STITCH VII

Nate's nose started to itch and burn. His eyes felt sour and tears flowed uncontrollably from his eyes. He coughed twice. He took out his handkerchief and covered it to half his face. The rotting stench of blood and flesh seemed to be evaporating as they walked towards the skull. The temperature seemed to rise as well, sweat were dripping all over their bodies. They passed many pentagrams written in blood on the pavement. Nate read about articles about demonic rituals, now he'd seen it first-hand. He especially read about ritual victims. Some of them have their visceral organs torn out from their bodies, some of them were burned to death, some were crucified upside-down. He never left the concepts alone not because he was interested, not because he wanted to do the rituals himself, it's because the paranormal hadn't left him alone either, ever since he was a baby. His first paranormal encounter was when he slept beside what seemed to be a child, but it felt different and ominous. It was a dark entity with eyes which were eerily white, looking at him quietly inside his crib. His Mom and Dad were curious on why he always cried every midnight. He would always stop when they bring him to their room. It was like clockwork until he was six years old when he stopped seeing and feeling the entity. He knows things a normal kid wouldn't. He doesn't understand how he works. Is he a psychic? Or does he only have strong intuition? Or was it just luck? He once had a far-fetched idea that he wasn't a human. He once thought he was an entity wearing a human skin. He tried to scrape himself with a peeler which landed him in the hospital. Seeing his Mom and Dad crying and panicking every time he hurts himself, he stopped all his mutilating antics. He was five back then and wasn't afraid to hurt himself. He had pretty much high tolerance with pain. Or maybe someone else is taking the pain for him. Maybe that entity never really left him.

They stopped on their tracks and gasped.

"No—no—NOOOOOO!!!" Despair screamed.

He crouched down and slapped his palms on his face.

He cried louder as ever.

The balloons were not balloons.

Nate bent down, barfed and vomited on the floor.

The balloons were not balloons.

They were severed heads impaled on pikes and spears. Some of the victims were still wearing the food chain crew hat. Horrifying to look at were the children whose blank dead eyes gazed at them. Mother Superior 's and the Manager's head were in front.

Wonder tapped on Despairs shoulder then, went to Nate and rubbed his back.

"Put yourselves together boys, we're in the big cheese now!" said Wonder.

"You're far from the woods now, and I'm "beary" much surprised!" said a mechanical hoarse voice

Stitches was sitting on top the skull's forehead.

"The picnic's over now, Wrath. Murdering people isn't fun anymore. You should've been appeased when you killed Nate's mother!" said Wonder.

"Appeased? You wouldn't have existed if I was appeased!"

Stitches narrowed his eyes.

"I needed to separate my weak, insignificant selves to become stronger. I was right, I' am strong than any of you can fucking imagine!"

He said then laughed maniacally.

"I was wrong though. I should've destroyed you lot years ago! Patronizing with the enemy! Disgusting! It left a bitter taste inside my mouth!"

Nate wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

He stood up.

"I know my Mum deserved what happened to her—Wonder looked at Nate and shook his head—but, I just got to say—YOU'RE A WRETCHED MURDERING FUCKING ASSHOLE!! I'm saying that for all those innocent people you've killed."

"Don't. Don't Provoke him." Wonder said in undertone.

There was a pause.

"Now, now, he didn't mean to say that. Let's all just relax and talk about this. Do you have any soda lying around here? Is it me or its getting a bit hot out here?" Wonder said his palms facing Stitches face.

Stitches was shaking. Red smoke started radiating all over his fur.

"Didn't I tell you he has a really short temper and that we must be careful on what we say to him?!" said Wonder.

"No, I guess you should've had!" answered Nate.

"This was on me—RUN!"

"W—where?! There's n—no escape!" said Despair.

"Finally, you came back to us bro! But, whining ain't helping right now!"

Stitches eyes widened and started to gleam a bright bloody red. He stomped his feet like mad cracking the skull bit by bit. He ignited and burned in a red aura heated even the blood all over, evaporating in the air. He made a child-like whine then shrieked at them. The heads blew everywhere and the skull exploded into shards.

Nate hugged Wonder and Despair. Shards were stoned at them hard and the smoke was burning hot.

The noise vanished.

The heat subsided.

The smoke dispersed.

Nate felt something really familiar. He felt this whenever he was with Henry. It was different but it was the same. It was fear and a warm and cozy familial feeling but more intense. His heart became calmer and his breathing returned to its normal rhythm.

Nate slowly opened his eyes and turned.

"Look!" said Despair pointing something in front.

They were in-cased inside a black transparent bubble protecting them from a strong surge of wave of power, splitting it into two, blasting on opposite directions.

His neck cracked as he turned his face to look at them with his white diamond glowing eyes. His dark skin was oozing with dark tar-like sludge which dripped on the ground as he moved. He wafted a faint smell of damp earth who knows where it came from. He was as tall as Nate but had no hair except for some twig-like protrusions on top of his head.

The entity breathed a loud hoarse growl.

Stitches jumped on top of the bubble and started punching and stomping it like mad. The shield cracked then healed itself. The cracking and healing went over and over.

"What is that thing?!" said Wonder. He shivered as he looked at the black entity in the eye.

"He is not a thing. He's someone close to me. Someone who have been with me all this time." Said Nate.

Nate looked up and shouted at Stitches.

"Stiches! Wrath—Michael! Please I beg you, the killing has got to stop!"

"Stop?!—he said in a whine—The picnic had barely begun! Why would I stop?! You see, I love crushing bones—he smashed the shield with both his paws—I love shredding flesh—he slashed the shield with his sharp claws—I love the splatter of blood—he blasted a corrosive beam of light from his mouth, melting parts of the shields surface—I love killing now, it's been my food all these years! Now, its feeding time! You and your brothers are my main course!"

He started to beat up the bubble again.

Wonder shook his head then took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry Nate. Wrath is a very powerful emotion; it cannot be stopped. Well, look at the bright side, at least we tried." Said Wonder.

"You're wrong you know—Wonder squinted at Nate—Wrath is not the most powerful." He said at Wonder with a smile.

Wonder smiled.

The dark entity growled at them.

"He said: he can't hold Wrath for much longer. We need to go through that portal." Nate said pointing down at the pulsating puddle of tar in front of them.

"I—I'm scared!" said Despair.

"There's no time!"

Nate nodded at them.

Wonder nodded and splashed and vanished inside the dark abyss.

Despair screamed.

"N—NOOOO! NOOOO!"

Nate grabbed Despair by the hand and pulled him with him as he dived out of the realm. The forceful stream of fluid carried them in a swirling pipe that seemed never-ending. They were gagging and catching for breath. The portal was too dark and smelled more sewer air, feces, and rotten rat corpses. Breathing became more and more difficult. The dark goo slithered inside their mouths, ears, eyes, and noses.

It was painful.

It felt like the end.

Their breathing became shorter, faster and sharp.

Their eyes uncontrollably closed.

They all fell unconscious.