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22:50 Hours

When Rosemary woke up from her nap, Ambrose had been snoozing away beside her, albeit he was turned onto his side. She’d cleaned up then real quick and headed out with only her keys and phone on her around 10:40 pm, believing her husband was none the wiser.

The old abandoned Radio Shack was no more dilapidated than when she’d left it the prior night, with glass shards littering the cracked concrete and chipped wood beside the previously tossed desk. The only difference—Rosemary noticed—was that the tent had disappeared. There was no way the homeless person had kept hidden from Waves, on the off chance someone had been in the tent then, so Rosemary wondered why the person suddenly packed up.

Unless…

Rosemary honed in on the back door she’d tried to open before, and found that it looked to be bent around the edges. And, as she approached it, Rosemary quickly realized the door was actually cracked open, the entire door knob missing. She sucked in a sharp breath and gave the door a gentle push, flinching when the hinges creaked.

What Rosemary initially thought to be a back exit was actually just a storage room, for the most part. She couldn’t see much since it was dark, and she doubted the electricity was running.

Should’ve brought a flashlight, she thought with a sigh. You have got to get your mind back in business, woman! Stop letting this nasty man shake you up!

As if on cue, the thrumming energy sound she heard coming from the room before suddenly quieted, choosing to emanate from only one point somewhere above Rosemary. When she looked up, a lone lightbulb blinked on, causing her to see black spots from the sudden shock. 

“Cheese and rice!” Rosemary hissed, covering her eyes. “Are you in here, Waves? Quit playing games and face me like a man, chile!”

“Perhaps, if I was a ‘man,’ then maybe I would act like one proper.”

The distorted voice flitted right into Rosemary’s ear. She slowly lowered the arm covering her eyes and squinted. The lightbulb was blinking in-and-out and swaying to-and-fro, illuminating the famed purple mask directly across from her. The man of the hour was actually sitting on one of those cheap metal fold-out chairs, one leg propped over the other and one arm raised. His gloved fingers were poised in a snapping position, and Rosemary briefly contemplated if the supervillain was even breathing or not.

“Wha…did you do something to the camper out there?” Rosemary said, blinking away the remaining spots dancing in her vision.

Waves chuckled, and the sound carried around her, but Rosemary decided earlier that she would not be toyed with. She was done being the villain’s loyal pet. 

“That sad little tent? Afraid it was already gone when I’d come here,” he finally said and shrugged. “Not that I care. I only need one thing from you, and you’re going to give it right now.”

The door behind Rosemary slammed shut, which had her immediately whipping her head around to see what had caused it, forgetting the real threat was standing before her. The only light source continued to blink on-and-off, making it hard for Rosemary to discern if something new really had joined them or not.

“Silly human,” Waves laughed. “Only you and I are here. Why would I waste my precious time letting others in? Now look at me.”

Rosemary did as instructed, albeit incredibly slowly. She summoned all the malice she possibly could into the glare she fixed onto him. The blinking lightbulb made her feel like she was in some kind of suspense thriller—one where a kidnapped victim would’ve been interrogated in a lone storage closet by their assailant.

“Good girl,” Waves cooed, and Rosemary realized the villain was standing now. He had one hand folded behind his back, and the other hanging at his side. “Now, the name. Don’t make me wait.”

“Huh?” Rosemary said, snapping out of her reverie.

Waves actually made a growling noise, and the harsh vibrato scraped by her ears. “You know what I mean. Give. Me. The. Name.”

Ignoring the ringing in her ears, Rosemary tightened her hands into fists on either side of her and focused her steely gaze onto the mask, as if she could see through to the face cowering behind it if she looked long enough. “And what are you gonna do to that poor boy? Hurt him?”

“I’m going to hurt you if you keep this up.”

And as if to demonstrate just what he’d do, the gentle mosquito noise that had been gradually rising in volume around Rosemary suddenly dialed up to an extreme pressure. But Rosemary grit her teeth and resisted the popping sounds in her ears. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes from the throbbing headache that took over, even though she promised herself she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry again.

“Your hubris is unbecoming of you, human.” Waves floated up off the ground and drew closer to Rosemary. This time, the blinking light almost made the scene look like something straight out of a paranormal horror, and Rosemary nearly screamed. As Waves slowly lifted his hand up, he said, “I don’t like to repeat myself, but I’m going to give you one more chance. Give me the mother’s nam—”

“Elias!” Rosemary cut him off, shaking her head from side-to-side and squeezing her eyes shut to block him out. Her whole body shook, and her knees threatened to buckle under her, yet she remained standing by sheer stubbornness. “His name…is Elias Nacht, but…! But he has a friend, too,” she continued. “I can’t tell ya which one of the boys is the mom, Waves.”

Despite casting her eyes to the ground, Rosemary could tell Waves was right in front of her—could feel the overwhelming aura. “Was that so hard to do?” he said, and placed one gloved finger under Rosemary’s chin to lift her head. 

Rosemary dared to push his arm aside and stumbled back. This time, her knees really did betray her, and she probably cut her hands on some of the sharp debris when she slapped the ground to break her fall.

“Have it your way,” Waves snickered, and Rosemary imagined he was rolling his eyes behind the dome mask. “Give me his address, and then you can walk away.”

Rosemary blanched, and the tears had—thankfully—stopped painting her cheeks. “What?” She gasped. “This isn’t a part of the de-eeal!”

A sudden force to the left side of her face had her screeching as her head was jerked to the side. Her cheek stung from the shockingly sharp smack she took, and her hot tears returned in an instant.

“You don’t get to decide what information I don’t need.” Waves’ hiss assaulted Rosemary’s ears, and a pathetic whine escaped her quivering lips. “You think I’m going to waste time searching databases for this ‘Elias Nacht,’ hrm? Look at me when I’m speaking to you.” 

Waves grabbed a hold of Rosemary’s face—squishing her cheeks—and forced her to face his dome-like mask, to regard her own sad reflection. There was an ugly bruise forming where she took the first hit, and she just knew she wouldn’t be able to talk her way out of this one to her husband.

If she got to walk away now.

“You know everything about him, do you not?” Waves continued, and the thrumming sound returned, gradually rising in pitch around them. “So tell me where he lives, or I’ll wipe out all the buildings here in two seconds.”

“O-o-okay!” Rosemary sobbed, and her cheek bones ached from how hard Waves was squishing her face. “He lives on Euclid, b-but I really dun know the exact address! We take notes for a reason, ya know. I dun need ta commit peoples’ homes to memory! It’s some apartment, that much I know for sure.”

“Hmm,” Waves hummed. Then he released his hold on her face and patted the cheek he’d bruised. “The street is good enough.”

The supervillain rose up and floated around Rosemary, so she twisted her body to watch him. He didn’t even touch the door to open it, opting to simply throw his arm to the side, blasting the door back out into the business area. The misshapen door skidded across the cracked floor and only stopped when it had crashed into the edge of the front glass wall.

“You’re leaving already? Jus’ like that?” Rosemary scooted herself fully around and said, giving Waves pause by the open doorway. “Are…are you gon’ to look for him…right now?”

After a breath’s pause, the supervillain angled his head to look behind him, mask tilted just far enough that it was as if he was looking down on Rosemary. 

“What I do next is none of your concern, human,” he spat, and Rosemary flinched, bracing herself for an impact which, thankfully, never came. “But mark my words, if I come to find this ‘poor boy’ isn’t the mother, I will eliminate this whole disgusting neighborhood. Understood?”

Rosemary shuffled herself into a kneeling position and wiped at her eyes. She glared up at the stupid mask and grit her teeth. “Oh, bless your heart, Waves,” she mockingly sing-sang, “you only gave me twelve hours. Don’t expect glowing results, hun.”

For a moment, Rosemary thought she’d done dug her own grave. But then the supervillain chuckled, the sound of which starting out quiet and steadily rising around her. “You’re one tough woman to stand up to me, I’ll give you that. Pray to your God you never see me again, because the next time will not end well. Good-bye, human Rosemary.”

With a flourish of the purple half cape Rosemary had nearly forgotten about, Waves disappeared from her sight in an instant. And then the lightbulb behind her exploded, and it was all Rosemary could do to lean forward and cover her head, shrieking despite herself.

And she stayed sitting there for a while longer, surrounded by glass in the tiny storage room. The dingy street lamps mixed with a touch of moonlight outside the old Radio Shack were her only source of light. She stared out of the open doorway leading back out into the front and watched the punks from the apartment above chase each other on the sidewalk outside.

And she wondered—always wondering—if she had made the right choice.

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While you wait for the next episode, try reading one of these other entries! Links below (author desc)!

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