Carnal

Chapter Two - Deal with the Devil

Jesus Christ.

I took a few startled steps backwards as I heard everyone around me gasp in horror.

The man in the casket began to sit up, causing everyone to scatter.

He was in his mid-thirties, significantly younger than my grandfather. He had black, shoulder-length hair and skin so pale he could have passed for dead if he had kept his eyes closed.

The moment his dark eyes locked on mine, I felt a hard body run into the back of me and I fell into someone who was running past me.

I looked over my shoulder to see the men I had previously noticed fighting against the crowd to get closer to the casket.

Their haste meant they knew something about it, and it was because of that that I watched them intently as the room around us panicked.

One of them, an Eastern Asian guy with dark, coiffed hair and black stud earrings, pushed his way to the front.

I saw a momentary flash of fear in the beady eyes of the man in the casket before he swung his legs over the side and tried to run.

The Asian man, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, reached his arm out and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket.

They fought against one another for a moment as everyone around them struggled to get away. The younger guy finally got his hands around the other's neck and he snapped it.

I gasped and fell backwards against someone running away behind me.

The others in the group of men in suits finally pushed their way forward and they all hovered together as they too began to exit the house, taking the corpse with them.

I watched in annoyance as I stood on the other side of the room from the front door, a panicking crowd of people were now in between me and the unknown man.

I needed to know what was going on and where my grandfather was.

Looking around the room quickly, I noticed the window behind the dining room table was big enough for my body to slip through.

Using the commotion as cover, I moved quickly through the crowd and ducked around the furniture.

I made it to the window and slid it up. With the noise in the room, no one noticed the squeaking of the old window and I jumped out inconspicuously.

It was about three feet from the window to the snow-covered ground and I landed hard, but on my feet.

I turned to close the window behind me, knowing someone would notice the cold breeze coming in, when I saw Zak standing there looking down on me.

I could tell he didn't approve, but he made no effort to stop me.

'Don't tell Mom,' I signed. 'I'll be back.'

'Be careful,' was all he signed before he threw me his jacket and closed the window.

I stomped through several inches of snow before I rounded the corner of the cottage and saw the men stuffing the now-actually dead man into the back of a black SUV.