Pure Human - Closure

[Posted by Ted H]


Imagine The Rock when I say...FINALLY! This sage has ended. No computer problem can stop me from finishing this shit. And now with a clean month between now and NaNoWriMo, I can sit and figure shit out. Enjoy the finale...

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[Pure Human - Closure]

"This is all this guy's fault," Blake muttered as they arrived days later at the Upstate New York suburban home. Blake wore a sling supporting his arm, which he used to hold his lighter and cigarettes. "Did you even read the file Matthew gave us?" John asked, ignoring the statement. "I got the gist of it," Blake said as he used his good arm to set up a cigarette in his mouth to light up once he exits the car.
"Does it bother you," John asked, causing Blake to freeze "That Matthew can't find any record or information on Vitaearnus?" Blake shrugged "Maybe he needs to look harder," he replied, then finally exited the car. Blake smoked outside the car for a moment while eyeing the house of his earlier client, which now had a "For Sale" sign prominently featured in the yard.

"How you wanna do this?" John asked. Blake shrugged. "I just want to wrap this up and get drunk," Blake responded as he flicked his cigarette away and started towards the house. "Just be nice about it," John warned "The guy has had a rough week." Blake rolled his eyes "Then we can compare notes," he said as he reached the front door and knocked.

A few moments passed before the door slowly opened, revealing the man from the beginning. He was unshaven and had the look of a man who hadn't slept in a few days. "Seems we've all had a rough week," Blake said as the man wore a stern look on his face. "I don't care anymore," the man said as he began to close the door "You got paid, just go away." Blake stuck his foot in the door to keep it open. "Hey," Blake spat out "You want closure? Cuz I've got closure for you."

"My wife is dead," the man said.

"I know," Blake said plainly "It's in the file." The man pressed his lips and gave a stern look, but ultimately relented and allowed Blake in. "Where's Lizzie?" Blake asked as he entered "Never mind," he said quickly "I hear cartoons." There were a few packed boxes piled in the hallway and the pictures that lined the walls when Blake was first around were gone. The father was visibly upset with Blake, so John decided to divert the anger. "How did your wife die?" he asked. The father paused "They said it was a stroke, but...It couldn't have been," he said. "It wasn't," Blake said, then pressed ahead.

The three made for the living room where Lizzie sat almost in a trance watching television on the couch. "How is she holding up after her mother died?" John asked. "It's like she doesn't even notice," the father responded, tears welling up in his eyes. "What if I said she's connected?" Blake asked as he pulled his fist from his coat and blew powder over Lizzie.

"This shit again?" the father yelled as he charged at Blake and grabbed him by his collar. "Relax," Blake said. "Get out!" the man yelled. "Sir, just calm down," John tried to assure "You've seen before what Blake did was harmless."

"It's also ineffective." he man said as he released Blake. "Watch carefully and try to stay calm about this," Blake said as he raised his hand over Lizzie and lowered it down to his side slowly. As his hand fell passed Lizzie, the outward appearance she had as a child slowly faded to reveal the form of a blurry charred black figure with deep pools of white where her eyes would go.

"What the fuck is that?" the man whispered while his lower lip quivered.

"It's called a mimic sprite," Blake answered as Lizzie's facade of a normal girl faded back into view, all the while she obliviously watched television. "It's a parasite grade spirit."

"Why didn't it look like this the first time?" the father demanded. "Because it wasn't there last time," Blake said "But it was preparing her for a takeover."

"What do you mean?"

"When the sprite needs a new host, it first needs to vacate the soul from it. As little Lizzie was losing her soul, you took notice to it and mistook it for a possession."

"I...I don't understand..."

"It's a lot to take in, I get it."

The father began to weep for a moment. Blake and John stood nearby awkwardly. Lizzie continued to watch television. "Why her?" he finally asked, wiping away tears "Why my Lizzie?"

"It needs a blood relative," Blake said plainly "Your wife did this."

"What?" the father said, snapping out of his grief.

"If I used the Illusion Breaker on her before, we would have seen her for what she really was."

"When was my wife taken?"

"She lost her mother the same way when she was about Lizzie's age. The woman you thought you knew died as a child. What you loved, married and had a daughter with is now sitting there in your child's body. The father took a step back in disbelief. "What do I do?" he asked "What can I do?"

"She's pretty harmless now," Blake said while looking at the oblivious child "Give it about a week or two and the parasite will adjust to its new body, she'll act like the old Lizzie. Heck, you might just decide that everything you saw and heard today was either a dream or a hallucination, and go back to a regular life."

"A regular life?" the father asked "With that monster?"

"Raise her to be a nun," Blake said with a shrug "Keep her celibate. End the cycle with her."

"Wait, what?" the father asked, confused "Aren't you going to do something about her? This is your job."

"My job," Blake corrected "Is to identify what was happening to your daughter. A Mimic Sprite is hard to stop once it has a foothold. And even if we stopped it, your daughter's soul was already draining and your wife was gonna die anyway."

"Get that thing OUT of my daughter," the father demanded.

"That thing IS your daughter now," Blake said "There's no getting rid of it and saving what Lizzie was. And before you get any ideas of how you can get rid of that spirit, I'd advise you watch "The Omen" and see how things ended for the father there."

"What can I do about this?"

Blake gave another shrug, then motioned to John that it was time to leave. "Raise it, or don't" he said as he handed John the file and began walking back down the hall for the exit "Put it up for adoption of whatever. Like I said, it's pretty harmless right now. Start panicking when it gets pregnant."

"You have got to be kidding me," the father bellowed in anger "You just expect me to live a normal life with this thing, this monster?"

Blake fished out his cigarettes and stopped short of the open front door. He barely looked back as he simply said "Yes."

"That thing isn't even human!"

Blake stifled a laugh as he walked out the door. "You'd be amazed at what passes for human nowadays."