Moonlit Chapter 5

Moonlit-chapter5
It was cold, as drizzles of rain fell every now and then. They were both on the rooftop lying beside each other. He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips and kissed it. He looked into her eyes with a gentle smile upon his face. “I love you, and I’ll always love you; till the very end. “She laid her head on his shoulder saying. “Let’s get away from this town, far away just you and me.” “We’ll do that, just us,” he faintly said to her as he kissed her lips. Arthur sat there watching them from afar as he held a joint in his hand. He smiled as he saw them holding one another. “You know, you two should marry some time,” he yelled out at them. They both looked at each other with loving smiles. Arthur looked down and saw Lupita kneeling inside of a bush. He started climbing down the ladder as he yelled out waving, “Take care you two lovebirds.” He walked towards Lupita and watched what she was up to. She was inside the dried up dead bush squatted over, as she held the rabbit pinned to the ground by its neck. “Ometochtli, go away,” she said angrily at the rabbit. The rabbit struggled, clawing away at the dirt. “Go away, and make the Centzon Tototchin leave,” she shouted out, squeezing the rabbits neck tighter. “You’ve ruined my father, why,” she yelled her eyes squinting angrily. She pulled out her pocketknife and jabbed it into the ground. “Please, just go away,” she faintly said as she let go of her grip. It darted off sprinting as quickly as it could. He stood besides her looking down at her. He extended his arm and grabbed her hand pulling her up. He lifted her up and placed her sideways on the mid-frame of the bike, placing his foot on the pedal he started rushing off down the empty street.
They arrived at a small brick house surrounded by overlain branches five feet high. They walked up to the entrance, Lupita looked down on the ground and saw a chicken lying there weakened and starved. They heard a car roaring off in the distance. It zoomed by and crashed into the bike smashing off one of its tires. The car quickly pulled over and a man rushed out marching towards Arthur angrily. He grabbed a hold of his shirt and threw his fist at his face. He fell to the ground, with his hand on his cheek, wincing from the pain. “You fucking little bitch, why’d you just leave your fucking bike out there on the road; you think it’s a fucking parking lot,” the man yelled out angrily kicking dirt at his face. Lupita stood there silent with her eyes wide open, shocked by what she had just seen. “You fucking broke my windshield,” the man said as he grabbed his shirt and pulled him back up. “It’s not my damn fault,” Arthur replied being slammed with another fist to his jaw before he could finish speaking. The man threw him to the ground. “Leave,” said a voice from a far. There stood a person wearing a grey cap and a black handkerchief wrapped around the lower face. “Eres la pinche bruja,” said the man surprised as he backed away towards the car. “If I ever see you again, punk; I’m going to make you pay up,” said the man as he slammed his car door and sped off, leaving a trail of dust in the air. “Eve,” he said as he lifted himself up, rubbing his jaw. “Well, damn; you just let that guy give it to you, huh,” she said smiling as she pulled the handkerchief off her face. “Well as you know already, I’m not a fighter,” he said being suddenly interrupted by her mocking. “Yeah, yeah I’m a killer; fighting is for kids to do, I’ve heard it all already,” she said laughing then noticing Lupita looking at her curiously. “And who is this pretty little girl,” she asked grabbing her head lifting her face upward. “She’s my new pupil,” he said grinning. “Oh? What happened to your old one,” she asked. “She failed,” he simply said. Lupita kept tilting her head tying to get a peek at her eyes veiled underneath the cap. “Haha, trying to get a look at my face, huh; that’s okay I got nothing to hide,” she said lifting her head up towards the light and adjusting her glasses. She put her hand out smiling and said, “Hello, Eve; I am Lupita.” She put her hand out and shook it lightly. “What’s wrong with your bird,” she said looking down at the chicken. “Oh, yes I’m gradually letting it harmonize with the Ochunt,” she said as she crouched over examining it closely. “The little critter is almost there,” she said as she stroked the chickens head with her finger. “Let’s go inside.” “You know I’ve almost mastered the Ochunt,” she said to Arthur as she broke off a dried twig from a small tree. “I can summon the Ochunt energies and deplete the Ogant, within parts of living things but I can’t summon it upon its entire entity and I just don’t know why.” “I don’t know, maybe it’s because you’re not a god,” he said smirking. “Ah, you and your gods,” she said rolling her eyes. “They’re just forces of nature, Arthur; the Aztecs like all other ancient pagans were wrong to give these forces personifications as if they were people.” “And why not, it only make it more exciting to know about them, not like your craft, which is boring and empty like your brother’s science,” he snapped back laughing. “You really shouldn’t listen to him,” she said looking at Lupita. “And you really shouldn’t listen to her, haha; this woman here thinks she has the superpowers to summon life and death at her own will,” he said smiling, trying to hold back his laughter. “If I could only,” Eve said as she stuck out her fingers and dug them into a trees trunk. “Hey what you say, you lend me your little friend every once in a while I could use a student too, you know.” “Fuck no, haha, you’re crazy if you I’m just going to let you corrupt her little mind with your lies.” “You’ll both fuck her up with your insignificant dreamt up fantasies,” said a tall man leaning on the wall. “Ah, Mark, what’s your crazy ass up to now,” said Arthur as he walked up to him. “Well, now I’m quite surprised to see you’re not stuck with your face in front of the your computer as usual. “Nonsense, my good man; I just came out for a cup of water,” he said as he took a sip from the glass of water in his left hand. “I’ll give you fifty bucks a day if you lent her to me,” he said pulling out a wad of money from his wallet, smiling. Arthur erupted in laughter. “Come on people she’s a human being not some item up for grabs,” he said still laughing. They both joined him in laughter as Lupita stood there with a puzzled look on her face. “Lupita stay here with Eve, I’m going to talk with Mark for a bit,” he said as he entered the room.
Mark reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of white powder and poured it out onto a mirrored tray and quickly snorted it up. “Want some,” he asked Arthur as he kept sniffing away wiping his thumb off his nose. “No thank, I’m good,” he replied. “So what’s the latest studies you’ve been conducting?” Mark walked up to his computer and closed a file. “I’ve been working on the influence of hallucinogenics under its upon sexual stimuli; quite interesting stuff,” he said pulling out another vial from his jacket. “Oh let me guess, lots of screams, crying, and moaning, haha.” Mark laughed. “Yeah, that’s just about right haha; you sure you don’t want some, it’s really good substance. It’s not cocaine, it’s 2-CB, 5-dimethoxyphenethylamine.” “No, it’s alright; you already know I’m against unnatural chemicals.” “Oh, yeah right right,” he said placing the vial back into his pocket. “What sucks though is that I’m running out of willing subjects, after they’ve experienced a bad run through with the experiment; they just want to bail out right away. And I could offer them all the money in the world and they just wont come back.” Mark started smiling with no apparent reason. “It’s kicking in, huh,” Arthur said laughing. “Yeah, some pretty quick stuff,” he said as he started grinding his teeth. “Oh, yeah; so hey how bout that little girl. She’d be making some good side money,” he said turning his head back towards the door. “Nah, man you’re fucking crazy, plus money means nothing to her,” he said shaking his head.
“So what exactly is your craft about,” asked Lupita. “Oh, your interested in knowing, eh? Well it’s basically based upon the simplistic principles of two forces, the Ochunt and the Ogant and they represent our two states of being, which is life and death, the sky and the ground, the vacant and the filled; that’s all there is to it. But I as a crafter, wish to attain control over these states, so as to master and understand who and what I am. To know what’s my part and relation to his world.” “Oh, well that sounds pretty simple,” said Lupita smiling. “Sounds like it, but there’s much involved to it; the answers don’t just come by while you sit there and wait, you have to search for it and that’ just not so easy,” she said and sighed lowering her head. “If you ever need any help you can ask me, maybe I can be useful to you,” Lupita said with a smile. “You know what I’ll let you in on a little secret,” she said as she whispered into her ear. “I’ve already mastered the Ochunt, I’m just now sure how well it works.” “What does that mean,” she asked unknowingly. “You see that tree,” she asked pointing at the same tree she had grabbed earlier. “By tomorrow, at the same time you arrived here that tree will be withered dead.” “Oooh wow, really,” she asked out loud in astonishment. “Mmhmm, but shush, and keep it secret okay,” she said to her covering Lupita’s mouth. Lupita nodded, smiling. “You know, something else; there’s much more to hallucinogenics then just plants; some of this stuff my brother Mark experiments on I’ve tried myself and a lot of it is much more mind opening. Your teacher Arthur is very strict actually which is why I believe he never got far in his craft,” she said shaking her head. “But he told me that it’s wrong because the gods didn’t create it,” Lupita replied. “Again with the gods, haha; you’ll never learn anything from gods, you learn from yourself,” she said patting her chest. “How hold are you anyways.” She asked her. “I’m only nine,” she said. “Seriously, you’re much too young to be doing this stuff,” she said, rubbing her forehead. “And how old are you,” she asked back. “I’m twenty seven. So, where do you live,” she asked. I live right beside Arthur, I’m his neighbor; that’s how we met,” she said swinging her legs back and forth.
Arthur walked back out the door with Mark giggling behind him. “Hey, Arthur, let’s go for a running race,” said Mark laughing deeply. “Yeah right, I’d stand no chance against you rushed up on that stuff,” he said laughing. “That’s damn straight,” he said grinding his teeth, his eyes jumping all over the place. “Fifty dollars come on little girl you’ll be making three-hundred and fifty bucks a week at least. And all you have to do is be around me for a couple of hours,” he said as he grabbed her hair slightly pulling her head back. Lupita looked to Arthur worried, not knowing what it was he was saying to her. She wrapped her forearm around his neck and tightly choking him saying, “Leave her alone, you fuck head; have you no sense of humanity in that stupid little head of yours!” He pushed her off and ran at her tackling her to the floor. “Oh, another damn fight,” said Arthur as he rolled his eyes. “Let’s go Lupita,” he said turning his head to her as he walked outside. “Arthur, you left your spear here, it’s at the fence entrance,” she said struggling as her brother was digging his knuckles into her face. He saw the spear and lifted it from the ground, removing his coat he wrapped it around the spear’s tip. “Well, since that son of a bitch wrecked the bike, I guess we’ll just have to go back walking.” They finally got back, and they heard people yelling from the distance. “Sounds like it’s coming from the vodun temple,” he said curiously. “Want to see what it could be,” asked Arthur. “She threw herself on the grass sitting down. “No, I’m tired,; I’ll stay here,” she said rubbing her legs. He rushed off down the road to see what all the commotion was about. He saw them running around the flag yelling, screaming, crying, and shouting angrily. He walked up to one of the men. “What’s going on,” he asked him. “Those bastards took one step too far now; they killed one of our men, we’re going to war now,” he yelled out shaking his head and running back into the circle. He turned towards the building and saw a body lying there dead on the ground. He slowly walked towards the body. A look of petrified horror befell his face as his eyes came upon the corpse. “Jarome….” Shivers went down his entire body, as he backed away from the body. He ran into his house and threw open the cabinet pulling out a bottle of Ouzo quickly drinking it up. Lupita looked at him with a worried face saying, “What’s wrong, what happened?” “Go back home Lupita, I need to rest for a bit okay,” he said to her frowning. She kept silent, reluctantly and slowly walking out the door. He removed the coat from the spear and reached into the pocket pulling out a vial of the white powder. He quickly poured it out onto the table and insufflated it with a hollowed out pen. He grabbed the bottle and chugged more down. He walked back out of the house and started running.
He walked up to a house and slammed his fist on the door. The door opened and there stood Brandy with a bewildered look on her face. “Where’s your boyfriend,” he said drunkenly with the bottle almost completely empty in his hand. “What do you need him for,” she asked angrily. “His men killed my friend Jarome,” he shouted out enraged as he then grinded his teeth. “Leave him alone, he had nothing to do with it,” she yelled back at him. “The hell he had nothing to do with it,” he said as he grabbed her neck and slammed her against the wall. She quickly lifted her arm and slapped him across the face. He threw a punch on her cheek knocking her on the ground. He reached down grabbing her hair; he started dragging her as he yelled out. “You’re going to tell me where the fucker is or I will force it out of you!” “What the fuck is going on,” yelled out a man from the doorway. He quickly turned towards the man and charged at him with the spear in his hands. He quickly attempted to dodge the spear but was quickly pierced through his shoulder and was pinned against the door. Arthur pulled out the obsidian knife and held it tightly against his throat. “Arthur,” a faint voice said from afar. He turned his head and saw Lupita standing there horrified at what she just saw. Arthur was speechless and couldn’t think of a word he could tell her. He angrily grunted as he grabbed the man’s shoulders and pulled his body off through the spear, plucking it off the wall, the man fell on his knees groaning with his hand on the wound. Brandy lifted herself up rubbing her cheek and spitting out blood, she looked at him furiously. He turned away and started walking off. She grabbed a steel pole and ran towards him swinging it at his leg and knocked him to the ground. She lifted the pole into the air and aimed it directly above his head. Before she could swing the pole down, she felt a spoke against her ribs. Lupita had the spear in her hands and held a worried look on her face. She dropped the pole onto the ground and rushed back to her boyfriend, lifting him back to his feet. Arthur got up and started walking again with a limp. “Thanks,” he said as he placed his hand behind her head. “You saved me from getting my face smashed in, hehe.”
He was on the couch watching TV, as the news was on. “Aaah, fuck you,” he shouted out as he threw an empty bottle of liquor at the television smashing the glass screen. “That’s it, it’s all over now….they won and the vodun lost,” he said as he opened another bottle of ouzo and drank it down. “Now they made the vodun look like some sacrificial cult, while Thelema gets off scot free!”
She sat there on the dirt looking at the ground. She lifted her head up and looked up into the night sky. The moon gleamed and reflected of her glasses. “He chose a little girl….why didn’t he…” “The forces have bestowed me dominion over my passions, so why can’t I help but feel as if I’ve been forgotten.” She grabbed a handful of dirt and let it slowly sift through her fingers. “I can’t just sit and wait for the Ochunt to do its work for me, I wont. If I have to I’ll make it come to me.” She lifted her pant leg up and pulled out a machete strapped to her leg and walked towards the tree. She raised the blade into the air and slammed it down on the tree hacking away at the tree repeatedly, as bits of bark and wood shot out into the air. Mark stepped out the doorway looking at Eve chop away at the tree. “Oh, yes yes the forces have given you dominion over your passions, but it does sure seem you are impatient,” he said laughing at her. She ignored him as she kept cutting away at the tree. “You know it’s only a matter of time before the blade will get dull,” he said yawning. “Then I’ll bludgeon my way through it,” she replied in an indifferent tone. He walked up to her frowning mockingly saying, “Leave it alone, you fuck head, have you no sense of humanity in that stupid little head of yours.” He walked up in front of the tree smiling. Without thought and without emotion she grabbed a hold of the machete with her hands and swung away at his arm cutting deep into his skin. He didn’t move or flinch from the tree, instead he busted out in laughter. She swung the machete back and uncaringly flung it at his arm repeatedly as she said in an apathetic tone, “You’re so drugged up you can’t feel a god damn thing huh.” “That’s right,” he said smiling, his body budging with every blow to his arm. “So then move out of my way,” she said as she pressed the blade tightly against his arm forcibly pushing her weight onto her swing causing him to stumble sideways tripping over his steps as he fell over. She looked down at the machete gleaming wet with blood.
The sun shined brightly through the window as she sat across the table looking at him. “Why do I even…care; why does it even matter. Times have changed and the new generations have chosen their recreational pagan faiths, so be it,” he said holding a bottle of jaegermeister in his hand. “Well, what about me,” she replied instantly. “You…you’re special; I got to you before all those other corrupt deluded fuckers could find you, and you embraced my teachings with an open mind, respect, and a yearning ache of curiosity,” he said as he slowly walked up to her and kissed the top of her head. “There is no doubt in my mind that you are the one.” “Then stop acting like my dad just sitting around and drinking,” she quietly said hesitating. “I’m sorry Lupita, just not today; take a break okay, go back home and have a little fun,” he said lowering his head. She sighed and got off the chair then walked out the door. She saw Eve standing outside and quickly rushed towards her. “Hello there Lupita,” she said as she grabbed the peak of her cap lifting it up. “Hi Eve; Arthur’s not feeling so well right now, he said he just wants to be alone,” she said to her. “Oh, I see; and what about you,” she asked. “I don’t know, Arthur just told me to go back home and have fun,” she said as if she didn’t understand what he meant. “Hmmm, well then let’s go have fun,” she said laughing as she ran towards her truck. Lupita chased after her, threw the door open and jumped into the seat. “So where are we going,” she asked excitedly smiling. “Off to the Odekraug grounds,” she said as she pointed straight ahead of the road, her hand on the steering wheel. She turned on the truck and drove off.
She pulled over beside the dirt road and got out of the truck. Lupita opened the door and jumped out. There they both stood in front of a vast field land of tall dried yellow grass swaying in the wind. Far off in the distance she saw tall trees lined against one another, like gigantic thick sticks poking out from the ground. “Let’s go,” said Eve as she grabbed her hand and lifted her onto her back. “So, what’s wrong with Arthur,” she asked rushing through the grass as it faintly brushed against her neck. “I don’t know…I kept asking but he just wouldn’t tell me.” She kept on walking through the grass for half an hour before she finally reached the ground filled with birch trees. She slid off her back and stood in amazement and awe as she saw these new grounds, unlike anything she had ever seen before. The ground was covered in dried brown leaves; it was silent and vacant of animals. They followed a trail leading to a wooden shack. She reached her arm above the doorframe and brought down a glass cup filled with a mixture of black and white dust. She placed her hand over the cup and shook it quickly up and down then slamming the cup onto the small wooden table. “Today I will show you how to open the channels to the Ochunt and the Ogant,” she said grinning. “Now, it will be up to you to balance these flows and harmonize them as one.” “Oooh, what god will I summon,” she asked excitedly. “No, nooo, we aren’t summoning any gods, haha, we’re feeling and tapping into the flows,” she said as she grabbed a bit of the dust with her fingers and dropped it into a small chalice. She grabbed a bottle of water that was lying on the table and poured the water into the chalice, sending powdered dust into the air like smoke. She swirled it around above her head and brought it down to Lupita’s face saying, “Here, now drink of the essence of that which flows throughout all things living and dead.” Lupita held the chalice in her hands and tilted it upwards pouring it into her mouth, drinking it down.
Mark rushed in his car and slammed the brakes arriving at Arthur’s house. He honked the horn repeatedly. He came out of his house. Mark yelled at him as he slammed his hand onto the roof of his car. Arthur quickly ran towards him and got into the car.
Lupita suddenly felt a sense of euphoria as her legs went weak. She fell onto the ground and struggled to get up. Eve lowered her cap as she crouched over turning her over onto her back. “That’s some pretty heavy shit, huh,” she said with an expressionless look on her face. “I….can’t…,” she said swaying her shoulders trying to lift herself up. “You can and you will,” she said as she started undressing her. She extended her arm up towards the roof of the shack and pulled down a rope. She tied her hands behind her back and wrapped it tightly around her waist. She then strung it around her legs tying her ankles together. She walked up to a chair and picked up a small grey rusted metal box and opened it up, pulling out a syringe she then pulled out a small vial and poked through the seal filling the syringe with a yellow liquid. She tilted her head sideways and pierced the needle into her neck injecting the fluid. She pulled out an elastic tube and dipped it into the bottle of water. She lifted her head up and opened her mouth, sticking the tube into her mouth and sliding it down her throat. Lupita’s eyes watered as she started gagging. She attached a funnel to the tube and poured a murky orange liquid down the tube. Lupita violently squirmed attempting to get free. She grabbed the rope and pulled her upwards, her body lifted into the air hanged to the ceiling. She started screaming out loudly, horrified to death as urine started dripping down her wriggling legs, she felt her heart pounding away loudly as if she were getting struck on her chest by a sledgehammer. She pulled out a sealed bucket and opened it up. Pulling out a paintbrush from her pocket she dipped it into the dark red liquid. “El sagrado sangre de buitres.” She began painting elaborate curvatures. She slipped out a sharpened bone and started carving away at her back. Lupita yelled out as loudly as she could. “Stop! Please stop it!” She grabbed the syringe again and grabbed another vial. She placed her hand on her rear end and pinched it; she inserted the needle into her skin. She instantly went unconscious. She lifted her head up, digging her fingers onto her forehead. “Fuerzas mas poderosos de la vacio y muerte callen sobre la entidad de esta nina, te lo ofreco para ti, Ochunt.” Arthur pushed the door open with a loathsome expression on his face. He pulled out his obsidian knife and cut her loose. “What are you doing,” she replied lowering her head and pulling out the machete from her waist, lining it against his neck. She felt something cold and hard against the back of her head. She turned around. Mark stood there holding a gun to her face laughing. “Go ahead….try it, I’ve mastered death…shoot me,” she said grabbing a hold of the gun. A blast went off, ringing loudly in his ears; he saw her lying on the ground with her head lying in a growing puddle of blood. He looked at him shocked by what he had just done. “Walk back home,” he faintly said dropping the gun onto the floor. He grabbed Lupita, threw her over his shoulder and started running through the field.
He walked down the street and removed his coat wrapping it around Lupita. He looked at his hands red with blood; he ran his hand through his dry hair wiping most of the blood off. An explosion went off in the distance sending a pillar of smoke shooting into the air. The tall grass caught flame and went ablaze like a roaring sea of fire. Lupita awoke and saw that she was lying on Arthur’s shoulder; she turned towards Arthur as she said, “What’s going on?” “Lupita are you okay,” he said to her with a sad, concerned face. “What happened…why does my back burn,” she asked panicking. “Don’t you remember anything,” he asked her in a rush. “I remember Eve taking me into some woods; oh, where is she,” she asked perplexed. “She’s in Mictlan,” he said in a grim tone. “….she’s dead,” she yelled out frantically. “It all caught fire, I couldn’t save her.”