LatinosUSA

It was a foggy night. It was spring. The glow of the full moon cut through the haze.

The two sisters sat on the front porch. “I like when you visit. You should do it more often. Orange moon tonight.” Lilly took a drag off a joint. “A Pumpkin Moon.”

The middle-aged woman handed it to her sister, a strawberry redhead. The sibling took a puff. “Haven’t seen one of those in years.” Alice passed it back.

“Decades.” Lilly took a drag. “Not since Ellis–”

“Don’t say it.” Alice snatched away the joint. “You promised never to talk about it.”

“Never thought I’d see a Pumpkin Moon again either.”

“It was foggy that night, too.”

“Thought you didn’t want to talk about it.”

“Shut up.” Alice grinned.

“This weed hits hard.”

“Good shit, ain’t it?” Alice took a long drag and held it. She coughed and passed the joint to her sister. “Sometimes I can’t help remembering what happened, like a flashback.”

“That traumatic for you?” Lilly took a hit.

“You kidding me? It’s been a little over twenty years, and it feels like yesterday.”

“That long?”

“Her screams still haunt me.”

~~~

Twenty-two years ago, it was a Pumpkin Moon night. It was spring. The town was covered in fog.

The sisters walked along the sidewalk. “I hate this,” griped Lilly. “Go slower. Don’t wanna walk into something.”

“Or someone,” said Alice. “Bet you’d love to accidentally walk into Murray Vance.”

“Shut up. Why are we going to Ellis’s again?”

“She invited us.”

“But she’s weird, and we hate her.” Lilly glanced at her sister. “Don’t we?”

“I don’t hate her. Don’t like her either.” Alice checked her watch. “Better hurry, don’t wanna be late.”

“She didn’t say it was a party, did she?”

“Ellis said it was a get-together.” Alice turned right, down a side street. “This way, almost there.” She stopped before a massive, brightly lit house.

“This it?”

“It is the address.”

Lilly and Alice stepped onto the property. The night grew colder, darker. The Pumpkin Moon shone brighter.

They climbed the porch steps. The girls stood before the door. “We don’t have to knock,” suggested Lilly. “We could go home.”

The door swung open. “You both came.” Ellis, a young beautiful blonde, squealed. “Come in, come in.”

Lilly and Alice entered. Their host closed the door. “You two are the only ones,” said Ellis. “Drinks?”

The siblings glanced at each other. Lilly and Alice shook their heads. “No,” they said in unison.

Ellis stepped back. “Food?” The host gestured toward another room.

Again, the sisters glanced at each other. They shrugged. “Why not,” said Lilly.

“I’m not hungry,” said Alice, “but I’ll keep you company.”

The women entered the next room. Food of almost every description rested on a dining table. An ingle crackled at the opposite wall.

“Perhaps a bite or two.” Alice approached the feast. She grabbed a plate and served herself.

Lilly shook her head. “Sorry,” she said to Ellis.

“Don’t be.” Their host giggled. “The food’s for my guests, and you’re my guests.”

~~~

“Long time ago I was a nun,” said Ellis. “I did everything I was supposed to. I was faithful. My entire convent was faithful.”

The three women sat in high-back chairs. The sisters were close to the fire. Ellis rested in a dark corner.

“Can’t picture you as a nun.” Lilly sipped some wine.

“Me neither,” added Alice.

“Well, I was.” Ellis looked away.

“What changed?” asked Lilly.

“My convent was faithful, but it didn’t stop the plague. I watched my sisters die one by one until it was only me.”

“Plague?” asked Alice.

“After the disease killed everyone except me, I lost faith. If God wouldn’t protect those that dedicated their lives to Him, then fuck Him.” Ellis smiled. “I made a deal with the Devil.”

The siblings glanced at their host. They smirked at each other and nodded. “Continue,” said Alice.

“A thousand years of life,” said Ellis, “for my soul. There was a bit of doubt, of course. I knew it was real after I was stabbed and the wound healed instantly.”

“Let’s say, for the sake of argument, we believe you,” said Lilly. “Doesn’t the Devil exist exclusively in Christianity?”

“The Devil’s an anthropomorphization of evil, like God’s an anthropomorphization of good. Religion has nothing to do with it. The archetypes exist outside religion. But religion claims the archetypes for itself and mucks it up.”

“Mucks it up?” asked Alice.

“Religion’s original purpose was to lead people to God. Nowadays, it operates like a company, existing for profit and power. The religious experience short-circuits any potential true experience of God.”

“If you made a deal with the Devil,” said Lilly, “how could you know anything of God?”

“I’ve had a thousand years to think,” said Ellis. “I know a thing or two and regret my choice.”

“Why don’t you undo the deal?” asked Alice.

“I’ve tried. The deal’s binding,” said Ellis.

“By what laws?” asked Lilly.

“Laws of reality, laws of existence,” replied Ellis. “God and religion are separate. Each religion claims uniqueness, that no other can compare to it.

“Take a step back. They’re all the same. Each emphasizes different aspects of God and reality. They’re like the blind men and the elephant.”

“Blind men and the elephant?” asked Alice.

“Put three or four blind men into a room with an elephant, then ask them to describe the animal. One may grab its trunk and say that elephants are like snakes. Another may wrap his arms around a leg and say that elephants are like trees. You get the idea.

“They each have a piece of the puzzle. They are wrong and right at the same time, depending on your viewpoint.”

The sisters yawned. Alice blinked to stay awake. Lilly’s head drooped to her chest.

Ellis eyed her guests oddly. Her posture was perfect. The host rose and slunk toward the girls.

Alice watched, absentmindedly. Then, she succumbed to sleep.

~~~

The sisters awoke, tied to a stone altar atop a dais. Incense drifted past. Ritual chants from speakers mounted on the walls vibrated the air.

“What the fuck?” Lilly blurted.

“Shh,” said Alice. “Stay calm.”

“The food was drugged.”

Alice looked around. “We’re in the cellar. I think.”

Lilly struggled with the knots. An idea struck her. “Maybe we can cut through.” She scraped the rope against the altar edge.

Her sister followed suit. “It’s working.”

“Don’t stop.” The sisters furiously worked the bonds against the stone. “Hurry.”

Ellis entered the cellar at the opposite end. Their captor held a dagger in one hand. The woman was dressed in black ceremonial robes.

She chanted. Ellis approached in time with the speakers. The captor grew ancient, gray, and withered.

Smoke wafted over the sisters. Lilly and Alice worked their bonds against the stone. The rope frayed.

The chant’s tempo increased. Ellis matched it. She was two steps from the girls. Their captor raised the dagger.

Alice snapped her bonds. She shoved Ellis. Ellis fell backwards off the dais.

Alice untied the rest of herself. The redhead then untied her sister. Free, Lilly massaged her wrists.

Ellis stood. She was older than before. The captor held up her weapon. Ellis attacked.

She was slow, decrepit. The sisters easily dodged her. The ancient woman shrieked.

Alice and Lilly searched for the exit. Ellis hobbled after them. “You’ll not escape, girls.”

Alice spotted the staircase. “There.” The redhead pointed.

The sisters raced for it. They pounded up the steps. Their hearts thudded.

Ellis stood at the bottom. Somewhere, a clock struck midnight. The hag shrieked. Lilly and Alice turned.

A man appeared next to their kidnapper. He had solid black eyes, and wore a black suit with a red tie. “It’s time,” said the man, “false nun.”

Carping, Ellis looked at him. “No.” She shook her head. “Not yet.”

“I fulfilled my end. Payment is due.”

“No.” Ellis pointed. “I offer those two girls instead of my soul.”

The dapper man apathetically scanned the sisters. “Even if you sacrificed them, it is not within my jurisdiction to take them. Nor do they want a deal with me.” He gripped Ellis’s shoulder. “Come.”

“No,” she shrieked.

The man laughed. The cellar floor cracked open. Fiery hell lay beneath. The pit consumed them.

Ellis screamed. The man continued laughing. The floor closed. Silence.

Alice and Lilly looked at each other, nodded, and raced from the house.

~~~

The joint was finished. The sisters sat quietly. Lilly sighed. Alice looked at her.

“If the Devil was only an anthropomorphization of evil, how could he exist to take Ellis?”

Lilly shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“For years I tried forgetting,” said the redhead. “If you weren’t there, I’d have thought I made it up.”

“I think about it all the time. Just never talked with you about it.”

Alice smiled. “So, you’ve talked about it with others?”

“Hell no.” Lilly removed a pipe from her pocket. “Everyone would think I’m crazy.” She took a hit and offered it to her sister.

Alice shook her head. “I’m high enough.” The redhead gazed up. “It is a pretty moon.”

“Yeah. A Pumpkin Moon.”