Birth of a Menace

 

     Ever since I was young I have had three scars on my body. One on my arm that looked like a scythe, one on my foot that looked like flames and what appeared to be three scratch marks on my side. My parents told me that they were from various happenings where I was hurt by one thing or another, yet I never remembered them happening. I was told by my grandparents that I was different, that much I remembered. They never wanted to be around me saying “I hold demons within.” I didn’t know what they were talking about for a long time. One day during high school I was being harassed by a group of three guys. Now I’m not particularly muscular, actually I’m very nerdy. I wear glasses and have black hair that’s parted to one side. I always wear my shirt tucked in my pants as well as wearing the same brown belt since the 7^th grade. So these guys decided to go from verbal harassment to physical torment one day. The biggest guy stood in front of me and wouldn’t let me pass, the other two diagonally behind me. “Look at this kid carrying his books. Ya know you gotta be careful doing that, they might slip outa your hands.” With that comment he smacked the books down out of my hands sprawling many of my papers. I bent down to gather them as he did the same. “Ohh here let me help you with that,” as he grabbed a nice handful of my notes and ripped them in half. “Oops looks like I don’t know my own strength.” I gathered the rest of my stuff without saying a word and as I stood to leave one of the guy in the back pushed me forward and the big guy still crouched down caught me on his shoulder and catapulted me into the air. I landed on my back with a thud and groaned. “Did you see that? The little squirt tried to kick me,” the big guy said as he turned around. He picked me up by my collar and threw me up against the wall, outside of school, where this was all taking place. “Man you have some guts trying to pull something like that on me, boy.” He said as he let me to my feet, but followed it with a swift punch to the stomach. I groaned again, being used to this all through middle school I could go a few more punches before collapsing. I huddled over holding my stomach. “Hey guys this is pretty fun. Why don’t ya’ll give him a nice shot.” The other two approached each lifting me strait up from my huddled position and socking me in the stomach again. They all laughed, as I stayed huddled over coughing, gasping for air. I heard the big guy walk over to me, “Hey guys watch this. How fast do you think he’ll hit the ground?” Suddenly I felt two fists pound my upper back as I was forced, face first to the ground. Now I remember my face bleeding, and I remember hearing screams of fear, or pain. But when I looked up from my position on the ground, I didn’t see the bullies anywhere. I collected my stuff and ran home, as I always did, to clean the cuts as to not get infection. From that moment I have been pondering what my grandparents said, until one night where I got to experience one of the worst torments ever.

     I continued high school, and I didn’t see those three guys anymore, they were actually put on a missing persons list. I went on to college and became a lawyer. I’m twenty eight now and have a nice job at a well paying firm. I was in court defending this man from charges saying that he shot and killed two people in a health food store when a man on the jury pulled a gun on me and said, “I must stop the demons from being unleashed on this earth.” He was shot and killed by the bailiff in the room. I found out later that he was a priest at a local church. I went to the church and found the pastor in charge.

“Yes son, how may I help you?” he asked.

“Yes, one of your clerics was on the jury in a case I was in. He tried to shoot me saying that ‘he needed to stop the demons from being released on the earth.’ what does that mean?”

“Ohh yes, well follow me and I’ll explain.” He said as he walked into the back room. We walked through corridors and hallways. He led me to a wooden door with iron supports and opened it. It led to a stairwell that went down. “This way please.” He said. I stepped in and as I began to walk down the stairs I heard the door slam behind me and lock.

“Hey what’s going on?” I yelled, “Let me out of here. You can’t do this. It’s against the law. I’m going to bury you in court friend.” I didn’t get a response. I saw that the basement, or wherever this was, was dimly lit. So I followed the stairs down and it opened up into a small room with a door at the other end. The door was loaded with chains; it looked like it was keeping something in, or out. I looked around to see pictures on the wall. There was one with a red moon, and the sea was dead. Another picture showed that water, or what looked like it should be water, was black. The last picture showed a man holding his head and above him was three creatures; one was black, and at least three feet taller then the man, with fiery red eyes. Another seemed like a dark figure in a cloak, nothing could be seen other then the darkness of the flowing cloak. The last one looked like it was maybe a foot taller then the man but there was no figure. It was just a body of flames. Underneath the man was a picture of the world, and the land was red, and the sun was black. I walked over to the chained door and checked out the lock. Everything was rusty, so rusted that I broke the chains with a metal bar I found lying near one of the corners of the room.

     I walked in, and this room had a window that looked out to the sea, as well as a hole in the ceiling. Also in the corner looked like a bird bath with running water. In the corner was a pile of bones, but they didn’t look human. The skull had two pair of horns, one smaller then the other and in the middle, the larger ones were on the outside, and the teeth looked pointy. The bones were warm for some reason and it seemed like it was holding something before he died. The window was merely a hole in the ten feet of stone and around it were slash marks. The hole in the ceiling was way too small for any man to go through. As I looked for the second time I saw one of the most bizarre things, the moon was red. I quickly ran out of the room and looked at the picture again; the next thing to happen if the pictures were sequential should be the calming of the sea. Then black water. Then, I stopped and swallowed hard, these three things are going to come after me. I ran back to the room and just as the moon had covered the hole, I looked out to the sea, no waves, no nothing. I turned to see the bird bath in the corner spewing black stuff into a pool of darkness. I froze with fear. I ran to a corner and held my legs, my eyes didn’t close once. I had to have sat there for hours, when finally I got up to take another look at the moon and see if I could figure out what time it was. The moon was gone, there was still black water and a dead sea. I ran over and shut the door, as I did, there was a voice. I think it was in the other room, but it could have originated in my head. “Give in to us,” hissed a voice, “We’ll help you. We’ll give you everything you ever wanted.” I said nothing and went back to my corner. As I sat down I was horrified to see the skeleton standing. Its jaw moved as I heard a voice different then the first, “Don’t resist us, we are too strong for the will of man.” I bolted to my feet and ran to the door. As I opened it the skeleton had collapsed and now in the room stood three figured, each looking like the picture on the wall. They all flew into my chest and I was tossed clear across the room and smacked my back against the wall. I woke up the next morning still in the basement place. I paced around up and down the stairs looking around trying to figure everything out that happened last night. The water was normal, the sea was moving, and the bones were in the corner they were before. The only change was in the paintings. It showed a normal moon, roaring waters, and crystal clear water. And the man was standing with his hands at his sides above a normal looking earth. There were no “demons” above him. I determined that it was all a dream. I walked around for the entire day without food and would, every once and a while, go up to the door and pound on it, “Let me out,” or “Give me something to eat.” Night came around and I was sitting on the stairs.

“Do you want to get out?” hissed a voice. I looked around to see no one around and the voice was the same one as last night.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“With you. Do you want out?” It asked again.

“Of course.” I responded.

“So do you give yourself to us?”

“I don’t give myself to anyone.” I said as a different voice chimed in.

“Listen,” it was a clam strait forward voice, “we want out of here just like you do. We can’t help you unless you want us to. In order to do this we need to be able to use your body, like a suit if you will. We’ll return it when we’re done and it won’t be dirty. Understand?”

“Ok, I see. So if I let you use my body, then we can get out of here?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, let’s get out of here,” I said. Just as I said that I felt the most intense pain I’ve ever felt. It seemed like my body was being torn up from the inside. I looked to see my skin turning black, like the night. I felt a ripping pain on the top of my head. The room also began to get a little smaller. My arms became extremely muscular, I had a tail, and my hands were huge with razor blades for nails. I ran up to the door and ripped it down. As I passed by priests, I ripped them apart. I soon realized I wasn’t in control. I had to have killed at least twenty people before I was out of the church and on the streets. There were screams from the streets as people saw the creature I was. I then felt like I was on fire as I saw my body erupt into flames. Everyone around me was ash in three seconds. I couldn’t stop this massacre.  What was me took off for home. By the time I reached my apartment I looked normal and was in control once more. There was no blood no charred marks I was me with everything I had before. As I walked in I headed strait to my kitchen and grabbed a butcher’s knife.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Came the voice from before.

“I can’t let you things do what you just did.”

“Oh we had a little aggression issues that needed to be worked out. We’re good now.”

“No I won’t allow you to do it again.”

“I said we’re alright”

“NO, I can’t trust you.” Just then there was a knock at my door. It was Ms. Beavers, my next door neighbor.

“James are you ok? I heard you screaming. Is there someone in there with you? Do you need some help?”

“No I’m fine.”

“Ok, good night then.”

“Good night”

“Ok, Ok. You win. We don’t want to die, and we know you don’t want to kill yourself.” The voice started up again.

“How can I trust you?”

“We returned you back to who you were with everything you possessed with no ‘dirt’ on you, didn’t we?”

“So what do I do now?”

“Now, you live your life as if nothing happened.”

“And what happens to you?”

“We reside in you. Think of us as guardians. Only we need to be allowed to ‘stretch’ our legs every once and a while. If you know what I mean.”

“I see. So you three won’t let me die, huh?”

“Not if we can help it”

     And so was born a man, cursed with three demons. Now lives with these three and only these three, doomed to be lonely for he doesn’t let anyone get close to discover his secret. None could love the creature he is now. Who really is in control, the demons or the man? There haven’t been any deaths, as of late, from these abominations. And yet, James wouldn’t be allowed to do anything drastic that would jeopardize his life. It appears that there is mutuality between the two, or four depending how you look at it. This could have be the birth of a hero or a menace. There is only one who would have the drive, the strength and the will to stop him; however he is elsewhere taking care of other evils.