The Faithless
Title: The Faithless
Pairing: Adam/Tommy
Characters: Adam, Tommy, made up parental characters.
Author: i_amthecosmos
Rating: R
Word Count: 3,767
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. None of this is true, and this is a non-profit fanwork. Do not Tweet this to anyone portrayed.
Warning: Character death, violence.
Summary: At the Living Word Church, the faithful show their devotion to the Lord by picking up the serpent. Tommy is not among the faithful, and his death leads to horrifying revenge.
Horror Line: “I brought you something, Mommy.”-Pet Semetary
Notes: This was my entry for the Shun the Light horror contest. Thanks to vlredreign for the beta.
Tommy reeled back from the blow, holding his cheek. His father stepped back. “Don’t you ask me to skip church again, boy. Long as you live here, you won’t be a pagan. You’re coming with us, and I don’t want you to defy me again.” Tommy wiped his mouth and nodded, not looking at him. Church was the last place he wanted to be.
His mother came into the room, acting as if nothing had happened. “We need to go see all our brothers and sisters in Christ,” she said, pretending to be happy. Tommy almost sneered at her-she hated nearly everyone at the church, and he didn’t know why she pretended otherwise. It was almost obscene, the way she acted so nice to people’s faces and the way she talked about them to the family. “And you know Adam will be there. I don’t know why I let you two be friends, though,” she said, smoothing her skirt. “I know he’s the preacher’s son, but, you know.”
Tommy muttered. “Yeah, I know he’s an adopted Jew,” and his father grabbed his shoulder and shook him. Tommy didn’t apologize. His mom loved using Adam’s birth mother against him, even though he’d lived with Brother Jack since he was five. The preacher was a son of a bitch, just like his parents, but he’d taken Adam in. Tommy didn’t know if it was any improvement over his birth folks or not. Tommy didn’t say anything more, and, his mother ready, they headed out to walk to church.
Tommy walked a little behind his parents as they trudged up the hills toward the small wooden building a half mile from their house, his father praying all the way. “Lord, protect us and give us the strength to do your bidding. Lord, may all of us be one with you and feel the presence of your Holy Spirit. Our love for you is eternal, and we will never falter in our faith. Amen!”
“Amen,” Tommy and his mother said. Tommy did his best to sound enthusiastic, but in his mind the words were hollow. He dreaded what he would find there, and his parents knew it. But nothing could get him out of church attendance, not even sickness. Tommy watched as his mother walked ahead of him, carrying a giant Bible with her. “I’ve been waiting for tonight,” she said. “I need to lay my troubles down and be with the Lord tonight.” Tommy knew she meant him, but he kept silent. He wasn’t going to let a thing she said or did get to him tonight. He had a guitar he had bought without them knowing, and some money stashed in the woods behind the house. He was gonna leave soon, even though Adam wouldn’t come with him. That memory had to be pushed away-it hurt too much.
Adam was a beautiful, shy boy with red hair and a voice that almost made him believe in angels. Tommy was his friend, he knew him. He loved him, and not in Christ. Then they were at the church and Tommy had to brace himself for what came next.
He saw the cages immediately, the collection of carefully cared for rattlesnakes Brother Jack kept in his back barn. They were treated with reverence, like beloved pets, and the biggest was about two feet long. Tommy had to hold in his shudder, as his dad would notice. He just took a seat near the back, tore his eyes away from the (terrifying) snakes, and then he saw the pictures again. The church walls were lined in pictures of people in their coffins, of the faithless, those that died handling the serpent. Tommy had grown up with these pictures of the dead haunting his dreams, and he only wanted to get out of there so he’d never see another one.
But he wanted to take Adam with him. Adam, who was looking straight ahead and singing with the group, but his voice rose above the rest, a pure sound in this place that Tommy was sure no decent god would ever visit. Tommy stopped staring at the back of Adam’s head-his mother wasn’t paying attention, but he didn’t need to take the chance.
The music changed after an hour from choral singing to pounding drums and a wild tempo, designed to get people in a frenzy. Everyone moved the chairs to the side and danced to the pounding rhythm as Brother Jack screamed over the music. “All evil spirits leave this house of worship, for we are the righteous and not afraid. We are not afraid of anything the Lord sends us.” Tommy looked at Jack’s withered hand, the reminder of a snake bite that happened two years ago.
He was afraid, and he knew that meant he lacked faith.
The crowd pressed forward, people still dancing in dervish-like circles near the back, talking in tongues, and a few fell prostrate to the floor. Tommy found himself in the middle, between the dancers and the tongue-speakers, as Brother Jack opened the cage with the snakes.
Tommy looked up and saw Adam looking at him then, dropping his gaze when he saw the fear Tommy always had when the cage was open. His father went right up, walking slowly as if he was under a spell. As dad took one of the small rattlers, Tommy could hear the voices around him call up to god, and could see his mother swaying a few feet from him. The church smelled like sweat and wet leaves, and he only wished he could take Adam with him and go. He knew damned well that Adam could only play the perfect preacher’s son for so much longer.
Tommy was letting his mind wander, he had to keep it sharp. More snakes were being taken out, most held reverently as the faithful prayed, swaying as if in a trance as they did what they thought the Lord wanted. Other men began drinking from the big jugs of water mixed with strychnine, to prove their faith by drinking poison. Tommy knew the trick behind that-small amounts of that poison built up an immunity. There was a reason that nobody used arsenic in church-that shit built up in your system-and Tommy’s thoughts stopped dead.
Right then a fucking rattler was in his face. His father, his father had walked over to him, still praying, with the snake in his hands. Tommy tried to back away, but he was pressed into place. He looked at the snake’s yellow eyes, and he swore he saw something in there, some emotion. And that was the moment it lashed out, biting him, fangs sinking into his cheek.
He could barely feel the bite itself, but the feeling of the poison working up his body happened immediately. He swayed, and he felt hands on him, dragging him to the cot in the corner of the one-roomed church. He heard a strangled cry, and he knew that Adam was coming. When he opened his eyes, Adam was there, praying over him. Another parishioner got some of the cheap cooking oil by the cot and anointed him. The music had stopped, and several people prayed. He could hear them.
Then he heard his father. “He didn’t take up the serpent, he was attacked by it. The serpent singled him out and if he dies it’s God’s will.” Most of the praying stopped then, and he could feel rather than see people backing from him, from his apostacy. He saw his father’s hand on Adam’s shoulder, trying to pull him away. Adam shoved his shoulder away-disobeying a grownup-and kept praying for him. Even with his face swollen from the bite, Tommy could see the panic on his face as he said “Lord spare Tommy Ratliff from your wrath and if it is his time, deliver him into your arms.” He then saw Adam move his lips, not saying it out loud. Forgive me.
Tommy opened his mouth, but he couldn’t speak. He wanted to say You didn’t do anything wrong. We did nothing wrong. We kissed, we only kissed. Adam, help me. Call a doctor, don’t let me die. Adam, don’t let me… He could feel the darkness come over him then, but he could still hear.
Adam wailed, and then there was a noise like a slap and then Brother Jack’s voice. “Don’t mourn the faithless, boy. The serpent picked him out for death.” Then Tommy could hear no more.
When Tommy was buried, Adam stood alone as Tommy’s parents dug a grave away from the others, on unhallowed ground in the woods. His father dug the grave quickly and Tommy’s shroud-covered body was dumped into it. His father said no prayers over him and just started filling the hole. Adam whispered his prayers, because if no one else would mourn Tommy he had to. “Forgive us Lord,” he said. “Forgive us.” But even to his ears they rang hollow. He remembered Tommy’s last words to him, said after Adam felt his gentle lips touching his.I’m going to leave, come with me And then his words to Tommy, No, I can’t. His guilt outweighed his grief then and he stopped praying. He could have stopped this, and worse, he knew that Tommy had wanted him to.
He left before Tommy’s parents saw him. He had to get back to doing chores before his father knew that he was missing. Tommy was dead now, and he had no hope of anything in his life changing anymore.
When Tommy opened his eyes, he was still underground. The dirt sifted into his eyes from the rotting shroud his parents had put him in, but he could work his way up from the soft earth. Why am I back? He thought. And where are my…
Tommy stopped for a minute. He had no arms, no legs. His body was a long straight line, and in the moonlight he could see the scales. He shook his tail experimentally and the rattles he heard gave him a thrill of power. He opened his mouth, and he could feel the fangs protruding from his mouth. “I’m back…” he said, and he could hear the hiss in his voice. He didn’t have to think about it, he just moved towards his parents’ house.
He hadn’t gone more than a few feet before another rattler slid beside him. Tommy looked at it and bared his teeth in a grin. His fellow snake couldn’t return it, but he went with him towards his house. Another snake joined them, then another, until he reached his parent’s small, dilapidated house with a small army. The front door was unlocked-he knew his father always left it unlocked, because the Lord would protect.
It took a minute to open the door without arms, but it wasn’t impossible. Tommy looked around at the house he hated so much. All the pictures of him had been ripped from their places, the spots where they were lighter than the rest. Tommy hissed, and his friends hissed with him. The noise was loud enough to be heard through the house, and his father’s snoring came to an abrupt stop.
Tommy stopped, and his army stopped with him. Tommy waited as he pictured his father grabbing the shotgun beside their bed. His mother said,“What was that noise?” as the light in their room came on. Tommy stood his ground. His dad could shoot him. Or, anyway, he could try.
Tommy stayed on the floor, just lifting his head, tongue flicking out to smell the booze and sweat as his father came closer. "Hey! Get outta here! We got nothing to steal, and you get your junkie ass-" his father stopped as he turned the light on. Tommy reared up more as if he were a cobra and was rewarded with his father's face going ash-white.
"No. No, Lord. Son? Son, is that you?" And Tommy grinned, baring his teeth as his father claimed him for the first time since the bite, begging him. "Son, be merciful..."
"No," Tommy said, and the snakes around him hissed as well. "I won't be," he said, and just as he was about to strike, his mother ran in, screaming as soon as she got a look at him.
"He's the devil! I was right, I knew he was the devil!" She shrieked, and Tommy slid closer, feeling something churn inside him. He knew instinctively what it was; he could feel them getting ready to come out.
"I brought you something, Mommy," he said and his jaw unhinged as he vomited dozens of tiny rattlers onto his parents, covering them in snakes and mucus. The other snakes rushed forward then, and Tommy just watched his parents as the bites took effect, as their skin swelled and the paralysis overtook their bodies. Tommy was disappointed in how soon they died. It wasn't as much fun as he had hoped.
So he left them with the baby rattlers still curled around their dead bodies. He didn’t pause to look at his mother, her tongue sticking out of her mouth, or his father, his eyes gone, disappeared into his swollen flesh. He didn't look back as they slithered out of the front door, on to Brother Jack's house.
When Tommy reached the preacher’s house, the first place he went was outside, to the snake cages. He knew what he could do as soon as he saw the locks, and he spat venom at them until they sizzled and opened. As the snakes slid out, Tommy turned back to the main house, and then paused. Adam’s in there, he thought. But the next thought was Adam left you to die. Adam didn’t save you. He can take his chances. And then Tommy led his silent army through the backyard and to the screen door, using his head to push open the small holes in the screen until they could go in.
Tommy flicked his tongue out, tasting the air, and he could tell where Brother Jack and his wife’s bedroom was. They headed that way, and Tommy was glad that he wasn’t alone, like he’d been in his human life. He moved toward the door-it was closed.
Tommy reared up, and thunked his body against the door, knocking, hoping they just let him in. His tail rattled too, and he could hear it echo off the walls. The gasps from inside the room made him smile. “Who’s there?” Brother Jack said. “I have a gun!” Tommy didn’t give a shit if he did or not. His father never even got the balls to fire. Let’s see if Jack is more man than my dad, he thought, smiling around his fangs again.
Sure enough, Jack met him at the door with two barrels aimed straight ahead. Then he saw what he was aiming at, and Tommy watched his arms sag. “Boy. You’ve become a demon. You should have repented while you were dying.”
“You said I was lost,” he said, his voice still garbled. “I didn’t repent, and I don’t forgive.”
“Then you go back to the Devil,” Jack said, and fired point blank.
Tommy’s body shuddered from the noise and vibrations, but nothing else happened. When he looked around, he saw several of his snakes blown apart, only a few still rattling their tails, waiting to strike. Tommy hissed at Brother Jack while he dropped his gun in fear.
“Bad move,” he said, and he dived in for the kill, getting Jack right in the middle of his body and as he screamed, his wife picked up the shotgun and began beating him with it. He hissed, and two of the surviving snakes rounded on her. Again, it was over too soon, both of them lying broken on the floor like dolls.
“You killed them.” Tommy turned as he heard the voice. “You killed my parents.” Tommy turned, and Adam was in the hallway, tears on his face. Tommy hissed, and the other snakes moved away, going towards the door of the house, leaving Tommy with the boy he had loved.
“They weren’t your parents,” Tommy hissed. “They didn’t love you. They made you afraid. And you…” Tommy raised up further. “You wouldn’t go with me. You didn’t help me. You let me die in that church. How could you do that to me?” He thought about how easy it would be. One strike, and Adam would be dead too, as motionless as his parents, as Adam’s parents. Dead, Adam couldn’t hurt him anymore. Dead, Adam would be free from this place.
“I’m so sorry,” Adam said, and he cried out loud, sobbing. “I should have said yes when you asked me, but I was scared. What do we know about the world outside here? And I couldn’t-don’t you understand? If I had Dad would’ve just beat me. Nobody would have called the doctor.” He looked at his parents bodies. “If you killed me now, I wouldn’t blame you. But I’m sorry. And…I can forgive you.”
“Forgive me?” Tommy just looked at him. He couldn’t understand why Adam even said that. “But you could try to kill me. I killed them. You won’t even try?”
“I can’t,” Adam said. “If I did, I would hate myself. And…I love you. I forgive you, it’s not really you. You were sweet, Tommy. You loved me, I believe you did. This isn’t you.” Tommy blinked, the transparent film going over his eyes, and he felt something. His body started to itch. It itched all over, and he dropped to the ground, writhing.
Adam nearly screamed when Tommy hit the ground, and he could only watch as the snakeskin turned transparent and began to flake. “Tommy…” he said, and he stopped when a hand thrust out. He watched, terrified, as his Tommy began to crawl out of the snakeskin, and when Tommy’s hand reached forward, Adam grabbed it and pulled.
Tommy-his Tommy, the real Tommy-left the snakeskin in a crumpled mass on the floor, and Adam just stared. Tommy was naked, and covered in some kind of slime, but he was beautiful. Adam pulled him closer, and didn’t think twice about holding the reborn Tommy in his arms. “I forgive you,” he said. “I still love you, you didn’t mean to do it. I know you, you never meant to hurt anybody.”
“I did,” Tommy said. “Adam…I killed my parents. I killed yours. I don’t…Adam, I’m not going to live. I can feel myself dying right now.” Adam kissed Tommy on the side of his face, not caring about the mess, and held him. “I’m going to die again,” he repeated. “I think I was just supposed to come back…to get revenge. And I can’t now. I love you. You saved me from doing worse. Thank you.” Adam listened as Tommy’s breath got shallower. “Adam….” He whispered it in Adam’s ear. “Promise me you’ll go. The money…it’s buried behind the shed. My guitar…the money. Go. Take it and go.”
“I promise,” Adam said. “But…did you see anything?” He wanted to know. “Did you see God when you were dead?” Tommy paused, and then made a dry chuckle.
“If I did…I don’t remember,” Tommy said, and sagged in Adam’s arms, his final breath coming out as a sigh. Adam held him tight, and his body shook with the sobs, crying for Tommy and those killed by the monster that had taken him over.
Adam buried Tommy back in his grave that night, and even though he didn’t know if it would help, he prayed over it. Then he went back home and called the sheriff. Turned out they had already found Tommy’s parents.
“So they just left you alive. And you didn’t hear the shotgun blast?” Sheriff Heath looked at him with suspicion. Heath was Church of Christ, and thought that snake handlers were pagans heading for hell. So he hadn’t liked Adam’s father or their church much. Adam wondered how much that dislike bled over to him. “You didn’t come out of your room?”
“I did sir, but I was scared. I came out after I thought the snakes had left. I…didn’t help them.” He wasn’t lying to the sheriff, not really. He hadn’t helped his parents when they needed him, and that hurt. But losing Tommy twice hurt the most. The sheriff stared at him.
“ I don’t understand you snake handlers, and I don’t understand how the locks were opened-they’re destroyed, and it doesn’t look like you or any person did it, boy. So I guess we’re done here.” He stood up, and then looked at Adam again. “I’m sorry for your loss, and I hope you can find solace in the Lord. I’ll talk to you later if I need to, but I don’t think I’ll have to.” Then he left, and Adam sat in the front room a long time.
The police wound up not charging anyone-the deaths were labeled a freak accident. They tried calling in snake experts, and all of them swore they’d never seen anything like this. Of course, this meant most of the residents of their tiny mountain town believe it was the Lord’s punishment. Adam wasn’t surprised, but he’d never tell them that they were close to being right.
After his parents were buried, he let his cousin and his wife live in the house. He didn’t want to live there anymore, and frankly, neither did they. But they had a baby and needed a place of their own, so that was as good as any. Adam moved into a small place with his father’s money, and he got a job. He attended the Methodist church and became a featured singer. He waited until he turned eighteen.
When it was time to go, he boarded the Greyhound bus with Tommy’s money and guitar in his possession. In his luggage, he carried a huge snakeskin, one he had hidden from the police and everyone he knew. He carried it to remind him of his love on his worst night, and the destruction he’d caused.
But Adam still loved. He said his prayers of forgiveness and goodbye as the bus pulled away. Even if there was no God and his prayers meant nothing, Adam still loved Tommy and prayed for him. He had faith, if not in God, then in Tommy.
And deep in his grave, deep in the ground, Tommy lay still and in peace.
Pairing: Adam/Tommy
Characters: Adam, Tommy, made up parental characters.
Author: i_amthecosmos
Rating: R
Word Count: 3,767
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. None of this is true, and this is a non-profit fanwork. Do not Tweet this to anyone portrayed.
Warning: Character death, violence.
Summary: At the Living Word Church, the faithful show their devotion to the Lord by picking up the serpent. Tommy is not among the faithful, and his death leads to horrifying revenge.
Horror Line: “I brought you something, Mommy.”-Pet Semetary
Notes: This was my entry for the Shun the Light horror contest. Thanks to vlredreign for the beta.
Tommy reeled back from the blow, holding his cheek. His father stepped back. “Don’t you ask me to skip church again, boy. Long as you live here, you won’t be a pagan. You’re coming with us, and I don’t want you to defy me again.” Tommy wiped his mouth and nodded, not looking at him. Church was the last place he wanted to be.
His mother came into the room, acting as if nothing had happened. “We need to go see all our brothers and sisters in Christ,” she said, pretending to be happy. Tommy almost sneered at her-she hated nearly everyone at the church, and he didn’t know why she pretended otherwise. It was almost obscene, the way she acted so nice to people’s faces and the way she talked about them to the family. “And you know Adam will be there. I don’t know why I let you two be friends, though,” she said, smoothing her skirt. “I know he’s the preacher’s son, but, you know.”
Tommy muttered. “Yeah, I know he’s an adopted Jew,” and his father grabbed his shoulder and shook him. Tommy didn’t apologize. His mom loved using Adam’s birth mother against him, even though he’d lived with Brother Jack since he was five. The preacher was a son of a bitch, just like his parents, but he’d taken Adam in. Tommy didn’t know if it was any improvement over his birth folks or not. Tommy didn’t say anything more, and, his mother ready, they headed out to walk to church.
Tommy walked a little behind his parents as they trudged up the hills toward the small wooden building a half mile from their house, his father praying all the way. “Lord, protect us and give us the strength to do your bidding. Lord, may all of us be one with you and feel the presence of your Holy Spirit. Our love for you is eternal, and we will never falter in our faith. Amen!”
“Amen,” Tommy and his mother said. Tommy did his best to sound enthusiastic, but in his mind the words were hollow. He dreaded what he would find there, and his parents knew it. But nothing could get him out of church attendance, not even sickness. Tommy watched as his mother walked ahead of him, carrying a giant Bible with her. “I’ve been waiting for tonight,” she said. “I need to lay my troubles down and be with the Lord tonight.” Tommy knew she meant him, but he kept silent. He wasn’t going to let a thing she said or did get to him tonight. He had a guitar he had bought without them knowing, and some money stashed in the woods behind the house. He was gonna leave soon, even though Adam wouldn’t come with him. That memory had to be pushed away-it hurt too much.
Adam was a beautiful, shy boy with red hair and a voice that almost made him believe in angels. Tommy was his friend, he knew him. He loved him, and not in Christ. Then they were at the church and Tommy had to brace himself for what came next.
He saw the cages immediately, the collection of carefully cared for rattlesnakes Brother Jack kept in his back barn. They were treated with reverence, like beloved pets, and the biggest was about two feet long. Tommy had to hold in his shudder, as his dad would notice. He just took a seat near the back, tore his eyes away from the (terrifying) snakes, and then he saw the pictures again. The church walls were lined in pictures of people in their coffins, of the faithless, those that died handling the serpent. Tommy had grown up with these pictures of the dead haunting his dreams, and he only wanted to get out of there so he’d never see another one.
But he wanted to take Adam with him. Adam, who was looking straight ahead and singing with the group, but his voice rose above the rest, a pure sound in this place that Tommy was sure no decent god would ever visit. Tommy stopped staring at the back of Adam’s head-his mother wasn’t paying attention, but he didn’t need to take the chance.
The music changed after an hour from choral singing to pounding drums and a wild tempo, designed to get people in a frenzy. Everyone moved the chairs to the side and danced to the pounding rhythm as Brother Jack screamed over the music. “All evil spirits leave this house of worship, for we are the righteous and not afraid. We are not afraid of anything the Lord sends us.” Tommy looked at Jack’s withered hand, the reminder of a snake bite that happened two years ago.
He was afraid, and he knew that meant he lacked faith.
The crowd pressed forward, people still dancing in dervish-like circles near the back, talking in tongues, and a few fell prostrate to the floor. Tommy found himself in the middle, between the dancers and the tongue-speakers, as Brother Jack opened the cage with the snakes.
Tommy looked up and saw Adam looking at him then, dropping his gaze when he saw the fear Tommy always had when the cage was open. His father went right up, walking slowly as if he was under a spell. As dad took one of the small rattlers, Tommy could hear the voices around him call up to god, and could see his mother swaying a few feet from him. The church smelled like sweat and wet leaves, and he only wished he could take Adam with him and go. He knew damned well that Adam could only play the perfect preacher’s son for so much longer.
Tommy was letting his mind wander, he had to keep it sharp. More snakes were being taken out, most held reverently as the faithful prayed, swaying as if in a trance as they did what they thought the Lord wanted. Other men began drinking from the big jugs of water mixed with strychnine, to prove their faith by drinking poison. Tommy knew the trick behind that-small amounts of that poison built up an immunity. There was a reason that nobody used arsenic in church-that shit built up in your system-and Tommy’s thoughts stopped dead.
Right then a fucking rattler was in his face. His father, his father had walked over to him, still praying, with the snake in his hands. Tommy tried to back away, but he was pressed into place. He looked at the snake’s yellow eyes, and he swore he saw something in there, some emotion. And that was the moment it lashed out, biting him, fangs sinking into his cheek.
He could barely feel the bite itself, but the feeling of the poison working up his body happened immediately. He swayed, and he felt hands on him, dragging him to the cot in the corner of the one-roomed church. He heard a strangled cry, and he knew that Adam was coming. When he opened his eyes, Adam was there, praying over him. Another parishioner got some of the cheap cooking oil by the cot and anointed him. The music had stopped, and several people prayed. He could hear them.
Then he heard his father. “He didn’t take up the serpent, he was attacked by it. The serpent singled him out and if he dies it’s God’s will.” Most of the praying stopped then, and he could feel rather than see people backing from him, from his apostacy. He saw his father’s hand on Adam’s shoulder, trying to pull him away. Adam shoved his shoulder away-disobeying a grownup-and kept praying for him. Even with his face swollen from the bite, Tommy could see the panic on his face as he said “Lord spare Tommy Ratliff from your wrath and if it is his time, deliver him into your arms.” He then saw Adam move his lips, not saying it out loud. Forgive me.
Tommy opened his mouth, but he couldn’t speak. He wanted to say You didn’t do anything wrong. We did nothing wrong. We kissed, we only kissed. Adam, help me. Call a doctor, don’t let me die. Adam, don’t let me… He could feel the darkness come over him then, but he could still hear.
Adam wailed, and then there was a noise like a slap and then Brother Jack’s voice. “Don’t mourn the faithless, boy. The serpent picked him out for death.” Then Tommy could hear no more.
When Tommy was buried, Adam stood alone as Tommy’s parents dug a grave away from the others, on unhallowed ground in the woods. His father dug the grave quickly and Tommy’s shroud-covered body was dumped into it. His father said no prayers over him and just started filling the hole. Adam whispered his prayers, because if no one else would mourn Tommy he had to. “Forgive us Lord,” he said. “Forgive us.” But even to his ears they rang hollow. He remembered Tommy’s last words to him, said after Adam felt his gentle lips touching his.I’m going to leave, come with me And then his words to Tommy, No, I can’t. His guilt outweighed his grief then and he stopped praying. He could have stopped this, and worse, he knew that Tommy had wanted him to.
He left before Tommy’s parents saw him. He had to get back to doing chores before his father knew that he was missing. Tommy was dead now, and he had no hope of anything in his life changing anymore.
When Tommy opened his eyes, he was still underground. The dirt sifted into his eyes from the rotting shroud his parents had put him in, but he could work his way up from the soft earth. Why am I back? He thought. And where are my…
Tommy stopped for a minute. He had no arms, no legs. His body was a long straight line, and in the moonlight he could see the scales. He shook his tail experimentally and the rattles he heard gave him a thrill of power. He opened his mouth, and he could feel the fangs protruding from his mouth. “I’m back…” he said, and he could hear the hiss in his voice. He didn’t have to think about it, he just moved towards his parents’ house.
He hadn’t gone more than a few feet before another rattler slid beside him. Tommy looked at it and bared his teeth in a grin. His fellow snake couldn’t return it, but he went with him towards his house. Another snake joined them, then another, until he reached his parent’s small, dilapidated house with a small army. The front door was unlocked-he knew his father always left it unlocked, because the Lord would protect.
It took a minute to open the door without arms, but it wasn’t impossible. Tommy looked around at the house he hated so much. All the pictures of him had been ripped from their places, the spots where they were lighter than the rest. Tommy hissed, and his friends hissed with him. The noise was loud enough to be heard through the house, and his father’s snoring came to an abrupt stop.
Tommy stopped, and his army stopped with him. Tommy waited as he pictured his father grabbing the shotgun beside their bed. His mother said,“What was that noise?” as the light in their room came on. Tommy stood his ground. His dad could shoot him. Or, anyway, he could try.
Tommy stayed on the floor, just lifting his head, tongue flicking out to smell the booze and sweat as his father came closer. "Hey! Get outta here! We got nothing to steal, and you get your junkie ass-" his father stopped as he turned the light on. Tommy reared up more as if he were a cobra and was rewarded with his father's face going ash-white.
"No. No, Lord. Son? Son, is that you?" And Tommy grinned, baring his teeth as his father claimed him for the first time since the bite, begging him. "Son, be merciful..."
"No," Tommy said, and the snakes around him hissed as well. "I won't be," he said, and just as he was about to strike, his mother ran in, screaming as soon as she got a look at him.
"He's the devil! I was right, I knew he was the devil!" She shrieked, and Tommy slid closer, feeling something churn inside him. He knew instinctively what it was; he could feel them getting ready to come out.
"I brought you something, Mommy," he said and his jaw unhinged as he vomited dozens of tiny rattlers onto his parents, covering them in snakes and mucus. The other snakes rushed forward then, and Tommy just watched his parents as the bites took effect, as their skin swelled and the paralysis overtook their bodies. Tommy was disappointed in how soon they died. It wasn't as much fun as he had hoped.
So he left them with the baby rattlers still curled around their dead bodies. He didn’t pause to look at his mother, her tongue sticking out of her mouth, or his father, his eyes gone, disappeared into his swollen flesh. He didn't look back as they slithered out of the front door, on to Brother Jack's house.
When Tommy reached the preacher’s house, the first place he went was outside, to the snake cages. He knew what he could do as soon as he saw the locks, and he spat venom at them until they sizzled and opened. As the snakes slid out, Tommy turned back to the main house, and then paused. Adam’s in there, he thought. But the next thought was Adam left you to die. Adam didn’t save you. He can take his chances. And then Tommy led his silent army through the backyard and to the screen door, using his head to push open the small holes in the screen until they could go in.
Tommy flicked his tongue out, tasting the air, and he could tell where Brother Jack and his wife’s bedroom was. They headed that way, and Tommy was glad that he wasn’t alone, like he’d been in his human life. He moved toward the door-it was closed.
Tommy reared up, and thunked his body against the door, knocking, hoping they just let him in. His tail rattled too, and he could hear it echo off the walls. The gasps from inside the room made him smile. “Who’s there?” Brother Jack said. “I have a gun!” Tommy didn’t give a shit if he did or not. His father never even got the balls to fire. Let’s see if Jack is more man than my dad, he thought, smiling around his fangs again.
Sure enough, Jack met him at the door with two barrels aimed straight ahead. Then he saw what he was aiming at, and Tommy watched his arms sag. “Boy. You’ve become a demon. You should have repented while you were dying.”
“You said I was lost,” he said, his voice still garbled. “I didn’t repent, and I don’t forgive.”
“Then you go back to the Devil,” Jack said, and fired point blank.
Tommy’s body shuddered from the noise and vibrations, but nothing else happened. When he looked around, he saw several of his snakes blown apart, only a few still rattling their tails, waiting to strike. Tommy hissed at Brother Jack while he dropped his gun in fear.
“Bad move,” he said, and he dived in for the kill, getting Jack right in the middle of his body and as he screamed, his wife picked up the shotgun and began beating him with it. He hissed, and two of the surviving snakes rounded on her. Again, it was over too soon, both of them lying broken on the floor like dolls.
“You killed them.” Tommy turned as he heard the voice. “You killed my parents.” Tommy turned, and Adam was in the hallway, tears on his face. Tommy hissed, and the other snakes moved away, going towards the door of the house, leaving Tommy with the boy he had loved.
“They weren’t your parents,” Tommy hissed. “They didn’t love you. They made you afraid. And you…” Tommy raised up further. “You wouldn’t go with me. You didn’t help me. You let me die in that church. How could you do that to me?” He thought about how easy it would be. One strike, and Adam would be dead too, as motionless as his parents, as Adam’s parents. Dead, Adam couldn’t hurt him anymore. Dead, Adam would be free from this place.
“I’m so sorry,” Adam said, and he cried out loud, sobbing. “I should have said yes when you asked me, but I was scared. What do we know about the world outside here? And I couldn’t-don’t you understand? If I had Dad would’ve just beat me. Nobody would have called the doctor.” He looked at his parents bodies. “If you killed me now, I wouldn’t blame you. But I’m sorry. And…I can forgive you.”
“Forgive me?” Tommy just looked at him. He couldn’t understand why Adam even said that. “But you could try to kill me. I killed them. You won’t even try?”
“I can’t,” Adam said. “If I did, I would hate myself. And…I love you. I forgive you, it’s not really you. You were sweet, Tommy. You loved me, I believe you did. This isn’t you.” Tommy blinked, the transparent film going over his eyes, and he felt something. His body started to itch. It itched all over, and he dropped to the ground, writhing.
Adam nearly screamed when Tommy hit the ground, and he could only watch as the snakeskin turned transparent and began to flake. “Tommy…” he said, and he stopped when a hand thrust out. He watched, terrified, as his Tommy began to crawl out of the snakeskin, and when Tommy’s hand reached forward, Adam grabbed it and pulled.
Tommy-his Tommy, the real Tommy-left the snakeskin in a crumpled mass on the floor, and Adam just stared. Tommy was naked, and covered in some kind of slime, but he was beautiful. Adam pulled him closer, and didn’t think twice about holding the reborn Tommy in his arms. “I forgive you,” he said. “I still love you, you didn’t mean to do it. I know you, you never meant to hurt anybody.”
“I did,” Tommy said. “Adam…I killed my parents. I killed yours. I don’t…Adam, I’m not going to live. I can feel myself dying right now.” Adam kissed Tommy on the side of his face, not caring about the mess, and held him. “I’m going to die again,” he repeated. “I think I was just supposed to come back…to get revenge. And I can’t now. I love you. You saved me from doing worse. Thank you.” Adam listened as Tommy’s breath got shallower. “Adam….” He whispered it in Adam’s ear. “Promise me you’ll go. The money…it’s buried behind the shed. My guitar…the money. Go. Take it and go.”
“I promise,” Adam said. “But…did you see anything?” He wanted to know. “Did you see God when you were dead?” Tommy paused, and then made a dry chuckle.
“If I did…I don’t remember,” Tommy said, and sagged in Adam’s arms, his final breath coming out as a sigh. Adam held him tight, and his body shook with the sobs, crying for Tommy and those killed by the monster that had taken him over.
Adam buried Tommy back in his grave that night, and even though he didn’t know if it would help, he prayed over it. Then he went back home and called the sheriff. Turned out they had already found Tommy’s parents.
“So they just left you alive. And you didn’t hear the shotgun blast?” Sheriff Heath looked at him with suspicion. Heath was Church of Christ, and thought that snake handlers were pagans heading for hell. So he hadn’t liked Adam’s father or their church much. Adam wondered how much that dislike bled over to him. “You didn’t come out of your room?”
“I did sir, but I was scared. I came out after I thought the snakes had left. I…didn’t help them.” He wasn’t lying to the sheriff, not really. He hadn’t helped his parents when they needed him, and that hurt. But losing Tommy twice hurt the most. The sheriff stared at him.
“ I don’t understand you snake handlers, and I don’t understand how the locks were opened-they’re destroyed, and it doesn’t look like you or any person did it, boy. So I guess we’re done here.” He stood up, and then looked at Adam again. “I’m sorry for your loss, and I hope you can find solace in the Lord. I’ll talk to you later if I need to, but I don’t think I’ll have to.” Then he left, and Adam sat in the front room a long time.
The police wound up not charging anyone-the deaths were labeled a freak accident. They tried calling in snake experts, and all of them swore they’d never seen anything like this. Of course, this meant most of the residents of their tiny mountain town believe it was the Lord’s punishment. Adam wasn’t surprised, but he’d never tell them that they were close to being right.
After his parents were buried, he let his cousin and his wife live in the house. He didn’t want to live there anymore, and frankly, neither did they. But they had a baby and needed a place of their own, so that was as good as any. Adam moved into a small place with his father’s money, and he got a job. He attended the Methodist church and became a featured singer. He waited until he turned eighteen.
When it was time to go, he boarded the Greyhound bus with Tommy’s money and guitar in his possession. In his luggage, he carried a huge snakeskin, one he had hidden from the police and everyone he knew. He carried it to remind him of his love on his worst night, and the destruction he’d caused.
But Adam still loved. He said his prayers of forgiveness and goodbye as the bus pulled away. Even if there was no God and his prayers meant nothing, Adam still loved Tommy and prayed for him. He had faith, if not in God, then in Tommy.
And deep in his grave, deep in the ground, Tommy lay still and in peace.