#when I heard my ex catholic grandpa recite a rosary by memory

[farfaras]

Esme didn’t have a problem with Eddie’s business. Really, she understood. It’s not like she had any ground to stand on, she took advantage of this ‘business’ whenever she could (her mom didn’t need to know this, spare her soul). And it normally didn’t interfere with any of their time spent together, but that time was being limited nowadays. Since she’s not a part of Hellfire, or his band, he hasn’t had as much time for his best friend as before.

So maybe she had a bit of a problem now. Now that Eddie was bringing Chrissy back to his trailer when they were supposed to hang out after the last Hellfire session. At least he didn’t make Esme sit on the back.

She could throw a tantrum if she wanted, but she was past that. And she just got Eddie to treat her like she was almost an adult now. She didn’t know why he took that attitude, he wasn’t that much older. Still, she could pout and make sure he knew she wasn’t delighted by someone intruding. What she couldn’t do was be rude to Chrissy, that girl was like sunshine reincarnated, it wouldn’t feel right. Plus it wasn’t her fault Eddie neglected to mention her presence tonight. Not to mention, the girl was clearly going through something.

Esme wasn’t good at small talk. She never understood the purpose. I mean, why say something when you have nothing of importance to say? Some people looked uncomfortable when there was silence in a room, not Esme. But she’s been made aware that some people thought she was stuck up when she just stayed silent, like she thought she was better than people so she just didn’t speak to them. The thought was baffling, because she didn’t think that literally saying NOTHING, was read like that for people. And look, normally she just wouldn’t care what people thought, but Chrissy looked like she needed someone to be nice right now. At least that’s what Eddie had said earlier before heading out.

She could try. “What kinda music do you like, Chrissy?” Wow. Original. She turned on the radio.

“Oh, um, whatever’s on the radio is fine.” Chrissy smiled politely, it only looked a little bit forced.

“Ha! Usually, Eddie would protest that but since you’re the guest!” She almost said client, but Esme wasn’t sure what the proper etiquette for deals were. She normally wasn’t present for them. Eddie assured her this was a one time thing. Chrissy just insisted and since she was looking kinda rough he just wanted to help. Pft. Eddie being nice. And thoughtful. Whenever people saw them together they would assume Esme was the one who possessed those traits, not the other way around. She wished she was a little bit nicer but eh, she didn’t think she owed niceness to anyone so, what can you do?

“Shut up. You like my music.” Eddie replied, confident. The fool. He chanced a glance at Esme and saw the grimace on her face. “Wha- you said so! You said and I quote ‘yes, metal music is objectively good.’”

“Jesus. I just said it to shut you up. I really don’t like that shit.” It was worth it, she got him to drop the subject for a few months.

“I can’t believe this betrayal! How am I supposed to recover? To go on?”

“Ugh, you‘ll survive drama queen.” She rolled her eyes.

“Metal is objectively better than whatever trash you listen to.” He tried to start this argument again.

“What you listen to is trash too. Insufferable actually. At least my trash is popular.” She crossed her arms and even though what she said didn’t really make sense, she stood her ground.

“That’s not the compelling argument you think it is.”

A giggle came from the back, Esme honestly kinda forgot Chrissy was there. “You guys are cute.” Huh?

“What do you mean?” Eddie wasn’t used to being called cute, Esme could tell that much just by knowing who his friends are.

“I just… well, Jason and I can’t really have that kinda banter without it actually turning into a real fight.” Oh. Oh no. This was exhausting. Another person who thought her and Eddie were dating. Seriously people, a guy and a girl can be friends without liking each other like that.

“Uh, Eddie and I are just friends.” Esme smiled what she hoped was a ‘haha funny misunderstanding’ smile, that didn’t show how uncomfortable she was every time people made this assumption.

“Yeah, Esme here is like a little sister to me.” Esme rolled her eyes.

“You don’t have to add the word little! Seriously, I'm not that much younger than you! Sister is just fine.” She crossed her arms, annoyed. Then she uncrossed them when she realized the action looked kinda childish.

When they pulled up to the trailer, Eddie parked the van. They arrived in one piece, which is all Esme could ask for given how much of a maniac Eddie is on the road. They walked to the trailer, as they did Esme felt like she was being watched. She was right, most of the time, when she felt a stare at her back. But she ignored it once they were inside.

“You can wait here Chrissy, I’ll be just a minute.”

Eddie went to his bedroom, Esme obviously preferred to stay here with Chrissy. God that room was a mess, it smelled awful. She herself was messy, but he was on a whole other level.

It was kinda awkward. Really, she didn’t know what to do. They had nothing in common, she was a cheerleader and Esme was just some nerd, straight A’s student who was kinda obsessed with volleyball. So she just stood there for a while. Until she figured that talking about sports was a safe bet. They just played that championship game, right? She didn’t go but basketball wasn’t that bad.

She turned to Chrissy to ask about the game but she looked frozen, like a statue. Her eyes were rolled back, they looked almost white. Okay, what the hell?

“Um, Chrissy?” No response. “Hey, man. What are you doing this isn’t funny.” Because it wasn’t. What was she even doing? Is this some kind of prank? She thought Chrissy was one of the few nice cheerleaders.

Okay no, this has been going for way too long. “Eddie! Come here!” Shit, she was starting to panic. Breathe, keep your cool. Were the lights flickering?

Fuck, were there some evil spirits here or some shit? Her mom liked to warn her about these things. Evil spirits, demons, males de ojo. She didn’t think she believed all that. But this was starting to look like one of those exorcism stories priests talked about.

“What the fuck?” Eddie suddenly appeared. He went up to Chrissy and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her to see if she’d wake up from this sort of trance.

“What’s wrong with her?” She almost yelled. If she was with her younger siblings right now she would be putting more of a bravery front, but this was Eddie, what was the point of that? He was gonna panic no matter what her reaction was.

“You think I know?!?!” Yep, he was hysterical now. He shook Chrissy more violently. “Chrissy wake up!!” He gave her a few gentle slaps to see if it made her react at all. It didn’t. “I don’t like this, Chrissy. WAKE UP!!”

Now, if it was up to Esme, the next bit of her life would be completely wiped from her memory.

Chrissy started levitating. Full on, feet off the ground, not hanged from anything, levitation. What did Chrissy (or them) ever do to some evil spirits that were living in a trailer park?

Eddie took several steps back, completely shocked and not knowing what to do. If he was panicking before, who knows what he was doing now.

“Santa María, Madre de Dios, ruega por nosotros, pecadores, ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.” Esme didn’t know what else to do! Give her a fucking break, this was what they taught her. And she’s never used it before. But she figured what other fucking moment was more appropriate than this. Some rosaries coming in clutch to save the day sounded like a hell of a story to tell her mom later. “Padre nuestro, que estás en el cielo, santificado sea tu Nombre; venga a nosotros tu reino…”

Chrissy’s body was slammed by an unknown force against the trailer’s ceiling. The lights haven’t stopped going crazy. This whole thing has to be a fucking nightmare. Why did she have to watch horror movies now???

Eddie fell on his ass and let out the most ear piercing scream Esme has ever heard. She couldn’t move though, it was like she was paralyzed. With fear, with confusion, with terror. It took her a second to realize that Chrissy was dying now. Her bones were being snapped like they were nothing but twigs. It wasn’t until her eyes were sucked into her skull that she could move again.

She recognized what was gonna happen next, for some reason. So she rushed to Eddie, kneeled beside him and took his face in her hands to face him away from the falling body.