Do Demons Exist

Victory

True to his word, Angelo does make sure that I get the best medical care. This CityMed is quite an upper-class hospital. The staff is efficient and very professional. I feel secure and quite relaxed.

The physician attending to me expresses his shock at how I managed to keep my consciousness until now. It seems that the deer or whatever that was, did quite a number on me. Three broken ribs dislocated hip and a concussion to top that up.

Even I am stupefied! How come I have barely felt any pain? Anyway, there is plenty of room to figure that out. For now, I need to focus on getting better.

My mind wanders off to that senior cop called Gallow. What a weird name for an equally eccentric man? What is he? I know I did not just imagine his eyes turning into snake eyes for a moment. I saw it.

Could it be the concussion playing tricks on my sight? It cant be, after all, everything that has been happening to me lately is just out of the ordinary. At this point, anything is possible for me.

Damn these injuries! I forgot to ask about my exact location. I know for sure there is no CityMed near my home. This hospital is too big anyway. I did not see anything like it every time I went shopping.

Turning around, I see Angelo discussing something with the doctor. I mentally remind myself to thank him later. Truly, he is my saviour. What would have become of me if he was not on deck at that particular time? I shudder in dread and do not even dare imagine the outcome.

"Anything you need Mr Grande, I am just a call away. I am also on call tonight so do not fear. Your lady is in good hands. Rest assured."

Huh? Me? His lady? Just what did he say to that doctor? He holds my gaze and smiles weakly before closing the door and walking toward me.

"Relax Vicki. I had to tell him that we are friends. I know absolutely nothing about you and they needed a next of kin. So that was the quickest thing that came to my mind."

"I guess we are friends now. Nice to meet you, Angelo. I am Victory Summers."

We both laugh but mine is cut short by an excruciating pain that shot up my cheat and I begin to cough. It must be the broken ribs. I make a mental note to be mindful of that. Angelo squeezes my hand when he sees me wince and grimace in pain.

"I am sorry Vicki."

"You did nothing wrong, Mr Grande. If anything, you have my life and I am forever indebted to you. Thank you."

He nods and stared at me for awhile before he pinches the bridge of his nose. He looks exhausted but deep in thought. After a while, he clears his throat and look at me.

"I am waiting for the police officers. Do they need to take a statement remember? I just wonder what I tell them really. It was quite dark when I saw that man hurl you into the sea. I did not see him clearly as he was on higher ground. Who is he? A jilted lover or an obsessed stalker?"

I look at him but I am at a loss for words. How do I even explain to him something that I can barely comprehend myself? It is a jigsaw puzzle that I am yet to piece together. That is if I ever manage to at all.

Angelo keenly observes me silently and patiently waiting for some sort of response from me. I am well aware of the fact that he must be looking for a clue from my reaction. I am not sure if the emotions I feel are displayed on my face.

As it is, I am equally as puzzled as he is. He claims he saw a man in dark clothes hurling me into the ocean, but that is different from my experience. I was under the expression that I was having a nightmare.

How then do I tell him that I hit a deer whose blood turned into bloody ropes and tied me up? How do I explain that it was the deer that kicked me and o felt like I was falling into a deep abyss of nothingness?

Apart from all that, how am I going to explain all that has been happening to me without sounding totally out of it? Will he not take me as a downright crazy woman? Frustrated, I groan and pull at my hair.

Mad that I am a prisoner of something I cannot even fathom. I am being toyed with by something so dark and evil that I am even doubting my sanity! Why on earth am I being targeted? I am scared for myself and everyone else around me.

I am not even sure if I can tell anyone this. What if I open up to him and in turn drag him to the pits of this hellish life with me? I would not want that. He helped me and that is enough. This is my battle and I will figure it out. Mind made up, I look at Angelo and smile.

"Please tell me where we are now. Do you still remember the exact spot you picked me up.?"

He laughs at my feeble attempt to avoid the topic at hand. However, he does not disappoint. He tells me all I need to hear and I am shocked. The place where I was thrown into the ocean is two hundred miles away from my home. And this city is almost five hundred miles further away from home.

I gape at him and words refuse to be formed at all. For a while, I am rendered speechless. Even if I want to ve logical about this, all logic fails me.

"Vicki, are you okay? No one is an island my dear and a problem shared is already partially solved. Whatever it is, just by the swirling of emotions in your eyes, I can tell it is bigger than we all believe it to be. There is no cowardice in seeking help. Instead of thinking of it as being helpless, think of it as gathering an army. No battles are won when you stand alone my dear. I am willing to help if you allow me."

How do I explain to him that what I am tangled up in is scarier than a deranged jilted lover with murderous intent? It is something that turns nightmares into reality. Some evil lurking in every part of my life. It is there in my dreams and my days as well.

As it is, I am no longer sure if any of this is real anymore. I know that as humans we tend pinching ourselves to determine whether we are dreaming or fully conscious. But with me, ghat does not wake anymore.

I feel equally the same pain in dreams as I do whilst fully awake. I am in that stage where I no longer can differentiate reality from dreams. I begin to panic as soon as the realization of that possibility hits me.

What if this is all a prank from that prankster of mine. Giving me a false sense of security and then cruelly snatching it all away again. I pull my knees to my chest, wrap my hands around them and tightly shut my eyes. I feel the pain of the cannula on my hand but I ignore it.

I do not care anymore if this is reality or a dream. A little voice in my head tries to reason with me but I am not buying it. I am fully expecting to hear that wicked cackling any moment from now.

But that voice breaks through my walls and reasons with me again. Even though I try to shut it down, I fail miserably.

"But he has never ever included people and places with so much light in his past torments has he?"

That is true. Any other person or animal that has been in my nightmares, has been scary and had a dark, killing intent to it. I cave slightly but then again, the officer with the snake eyes comes back to my mind and I clam up again.

"Hey! Hey Vicki! What is going on? Please tell me. Please Vicki calm down and drink this. It will soothe your nerves. Then you can tell me all about it. I need to know that you are safe before I leave you here and your reaction is making me quite uneasy."

I receive the glass of water and gulp it all in seconds. It does help a lot in calming me down. If this is not some sick twisted joke from my prankster to make me feel safe for a while, then it sure feels good to have someone truly care for me.

Angelo sits at the chair by the bedside and holds my hand. Somehow, just his touch gives me so much warmth and comfort. It drives all my fears away. I cannot deny that fact and it makes me believe that maybe this is real.

It has to be real because, in all my nightmares, all I feel is sheer terror. Neither comfort nor warmth is present in those. All my experience with that demon, (as I have come to this conclusion), have been anything but safe.

Maybe telling him is not that bad of an idea. Who knows, if I talk about it I will know whether I am still stuck in the dream or not. I am sure that monster would not want me to talk badly of him. Therefore, if this is part of his sick joke, I am going to hand it back to him.

"I will answer your questions, Angelo. But first, tell me if demons exist. Because what has been happening to me lately has made me conclude that there must be a despicably deranged demon that is after my life."

Angelo sits there quietly but holds my gaze with equal interest. He does not falter even though I know he is flustered. I think he is just good at concealing his emotions because if he is shocked, he does not even show it.

He surprises me when he stands up and sits on the bed instead. I scoot over to create room for him without questioning. He holds my hands once again and sighs.

"Vicki, there is a lot that happens in this world that I certainly would not be shocked if demons truly exist. I believe there is a parallel world to ours with plenty of supernatural beings. Some good and some bad. So to answer hour question, I could say yes, I believe there are demons out there. But if demons exist, then angels must also exist dear."

If anyone had said this to me a few months back, I would have laughed. Those terms are only used to describe people's characters. Someone vile and without a conscience, would be described as demonic. Whereas the kind hearted would be labelled as angelic.