Max and Sebastian - Chapter 30
Contemporary young adult horror fiction
Dearest Penguin People.
Here is the newest chapter of Max and Sebastian, my evil kid/ghost story. In a previous chapter we met Geoffrey, a spirit with an affinity for fire…
If you are new to Max and Sebastian please start here…
As always, a special thank you to P.Q. Rubin for Mr. Wobble Toes up top…
There was a collective running toward, then away from, as Geoffrey flicked the trigger. A small spark landed at his feet. He burst into flames and sped past them onto the balcony, leaving a trail of fire behind him. For a brief second, he looked back. His eyes melted in their sockets, the smell of burning flesh filling the air. He gave them the finger and flung himself over the side into the lot below.
Geoffrey’s charred corpse lay on the trauma bed. Unable to save him, the ER staff peeled off their gloves and walked away. The tenuous thread separating the dead from the living often snapped, and there was precious little they could do about it.
No one understood this more than the spirit who lay in waiting in Geoffrey’s body. It drifted out and stared down at what was left, a carcass burned beyond recognition, in some places disturbingly similar to bacon left too long on the grill and in others the skin simply melted away. Eyes, popped from the intensity of the flames, gave the perverse impression that he was still staring out into the world, seeing everything. The Geoffrey thing laughed. He rather liked his new look. Perhaps he would keep it for a while.
He felt another presence. He sniffed the air. It was slimy, a familiar toxic mush bred in the netherworld’s sewers, it was…
Jehoshaphat in ballerina boots, it was that whiny little turd, Buttercup. Maybe he still had time to run, to say he didn’t see her.
“Rasmuseus?”
Damn it.
He looked down. She was still a dog. Why she hadn’t degraded into an amoeba by now, he had no clue. While some evil got by on flair; others endured by the power of sheer unpleasantness, like the one that presently waited for him, its fur bristling with tiny black snakes around a face that only a rat could love. Not a fan of cheap theatrics, he spat out a tooth, bouncing it off her nose.
“What?” Buttercup asked, obviously hurt.
“Snakes, really? It’s literally been done to death.”
Buttercup sat up straighter and tried to smooth the snakes down with her hind paw to little avail. “It’s been so long. A hello would be nice.”
The Geoffrey thing stretched its sinewy, charred arms toward the ceiling and yawned.
“Rasmuseus,” her voice cracking. “I need to talk to you.”
“It’s Geoffrey now, you derivative shrew. No one calls me Rasmuseus anymore. It sounds too much like cough syrup.”
“Fine, Geoffrey, just listen.”
“I don’t have time for you, you little runt.”
“Who you calling a runt?” Charlie’s ghost crawled out of the corpse’s stomach. The rat, scorched with just a few puffs of white fur remaining, resembled a deranged poodle with a very bad haircut. He sniffed the air with a blistered nose and sneezed when he reached Buttercup.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Geoffrey said.
“Sorry, Boss.” Charlie jumped onto Geoffrey’s shoulder and started chewing on his tail.
Buttercup bristled again, the snakes hissing overtime. “You dismiss me, but you keep this, this…creature around?”
“Again with the snakes. You could try something more original. Perhaps, scorpions or puffins or…”
“Puffins?”
Charlie perked up. “Mmm, puffins, good eating.”
“Would you two just listen to me?” It had not occurred to Buttercup that she would have to share her associate with another ghoul. She did not appreciate it one bit.
Geoffrey jumped off the table, no longer interested in his physical casing. It, like so many before, had only been a loaner.
The real Geoffrey’s essence followed, assimilated into the dark fog that trailed his captor. He was not alone. The fog was made up of a collection of shadows, victims like him swirling around in shared misery. He looked around. “How long am I going to be here?” he asked in dismay. Another spirit, clothed in a toga with half his face missing, floated by and gave him a pitying look. “I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.”
Meanwhile, Geoffrey walked away. He had things to do, spirits to collect.
Buttercup followed.
Geoffrey made a half-hearted attempt to kick her away. “What do you want?”
She drew back a bit but persisted. “I found a tasty morsel.”
“How nice for you.”
“She’s one of us, or she was. We can’t let her get away.”
Geoffrey pursed his lips, sucking on his teeth. “I see. You want to eat the competition.”
“And what if I do? Isn’t that what she deserves? She’s changed. Her glimmer isn’t pure anymore, bad influences, you know?”
“The scavenger has her.”
“Yes.” Buttercup edged closer. “So, you do know. That traitor should be dealt with.”
Geoffrey glared down at Buttercup. One chomp and she would be gone. But then, so would his appetite, for say, the next hundred years.
Buttercup’s voice became even more wheedling, syrupy smooth. “I found the chump who always takes her out. It wouldn’t take much to make him do it again.”
“Unless.”
“Unless, what?” Buttercup’s ears perked up, waiting.
“Unless she gets him first.”
The dog’s jaw dropped. “And why would we want that?”
Geoffrey bent down to stare into her slimy, mold-ridden face. “Perhaps she’ll reenter the fold. If she’s no longer the victim of that low-life, it would break the pattern. It’s a win-win.”
Speechless, Buttercup could only stare at him.
“Besides,” Geoffrey said, “aren’t you curious why this ‘chump’, as you call him, is always there? It doesn’t strike you as odd?”
Buttercup’s mouth snapped shut. “No, it doesn’t, because I don’t care. And I don’t want her to return. I want her gone.”
“You’re jealous.”
Buttercup blushed and looked away.
Geoffrey raised a charred hand to his face. The digits had melted away, showing patches of bone. Humans were so fragile. He wondered why they even bothered getting up in the morning. It was pointless. As pointless as this conversation.
“Sayonara, scumbutt.” He turned away with Charlie perched on his shoulder like the world’s most demented parrot.
Without hesitation, Buttercup trotted behind him. “So, where are we going?”
Geoffrey sighed.
“I can help.”
Geoffrey strode away into the mist. “First, I need to find a new body.”
*****
Yoshi’s Taco Shop was a roach coach that served comestibles of dubious origin. From llama lasagna to quinoa squid chips, nothing was off the table. Eve refused to even look at the menu. Not so, Chloe. Anything that had once wriggled, crawled or hopped was fair game to her palate. As she waited for her partner, Eve flicked a cockroach off the steering wheel with a shudder.
Her cell rang. “Hey Mom. You’re up late.”
“Not by choice. The night manager called. They know who took my patient.”
“Max?”
“Yes, the poor dear. A tech was seen skulking around in the emergency room, watching her. They have footage of him pulling the fire alarm right before she disappeared. The security guard sent to escort him out, was found at the bottom of a stairwell. He’s still woozy, but he did manage to tell the police that Leonard pushed him.”
“Which one is Leonard?”
“You’ve seen him around. He’s older, sweaty looking, been around forever.”
“The creepy flabby one?”
Anne sighed. “That’s him.”
Chloe climbed into the passenger seat, licking her fingers, smelling like mystery meat and cilantro.
“Thanks Mom. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, dear.”
Chloe put her boots up on the dashboard and loosened her belt. She burped. “What’s up?”
“They know who kidnapped the girl from the ER.”
“Cool.”
Eve held her nose. “What did you eat? It smells yucky.”
“I think you mean yuckalicious.” Chloe smacked her lips. Then her face took on a greenish pallor. She slammed her feet to the floor, doubling over, hand over her mouth. “Uh, do me a favor.”
“What?”
“Find me a bathroom. I think my dinner is going to come out both ends.”
“Oh, geez.”
“Hurry. Maybe turn on flashers.”
As a side note…none of this was written with AI and I kindly ask that no one use it for training purposes. Thank you :)
That carcas description was mad eerie 😍
A little splat here and there...Popped eyeballs gave the perverse impression that he was still staring out into the world...😏