The Devil in Silver

The Devil’s head tipped forward, then lifted again. It seemed to be nodding, agreeing with Sue. But if that was the case, if Sue was meant to be taken, why not just come into this room and try? Just fucking try it! Pepper’s arms and legs got stiffer, his chest filled with hot air, his face felt like it was vibrating. He was getting amped. It was going to come in here for Sue. Win or lose, he was going to fight. He was ready.

But Pepper wasn’t prepared for what happened next. The Devil didn’t come out for them. It stayed over there.

The Devil slammed Glenn’s door shut.

When that happened, Pepper and Sue had the same thought: We’re safe.

Pepper and Sue watched Glenn’s door. They didn’t move. They didn’t touch each other. Each was too shocked, too ashamed, by how relieved they felt.

“Vermin!” Miss Chris shouted again from the end of the hall. The squeaking sound beneath her cry might’ve been the rat getting bashed or the soles of Miss Chris’s old Crocs.

“Maybe Glenn’s not even in there,” Pepper offered.

“Maybe,” Sue agreed, though neither of them was convinced.

Pepper hopped out of bed and was in the hallway before he remembered he was naked. No time to turn around for a costume change! Pepper went through the door. What did he find?

Glenn’s body being pulled up into the ceiling.

The man’s head and neck and shoulders had already gone through the open hole. The rest of him dangled, four limbs flailing as they rose. Picture a large fish being yanked into a boat.

Pepper rushed toward the man, a guy he hardly knew, and threw his arms around the thighs. Pepper bear-hugged them and pulled.

Glenn’s body slipped down. Everything from the shoulders up reappeared. A bedsheet had been tied around Glenn’s shoulders, pinning the arms against his sides. The sheet ran into the crawl space, into the dark. The tension on the sheet fell slack. Pepper still held him up, arms around the thighs. Glenn’s eyes fluttered and opened. He saw Pepper there. He grinned, showing all those fucked-up teeth, and the overwhelming beauty—the spark of life in that grateful smile—made Pepper’s breath catch in his throat.

Pepper heard a gruff snort from the crawl space. Then the sheet went taut and Glenn’s body rose toward the shadows again.

But Pepper squared off. He tightened his hold on Glenn’s legs. He spread his feet and planted himself. One time, in a fourth-floor walkup, an upright piano had slipped loose from Pepper’s partner on a flight of stairs and Pepper had steadied himself like this. That day he’d stopped a piano that should, by all rights, have crushed him.

The Devil wanted Glenn?

Well, it couldn’t fucking have him.

Pepper held on tight and leaned backward. That brought Glenn’s body back down again. But this time, the sheet stayed tense, and the grunting in the crawl space was followed by a scratching sound, like the Devil was bearing down, and the sheet slipped from around Glenn’s shoulders. But it caught around his throat. It had become a noose.

Glenn opened his mouth to shout but only spit came out. The man’s cries were being choked off. Pepper didn’t have enough weight to win this tussle alone.

But he wasn’t alone. Now Sue was with Pepper. She clambered around him until she’d grabbed Glenn’s ankles. She squeezed them in her arms just like Pepper did with Glenn’s thighs. And in the darkness of the crawl space they heard another snort, but this time it sounded weaker.

And in a moment, Glenn’s body fell toward them. Pepper and Sue tried to hold him up but he slipped and his back slapped hard against the tiled floor. At least it wasn’t his head. The sheet came spooling down after him. It gathered over Glenn, cloaking his face. Sue let go of his ankles and Pepper set his legs down. Sue pulled the sheets from Glenn’s face. His mouth lay open, his tongue fat. His eyes were closed and his skin as purple as a plum. Sue put her fingers under his nose and held them there. She whispered, “He’s breathing.”

Sue and Pepper were on their knees like attendants preparing Glenn’s body for mummification. The sheet remained tied around Glenn’s neck. Sue touched it, but wasn’t sure if she should untie it. Would that hurt Glenn more?

“Now how you like this?”

Pepper and Sue found Miss Chris there in the doorway. The red plastic key chain was around her wrist, and the keys dangled near her knee. They swung loosely and clinked against the door frame.

Pepper and Sue hopped to their feet. Naked, they looked like John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the cover of Two Virgins. But less attractive. Pepper said, “We found him like this.”

Miss Chris looked at Glenn, who looked dead. Miss Chris’s face betrayed no emotion. She alerted the rest of the staff by calling out the code for a suicide attempt.

“Red Jack! Red Jack! Red Jack!” she yelled. “Northwest Two! Room six!”

Miss Chris waved Pepper and Sue out of the room. “Move now!” she said. “They coming with the cart.”

Pepper and Sue did as told. Miss Chris grabbed Sue’s arm as they passed her.