7 Recurrence

The first two days were rather pleasant for Salem. He had no nightmares, and he pretty much slept all day. The third day, however, Salem noticed something off when he woke up: There was blood on, not only his hands, but something made him check underneath his bed, where he noticed his blades were also bloody. He rushed to his television to check the news, and was shocked to see a brutal murder scene. It was an alley, but there was nothing but blood on the ground and walls with scattered remains of a body that were so small that the police couldn't identify the body, but Salem could easily tell that it was Elena. Within the bloody mess was a green hair bow just like the one Elena wore the day of his outburst. The police showed pictures taken from camera footage near the alley that showed him in full armor with his blades on his back in a crossed pattern with the handles pointed up and the curves of the blades facing opposite of each other. His armor had a helmet added to it this time with long horns facing forward with the front of the helmet having a T pattern to allow for vision. He watched himself take an unconscious Elena into the alley and turn it into a slaughterhouse, making extra certain to conceal her identity by making the remaining pieces of her so small that they were unable to be put back together, especially her face, which he removed from her flesh and burned to ashes with his fire. He turned and walked away from the scene laughing before dashing away at speeds the camera couldn't render. The entire scene dropped Salem's jaw to the floor as he fell backwards onto his couch and stared dumbfoundedly at his TV. 'I have no memory of this at all! What's going on!?' Salem came to the conclusion that this new occurrence might be why his nightmares had stopped occurring nightly. He stood up, but fell to his knees screaming as the remorse, regret, and sadness filled him head to toe.

"I can't change… It's just not possible for me…."

Salem walked outside in a daze looking around at everything as though it were unfamiliar, when he felt a phone other than his in his pocket. He took it out and realized that it was Elena's. 'I must've taken it when I killed her, huh?' Salem remembered her password, so he took it out and felt the urge to look at her messages through the cracked and burned screen. He clicked on his name and saw that she was typing out a message to him before she was killed.

"Salem," it began. "I know I might've struck a nerve with you the other day bringing up Natalie. I know she must've been important to you, so I'm sorry for saying what I did. I hope we can become friends again like we were."

Upon reading this, Salem felt a wave of remorse similar to when he killed Natalie, and he went in and cried on and off between naps since he could do nothing else. A few days passed and it was eventually discovered that the mangled body found in the alley was Elena, so Salem made preparations to attend her funeral. He dressed in all black, but he didn't wear the jacket or tie with his suit as he walked outside and took the 15 minute stroll to the graveyard where the funeral was being held. He took no umbrella with him, so he arrived soaking wet to the funeral. The scenery was bleak and dreary upon Salem's arrival. The sky was nothing but pouring clouds that made the green grass look as though it were crying along with the various people in attendance. Elena's mother was a familiar person to him as she was a teacher from his old elementary school. Her father was also a football coach at his high school, so he knew both of them well. Elena's sisters were also there along with her younger brother, but Salem had been away for so long and so much had happened that he had forgotten their names. Salem at this point was dripping with water as though he himself had become a cloud like the ones pouring above him, but he turned down any umbrellas offered to him as penance for what he had done. Salem did everything in his power to keep from crying during the funeral, but something began to click in his mind. 'It doesn't matter if she apologized afterwards. She still disrespected one of the nicest and most caring person I've met.' Salem felt himself pushed to the back of his mind as the darkness within him emerged once more.

"I sTiLl HaVe A jOb To Do," a voice in his head rang out.

Salem moved backwards and walked into the forest unnoticed as he summoned his armor including his new helmet. The darkness had taken over and he became the same as a year ago, yet he was still fighting back uselessly. He raised his hands one at a time as his blades flew directly into his hands from his house with the chains wrapping themselves around his forearms. He walked menacingly out of the woods towards his prey. His mission was to kill Elena's family as he remembered Elena posting about Natalie on social media. This was why he killed her, and it was why he had to stick to his word. He made the attack swift, taking the length of the chains and using them to make one sweep of blade and fire through the gathered crowd. The bodies easily caught fire and turned to ashes, which were also disintegrated by the heat given off by Salem's fire. He stood still for a moment as one part of him screamed internally and the other laughed. He placed his blades on his back as the chains disappeared and wings made of black fiery energy. Salem batted his new wings as he jumped towards his house and made it home unnoticed. His armor and wings vanished, so he put his blades back under the bed, but Salem came to his senses as he sat on the couch.

"What the hell have I done!?"

Salem realized that it would be beyond his capabilities to rid himself of the monster, and this broke him mentally. He tried with every fiber of his being to resist the darkness, but, with his newly broken soul, it was much easier, and he gave into the darkness. It didn't mean that Salem would go on another killing spree, but he cared much less for others than he did before, and, as such, the Archangel went to sleep.