He wakes up in a sweat and sees it.
The thing in his nightmares is now in front of him. It’s jaundice eyes are so wide. The black skin around them is wrinkled and cracked. The rest of its face is a flat white mask with a toothy grin painted on it. Its eyes and its body are his only clue as to what is underneath of it and it is more than enough. It is hunched over. Its body is ink black. Its shoulders are covered in wet feathers that look sharp instead of soft. Its hands are claws that are distantly bird-like, but are bigger and more jagged and twitch ever so slightly.
It leans in closer, but doesn’t scream. He doesn’t want his mother to come down. At best, she’ll think he’s crazy. At worse, she’ll see it too and the creature will go after her too.
He whispers a prayer he learned from his mother. It’s Archangel Michael’s prayer of protection.
The thing’s shoulders shudder slightly. Is it scared? It looks like it is laughing.
Jesse gets out of the bed, never letting his gaze leave the monster. It shuffles forward slowly, following him. He knows that he can’t run away. If he does it would still be here on his return, waiting. He has to get rid of it now.
Quickly, he takes out a bushel of sage and a lighter. It is difficult to light it without taking his eyes off of the thing. It continues to come forward, burning time and safety like a fuse. The flick flick of the lighter echoes in the lamp lit room. It creeps closer. Its claws reach out to him, twitching with what seemed like eagerness.
The lighter produces fire. It burns the sage as well as bits of Jesse’s fingers. He can’t even feel the pain. He restarts the prayer, louder now.
The thing creeps closer. It’s only inches away.
Jesse does not back away. He couldn’t even if he wanted to. His desk is already pressing on his spine. “Beloved I AM! Beloved I AM! Beloved I AM!” He chants. The monster is so close to touching him. Jesse reaches out and rips the mask off of the creature’s face. “BELOVED I AM!”
The creature turns away before he can glimpse at the monster beneath. It suddenly evaporates.
Jesse collapses onto the ground, almost forgetting to extinguish the burning sage still in his hand. He still can’t close his eyes. He doesn’t know if he ever will. In the aftermath he wonders, was he the one that summoned that evil here?
Only after a minute he’s on his feet, frantically moving towards the kitchen. He opens the drawers and cupboards as softly and swiftly as possible. He eventually finds what he is looking for, his mother’s stockpile of salt. He grabs the large plastic container and goes outside. Fireflies are still aglow in the grass, but even they look foreboding now.
It takes the rest of the night to make a salt ring around his house, keeping him safe, and keeping his mother safe too.
He barely puts the salt back when his mother comes downstairs.
“Morning,” she yawns. “How did you sleep?”
And Jesse answers, “Just fine.”
