Chapter 8: For The Love of the Boys Who Cry

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There should not be a shadow of a doubt that Archie was thinking about Carter. The redheaded mystery was always on his mind, whether Archie was eating breakfast, or showering, or driving to work. Carter was something Archie never really experienced before.

Archie laid down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He had nothing to do, no one to be with, so he had no other choice but to let the memories and thoughts of Carter flood his mind. He remembered when they first met. Carter was a shy, humble fifteen-year-old who avoided eye-contact with Archie as best as he could, but Archie would always catch him staring. His cheeks would get so red so fast. Archie started to chuckle when he remembered Edward dragging Carter over to say hi to him when he first climbed out of the hole in the attic. He could only manage mumbling a soft hello before going completely pale. He didn't say much to him after that. That is, until Archie decided to mention a book. He didn't remember how the conversation got started, but he remembered it led to books, and one of the books brought up was To Kill a Mockingbird. Now that he thought about it, the discussion was probably about the things they had to do in school, such as being forced to read a boring novel about, what, kids growing up in Alabama in the early twentieth century or something?

"I liked that book," Carter murmured quietly.

"Why?" asked Archie.

"It was interesting."

"Carter reads lots of books," Edward said. "Tell 'im, Carter!"

"I read a lot of books."

"Well!"

"What kind of books?" Archie asked.

Carter shrugged. "Any I could get my hands on."

"What's the most recent book you've read?"

Carter started twisting his necklace, the one Archie could never bring himself to ask about. "Lies of the Impeccable."

"I've never heard of that before."

"It's from Anastasia...."

"Anastasia who?"

"He means the city Anastasia," said Raven.

"Oh, right. What's the book about?"

Carter's cheeks went red when he realized Archie was still talking to him. "Um, it— it's about this ordinary woman...who discovers she has the ability to enter people's dreams and interact with them. So, she enters the dream of a man she is in love with and tries to get him to fall in love with her. Then, one day she meets a woman with similar powers. This woman can enter people's nightmares and kill them. She wants the main character to join her and merge their powers together. But the main character says no, and now she has to protect the people she loves from the villain."

Archie nodded. "Sounds kinda interesting. Did you finish it?"

Carter nodded.

"Was it worth reading?"

Carter nodded.

"Maybe I'll read it when I have time."  Archie didn't actually plan on reading it. He didn't really care about books.

When it was about time for the Rebels to leave, Carter said he would be right back. They waited about three minutes for him to return. When he did, he came back with a thick book. On the cover was a woman wearing a pale blue nightgown, her long black hair being blown in her face. She was standing on a bed of gray flowers and she had her arms extended, like she was waiting for an embrace.

Carter slowly approached Archie with his head down, holding the book tightly to his chest. Then, he held it out to him.

Archie glanced at Raven and Edward, who both stared back at him patiently.

"Don't you want to read it?" Carter asked, giving him puppy eyes. It melted his heart, and it reminded him of Jeanie [oh, God, Jeanie].

Archie took the book slowly. "I don't read very fast so it might be a while until you get it back."

"I don't want it back. You can keep it."

"Oh. You sure, man?"

"Mm-hmm. Please, keep it." He started to shrink away. "Please?"

"Yeah, alright." Archie said this a little awkwardly. "Thanks, Carter."

Carter said nothing.

"You sure you don't—"

Carter shook his head. "Keep it."

He kept it. Lies of the Impeccable currently sits on the top of his dresser, sandwiched between A Princess of Mars and a biography on Jimi Hendrix. Those are the only three books he owns [the manga and old comics in the corner doesn't count!].

"You know somethin', Archie?" Raven said as they walked to his apartment.

"What?"

"I think he likes you."

"Who? Carter?"

"No, the dog that lives down the hill."

"Uh—"

"Yes, I mean Carter!"

"Oh. Nah, I don't think he does. I mean, he barely even talked to me."

"Aw, he's just shy. Right, Wednesday?" Edward nudged Wednesday with her elbow. "Wednesday?"

"Hm?" Wednesday looked at her. "Who?"

"Carter. He's shy, right?"

"Yeah. He's shy."

"But did you see the way he was staring at Archie?" Raven walked backwards to see their reactions to her theory. "He was looking at him as if he was the hottest thing on the planet!"

Edward laughed. "Ha! That's hilarious!"

"I'm serious! Wednesday, you saw him, right?"

"Yes," said Wednesday.

"You saw the way he looked at him."

"Yeah."

"Well?"

"He looked at him the way Edward looks at rice pudding."

"I love rice pudding," said Edward.

"You guys are being overdramatic," Archie said.

"Did you see the way he was looking at you?" asked Wednesday.

"Well, yeah, I did, but that doesn't mean he—"

"Oh my God!" shouted Raven. "Are you this dense? He's clearly in love with you! He gave you his most prized possession, for crying out loud!"

"What? This?" He held up the book. "He could just buy a new one."

"He's not allowed to have books," said Wednesday.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," said Edward. "You know his stepdad?"

"No, I don't know his stepdad," Archie said impatiently.

"He's the Führer."

"And?"

"And the Führer is a fucking asshole who's controlling and manipulative and hates everybody, including his own stepkids."

Archie looked at Raven. "Is that true?"

She nodded. "Very."

Archie stopped walking. Raven, Edward, and Wednesday stopped and waited. As he looked down at the book guiltily, he said, "You guys wanna know something?"

They said nothing.

"When he handed me this, he kind of reminded me of Jeanie. I almost saw a bit of her in him, if that makes sense."

Wednesday started walking. Archie and the girls followed after a long moment of stillness.

"Should I say something to him? Next time I see him?"

Edward shrugged.

Raven said, "Do you like him? As in, like-like him?"

When Archie said nothing, Edward turned around and blurted, "Are you gay now?"

Archie gave her a scowl.

"Shit, I didn't mean it in a mean way! I just— Do you like him like him?"

"No, I don't 'like him like him' or 'like-like him' or whatever, okay? Both of you, shut up and give it a rest."

"How did he remind you of Jeanie?" Edward asked after a longer period of stillness.

"His eyes." He scowled. "His stupid puppy eyes."

"Are you going to read the book he gave you?"

"Yes, I'm going to— Look, can we just change the subject, please?"

There was silence again, until Wednesday suddenly said, "Carter gets beat at home."

Archie frowned. "What?"

"He gets beat. He told me."

"Why would he tell you that?"

"Because I knew about his demons. He trusts me."

"He has those?"

"Yes. That's why his hair is red. And why things start to move without him realizing." He turned his head to Archie. "Don't you have those?"

Archie has only told people he generally has demons, but the truth was he only has one. He has a demon and a Shadow, which are not the nicest of creatures, and can be just as powerful as a demon. The only difference between Shadows and demons is that Shadows are a part of you, the manifestation of your worst thoughts and nightmares. Demons can appear out of nowhere from somewhere, residing in a person to leech off their sufferings. Their origins are "unknown." Also, Shadows can fade away once a person has regained control over their life. Demons can never fade. They can never die.

Archie rolled on his side, sighing. He was lucky he only witnessed Carter's demonic possessions once. Helena told him they could be really scary. Emily believes them to be nothing more than "schizoid breaks" because that's what Burning Sunshine taught her. They're all nothing more than simple "breaks." Mikey doesn't know what to think. Either way, none of the siblings could disagree that what they saw was absolutely scary.

Absolutely scary. Archie knows that.

Archie wasn't there when Carter woke up the one time he witnessed a possession. Besides, he didn't want to think about that day. He'd rather think about something else....But the soullessness in Carter's eyes was something out of a nightmare. How he managed to follow Archie to his Birkenau apartment unnoticed was still a mystery to him. He hadn't seen Carter since Mikasa saved him from...that place.

In an attempt to distract himself, Archie grabbed the remote from his desk and turned on the TV, flipping through the channels, searching for nothing in particular. But then...

"The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!" Regan was hovering above the bed, her eyes milky white and her skin a disgusting tint of green. That's how Archie used to imagine how Carter might look like when his demons took over. He even imagined a priest coming in and dousing him in holy water.

Real demons aren't like that, but you probably already knew that, right? You could drown the host in holy water all you want and scream "Jesus Christ is our mighty savior, yada yada yada" all you want. They'll still be in there, laughing and abusing the host. They only stop when they get too tired or bored. Doctors and specialists have been studying them for centuries, but found nothing to stop them. Nobody's even sure if demons die when the host dies.

...Do they?

Archie's demon doesn't usually respond to those type of thoughts, the ones revolving around demons' existence. Samara only really sticks around for the dirty and depressing thoughts.

Even though he didn't want to, Archie watched the movie play out for a bit. He had nothing against the film, but with all that's been going on and with Carter stuck in the center of his thoughts, the movie left an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He reached for the remote again.

"Why?"

He jumped, his head instantly turning to where the voice came from. Sitting right next to him was his Shadow, a doppelgänger with an evil sneer going from ear to ear and eyes as white as the moon.

"Why do you want to forget him?"

"I don't— I don't want to forget him."

The Shadow's sneer somehow widened.

"I don't! I just..." He switched the channel. "The way he looked at me that day...and the way he acted. I just can't...think about it right now."

"Coward."

"Would you leave me alone? Please. Just for one night."

"You never loved him. You used him as a replacement."

"No! I did love him!"

"You replaced Jeanie with a helpless mental case. How do you think Jeanie would feel if she saw? She would hate you."

"Stop talking about Jeanie. Please."

"How do you think Carter feels? When he needed you most, you abandoned him."

"I didn't...I didn't know he'd—"

"You LEFT him!" The Shadow screeched in his ear.

"But I came back! I helped look for him!"

"And then you left again! And for what? So you wouldn't feel heartbreak or regret again? You're a selfish, disgusting bastard who doesn't think about others. You didn't think about Jeanie, and you didn't think about Carter. Now look where Jeanie is. Look where Carter is."

"Shut up! Just shut up!"

"You've been trying to forget your mistakes with Jeanie using Carter, and now you're trying to forget your mistakes with Carter using self-pity! You are pathetic! Pathetic! PATHETIC!!"

"I'm not trying to forget him!" Archie was on the verge of tears. "How could I?! I love him!"

The Shadow was then standing, staring down at Archie with ferocious eyes. "If you loved him, you should have stayed. You should have stayed with him since the beginning, and you should have told him about that night! You could've been with him right now, loving him, but now you're just a shadow of a damaged relationship. He'll replace you."

Archie's eyes wandered to the TV.

"He'll replace you with something worse."

That show from David Lynch was playing. Archie hated that show. It made no fucking sense, and that girl's screaming gave him nightmares as a kid. His dad was a fan. Every night when he watched it in his bedroom, the screaming would always find a way to make itself louder and slither its way into young Archie's room.

The screaming.

"The screaming," said the Shadow.

"The screaming," said the demon.

"The screaming," said the young man.

He shut off the TV, the sounds of thunder booming and lightning striking and rain falling echoing in his mind. He remembered why he was there in Birkenau City that night. His boss had an assignment for a certain squad, and he happened to be added into that certain squad. There was a rumor going around that someone in Birkenau was planning to assassinate the monarchs of Anastasia. The would-be assassin needed to be found immediately. And removed immediately. The Führer was just going to let it happen, after all.

The temp apartment Archie was assigned to live in was in the Wayside Suite, several blocks away from the Lakeview Hilltop, and his apartment was on the top floor, so he could see the distorted-looking Bloodstone mansion from the bedroom window. When he got there, there was already a storm brewing, a clear ominous sign that something horrible was going to occur soon, as portrayed in almost every horror movie in existence. Of course, Archie didn't see it that way. He saw it as a potential hazard for the television set.

Ah, well. As long as he had his phone, he was okay.

Around one o'clock in the morning was when the power went out. He had expected it, but it was so sudden, and when he remembered that most of the residents of the complex weren't even home, chills went down his spine. He was alone on his floor, and the only people still in the apartment complex was the old lady who could barely get his name right ["Don't stay up too late, Bartholomew. You know what they say about the red demon that eats misbehaving boys and girls."], the middle-aged couple with the insane collection of wind-up mouse toys, and the young girl who kept giving him winks. They all lived on the lower floors.

It was a rather small apartment complex.

Archie opened the blinds, letting in the weak form of light coming from the gas lamps outside. He then flopped on the bed, kicked off his shoes, and prepared to get some shut-eye.

Then there was a noise. A whimper. He frowned. It sounded like a wounded puppy, which shouldn't have been the case because pets were not allowed in the building. Archie got up from the bed and staggered over to the door, exhausted and nearly blind from staring at his phone for so long. The strange noise began to intensify as he got to the door. It sounded like...someone was crying. But no one should have been on the floor. Why was someone crying? Archie slowly opened the door, goosebumps beginning to grow on his arms and the nape of his neck. But there was no one there—

Wait! In the corner at the end of the hall was a figure on the floor, their knees brought up to their chest. They were crying, shivering. Archie pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned on the flashlight, stepping closer to the figure. The very first thing that snatched his attention was the unnatural color of their hair. He almost dropped his phone.

"Oh my God," he whispered. "Carter?"

Carter didn't react to Archie's voice. He kept on crying. Unsettled as he was, Archie continued to get closer.

"Carter? How the hell did you get in here? How did you—" How did you escape from your house? How did you find me? How did you not get caught as you were walking out in the open? Someone was bound to see a redheaded figure walking down the street on a stormy night, even at this time.

Before Archie could ask another question, Carter suddenly swung his head in Archie's direction, frightening him so bad that he dropped his phone and stumbled back. For a split second, he managed to catch a glimpse of Carter's pitch black orbs that were once his dazzling hazel eyes. Those once handsome eyes were wide with a form of hunger Archie never saw before.

Unsure of what to do, Archie held up his hands cautiously and said, "Carter. You recognize me, right? It's me. Archie."

"Archie...." Carter said in a voice that was not quite his own.

"Carter, can you tell me how you got here?"

"I—" He looked around the hallway with fear. "How did I get here?"

"I can call Emily. I can call her so she can come and pick you up—"

"No."

"Huh?"

"No."

"What do you mean, no?"

Carter shook his head. "No no no no no no—"

"Carter, come inside."

"No."

"No, seriously. Please come inside. You're freaking me out. I need you to come inside. You'll be okay, I swear it."

"No."

"Carter, don't let them control you."

"He's going to kill me when he finds out."

"Who? Your stepfather?"

He nodded. "I made a mistake."

"Maybe it's not too late. I could call Emily and we can figure something out." He forced himself to get closer to the trembling figure, half-hiding in the dark. "How does that sound?"

"Emily could get hurt."

"She won't."

"How do you know?"

"I just do." Archie scooped up his phone. He was about to turn off the flashlight when he noticed something glimmering next to Carter's leg. Squinting his eyes, he stepped closer and realized it was a knife. A kitchen knife, shiny, clean, ready to be used. His legs didn't want to move any further. "Why do you have that?"

Carter started bawling.

"Carter."

The crying got louder.

Step back. Step back!

"Say something!"

Carter wailed, "Stop telling me what to do! I don't want to kill him!"

It was like something out of a horror movie....

"Gimme the knife, Carter," Archie said as calmly as possible. He couldn't control the quiver in his voice. "Give it here."

Carter slammed his head against the wall, screaming at the top of his lungs. The way he screamed reminded Archie of that girl from that show he hated. What was her name? Lorraine? It started with an L, didn't it?

Archie then got too close. The screaming stopped abruptly, and a pale hand snatched the kitchen knife from the ground, gripping the handle like there was no tomorrow, and swung. The blade missed his chest by an inch. Then it came to him: it was Laura Palmer. Now run!

Archie bolted, leaping into his apartment and swung the door closed— An awkward yet forceful figure suddenly slammed into the door, leaving Archie stumbling and falling over a chair. Something pounced on his chest. He groaned, forcing his eyes open. A sharp, clean blade was coming down on him, bringing down a quick, painless yet scary death, like an atomic bomb above a rural town.

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