Demon In Davis
"David!" A woman calls out from her bedroom.
"What!" David yells back from across the house.
"Can you take the baby I need a break!" The woman yells back
"Hell no! I just got from a twelve-hour shift! I do not want to deal with the stupid baby!"
David yells back at his frustration evident followed by the sound of a can opening.
"Yeah, because taking care of a kid is so easy" the woman mumbles to herself. The woman,
Elizabeth, rolls her eyes and turns on the TV while cuddling the baby. She wonders where it
all went wrong. Just a year ago she was having the time of her life. She then thinks of
something else not wanting to think of what happened. She focuses on the evening news which
is currently running a story about something that has become all too familiar to the city of
Davis, FL.
"Another female reported missing here in Davis, authorities are already hard at work to find
her". The reporter says followed by B-footage of police officers standing outside a forest,
one holding the leash to a dog. "This marks the tenth disappearance in Davis in the last
three months." Elizabeth lets out a long sigh as she has heard all about the "Davis Demon".
It's the nickname that the locals have given the suspected serial killer. The killer has a
pattern which makes him a serial killer, should Elizabeth's hair stylist be believed. It is
always women, blond, mid to late twenties, and going through a recent break up. Always going
through a recent break up. In fact, some say that is how the killer has been able to get away
as the police always suspect the boyfriend first. Bodies are rarely found and when they are
they are not bodies. Either charred remains or small limbs that take a great deal to identify
the owners of.
The first victim was someone Elizabeth was very close with. An old roommate and friend that
she once did everything with and consulted with on every major life decision. They had a major
fight one night and they have not talked since. Not that it was Elizabeth's fault they had not
talked to each other, as right when Elizabeth was going to reach out to her, she disappeared.
Now due to either southern superstition or guilt Elizabeth dares not to think or speak her
name. Elizabeth is scared that if she did, she would end up like her friend, but deeper it is
because Elizabeth knows she was in the wrong and wishes to not bring it up and has not in the
year since it happened. Though it keeps entering her mind every night before sleep, every time
she looks at her child, every time her and David fight. She always argues with herself that
what she did was not all that bad, that she did what she did and there was no going back. She
could never return to what it was like before, though last she checked the house her friend
had was still standing deep within the Florida woods just fifth teen minutes out of Davis,
sitting abandoned.
Elizabeth hears David out on the couch again, snoring loudly enough to shake the thin walls
of her house. It is better this way; Elizabeth can barely bring herself to touch him while not
drunk. She counts herself lucky that he is one of the drunks that don't hit but rather pass
out. She also counts herself lucky that David is insistent that she be a stay-at-home mom.
Though she does not feel like she has won at life. It feels like she is in prison of her own
making, should she try to break out it would surely be her end. She has no friends to fall
back on, the last of her family are gone. Mother passed away years ago, father never in the
picture, and her sister another victim of the "Davis Demon". Not to mention her daughter,
only one year old at this point and yet she still does not care for her one bit. She knows she
should it's her child, but no matter what she cannot seem to bring herself to care for her
baby for any other reason than if it dies then she is going to jail. She places her baby in
the crib and opens her panty drawer and finds the pack of cigarettes and the lighter she keeps
hiding in it.
She smokes out the window, nasty habit she picked up recently as life just keeps delivering
blow after blow. Anyone would crack under the pressure she was feeling, is what she would
think to herself to calm the part of her that always protested when she smoked. She always
hated smoking, and the stains it left on her fingers, and the smell, and the feel of the
smoke, and the smell, and yet she smokes. She watches as the smoke disappears into the night
sky and listens to the world go by and David sleeping. She wishes she could go back.
She could of course go back to the abandoned house, she has been meaning to for months she
still has a key and she left in a hurry, so she has things that she needs to retrieve.
"Fuck it" she says out loud to herself as she extinguishes the cigarette and looks through
her panty drawer to retrieve the key that she has kept for such a long time. She looks at her
baby who is asleep on her way out of her room, and she looks at David passed out on the couch
and grimaces. She will be back by the time David is awake. She grabs her car keys and heads
to the garage upon opening the garage door a loud thunder makes her jump. Not to be afraid of
something as simple as thunder she presses onward with a resolve unfound until this very
moment. She needs to get this done, she will get this done, she needs it to be done.
Upon turning on the car, she discovers that David left her with barely any fuel in the car.
So, she takes a quick detour to the gas station, she goes inside to pay as it is cheaper with
cash.
"Twenty on pump five." Elizabeth commands the man behind the counter.
"Will that be all for you tonight?" The man asks, his southern drawl thick.
"Yes, thank you." Elizabeth says giving the man the cash.
"You outa be careful this time of night young lady." The man says.
"Why?"
"Because the demon is about and I'd say you fit his profile." The man says in a lower tone than before
"Well, I plan on going home soon so no need to worry about me mister." Elizabeth leaves and
fills her car with as much gas that twenty bucks can get her and she heads out of town and
down the familiar forest road. As she goes down it, memories of good times begin to flood
Elizabeth's head. Memories she has not thought of in a long time. Like when she first met her
roommate in high school, then going homecoming together, endless days spent hanging out during
the summer. They moved out together and made a life together until the day Elizabeth ruined it
all. She pulls into the driveway the house cast in darkness that sends shivers down Elizabeth's
spine. She has seen the house at night countless times, but she has never seen it with this
type of aura. It sat abandoned with kudzu growing along its walls, the lawn not mowed in
months. Yet, it felt like the house itself was trying to repel Elizabeth. She stood there for
a minute before the sky made the decision to go in for her as the rain started to fall. She
hurries up the steps and unlocks the door. She opens it and enters.
She did not expect to find the inside of the house to be completely empty. The only trace of
the people who came before was the flooring and the painted walls. The walls painted dark
pastel colors and the floor a dark wood that creaks with nearly every step. As Elizabeth walks
across the floor her muscle memory kicks in and she walks along the floor knowing where most
of the quite spots were in the flooring. Her roommate always had her beat though, as the house
was her grandmother's who gave it to her when she passed away. Her roommate knew where every
creak was on the floor and could walk across the house like a ninja. Elizabeth smiles a bit,
taking it all in. She slowly makes her way to the bedroom the one where She and her roommate
slept. The door to the room creaks as she opens it. She expected to find another empty room,
but this room has a nightstand with a framed picture on it just under the window with the
moonlight cast down on it. She approaches the nightstand and picks up the picture to get a
better look —
"MARY!" Elizabeth gasps, taking a few steps back, the room begins to spin around her. She
thought she was never going to see her roommate ever again. There was a rush of emotions that
she could never even begin to describe. Guilt, sadness, happiness, drained, energized, broken,
and yet fixed. Though this was short lived as behind her the floor creaked. She turned around
and saw a figure standing in the doorway. The figure dressed like a cowboy stood like a
statue. The hat it was wearing cast a shadow over its face hiding all but the subtle glint of
white from its eyes. From the neck down it was wearing a white t-shirt with an oversized work
jacket over, and jean pants stuffed into the hiking boots. From the belt a small glimmer peaks
out from the jacket from what Elizabeth can only assume is some type of gun or knife.
Elizabeth, feeling lightheaded at seeing this thing of pure horror, collapses on the ground
picture still in her hands.
Elizabeth's breath gets shaky and erratic looking up at the figure in the door. It looks
human and yet there is something off about it.
"I reckon you already know who I am" the figure finally says after a tense thirty seconds.
Accent a thick southern accent, beyond expectations the figure had a softer voice than
Elizabeth expected.
"Y-y-you are the demon, the Davis Demon." Elizabeth struggles to get out a full sentence
stuttering with fear. The figure lets out a slow chuckle before slowly walking toward
Elizabeth completely silently, the only sound in the room is the rain pounding on the window
and the roof of the house.
"I have been called that among other things" The Demon says while slowly walking toward her.
"How about you get a closer look maybe it will spark your brain a little" The Demon says
before crouching down to Elizabeth's level. The moonlight finally reveals the face of The
Demon as Elizabeth catches her breath.
"Mary…" Elizabeth says shakily. Examining The Demon's face, the first thing that was of note
is the eyes. If the eyes are the window into someone soul, then within the window of Mary's
soul showed only an abyss. Her face all together was a sickly pale, her lips cracked, dark
bags under her eyes.
"There ya go." The Demon, Mary, responds quietly. "Tell me how your little bastard is doing?"
Mary asks before continuing "Afterall you just had to cheat on me to make her."
"Please Mary." Elizabeth begged as she looked at the inside of the jacket, seeing a knife
poking out of one of the inner pockets. It is becoming clear that she needs to do something
if she wants to get out of this alive.
"Don't 'please Mary' me you where the one who cheated on me." Mary snarled at Elizabeth
before grabbing her and picking her up by her shirt collar. "You were the one who betrayed
me, left me, you were my only one and yet I was not your only one. You left me here rotting
away. How pathetic was I because if you came back one month later, I would have been on my
knees for you, two months I would have taken you back no questions asked. Same goes for
months three to six. Look upon what you have made and relish in it Elizabeth." Mary said in
a tone that chilled Elizabeth. Elizabeth can only think of one thing she can do to save
herself.
"Tell me that you love me." Elizabeth said in the softest most loving tone she can. This
caused a shift in Mary, one that would be almost invisible to the naked eye. This is exactly
what Elizabeth wanted. Back in the day no matter what that always calmed Mary down. Elizabeth
always used it when she was clearly in the wrong. This time, however, Elizabeth gets thrown
to the ground violently. This time that trick did not work. Elizabeth looks up at Mary's face
and upon it saw a storm of rage and hatred.
"You tell me that you love me." Mary snarls at Elizabeth anger penetrating her cold tone.
"I lo —" Elizabeth starts but is interrupted by a kick in the teeth hard enough to cause her
to go flying as blood from her mouth splatters across the room. Elizabeth's head rings as she
slowly props herself up on her elbow and looks up at Mary. Mary looks down on Elizabeth's
sorry state and all the tension in her leaves her body.
"I am sorry." Mary says in a voice that reminded Elizabeth of the good times. "I should not
have made you suffer like this" She continued. A wave of relief falls over Elizabeth as she
believes that her plan worked, until she noticed Mary reaching for the gun on her waist. "It
was cruel to make you suffer and foolish of me to think that I could make you suffer the way
that you made me suffer." Mary continued with the gun in her hand, it is not a nice gun but
rather a rusty revolver that looks like it will fall apart at any moment. She opens the
cylinder, drops one bullet in it and without any hesitation she shoots Elizabeth in the head.
* * *
Mary looks down at the corpse of Elizabeth. She feels some regret in doing what she has just
done. She thought that this moment would have brought her peace. But peace is not coming to
Mary, she feels nothing. She walks out the room into the kitchen and living room of the house
she once dreamed that she would grow old in with Elizabeth. She strikes a match, dropping it
to the floor and allowing it to catch fire before she walks out the front door into the
stormy Florida night.