Seven Devils

It was a warm midsummer night, and Elijah Clarke lay sleepless in his half-empty bed. Accepting the fact that he wouldn’t be asleep anytime soon, he shifted the blankets off him and stood up, the wood of the floor cold beneath his feet. He walked to the window and opened it, letting in the fresh air. He gazed out into the miles and miles of tall grass stretching to the horizon that expanded into a moonless sky. He had to admit, he loved the rural American Midwest, adored the isolation and the endless plains. To him, it was the best place on Earth. Wind blew in, carrying the scent of a coming storm with it. Taking in a deep breath, he walked out of his room and into the hallway.

​

His wife, Katherine, was in the kitchen of their small home, and he could hear her pacing footsteps as he approached. She turned around and smiled sheepishly as she noticed him, “Hi, honey.”

Eli placed a kiss on her forehead, hand brushing her pregnant belly. “You should be trying to sleep already, darlin’. It’s getting late.”

“I know, I know,” Katherine said, “but the baby’s been kicking and I wanted some tea, anyway,” she gestured to the kettle sitting atop the hot stove.

“Tea’s always nice, but don’t let it keep you up all night, alright?” He ruffled a hand through her hair.

She nodded, face turned away from him. Eli frowned. Katherine typically wasn’t this reclusive, but the whole day it was as if she was purposefully avoiding him. Maybe she was just tired, or it was some pregnancy hormone thing he knew nothing about, overall probably nothing but a passing feeling. He planted another kiss on her cheek and turned away.

“Wait,” Katherine burst out. Eli turned back around to see her with a hand outstretched and her face shifted into an expression he didn’t quite know how to describe. For a brief moment, he swore he could see a shadow cross her eyes.

He approached yet again as she dropped her hand, holding it to the simple cross on her chest. She fiddled with it between her fingers, looking anywhere but his eyes.

“You alright?” Eli asked, reaching up to brush her shoulder, though it only met air as Katherine moved away.

She mumbled some sort of affirmative- or maybe it was a prayer, he didn’t really know- cut off by the high-pitched squeal of the kettle. She immediately went to it, pouring out the water and dipping in the teabag. She took a drink, ignoring the fact it was still mostly water and scorching on her tongue. Eli could see the shaking of her hands as she brought the mug to her lips.

After a bout of silence, Katherine finally said, “I saw you with that Susan lady from church.”

Eli stopped in his tracks, looking slowly to the woman in front of him. His wife, but not his love.

He opened his mouth, but his wife didn’t let him get a word in, “Please, don’t even try to play dumb.” Eli could see the tears gathering at the edges of her eyes.

He sighed, intentionally softened his eyes, deliberately slumped his shoulders. He took gentle steps towards her, hand raised like she was a wild animal that needed to be tamed- a dangerous creature needing to be soothed. She hated it. She hated him.

“Hey, now,” Eli said, voice low and smooth (though Katherine could hear the sharp edge lining his words), “no need to go around pointing fingers. How ‘bout we just calm ourselves down and get some sleep?”

“No, no…” Anger bubbled up inside her, years of torment and oppression coming to the surface. “I want to--”

He grabbed her wrist, pulling it away from the cross on her chest and towards him. He tightened his grip, digging his nails into her skin. “I said, we should get to bed.”

Katherine shook her head. A tear rolled down her cheek and her lip quivered. They stood in silence, glaring into each other’s eyes, silently daring the other to act first.

In the end, it was Katherine who tore her wrist from Eli’s grip, watery eyes still locked on him. Then, she started sobbing.

She fell onto her knees, the cold tile floor the only thing preventing her from sinking down and into the dirt. Eli, surprised, backed away. Again, like she was a goddamn animal.

“I never wanted to be a wife,” she said through tears, “I never wanted to be a mother.” She put a trembling hand atop her belly. “I never wanted to be this. And then you go, and, and…” She trailed off, the words caught in her throat.

Eli did nothing but stare. When Katherine made no move to get up off the floor, he calmly walked to the bedroom. He closed the window and lay on the bed; and though the door was closed, he could still hear his wife’s haunting cries echo into the night.

---

Eli awoke numb. Pins and needles, all across his body. It was dark, every inch chained down by shadows. The alarm clock beside him flashed, the time 3:33 am displayed in a bright red. He lifted himself from his bed, the creaking of the floorboards accompanied by the soft howling of wind through the open window. He dragged himself towards it, looking out to the distance. A full moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the tall grass.

Eli frowned, the breeze chilling his cheeks. Something didn’t feel quite right. His breath seemed to leave his lungs all at once, chest tightening as an uneasy dread settled into his thoughts. Above him, the moon morphed from its usual pale white to the deepest red. It grew larger and larger in the sky until it completely filled his vision. Eli could only stare, eyes wide and feet frozen in place. The wind roared past, its wailing cry drowning out his own thoughts.

Finally he tore himself away, the air returning to his lungs. He ran stumbling out the bedroom door, everything still bathed in the moon’s sickly red. He clawed at his throat, coughing and wheezing as he collapsed onto the tiled floor of the kitchen. Even here, he could not escape. In the crimson light, the gale persisted and blew cups and silverware and jars of sugar from their places. They clattered to the ground, barely able to be heard over the wind.

A pale, slender hand reached down, yanking Eli up by his neck. His deep brown eyes met the baby blues of his wife. Katherine scowls, gazing upon him with pure contempt. The sclera of her eyes fade to red as black tears start to fall, leaving dark trails down her face. She threw Eli to the floor, stepping back to reveal six other women looming above him, all their eyes matching those of Katherine’s. Eli recognizes every face. All the women he has wronged. One has a violent red line across her throat, another has a black eye and split lip, one has a mess of hair matted with blood and a neck bent at an unnatural angle, the rest in various states of injury and dishevelment. But, all have fury written in their features, all close in on him as leaves swirl up and around in the air. Eli tries to back away, tries to escape, but he cannot. He will not.

---

Eli awakened with a start, hands clutching the sheets. It was dark- just after midnight- with no blood moon or the ghosts of past and present lovers. His chest heaved as he stood. It was just a bad dream. Nothing more.

He hauled himself to the eerie silence of the kitchen, noticing Katherine was no longer curled up on the tile. She wasn’t in their bed, either, but she was nothing more than a passing thought. He opened the refrigerator, its light almost blinding in the black. He chugged half a water bottle before wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, closing the fridge and turning away. He trudged his way to the comfort of his bedroom, not bothering to wait for his vision to adjust.

Just as he collapsed back onto his bed, the sound of the front door opening cut through the quiet. Delicate footsteps echoed, their shuffling periodically fading in and out. Eli sat up as the bedroom door creaked open. Katherine peeked her head in, innocent eyes meeting his.

“Sorry, hun, I had to do something outside,” she said, tip toeing over next to him.

Eli didn’t respond, simply letting out a breath and letting his head rest on the pillow. Katherine lay next to him, and waited until his breaths went even before pulling out a knife she had gotten from the shed. Its blade shone even with the lack of moonlight, and yet it trembled in her hands as she brought it closer to Eli’s heart. No, no, his neck would work better. She moved it up. She pressed the tip to his skin, exerting only the barest bit of force.

Eli’s eyes snapped open and he jumped, drawing a line of red across his shoulder. He whipped his head towards his wife, fury burning in his eyes, “What the fuck?”

Katherine cowered, backing away. They were on opposite sides of the bed, a queen size mattress keeping the two apart. So close, but nothing felt farther.

“What were you trying to do?” Eli demanded, his fists balling and a vein in his forehead protruding. When she didn’t answer, he yelled louder. “Answer me!”

Katherine looked at the weapon in her hand and back at her husband. She was tired. So, so tired. All the years of hatred had come to this. She had loved him, the juvenile pursuits of a teenage girl who thought being with an older man made her mature. She was wrong. When she said her vows, just barely 18, she thought it would be forever. She couldn’t have been further from the truth. As the ghosts of old bruises stung her skin, as every memory she spent weeping alone in the dark surfaced, as the knife shook in her grasp, she reminded herself: he never loved her. She knew she was right about that.

God forgive her.

She lunged, teeth bared and a strangled cry escaping her throat. Eli leaped back, running towards the door while Katherine scrambled across the bed all too late. He bounded out the room with Katherine stalking after him, anywhere was better than near her. He ran to the living room for the single landline that sat in their house- the singular source of connection with any other people for miles; but just as he reached for the handset, Katherine swiped at the coiled cord. Sparks flew like the smallest fireworks from the exposed wires into the air. She laughed over the crackling electricity.

“Jesus fucking Christ, you psycho bitch! What’s wrong with you?!”

Katherine swiped at him, eyes wide in adrenaline and all the rage she had been repressing for what seemed like the longest time. Eli only stepped back and back again, narrowly dodging her attempts. It was almost a dance with the way they moved and ducked and maneuvered. It was almost beautiful.

The dance continued all across the house. Wounds were slashed, punches were thrown, but Katherine could not and would not let him leave with his life. He could plead, he could beg, but she knew it would end with blank and soulless eyes. It had to.

She cornered him in the kitchen. Eli backed against a corner, chest heaving and eyes darting. Katherine approached, hair matted to her forehead, blood across her lip and dripping from a head wound.

She did not raise her blade, only asking, “Why?”

Eli didn’t answer, balling his fist and taking the opportunity to punch her across the jaw with a sickening crack. He ducked down, squeezing his way under her arm, then sprinting to the front door. He was fast, but Katherine- cheered on by her fury- was just barely faster. She tackled him, pulling them both to the ground with a dull thud. With Eli pinned under her, she was so close. She raised the knife above her head.

She hesitated, nothing more than a moment, a single second that seemed to stretch on and on into her own personal type of forever. And she brought her blade down, she felt six pairs of hands guiding her, the smallest inclinations that built up until she could not ignore it. Like her guardian angels.

Eli’s eyes widened, “Devils! Devils, all of yo--”

Katherine’s knife pierced the skin of his neck, digging into the muscle. Deep scarlet erupted from within, covering her hands. Red bubbled from his mouth as tears started to form in fading eyes. She stabbed him again, and again, and again, lost in the pure ecstasy of it all. Finally, his eyes stared up into nothing, open but not seeing.

Katherine stood looking upon what destruction she had brought- every room was a mess of upturned furniture and occasional splatters of blood decorating the walls and floor. She took a moment to breathe. And then, she screamed. A raw, rough, hoarse cry made up of every single emotion she had ever felt and will ever feel. She shouted until it was painful, and even then she continued a bit more. This was done. This was over.

Sparks crackled from the other room, she waited until she saw delicate flames dancing across the hardwood. With her vision clouded from tears and blood, she took ahold of the cross at her neck and ripped it off, throwing it on Eli’s corpse.

May God have no mercy on his soul.

​

Katherine left through the back door. With the stench of smoke and old memories behind her as her house went up in flames, she limped ahead. Venturing out under the moonless night sky, she smiled. She was free.