We Always Have Tomorrow

“Jake?”

“Yeah.”

“What the fuck am I looking at?”

“An empty coffin.”

“And what should be in said coffin, Jake?”

Jake sighs. “Our target.”

“I clearly remember you saying six thirty would be the perfect time because it’d be right before dusk.”

“Yeah about that… it would’ve been dusk around now—yesterday.”

“Oh my god, are you fucking serious?”

“How was I supposed to know today was the start of daylight savings?!”

“I don’t know, maybe use your iPhone, jackass!”

“Don’t get mad at me, this wouldn’t have happened if Lianne didn’t give me an ultimatum,” Jake said, scream-whispering.

Lianne, mid-prayer, interjects, “I just thought the sooner we took out the target, the sooner I could get home and watch the season premiere of 90 Day Fiancé with Martin.”

“Well I hope you’re happy, Lianne, because now there is no target—GAHHH, you both fucking suck.”

Lianne finishes her prayer and gets up, walking over to the two. “Relax, Louise. We can just try again tomorrow.”

“But think about the lives we could’ve saved today,” Louise says, her expression soft, on the verge of tears.

“Shit,” Jake mutters under his breath, trying not to make eye contact. “I hate it when she gets like this.”

“Oh girl, come here.” Lianne pulls Louise’s head to her chest, gently running her fingers through her hair. “Yes, we made a mistake today, but tomorrow is another day.”

Louise raises her head from Lianne’s bosom and sniffles with a nod. “You’re right. Sniff. We always have tomorrow.”

Louise turns to Jake. “I’m sorry for yelling at you. It’s not your fault you don’t have a brain,” she says, wiping her eyes with a grin.

“Thanks?” Jake says, trying his best not to crack a smile.

“You know what? Watch party at my house. I make too much popcorn for just me and Martin, and we could use the help of two mighty slayers.”

“As long as you use real butter instead of that nasty-ass avocado oil again.”

“I’ll swing by Larry’s Liquor. Text me what you guys want.”

“Coors Banquets, baby!”

“I said text me or else I’m just gonna forg—”

The castle door creaks open.

“Oh… how rude of me,” came a raspy voice from the doorway. “My place a sty, and I have guests.”

The three froze in place, backs still turned to the castle door, feeling an overwhelming presence as soon as his foot crossed the doorway. This wasn’t just any creature of the night—no, this was different.

They heard him come closer as his feet slapped against the cobblestone floor, each step echoing throughout the castle until he was right behind them.

The stranger places a heavy hand on Louise’s shoulder, causing her knees to almost buckle.

“Now what do we have here?” the stranger says, placing his other hand under Louise’s, gently holding it. “It seems like you chipped a nail moving the lid of my coffin.”

For Louise, time seemed to stop. Her breaths shallow as she glanced right then left—Jake and Lianne were just as frozen as she was.

“Well, look at this,” the stranger says as he crushes Lianne’s hand like an empty beer can. “It seems you broke your hand as well.”

Lianne drops to her knees screaming, cradling the mass of exposed bone and oozing flesh that was once her left hand.

“Tut tut. You should really be more careful. Coffin lids are quite heavy.”

Louise’s bloodcurdling scream snaps Jake out of his paralysis. He lunges for his pocket.

“EAT SILVER, FUCKFACE!” Jake shouts, pulling out a silver blade, aiming it directly at the stranger’s neck.

With a flick of the stranger’s wrist, the dagger goes flying into the air—with Jake’s left hand still holding on to it.

“AHHH, YOU FUCKING ASSHO—”

He grabs Jake’s face, his palm covering Jake’s mouth, and lifts him off the ground with ease. Jake starts kicking, punching, scratching—doing whatever he can to get free—his screams muffled by the stranger’s iron grip.

The stranger raises the relentless slayer just high enough to meet his gaze.

“You talk too much, boy.”

He crushes Jake’s jaw like it was made of glass, shards of tooth and bone flying every which way, then, with the same hand, launches him into a corner. His body ragdolls as it slams against the wall. Jake starts to spasm, trying to move as if his brain hasn’t registered the fatal injuries his body just sustained.

The stranger raises his blood-soaked hand to his flat nose and sniffs.

“Disgusting,” he mutters, shaking the blood off his hand. Crimson droplets splatter across Lianne’s horrified face.

“Apologies, dear. I never intended to stain such beauty,” he says, resting his bony hand softly around her neck.

“J-J-Jake,” Lianne stammers.

The stranger places his other hand on her cheek, his thumb covering her lips to hush her.

“That petrified expression covered with these speckles of crimson reminds me of a primal beauty… something I can only faintly remember.” The stranger lets out a lofty sigh. “If only you could see how breathtaking you look.”

He slides his thumb from her lips near her eye, smearing a bead of blood right below it.

“Here. Allow me to show you.”

He drives his thumb between her eye and its socket, popping it out with almost surgical precision. The eye dangles in his hand, still tethered by the optic nerve, turned inward to face Lianne’s ghastly expression.

“See? Quite beautiful, yes?”

“R-r-run,” Lianne manages to stammer.

“What was that, dear?”

“RUN, LOUISE!”

Louise was halfway out the door when she looked back only to see that the stranger hadn’t budge an inch. He didn’t even look her way.

“Go ahead. Leave. I have everything I could want and more right… here.”

The stranger smoothly places Lianne’s eye back into its socket.

“What?” Louise slurs, struggling to keep herself standing, her body covered in dried blood.

“Ah yes… such beauty will keep me satiated for a very… long… time.”

“FUCK THAT AND FUCK YOU, LIANNE RUN!” Louise screams.

“I think it’s time for you to leave. We wouldn’t want to keep Martin waiting.”

The stranger’s slender fingers, still holding Lianne’s face, was the last thing Louise saw before the castle door slammed in her face.