THE WORLD OF RUINS

“God, I hate my job.”

​I said it loud on purpose, hoping somebody would tell me to go home but nobody did. Njabulo shot me the dirtiest look possible without actually spitting on me. He turned to Clarissa instead and said. “Remind me again why he’s coming with us, Clarissa?”

​Meanwhile, Clarissa’s eyes were everywhere but turned to him and sighed. “The Captain said the demon might be stronger than the last one we fought, Njabulo. Yanga is here to back us up.”

​I flicked my cigarette butt onto the curb, the thought of me being called back was so absurd it nearly made me laugh. I scratched the back of my head. “Why didn’t you just call the SWAT team?”

​Njabulo pointed a thumb at me without missing a beat. “See? He’s an idiot. If the demon is stronger, we’re definitely dying here with him.”

At that moment, I wanted to punch him in the face but if I killed him I was gonna loose my job. So I just reluctantly pulled a fresh cigarette and lit it. Without any more words, we continued our slow walk toward a street on our left with a generally unpleasant sign that wrote Colrado Street.

“This is the street.” Clarissa said, casually taking the lead.

I followed behind her as we headed down, and every building here leaned like it wanted to collapse. Crackheads and homeless guys where everywhere in this street. Njabulo approached them.

“Any of you know something about people going missing in this street?” he asked them.

​I nearly choked on my cigarette. – This guy was seriously asking crackheads about demons. Yet he had the nerve to call me an idiot?

One of the men, pointed a shaky finger toward an old apartment across the street. “That place.” he croaked. “The old Ridgemont Apartment… People go in and don’t come out.”

Clarissa bowed her head slightly. “Thank you.”

​We started walking toward the building, the main door of the apartment had been ripped off its hinges. Njabulo and Clarissa exchanged quick glances and we stepped inside. Everything happened so fast. Within a blink, Njabulo and Clarissa were gone... And I was standing somewhere completely different. Like the building had swallowed me and spit me out somewhere else.

“What the hell just happened?” I whispered, shoving my hands in my pocket and that’s when it hit me. – God dammit, now I’m definitely forced to work. – I quickly took out my phone. And called Clarissa but the call didn’t go through.

“Either her phone’s dead or the signal is jammed.” I grumbled, shoving the phone back into my pocket. – There’s no way in hell I’m calling that dweeb, this is such a pain in the ass and when I applied to be a police officer, I’m pretty sure that they never mentioned chasing monsters that normal people can’t see in the job listing.

​I started walking slowly. My eyes searching everywhere for the fastest exit. This place was filled with demonic energy, so whatever demon that’s in here has to be powerful. I rounded a corner and stopped again cause ahead of me stood two doors.

​And you know what? I wasn’t planning on opening any of those doors. This is was a classic horror movie trap and I’ll be going back the way I came. I turned around but where the corridor had been a moment ago, there was now a solid wall and I slammed my fist into it to make sure.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I sighed, lighting yet another cigarette. The only way out was through the doors. I walked up to the left one, placed my hand on the cold handle and yanked it open. Behind it was nothing but a wall identical to the one behind me.

I moved to the right door, took one last puff and opened it. And this one opened onto a wide hallway, but the floor was missing directly in front of me. Every instinct I had screamed, Don’t go in there.

“Nope.” I said instantly, stepping back but the ground opened under my feet and I immediately fell into a void.

“OH COME ON!”

I looked down and there was a pool of black water below, though my instincts were faster than my conscious complaint. My left hand shot out, grabbing a rusted I-beam jutting out from a concrete edge. And I swung my body out over the pit of the churning black water. I landed silently, on solid ground and looked down at that water. Njabulo was in there, looking a little bit pale and half-drowned.

​Well... rest easy, man. – I thought, already turning to look for an exit but then... I stopped. I felt something I haven’t felt before, something unpleasant it made me slam my fist to the chest. –

​What am I feeling? Is that… concern? Do I want to save the dweeb. – The idea was repulsive. – Come on, Yanga, snap out of it. He’s a dweeb, find Clarissa and get out of here.

The feeling only got worse and annoyingly strong.

“ARGH... dammit!”

I spun around and dove into the water. I go to Njabulo and grabbed him under his arms and dragged him to the ledge. With a grunt, I hauled his heavy body up onto the ground. My arms throbbed, my clothes dripped and I was seconds away from regretting the decision that led me here but Njabulo wasn’t breathing.

​”Now what? CPR? I am not sucking no man’s lips.”

​Instead, I curled my fist and slammed it down hard into his chest.

“BWUGH!”

Water and a bit of blood shot out of his mouth.

Oh, damn. I must’ve overdone it but he’s welcome. – I stood up, brushing filth off my trousers. “You’re welcome.” I said aloud.

​Njabulo coughed and groaned, barely processing anything. He was clearly still in shock. He stared up at me and the first words out of his mouth were repulsive. “W-where… where is Clarissa?”

I stared down at him, trying to piece everything together. – This guy almost die and the first thing that comes out of his mouth is someone else’s name?

“Oh. I get it now.”

Njabulo groaned, coughing weakly. “Get… what?”

“You’ve got a thing for her.” I pointed at him. “Makes sense. If I almost died, the first person I’d think about is you too.”

He wheezed. “That’s… not... I don’t... Yanga, shut up.”

“No, no.” I waved my hand dismissively. “Don’t be shy, it’s cute.”

Njabulo slapped a hand over his face. “This is exactly why I didn’t want you here.”

“Yeah. I didn’t want myself here either, yet here I am. And about Clarissa? I haven’t seen her since we stepped through the front door.” I said, shrugging. I took out my phone again just to check the signal. “Tried calling her as well but it didn’t go through. Were you with her?”

​Njabulo pushed himself up onto his elbows, wiping his mouth with the back of a shaking hand. “Yeah. We only got separated from you. Clarissa and I… we fell in right on this place.” He pointed weakly toward the lethal water. “And as sudden as we fell, a demon appeared. It was too fast. And it went for her, I tried be as quick as I could but within a split second I was kicked into that water and blacked out.”

​”Something tells me we’re not dealing with a single demon here.” I replied to him.

​Njabulo looked terrified, which was fair. “So… what do we do?”

“What do you think we do?” I sighed. “Let’s find Clarissa and get the hell out of here. I’m starting to get freaked out and my shift is almost over.”

​Njabulo scrambled to his feet, leaning heavily on the wall. He was useless right now but at least he could walk. We started moving, heading deeper into the building. I constantly kept checking back. Every ten steps, I’d glance over my shoulder, to check if the hallway behind me wasn’t suddenly replaced by another gray wall.

​We got to a large and open area, and stopped dead. The demonic energy here was annoyingly overwhelming. And directly ahead of us in the pitch blackness, there was something. It wasn’t moving but it was massive, I could feel it.

​My hand froze halfway out of my jacket pocket. The cigarette I was about to light, somehow slipped from my fingers hitting the ground with a faint tink.

​”You feel it, don’t you?” Njabulo’s voice was barely a squeak. “There’s something there and it’s staring right at us.”

​I didn’t answer, my eyes were locked on the darkness. But my mind, however was in a far more different location... my jacket pocket. When I jumped into that demon sludge to save the dweeb, I forgot to empty my pockets. And now, my whole pack of cigarettes was completely soaked.

​I slapped my hands over my face hard. And staggered back, hitting the wall and sliding down.

“NO! NO! NOO!”