There were many times over the last few days where I wondered if I would survive what was to come. I did, but how I managed to and what’s to come almost has me more afraid.
It was painfully obvious something more was happening to me than what I let on or was even willing to acknowledge. Even Cecily couldn’t have anticipated the full extent of it, and she’s far more experienced in these matters. I guess there’s consolation in the fact that even if we’d been able to anticipate it - any of this - there still wouldn’t have been any stopping it.
Roj came for us the very next day. Cecily didn’t have a chance to strengthen the ward she placed on our room. The moment our door came crashing in, it was on. Cecily, bless her, reacted like a coiled snake. The first two imps to come charging through the door just as suddenly went flying back out. The remaining few squealed and snorted as they scuttled out of the way.
I’d armed myself the night before with the lid off the back of the toilet tank. It wasn’t much but I felt safer. Maybe even capable. Still, I had to scramble to grab it, and then of course became tangled in my bedsheets. But the time I was armed and ready, Cecily had dealt with the first two imps and started in on the others that swarmed us.
I’d just wound up and was prepared to crack one particularly foul looking one, when a loud growl sounded at the door.
It was an actual growl from a large dog. The same as from back at Jumpin’ Jacks. I froze just long enough that the imp was able to bite my ankle. The pain that followed jolted me back and spurred me to send the creature flying with a mighty crack of porcelain against its skull.
Then the dog came for me. I swung my lid but it shattered on contact with the dogs shoulder and barely phased him. His teeth locked onto my neck and I fell back, staring into his mad, red eyes.
I heard Cecily scream in rage and felt the dog lift off of me, but then a different growl sounded.
“Do not hurt her!”
I knew Roj didn’t mean me. Two more dogs came tearing into the room and cornered Cecily. Forced to abandon helping me to save herself, she focused her efforts on them. My attacker kept me pinned to the ground. Any effort at moving was met by a tightening of his jaws around my neck. Fearful of his razor sharp teeth, I yielded.
“This didn’t need to happen,” I heard Roj say. He still wasn’t taking to me. “If you would’ve just accepted me as I am. The real me! But no! You want that weak, sniveling coward!”
Cecily’s response was full of anger and vitriol, but the exact specifics of it were lost beneath the low drone that filled my ears. My body felt warm, incredibly warm, and then tingly. But the time I realized something was building within me, it was too late to warn anyone.
There are many cards in my deck and I’ve introduced you to a fair few. They each serve a singular purpose while together they serve an even greater purpose. As a keeper of the deck, it was my purpose to aide them in fulfilling theirs. A boon to my position revealed itself in a damm fine blaze of glory.
Literally. It’s one of the more ornate cards of my deck, Blaze of Glory, but one that never surfaced in my readings. Friends, let me tell you it surfaced then in a blinding flash of every imaginable color and with the loudest, most earth shattering boom.
The dog disappeared. Maybe the proper term is disintegrated. The imps too. Roj shouted and drew an arm up to shield his eyes while the dogs that had Cecily cornered yelped and ran off. Everything felt like I was watching it from far above and not from within my body. Every inch of it was glowing with prism’d light. My eyes radiated it. I faced Roj and he faced me but when he saw what I had become, the palpable anger in his expression mutated into stark fear.
“What are you?”
I wasn’t in charge of my own words. Or my actions.
“I am the Keeper. I am the Guardian. I am all that is.”
Cecily was saying something but it was as if she were an annoying gnat buzzing around my ear.
“Impossible.” Roj spat.
Impossible had become my middle name. I lifted a hand when suddenly Cecily grabbed my wrist and hauled me around to face her. Her lips were moving but I still couldn’t hear her. I looked back to Roj in time to see him run for the door. He didn’t make it. I ripped my hand from Cecily’s and flung it toward Roj. He lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall beside the doorway before landing in a crumpled heap on the floor.
Cecily slapped my face, hard. I turned to her and saw her eyes widen in fear. She backpeddled but it was too late. Harm and insult had been done. I flicked my hand toward her and she sailed backwards into a wall.
I stepped toward Roj who groaned weakly. When his eyes opened, they were sane and whole and vibrantly blue.
“Michelle?”
The growl was gone but the stark terror in his expression deepened.
I bent toward him with an outstretched palm he tried to swipe away. He couldn’t go anywhere, couldn’t stop me from laying my palm against his forehead. Even Cecily pulling back on my arm couldn’t stop me from doing what I did next.
Roj’s body filled with the same light that poured out of me. Gradually, I began to dim but Roj grew brighter and brighter until he was blinding. I poured everything I had into him and when I finished, I crumpled to the ground.
The rest of what transpired is hearsay, but according to Cecily and Roj, whatever I did destroyed the evil version of Roj. It’s worthy of celebration, and to be sure they did celebrate, but with that part of him gone, Roj fears who will fill the void and what that means for Oceanview. It’s been nearly a week but the signs are abundant. Some long time residents have left but there are a handful of new faces and they aren’t friendly. I can’t say that no one knew about the evil side of Roj because the likeminded sort did.
Apparently, the evil Roj kept the sordid characters living in Oeanview in line. It was Roj’s love for Cecily and evil Roj’s inability to completely overtake Roj that kept things here in check. With evil Roj gone we don’t know what to expect when whoever takes over his role makes themselves known.
For now, word that I was the one to destroy that half of Roj is keeping things moderately calm but it’s being tested daily. Fearing for my safety, Cecily and Roj moved in with me. While I love their company and definitely feel safer with them here, I know they’d be happier with a little more privacy.
I’ve kept a secret from them that I’m honestly not comfortable sharing, but I’ve been nothing but transparent with you my dear friends, so here it is: The day after the showdown with Roj occurred, a new card appeared on my bedside table. I thought it belonged to my deck but it doesn’t match the style. Despite trying to fit it into my deck, it found its way out of it and beside it. Every day since, more cards have appeared and I nearly have as many cards in this new deck as my cherished deck.