Rita Retraumatized

 

“What if Rita encountered Rolando…again?”

Blitzo’s office phone rang. Blitzo pushed a button with his finger. “What?!”

 

From the other room, Loona mentioned, “We have a client.”

 

“Tell them to FUCK OFF!” Blitzo yelled in annoyance.

 

“Don’t!” Millie screamed, slamming her hand on the button. “I’ll be right there.”

 

Millie came into the main room. Loona stood bored as a former human psychic babbled on: Rita. She had lavender skin, big magenta eyes, golden horns, lime green puffy hair, a bob of blond hair, and little magenta chains holding up her large round glasses. Her nails were long, sharp and yellow. She wore a gold collar with pink diamond gems on it, a long sleeve dark purple top, and long magenta pants. She also carried a purse with a pink eye design over her shoulder. Her head was disembodied, hovering a few inches. She also had a fluffy green tail with yellow diamonds on it.

 

“You know my psychic told me I’d be going somewhere bad on Wednesday. I thought she meant Baltimore. I didn’t think it was HELL!” She slammed her hand in frustration.

 

Loona nodded, unamused. “Mhm, mhm, interesting.” Loona picked up Millie and moved her in front of the client. “Oh look! Someone whose job it is to listen to you!”

 

Millie glared at Loona before turning to Rita. “What’s going on?”

 

“Okaaay! From the top.” She posed on a box. “I went for my usual tarot reading last week, and my psychic showed me the Death card and the Tower card when I asked where I should travel next. I travel around to give live readings to people. She was all like, ‘Be careful where you stay, there’s a good chance of a grisly end.’ ‘Your enemy is of the water.’ Whatever that meant. And last of all, ‘Don’t lose your head.’”

 

Rita briefly moved her hovering head with her hands, then put it back over her nonexistent neck with a glare. “You can see how well THAT turned out. Anyway, I was staying in this one-star hotel by a cemetery…figured I could brush up on my psychic skills talking to ghosts…”

 

Loona yawned.

 

“Ghosts don’t exist,” Millie folded her arms.

 

“Oh yes they do,” Rita explained. “You only hear about human souls going to Hell or Heaven but never about those that stay on Earth. So yesterday I was killed by the evil ghost haunting the spooky hotel. I felt a horrible pain in my neck, and it all went black. Now I’m here.”

 

Millie scoffed. “Ma’am, I don’t know how to tell you this…again, but, when humans die, they either end up here, or up there…”

 

“You’ve never stayed on Earth,” Rita replied. “I have seen ghosts there with my psychic eye…it was just plain bad karma that I ended down here.”

 

“How so…besides being killed?” Millie asked.

 

Rita looked around nervously. “I may have…once or twice…conned some people online…raising my prices and scaring anyone I didn’t like with non-existent death prophecies…”

 

“Weirdo hippie,” Loona muttered.

 

“I’m telling you, ghosts DO exist!” said Rita.

 

“Millie’s telling you ghosts aren’t real, lady!” Loona barked.

 

Blitzo then burst out of his office, the door smashing apart. A flashing red light fell to the floor under the door. “GHOST?! I HEARD GHOST! Where’s the ghost I can fuck…er, hunt?”

 

Millie waved her hand. “Blitz, calm down! Someone killed this lady, but it wasn’t…”

 

“Millie!” Blitzo leaned close to her face. “Let. Me. Have. This.”

 

“But…”

 

Blitzo held up a punch card labeled “UNCONDITUINAL SUPPORT :) Free, Blitzo has to leave M and M alone for one date.” The last space was an upside-down pentagram star.

 

Millie sighed and punched the last hole in the card with her knife. Blitzo put an arm around Rita and they walked out of the office. “Alright,” he said, “So tell me what it looked like, starting with its hotness and tightness. How many-how many abs would you say you witnessed?”

“I don’t know, the usual number, I guess? I couldn’t quite tell what he looked like…just a grinning menacing shadow before I blacked out…”

 

“Sounds fuckable enough for me,” Blitzo grinned. “I’ll be riding the shirtless hunk in no time!” He led her to a bench in the hall. “Just make yourself comfortable, we’ll be back with a report of his defeat!”

 

“Thank you, sir,” Rita smiled.

 

“And by the way,” Blitzo mentioned before he left, “Don’t let anyone say that ghosts aren’t real, we both know they are.”

 

He winked at her and left.

 

Rita relaxed and read some psychic weekly magazines. ‘After I.M.P. defeats the ghost, I think I’ll start my psychic business close by,’ Rita thought. ‘It is Hell so…at least I won’t get into trouble for a con or two. I wonder what my astrological chart looks like now that I’m a demon…’

 

As she relaxed, a vision popped into her head.

 

Millie and Blitzo walked out of the portal to see her. “I ghost-fucked that fucker for sure!” Blitzo stated in triumph.

 

“Thank goodness,” Rita breathed a sigh of relief. She handed Blitzo a handful of money and shook his hand.

 

“Always a pleasure doing business with you,” Blitzo grinned. “If you ever want to ghost fuck…erm hunt some more…”

 

Millie elbowed Blitzo.

 

Blitzo chuckled nervously, “You know where to find us!”

 

Rita happily walked off back to her place, ready to embrace her new life.

 

Rita was content…her visions always came to pass.

 

 

 

 

Rita was practicing shuffling her new set of Tarot cards when she saw the pink diamond-shaped portal open off to the side.

 

‘Oh! That must be I.M.P. now!’ she thought.

 

Rita slowly stood up, clasping her long golden nails together.

 

She froze when she saw an elongated black shadow swooping out of the portal. It zoomed out of the room and headed through the I.M.P. office door. She looked for Blitzo and Millie, but the portal closed before she could get a proper look. Several stories below, Loona stood bored outside.

 

Rita ducked behind the bench as the shadow made its way around the hall. After it had vanished, Rita hurried back to the I.M.P. office, closed the door and settled by a bunch of boxes.

 

Where was I.M.P.? And was this another ghost they were chasing?

 

Rita sat behind a box and took silent deep breaths.

 

Then Rita mentally laughed to herself. Perhaps the shadow was a figment of her imagination…after all, how would a ghost be able to enter Hell anyway?

 

Rita felt fine until the lights in the room began to flicker. She peered through a slit between two boxes…no one was in the room.

 

‘There is a ghost after all!’ she thought.

 

When the lights blinked out, Rita curled up, perfectly still. She was too scared to move.

 

Then she had a horrifying thought. She remembered the ghost who had entered her room in the dead of night, the one she saw right before…

 

Without any warning, the boxes around Rita lifted up from the ground and were tossed backward by an invisible force. The shadow locked its glowing yellow eyes on Rita and her heart dropped.

 

It spoke in a distorted voice. “Do I sense the thoughts of someone familiar?”

 

With all her willpower, Rita wanted to deny what she witnessed in front of her. Surely this figure of her nightmares wasn’t real.

 

The shadow vanished…and reappeared in front of her. Rita screamed into her clawed hands. A black shadowy hand held a small picture in front of her.

 

“Hello my dear. Does this lady look familiar to you?”

 

Rita peered at the image and let out a terrified whimper. She was staring at her own decapitated head, her hair formerly brown. Eyes empty and black under shattered round glasses, tongue lolled out on the bed.

 

The shadow chuckled evilly and glanced at her hovering head above her neck. “You looked like you just…lost your head!”

 

Demonic laughter raced through the room, shattering several light bulbs. Rita screamed and ran but was promptly tripped when the monster yanked her to the floor, grabbing at the shadow of her leg.

 

She stared up at him in realization as his shadow towered over her. “Y-you’re the ghost who killed me! W-what are you doing here?! Get away from me!”

 

“Hey, take it easy, Rita. I haven’t even introduced myself yet. I’m Rolando.”

 

He shifted into his aquatic demonic form: yellow eyes, gray scaly skin, white transparent hair and sharp red sunglasses with yellow trim. He wore his purple and black hotel shirt along with black pants and shoes.

 

Rita was about to scream, but a hand covered her mouth.

 

‘How do you know my name? Why did you kill me?’ Rita wondered with wide eyes.

 

“Oh, it’s simple,” Rolando answered, reading her mind. “You were muttering about Hell in your room, and I knew you believed in both ghosts and demons. Since you could perceive supernatural entities, I couldn’t let you risk telling other humans about me. You know, humans finding out about me and demons and our plan to influence Earth…”

 

He dug two claws into her cheek, and she let out a muffled cry.

 

“…that could spill a lot of trouble…”

 

He licked drops of her red blood from his claws.

 

“Your fear and the taste of your blood, just as delectable as before,” he mused. “Even as a Sinner, you still have the unmistakable scent of human insecurity. There’s something so intoxicating about it…”

 

She struggled under Rolando’s grip, but he held her down firmly, pressing a knee into her chest and gripping her wrists.

 

Rita noticed a yellow crystal on his wrist.

 

“Oh, you like it?” he asked. “It’s an Asmodean crystal. I stole it from Blitzo during the fight at the hotel pool, figured I could sneak back to his headquarters to mess with him. I read his thoughts about Moxxie and Blitzo’s little Hellhound daughter. How fun it would be to go after them.”

 

‘Where are Blitzo and Millie?!’ Rita wondered.

 

“Probably stuck at the hotel for a bit until they can retrieve another crystal.”

 

‘Won’t they tell other humans about you?’ Rita asked.

 

“I doubt it,” Rolando shrugged. “He cares too much for his employees. I was about to go after them now…but then I sensed you…”

 

“Y-yes,” Rita tried to be brave. “I told I.M.P. about you. You should be dead in the pool by now!”

 

Rolando scoffed. “Don’t you know as a psychic that you can’t always rely on one vision? There are many different outcomes. I don’t really think it’d be fair to have my victim still be alive elsewhere while I get banished to nonexistence, don’t you think?”

 

Rita tried to break free again, when Rolando froze and glanced around. “Speaking of I.M.P., I can sense one coming back.”

 

“Ha!” Rita spat. “The Hellhound will kick your ass. You better run like a coward, Rolando!”

 

Rolando stared at Rita. Then a sinister grin slowly stretched across his face.

 

“Maybe I won’t have to.”

 

Before Rita could blink, Rolando morphed into black liquid and rushed into her head, making her collapse.

 

 

Rita yelled and strained against the rusted chains binding her to one of the many old movie theater seats. An old projector blinked to life from high up within the wall and coral stuck out between the worn seats.

 

Rita looked around nervously. “W-where in Hell am I?”

 

Rita gasped as Rolando materialized in front of her, leaning toward her with a hungry mouth.

 

“The one place you can never escape.”

 

The curtains parted and “3, 2, 1,” appeared on the green-tinted screen.

 

“Why don’t you sit back and…don’t enjoy your show,” Rolando smirked as he sat behind her with a tub of popcorn in his hand.

 

Rita gasped again as her memories appeared on screen. It was her in high school being called a nerd and freak by a group of bullies. Rita and her teen friends playing with a Ouija board and getting freaked out when other bullies pretended to be dark spirits. Rita shuffling her Tarot cards and several customers shaking their heads and glaring at her. Their eyes seemed to say, “You’re a fraud.” “Why would we believe in your woo-woo crap?” “Get a real job, lady!”

 

Rita was then shown scamming other people online. She posted videos with catchy titles such as “Wow! Actual footage of ghost near haunted cemetery!” “Live Tarot Readings and Psychic Course, Only $230!” “Your Natal Chart Secrets, Is It Your DoomsDay?”

 

Rita then saw a more familiar scene, her talking with a psychic lady with a crystal ball in front of them. The lady had shown her the Tower and Death Tarot cards, warning her about traveling to a place on Wednesday where she could meet her doom. Rita thought of Baltimore and squirmed. On her way to scam more people with a video podcast, she ended up lost in the middle of nowhere, ending up at the One Star Wonder Hotel.

 

“Oh, here comes the best part,” Rolando purred.

 

Rita sat on her bed in her room, looking over the Tower and Death cards. She could sense a supernatural presence and wondered what kind of ghost it was. She debated on whether it was from Hell, Heaven, or elsewhere, but figured it had to be related to Hell. Yellow eyes blinked at her from a corner and her eyes widened.

 

She was about to leave her room to tell the other guests what she had witnessed.

 

Then a black shadow blocked her way. She scooted back onto her bed in sheer terror, unable to escape. She saw Rolando open his jaw, showing his deadly fangs.

 

In swift, deadly motions, Rolando pounced on top of her, slashing at her throat with his sharp claws. She screamed as Rolando sank his teeth into her neck, biting into the muscle and bone. Blood splattered onto his face and all over the bed cover. Rolando wildly shook his head like a ravenous wolf and as her head rolled to a stop on the bed, the screen faded to black.

 

Rita sobbed and shook in her seat.

 

“Whoahohoho!” Rolando laughed. “That was quite a sudden ending.”

 

He appeared beside her. “Though judging from your airheaded personality and pathetic attempts for attention, I’d wonder if your head’s screwed on right…oh wait…”

 

He cackled at his diabolical joke. He darted his fingers into the opening space between Rita’s head and neck and tightly gripped her lime green curly hair with his other hand.

 

“STOP IT! STOP…LEAVE ME ALONE!”

 

“Oh, but Rita, the fun’s just begun! I mean how often do you get a chance to meet someone in Hell you knew in a previous life?” Rolando winked.

 

“But I never asked for Baltimore, and I certainly did not ask to go to HELL!” Rita snapped.

 

“Well too bad, so sad. You are in Hell right now…a Hell of your own making.” Rolando grinned again. “And when I’m through with you, you’ll wish you had taken the chance in Baltimore!”

 

Rita struggled as Rolando stared at the screen. He cocked his head at Rita, his neck, making a sickening snapping sound.

 

“Your life movie was a lot of fun to watch.”

 

He spoke in a demonic tone. “Shall we watch the ending again?”

 

“NO! PLEASE NO, NO!” Rita begged.

 

Rolando merely laughed as the scene of her gruesome death played on screen, and then replayed again and again.

 

Tears streamed down Rita’s pink face. Rolando held her face with both his clawed hands as she wailed.

 

Rolando then peered at the screen to see Loona walking down the hall.

 

He grinned. “No one’s gonna ruin my good time this time.”

 

He morphed into liquid and the seats were washed in waves. Fog obscured the screen, and Rita could feel herself slipping away, her thoughts getting fainter. Her eyes closed as she lost awareness of her own body.

 

Rita’s physical eyes briefly glowed yellow as Rolando stood in possession of her body.

 

Loona came into the room and glanced over.

 

“Oh, it’s Blitz’s client,” Loona remarked uninterested.

 

“Do you know when he’ll be back?” Rolando asked in a perfect impression of Rita’s voice.

 

“Hopefully soon,” Loona replied. “But once he does, he’ll be the one cleaning off the van.”

 

“You two have quite the relationship, don’t you?” Rolando asked. “Rescued from the pound by an imp who’s not even your real father. Your parents abandon you young?”

 

“Shove it, bitch!” Loona growled. “That’s none of your concern.”

 

“Hey, I’m just trying to help you out through any problems you may have. I’m psychic after all.”

 

“I’m in no mood for your bullshit readings!”

 

Rolando held up Rita’s hands. “Aw that’s okay, I understand. You have a lot of things going on. If we ever meet again, you can tell me what it’s like to feel left out from most of your missions on Earth! The Hellhound goth sidekick with no family and no story! Hey, at least your popular with the furries!”

 

Loona yelled in frustration and was about to lunge at Rolando…

 

“BANKRUPTCY! BANKRUPTCY! OUR COMPANY IS DOOMED AND IT’S ALL HIS FAULT!”

 

“Moxxie?” she asked.

 

Loona paused, her ears perked up. She flipped the bird at Rolando and stormed away.

 

Rolando could hear the distant frustrated screams of Moxxie from the meeting room and his mouth started to water.

 

‘The little musical midget of theirs is having an absolute breakdown! I haven’t sensed such spicy sorrow for a while…’

 

He began to inch toward the door, but his face fell when he heard Loona trying to comfort Moxxie.

 

Their voices were muffled on the other side of the wall.

 

“Can you do the formula alright?” she asked him.

 

“I don’t even know where to start…” Moxxie moaned.

 

“Just find something to focus on. We’ll figure things out once Millie and Blitzo come back.”

 

As hungry as he was, Rolando wasn’t in the mood to fully fight a Hellhound…they were very strong and vicious. In the back of his head, he soon wondered what Blitzo and Millie were doing back at the hotel.

 

‘Guess I’d better head back to my hauntings before Queen Leviathan finds out about me leaving my shift. She said to only kill certain humans and to not go on a rampage. Oops.’

 

Rolando headed back to the I.M.P. office. He heard Rita in the back of his mind screaming and begging to be set free.

 

“You want me to let you go?” Rolando asked in a mocking tone.

 

Rita nodded.

 

Rolando shrugged. “Sure, might as well. I gotta get back to the hotel anyway.”

 

Rolando morphed into black liquid and floated out of Rita’s mouth. Rita slowly blinked as she lay on the ground. Rolando rematerialized over her.

 

“L-Let me go, then,” she whimpered.

 

“Of course I will,” Rolando said, leering at her. “I will now set you free from your body.”

 

“NO, NOT AGAIN, PLEASE…”

 

Her pleas turned to anguished screams as Rolando infested her mind and feasted on her body. Tears mixed with red blood as her eyes were plucked out with Rolando’s claws. Rolando growled in sadistic pleasure as he savored her fear and sucked out her life force.

 

“Look at us, making new memories together!” Rolando cooed in an eerie voice over her screams. “Since you’re practically immortal, I’m sure you’ll have all of eternity to wallow in your pain.”

 

Rita lay sideways on the floor, her glasses shattered, red blood streaming down her face.

 

“I know you’ll just respawn somewhere else, Rita,” Rolando spoke in a dark whisper. “But I want to make sure you remember me for the rest of your miserable afterlife!”

 

Rolando laughed evilly as Rita weakly gasped before taking her last breath. Her body became still.

 

When not a morsel was left, Rolando rubbed the crystal on his wrist.

 

Rolando hummed and stepped through the portal just as Millie punched him hard in the gut.

 

“ARGH!”

 

She snatched the crystal off his wrist and tossed it to Blitzo.

 

“Finally!” Blitzo cried as he caught it. “I was worried we would be stuck in this shit dump forever!”

 

“Alright, buttercup,” Millie raised her fists at Rolando. “I’m gonna swipe that combover off your head like the pale prick you…”

 

Rolando just hovered in the air, gave a little wave and zoomed down toward the pool.

 

“Get back here, you little…” Millie called, racing after him.

 

Blitzo hovered his hand over his crystal and peered inside the office through the portal opening. He spotted a gruesome stain of red blood on the floor and nothing else but an overturned bloodstained purse, purple and pale yellow with a large pink eye design on it.

 

“Heeey,” Blitzo raised an eyebrow. “The fuck happened to my client?”