Legacy of Shadows: The Monster Within

“I’ll kill YOU!”

Odion awoke from his nightmare with his hands extended in front of him like they had been wrapped around someone’s neck. He pushed the covers from over his legs and sat up on the side of the bed, resting his face in his palms.

The last few nights at Serenity’s house had been torture. The bed in their guest room was a lot narrower than Odion would’ve liked, and the furniture themselves carried a multitude of scratches and cracks, which seemed a bit abnormal considering they weren’t there when he arrived. The other troubling part was knowing that murderous prick was still alive.

Toki’s funeral was scheduled for Friday morning, and that alone seemed surreal, giving Odion chills every time he thought about it. The grief in his mother’s voice when Odion called to figure out the funeral arrangements was nothing short of heartbreaking. She could hardly speak when providing him with the details. I’m so very sorry, Mrs. Fujikawa.

Odion bounced his forehead back and forth against his palms. When they were around the dinner table last night, Serenity’s mother, Mrs. Arévalo, pointed out something very reminiscent of what Marcella told him about withholding negative emotions: that it was healthier to release all of that pent-up anger stored inside rather than keep it in. Unfortunately, crying didn’t help as much as she wanted to believe, and praying before bed only calmed the soul for a short period. If there really was a higher power watching over them, why would God punish Toki’s family like that? He was a good kid with a bright future.

Odion stood to draw the curtains and stared into the skies, resting his weight along the desk before the window. The night began to surrender to the Sun’s inevitable appearance. It’s all my fault. Anguish welled in his eyes as he sucked in his lips. Odion tapped his fingers against the desk to block out the silence that nearly suffocated him. Just the idea of being alone in silence was …

Knock, knock, knock.

Odion quickly dried his eyes and turned around.

“Odion, is it okay if I come in?” Serenity muttered from the other side of the door.

He cleared his throat. “Y-y-yeah, you can come.” He sniffed and rubbed at his eyes once more before she entered. “What are you doing up so early?”

“I was texting Salamar to see how he was doing.” Serenity shrugged and tossed her iPhone along the bed before sitting down. Shouldn’t have asked. Serenity tapped the mattress twice, urging him to sit beside her. Odion obliged.

“How you feeling?” Serenity asked.

Odion shook his head and waited a moment to respond. “I’ve felt better, that’s for sure.”

Serenity nodded, and a moment of silence surrounded them. “You like them?” She stuck her leg out and twirled her foot, showing off the pink bunny slippers she had on.

“Sure.” Odion shrugged. “They look nice, I suppose.”

Serenity chuckled. “Would you believe Yuricema got them for me for my birthday last year, and this is the first time I’m wearing them?”

Odion nodded, though he didn’t really care when she got them. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking or talking about bunny slippers. “I don’t understand you at times,” he said.

“What do you mean?” An apologetic look grew on Serenity’s face.

“Before all this happened, you wanted to have nothing to do with me. Now …” Odion paused, shaking his head. Starting an argument this early in the morning wasn’t how he wanted to spend his energy. He was already dealing with enough as it was. “Never mind.”

“No.” Serenity rested a hand on his shoulder. “Talk to me.”

Odion pressed his lips together, fighting back the tears. “Every time I think about what happened and the fact we’re burying Toki on Friday …” his feet started to bounce, “is the more I hate myself for not being there for him,” he said. “This is all my fault.” Odion grabbed a handful of the bed covers and squeezed.

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

“How so?”

Odion turned to look at her. “I told him I was gonna leave early ’cause I was having a migraine, and he offered to walk home with me.” He turned his head back toward the window. “I stopped him.” Tears ran down his cheeks. “I fucking stopped him.”

Silence fell upon them again for a moment.

“No one could’ve predicted what happened Saturday night.”

“I could’ve.” Odion was firm with his tone. “Had I only been there to stop him, none of this would’ve happened.” Odion jumped to his feet, looking out the window, hands resting at his waist. What was the point in life now? What reason did he have to live if the ones closest to him were gone? Odion turned to Serenity and stared into her glossy eyes. Why did things always seem to turn out this way?

“What is it?” Serenity asked.

“Why?” Odion shook his head.

Confusion spread across her face. “Why what?”

“Why do you and I always get so intimate under these circumstances?” Her face slowly transformed into shock. “How come you and I can’t have a normal relationship? Why does someone always have to die for us to be together?” Serenity turned her face away, taking her finger to wipe the wet under her eyes.

Perhaps now wasn’t the right time to discuss such matters, but he had to ask. At this point, she was the only person he considered a friend, but he wasn’t confident she felt the same way about him.

“Odion,” Serenity called his name, “have you ever thought about Donovan being the one who did this?”

Odion allowed the question to swirl in his mind for a moment. “Nah,” he said with confidence. “It ain’t a coincidence something tragic happens to Toki and my foster-mom roughly an hour after each other.”

“But—”

“What was Donovan gonna do?” Odion squeezed his fists tight. “Donovan wasn’t gonna do shit knowing there were so many people around. He’s a pussy. That was clear when he tried fighting me with a six-inch blade and had Pat and Jasper jump me when he was getting his ass whooped. Apollo, on the other hand, wrote down exactly what happened and went out and did it. In his manifesto, he literally said he was gonna start at the dance and then work his way home.”

“But don’t you think it seems odd …” Serenity paused and looked toward the ceiling like she was trying to pick her words. “Don’t you think it’s odd for someone like Apollo to commit such a horrific crime using a gun?”

“Everything about that nigga’s odd. That’s why I hated being around him,” Odion said. “Apollo’s the type of cat that’d shoot you at point-blank and smile as he empties the magazine.”

Serenity wiggled her mouth as if she were doubtful. “I only ask based on what I saw him do in the hallway that afternoon,” she said, staring off into the distance. “And,” her eyes slowly shifted back toward Odion’s, “based on what I saw you do.”

Odion narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

Serenity gestured around the room. “Haven’t you noticed anything out of the ordinary?”

There’s no way she’s suggesting what Odion thought she was. “You joking right now?”

“Why would I be joking at a time like this?”

Odion curled his lip down and shook his head. “You gotta be.”

“I watched you do it,” Serenity said, her eyes hard and without a shade of doubt.

“Nah,” Odion continued to shake his head, “you spinning me right now.”

“It happened the same night we came back from visiting Marcella at the hospital.” Odion wanted to say something but couldn’t muster the strength. “I’d been frightened out of my sleep because the picture frames hanging over my bed and the things on my dressing table were shuffling and bouncing. So, I hopped out of bed and peeped outside my door to see what was going on. That’s when I heard you groaning and mumbling words I couldn’t make out. I came to check in on you, and just as I opened the door,” her voice started to quiver, “you screamed … and everything in the room jumped.” She raised both of her hands into the air.

“Nah, that ain’t it.” A cold chill spread across his arms and body. “You spinning me right now, fam,” Odion said. A quick flashback of his bedroom door slamming on its own triggered knots in his stomach.

“I’m telling you, that’s what I saw. Why would I lie?”

“And I’m telling you that ain’t what you saw. It couldn’t have been,” Odion said. Serenity was taking him for a spin, fabricating stories like that.

“And why not?” Serenity’s brows fell over her eyes.

“’Cause …” Odion paused, remembering what Apollo had written in his manifesto. Since he also may contain traces of what I possess, disposing of him might prove a little difficult.

“You can’t stand there and tell me what I saw when you were the one barely conscious,” Serenity said sternly. “Everything in the room was floating in the air. The bed, the table, the lamp on the table, the frames hanging on the wall nearly fell and broke.” She pointed to each of the crooked picture frames around the room. “And when you finally cooled down, that’s when everything dropped with a crash. I mean, just take a good look around the room if you don’t believe me.”

Odion chose not to do such a thing, having been sleeping there for the past few nights. To suggest that he was the one responsible was foolish. “And how long did what you think you saw last for?”

“It’s not what I think I saw,” Serenity said. “I know what I saw.”

“How. Long?”

“Maybe for about a ten, fifteen seconds.” Serenity looked to the ceiling, shrugging. “It’s when the curtains flipped up I noticed the crack on the window.”

Odion looked at the window. “Does anyone else know about this?”

“Mom hinted about the room, but I played it off as if I were clueless. Right now, I’m more concerned about you and Apollo.”

Another moment of silence fell between them, Odion still focused on the manifesto Apollo wrote. “Nah … th-that can’t be possible,” he muttered.

“What can’t be possible?” Serenity asked.

“Apollo mentioned something in his manifesto about some form of power that I possibly contained traces of and that killing me would be a little difficult because of it.” Odion rubbed his face in irritation.

“Do you remember if he mentioned something about being a cosmotan?”

Odion’s eyes turned to glass. “What did you say …?”

“A cosmotan,” she repeated, twisting her face as if recalling a memory. “At least I think that’s what they’re called.”

Odion’s mind immediately shot back to the last conversation he had with Apollo.

You act as if you wouldn’t have been capable of doing the same thing.

He said that we were beings blessed with cosmic energy.

He called ourselves cosmotans.

“Wh-where did you hear about this?” Odion was uncertain why his voice escaped him.

“After things had eventually calmed down, I went back into my room and did a web search on humans who possess supernatural abilities and if such a thing were even possible.”

“And?”

Serenity picked up her iPhone, thumbing through her screen. “Well, according to Wikipedia—”

“Wikipedia?” Odion asked, exasperated. “You mean the site where anyone can edit and insert false information on any topic they desire to fit their narrative? That Wikipedia?”

“Would you just shut up and listen?” Serenity furrowed her eyebrows. “You asked a question I’m trying to answer. Stop interrupting me.” She held her distasteful stare momentarily before thumbing through her iPhone again. “According to Wikipedia, it says, ’cosmotans are enigmatic humanoid beings imbued with boundless cosmic energy called Cosmic Radiance. This grants them supernatural abilities such as enhanced superhuman strength, speed, awareness, superhuman stamina, durability, and intellect. Other abilities often, but not always, include psychokinesis,’” she emphasized the word, “’telepathy, telepyrosis, teleportation, clairvoyance, time manipulation, matter manipulation, energy manipulation, regeneration, dimensional travel, and reality warping. Their powers are intricately linked to their astrological sign, harnessing the unique energies associated with the cosmic dance of the stars. Cosmotans are often classified as an extant human subspecies known as Homo sapiens cosmos, denoting their unique evolutionary divergence. Informally, they may be referred to simply as Cosmo sapiens.’”

“You don’t really believe that shit, do you?” Odion looked her square in the eyes. “I can’t take a site that allows its users to openly edit information on a regular basis seriously.” He shook his head and twisted his lips, insulted he had to listen to such nonsense. “Had you gotten your information from say The Scientific Explorer or Let’s Talk Science, or any of those reputable science websites, I’d be more inclined to believe—”

Serenity showed him an article on her iPhone.

Pyromaniac Sets Bank on Fire

Samuelson & Crowder Bank, located in the southern pocket of Abbotsford, British Columbia, was the latest bank to have been robbed and set on flames yesterday. Local authorities responded to a report of a robbery at the bank situated near Old Marlboro Road & Duncan Street at around 4:30 P.M. The suspect is alleged to have been engulfed in flames and threatened several employees with incineration before blasting the vault and taking off into the air with close to $25,000.00, according to police.

The investigation is still ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Abbotsford Police Department at 604-354-8143 ext. 2213.

Engulfed in flames? Taking off into the air? Incineration? What kinda twisted comic book shit is this? “B-but this happened all the way out in BC,” Odion said. “S-s-so you mean to tell me there are more of ’em?”

“Exactly.” Serenity nodded. “The fact that the word ‘cosmotan’ has its own Wiki page is already telling,” she said. “If BC are having these kinds of incidents, who knows just how many cosmotans are living across Canada, and possibly the world.”

Jesus Christ! Odion rubbed his hands together, uncertain what to make of this new information. Life seemed to be trending downhill with each new day that came along.

“And that’s not all,” Serenity said, thumbing through her iPhone again.

“What now?” Odion wasn’t sure how much more bad news he could take. It’s far too early for this shit.

Serenity showed him surveillance footage on CN247’s news site of what looked like a hospital patient bearing a striking resemblance to Apollo, completely dismantling the room. “You and I both know that’s Apollo, and look how easily he managed to destroy the room,” she said as Odion slowly matched her eyes. “It’s actually eerily similar to what you did to this one.”

“Nah, it’s not even remotely—”

“How long have you known about this?” Serenity asked, eyes serious.

“I’d no idea.”

“Don’t lie to me right now.”

“I swear on my biological Mom, I hadn’t a clue,” Odion said. Serenity stared at him. “I’m telling you the truth.”

“Did you know Apollo was in the hospital?” Serenity asked, raising her eyebrows. Odion turned his head away and nodded subtly. “So if you knew he was in the hospital, how did he—”

“Listen, I don’t wanna talk about Apollo right now.” Odion threw his hands to the side. “I told you I didn’t know about what he did while he was there, so kindly get off it.” He looked her in the eyes, the silence pricking a discomfort out of him. “You gotta believe me.”

Serenity moved her attention to the cracked window. “I really want to, but …” she paused and stared at her iPhone.

“But what?”

Serenity slowly met his gaze. “This is a lot to take in at the moment. I’m going back to bed.” She headed for the door. “Try and get some rest,” she said, quietly closing the door behind her.

Odion fell back on the bed and stared hopelessly at the various popcorns on the ceiling. He tossed the pillow he was resting on across the room, hitting the wall with a soft thud.

What did I do to deserve all this?