Head home

“Come on!” said Andy. “I don’t feel safe here. Let’s get home as fast as possible”

“Shouldn’t we get an ambulance or go to the police?” said Sam looking dazed.

“How do we begin to explain this?” said Andy as he picked up Beths clothes, grabbed Sam by the arm and hurried them out of the alley.

Back in the safety of their house and with the lights full on, they took stock of what had just happened. Andy put Beth’s clothes on a chair and took the blade out of his pocket. Sam lay Beth down across the sofa. Beth looked peaceful, which was a small mercy.

“This thing has weird looking writing on the handle. I’m going to grab my laptop and see if I can find out anything about this. Maybe it will explain what happened to Beth.”

After about half an hour of searching Andy found a match for the strange looking inscription on the knife. “It looks like this knife was thought to have been used years ago by a secretive sect to separate a soul from its body, while preserving both intact. At least that’s what academics have interpreted the writings to mean.”

“Wait, you mean Beth might not be dead?” Sam dared to say.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before - I have no idea.”

“Keep looking for more stuff about this sect, maybe there is more information out there.”

“OK” replied Andy and he switched his search to try and find more information about what these ancient people did with the knife.

“Oh boy. This gets a bit weird.” Andy said after a while.

“Weirder than our friend looking like a Loony Tunes road-roller ran over her?” spluttered Sam.

“I really hope we can laugh about this one day.” said Andy. “It says here that it is believed the knife created a state of being for anyone it was used on, that was neither **** nor life. It opened up the victim to be worn by the shaman performing the ceremony, so that they could rid them of their illness from within. Once the ceremony had been performed, the body and soul returned to their normal state! There’s a chance we can get Beth back!” shouted a jubilant Andy.

“Oh my god. We have to do this for her. What do we do?”

“I have no idea. It doesn’t say! This is ancient stuff that has been figured out from inscriptions and bits of mythology by the sound of it. That knife doesn’t come with an instruction book!”

“I’m sorry!” Sam’s face fell again. “Please keep looking, we have to try and get her back......”

“I know - I’ll keep going until we figure this out.”

Sam went to make a pot of coffee as Andy went back to his online searching. She touched Beths hair as she passed her and whispered “Andy will find a way to save you, I just know he will.”

Two hours later and Andy pushed back his chair rubbing his eyes. It was past midnight and he was getting nowhere. Sam was asleep on the sofa next to Beth’s flattened form. Sam had placed Beth’s dress over her friend to protect her modesty, while her underwear lay in a pile next to her. The only information they had to go on was a little chilling. It looked like the “victim” had to be worn to rid them of an illness and only then could they be revived.

Andy looked at his sleeping girlfriend and at the lifeless form of their friend. Andy summoned up his courage and picked up Beths skin, placing her dress to one side. He turned the sagging skin around to see what he had assumed would be there. A slit in Beth’s back from her neck down to the small of her back. With his heart pounding in his chest, Andy placed a hand inside his friend to find it was unexpectedly warm and soft to the touch. Andy knew exactly what had to be done next.