And he laid hold on the dragon,
that old serpent, which is the devil,
and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.
Revelation: Chapter 20 Verse 2
8:1
God went blazing up and out of the mundane world. He soared to the outer realm. The great spiral of Hell was waiting. Lucifer was inside the place he had created, with many of the fallen ones. It was their refuge, there home. God called out to him.
You have betrayed me for the last time, evil one! Become now what you have made and feel it’s torment!
A huge blast of ethereal mass expelled from God’s anger. The fallen angels fled in fear. Lucifer alone was in God’s grip. He struggled, unable to move. A thick layer of concentrated vapor surrounded Hell and its master, fusing itself together and locking Lucifer inside. He raged in the spiraling prison. Its walls imploded against him, creating a devastating, torturous pain like none had ever felt.
With the devil trapped he called out, Here shall you remain for all time. Your lies and deceit will stay with you. All that oppose me shall join you here in Hell’s fire.
God appointed a group of his angels to guard the borders of the prison for the damned. They were to be sure that nothing escaped.
So it was done. God looked upon the terrible thing he had created and felt his new weakness. It had taken much of his energy to contain his enemy. His mass was now so much smaller that he would have to be very careful in choosing how and when he would use his magic. God knew that if Lucifer ever were to escape from Hell, his enemy would hold more power than he.
The creator of man had in essence, trapped himself. No longer did he have the power to interfere in the mundane world. He would only watch from a distance.
The searing heat and pressure held Lucifer tight in its grip. The pain was so great that the devil lost the ability of free thought. His consciousness had become the torment. The center of his power had become tornado’s core. Any that entered would feel his punishment. The reality of damnation had been born.
Lucifer’s only hope was the plans he’d already laid.
8:2
Sergeant Lunderman walked up behind the fire truck. He looked over what remained of the back of the house. The boards were charred and crumbling. The windows were gone. Numerous firemen and police were scattered around the smoldering structure. The back wall was completely gone and he could see straight through, into the blackened kitchen. Lunderman stopped the fire chief.
“You’ve got two bodies inside, correct?”
“Yes sir. In the kitchen.”
“Is one of them a sixty-two year-old woman?”
The chief glanced over at the burnt building and then back at the investigator.
“At this point, it’s kinda hard to tell.”
The bodies had been burned beyond recognition. It was going to take some time to sort things out.
“Can you at least tell me what started the fire?”
“Yeah,” he said, pointing at a melted piece of plastic in the yard.
“What’s that?”
“That is a charcoal lighter. You know, they’re used to light a barbecue.”
“Right.”
“The whole back of the house was full of natural gas. So when they clicked the lighter…”
“Boom.”
“Yup. You got it. We also found some melted nylon string and duct tape on the floor, along with pots and pans, you know, usual stuff.”
Lunderman walked up and peered into the kitchen. The bodies hadn’t been removed. They were still there. They themselves looked like charcoal.
A fucking grill lighter? What the hell?
Two of his officers and the prime suspect were dead. The case appeared to be solved. He couldn’t help thinking that something wasn’t right about it though. He couldn’t put his finger on it but he was positive. Something about the way it had happened was very, very wrong.
8:3
Stacey went into the bathroom with an armload of toys. She dropped them into the water at Chris’s feet. The rubber duck made a squeak sound when it hit the side of the tub.
The six-year-old said, “Thanks mommy!” as he grabbed for the green plastic sailboat.
“You’re welcome, babe,” she responded, trying to smile.
Jack hadn’t called for a while and the fear for her husband was making her crazy. She had spent most of the day pacing the living room floor. The last time she spoke to him had been three O’clock. Looking over at the digital clock with the large red numbers, she saw that it was 7:30.
Chris made explosion sounds as his boat with the imaginary cannon tried to sink the yellow duck. After a successful hit, he pulled it under the sudsy water with his small fingers. Air bubbles popped at the surface as he squished it against the ocean floor. He, being the captain of the ship, laughed heartily.
Stacey went down the hallway to try to calm her nervous energy. Walking through the front room she felt something cold and wet under her bare foot.
Did Chris spill something earlier?
She knelt down and pressed her hand on the carpet. It was icy cold. Looking over to the tile area in front of the door she saw small pools of water and melting snow. As she lifted her hand up from the wet footprint she knew they were not alone in the house.
Jack.
Pushing herself up she squinted into the dark kitchen.
“Honey, are you here?” she whispered.
Silence.
She turned her head slowly as she scanned the room. Her eyes had not made it back to the hallway when the baseball bat struck her across the chest. She screamed, falling backwards onto the hard surface. Linda said nothing, raising the weapon up for a second blow. Stacey grasped her chest, fighting to breathe. She did not see the next swing of the bat. Nor did she expect the third.
Her cheek found a cold pool of water on the white tile. Blood ran into her hair and across her cheek. Her body became still.
Back in the bathroom, the green plastic boat was sinking. It had a large bite taken from it by the purple dinosaur.
It never even saw it coming.
8:4
Christopher looked up at the old woman standing in the doorway. He did not recognize her. She smiled at him intensely.
“Hi there,” she said in her friendliest voice.
“Hi,” he responded in his most unsure voice.
“Your mother had to step out for a moment, so I’ll be putting you to bed. Is that okay?”
“Where’d mommy go?”
“Oh, she’ll be right back. Don’t you worry about that. Now let’s get you dressed.”
Gently dropping the baseball bat that she’d been holding behind the wall onto the floor, she entered. She dried him off and them helped him into his Blues Clues pajamas.
Walking down the hallway, he did not notice his mother lying at the front door. With his light clicked on he crawled into bed. She closed the door behind them. She went around the tall chest of drawers and shoved against it. It slid about a foot scraping the wood floor. Chris knew that wasn’t right.
Tears welled up in his eyes, “Whatcha doin’?”
She gave it another shove. It was halfway blocking the door now.
Looking over, she gave him a big smile, “Why, I’m blocking out the monsters, of course.”
He held his teddy bear tightly against his chest, “I don’t believe in monsters.”
The last push sent the chest of drawers scraping directly in front of the door. She placed her hands on her hips and laughed in a whispery hiss.
“You don’t believe in monsters?”
She approached the bed, “Well…you should.”
8:5
Jack hung up the phone. He had let it ring more than twenty times. Sally was putting on her coat.
His son was in as much danger from Killien as he was. He knew that the evil spirit had two ways to win. If he couldn’t have Jack’s body, he would take Christopher’s. That had been his plan all along.
“No answer. Damn it.”
“God, Jack. What are we gonna do when we get there?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know.”
She tried to sound reassuring, “We’ll think of something. We are gonna beat him Jack. We will.”
He felt inside his coat pockets making sure he had the necklace and the cell phone. Sally was holding the book in front of her. He picked up the pile of rope off the floor.
“You’ll have to drive.”
“I’m not a very good driver in this kind of weather, I…”
“Please. You have to. Just be careful.”
She looked out at the road under the street lamp. Packed snow and ice covered the entire surface. The pounding wind pushed the falling snow into large circles. The storm had become a blizzard. Sally rarely had driven when the roads were icy. She even hated going out in the rain.
Jack opened the door and pushed out into the dark. Sally pulled the front of her coat together and followed him out. She looked up into the dark sky filled with angry whipping dots.
Oh my God. I can’t do this.
But she would have to. Jack would not be there to drive. His body would sit next to her in the passenger seat, but the rest of him would be flying.
copyright ©2002 Brian Holtz
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