one who stands before the cherubim: part 201/07/2007 "Karina, I'll be late. Hope you're doing well." During Joel's commute from work, when the bus went into Corey's neighborhood due to the car crash, he saw something strange. He saw a weird blue glow and heard screaming inside. He got off on the bus stop two houses from Corey's and knocked on the door. "Corey, are you OK? I heard screaming from your house." Corey opened the door slowly, looking like he had food poisoning. He greeted him at the door and acted like his usual cheerful self, but something felt off. "You good? You look like you haven't slept in days. Sleep on the couch for a bit, it's fine. I just wanted to know what was going on." Corey said, "Nothing bad. So...there was this giant...cockroach in my home office that landed on me and shot it's goop on my leg. The weird lights aren't from my house, I think the neighbors are partying again. I made something for you in the kitchen!" Joel walked into the kitchen, and everything looked alright, until he went to a trash can to throw some garbage out. There was strange black goop with blue areas, and it kept pulsating. Corey prepared him some homemade smashburgers and french fries made of sweet potatoes. Joel, while grateful for his offer, was confused. Corey was not the type to enjoy fast food, let alone prepare them. Maybe Corey was just making something new. Joel then saw the weird glow from upstairs, proving Corey wrong. While the lights from before weren't very obvious if they were coming from Corey's house or somewhere behind, he was certain something weird happened. Joel felt that it was impolite to sneak into Corey's room without his permission, so he tried to bring up the light from upstairs for permission. He then heard screaming from said room that sounded a lot like Corey himself. Joel entered the room and his jaw dropped. A corpse resembling Corey was laying on the cieling, surrounded with black and blue goop and screaming like a banshee, vomiting said goop. The corpse sprout wings and started to attack him. "YOU HURT ME. YOU LEFT ME FOR DEAD. I WILL REMEMBER YOU." Joel didn't remember doing anything that hurt Corey much, and was confused and didn't know if the corpse was Corey himself and the Corey he talked to was an impostor, or the corpse was an impostor. The corpse managed to grab onto Joel's jacket, and attempted to choke him, until Joel managed to grab a very sharp glass shard and said, "I'm sorry...I needed to protect myself. Please forgive me." Joel thrust the shard on the corpse's heart, and it's goop dissapeared suddenly. The corpse looked normal, and Joel heard something from the corpse. "Please...I'm sorry...The guy over there....egregore....The Watchers...." Joel stared at the corpse, and then saw a bunch of pamphlets and weird items. He suddenly got flashbacks of his childhood. He then saw a familiar symbol on Corey's leg. 6 eyes. A vine that resembled barb wire. A weird circular sun with an eye and rays. The Order of the Watchers got him. Joel walked home and held Corey to the backyard. He gave Corey a peaceful burial in his garden, where he spent much of his days. "I'm sorry they found you and hurt you. I and Karina will get vengeance."trophytrophytrophy