Tales From Cauteville - Story 4 : Better the Devil You Know Than the God You Don't

"People come to Cauteville all the time. And there they stay. They don't ever leave Cauteville. No one ever leaves Cauteville." - Fr.Deacon

Wendy Lilith sat into the confession box. She could hear Father Deacon mumbling nonsense to himself on the other side. She didn't care. She just needed someone to listen.

"Bless me Father for I have sinned", she spoke softly. "I went looking for Heaven and I found Hell, Father. I searched for God and I found the Devil. But what the Hell, I think I'll let him take over. Better the Devil you know than the God you don't, eh priestie ?"

2 Days Earlier

Arthur A. Pothycarey stood behind the counter of Garlan's Road Pharmacy. He dusted off his white lab coat and looked around. He hadn't had a customer so far that day. He checked his watch for the millionth time and saw that it was still two minutes past one.

He decided to switch on the radio to pass the time. He pulled out the radio from under the counter and placed it in front of him. He pressed the button.

"Greetings my fellow townspeople", tittered Newscaster Carol. "It has been reported that the Grim Reaper has paid a visit to Cauteville last Friday evening. After several eye witness reports, Mayor Phonic invited him to a luncheon in her unbelievebly modest, yet stunningly gorgeous home in Styke's Mine, to officially welcome him to Cauteville and to inform him how humbled we were as a town for him to choose us to visit. Unfortunately, he seems to be quite a shy and introverted guy, so he politely declined. He did not take any Cauteville souls with him as he left. This time.

In other news, Deli Dev, you know, from Dev's Deli ?, was reported as "being dragged into his freezer by several menacing seeming tentacles". Several hours later, various body parts belonging to him were found just outside the church. It hasn't been confirmed where the rest of his remains are. His son, Deli Dev Jr., has taken over the beloved delicatessan.

And now the weather. There won't be a moon tonight in Cauteville. Some of the meteorologists who contact us from the C.S.R.F has stated this could be the odd positioning of our town. Some of the more superstitous civilians are concerened that the "moon gods" are dissatisfied with us and believe we should offer them a sacrifice. The debate is ongoing."

Arthur turned off the radio as the first customer of the day walked in. She shuffled slowly around the shop, squinting at the bright lights in the shop. Her fiery red hair was bushy, wild, wiry and seemingly unwashed. Her face was pale and gaunt. She wore a dressing gown and drifted up to the counter.

"Are you the chemist ?", she asked quietly.

"Well, I like to think of myself as more of an ethical drug dealer", he chuckled cheerily.

She stared blankly at him.

"Yes", he said. "How can I help you ?"

"I need another month's dose of Clozapine", she mumbled.

"Do you have a perscription ?"

She slid an old, yellowed, tattered piece of paper towards him. He struggled to read it.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ms.......Lilith, but I'm afraid this perscription is out of date."

"Look, I need it. I ran out and I don't know what's gonna happen if I don't keep my dosage."

"I'm sorry, but we can't give drugs as strong as psychosis medication without strict directions to do so. I'm afraid you'll need a valid prescription."

"Doctor Doalot is off for the next two weeks. Mrs. Doalot had a baby."

"Well, I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. It's against the law."

"Listen, man. I need this shit. You don't know what can happen."

"I'm sorry m'am. Perhaps you could visit Doctor Doalot and ask him yourself, but I can't do anything for you. I'm sorry."

The woman clenched her fists and slowly drifted out of the pharmacy.

Hours later, after another day of little substance, Arthur turned in the lab coat and headed home. He could barely find his keys by the time he got home, due to the overwhelming lack of lunar activity. He eventually got in and began searching for the light switch.

As he felt around he felt a hand grip his shoulder. He froze in shock. Suddenly the hand jerked him back and drag him across his kitchen floor. He was still too stunned to cry out for help. The intruder straddled him and he could just about make out the shape of a kitchen knife. He grabbed the figure's wrist just as the knife came down. He managed to throw the figure off of him and he ran towards the light switch so he could find his phone.

He switched it on and saw Wendy Lillith standing before him, holding a knife. She tilted her head at him, grinning wildly before her face went blank. She walked slowly out of the kitchen, expressionless with eerily upright posture.

"I guess she really wants those meds", panted Arthur.

Wendy awoke in her bed the next day with no recollection of the previous night. God, she hoped it hadn't happened again. She walked warily around her house. She got to her downstairs hallway and noticed a kitchen knife that didn't belong to her jammed in the wall.

"Shit", she said out loud. She sat down in her kitchen and thought. She'd have to get some kind of security on her doors and windows to keep her in. She couldn't afford any more escapades.

She heard a knock on her door as she searched for supplies around her house. She walked cautiously towards the door and opened it. She peered out, squinting at the light. It was the chemist.

"Oh, what are you doing here ?", she asked.

"You don't remember last night ?", he asked warily.

Her widened.

"Oh, fuck. Please tell me I didn't hurt you. Did I break anything ? Look, I'll pay for it."

"No, no. I mean you almost stabbed me but that's why I'm here."

Arthur held up a bottle of clozapine.

"I thought you weren't allowed ?", she asked.

"I'm not, but, after last night I figured it was better to break a few rules than to leave you like this. I won't tell anyone if you don't."

"Oh, God. Well, thank you", she beamed, taking the bottle. "Do you want to come in ? I was making coffee."

"Um, sure. Why not."

Arthur made his way into her kitchen, bypassing several piles of dishes, dirty clothes, dried pools of mysterious fluids and perculiar smells. The whole house was dark and seemed as the curtains hadn't been drawn in quite some time.

She made his coffee in a decidedly clean measuring jug and sat down. Her blazing red hair was stringier and wilder than the previous day. She wore the same dressing gown and looked more pale and gaunt than ever. She took two of the pills out and swallowed them with water. A look of relief washed over her.

"Oh, I'm Arthur by the way", he said.

"Wendy."

"So you don't remember anything from last night ?", he asked timidly.

"Nope. Not a thing. It's like I fall asleep and my body goes off and does a whole series of bad shit and then I wake up in a strange place with no recollection of what happened. It's like another person comes out and takes over."

"And the clozapine helps ?"

"Sure. Well, it used to. But in the past few weeks, I've have infrequent episodes while still on the meds. But not nearly as many as if I weren't on them."

"Have you always been like this ?"

"No. Just since my husband went missing. You know Lance Johnson ? The editor for the Cauteville People ? Well anyway we were fighting for a long time and he eventually left me. And the day after he left me he went missing. He hasn't been seen since. I was inconsolable. I went to church to seek solace and not long after, I started to have these episode where I black out and wake up completely unaware. So I went to Doctor Doalot and got perscribed these and they worked at first, but like I said, recently their effect has been waning a little."

"You kept your maiden name ?"

"Yeah. Well I changed it back after Lance left me."

"Well it was nice chatting but I'm afraid I've gotta got to work. Um.....here's my number just in case anything happens or even if you need someone to talk to, I'd be happy to help."

She took his phone number vacantly.

"Thank you", she said rather distractedly.

Arthur stumbled through a small mountain of takeout boxes and headed for the front door. He reached for the handle just a potted plant came firing at his hand. He jumped back in surprise as Wendy approached him, stone faced once again.

He stepped back holding his arms out to block her as he tripped on a slice of pizza and fell backwards. She stood on his feet and produced a pair of worn chopsticks from her gown. She stopped for a moment before jamming one of them at Arthur's eye.

Arthur screamed as he gently pushed Wendy back. He ran up her stairs and burst into what he assumed was her bedroom. There was a pair of handcuffs on her nightstand. He crawled over her bed as Wendy came at him from behind and kicked him headfirst into the wall.

Arthur grabbed the cuffs and managed to grip one of her flailing, erratic hands and attatched it to the head board of the bed. He stepped back as she started to grin again. She started to laugh manically and loudly.

"Did you really think that these could hold me ?", she giggled.

"You people are so dumb. But you'll see. You'll see. You'll all see."

She deflated and lay down, sinking into the bed and began staring at the wall. Arthur went back to downstairs and locked the door. He felt he should keep an eye on her while she's like this. He began to clean up her kitchen.

After around ten minutes of loud noises from upstairs, Arthur went back up and looked into her bedroom. She was asleep on the bed. She awoke as he walked in with water. She jerked upright suddenly.

"What the fuck ?", she asked, tugging at the handcuffs. "What are you doing ?"

"Is it you again ?", asked Arthur before stepping any closer. "Is it ?"

"Yeah, of course it's me, what are you talking about ?"

A look of realisation came over her face as he handed her the water.

"Wait, but how did it happen again if I just took clozapine ?"

"Your body might be rejecting it."

"Oh fuck", whispered Wendy, covering her face with her hands.

"Or maybe they just haven't kicked in yet."

"Fuck. Could you untie me ?"

The two walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Okay", said Arthur. "I'm really not supposed to do this but, given your situation......I'll come back later with some samples for some other anti-psychotics. We'll see if those work. In the meantime.......just try not to go to crowded areas."

"Listen, Arthur, you don't have to do this. You don't have to get involved in all this shit, you don't owe me anything."

"Well I can't just walk away leaving a perfectly innocent person in a state like this. No, I want to help. I feel it is my duty as a pharmacist."

"Well thank you Arthur. You're a brave man, you know."

Hours later, Arthur was closing up the pharmacy and he slipped a several small bottles of powerful and experimental psychosis medication.

He drove down Wendy's street, searching for her house. Just as he neared it, he spotted a woman in a blank white night dress illuminated by his headlights. He swerved out of the way, skidding onto the pavement. He jammed his breaks and stopped before crashing.

He stumbled out of the car and looked at Wendy laying in the middle of the street giggling to herself. He walked over and picked her up. She stopped giggling and glared at him.

"You didn't run me over. What's the matter ? You didn't want to put us out of our misery ?", she asked.

"Great. You're back."

"I ain't going anywhere buddy."

"What about Wendy ?"

"She isn't coming back. She's weak. You're all weak."

She seemed to be rather benign, compared to usual at least, as he led her back to her bed to be restrained. She complied and he bound her hands.

He rifled through his vast, yet slightly felonious, array of medication. He found a sample of modern schizophrenia pills.

"We can try this first", said Arthur tentatively. "This stuff is pretty strong. It's also some of the rarest brand of it's kind. Very expensive"

She slumped in the bed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine", she sighed. "If it makes you feel safer. If it rids you of the feeling that something worse, something more sinister, something beyond the healing qualities of your little potions, is happening, then go right ahead."

He hesitated, then reminded himself he was listening to the psychotic version of a widow. Arthur gathered himself and placed the pill in her mouth. She swallowed enthusiastically and winked at him.

"I can't give you another dose for at the very least, another two hours. I'll be downstairs until then. Call me if Wendy comes back."

"Oh, she won't. Trust me."

Arthur returned after a couple of hours to find her laying on the bed.

"Wendy ?", asked Arthur. "Is that you ?"

She turned towards him and laughed loudly and menacingly.

"A little more bang and a little less buck, baby !", she cackled. Her voice seemed to be getting deeper, as if it was getting further away from Wendy's voice.

He sighed and turned around. How could her body reject both types of medication ? He lifted up the box of medication and turned as she levitated off the bed and lay, suspended in mid air. He dropped the box.

"I think we're gonna need some stronger medication", he gasped.

He stumbled against the wall, in shock. He watched as the handcuffs melted around her wrists. She stood up and looked at him. He looked into her glowing, red eyes.

He ran into the kitchen, slipping and sliding on various food containers. He saw as she floated into the kitchen, expressionless. He took out his phone and began to record her. Her head snapped towards him suddenly and grinned darkly. She waved her hand at the kitchen counter. He turned and saw the kitchen countertop now consisted of dozens of decaying hands grasping at him.

A hand grasped him by the leg and held him firmly. He dropped his phone. He struggled and more hands gripped his whole body and carried him towards the tabletop. A hand gripped him by the face and he felt two, pungeant, revolting fingers enter his mouth. He bit down and a thick, tarry, bitter substance fell onto his tongue.

More hands wrapped around him until he was being sucked into the tabletop. As Arthur was lowered by the hands into the countertop, he felt the world turn both icy cold and swelteringly hot. A new fear crept into him. Something primal and far more terrifying than being in a kitchen with a posessed woman in a creepy nightdress. He made one last effort and reached out of the table and into the adjacent drawer. He managed to pull out a knife.

He slashed and slashed at the hands that were dragging him to that horrible place. He struggles and crawled away from the hands. He collapsed on the floor and looked at her. She smiled evily at him.

"The Devil is making a visit to Cauteville", she said in a frighteningly deep tone. "And he doesn't plan on leaving anytime soon."

"Oh, talking about yourself in the third person now ? Yeah, real mature, asshole", growled Arthur.

Arthur escaped into her living room and looked around. He stopped and smiled when he saw a crucifix hanging above the fireplace. He marched back out into the kitchen and held the cross out in front of him. Steam began to rise off of her skin and she let out a high pitched screech. She ran back up the stairs as he chased her.

She ended back on the same bed and he kept her at bay by holding the cross in front of him. He looked in her dresser and found three more pairs of handcuffs. He restrained her once again and he watched as her eyes stopped glowing and she slowly fell asleep.

Arthur stayed with her until she awoke. She woke up slowly, not realising where she was at first. She looked thinner and weaker. She sat up.

"Well ?", she asked. "Did they work ?"

"I think I'll make some coffee."

The two settled in the kitchen with their mugs. She frowned when she saw his face.

"Um.....", whimpered Arthur. "Can you, um, explain what happens when you....you know...change ?"

"Well, its' kind've like I get pushed down into a dark, cramped space and someone else takes over my body until I'm able to push back up and take over. But, it's been getting harder to regain control lately."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"Why ?"

"And what about when you are in conrtol. Like now. Does anything happen."

"I hear.......voices. Or a voice, rather. It started of as distant at first, but it's gotten louder and louder."

"What does it say ?"

"Just crazy, random shit."

"Like what ?"

"Like things about.....hell and the devil and what not."

"Oh, fuck."

"Why, Arthur. What happened ?"

"Okay, I....can't say this. I sound like a lunatic."

Wendy became even paler than she already was.

"What, Arthur ? What the fuck happened ?"

"I think you need to be blessed."

"What ?"

"You know. Like by a priest."

"No, I already told you, I tried religion before, it did nothing."

"Oh, I wouldn't say it did nothing."

"What ? Why ?"

"Look."

He slid over his phone and she watched as her body floated around her kitchen with fiery red eyes and a manic smile on her face. Wendy's went slack before she started to cry.

"It's alright. It's fine. We can get Father Deacon.....or...", stuttered Arthur.

"It's just.....my life has.......well look. There's food all over the kitchen. I can't go outside because the voices threaten to take over. My husband left me and disappeared and now I'm fucking posessed by the Devil ? I'm such a fucking mess."

"No", said Arthur. "You're not a mess. This is not your fault. None of it is. We all have our demons. Some less literal than yours, of course, but they're there all the same. Take me for example. I'm basically alone. I've never been in love."

"You don't wanna fall in love, buddy. All love did for me was show me how fleeting goodness is in this world and how adhesive the evil is."

Arthur sighed.

"Listen", he said. "I'll call back tomorrow. We'll go to the church and I'll see if they have any supplies for an exorcism. I've ordained myself online so that should give me some leverage."

That night, Wendy braced herself and made a short journey to the church by herself.

Wendy Lilith sat into the confession box. She could hear Father Deacon mumbling nonsense to himself on the other side. She didn't care. She just needed someone to listen.

"Bless me Father for I have sinned", she spoke softly. "I went looking for Heaven and I found Hell, Father. I searched for God and I found the Devil."

At that moment, the smell of boiling flesh was made apparent. A sly grin crept upon her face.

"But what the Hell, I think I'll let him take over. Better the Devil you know than the God you don't, eh priestie ?"

The next day, Arthur couldn't shake the morbid feeling that loomed over him all day, so her closed up shop early and headed towards Wendy's house.

He arrived and walked into the dark house. She was laying, unconscious in the kitchen. He woke her up gently.

"Wendy ?", he asked softly. "Is that you ?"

She woke up. Upon seeing that she wasn't levitating nor had red eyed, he relaxed. She stumbled up and then jerked straight up. She closed her eyes. She opened them, revealing that they were now red. She lunged at Arthur.

He ran back down the hall. He watched her as she rushed at him slowly. Her knees became inverted, her feet facing the wrong way around. She twisted and writhed towards him, screaming with laughter, eyebrows arched. She then deflated and fell asleep.

She woke as Wendy again.

"Did it happen again ?", she asked weakly. "Yup", Arthur said, pale faced. "It's getting harder to keep him down", she whispered. "I have to concentrate just to keep control."

She limped to his car, still wearing the creepy white nightdress.

They arrived at the church shortly after. The door was left unlocked, thanks to Father Deacon, who was busy trying to break into the Starbucks across the street.

Wendy doubled over suddenly.

"Are you alright ?", asked Arthur. "I can't keep him down for much longer", she said. "It hurts too much."

Arthur cradled her into his arms. She looked at him.

"Remember", she croaked. "No fucking mercy."

He carried her up the aisle, ignoring the cow casually chewing on one of the wooden pews.

Arthur lay Wendy, who was now asleep, down on the altar. He took out his crucifix and began incanting some Latin he'd gotten from the internet.

She then jerked awake, red eyed and furious. She restrained her screams as both the church and the crucifix burned her skin. She struggled to get up and withhold her pain. She levitated into the air, screaming.

She waved her hand and a wooden chair flew at Arthur, exploding beside him. He ducked behind the table and yelled some more incantations. She fell to the altar, burning. Her red hair was now glowing a fiery orange.

"The power of Christ compels you", said Arthur waving the cross at her.

She crouched, screeching, trying to get up. She levitated and flew at him. He thrust his crucifix at her and she flung sideways, crashing into a window. She fell to the ground, shards falling around her.

"The power of Christ compels you !", shouted Arthur.

She wriggled and rolled on the floor, thrashing as the Devil burned inside of her. As she was burning, she picked up a shard of glass and stood up, crying out. She swung the glass at Arthur, making a clean, concise cut across his throat.

A loud popping sound echoed through the church as the cow got the hell out of there.

He dropped the crucifix and stepped back. Blood spewed from his gash. He fell back onto the altar. Suddenly, she wretched and strained and then collapsed. Wendy regained control and crawled across the altar. She didn't have enough energy to stand. She cried as she fought against him. She sweated and shook violently against the temptation to give in. She blocked out the voices comdemning her and clutched the crucifix tight. She took the phone and spat the incantations.

She snapped and the Devil took back over and levitated into the air. Wendy came back, interrupting the levitation, falling to the floor. She heard some ribs crack. She grasped the cross. She screamed the last incantations and raised the cross into the air.

She collapsed, unconscious. Her body rose into the air, an empty vessel. The Devil was expelled from her body in a cornucopia of fire and brimstone exploding out of her mouth. She fell back onto the altar and woke up.

She finally relaxed. Her bones no longer ached from fighting against the Devil. She no longer heard the voices. Her vision no longer blurred by evil. She peered around. She cried out upon seeing what she'd done to Arthur. She got up and sauntered slowly out of the church, getting consumed by the blackest night she'd ever witnessed. She didn't return to her house that night. She vanished, as if that fateful Cauteville night swallowed her and never spat her back out.