that this would be the last time she'd have this much to drink.
She thought she was falling asleep somewhere safe.
In some dark apartment she'd sneak out of the next day.
Until she hit the cars parked below and the brilliant red and white explosion of pain that wracked her body burned away every last inch of numbing pleasure the booze had wrought.
While she waited for someone to find her the pain only deepened.
Only became more scintillating.
Eight hours later by the time someone found her she was nearly broken from the pain.
Her mind nearly erased by the its ceaseless assault.
While she was loaded into the back of an ambulance a single thought flitted across what was left of her consciousness.
Angelique was going to be so angry with her.

-Contributed by Cogent Ascending

[Angelique 01]

The waiting room looked like the sort of place interior design had not just forgotten, but left out entirely. The floor's dirty sea-foam and cream checkerboard of vinyl tiles brought back memories of that spring break she had spent getting violently ill on the cruise ship, and it turned her stomach so badly that she winced and took a long, slow sip of her lukewarm coffee. Why did everything always have to be white and lit with florescent? It showed the grit and the age like a gallery display, and the mingling stench of mildewing sheet rock and antiseptics was doing the place no favors.

She shifted in the cracked vinyl cushion of the chair, the soft wool of her trousers catching and snapping on the curling tears and the exposed and disgusting foam beneath. She tried not to think of the people who may have sat there before her, depositing whatever filth they carried on themselves into that same foam stuffing, tucking it away safely where no amount of Lysol could ever find it. Despite her efforts, she wretched at the thought, and fearing the chair now she got up to pace.

How long was this going to take, anyways? She didn't like being in this part of town, and besides, she had another appointment to keep in Birmingham this afternoon; a more important, scheduled appointment to keep. She couldn't come running downtown every time her little sister had another urge to fix the entire family's attention onto herself. At twenty years old, Angelique had been in her third year of college at Michigan State, majoring in journalism. Her little sister, afforded the same privileges since birth that she had, was now working as a waitress in some dive in downtown Detroit and doing God only knows what in her off-time. She could only imagine that it was jealousy and an inability to grow up and deal with her own life that made her call Angelique into each and every melodrama, a passive-aggressive attempt at making her hated older sister feel the same pain and helplessness as she was feeling, no doubt. Well, this was the last time Angelique would humor her, end of story.

Somewhere behind her a door swung open.

"Angelique Bordeaux?"

"I'm here, where is she?"

The nurse, a strikingly beautiful young black woman wearing pale green scrubs, motioned with her french-tipped fingers for Angelique to follow her.

"I have to go soon, can't we just skip the whole process and move this along? We've been through this before, far more than I'd like to admit actually."

"Miss Bordeaux, we're well aware of your sister's medical history, and I'm sorry to take up your time, but this is not crying wolf. Your sister has been assaulted, and her head sustained a lot of trauma. If you'd please come with me, I can explain things further, and you may be able to see her.

The floor had dropped out from beneath her, and it took her a moment to process all that the nurse had told her. She was stumbling for words, her eyes scanning the room wildly as if she had just woken up from a dream and found herself there. Adjusting her purse on her shoulder, she simply nodded and followed the nurse through the doorway.

[Darvin 01]

He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so sick without having had too much to drink the night before, or a virus of some sort. His head was throbbing in a perfect close harmony with his heart and his stomach was dancing along clumsily. His joints and his muscles ached as if they were protesting his very existence. He should have never even gotten out of bed, but the alarm had been so insistent. At any rate, the motions of the day seemed more tolerable than making excuses to his squat, "middle-aged," and fiery redhead of a boss, Karla. He'd always found it best to avoid giving her any excuse to be upset with him, especially this early.

The bus driver hit the brakes abruptly, and the contents of his stomach shifted right along with the rest of the buses' cargo, but he bit it back to avoid the embarrassing situation of throwing up on the poor little old lady in the unseasonably layered attire sitting across from her. He couldn't bear the thought of her hand-washing and hanging all of those delicate sweaters at her obviously ancient age. Besides, she had been the only one not to stare at him when he'd boarded, but instead had offered him that weak-cup-of-tea smile of hers. He had taken this to heart, as if it were a nod of approval from the elders of the tribe for getting up and fulfilling his obligations to society regardless of his weakened state. He gave her one last nod and smile, and got off two stops early to avoid the next two brakes, just in case.

Walking the last few blocks seemed to be good medicine, breathing the soothing scent of the river and the heady musk of ancient motor oil, gaining his bearings again. He walked into the diner feeling somewhat less annihilated, and even his stomach had somewhat settled back into it's original clumsy waltz. He knew he didn't look any better, on account of Karla taking the time to speak to him.

"You look like God bitch-slapped you. Twice."

"Good morning to you too, Karla."

"You okay, Darvin?"

"Yes. I'll be fine."

"Look, if you got that pig shit that's been going around, you can take your ass right back out that door and sleep it off. I can't afford a staff infection."

"It's not swine flu, Karla. I was just up really late drinking."

"Well you sure do clean up pretty for a drunk, then."

"Thank you, so do you."

"Well if that isn't a compliment every girl longs to hear."

"I live to please, Karla. What do you want me to do?"

"Now if only every man in my life could be that cooperative! I want you on flat top today, and I need you to keep that cooperative spirit, cause Kendall's your only server today, along with me if you can fathom it. The girls all went drinking last night and lost one of themselves somewhere in Hamtramck, Stacy I think. They're down at the station right now, raising a fuss about filling out reports and forming search parties. I got money on the whore showing up bowlegged and sticky in twenty minutes."

"I fucking love you, Karla," he chuckled, grinning ear to ear at the mental image conjured up by her intricate spell of sardonic and crude humor.