Good For Gone

Plastic

The guards hand tightened around my arm as he slammed the car door closed.

I heard Peter's muffled yelling as the car sped off.

"What's happening?" I asked, afraid that I already knew the answer.

He didn't say anything as he directed me to the door. It was late-ish on a Tuesday night so there weren't any people around to see me being manhandled. I stared after the car, but it was gone in seconds.

As soon as we stepped inside I heard an odd crinkling sound. Looking down I saw that the whole floor was covered in plastic. My heart spiked in my chest.

Randall was walking around, moving plants off to the side and setting bags of advanced nutrition on the corners of the tarp to keep it down.

He heard us come in, "It's about time," He peered over his shoulder and smiled as he nudged an empty pot out of the way with his shoe, "I thought the guards decided to take a few laps around the parking lot."

"Nope," I said, yanking my arm out of the man's hand. He let me go easily, and with a wave of Randall's hand he left.

"Oh well, I was just straightening things up. I don't want the cleanup to take too long, you know?"

Everything that had been set up in the center of the greenhouse had been pushed to the side. It was just a wide plastic sheet.

"What are you planning on having to clean up?" I didn't know why I was playing dumb. Maybe I just had to hear him say it.

"Well this tends to get a bit messy, but it's the most effective way."

"But what about this," I hold up my hand, "I don't think it's done."

He sighed, "Yeah, but now that you know about it I can't risk you trying to escape, so we have to do it the messy way."

"How messy?"

He chuckled, "You do see the size of this tarp right?"

"Wow," was all I could get myself to say. I was surprised by how calm I was on the outside because on the inside I felt like I was about to suffocate.

He walked to the middle of the tarp and waved me over with two fingers. I didn't move.

He rolled his eyes at my hesitation, "I'm not going to do anything yet."

I wasn't sure if I believed him, but I doubted I had a choice in this matter. Every step I took was loud, screaming at me every time I moved closer to him. It was almost unbearably humid in the building, condensation had clouded up every window. I felt like I could barely breathe.

I came to a stop, still a solid three feet away from him.

He smiled warmly at me, "I actually have a deal for you."

"I'm afraid to ask."

"Don't be. I'm offering you a way out of this."

I was caught off guard. He'd gone through all this trouble to break me down, and he was offering me the chance to be free? I couldn't believe it. There was a flutter of hope in my chest, but I had to remind myself that he wasn't trustworthy. He'd told me that the real Peter was gone when he knew it wasn't true, just to kill my hope.

"What is that?" I asked.

"After our discussion last night, I got to thinking. It hadn't occurred to me that since you hadn't chosen to be with me, it might affect the feelings of who you'll be after the assimilation. If you don't choose to stay, then what's the point?"

"Okay," I said tentatively. This almost sounded too good to be true.

He pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me, "Careful, don't say what you read out loud just yet."

I opened the piece of paper, seeing a strange name, long and ancient sounding.

He began pacing around me, "As you may or may not know, saying a demon's true name means that you are essentially giving it power over you. Now usually when people do this it just results in a haunting or something to that tune. But since I've, how do I put this, emptied out your guest bedroom, The demon can just make themselves at home."

"And the other option?" I prompted.

"I'm getting to it," He continued to pace around me, "Your other option is that you no longer have to live with me, or be affiliated with me at all. I'll let Peter go and leave your family be. It will be as if none of this ever happened, and I'll find someone a little bit more willing to stay with me."

I paused for a minute. Could he really be offering me a free pass? To just walk away from this and live a normal life? Maybe what Peter and I had joked about earlier could actually happen.

"What's the catch?" I asked after considering his offer.

He sucked some air in through his teeth, "You'll have to die."

Of course.

Why did I expect anything different? He was just playing with me. I let out a laugh.

"You think I'm kidding?" He asked, and was met with more laughter, "Of course I can't just have you running around. It would be incredibly risky for me to let you just be set free with everything you've seen and everything you know. But, If you choose this option, I promise I will uphold what I said before. Everyone you love will be safe, and you will be free of this life. You'll never have to experience pure evil."

I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. The note in my hand was shaking violently. I barely had enough control over my fingers to keep a hold of it.

He was right, I didn't want to live this way. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life waking up next to Randall. I was so tired of being forced into stuffy dresses, locked away in his small world. But this couldn't be my only way out.

"So," Randall said, just over my shoulder, "What's your choice?"

"How am I supposed to decide something like that?"

"Well, you better think fast." He said, before wrapping one hand tightly around my neck and using the other to sink a knife deep into my chest.