Oh my God! He's shaking. Sara looks at me hallucinating. If she keeps this up, ten to one she'll burst into tears....
"Enough David...now leave the room..., please!" That's it, exactly: a flood of tears.
My heart clenches at that plea.
"Yes, of course. I'll be right out."
I get out of bed and look resignedly at my friend.
"Get well soon..."
A barely whispered phrase, who knows if he heard me.
With my hand I make a sign to Sara.
"I'll wait for you outside, I need to talk to you." Nodding, she gently strokes her brother to calm him down.
Minutes pass and I try to reorganize my few confused ideas.
Sara walks out of the room and wipes her eyes, now contoured by a black halo of loose makeup. I get up and walk towards her. She looks soothed again.
"I'm sorry if I was a little abrupt earlier, it's just..."
"Don't worry, it's okay."
In her shoes, I might have even been less diplomatic.
"I wanted to ask you something." I take time to phrase the request in a way that doesn't give her false hope.
"Here, I was wondering if you could give me the keys to his apartment...you know, I have some ideas to try to figure out what happened." I nip her question in the bud.
"It's nothing concrete, I'd just like to take a look on her computer, maybe I'll find something interesting."
Her facial muscles relax. I convince her.
"Yes, that's fine. But please, whatever you find out, you'll have to let me know right away." Depends.
"Of course, of course!" Categorical as a maybe.
Six more floors to walk: freaking elevator!
I pick up the set of keys Sara gave me. I weigh it: it's going to be a pound! With all these key chains attached, it looks more like a defensive weapon.
Sixth attempt: I finally guessed the right key. I open the door and enter. Pitch darkness.
I turn on the light and...god what a mess! The last time I went in, I hadn't noticed that Roberto was so messy. Wait a minute, the laundry is fine, but the shards on the floor of the lamp really seem excessive. After all, the way he looked, he may have been so sick he couldn't make it to clean up. I can smell a nauseating odour, maybe it would be better to open the windows and let it air out.
I have to remember to tell Sara to come and clean up: this house is really pitiful!
Here's the computer, I turn it on. Luckily no password, blessed ingenuity.
Let's see if there's something interesting in the documents folder.
Nothing. Okay, go with Internet Explorer, I doubt he has Firefox or Chrome installed or familiar with it anyway.
Let's check the history: anthology of witchcraft, necromancy, demonology... but what the heck kind of sites does he visit? He's completely nuts. I wonder if I can find anything useful.
Got it! Here's what I've been looking for, at least I hope so: Chat the spirits.
With a little luck I might find someone and chat with them.
It's as deserted as a cemetery, just to stay on topic. I'd say wait until later, maybe someone will connect. In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to do a thorough scan of your computer's hard drive. I realize it's like violating a person's privacy, but it's necessary if I want to find a minimum of information.
The grinder takes its time. I focus my attention on a folder with a strange name: Black Moon, could it be a collection of daring photos? Let's check the contents.
It contains dozens of written documents, it looks like material downloaded from those strange sites.
Beep! Each image suddenly disappears from the monitor.
"Beep? What do you mean, beep? The power had to go out right now?"
All right, don't panic. I take advantage of the pause and take a tour of the house. The bedroom. Let's see if there are any diaries with phone numbers in the bedside table.
It's full of strange knick-knacks: a white candle and a black one: both used, an embroidered ribbon, bells, a mirror and this strange dust, what is it? Sniff! It smells like incense.
But yes! That's what the smell was when I walked in: incense!
I wish someone would explain to me if it's normal to have such items in the nightstand! Thinking back, though, I seem to remember something I read a while back about it... something that had to do with these materials for some pagan ritual.
Let's venture a hypothesis: the nutcase, that is Roberto, out of the blue and for an arcane and unknown reason, begins to be interested in esotericism, he knows some crazy people in a chat room that induce him to perform strange rituals and take mysterious hallucinogenic substances that reduce him to a rag.
This might be the best theory to unravel the whole thing, or almost. The strange note lies in the fact that doctors did not find any particular substances in his blood. Could it be that he used drugs so sophisticated that they couldn't be detected so easily, because they were expelled through bleeding? It would take a chemist, and I, unfortunately, am a simple insurance man.
I'm starting to get hungry, a nice pizza would be nice while waiting for midnight, if the power comes back on.
Beep! The computer turns back on along with the lights in the room.
Fantastic! Apparently in this house you just have to want things.
Six more goddamn floors on foot! If I had thought of it sooner, I would have fasted. At least I digested the pizza.
I catapult myself onto the couch. The day has been destructive and the good thing is that it's not over yet.
Let's get back on the internet. Let's see what exactly this black moon thing is.
It seems that this is another nickname used for the figure of Lilith and that this was even the first woman of Adam created by God, for him and like him, from the mud.
Legend says that she escaped from Adam because, judging herself equal with him, she did not want to submit, especially during sexual relations... ah!
Lilith, moreover, pronounced angrily the name of God, took flight and left the garden of Paradise taking refuge on the shores of the Red Sea. Leaving the Paradise on her own initiative, before the fall of man and not touching the Tree of Knowledge, she was not condemned to mortality. Fled into the desert and met the Djinns, with whom she mated. It was generated so a line of demons called Lilim. This rebellion did not go unnoticed by God who sent three angels, Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof, to convince Lilith to return with Adam. A terrible punishment was the answer to her categorical refusal: almost all her children were exterminated. Since then, her hatred towards men was nourished over the centuries, as well as the mortal danger for all those who wanted to hinder her revenge.
A story with a happy ending, no doubt about it. While it's undoubtedly a tale of terror, a warning to mind your own business is there, and I'm a guy who generally respects such things.
Below are also the rituals for conjuring it, with a marked note that absolutely discourages men from performing them. Wait, you want to bet that this list contains the same items I found in the drawer?
I'll check: I won a goldfish.
Now, more than ever, I'm sure that Roberto has already recoiled before he got sick.
Let's enter the famous chat room and see if I can catch some more goldfish in the net...
He wants a nickname, a nickname: Apollo sounds good, he's the God of the sun, he's what we need to keep our distance.
There are five people in the chat room, let's hope to catch the right ones. I'll enter.
Hello folks!
Welcome Apollo.
A new snack!
Good Carmilla, this is a colleague.
Are you new around here, Apollo?
Minted a few million years ago.
A humorist! But were you warned that this is a devilish chat?
A friend recommended it to me.
What did you do to him that was so terrifying?
Guys, a little hospitality!
Really, you want me to run out of dinner?
Careful, Carmilla, you might get burned....
Who's your friend? We all know each other here.
We're a small community of burnouts.
I don't remember what nick you use, but his name is Roberto and he's a tall, thin guy with curly hair.
Lilim! No way, you're friends with the nutcase?
Got it! It can only be him!
Hey! Easy with the insults! Lilim is my friend!
To tell you the truth, he's been missing for a while.
Yes, Angel, Phobia and Genie are also missing.
Honey was supposed to call me on Sunday after Saturday's outing.
Yes! Got one of the mystery group.
Did you fail the charm test? :-)
Don't be alarmed, I have my ways of winning a man over!
Alright, but let's not get off topic: I want the name of the club.
He told me about the evening. He told me he had a great time.
Yes, but behind Carmilla's back :-)
For me he is continuing to have fun, but with the beautiful Angel!
I doubt Lilim is the ideal type of Angel....
Angel? And the girl would be...
I don't know who this Angel is, but Roberto... Lilim, he's not a bad guy.
Dude, get served, she's too high of a target for many, and Lilim, with all due respect, at best can only polish his Harley!
The Harley Davidson! The same bike I saw that woman on. Coincidence?
Put it any way you want, but there was a lot of chemistry between the two of them lately....
Theirs was just a friendship over the same fixation!
I'm not aware of Roberto having any special interest.
Guys let's stop with the gossip! Our guest might think it's Novella 2000
