Page 116 of Devil Inside

“For real,” I insist, wincing as he continues to push. “I can’t. Not today.”

“Come on, man. You got this.”

“I’m serious, Gil.”

“Not taking no for an answer...”

“Gil.Please.”

“What’s the matter, Jordan? What’s a little more pain? Just a few more seconds?”

He’s staring at me, his chest barreling down. My leg is bent backward, slung up, my knee nearly reaching my own chest, while Gil is on top of me, pressing my leg backward.

I feel like my hip is about to pop out of its socket. Snap back to my chest.

“Gil. Please. Stop.”

“Don’t back out on me now, Jordan. We’re just getting started...”

Something about the way Gil grins stops me. I take him in. The contours of his face.

His eyes.What’s behind his eyes?There’s something lingering within, isn’t there? I’m searching for something that I’m not quite sure is there, but still...

It’s not him. It can’t be. I have to ask: “Lilith?”

How can I trust the surface of things anymore? The skin? Something’s there, I know it. Hiding behind his eyes. Staring back at me.

Gil hesitates, relents just a bit. The ease in my leg, even just a little, is such a relief.

There it is. This shift in his eyes. One second, it’s Gil. The next, he blinks and...

It’s not him anymore.

Not Gil at all. “Who’s Lilith, bro? That your newsqueeeeze?” His lips curl up and it’s like he’s a completely different person. It’s still him, his skin, the face is all his, all Gil, but underneath his face, that flesh, there’s someone—something—else writhing inside him.

“Who are you?”

Gil frowns. It’s a put-upon expression. He’s disappointed in me. Fucking with me.

“Why would you ever think there was just one?”

The room goes cold. For all the humidity in here, the heat manifested from all these bodies expending energy in such a tight confined space, the temperature seems to drop.

Another.There’s another.

More than one.

Gil’s frown droops even further, lips dripping like melted wax, dribbling across his chin. The skin underneath his eyes sags, then puckers, as if it’s about to blister.

“What’s the matter?” His features won’t sit still. His facebegins to swirl, every last bit of it, his eyes, cheeks, lips, all eddying around the tip of his nose as it sinks and craters into his skull like a peach whirlpool, vortexing the fuck out of himself. “Did I push too hard?”

I try to pull free from Gil’s grip, but he only tightens his hands around me. He’s pinning me down against the mat so hard, I can’t crawl out from under him. I can’t move.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I can’t escape. Can’t pull free.

“Such a squirmy little worm...”