#gavin host

 Gavin turned the volume on the radio up and set his headlights to full beam. If what they were saying was true, they may have to stay in a small village hotel overnight. The weather reporter’s voice must have woken Sara; he saw her now stretching in the passenger seat and looking around with tired eyes.

 “Oh. I thought we were home already.”

 “Not yet love,” Gavin confessed as he scanned the sides of the roads for any signs that could point them to civilisation. They had been on the road for a few hours now, driving back home from Sara’s cousin’s wedding. When they left the church it had been sunny skies and 18 degrees. It was hard to believe such weather had ever existed now that all he could see was rain splashing down on a dark empty road

 “I’m going to have to pull over at the next place I see,” he explained, “we’ll get to Edinburgh tomorrow morning.”

 “Are we not going home?” Came a voice from the back seat. “I thought we were going home?”

 “We are, Tobey,” he glanced up at the rear-view mirror and saw his son looking back, a plastic brachiosaurus in one hand, a T-Rex in the other. Being six years old, a family wedding had seemed of little interest to Tobey, so he had taken some of his favourite toys with him. “We just need to find a place to stop for the night and we’ll be home tomorrow morning.”

 Gavin smiled fondly, remembering how Tobey had tried to get his brachiosaur to object to the wedding. Lucky only a few people on the nearby pews had noticed, so the ceremony had continued uninterrupted.

 A flash of lightning illuminated the world outside of the car, accompanied by the deep rumbling of thunder. The storm was close, Gavin knew, yet still there was no sign of any side-road or turning they could take. There has to be one soon. The car radio returned to constant static. When it came back however, instead of Scottish weather, it sounded rather like some Spanish advertisement. He tried to turn it back to the right station but before he could it was static again. Another flash of lightning came, the thunder so loud it was deafening, but this time Gavin saw something upon the horizon. It had looked like a small building, just off the left side of the road. He kept driving until a small stone church rolled into sight. Flicking his indicator on, he swerved into the field next to the road and pulled up next to the door. The static on the radio kept cutting in and out and occasionally Gavin thought he heard the sound of a wild animal coming through.

 The thunder seemed somehow closer with the car engine off. Sara climbed outside to get Tobey out of the back and Gavin stepped out from the drivers seat. Within instants, the rain forced his hair down over his glasses, making it even harder to see. Brushing it to one side and wiping the lenses with his hand, he followed the light of the torch that Sara must have picked up and the three of them went inside the church, Gavin bolting it shut. They could not have been outside for more than a minute, yet the three of them were already soaked through, leaving puddles on the church floor where they stood.

 “Jesus Christ,” exclaimed Gavin. Two flashes of lightning came, lighting up the interior of the building. “No offence,” he addressed the statue of Jesus up at the altar. He took his cigarette lighter out of his jacket and set about lighting the candles that were hung up around the place.

 Hours drifted by as they sat there and not once did the drumming of rain against stained glass cease. The Host family were able to entertain themselves with a pack of playing cards for a while, but Tobey soon grew bored and restless of those. The night only promised to get longer when he began complaining about the situation.

 “It’s too cold in here. I don’t like it.”

 “I know, son,” Gavin said, sitting down on the hard floor. “But there’s nothing we can do. It’s too dangerous to drive in this weather. We’ve just got to wait until the storm clears, then we’ll be right on our way back home, yeah?”

 “I don’t want to wait, I wanna go home.” Tobey threw the plastic T-Rex at him. Sara wondered over and picked it up, sitting down next to the two of them.

 “You know, Tobes, I heard a story once about a T-Rex. All he wanted was to climb to the top of the highest mountain, even though everyone said he couldn’t. They told him his arms were too short, the slopes were too steep. Nobody thought he would make it to the top.”

 Gavin had to suppress a laugh. Sara had a secret power for keeping Tobey calm. All she had to do was say the name of a dinosaur and the word “story” in the same sentence. Now she had his full undivided attention as she continued making her story up on the spot. Being a children’s author, it came easy to her. Sara caught Gavin’s smile and grinned back at him, her hair golden in the candlelight. Secretly, she was enjoying this just as much as Tobey was. Gavin had to admit, even he was curious to see if the T-Rex would make it to the top. Sara always looked the most beautiful whenever she told stories. Her eyes lit up, her smile so knowing, so warm and inviting. He could watch her like this for days on end and never get bored.

 A candle blew out.

 Sara and Tobey didn’t notice, but Gavin thought it odd. The candle in question was far from the door and any of the windows. Perhaps the wind was getting stronger outside. He hopped up and went to relight it, cigarette lighter in hand.

 Two candles blew out.

 The wind outside became more audible, howling and menacing as it swirled around the stone. The windows began rattling in their frames. Gavin looked back to his wife and son. Tobey looked worried.

 “Winds picking up a bit, eh?” He tried to make himself sound cheerful. “Tell you what, why don’t I look for some blankets or something –“

 Before he could finish his thought the windows smashed and the wind came blustering in, swirling around the pews, howling like an animal in pain. Sara pulled Tobey close to her, holding him tight in her arms. None of the candles were lit anymore, occasional flashes of lightning providing the only light. Gavin had to grab onto a pillar just to keep his feet on the ground as the wind buffeted against his face. In the corner of his eye, he noticed mist gently beginning to pour through the windows.

 “Sara!” He yelled, desperate to be heard over the sounds of the storm. “Sara, Tobey, are you okay?”

 “We’re okay, love!” Came the response. “He’s okay!”

 Sara’s voice was nearly drowned out by noise, but even so, Gavin felt comforted hearing it. The sound of her voice was always comforting. That comfort was soon gone, however, as with a whoosh, the candles relit themselves.

 In his astonishment, Gavin let go of the pillar and fell back on to the floor. No, that can’t be right. Candles can’t do that. But when he looked up, the flames were burning bright, reaching heights that they shouldn’t be able to, catching on the wood of the pillars and pews. Barely any time had passed before the church was bathed in an orange yellow glow.

 Sounds and images flashed through Gavin’s mind. A burning church. A raging storm. A swirling mist. A crying child. A man’s shadow. A sobbing woman. A beating heart… a man’s shadow?

 His glasses began to steam up, blurring everything around him. He sat upright and wiped the lenses, trying to make sense of everything that had happened in the last few moments. When he put the glasses back on, he saw the devil.

 A man stepped out of the mist, coated in black rags, with skin that was glistening red and a pair of horns atop his head. Terrified, Gavin scrambled to his feet and ran away to his family. Sara grasped his hand and pulled him in, the two of them clutching onto each other, Tobey nestled between them. Tobey was crying loudly, and tears were streaming down Sara’s face. I have to do something. It killed him to see his family like this, scared beyond belief. But I’m just as scared as they are… what can I possibly do to help? He felt Tobey’s tears soaking through his shirt. He looked up and saw that the devil was walking closer towards them.

 “Tobey, Tobey, listen to me,” he whispered into his son’s ear. “Tobey, this is all a dream. Just a bad dream, just a nightmare, okay? None of this is real. You’re going to wake up soon and we’ll be back home.” His own tears had begun to fall. He could feel them sticking to his face. “We’ll be back home and we’ll go to the zoo together. You know how you love the zoo. We’ll see snakes… and lizards…” The devil came closer, though he kept walking, never increasing his speed. “…And I’ll buy you ice cream. How does that sound?” Tobey’s sobbing was quieter now. Sara squeezed Gavin’s hand in her own. He thought back to all the wonderful memories of her he had. Their wedding, their first date. He remembered the look on her face when he had proposed. The way he had felt when she said yes. How excited she’d been when they found out she was pregnant. He remembered how she looked when she had first held baby Tobey in her arms. I have to protect them. I have to save them.

 “I love you,” he looked his wife in the eye and let go of her hand. “Whatever happens Sara, I love you.”

 With that he stood up and walked over to where the devil was standing. The firelight illuminated him and Gavin saw him more clearly now. The horns on his head were in fact part of some elaborate crown. The red on his skin nothing more than body paint. He was no devil, just a man. I don’t need to fear this man. This man needs to fear me.

 “Who are you and what do you want with us?” He yelled. The man tilted his head to the side and smiled.

 “Who am I?” He licked his lips. “My name is Devin Monn. I am the one who walks the line of life and death.”

 “Right… I’m Gavin,” he said. Monn stared at him, unblinking. “And I am the one who’s warning you to stay the hell away from my family.”

 “Hell?” Monn grimaced. “What would you know of hell? Of suffering?”

 “Not much, I admit.” Gavin’s heart was racing. “Why don’t you tell me? Tell me how you’ve suffered.”

 “I am the one who walks the line of life and death,” he repeated. Gavin began to doubt whether he could reason with this man. “An eternal damnation of talking to the restless ones, guiding them to peace. But why should I, when there is no peace for me?”

 “There are people who can help you find peace. Professionals –“

 “– You are a fool. I am not some lunatic who has wondered in off the street. What I am is beyond your comprehension!”

 Gavin was in the air. He could not say why, or when his body had left the ground, only that it had. And now he was falling. He landed with a smack against the front door of the church and fell to his knees. What just happened? He struggled up to his feet and saw that Devin Monn was now towering above Sara and Tobey, a curved, silver-white blade in his hand.

 “No!” He yelled, racing towards them.

 “You cannot fight me,” he spat, “you cannot stop this.”

 “Please,” he yelled, his tears stinging his eyes. “I’m begging you, let them live. Let my wife and son live. My wee boy, he’s only six, for heaven’s sake. He has his whole life ahead of him; don’t deny him that. Please.”

 Monn looked up at Gavin irritably.

 “You still don’t understand. I’m a ghost-whisperer. I was chosen to tame restless souls. Everywhere I go, I hear the cries of the un-dead. I feel their pain and their fears and their malice coursing through me, all of the madness and cruelty in the world. Why grant peace to others when I can never know it? ”

 “You’re right, I don’t understand. I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

 “Only once I end all other life on this miserable rock will I finally get to know peace,” he hissed. “I will finally stop feeling this pain.”

 Lightning flashed outside. Gavin’s forehead was beginning to ache. Ghosts, un-dead, restless souls… nothing this man was saying made any sense. He had to have escaped from some kind of hospital. But then again… Gavin had just been flung across the room without even being touched. The candles had all been dead then they relit themselves… candles don’t relight themselves. But how could it be true? How could any of this be happening? It went against every shred of logic and science that Gavin had ever known.

 “There has to be a way for you to find peace without killing everyone,” he exclaimed, desperately, “there has to be something I can say, something I can do to convince you not to do this.”

 Monn paused and lowered his blade. He appeared to be thinking something over in his head. Gavin looked down to make sure Sara and Tobey were okay. She was holding him against her chest and he had his eyes shut tight.

 “There is nothing,” Monn growled, now looking Gavin in the eye, “nothing you can do. The only way you could possibly save your family is if our places were reversed. If I was the mortal and you were the ghost-whisperer.” He raised his blade.

 “Wait, wait!” Gavin cried out. “What if I can do that? Is there a way that I can… that I can take your place, a way that I can be the ghost-whisperer, or whatever you call it?”

 “You would willingly volunteer to take my place?”

 “To save my family’s life, I’ll do whatever it takes.”

 Monn lowered his blade and as he did so, it appeared to vaporise and become one with the mist. The corner of his mouth twitched and for a brief moment he was almost smiling.

 “If you desire to take my place, you must say take my arm and say it aloud.”

What am I doing? Gavin thought to himself. This is insanity. This is ridiculous. I shouldn’t be doing this. Yet even as his mind protested, his arm was lifting up and grasping the arm of Devin Monn.

 “Say that you will replace me as the one who walks the line of life and death,” Monn insisted.

 “Do I really have to say that whole thing? It’s kind of a mouthful.”

 “YES!” Monn’s grasp tightened, his fingernails digging into Gavin’s forearm. Gavin took a deep breath and looked into the eyes of the other man.

 “I, Gavin Host, volunteer to take the place of Devin Monn. I volunteer to be the one who walks the line of life and death.”

 For a moment nothing happened. Gavin began to fear it hadn’t worked, but then the mist began to rise around them. The noise of the wind began to die down. The mist kept rising, up past their chests, past their necks, until all in sight was obscured by it. Devin Monn let go of Gavin’s arm. Now there was nothing but the mist. Gavin felt a strange, tingling sensation, almost like he was floating. It worked. His heart leapt in his chest. It had actually worked. He’d saved his family. He almost had to laugh. He could take Tobey to the zoo tomorrow, just like he’d promised.

 The mist turned black.

 All of a sudden, Gavin’s feelings of elation and relief were snatched away from him, replaced instead with unease and dread. Out from the dark mist came the face of Devin Monn. He looked angry…

 “What did you do?” The accusatory voice echoed around Gavin. “Something went wrong. It didn’t work; I’m still here. How can I still be here? What did you do?”

 Gavin was lost for words.

 “I… I didn’t…”

 “You did this on purpose! You wanted me to suffer!” The mist began to clear and Gavin saw Devin Monn more clearly, standing in front of him. “Well, if I have to keep on suffering, then you have to suffer too!”

 Horrified, Gavin saw that Devin was holding up Sara and Tobey by their collars.

 “NOOOO!” He screamed.

 The three of them began to fade away, becoming one with the mist around them. Gavin lunged forward desperate to save his family from this nightmare. His hand closed around something, but it was too late. Tobey and Sara were gone. The mist began to disperse and Gavin stood alone in the burning church.

 What have I done?

 He fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face, soaking into the fabric of his shirt. He wanted to cry out, to call Sara’s name, but his throat was dried up. He stayed there for a while, unmoving, unthinking, feeling nothing but empty inside. Eventually he realised he still had something in his hand. He opened his palm and looked down to see a green plastic brachiosaurus.