Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Caleb has stopped talking for what seemed like a few minutes and tried to figure out the priest’s thoughts. He didn’t have to wait too much longer when the Priest began.
“Well, my son…” The priest searched for the right words. “I strongly hope you really have repented for all of these terrible sins. I will not lie to you and say that I am not appalled at your lack of concern (to say the least) for the human life. In God’s gracious mercy you will be forgiven, but you should realize that only because we have such a merciful God, will you still be able to venture in to the gates of heaven when it is your time.”
“I yearn for heaven’s gates father, but I fear I will push them too far out to my reach,” Caleb said sadly.
“That is nonsense my child, our God is a harsh but just God, and through Jesus Christ may you be saved if you truly want to be saved.”
“You make it seem that anybody can kill anybody and just repent and be saved. Where is the logic in that?” Caleb asked.
“One who truly wants to be saved will be saved. God can read our minds and our hearts. A man who has killed but has seen the wrongness of his ways and runs towards the light is a man who runs to salvation.” The priest said triumphantly.
Sorrowfully Caleb responded, “I don’t think I can be saved father. My life story is not over and I think at the end you will be saying differently. I will continue if you don’t mind.”
“Continue on then my son.” The priest shifted himself in a more comfortable position as he had a feeling he would be on the hardness of the wooden bench for a time longer than he had anticipated. As Caleb picked up from where he left off, the priest realized he may not be able to help this man.

‘The sun had been up for a few hours when I pulled in to a town to get another quick meal. I decided to stop at another small diner; the last one had been real good to me. I parked my car and grabbed the ruby hilted dagger off of the passenger seat and put it in my waist band. The layout of this diner was much like the last one, only there were a few more people working inside and a few more customers. I asked for water and a turkey sandwich when the waitress finally came to greet me. As she was walking up though, I felt the strangest feeling deep in my body as if I knew this woman. I quickly dismissed the feeling. The waitress, whose name tag read “Bonnie”, was in her early thirties and had a pretty face with long black hair. After she brought my meal she stayed around for a second eyeing me in a suspicious manner.
“You need anything else sugar?” She asked intent on satisfying her curiosity.
I looked up from taking the first bite of my sandwich and shook my head no, then went back to eating. She still didn’t want to walk away.
“If you don’t mind my asking where is your parents? I saw you pull up in the red car and you seem barely old enough to be cruising around?’
I looked up at her once again and just stared in to her eyes, subconsciously I was screaming for help, but she was as observant as she thought she was.
“My parents are dead ma’am and I’m driving to my grandparent’s house in Washington D.C. I know I don’t seem old enough but I assure you that I am.” I kept my eyes on her a few moments longer and then went back to eating.
“I’m very sorry to hear that. My parents are both with God too…” She kept talking but I didn’t hear a word of it. At the reference of God my head had snapped back up. She assumed I was listening to her story with pity; I was really searching my memory for any recollection of God. I was deep inside of my mind and I could feel that I was brushing the edges of my knowledge of this God. I could here her talking far off in the distance when a sharp pain burned through my skull. I screamed a guttural scream, and fell over to the floor. The world went black.
I had a dream during this black out, or more of a vision. I believe the man in white had sent it to me. I saw the sheriff of the town I used to live in with my foster parents, sitting at his desk when a young woman walked in. She had her back to me but I could tell it was the beautiful waitress for their diner. Tiffany was her name and I could hear the worry in her voice.
“They should be back by now sheriff. Jacob told me they’d only be gone for a night and they still aren’t back. It just doesn’t feel right I tell ya. Something happened and you need to check it out.”
“Ok, ok Tiffany calm down now. I’m sure it’s nothing. They have been having some problems with Caleb and they prolly wanted to stay out there a little longer to let him clear his head. He’s had a hard time in this life so far.” The sheriff stood up and put his hands on her shoulders. Calm down now sweetie, everything will be fine; I’ll go check it out tomorrow morning if they still aren’t back.”
“Ok, you’re prolly right, I’m sorry for getting all worked up, and bothering you over nothing,” Tiffany apologized staring in to the sheriff’s eyes.
“Oh it’s no bother, you know how much I enjoy your visits,” the sheriff said smiling. Tiffany giggled as the sheriff pulled her close to his body wrapping his arms around her. Their lips met as the sheriff began sliding Tiffany’s dress off. Through the window, the moonlight shined down and glinted off of a gold wedding ring on the sheriff’s finger. A gold wedding ring that tiffany had no part of. The world flashed white.
The sun was up and the sheriff was in the woods yelling for help. He was crouched down over Jacob’s and Margaret’s bodies crying begging the lord for assistance. The reference to the lord stirred something in my mind but was quickly pushed away. The sheriff had his head on Margaret’s back and both arms were around her hugging her close.
“Oh ma no not this, not my ma. I’m sorry I’m so sorry lord why…” The sheriff continued sobbing. I hadn’t known that Margaret was the Sheriff’s mother. I remember Jacob saying he never had any children which may be a reason why he and Margaret were never married. It seems everyone can sin. The world flashed white again.
The sheriff was in the station talking to his deputies. The sun was shining the windows of the police station outlining the sheriff in an angelic way.
“The boy, Caleb, is missing with the car. Maybe someone took off with the boy and the car, or maybe it was the boy who took off with the car. Either way I want answers and I want ‘em now.” My world flashed white one last time and I woke up on the floor of the diner with Bonnie the waitress shaking my shoulders.
“Hey, hey sugar you alright? Monty, we need to get him to the doctors. Hey sugar.” She yelled shaking me more urgently.
“His eyes are opening. Hey you ok?” Bonnie asked smiling.
“Yeah,” I answered dazed. “I’m fine could I just get some water?” I asked as I started to stand up. I was a little woozy still but Bonnie kept her hand on my elbow. As my vision straightened and my head cleared up I noticed my shoulders felt relieved as if some great weight had been lifted. I walked out of Bonnie’s grasp to the sunlight coming in through the glass front door. I opened it and felt the warm tingle cover my face. A slight breeze rustled my hair as I inhaled the clean air of springtime. It seemed as if this were the first time I had ever seen the daylight. My world seemed trapped in endless nights. I walked back in the diner smiling and Bonnie was taken aback.
“You seemed so sad and angry when you first got here child, now your smiling? You sure you’re ok? That spell didn’t mess with your head at all did it?” Bonnie asked teasingly.
“I feel better then I have in a while Mrs. Bonnie.’
“That’s Ms Bonnie,” she quickly corrected. “The Mr. ran out a long time ago.” She looked to the ground as if recalling some distant depression and I nodded my head in respect.
“I like this place bonnie.” I said changing the subject.
Startled she looked up at me. “This ‘ole diner? I don’t see why.”
“No I like this are outside the diner. I think I may stay here for a while. Just until I feel like continuing my trip up to see my grandparents,” I promptly added.
“Well what a shame, D.C. is going to be missing out on the pope and you. I feel sorry for the district,” Bonnie said teasingly.
“The pope?” I asked
Bonnie just stared at me for a few seconds dumbfounded then responded.
“Yeah the pope, the Catholic leader? Hellllooooo. Ring any bells? He was supposed to be making his first trip to the United States this week but something came up and he couldn’t make it. They say it will be years before he can return. Although I don’t understand why, it’s just a plane ride away. It can’t be hard for him, I mean, he’s the pope” Bonnie trailed off on her own thoughts as I stood wondering if this had any significance with my change in moods and obvious abandonment of the man in white. I shook that thought away and put my mind on more important matters, like where I was going to sleep. Bonnie handed me a glass of water and I gave her my thanks not even noticing she had gone get it.
“You know if you are deciding to stay in this dump of a town then I have a few extra bedrooms at my place. I’d make you pay rent of course but I could get you a job working here at the diner sweeping floors or something while you figure out your way.” I stared at her smiling and she already knew my answer. “Well sugar I’m gonna have to know your name if you are gonna be living with me.”
“My name’s Caleb, Ms. Bonnie.” I responded.
“No, no just Bonnie, I don’t need that little constant reminder,” she said smiling. “I get off in about an hour if you want to wait around, then we can go together. Now I have to help these other good people out so just make your self comfortable and I’ll be done before you know it.”
I sat back down at my table with my water glass and half eaten sandwich. My eyes followed Bonnie as I saw a beauty in her that I hadn’t recognized before. She wasn’t just a pretty face it seemed she had once been stunning. Now her face was a worn mask that had seen too many awful things, and it seemed she had taken a good beaten from the stress. But underneath it all was a gorgeous woman with a kind heart. I suddenly felt some kind of feeling stirred deep inside my body that I had never felt before and I felt my cheeks flush. Bonnie looked at me then and her smile grew wider as I turned my head back down towards my sandwich. Living here might be the best thing that had happened to me so far. This might be a place that could shield me from the demons. I thought that this place could be the start of a new life, a place that could take me away from all of the bad. Somewhere far off in the recesses of my mind I could have sworn I heard laughter.
I was sitting at the same table when Bonnie was finally off of the clock. I had been thinking about my life, and wondering where a lot of my memories had gone. I hadn't heard the man in white's voice in a while and i was hoping that it would be gone for good. I had begun to think that I wasn't doing those bad things on purpose that maybe it had been him controlling me somehow. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it.
"So you aren't some evil boy that's gonna attack me in my sleep if I let you stay with me are ya?" I looked up as Bonnie finished talking with a smile on her face.
"No ma'am," I replied back cautiously. A melodious laugh came from her throat then as she motioned for me to get up.
"I was just pulling your chain Caleb, and lets forget all of that ma'am stuff. Now lets get out of here before they make me get back on the clock, and go check my place out. I think you'll like it, there is a lot of land, a big pond in the back yard and my house is big enough to keep to your self if that's what you'd like."
"I think that sounds wonderful," I said and I really meant it. I was hoping to forget the atrocities of my early childhood and begin anew.
"You wouldn't mind it if we walked would you? I love to walk through the trees and it's only a short distance. Your car will be safe here." She was asking me as if I would say no and make us drive to the house in which she was letting me live for a short time.
"That's fine with me," I replied. "I just need to get a bag out of the car." It was a bag full of clothes I had packed before my ma and pa's camping trip.
We had left the diner and I went and grabbed my bag and made sure the dagger was in place in my waistband. We began walking down a dirt road that was parallel to the main road for a distance, than forked away in to some trees. We hadn't been walking 15 minutes when a great big white house loomed before us. There were windows every where and not another house as far as I could see. Trees and woods outlined bonnie's property and the seclusion seemed nice. The shutters next to every window were black as were the big double doors leading in to the house. There was a porch the stretched the entire length of the house and around. A porch swing sat off to the right of the main doors. There were a few balcony's hanging off of some of the windows which were big enough for a grown man to walk out of. This house truly was a sight. It didn't even dawn on me to ask how she came to be in possession of a house of this grandeur.
"It was my great grandfather's passed down though the family line until it got to me. This is the Monroe family mansion, and it would seem I'm the last Monroe. I was born in to money if you were wondering and I don't need to work, but I like the company at the diner, it gets lonely around here sometimes and i like the people." She paused for a moment studying my face. "You know you don't say very much but it's almost as if I can here your thoughts through the looks you make on your face and your eyes. I like that." She turned back to the house we were walking towards. The sunlight was dwindling and frogs could be heard croaking in the distance. Geese honked over head as a slight breeze pushed around my body and through my hair. I think this was the first time I can remember being truly happy. The man in white had come through on his promise to set me free and make me happy. Although I couldn't being to remember how I had been sad as a young boy.
"We are far from through yet boy," the voice in my head laughed. "Enjoy your peace now but before long we will play together again." The voice trailed off echoing more laughter in my skull. I shivered as a cold wave of dread ran down my spine. It had been foolish of me to think he was gone. But I would enjoy my peace for as long as I could. Bonnie saw me shiver and asked if I was ok. I nodded as we walked up her porch steps. She put her key in to the lock and pushed the two tar black doors in. My eyes opened wide in amazement at the crystal chandelier that hung from the ceiling. A little to my right were stairs that went up to the next floor and circled back down to a little further to my left where the stairs came back down. I couldn't see the far back of the house from where I was standing and the doors to the left and right of me were shut. Bonnie began walking to the back of the house where I couldn't see and I had to shake myself out of my initial shock to begin to follow her. Through the cavernous house we walked until we reached another set of doors. These ones weren't as big and when opened led to a kitchen bigger than the one at the diner where I was raised. We walked through the dimly lit kitchen to another set of doors.
"If you ever get hungry you can rummage through all of this. Any food in here is your food as well. Your bedroom is right here," she said as she opened the doors. Again my jaw dropped at the grandeur of where I was to sleep. The huge bed on the solid oak frame with matching oak dresser drawers on the wall next to the bed seemed almost too much for me to bear.
"This is the bedroom fit for a king," I said still in disbelief.
Laughing Bonnie replied, "No that would be my bedroom up stairs. This is just one of the guest rooms. Make yourself comfortable, we can have dinner in about hour. We can talk then." With that she walked out of what was now my bedroom and shut the doors. I was alone in my own little part of a castle. I smiled as my luck seemed to be turning.
I threw my bag on the floor and looked around the room. I walked over to the dresser and pushed it away from the wall just enough to drop the dagger behind it, and then I pushed it back in place. Hopefully I wouldn't need that for a while. I jumped in the soft bed and closed my eyes. A little nap is just what I desired.
I stood standing on a rocky ledge, my vision blurry as screams pierced my eardrums. My brain was vibrating in my skull from the wails and cries. They came from everywhere, millions upon millions of them stabbing my senses. I crumpled to the ground, my head cradled in my hands. I felt a warm liquid running down my face. I opened my eyes, and through my dazed vision I saw red streams coming from what I could only assume were my ears. I started sobbing then, as I let go of my head and began crawling to the edge of the rocky shelf I was on. The temperature rose to an almost unbearable degree the closer I crawled yet for some reason I needed to see what was causing these agonizing screams. Fire shot up in front of me and I tried to turn away from waves of flames but I wasn’t fast enough. The fire melted the right side of my face to the bone, yet for some reason I could think through the pain. The sight was gone in that eye but through the heat I crawled on, only a few feet from the edge. I could feel the wails of the tortured souls burning me more than the flames. The skin from my hand and knees was in gooey patches trailing behind me. With my good eye I could see scorched skin hanging from my chin, dragging on the burning ground. My eardrums had finally burst from the wailing and yet still I trudged on. The need to know was too strong, and there was no point to turn back. One final heave with my melted hands pulled me to my curiosity’s end. I had my good eye closed pondering the horrid sound of my finger bones scraping across the rock. I took one last deep breath and felt my throat and my lungs give way to the burning. I tried to scream in pain but the sounds of the moaning and screaming consumed my shriek. I opened my eye to a never ending ocean of fire below me. Millions upon millions of people were splashing around in the liquid flames screaming and melting in front of me, only to regenerate and melt all over again. I could feel the rest of my skin burning off as I got sick. I put my head down, and then forced myself to look back up. The flaming waves and stopped moving, the shrieking and the wailing had ceased and my pain had stopped. I laid there on the burning rock, somehow even more terrified than before. It was as if time had frozen. Then, through the bodies and the frozen flames a man in all white walked towards me smiling. His beautiful blonde hair swayed on his forehead as he walked then he stopped about twenty feet away from me and pointed.
“Welcome home,” was all he said as I screamed and the world went white.
A knock on the door sat me upright as the shock from being brought out of a nightmare slowly dissipated.
“Dinner time if you’re hungry,” Bonnie yelled as I heard her footsteps walking away from my door.
I got out of bed and went to meet her for dinner. The set up was amazing. Under another crystal chandelier we ate steak with hot buttered rolls, green beans, and mashed potatoes with a mushroom gravy. The smell itself was making my mouth water as I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten such a meal if ever.
“I take it you like what you see?” I nodded my head in agreement. “You don’t talk much do ya Caleb?” She stared at me a moment to see if I would respond. “Well that is something we are gonna have to rectify. Well sit down already, and let’s say grace.” My head cocked sideways at the word grace. It was something from an early memory yet I couldn’t quite grasp what it was.
“You must not come from a religious back round my dear. Grace is a prayer to a God thanking him for the food we are about to eat.” Again that God word plagued my ears. It almost hurt to hear that word uttered and yet it drew me in and my curiosity was insatiable.
“God?” I questioned. “I would like to know more about this God, if you wouldn’t mind.” Bonnie just stared at me for a second and I could have sworn I saw a snarl on her lips. But quick as a lightning flash her face was smoothed and she smiled.
“God can be a topic for another day. I haven’t the remedy in me right now to cure ignorance. Next you’ll be asking me who the devil is, but I’m sure you don’t need to know about him do you?” That time a visible snarl was on her lips and didn’t go away so quickly. “Never mind all f this banter sit so we can eat, I’ll say grace.”
As I sat she lowered her head and clasped her hands together on the table and began.
“Bless us, O Lord, for these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Help us to be mindful of all our blessings, and the needs of those who have less. Amen. We can eat now,” she finished as she looked up at me smiling. Her tone during the grace seemed almost mocking.
“I am apparently mindful of those who have less today, what with you sitting at my table. You need a bath. Next time, be sure to wash before sitting at my table to eat.”
Her tone sounded different more malicious and I started realizing that she already didn’t like me very much. I couldn’t figure it out because she had taken me in, but I also didn’t care too much. I had begun figuring out what I was capable of and though the real me despised it, the me who was confronted by ill will from others enjoyed it.
“The food is very God, thank you.” Immediately I realized the mistake I had made and quickly stammered. “Good, good I meant the food is very good, thank you.” I put my eyes down at the table and began to wonder why a simple mess up of words had seemed like such a big deal. When I looked back up Bonnie was smiling.
“The food is from God so I suppose saying the food is very God is not completely incorrect.” Still smiling she added. “Although, there is someone who might not appreciate your talk about God,” Bonnie chuckled. “I can’t imagine him liking it at all.”
I was confused but again I didn’t mull over it too much, the food was amazing and I was famished. When I finished eating I helped Bonnie bring the dishes in to her kitchen and wash them and put them on a rack to dry. She stared at me almost the whole time.
“What is so special about you?” she asked, really seeming to wonder about it. “Hmmm, well I am going to go change and then go out to the pub down the street, being as you are too young, I have a television set in the living room down the hall, feel free to watch it. I’ll be home a little later. Make yourself comfortable. There are some extra men’s clothes in one of these rooms, I’m sure some of them are bound to fit you.” With that she went upstairs to change and I went to do something I had never really done. Watch television. When I saw the television I was amazed at its simplicity but confused as to how it worked. I just understood the general idea that there weren’t people in the box they were just being shown on the TV set from somewhere else. I turned a knob that said on and off and with a soft high pitched noise it turned on. After about a minute an old man appeared sitting in front of a long desk with another man to his right. They were both in suits and one had papers in his hand and he began talking.
“The top news stories we will be covering today are troops in Vietnam total 250,000, Pope Paul VI and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko meet in the Vatican for the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and the Soviet Union, and last but not least, word that a Church of Satan has just been formed by a man named Anton Szander LaVey in San Francisco today frightening the Christians local to that area. We’ll now take you to Robert Metclaff for news about the war in Vietnam, Robert…” I didn’t hear the news anymore as I sat stunned upon hearing about the pope. Some purpose I had began coming back to the surface at an even more alarming rate when I heard about the Church of Satan, whom I had began to believe was the man in white who came to me every so often and tormented me. I wanted to find this pope of the Roman Catholics, yet I also wanted to visit this Church of Satan to figure out more about the man in white. I was sure that the leader could help me. I sat back on the couch yawning and pondering when Bonnie came in the room.
“I’m leaving now sugar, sorry for acting so weird at dinner, I get in moods sometimes. I hope you’ll forgive me, but I’m leaving now. I’ll make up my poor behavior at dinner to you later on. I’ll be home in a couple of hours don’t wait up,” and with that last word she left.
The television was still talking to me about some war in Vietnam and I found it quite boring so I lay down on the couch to rest a little. I hadn’t had my eyes closed for more than 5 minutes when I heard a loud thump coming from upstairs. I looked up at the ceiling as the thump hit again. The moon was no where to be found outside so the windows were pitch black. No lights were on except the light from the television set, as the thumping grew louder and more frequent. I sat up for a moment wondering what I should do, as the thumping grew louder knocking dust from the ceiling above me. I started shaking as I decided I needed to see what was making that noise. I got off the couch and walked out of the living room. When the light form the television had faded I stuck my hands out and walked very slowly, my heart jumping with every thump I heard. I bumped in to a wall and searched it for a light switch but was unsuccessful. The thumping grew louder and the closer I got to the stairs I could barely make out a muffled sound that was coming faster than thumping. I figured the sounds were coming from the same source. Walking with my hands out proved to be more difficult than I had imagined when I hit what I think was a table and knocked it over. Whatever was on the table fell smashed against the floor in a loud crash and I stood completely still. The thumping and muffled sounds had stopped. My eyes were still in constant black and the hairs on the back of my neck began to rise. A feeling of small electricity went down my spine and arms and legs as the air got a little bit chillier and I shivered. I started walking again, and although I couldn’t see I sensed something move on the ground past me. I hesitated but kept going having a general idea where the stairs where. The dark was consuming me, and yet as my eyes were useless my ears seem to pick up every sound. I almost thought I could hear the legs of a spider hitting the wall as it climbed up it. I instinctively reached my hand out and squished something against the wall. I wondered for a moment how I was able to do that, then I remembered the “talents” bestowed upon me by the man in white not to long before. I used those skills and through the pitch blackness of the house I found the first step up to the terrible sounds. The thumping had ceased for the moment as only the muffled cries of what I could now hear was a man, were disturbing the silence. Emboldened by the remembrance of my “talents”, I stepped up the stairs a little more sure of myself. When the next loud THUMP rang out, I stopped dead in my tracks and tried to stop my knees from shaking. The moaning became louder as my fear rose higher. All I could think of was how I shouldn’t be scared of this after what I had done in my life, but I couldn’t help it. I reached the top of the stairs as the moon shown through the glass windows on the ceiling. Using the moonlight with my extra sensitive eyes I looked to the left down the hall and down to the right when I heard another THUMP come from the right. I made my way down the hall as the muffled cries grew louder and louder and the thumping grew more consistent. I came to the door where the sounds were coming from as the moon had hidden behind clouds again leaving me swallowed by the darkness. My whole body was shaking as I put my hand on the doorknob. I turned it and pushed the door open. The creaking from the hinges pierced my ears as my knees almost gave out from the fear. The thumping and muffled sounds had stopped as I looked in the room and realized it was empty. There was nothing in it. It was completely empty; there was absolutely nothing in the room except a closet. THUMP and I turned my head back to the closet. Whatever was making the noises was coming from there. I walked over and without any hesitation I swallowed my fear and opened the closet door. The moon came back and shown its light down on to a huge black box in the back of the surprisingly large walk-in closet. Still unable to find a light switch I walked up to the box. There was no sound; the silence was ringing in my ears. Though big for a closet it was still a small place as I bent down to unlatch the lock on the box. THUMP THUMP and muffled screams pushed me to my backside as I scooted backwards away from the blackness of the box towards the door. Silence struck me again. I got on all fours and crawled back to the box in the closet. I firmed my resolve and put my hand out to the latch and undid it. I sat back for a moment and waited, but nothing happened. I leaned forward back to the box and put both hands on the smooth, cold metal of it. I pushed the lid up a little bit and something shot up of the box smacking the lid up and knocking me back on my backside. I screamed until my lungs could scream no more as whatever had shot out of the box was now leaning over the edge of it. My body was shaking violently as I fought to regain my composure. The man or what I had assumed was a man wasn’t a man at all. It was a boy tied up with a gag in his mouth. I sat for a moment staring at the boy, my fear slowly dissipating into anger of being scared over a mere child. The boy, still tied, raised his head and stared into my eyes. His eyes were cold and even with only the moonlight to guide my sight I could see how dark they were. They seemed to devour the blackness around him. I leaned forward again and put myself about an inch from his face. I had to prove I wasn’t scared of this boy, but something about him wasn’t right. I reached my hand out and took the gag out of his mouth, and still we sat there staring at each other in the darkness of the closet, spotlighted by the moon. That’s when I saw his body, grotesquely contorted and bruised. There were sores all over his naked form, and his bones were nearly visible underneath his tight skin. A smile began to play upon his lips in a mocking way as I tilted my head and backed away in confusion and horror.
“You,” he coughed then, as if he hadn’t spoken in a while. His voice was creaky and weak. “You,” he began again. “Share the same blood as me, but you are not my family. You will die. You will burn for an eternity and there is nothing you can do about it. Your family before you has doomed you. You have doomed your family. You have doomed yourself. I spit on your future, your waste of God’s gift. I spit on the one who doomed us both.’ His head bowed as I knew tears were falling off of his cheeks to the wooden ground.
“Who are you? Why were you in this box?”
‘DO NOT SPEAK TO ME AGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH…” the boy screamed again knocking me back. I stood up this time angered now more than ever at the insolence of this little boy whom I had just saved. All of a sudden a pain shot like an arrow through my skull and I walked to the tied up boy and put my hands around his neck. I waited there for a minute so he knew what was to happen.
“And so begins my descent in to the flames. I will see you one day, and you will…” I did not let him finish as I snapped his neck. I sat back down in shock as the pain subsided. I put my head in my hands and yet could not cry. I could only wish I was not this person that took destroyed life. I lied down in that closet, in the dark next to the dead boy’s body and closed my eyes. I woke to Bonnie sobbing next to me and hammer coming down on my head.
When I woke again the sun was shining through the window only was way above my head and I could see grass growing outside of it. I must have been moved to the basement. My whole body ached as if I had been dragged down stairs and that confirmed my suspicion. I went to stand up but found out I couldn’t and hear the rattling of chains. My ankles were locked in metal clasps that had chains connected to a metal bar that was connected the brick of the basement wall. I heard maniacal laughing coming from somewhere around me as my head was struck with something hard. My face slammed in to the ground and my ears were ringing again only this time not from silence.
“You killed him, you sonofabitch, you killed him. You had no right, he was mine, but you killed him. You took him from me,” she screamed and again struck my head with what I soon found out was a metal pipe. I was beginning to lose consciousness as I lay in a pool of my own blood. Only the strength of the man in white’s gift was keeping me alive, but it wasn’t enough to keep me conscious.
I don’t know how long I had been out but the moon shined down through the little window above my head. My head was pounding and my body ached. I could feel my hair crusted to my head with what I could only assume was my blood. I vomited from the pain of the headache and curled up in a ball on the ground. My throbbing head was almost too much to bear as I struggled to stay awake. I forced my eyes open and would not let them shut, and then I saw the plate of what seemed like food and a cup. The cup held water in which I wasted no time slurping down. On the plate was stale bread and pieces of some kind of meat. Upon seeing the food I had become extremely ravenous and I cleaned the entire meal in a matter of seconds. My head had gone numb, which was a good thing and I curled back in to a ball on the ground. My vision started to get blurry and wavy and I struggled to stay conscious but my eyelids felt like they weighed a hundred pounds. Yet again I was out.
I awoke sometime during the day; although what day it was I had no clue. I saw a squirrel run by the window above my head, and smiled in delight as this was the only action I had seen since I had been brought down here. The squirrel stayed by the window for a bit then was gone; I thought that if the squirrel came back I would name him. The basement was dark and humid, and my muscles were stiff from sleeping on the ground. My ankle was chaffed from the shackle but my mind was too confused to try to figure out how to fix this. I thought about the squirrel again to try to focus my mind when the memory of how I had arrived in the basement came back to me. That weird little boy who told me my family had doomed me, I had doomed my family, and I had doomed myself. I thought about it a moment before the thought fluttered away like an aimless moth. My headache had come back but not as strong and I noticed that I wasn’t as badly injured as I should have been. The strength from the man in white had come in handy yet again. I pushed myself up into a sitting position and looked around at my surroundings. The stone floor and gray cinderblock walls pressed in on me as the chains held me firm. My vision started blurring again as I fought to regain my composure. I fell over on to my hands and knees and hung my head towards the ground. I could feel the tears welling up inside of me but I forced them down. I had promised myself I wouldn’t cry and I would keep that promise. I heard door hinges creak as I pushed myself up back in to a sitting position. Footsteps down the stairs alerted me that someone was coming to see me, and I could only assume that it was Bonnie.
“Soooo you’re awake are you, ya little sonofabitch? You’ve been sleeping for the last couple days now, how are you feeling?” Bonnie asked sarcastically.
“Better,” I said trying to keep the anger out of my voice.
“Well don’t worry sugar; I’ll make sure to remedy that. I held my boy in that box for seven years. His body was misshapen because of it but I couldn’t let his evil out on the world.”
“Why didn’t you just kill him?” I asked.
“Because he was my evil. It was my mistake why he was born so I kept him alive and fed him and washed him, but I couldn’t risk the world finding out.” Bonnie responded looking away.
“You didn’t kill him, but you kept him locked in a box?” I asked, curious about the evil nature of such a young child.
“I told you he was in that box because I couldn’t let his evil loose on the world.” Bonnie was pacing back and forth in front of me. “I couldn’t let anyone find out what I had done. That boy was not born absolved of sin, he was born from the devil’s seed,’ she yelled nearly crying now pacing back and forth frantically now.
“The devil’s seed?” I asked. “You mean you had the baby with the man in white?” I had never before been with a woman in a physical way, so although I knew it took a man and woman to make a baby I wasn’t quite sure how it worked. When I lived with my ma and pa and went to school, there were girls but they didn’t like me much. I had also pretty much surmised that the man in white was this devil, or Satan I had heard about.
“The man in white?” she questioned, stopping her pacing to stare at me.
“The devil I mean, that boy in the box was from the devil?”
Bonnie continued to stare at me before she explained. “He tricked me and told me he was an angel. I was out in the field behind my house asking God for proof of His existence and then he came to me. A man in white as you described. He told me he was my proof of God and after some talking we made love and then he left. I realized I was pregnant about a month later and that’s when the nightmares began. I couldn’t tell you how many times I woke up screaming and crying. His eyes tearing my soul right out of my body…”
“Soul?” I interrupted. “What’s a soul?” I asked remembering vaguely that I had given mine to the man in white.
“Don’t you interrupt me again you little shit!” She screamed. Bonnie walked right up to me and snarled in my face and then coming to her senses quickly backed up and began pacing again.
“Since you are so ignorant, I’ll give you this little gift and I’ll tell you what a soul is. It’s god’s essence that he put in each on of us here on earth. It’s what makes us live and connects us to the Lord…” Bonnie began to cry. “And I think I gave mine up that night in my field. The nightmares have stopped though now that you killed my boy, so I can thank you for that but you had no right no right at all. He was my penance to bear and you took him away from me. If God can’t punish me for my sin than I will never join him in the afterlife, and I don’t want to go to hell Caleb. I can’t take his eyes. His evil eyes,” her lips began to quiver as her body began to tremble in fear but it all stopped almost as soon as it had started when her eyes found mine again. Her lips curled up in to an almost devilish grin.
“I found out a secret about you though Caleb. I could sense his presence all around you from the moment I saw you. You are tainted with his stink, and now you will become my penance. I will keep your evil locked up so the world won’t have to deal with it. God will see my good deeds and he will let me back in his light. I will keep you from spreading your evil on to the world Caleb you are my prisoner now,” she laughed as she was walking towards me. I hadn’t noticed the lead pipe in her hand until just then. I opened my mouth to say something but no words would come out. I didn’t know what to say and for the moment at least, my situation seemed hopeless. I closed my eyes as bonnie lifted the pip up and dropped it down on my head. My world went black.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Caleb had stopped reciting his story to judge the priest’s reaction. He stayed quiet for several moments, but as he realized the priest wasn’t going to speak unless spoken to he began.
“You seem as if you are thinking hard on what I am saying father,”
“I am wondering the truth of the words you are telling me my son,” the priest responded bluntly. “It is not that I do not have faith in all of God’s sons and daughters, but as you are well aware of I am sure, one does not come across such a tale everyday, even one whose religion is their life as mine is.”
Caleb pondered this for a moment. “Well father, it is like our belief in God, I can not show you nor prove to you that what I am saying is truth, I can just ask you to have a little faith in me that what I tell you is all true. I remember every detail as if it happened only moments ago.”
“Interesting point.” The priest said. “I am curious nonetheless, about your story and would like you to continue, and I promise I will try and share my faith with your tale.”
“I’d appreciate that father. Now that you have heard how it all began, I can hurry my story along. I have a question that needs answering father, and I only hope you can help me.”
“I will give whatever guidance I can my son, please continue.” When the priest finished, Caleb started from where he left off.

I still sat at the lunch bar staring at the diner around me, when Margaret came back in through the kitchen door waving at me to come with her. I slid off the stool and walked over to her.
“Alright c’mon now sugar, lets get this dirt and muck off the rest of your body. I have a nice hot bath running, here ya go,” she handed me a soft green towel that was almost the length of my body. Margaret took me through the kitchen to where I could see the door that had brought me in to the diner in the first place. We went to the left of that door up some old wooden stairs and I saw where the old couple lived. It had a living room another smaller yellow kitchen and as I was walked down the hall, I passed two bedrooms. I heard the running water coming from straight ahead, and at the end of the hall was where the bathroom was. The walls leading to the bathroom were painted a creamy white that seemed to be fading with age. I walked in to the steam filled bathroom, and the thought of being clean struck me as the most amazing thing I could have asked for at that moment. I stripped my clothes off right in front of Margaret with no shame and nearly leaped in to the tub. Just as my feet were about to enter the water I heard Margaret scream.
“Noooo child, the water is too hot.” Only it was too late. My feet hit the scalding water with the rest of my body following suit and I sat down in the tub. My body was practically hidden from Margaret’s eye sight in the steam, as she ran over to me. With an audible gasp she asked.
“Caleb…” She paused. “Are you alright?” She asked, eyeing me eerily as I should have been screaming with pain at this point, only I couldn’t feel the extreme heat of the water. All I could feel was that I was in liquid that could cleanse me the same way it had after my parents had died. I stared up at Margaret and smiled.
“I’m ok, thank you for the nice bath,” I finished as I tried to find a wash rag and soap through the steam.
Margaret put her hand in the water and pulled it back fast with a yelp. “Caleb get out of that water instantly,” and she grabbed me by my under arms and pulled me out. “You must be in shock about your family boy, I am so, so sorry. Let’s wait ‘till the water cools a little, then you can hop right back in. You look like a tomato right now. You must be a strong child, come her precious,” she said as she hugged me close to her sagging bosom. She smelled of honeysuckles and through all of the turmoil that had happened in my short life, at that moment, in that bathroom, being held by Margaret I was happy. Jacob came in the bathroom during our special moment looking worried.
“I heard a scream, what’s the matter?” he asked
“Nothing dear,” Margaret answered still holding me close. “Nothing at all.”’


“Well father that’s the beginning of the next chapter of my life, I hope I am not keeping you from anything on your schedule today. “
The priest stayed quite for a moment and than quietly answered. “I can reschedule the other meeting with sincere apologies. I would like to hear the rest of you life story. I am finding it most intriguing.”
“As I knew you would father, and do not worry it gets even more interesting yet, but not for several years. It seems the man in white had almost forgotten about me through my preteen years. When I hit puberty however, he seemed to take another interest in me, as if those years aren’t hard enough in a young man’s life.”
“Yes, yes they are. But if Satan, if I’m guessing correctly about who you gave your soul too, indeed had control of your soul, than you were his too command. Although there is a hole in your story my son, as a child you giving your soul to Satan is…” The priest was cut off by Caleb.
“No no no, I will get to that in time. This is my story and I imagine I know what you were about to say. I will explain in time father if that is alright?”
“Go on,” was all that the priest said.
Caleb collected his thoughts for a moment and then began.


‘The state and the sheriff had found out that it was in fact, my parents who had died in the awful Fletcher house fire, and they had also found out that I didn’t have any more family anywhere else. Margaret and Caleb, whom had never gotten around to getting married but were deeply in love, and had been for the last 50 years, would not let me be put up by the state. They had simply refused. So with the sheriff’s help they filled out all the paper work, went through all of the procedures and were granted custody of me. I lived in their apartment above the diner, went to school with other kids in the small town, and grew in to a teenager, with no remorse for my past, and no appearances from the man in white. That was until I was about 16 years old.
I realize that I must have been an awkward lonely kid because I never had any friends and everyone just avoided me. No one teased me, but no one ever tried to play with me either, my adopted parents found this very strange. I had come to notice, or maybe realize now that Jacob, whom I had started calling pa, was very wary of me. Not to say he didn’t love me, he took me in to his home and gave me everything I could ask for. The more I grew the further he distanced himself from me. I would catch him staring at me and shaking his head. I had come home one day from school early. I had been suspended for hitting a boy named Tommy Weaver in the face with a wooden board in shop class. When I walked in the front door Margaret, whom I had started calling ma, was waiting for me. The look on her face was not one of anger, but one of sadness. She was blinded by pity, and in her eyes I could do know wrong. Pa’s vision was quite clear however, and he slapped me in the back of my head before I had taken a second step past the front door. Over the years his contempt for me had started leaking through. I think maybe jealousy over taking his Margaret’s time away from him. Or maybe he knew, somehow he just knew. After the slap to my head I stared in to his dark eyes, face to face with the loving man who had brought me in his home and I had begun to hate him. A fire had started burning in my belly and I knew there was only one way to stop the pain.
“If I wasn’t a good Christian boy I’d throw you out of my house right this instant,” he snarled. His hot breath and spittle hit my face through his gritted teeth.
“Jacob please,” Ma begged.
“You stay out of this Margaret,” Pa yelled, his features softening a little as he realized how harsh his tone had been with the love of his life. “This boy needs discipline, and somehow we just haven’t been able to give it to him. You sent poor Tommy to the hospital you know. Your principal phones us at the diner and told us you broke his nose, his cheekbone, and Lord only knows about his eyes. Why? Why’d ya do it boy?”
“Because he hit me on the back of my head,” I answered. Pa’s face turned bright red and I just stared at him, the fire in my belly grew with my rage and my hands started to tremble. Just then a voice pounded my brain as if there were fists in my skull.
“Not yet Caleb, but the time will come.” The voice in my head laughed. “Oh how you amuse me so, I’ve been watching you over the years my son and I feel it’s time you and I become reacquainted. Not now, but soon,” and the voice was gone.
“Lord almighty what are you staring at boy? Have you lost your marbles?”
“Jacob please, he’s scared,” Margaret pleaded again.
“Scared? I’m scared. He does nothing but sit at his window and stare. He rarely ever talks, and you treat him like he’s an infant. Something’s not right with you boy, I’ve felt it for a long time now. Something just ain’t right.” I was still staring in to Pa’s eyes. “Don’t eyeball me BOY,” he hissed. “I may be an old man, but I will still be shown respect in my own house. Go to your room.” I still stood there staring in to his eyes. “I said go to you room,” and Ma came and put her arms around my shoulders and led me to my bedroom.
I’m sorry Caleb, I fear his temper is fading with the years. You shouldn’t have hurt that boy though,” Ma was shaking her head as she was talking. “Hurting somebody is never the answer; it’ll just hurt you in the end even more.” She stared at me as we reached the door to my room. “Now you go in there and la down for a while and I’ll try to cool the old man down.” She must have seen something in my eyes because she reached her hand up and started rubbing her hand through my shaggy brown hair. I was about 5’9 now, with sharp, dark features. “You were God’s gift to me Caleb; I had always wanted a boy. God heard me; maybe if you talk to him he’ll hear you too.”
I opened my door and walked in to my room. She had shut the door behind me, but not all the way. I sat for a moment listening and then slowly crept out of my room to hear the conversation they were having. Pa was sitting in his favorite brown chair and ma was standing in front of him. Though barely audible I still managed to hear their conversation
“He’s just a boy Jacob, he doesn’t know any better.”
“Just a boy or not Margery, I just can’t do it any more I am too old. There is something up with that boy in there, I felt it ever since the sheriff first told us it was his parents that dies in the fire.” Pa took a deep breath and then sighed. “I just don’t know what to do, I love the boy, I do, but something is just not right.”
“Maybe if we took him out of this town for a while, like a trip or something it could get him back to the right mind. We could take him camping, you could show him how to fish, and hike. Maybe the peacefulness of nature will take some of his troubles away. What he went through no child should have to go through and I’m not giving up on him.”
“I know you aren’t Margery, that’s one of the reason I love you so much.” Pa sighed again. “Maybe I am just being an old fool, or maybe my age is just finally getting to me. I could do with some nature myself; I haven’t been out that way in years, and maybe you’re right, I think it will do some good for the boy. Thank God for Tiffany, we can have her watch and run the diner while we’re gone…” Pa’s voice trailed off as I quietly snuck back to my bedroom. I shut the door behind me and locked it and went to the corner of my room behind my bed. There was a floorboard there that you would never know was loose unless you moved it yourself. I pushed it aside and there was the ruby hilted dagger that had been giving to me years before. I picked it up and a sense of cool pleasure ran through my body. I had found that as the days and weeks had gone by that the man and white hadn’t talked to me, the less and less I had needed to keep the dagger close to my skin, until I didn’t need to touch it at all. I sill made sure I looked at it every night and talked to it before I went to sleep. As I was holding the dagger, there was a knock at my door.
“Caleb, it’s your Pa, I’m sorry about our fight, I just want you to do good. If you’ll open the door, me and your Ma have a surprise to tell ya.” With his last words I put the dagger in my waist band, pushed the floor board back and unlocked and opened the door. There was a creak of the old hinges and Jacob stood in the doorway with a stern look on his face. It soon broke out in to a small smile as he told me what they had planned for the weekend. I grew excited and my Pa could see it and smiled even wider. In my head a soft laugh echoed.
As much as my Pa had started to resent me, he had tried, I believe, to give it his all to love me and raise me in to a good God fearing man. He had constantly taken me outside, on my lazy weekends to play catch with me. He had taught me how to shave, and how to cook. He had tried to get me to read the bible, but every time I tried I was just too tired or suddenly became sick. What was the most fun to me and what I was most appreciative to learn, was him teaching me how to drive. He had a beautiful cherry red ’55 Chevy that was in perfect condition and every time I got behind the wheel I felt free. I had picked it up rather quickly and I feel it was the only time that Pa and I had bonded. That was the car he had taken up to the camp site, in the mountains about 50 miles from our house. He didn’t let me drive this time, but Ma had insisted I sit up in the front seat so we could talk. To her dismay there wasn’t much said other than, the ride won’t be too long, and you’ll have fun when we get there, you’ll see. I loved being outside so I was sure he was right.
When we pulled up next to the river, I popped my ears one last time and got out of the car. The sun was high in the sky, dissected by the tree branches overhead. My eyes followed the brownish blue river until it was lost in the trees and I closed my eyes. A breeze passed through my hair and the smell of pine clung to my nose. I was free. I looked straight ahead at Margaret and her face was all smiles with tears glistening in her eyes.
“This was where Jacob used to take me way back when. This is where we fell in love, and then not to much later, this is also where he proposed.” I stared at Margaret for a moment basking in her love and serenity. Jacob had come over to stand next to me, and I peered up at his face, tiger striped by the trees’ shadows. He was smiling a loving smile as he put his hand on my shoulder.
“We would catch fish and pick berries and have a feast, like we are going to do this time Caleb. This is where mine and Margaret’s life really began; this is what life is…” He never finished the sentence as his head slumped on to my shoulder. I hadn’t even realized I had grabbed the knife, which was in my hand and in Pa’s gut, out of my waistband. Warm liquid poured over my hand as I pushed Pa to the ground. He was still alive yet he was groaning and fading fast. I pulled the ruby hilted blade slowly out of his gut, and he cried with pain, trying to yell for Margaret. His yells were barely more than inaudible wheezes. I heard myself laugh then. I stood up and turned to see Margaret silent, and shaking in shock. Pa was writhing in pain on the ground at my feet, a pool of blood welling up around him, slowly trying to stretch in to the river. His eyes were fixed on his beloved. I backed away a couple feet and could feel my face smile.
“Margaret,” I yelled. “Go to your loving husband.” As if awakened by my words she stopped shaking and immediately ran to Jacob and crouched over his dying body. The blood soaked in to the hem of her dress as she rubbed her hands on Jacob’s face, sobbing.
“Not like this,” she wept. “Not like this,” she repeated as she turned her tear stained face in my direction. “We took you in and raised you like one of our own, why? Why’d you do this Caleb?” Her tears were mixing in with Jacob’s blood and I started growing excited. Margaret had turned her head back to Jacob as she cradled his head in her arms rocking back and forth. I looked hard in to his cold eyes and he wouldn’t blink. I knew he was still alive but he kept his deathly gaze on me. I kept my eyes back on his as I walked up behind Margaret. So sad was she that she didn’t even realize I was behind her. Jacob’s eyes stayed fixed on mine, and I could see nothing but the utmost contempt and hatred pouring out at me. He couldn’t talk because of the pain, and Margaret was paralyzed with grief. Still looking in to Jacob’s eyes, I felt myself smile again as I slipped the knife to the front of Margaret’s throat, and slit it ear to ear. The blood rushed out all over Jacob’s face as she slumped over on him. Small wheezing noises came from the slice in her throat as she tried to breathe. His eyes were still on mine, yet he shut them once in pain, I couldn’t tell if it was physical or emotional. His face was barely recognizable through all of the blood oozing down his cheeks, over his lips and eyes and yet still he stared at me. With Margaret’s life seeping out of her on to him, he never took his eyes off of me. I was the first one to break the eye contact as I walked over to where he and Margaret were laying. I squatted down in the pool of blood and tears, which had now formed a nice stream that was almost at the river. I could feel Jacob’s eyes burning through me as I crouched over Margaret. I could tell from his shallow breaths that he was not far off from taking death’s hand. I pushed Margaret’s body completely on to Jacob’s head and I rifled through his pockets to find the keys. I found them in his left jacket pocket. I stood up and jingled the keys over the two bloody bodies, and admired my handiwork. I couldn’t see Jacob’s eyes anymore through Margaret or all of the blood, but I imagine that he was still staring right through all of that and at me. I could still see his chest moving up and down as I turned around and walked to the car. I opened the door of the cherry red ’55 Chevy and climbed in. I shut the door put the key in the ignition and turned on the radio just in time to hear Bobby Darin’s, Mack the knife. I looked over one last time and could still see Jacob’s chest move in short rapid compressions. He was smothered by his beloved Margaret, as I noticed the stream of blood and tears had made it to the river finally. I never knew how long it took Jacob to die as I closed my eyes.
I was awakened by laughter and the clapping of hands. My eyes came in to focus as I peered through the foggy windshield and viewed someone I had not seen in years, the man in white crouching over the bodies of my old ma and pa. He had stopped clapping and stuck his finger in to the blood on the dead woman's neck. He slid his finger across the open wound as a child might with icing on a birthday cake. He stuck the bloody finger in his mouth locking his eyes with mine and he smiled. I knew my eyes were opened wide with shock because he was still smiling at me. I knew I had killed my "foster" parents but I didn't know why and I thought I was gonna be sick after watching the man in white taste them both. The smiling man motioned for me to get out of the car, but I shook my head no. He cocked his head sideways and as soon as I blinked he was gone, only to appear right next to me in a passenger seat. I screamed as he sat shaking his head making a clicking sound with his tongue.
"Caleb, Caleb, Caleb, what am I going to do with you boy? You are going around murdering people close to you making me all joyous. I'm not supposed to be happy I'm suppose to be sad and ominous, terrifying even, but not happy. How do I look to the common mortal if I am happy all the time? No Caleb, it just doesn't fit with the balance of things." The man in white laughed. "But I can't lie to you my boy it sure does feel good to smile again, it's been a while, it sure has been a while. Now, let’s get to business. You did good and because of that I'm going to grant you a little wish if you may, I can be your genie of sorts," as he was speaking he took his thumb nail which seemed to grow long, black and sharp in front of my eyes, and slice his arm. His eyes rolled up in to his head in ecstasy as a thick black liquid that I assumed to be blood began leaking down his arm. "Ahhhhhh," he sighed. "Now drink my son." Horrified I shook my head hoping the man in white wasn't serious. "I wasn't asking boy." The man in white put his hand on the back of my head and lowered my face to the black blood on his arm. I tried resisting at first but there was no point, he was too strong. My lips touched the dark blood and I gagged as the bitterness of it reached my taste buds. It coated my lips and throat like cough syrup and I felt like a vampire like in one of the stories I had read at my late pa's house. "Dracula," I believe the story was called. My mind wandered while I was forced to keep drinking down the disgusting liquid.
"Ahh yes like Dracula, my little vampire, I like that idea Caleb my boy. You will have quite a blood lust after this. No fangs I'm sad to say but..." The man in white grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled my head back up. "That was good wasn't it?" He smiled. "Like I was saying, you will not have any fangs, but all of your senses will be heightened, and you shall be stronger and faster than any normal mortal. This is my gift to you, enjoy, I'll be checking in on you later. Head east towards Virginia, you and I should have a lot of fun out that way."
He sat staring at me for a moment as I bean to smell the bitterness coming from the pitch colored blood now dissolving off of the man in white's arm. I looked out of the car in to the forest around me and about 50 yards ahead I watched ants crawling on a tree, and I could hear fish swimming in the river. Testing out my new gifts I began wondering why this man had taken such an interest in me. Why me? This immortal question that plagues all of mankind, why me?
Reading my mind the man in white answered. "That's a question to be answered at another time. Enjoy your new... “He paused looking me over. "Talents. We will talk another time. It hasn't been ten years since me and an angry man with a little mustache treated the world like a playground and here I am, already at it again. I don’t know if I can top what he was capable of." The man in white laughed again. "God was he good at it,” again he laughed. "Get it; God was he good at it." The laughing stayed in my head as the man in white disappeared. I was only fourteen years old but I started turned the key in the ignition and began my trip to Virginia. I glanced at myself in the rearview mirror and saw that my eyes had turned from brown to black and an evil smile played upon my lips. I was only fourteen but it felt like I had been around forever holding the world by its neck.

The moon came swiftly as I was still sitting in the red Chevy pondering my life. I was ignorant about so much in life, and yet I was killing people with reckless abandon. No purpose to it as far as I could tell, it seemed I was just a tool to satisfy the man in white's boredom. I gripped the jeweled dagger that I had put on the passenger seat and pain instantly struck my head. My eyes saw white with black rimmed around in it and I opened the door to empty my stomach. The thoughts in my head were no more as the pain subsided. I regained my composure, put the dagger back on the seat, stuck the key in the ignition and started the car. I looked up and saw the full moon in the distance. I started off down the dirt road towards the moon.
I drove until I found a paved road and then I followed that road until I got to a little gas station on the side of the road. I noticed the gas station had an all night diner inside of it and although I wasn't hungry I knew I had to eat. I parked my car by the first pump and an attendant came out to service my car. He had grey overalls on and salt and pepper hair. His face was tanned leather, and the stubble covering it was a few days old. He had an angry stare and didn't say a word to me but he went about this job like I was anybody else. I grabbed the blade, got out of the car and went inside the diner and sat down at a table. The place was dimly lit and completely empty of customers. There were five tables in the place standing a rotten wooden floor. The dirt from the floor seemed to have crawled in to the kitchen which was out in the open behind the counter. I only saw one obese old woman behind it. She eyeballed me for a moment before she spoke up.
"What'll it be sonny?" she asked with a raspy voice. Cigarettes had ruined her voice, as she lit one up. "Well what'll you have?" she asked a little more sternly.
"Bacon, eggs and toast please ma'am." I looked out of the diner window at the night sky. The moon had been covered with clouds and the stars were hiding as well. There was nothing at all for miles around yet I was filled with a strange purpose to go to Virginia. Where in Virginia I had no idea, what I was going to do when I got there seemed even more elusive to me but I was told to go so I knew I had to go. I didn't even notice that I could see everything outside as if the full moon were still out. I was still deep in thought when a noise from outside brought back my attention. I noticed the old angry man was inside my car digging around. I stood up to go outside when the waitress came with my food.
"What are you doing boy? There's nothing out there, now sit down and eat your food." She blew cigarette smoke in my face with a little smile struggling to life the fat on her cheeks. I stood there looking at the old woman seeing every open pore on her face, I was almost gagging from the body odor that was pouring off of her body and snaking its way to my nostrils. I could hear the tiny squeaking sounds her lungs made each time she inhaled; I could also hear the old man laughing outside as he was rummaging through my stuff. The old woman had put her hand on my shoulder pushing me toward the booth. I watched the sweat drip from under the black hairnet that held her short, curly, blonde hair. Her blue work uniform was a light blue dress, with white in the middle. She was too big to be wearing anything of the sorts.
"I said sit down and eat your meal boy, you respect your elders and do what you’re told," She finished while pushing even harder on my shoulder.
"That old man needs to stop going through my stuff," I demanded, the anger pouring out of my words. The old woman's eyes went wide as she leaned to the side and peered out the window and couldn't see a thing.
"How the hell...." she muttered. The ruby hilted dagger was stabbed behind her ear before she even had time to ponder the occurrence. Blood trickled out of her nose as fell to the ground, the dagger slicing up as I kept a firm grip on it as she fell. I sat back down and began eating the meal she had prepared. It was surprisingly good.
I had almost finished when the old man strolled through the door with a sack slung over his shoulder. He turned to look at me and his eyes went wide with shock. "What's in the bag old man?" I asked menacingly. I stared him down for a moment as he finally noticed his obese counterpart lying in a bloody heap on the floor. My breakfast had gotten a little bit bigger as the old man saw there were chunks of fat cut from the old woman's face. I stuffed the last piece of warm flesh in my mouth and chewed it as I slowly stood up, blood smeared my face. I had just eaten the woman's smile. The old, tough skinned man had dropped the sack he was carrying and stood stuck in place quivering like a frightened child.
"Wha... wha... wha..." He stammered. I didn't answer him. I just started walking towards him with the dagger in hand wearing pieces of the old woman's smile. His body was shaking like there was an earth quake in his belly by the time I walked up to him. I put my nose against his and we were eye to eye and I just stared in to his mind. I smelled urine all of a sudden but I didn't take my eyes off his. I was big for my age, but this was not a big man. Keeping eye contact I brought the knife around his body to his back and plunged it in to the base of his spine. He immediately dropped to the ground screaming. His legs were now useless as he tried to drag himself away from me, breaking off two fingernails in the process. I walked over the three feet he had crawled and put a knee in to his back between his shoulder blades. The man was crying hysterically for the old woman.
"Angie, oh my sweet God not my precious Angie, I'm sorry lord please forgive us and our sins. Oh my sweet lord..." He continued on. Something in my brain stirred during his praying and I lost focus on the task at hand. With my knee still in the man's back I leaned my head back and screamed at the top of my lungs. The fog in my brain was separating and the truth was becoming uncovered when a loud pop sounded in my head and I raised the knife above my head and sunk it in to the gas station attendant's wrist. I pushed it to the left and then to the right and raised the blade. The man's right hand was severed. I left his left hand attached for his use. The attendant had passed out from the pain. I vaguely remembered stories my late pa had told me of the war when they would use fire to cauterize wounds they had received in battle. He told me it had saved many soldiers. I got up and walked behind the counter and turned on the wood stove. I put a metal pot lid on top of the flames and let it sit for a time. Using a hand towel I picked the pot lid off of the stove and walked back over to the man in grey overalls spread out bleeding on the floor. I knelt down and pressed the scalding metal pot lid to where the man's right hand used to be. His eyes snapped open and an inhuman scream rose from his throat. I did the same thing to his left arm. The man passed out again. I stood back up and thought about what to do next. I looked around the diner and remembered I had seen a small shotgun behind the counter. I went and got it and put another pot lid on the stove. When it heated up I went back to the unconscious body. I unsnapped his overalls and pulled them down. The pungent smell of sweat and urine stung my nose but I continued on. I took up the ruby hilted dagger and put the tip between his legs, under his testicles and his shriveled manhood. One flick of my wrist and blood sprayed across my face. I pulled his manliness from his body, feeling the stray tendrils of skin that the blade had failed to cut come loose. Blood flowed freely until I cauterized the gaping hole in the middle of his pelvis and stared at my handiwork. I grabbed the man's severed hand and put it on the right side of his head and put his manhood in the palm. In his left hand, the one that was still attached, I put the shotgun. I saw his back weakly rise and fall and knew he was still alive. I would let him choose. I went back behind the counter to the kitchen and grabbed food and supplies. I saw then a vile with a label reading "Rat Poison" next to a pitcher of water. I glanced to the booth I was sitting at and saw an untouched glass of water next to the plate of food the waitress had brought me. I chuckled too myself and continued gathering supplies. I saw a sink and a mirror a little further in the back and thought it was best if I cleaned myself up. There was a short sleeved, blue collared shirt hanging next to the sink that I changed in to. It was a little snug but it wasn’t covered in blood like the one I had been wearing. There was about a half an hour left until the sun rose when I got back in to the Chevy. I put the dagger on the seat next to me, started the car and took off down the road. Shortly after, a shotgun blast reverberated through the night.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2


"That was the beginning of the rest of my life father. I went in to so much detail so you could understand better how I began. I do not believe I was born evil. But I believe I was forced in to being that way." Caleb was silent for a moment so the priest began.
"Did you ever think of getting help, psychological help?" The priest asked solemnly.
"Help? My body and mind were taken over and you are asking me if I thought to go to a psychologist. HAHAHAHA," Caleb laughed. "Father I am not crazy, actually I may be saner then most for I know the truth. I could not help what happened to me anymore than an ant can save his ant hill from being stepped on. I will show you truths father, I will not leave you to blind faith, as now I wish I could be so ignorant, no I will prove my life to you in due time. But for now I ask for you to listen, and at the end of my story give me the advice I seek."
"Continue.” And the priest adjusted himself to a more comfortable posture and resumed listening.
'The sun was still visible across the sky, but I noticed it was quickly fleeing the ensuing night. I kept walking through the tall grass, barely a tree in sight, when a red truck came in to view through the distance. My first instinct was to stop this truck and that's just what I did. As the truck drove slowly down the dirt rode to my left, I began to race to catch it before it drove by. I made it to the dirt road before he could pass and I began to cry. Crying never worked with my parents, but I assumed I'd try again. To this day I do not know if the thoughts were mine or not. The red Ford truck stopped at the sight of a little boy crying on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, just as I suspected it would. I looked up trying to catch a glimpse of who was driving. It was then up close that I saw that he may have been the oldest man I had ever seen. Sparse white hair littered the back of his head; he had no teeth and wrinkles that almost closed his eyes. Thick bushy white eyebrows sat drooping over an almost indecipherable face, and his jowls drooped down to his chest. My tears dried up immediately as I looked at withering old man whose skin seemed to be sagging off.
"What are you doing out here youngin'?" He muttered. It was barely audible as I was sure his throat had to be nearly faded away. Still I said nothing, and just stood there and stared at this old man who time was literally melting.
"Well I saw you running for my truck," the old man winked. “I may be old as dust, but these eyes could still battle a hawk’s. What's your name?" Still I said nothing and just stared. "Don’t talk much huh, fair enough; I prolly talk enough for the both of us anyway. Well my names Johnny, and it would be a sin to let you walk down this road all by yourself with night coming down on us. Why don't you hop on in to my truck and I'll take ya where ya need to go, if you ever talk to me that is." This time I still said nothing yet forced a weak smile in his direction. I dropped my eyes back to the ground and I realized I was sad over the loss of my parents. My thoughts began taking me to a deeper darker place. As soon as my feelings started to root in to my heart, my body began to spasm and they were gone. My mind grew sharper and I lifted my head to meet the old man’s beady eyes.
"I'm not sure where exactly I am going mister, but it'd be mighty kind of ya to give me a ride until I could figure it out. I haven't ridden in a truck before."
"There we go little guy!" The old man hollered and slapped his leg. "Now hop up in here and let's get on the road before the night comes to chill our bones."
I climbed up in to the passenger seat of Johnny's red truck and looked at my surroundings. A faint smell of urine hung in the air, and I saw old ripped up newspapers underneath my feet, which couldn't reach the ground. I looked over at the old man who I saw was staring at me with a silly grin on his face. He winked at me one more time and turned towards the road and began driving. He started telling me stories, mostly of the war, and different battles he had been in. I wasn't paying him any attention, and strangely enough I wasn't worried about where I was going. I had no idea where I was headed but I had an eerie tranquility settle over me as if my knowing wasn't important. Then the man said something that snapped my head up.
"...and that's when the devil came up to me. It was him sure as the horns on a goats head. He said he heard me playing my fiddle, and he bet me that he could play better than me. He told me who he was and I was skeptical until I saw fire shoot from his fingertips and I nearly soiled myself. Nearly though boy, I kept my composure, and told him that I'd take his bet and he was gonna regret it, 'cuz I was the best there had ever been. I played this little tune called "Fire on the Mountain" I had made up and after words, ooooooweeeeee was he mad, I'll tell ya what. He had there a golden fiddle he laid at my feet, and it's been my prize possession ever since. Hahaha," the old man chuckled. "He sure was pissed that this ugly guy you see before you bested that there good looking fellow. Wore all white, he did. Damn clothes almost faded in with his skin. The devil doesn't have horns and a tale boy; don't let those stories fool ya. He looks a man just as you or I do, although he looks more of a man, more perfect I would reckon. Not as evil as I would have thought though, took his defeat pretty bad, but he paid up in the end."
I sat staring at this decrepit old man in wonder as he had just described the same man who had visited me the night before. I let my thoughts take me there until I realized the old man had pulled over.
"Well that's the town up ahead," he nodded in the direction. With a toothless grin he leaned towards me. I could smell his hot breath on my face, and it reeked of dog feces. "Now I'm a fair man, but I do reckon you owe me a little favor for this here ride." He winked at me and his hand fell on my knee. I looked back up in to his face not understanding what he was doing as I saw him pulling the zipper of his wrinkled gray pants down. He started pulling on my legs. "What say you come over here boy and get on grandpa's lap?" With the hand on my left knee and his other hand now on my right shoulder he was pulling me in to some weird hug. He pulled me on to his lap and he was fumbling around in his pants. A thunder clap boomed in my skull as the man’s hand slid up my leg, and I quickly pulled the blade out from under my shirt and stabbed it up under the old man's floppy jaw. His body shook for a moment and then he was still.
"Good," bounced in side my skull and the voice was gone. Blood trickled from the man’s nose staining his white beard and from his ears as well. I traced my finger along the trail of red oozing from his left ear and brought the bloody finger to my lips. I tasted life force for the first time that night. The metallic tang sent shivers down my spine as I realized how much I enjoyed the taste. I pulled my knife out of the man’s head, and it came out with ease like a knife through butter. I licked the blood off the knife, like a child with an egg beater after his mom just made brownies. I slid off the man's lap on to his passenger seat, and opened the door. I stepped down on to the dirt road and checked out my surroundings. The moon was bright in the night sky and made things a little easier to see. Up ahead about a mile were lights from the town the old man had told me about, so I figured I would head towards there. I had been there once with my father not to long ago and he had bought me a lollipop. Sucking on the lollipop reminded me of licking the red desert off of the knife. I didn't know it was wrong at the time. I just knew like candy, I wanted more. I tucked my knife back in to my pants and under my shirt and began down the road towards the lights.'
"You see father I don't even think Lucifer likes pedophiles," Caleb said in a lightly joking manner.
"No, I can imagine there are not many people that do,” the priest closed his eyes in disgust at the fellow priest of the catholic faith that had been accused of child molestation over the years. "I can imagine there is not many at all, please continue my child."
Caleb leaned forward and smiled. "You seem interested now father. Is my life more entertaining now? Are you starting to believe?"
"You are in a house of God my son; the lord will tell me what is true and what is not. As for your tale keeping me amused, I will not lie I am very interested in your life story, you seem like a deeply troubled man. Please continue." Caleb nodded his head, sat back and went on with his life story.
'The trip to the town was actually a trip down memory lane. I began thinking about my childhood. I was seven years old and thinking about my past. The "maturity" that had been thrust upon me at such early age, had me feeling a lot older than I was. I still was not even aware that I had taken three lives. Or more, I wasn't aware of what I did when I took three lives. I didn't see anything wrong in it. I missed my parents though, and a huge part of me wanted to go home. My body became wracked with pain at the thought, and I fell to the ground. My face was pressed against the dirt, as I believe I was screaming. It felt as if a thousand hot needles were piercing my insides. The tears flowing out of me were turning the dirt under my face in to mud and it began to smear on my chin. The feeling of being stabbed wouldn't leave me, and once again I felt as if I were going to die. My mind was a blank as there was nothing I could do but writhe in agony on the dirt road. My stomach got hit with the full force of the needles and I curled my body up in to a ball, stabbing myself with the knife in my pants. The pain of the needles stopped, yet the blade wound in my thigh was aching and bleeding through my fabric. I lay in the dirt for a few moments more, feeling the coolness of the mud on my cheek. My tears had turned dirt in to mud. I adjusted the knife in my pants and slowly stood up. I unzipped and unbuttoned my denim pants and slid them to the ground gently placing the blade on top of my pants in between my feet. My eyes widened when I saw what the knife had done.
"Freedom," the word again echoed in my skull as I grabbed the sides of my head. At the time I hardly knew what the word meant, I just knew I had done something bad. My hands fell from the sides of my head and I looked down again to see the deep gash in my thigh. The blood flowed down my leg in to my jeans crumpled at my ankles, but the pain wasn't there. I scooped some of the blood in to my hands and drank it relishing the taste. I smiled in delight as I did it once more. I closed my eyes savoring the flavor, although it didn't taste as good as the old man’s, it was still delightful. Blood must be like fine wine, better with age. I grabbed my knife and pulled my pants back up, sticking the blade where it now was accustomed to being. I zipped up and buttoned my pants and tested my leg by taking a step. It was fine, I believe now the gash was just more for appearance. My whole left leg was covered in blood and I reached up to feel the mud caked on my face. I was disgusted at how many tears had come out of me and I vowed then never to cry for my self again. I looked up towards the town lights, a little closer and brighter now and started towards them one more time.
The walk to town was a slow one. The cut in my leg should have hurt, should have been the reason for my slow progress, but it wasn't even a minor irritation. I thought about my family and how I missed them. My moms disapproving looks though then saddened me seemed to me now almost unbearable to be without. Again, with the thought came the piercing pain, this time in my leg. The feeling of being stabbed with fire followed the blood all over me and I dropped to my knees. My penance. My parents left my mind at that moment and were replaced by a dull sense of hatred. I pushed my self back up to my feet as the pain subsided, and hardened my eyes. The town was close, and I focused my young mind on just walking towards the lights. It would be better there; my thoughts and memories wouldn't hurt me there.
I reached the town with the moon still battling the darkness. The lights were on the moons side this night as I made my way down the black pavement towards the buildings that loomed above. The town was seemingly empty, as I reached the white surface of the sidewalk. I walked passed a building that had 'ANDY'S CANDY'S' painted in red on the window. I kept walking until I saw a sign that read Jacob's Diner, and I went up to the window. I realized then how starved I was, as well as how thirsty I was. I looked around the empty street but there was nothing to be done that night. I could see that day light wasn't to far away, and a stairwell was just to my left. I climbed down the stairs to a little area that was a walk way to a door. There was news paper thrown all over the cement so I cushioned the ground with some, fashioned myself a pillow with some more, and made sure I kept enough to wrap around my body as a blanket. I lay down on my makeshift bed closed my eyes and soared to another world.
I was woken up with the end of a cane to my ribs, then another poke to my gut, and then yet another poke back to my ribs. With half open eyes I batted the cane away, when I heard them.
"My God Jacob, he's got old blood all over him, but he's alive." It was a woman's voice I first heard.
"That he is Margaret, that he is," a man's voice finished with a whistle.
"You ok boy?" The old man asked? "How'd ya end up down here? Can we get ya anything? Do ya need some help?" I just lay there covered by my newspaper blanket staring at the old man and old woman who were seemingly worried about me. They stared back at me for what seemed like hours but must have been only a few moments. The Woman turned to the old man.
"Can he talk?"
"I don't know, doesn’t seem to be able to, or maybe he just doesn't understand. Let me try something."
The old man poked his chest with his finger, then pointed to his mouth which was curved up in a smile all while saying "I'm a friend; I want to help make sure you are ok."
He poked his finger on the old woman's chest and she slapped his hand away. They must have noticed my head cocking slightly to the side when this happened because they both smiled. The old man leaned down and reached for me. He must have noticed something in my wide eyed reaction because he backed off.
"Oh Jacob, he's scared, the poor young thing. What can we do for him?"
"Well I'm almost plum out of ideas. I guess we could try..." The old man's voice trailed off as another voice, a voice I had come to know all to well, whispered in my head.
"Let them help you Caleb. They will take care of you until you are ready to be out on your own, and truly free. They will help see the end of my part of the bargain. They are," he slightly paused "different than us. I have seen in to their filthy hearts and know this to be true, yet they will give you what you need to survive and for now that is what matters. I will come to you again soon." With that last word the voice was gone. My focus came back to the old couple in front of me and they were just quietly staring at me again, a confused, piteous look on both of their faces.
"I'm going to reach for you now, and pick you up little one," the old man said. "Is this ok? If you can't talk for some reason just nod your head. God I hope you can understand." The last part was said more to himself, but with the mention of God my brain shuttered. The convulsions in my head must have shown in my face, because the old man began to pull back from reaching for me. I thought about the voice in my head then reached my arms out to him.
"My name is Caleb," I said.
"Well hello there Caleb," the old woman said. "You can talk after all," she smiled and caressed my cheek as I was in the old man's fragile stick-like arms.
"My name is Jacob, and this here is my, er, my friend Margaret," he looked at the old but handsome woman and smiled. A glint of love in his eye. It reminded me of the way my mother and father looked at each other the other night. The night I.... Again my brain was wracked with pain. I was beginning to understand that any thoughts about my parents were not to be tolerated so I shut them out for good.
They took me inside the door that had been next to my makeshift bed and they walked me in to a small kitchen. It had a big black wood burning oven that smelled of fresh bread and bacon. They sat me down on a clean metal counter, my legs dangled over the sides.
"I'll get you a wash cloth to clean you up some deary," the old woman said kindly. "After that we'll look in to getting you some new clothes." She gave me a wink and walked over to a sink across from the oven.
"Well my boy, now that we know you can talk, just how in blazes did you end up outside of my kitchen door?" The old man asked.
I thought about this for a moment, and sadness welled up inside me but I pushed it back. I figured I just be as honest as I could be.
"A fire burned down my house, so I ran away. I didn't know where to go, but I ended up here. I'm sorry," I added quickly still not quite sure if they were upset or not.
"Oh phish posh sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for lad," the old man said softly, almost as if he actually cared. "I hate to ask this my boy, I really do, but your parents," he paused. "Where are your parents?" I just looked up at him. I could feel him peering in to my big dark eyes, soaking up the knowledge as if he'd figure out my horrid secret.
"Not even a tear huh boy? It was that bad? I'm sorrier than you'll ever know. We'll alert the authorities for you and you are more than welcome to stay here and eat boy until we can figure out what to do with you. Life never comes at us in the way we planned, we just make the best with what we've got and we go on living until the good lord calls us home."
The old woman returned with a wet wash rag and stood in front of me with tears glistening in her eyes. She had heard everything; the kitchen was after all very small.
"I'm so sorry," she muttered as she threw her arms around me sobbing. I could feel her tears soaking through the grim of my shirt.
"Now, now Margaret, you wanted to clean the boy, your tears aren't gonna suffice. Let's get him cleaned, clothed and a good meal in his belly he can tell us more than. While she washes you up, I'ma go see if I can't find you some clothes to wear in replace of those..." Again he paused looking me over from my matted dark hair, to my filthy, blood covered clothes. "Ones that you’re wearing," he finished. He walked back out of the door we had come in from as the woman took the warm, wetted rag to my face. It had started in a pale yellow, but after one stroke of the warm rag down my face and neck, part of it shown a light brown.
"You are just filthy Caleb," she said sniffling as she forced a smile. It was the first time she had said my name. She continued washing and wiping my face off. Than once she was finished she put the rag down. It had become completely brown.
"There ya go, that is the best I can do with out a bath. Once the old man comes back with some clothes for ya, we'll see to it that you get one of those and a hot meal afterwards. Does that sound ok with you?" I shook my head yes.
The old man came back with a white t-shirt that seemed to fit perfectly, and some black denim pants that were a little too tight. The old woman drew me a bath. She had told me the bath water was hot and to wait, but I just jumped right in never feeling the heat. She just took it as me being too eager to get cleaned; she smiled and gave me my privacy. I had tucked the dagger inside the black jeans while she was turned around so she wouldn’t see it. I don’t know why I didn’t want her to see it, I just knew she couldn’t. After my bath, and after I had put my clothes on I tucked the dagger back in my waistband. I had walked out of their washroom and down a hall and then up some stairs to find myself in the doorway to Jacob's Diner. The old man spotted me. "Well come here my boy and let me see how those clothes fit." I walked over to him and as he made a twirling gesture with his hand, I turned around. He whistled," oooooweeeeee if you don't look like a little James Dean, don't he Margaret?"
"Why yes he does," she replied smiling. "Let's get you something to eat Caleb."
My food was eventually brought out to me as I sat at the bar of the diner. The old woman, or Margaret, brought me a strawberry milk shake along with the meal. It had been my first one ever; it was the greatest thing I had ever tasted. It was almost too cold for me to bear though. There had only been one other person in the diner eating when I had first walked through the door, after my meal the place was filled with customers. The old man and woman were busy, but seeing as how the diner had so much business I saw the help they could afford. A giant of a man, almost as fat as he was tall was working the grill, a black teenager was cleaning the tables in the diner as a beautiful young woman was taking people's orders. The old woman checked on me frequently as did the old man. They had introduced me earlier to their staff, and now I sat sipping on my second milkshake, staring at all the different faces seated in the diner. I had been looking through the glass door when all of a sudden it opened. A man in a pale brown uniform walked in with a bright shiny gold star pinned to his shirt. He had a gun on his hip and I knew him to be the law. My dad had told me stories of Wyatt Earp and the like.
The law stood in the doorway looking around the diner when he spotted me. He had a blank expression on his face as he strode over to me. Before he could get me alone Margaret and Jacob came up behind me.
"Well how do ya do today sheriff?" Jacob asked.
"Quite fine Jacob, business going well as usual I take it?" The sheriff said with another look around the diner.
"It's the love we put in this place that keeps the folks coming back," Margaret answered.
"So it is. So it is," the sheriff replied. "Well I take it this is the boy you called about? You musta cleaned him up quite nice after the description you gave over the phone."
"We gave him a bath and some hot food as any God fearing people would have. Any idea wear his parents are, or why he was so bloody?"
"Well that's the thing there Jacob, along with this boys appearance, we have that strange old man Johnny who showed up here not too long ago, dead in his truck on route three. And ole' Hodges called my office today telling me that the Fletcher place had burned to the ground. This was after I talked to you Jacob. The Fletchers had a boy about the age of this one here." The sheriff turned his attention to me. "Your name is Caleb right boy?" I nodded my head yes. My face had gone dead and I knew I showed no emotion. The sheriff let out a sigh of pity, "well Caleb, I am sorrier than you could know," the old woman was in tears as Jacob's head was bowed. "We are gonna make sure you are ok and set up real nice like. Is there anything you can tell me about an old man in a red truck son?" The sheriff asked in an un-accusatory way.
I thought about the question and how I would answer, and then for the first time the sheriff heard me speak. "He picked me up on the dirt road by around my way. He gave me a ride until I could see the lights of this town. I jumped out of his dirty ole' truck when he started pulling me close to him. I was scared so I just ran." I put my eyes to the floor after those last words and waited in silence, feigning sadness.
The sheriff whistled and replied, “Well I'll be, I knew there was something off about that Johnny fella, I would like to say he got what he deserved, but with the burning down of your house, I'm sorry to say boy, it looks like we have some strange occurrences on our hands. I'm sorry about your folks; they were good hard working people. I'm gonna go do my job now and try to figure out all this mess. Jacob, Margaret, I'll be in contact with ya about the boy here, I'll get a hold of some people that will know what to do, in the mean time if you could just look after him..."
The sheriff didn't even get to finish the rest of his sentence before the old woman interrupted. "He'll be ok with us sheriff you just worry about catching that devil you have on the loose. You can worry about the boy after that. For now we have food, shelter, and a bed for this boy and he will be right by us." Jacob put his arm around Margaret's shoulders, confirming that fact.
"I knew that he would be Margaret," the sheriff said. "Take care son, if there is anything you need just gimme a shout, they know my number," he pointed at Jacob and Margaret. "I'll be seeing you soon, and you can trust we'll catch whoever did that to your mama's and daddy's house. I promise it," and with that he turned around and walked out of the diner.
No sooner had the sheriff left than the diner door opened and again he appeared.
"Something the matter sheriff?" The beautiful waitress asked as he walked through the door.
"Never you mind Tiffany, get me a cup a coffee to go though if you don’t mind."
"No problem sugar," the waitress replied.
The sheriff walked back over to me and the old couple, but his eyes were focused on me.
"I'm sorry to bother you again so soon son, I know you are grieving but I couldn't help but remember that I forgot to ask how you got so bloody as Margaret had told me you were."
Instantly as if I had been lying of years I replied "While I was running form the old man I tripped and fell down and a rock cut my leg." Although I had made the promise to myself that I would not cry again, I put my eyes once again to the ground and forced out some tears. The sheriff took notice and being a softy that was all it took.
"Well you done worked him up and made the poor boy upset sheriff, I hope you're happy," Margaret scolded. Just then Tiffany came back with his coffee.
Here ya go sheriff, have a good day," she said with a smile as she walked off. The sheriff stared after her for a moment as she walked away. His eyes were taking in the way her white daisy imprinted dress stretched across her backside as she walked. Jacob cleared his throat.
"Well, um, yea ok, I'm sorry son I had to ask, police work and all. Good day again Jacob, Margaret," he peered down at me as I met his stare. A slight squint hit his eyes as he said, "I'll be seeing you too boy, take care for now I'll be in contact soon." With that the sheriff was finally gone.
Margaret put both of her hands on my cheeks wiping my tears, as Jacob took his arm from around Margaret's shoulders and put his hands on mine.
"I think it's time for that bath Caleb," Margaret said, and I agreed.