Chapter Five
The next time the world froze, I wasn't sitting on my couch watching television.
I was in the bathroom at work, washing my hands, when the water flowing from the faucet stopped in midair. Something about the way it hung made me think that if I pushed through it, the stream would split apart into a hundred little droplets and bounce around the sink, but touching it only caused the liquid to shatter like a painting on glass along with the basin below and the wall behind it.
By then, I knew what to expect and held my breath in preparation for the journey through fire and purple nothing. It didn't feel any different than the last three events, but on the other end, I was not dropped into the usual place. I found myself outdoors, standing beside a small shed on a deck built around a swimming pool. In front of me, towering above it all, was a large, tan house.
The circle below me, drawn in chalk, was not the intricate piece that had appeared before. This design was much smaller and the area inside was filled by a pattern of plain triangular shapes. I extended my arm to test its boundaries but there was no resistance stopping me from reaching beyond its limits.
Just as I was about to step out, I heard a familiar voice. "Wait, Demon."
I turned to see the Matron standing behind me. Her heavy white ritual robe had been replaced with an oversized terrycloth bathrobe of the same color. Its sleeves ran past her hands and the bottom gathered at her ankles, covering everything but the pads of her feet and ten unpainted toenails. She extended her right arm toward me and rolled her wrist back. The same circle that appeared on the ground was drawn on her palm.
As soon as I saw it, my legs became unsteady, and I had to lower myself to a kneel to keep from falling over. I had been no less anxious and confused when I saw the lavish surroundings of an upper-class suburban home than when I arrived in the candle-lit chamber, but as I touched the treated wood of the pool deck, all of that drained out of me. I no longer felt anything.
The Matron's voice was barely a whisper, but I heard it as if she were speaking directly into my ear. "Today I have a use for your darker nature. Complete this deed for me and prove your worth."
This was the first time I hadn't been explicitly silenced. If I'd had a clear head, I might have taken the opportunity to finally explain to her who I was. Even if I were a demon, and I wasn't yet entirely convinced of that, I couldn't be the kind she had meant to trap. I was sure I had nothing more to offer than any other stranger she might encounter on the street.
Of course, I didn't have a clear head. I knew who I was, and I knew what was going on in the sense that I knew it shouldn't be going on, but I also felt compelled to do what this woman wanted, and she had no desire to hear me whine about how pathetically normal I was. Instead, I responded in a manner more fitting to my role. "What do you want me to do?"
"No," she said. "Ask, 'how may I serve you'?"
"How may I serve you?" I repeated.
"That's better. When you are with me, speak only when spoken to, and your words should always demonstrate that you know your place. Do as you are instructed, and you will find out that I am a generous master. Step out of line, and I will make you suffer for it. Tell me you understand."
"I understand."
"Take this." She handed me a knife. It was a regular steak knife, the kind that lives in a drawer in every kitchen. "Stay here. As soon as I'm done, kill him."
The Matron didn't wait for me to acknowledge or confirm understanding. Before I could ask, done with what? or, what the clear-headed me would have wanted to ask, kill?, she had walked away, disappearing around the corner of the shed. I followed her, but by the time I made the turn, she was already gone.
There was a window on that side of the building, so I crept underneath it and lifted myself just high enough to see inside. A skinny young man, no older than nineteen, was seated in a padded rattan chair with no arms. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt with the logo of a pool company on it, "Dondiego Ool Service -- We get the P out!" I couldn't tell if it was a real company or not.
When the door to the shed started to open, he jumped up quickly but relaxed and sat back down once he saw who it was.
"Were you watching me swim?" The woman in white asked as she walked into the room. Her robe was open, revealing a two-piece bathing suit.
"Always, Mrs. C.," he answered.
"Well then, did it look like I got enough exercise for one day, or do you think I could use a little more?"
"You definitely don't need any more. I think you should hang out in here with me for a while." He pointed to another rattan chair on the opposite side of the room.
She put her hands on her hips and stuck her chest out. "I don't know. If I call it quits now, I'll feel guilty later. Isn't there something else I could do to burn off a few extra calories?"
"Nah. You've been in the pool for like an hour. Take a break, already. Kick back."
She rolled her eyes. "Are you sure you can't think of anything we could do together to keep my heart rate up?"
The pool boy stared at her blankly for a second before his eyes widened. "Oh yeah, exercise." He peeled his shirt off over his head with a flourish. "If you really want a workout, you should take me for a ride."
"I knew you'd get it if I repeated myself enough. Just keep your voice down, this time. My husband is sitting in the sunroom and I don't want him coming out here before I'm ready for him."
In the time it had taken her to remind him that she was married, the young man had already stripped to his boxer shorts, and as he pushed those down his legs, his erection sprang up to point straight out at his soon-to-be lover.
