Evil Gods

“Please state your name for the camera.”

“Eliza Schroeder.”

“How old are you Eliza?”

“16 years... Jack, why do I have to do this? You know my name,”

“Just trust me Eliza. When have I ever misled you?”

“...Fair point. Okay, continue,”

“What are some of your earliest memories?”

“Of, uh... of....”

“Eliza, it's okay. Tell me exactly how you remember,”

“...Well, I remember two Gods,” “Tell me about these two Gods,”

“When I was little, I remember two Gods watching over me. I remember there being a God of Water, and the other was a God of Fire. Ugh, this sounds crazy, Jack, do I really have to talk about this? ”

“Eliza, if it helps you, just remember you were very young and your brain wasn't fully developed when you concocted this tale. You know poor Mark behind the camera is going to have to edit all of this out?”

“What is this even for, Jack?”

“Get on with the story, Eliza, or you'll start losing privileges,”

“...I'm sixteen...”

“You're not an adult, yet. Now please comply.”

“...So, there was a God of Water and a God of Fire. The God of Fire was very angry, always spewing fire out of his mouth,”

“Sorry to cut you off, but do you remember what kind of fire?”

“I mean, it smelled bad. Really bad. And he also said words along with the fire. The God of Fire's voice was always in a thunderous boom. He really scared me... I remember crying all the time... but then the God of Water, she-”

“She? So these Gods had genders?”

“Yes, one man and one woman. Anyways, the God of Water, she had the touch of nice, cold water, and whenever the God of Fire spewed his awful flames, she would always protect me. She would heal my wounds, take everything away. But the God of Fire, he was never satisfied. He always threw her to the side, like a ragdoll, just threw her against a wall and there were always screams... she could never heal herself for some reason... sometimes, the God of Fire would pick me up and shake me, and his hot burning breath would just always be in my face, fill up my nose, it would smell so bad, and my head would be singed by his fire breath... a few times, I remember, I felt ashes on my hair...”

“It sounds very traumatic... how often would this happen?”

“I don't know... maybe once a... week? Maybe more? But at least once a week, he would throw her to the side, and put all the fire. The God of Water would remove the ashes and everything from my head when the God of Fire would leave... but one day, one day...”

“...One day?”

“...I can't do this anymore... it's too painful to remember...”

“...Eliza, Mark needs to send this video out by the end of the day. Tell her Mark,”

“No, there's no need... okay, okay... so, one day...”

“Start with the 'one day'. So Mark can edit it seamlessly,”

“Are you serious right now?”

“Yes, do as I say Eliza...”

“...One day, the God of Water, she started to fight the God of Fire. It was a battle like I had never seen...”

“Where did you observe all of this?”

“I remember... lying on my back, always on my back. I was on some kind of elevated position, but the Gods kept me imprisoned... there were bars in front of me,”

“Bars... I see. Now continue with the great battle,”

“The God of Fire, he... he... he... grabbed a stick of fire and smashed it on the God of Water's face. I saw droplets of some kind of red liquid fall from her face, almost like blood... and there were parts of the fire stuck in her face...”

“Stuck?”

“Yeah, they were wedged in her face. They didn't burn it, but she screamed like it was burning. The sparks just stayed in there, burning it... but then... the God of Water, she stood up, the fire and blood on her face, and she just summoned a tidal wave and pushed the God of Fire to the floor, and drowned him...”

“Drowned?”

“I mean, I never saw him get back up. His eyes were popped out, and I heard him gasp for a few minutes, but then it just stopped. She drowned him, and finally put him out. Then there were never ashes in my hair ever again... I met you actually really soon after that, Jack...”

“Yes, but what happened inbetween?”

“...Well... the God of Water... I don't know what happened, but she turned even more evil than the God of Fire. There were two Evil Gods around me... after the drowning, she picked me up and said... and said... 'We're going on a nice ride, we're going to the waves...'”

“Waves?”

“Yes, waves... She entered some kind of... vehicle? She didn't fly or anything... she needed a vehicle to get around, I guess... and she went into the direction of... the waves... the waves...”

“The waves...”

“The waves, yeah Jack, the waves, the waves, do I have to continue?”

“Aren't you almost done?”

“But this is the most painful part... my head is hurting... like, really hurting... I feel like... throwing... unnnnh...”

“Eugh, oh my God! Mark, go get the janitor!”

“Ugggh... I don't know, I always feel a need to... expel fluids... when I think about what... she tried to drown me, but in a worse way... I wasn't able to see, I was just staring at the ceiling of the vehicle, and she kept cooing, saying 'The waves will fix everything, baby, don't you worry...', and one second I was in the vehicle, the next I saw a huge splash, and there was water everywhere...”

“What did the God do?”

“She was just... sitting... just sitting, looking in front of her... she kept saying, 'Soon, it'll all be over, baby, soon, then we can all in heaven together,'”

“Heaven? Wasn't she a God?”

“I don't know, I don't know how to else to describe them, one just used fire and one used water, it seemed otherworldly, unearthly... she said heaven, I remember that so clearly, because right after she said that, water started to come inside the vehicle...”

“...And?”

“I don't think I knew to close my mouth... I was coughing, coughing, water in my lungs, but all of a sudden, I went through the other side of the vehicle, and then, I think I saw the God one last time, but back when she was nice, before she turned evil and tried to... tried to...”

“Kill you,”

“...Yeah, Jack. Kill me. She put a current of water under me and put me to the surface. I still was coughing, but I heard... noises... sirens? Noises... and then, there you were...”

“...And that's where it ends?”

“Yes. Can I... can I go now?”

“Yeah, you can go,”

“So, Mark, was the sociologist happy with the video?”

“Yeah, I edited it up and everything. And he was happy with the results. It proves his “God theory”, that young children believe their parents are like Gods... and without proper reinforcement, that the God idea persists, AKA in abusive households where the parents aren't parents... they're so in charge, that the child thinks they're a God,”

“So he can prove this theory with one experiment?”

“No, he's going to other state wards to look for victims like Eliza, and ask for interviews, like what happened here,”

“I'm surprised she still remembers all of it... though what she said isn't completely true...”

“What do you mean?”

“...Before the car went into the ocean, the mother was trying to slash Eliza's wrists,”

“...Are you serious?”

“Yeah, there was a knife on the mother's person, but what the police think happened, uh... sorry, it's been over a decade now... the police think the mother hit a speedbump and Eliza went to the floor. And the knife, it went in the air, and... the mother had a knife sticking out of her head, when we found her corpse in the water,”

“What are the chances?”

“Not good... neither are the chances that Eliza found some miracle current... I have a theory on what happened, but the department never believed me...”

“What do you think?

“...I think Eliza stabbed her mother,”

“...She was a toddler, Jack,”

“...Yeah, you're right. She was a toddler... or maybe, just maybe... there wasn't any glass found on the mother's neck, like Eliza was suggesting, just the knife.”

“What else could the sparks be?”

“...Actual sparks,”

“...That would mean her parents were actual Gods, Jack. And we both know that's not true,”

“Did you know the house was burning down when we visited? So we never got to see the father's body, or me rather... you know, I'm the only one left alive from that investigation... you're new here Mark, so here's the gist of the matter... every other man in that investigation died from burns or drowning,”

“...You're fucking with me now, right Jack?”

“...No. Isn't it a weird coincidence? And as for where I was, I was just behind the speeding car, being in the area after a neighbor reported screaming. When the car went into the lake, I stopped and immediately got out. But here's the thing... Before I could even dive in, Eliza was already on the ground, crying and coughing water out of her lungs, almost like a current DID push her up... but that's impossible,”

“...Uh, do you happen to know what the father looked like?”

“Yeah, we did cross-checks and everything during the case,”

“...I have a photo of the sociologist. You never looked at it, did you?”

“No, I thought I didn't have to?”

“...Take a look,”

“Why?”

“...This is starting to scare me, Jack, this God story, and that would make Eliza a demigod or something like that, but the sociologist, the picture of him, I don't know, but there's just something.. off about it,”

“Okay, fine. You don't think it's the father or something stupid like that, do you?”

“...Look,”

“You know, they look... really alike... similar... could be twins, in fact...”

“I'm starting to feel hot, Jack... I'm burning up...”

“When did you send the video out, Mark?”

“Dude, I'm telling you, I'm really sweating right now...”

“Mark. Answer the question.”

“A few hours ago... oh shit... Jack... I feel... faint...”

“Jesus Christ Mark, I'll call a medic to check on you. First I need to go to Eliza...”

“Behind... you...”

“Stop scaring me Mark, there's nothing behind m-”

Written by Sater