Landis, Corrine
JOURNAL ENTRY 04

After a mostly unintelligible discourse with a mostly undressed secretary, I'm riding an elevator to the third floor of the T.O.G. center. For the first time since I left what was once the apartment my husband and I happily inhabited, the weight of everything comes crashing down on my shoulders. I crumble into a lifeless puddle on the floor of the elevator and begin to weep. The floors drift by faster than I can compose myself, and when the soft bell resonates the doors slide open, revealing Belial on the other side.

He steps inside the elevator, eyeing me thoughtfully, and asks, "Something wrong?"

This being the first time I've seen him in person, I'm less surprised than I had expected. His appearance is frightening to be sure, but there is a certain grace in his movements and certainly something magnetic about his mystery. He steps out extending long, scaly legs ending in menacing talons, and his breathing, though comforting, is almost like the low growl of a lion. He somehow simultaneously carries the weight of something ancient and something quite new. I'm both frightened and comforted.

Composing myself, standing up, wiping my eyes, I finally say, "I've only just arrived. It's been a long..." Belial curls his lip skeptically as I consider my wording. "It's been a long drive."

"Must have been real long. You must really hate driving."

For the first time in weeks, I laugh, albeit awkwardly, but I laugh nonetheless. The elevator doors close and drift open again.

"You must have quite a story about the drive," Belial wonders aloud without looking at me. He examines his claws like a woman inspects her fingernails, jutting his chin out and looking down over his nose at them.

"I'm recently separated from my husband," I confess, though I'm not sure why. Belial turns to me with a tragic expression on his face.

"What a fool he must be!" he gasps. I smile, sniffle involuntarily.

"Actually, it's very much my fault."

"Fault?"

"Yes."

"I think you'll find, Miss..."

"Corrine."

"I think you'll find, Corrine, that 'fault' has little place in our new way of thinking. There is only that which inhibits us in our quests for our own greater good. I suppose that if you did something you wanted to do and your husband left, then you are simply to do more of what you want."

We stand in silence for a moment, his words swimming in my head.

"I'm getting ahead of myself," Belial chuckles. "You're one of us now, there will be a lot to learn. For now why don't you just rest away your..." He steps out of the elevator, despite the fact that we haven't changed floors, and concludes: "Drive."

I watch as his tail disappears down the hall and the doors begin to slide closed. Before they do, Belial's clawed hand thrusts between them and they open once more.

"You know," Belial begins, lowering his head into the elevator. "We have a special program, something brand new, for women just like you."

"You do?"

"We do. I think you'd be perfect for it, actually. All the participants are specially chosen." He extends a boney arm toward me gripping a reflective, purple ticket. "I'll send my assistant to discuss it with you further."

"That... That sounds good," I say genuinely, taking the ticket and feeling special for the first time in a long while.

"Fantastic. My assistant, Mr. Landis, will find you later this evening." As he turns to walk away, a knot is tightening in my throat.

"Who?" I ask louder than I had intended.

"Who?" Belial echoes.

"Who is your assistant?"

"Landis," he says, shaking his head as if his name is of no consequence. "Jonathan Landis."