chapter 5 and 6.

Chapter 5

“Are you still with me father?” Caleb asked thinking his story was dragging on.
“Yes, yes my son I am still here. This is just a lot to take in at one time.” The priest went silent for a moment. “If what you are telling me is true son, it would just seem that you are too normal for the occurrences that took place in your childhood. I have heard of children turning in to men with warped minds because of less.”
“Well father, although I am not without my quirks, I think the man in white’s hold on me kind of protected my mind in a way until I “snapped” out of it. When you hear the rest of my story you will understand.” Caleb responded thinking carefully of his next words.
‘Too make a long story a little shorter, Bonnie kept me in her house for about seven years…’
“Seven years? Did you say seven years my boy, good lord almighty! She kept you for seven years? How did you survive such torture?” the priest asked seeming genuinely concerned.
“Well, due to the “gift” I had received from the man in white, I healed from her beatings quite fast and she fed me and cleaned me, she even read to me and taught me. She taught me about our government, and kept me up to date in current affairs in the newspapers. She expanded my mind like a mother would do to her child.” I paused for a second contemplating my thought.
“She treated you like she would have treated her seven year old boy that you…” The priest stumbled over his words. “That you sent to God.” The priest’s revelation was surprising seeing how it had taken Caleb years to figure that out.
“It was a most uncomfortable situation,” Caleb said. “And yet, I learned so much. I believe it was the man in white’s way of punishing me and teaching me at the same time. He is a very tricky one that man in white.”
“How did you ever escape?” The priest asked sounding more like a boy waiting for the ending of a good story than a man of God.
“I didn’t escape, I was let go…” And Caleb began once again.

My eyes opened to the sunlight blaring down through the small and only window the basement had. I sat up and stretched, and took in my surroundings. A bowl of oatmeal was on the ground next to the mattress I had been given years back. I wasn’t hungry yet I picked up the bowl anyway and began eating. I had become almost bone thin in the years, and only the man in white’s “gift” had kept me alive for so long. I was brought two small meals a day. Everyday was the same thing, bowl of oatmeal and glass of water in the morning, then, as the sun started to set, Bonnie brought me cold pork and beans, bread, a small piece of what I assumed was chicken, and another glass of water. My hatred for Bonnie had evolved into a fear of ever being without her. She had almost become this God that she talked so much about. I, however, never paid much attention to her “lessons” considering the hypocrisy of what she was teaching and what she was doing. I had grown a full beard now which she trimmed every now and then. I had a bucket to go to the bathroom in, and a small blue ball I used to keep myself entertained for the countless hours I had suffered in that basement.
Bonnie was tolerable most of the time, her mood swings were rare but severe, but I had learned to watch my tongue. I hadn’t seen nor heard of the man in white since the first night at this house all those years ago, yet I thought about him everyday. I would have had no idea how long I had been there unless bonnie hadn’t had an anniversary every year. The seventh anniversary had been the day before.
For years she had beaten me, cursed at me, yelled at e, and for years, with the shackles on my legs and sometimes my arms there was nothing I could do. I would think of attacking her when it was just my legs that were chained but when the time came I could not bring myself to do it for some reason. My emotions had faded with my body till they were as bare and raw as my skin. All these years I still hadn’t cried, all the hours and hours of solitude so lonely that I yearned for Bonnie to come and beat me, and still I never shed one tear.
I finished the bowl of oatmeal and the glass of water as I heard the basement door open. Bonnie was coming to see me earlier than usual today, which was odd because she barely ever broke routine. She didn’t walk down the steps either, she was practically running and I could hear that she was skipping steps as well. I saw her as she took the last step into my dungeon, which was the only step she slowed down on. She was snarling and as furious as I had ever seen her and she was holding my ruby hilted dagger. I remembered I had hidden it behind the dresser in the room she had originally given me before I met her son. Bonnie was holding the hilt in her hand now, and brandishing the blade at me menacingly.
“I found this in your old room today Caleb,” she said, her brow furrowed in rage. “Were you planning on killing us from the start? Did Lucifer send you here for me and my son? Did he?” She screamed waving the dagger inches from my face.
“Actually I did,” the man in white said appearing out of nowhere. My jaw dropped in utter shock and amazement as a man who I had almost begun believing was a figment of my imagination, had just popped into the hell I had been living in for the last year. It was fitting actually, when I thought about it. He walked over to Bonnie and grabbed the dagger out of her hand.
“How are you doing love? Did you miss me?” He said with a devilish grin. “I hadn’t known about the son you had bore me at first, but once I eventually found out, I was forced to take care of the problem.” The man in white twisted Bonnie’s arm until she was sitting on the mattress in front of me. “Normally a son wouldn’t have been so bad, I have hundreds of them, but you decided to keep him locked up in a box like an old toy, and well, you ruined him Bonnie. I had no choice but to end his suffering. As for you Caleb,” he said turning his head to me, “I’m severely disappointed in you, here I thought you could handle a woman and her son, and now look at you, shackled to a wall for seven years. I would have come sooner but, well I figured you could have used the alone time.”
“In the name of God I command you to…” Bonnie couldn’t get the rest of it out as the man in white grabbed her throat with one hand while gesturing at me with his other one. Bonnie began making gurgling sounds, as I was sure it was hard for her to breathe.
“Now, I’m going to let you go, but I expect better out of you in the future my boy. This captivity has been a suitable punishment, as for you my love,” he said now looking back at Bonnie while undoing the shackle around my ankle; he had taken the key out of her shirt pocket. “I’m going to shackle you to the wall and let my boy Caleb here do with you what he pleases. It’s my gift to you Caleb; call it a, released back in to the world present.” With a hand still around Bonnie’s throat, he locked the shackle around her ankle and threw her against the wall. He handed me the ruby hilted dagger and took a step back.
“Caleb my boy, you will be the justice for the atrocities this woman committed against my son. Bonnie we had fun my dear, but all good things must come to an end.” The man in white looked right in to her eyes and she started screaming. “Or maybe not, after all, when Caleb is finished you... Well let’s just say I don’t think heaven is in your future. Caleb I will be back, I expect you to take care of this, and bonnie,” he said again smiling. “I will be seeing you soon.” Bonnie started screaming even louder as she huddled her self in a ball against the wall. The man in white vanished as I turned my attention towards Bonnie. I hadn’t said a word during the whole ordeal, but now there was just no need for words. My anger began hitting me in waves as I picked up the lead pipe that Bonnie had introduced my head to so many years ago. She was screaming in absolute terror as I walked towards her, lead pipe in one hand and the dagger in the other hand. I couldn’t see myself but I knew I had the same grin on my face that the man in white did earlier. The screaming didn’t bother me but as I swung the lead pipe down on the top of Bonnie’s skull, I was filled with a sense of peace. The crunch of her skull breaking under the pipe was the best sound I had heard in years. I brought the knife out as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped to the ground. For the first time in seven years I was smiling, and for the first time in seven years I embraced the silence and the loneliness and went to work at what I did best.
When she woke up, I was standing over her. She realized she was chained to the wall and that her situation was helpless, and yet still she smiled.
“A sheriff came by asking questions about you a few years back. I told him you stayed here for a while and then left. He said he wouldn’t give up his search or you and that you were an evil person. I was doing God’s work by punishing you, and I will join him in his eternal light so you can not hurt me. I hope the sheriff finds you and locks you away forever,” Bonnie finished with an evil smile. I just smiled back.
Her screaming was the back round symphony to the movie of my work. It seemed as if I was watching someone else perform the atrocities that were taking place, and though I still feel I had no control in committing these grisly acts, I can not lie and say I did not enjoy them. Her pain was my candy, and her tears quenched my thirst. When it was over, I sat back and stared at my, or the man in white’s, handiwork. I had cut my finger and fed Bonnie some of my blood in order for her to endure the pain and not die too quickly. Bonnie’s left eye had been cut out of her face but her right eye remained intact so she could view her demise. Her right ear was also left unscathed so she could here my laughter and her own screams. Bonnie’s nose, left eyeball, and her left ear lay in a pile on the floor next to her. Her lips had been cut off and each tooth on the bottom jaw had been pulled out, and replaced with nails that I pushed through her tongue into her gums. Her breasts were in the pile with the other body parts as were her thumbs and big toes. Each finger was bent sideways, broken in horrible positions. She had been stripped naked and the patch of hair covering her sex called to me. Curiosity had more to do with this then revenge as I had spread her legs and shoved the lead pipe between them. Her screams had been steady and constant the whole time yet they rose considerably when the lead pipe was thrust inside of her. She cried and screamed, spit, yelled and cursed until her voice was hoarse but I was relentless.
I stood there for a moment watching her scream and writhe in pain, and I felt nothing. I was empty inside. She stared up at me with the one eye she had left while weeping blood over the loss of her other eye. She was panting heavily, as she mumbled for me to just end it. I smiled then thinking of the times I would beg her to do the same. I stared at her for a moment longer and then turned my back and walked away. Her shrieks of agony and hopelessness followed me up the stairs of her house. I passed a mirror on my way out of the front door and almost didn’t recognize myself. I had grown up into a man. The woman had kept my face shaven but already I had stubble growing and my eyes were deeper, older. I smiled into the mirror liking what I saw, and then I walked into the sunlight. It was the first time I had taken a breath of fresh air and felt the sun shine down on my face in seven years. I walked down the dirt road that led away from her house whistling a tune that I didn’t remember learning.
I kept turning my eyes back to the house watching it get smaller and smaller in the distance, smiling that it was actually real. I had finally gotten free. I turned to look at the house one last time smiling and as I turned my head back to the dirt path, the man in whites eyes were right in front of me.
“Do not think I have forgotten about you boy,” the man in white said grinning. “Oh no, you and I have plans together, big plans, but first where did you plan on going?”
I just looked at him blankly.
“Hmmm, you didn’t think about that now did you? What money were you going to use? How were you going to get there? What were you going to do when you got there? C’MON CALEB THINK,” the man in white screamed, and after all I had been through it hardly made me flinch.
“Ok, ok I will help you yet again, but you owe me, and this time you owe me really big. I’m talking about something that people will remember years and years down the road, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, I will make it so your pockets never run empty with money. Every time you reach into your pockets there will be more money in them. As for the car you stole from your late foster parents, it’s been moved up the street to some abandon warehouse, for some reason, that’s were it has been all theses years. The car is just sitting there so here are the keys,” the man in white said while pulling the keys out of his pocket. “I went back in the hose and got them for you. As for where you are to go, I say we just let fate control that one, eh my boy,” the man in white said laughing. “I’ll check in on you later but I’ll be watching your every move, don’t let me down like last time. You are mine Caleb remember that,” and the man in white vanished.
I had walked to the warehouse and spotted the car sitting by itself with absolutely no reason to be there. The ’55 Chevy was so rusted and dirty that you could barely tell it had started off red. I thought of Pa at that moment and thought about how mad he would be if he could see his car now. I unlocked and opened the door, put the key in the ignition and brought the car back to life. I put the car in gear and then drove away from the last seven years of my life and into my destiny. The man in white said I owed him big, and somewhere inside of me I dreaded whatever that was going to be.

Caleb went silent until the priest finally interjected.
“Is everything alright my son?” The priest asked.
“Everything is fine father, its just that,” Caleb choked up for a moment. “Its just that it gets terrible from here on out and I can understand if you don’t want to listen anymore.”
The priest thought about how it could get anymore terrible. He also thought about what terrible could be if he didn’t consider what he had already said terrible. “I am of God, my son, and I told you I would hear your story and that is what I will do.’
“Thank you father, I will continue,” and Caleb began again.





I drove until I saw a sign that said Richmond, Virginia, and stopped a nearby hotel. I had no idea where I was driving to, nor did I know the direction I was driving. I had just listened to the man in white and let “fate” control where I was going. I had stopped at the John Marshall Hotel, and I went in to get a room. The man at the front desk was skinny and balding. I paid for a room for a couple of nights and he gave me a key and told me where to go. When I got there I opened the door and immediately went to the bed. Exhaustion had finally hit me, and I let it take me into its black world. I had the same dream that night of me on the stone ledge burning. I woke up some hours later covered in sweat, wondering what was happening to me. Moments of clarity would hit me every so often only to be pushed back into the depths.
I sat up and looked around the dimly lit room I had purchased. The King sized bed at in the middle of a small room that consisted of a bathroom near the door to the room, a dresser, and a small table next to the bed. There was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling over top of me, and I lay staring at it for a moment trying to gather my thoughts and push the nightmare back into the recesses of my mind. I stayed in bed for an unknown amount of time, realizing I had nothing to do, nowhere to go, no purpose in life. What was my purpose?
“Oh you have a purpose little one,” a familiar voice said as the man in white materialized at the end of my bed. “Your purpose is to do as I tell you to do and keep me happy. Everything else is inconsequential.” The man in white had sat down on the end of the bed smiling at me. I brought m eyes away from his and looked down to see the ruby hilted dagger had appeared in my hand. That would explain the smile.
“A new hospital has opened here in town my boy, why don’t we take a visit there?” he asked rhetorically, still smiling. “You see Caleb, faith is a remarkable thing, it truly is. People believe in…” He looked at me questioningly as if trying to read my thoughts. I was dressed and by the door without even realizing I had gotten out of bed. My mind was blank, and although I was hearing the man in white speak I wasn’t listening, I was concentrating on the events ahead that should have been breaking my heart. “People have faith in God, through good times they believe in God, through bad times they believe as well but they have faith that God will see them through their bad times, not even thinking that the whole point of giving mankind freewill was that their lives are their own. But I digress. Today my boy, you and I are going to challenge people’s faith in God. People find it hard to believe in a Being that could let tragedies happen.” An evil smile played upon the face of the man in white. “Today we are going to be that tragedy. You see Caleb, with technology starting to boom, and society’s minds being filled with greed for material possessions; they almost have no time for religion. This makes me extremely happy. Atheists and agnostics are rising everywhere and pretty soon, with some help from us, they will become actual American organizations. You and I are going to infiltrate the strongest country in the world and begin the destruction of one of the only things that has stood the test of time, religion. We are going to take Christmas away from the religious, Christmas will become about the gifts and greed, and Easter will become the same way. These major holidays will lose all connection with religion. Atheists will start to convince the country that they do not need God or religion to celebrate holidays. There will be signs on busses, billboards, commercials on television, you may even be around long enough to see it Caleb my boy. Churched will crumble and religion will fall, slowly but surely and God’s little “experiment” will be all for naught. Maybe I am getting ahead of myself right now, but on day maybe. I can only wonder at how a race that was created on a blue sphere floating in the middle of black nothingness could refuse to believe they were created. Even more astounding is how close this human race is to creating life on its own, yet still their ignorance shows through. God is dying Caleb, he is being slowly poisoned by ignorant betrayal and we are going to try and speed that poison up. I need to know you are with me though, are you with me Caleb?
I looked up to see the man in white staring at me as serious as I had ever seen him. He looked at me as if I had a choice in the matter, as if I knew enough about anything to care about my choice. My conscience was being extinguished, and although I was somewhat aware of it, I didn’t know what was right or wrong. I looked back at the man in white’s face and jumped in terror as for a brief second his face wasn’t the beautiful face that had showed up in my yard all those years ago. It was the face of a monster, with big pointed ears, a flattened nose, big sharp yellow teeth, slanted eyes and a black mane of hair and leathery skin that would cut you if you touched it. I was trembling when I nodded my consent.
The man in white merely nodded back, his features once again becoming beautiful and unmarred.
We walked in silence for a few moments more before the man in white spoke. I kept my eyes to the ground, not wanting to look up and see the monster next to me.
“Caleb, do not be frightened of me. You and I have a common purpose and I wouldn’t hurt you. I apologize for showing you an ugly side of me, I get carried away sometimes. We need the world to see how bad it has gotten. I am not as evil as people make me out to be. I just realize man kinds flaws and ignorance, and that is something He will never understand,” the man in white said pointing up towards the sky. “You humans have no loyalty unless forced, no allegiances to anything but yourselves. He does not want to comprehend that. You care not that he has given you chance after chance, and yet what did he give me? He banished me into a hell which I rule and yet loathe. No, I will make the human race understand and I will hurry them to their doom. You and I will speed the process up and maybe I will even let you share in my glorious victory. Even you, who are not loyal, can be molded into the perfect servant. You are doing a good thing my boy, making the world understand its sins, and that they should not have any more chances. That they should be doomed to the same hell I am, yet they shall not rule, they shall dwell in eternal punishment for the ignorance they have shown.”
The man in white kept talking yet I had stopped listening. His rants made no sense to me, but I could sense he was angry at something, at everything. I wanted to just lie down, but it seemed I couldn’t, that I was compelled on. I looked up when I realized the man in white had stopped talking. He was looking at me with his head tilted to the side as if reading my thoughts.
“Well he we are,” the man in white proclaimed, shifting his view to the building looming in front of us. “St. Mary’s Hospital. You will know what to do, but this is where I must leave you. Do me proud Caleb, do mankind proud. Remember, God is watching.” I heard him laughing as he faded out of sight. I stared at the front doors of the hospital now devoid of any emotion. I had the ruby hilted dagger in my hands and I walked forward, ready to make mankind weep. I knew this was a bad thing and yet for some reason, at that moment, I just did not care. My mom’s tears came to mind then and then I stopped. A wave of regret and emotion washed over me just as a wave of pain wracked my head. I tucked the dagger in my waistband, and all thoughts of my mother were gone. There was only the task at hand. I pushed through the hospital doors intent on making the world realize what the man in white wanted them so badly to realize.



Chapter 6

“Sheriff, the Clarks called and said somebody was going through their trash again. Should we go out there?” The deputy waited a moment before realizing the sheriff hadn’t heard him. “Sheriff, I said…”
“I heard what you said Thomas, and you deal with it,” the sheriff snapped cutting the deputy off. Thomas saw a case file in the sheriff’s hand; he recognized it as Caleb’s file. Word around the department was that the sheriff had hardly worked on any case since the death of the old couple that owned the diner. The only suspect in the murder was a little boy named Caleb but he had vanished with their car. Now all the sheriff did was search for the boy.
“Sir, you have been looking for this boy for the better part of a decade now, he’s gone,” the deputy exclaimed apologetically.
The sheriff put his head down on his wooden desk with a frustrated sigh. “He’s not gone dammit, that hell spawn is out there somewhere and I’ll find him, on God’s name I’ll find him.”
“God’s name isn’t the name that will help you find the boy,” a smooth voice whispered inside of the sheriff’s head.
“What did you just say Thomas?” The sheriff asked furiously, but the deputy had already left the office.
“I can guide you to the boy sheriff; I can help you find him. I can give you a way to unleash your vengeance. Would you want that?” The smooth voice asked.
“Who is talking? Where are you? Thomas if this is some twisted fucking joke ‘m gonna burn you alive.”
“This is no joke sheriff!” The voice yelled angrily, echoes pounding the inside of the sheriff’s skull. The sheriff grabbed his head in agony and the pain slowly started to fade. “I want to help you find this boy you are after, but I’m going to need your cooperation. We can make a deal of sorts.”
“Who am I ta-talking to? And how are you in my head?” The sheriff asked nervously.
“I am a friend, a friend that wants to see justice done. How bad do you want the boy that murdered your mother?” The voice asked.

“How did you know she was my mother? I have never told anyone that.”
“I am good at figuring out things Sheriff. I know all about your family. I know that you are the reason your mother and Jacob never married. She had you while she was unfaithful to him, and he forgave her but he couldn’t forget. You were raised by Margaret’s sister and told not to ever say who your real mother was in order to spare Jacob’s feelings and embarrassment from the rest of the people in your town. I know more than you think sheriff, I know who your real father is.” The voice went silent for a bit leaving the sheriff to contemplate everything he was just told.
The sheriff, pushing back all the emotions at what he was just told, now believed that whoever this voice belonged to could help him. “How do I find the boy that killed my ma?”
A beautiful man in all white materialized in front of the sheriff just then, with a smile on his face. The sheriff stood up from his chair and was neither afraid, nor even thinking about how a man could just appear in his office; revenge was the only thing on his mind.
“Well my boy,” this startled the sheriff, for he appeared to be much older than the blonde man in front of him. “We make a deal of course, and then I will show you where the boy, who isn’t a boy anymore, is.”
“What kind of deal?” The sheriff asked suspiciously.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush here, my child. What I want will not alter your life in any way; it will just help me out greatly. You aren’t a religious man though are you sheriff?” The man in white asked.
“No, I’m not. But I thought you weren’t gonna beat around the bush. What is it you want?” The sheriff asked growing more irritated with each second that passed.
“Why, I want your soul of course,” the man in white answered smiling.
The sheriff sat back down in his chair rubbing his face, trying to wrap his mind around what was happening right now. He now knew who he was talking to and he now knew what was at stake. He could finally find the person that had killed his ma after all these years, but he had to give up his soul and he knew that meant damning himself to a hell that he didn’t even believe in five minutes ago.
“I’m not a religious man sir,” the sheriff began. “But I know what is at stake with you asking for my soul. That would make you Satan, and if you are standing here after materializing out of nowhere, that could only mean that God does exist. There is nothing I want more than the boy who killed my ma, but I can’t give you my soul sir.”
The man in white stared at the sheriff with his head coked to the side. “It’s that damn family stubbornness; it comes form my side of the family you know. Your mother was such a pushover she would give in to anything,” the man in white chuckled. “And I mean anything.”
“What are you talking about Devil? Why are you talking about my mama?” The sheriff questioned standing out of his chair, his rage rising.
The man in white met the sheriff’s challenging stare. “All pride aside my boy, you will realize and respect who you are talking to, or I will make your life a living hell. Now sit down.” The sheriff did not abide. “I SAID SIT DOWN!” The man in white yelled adamantly, and the sheriff now terrified, sat down.
“You are my father aren’t you,” the sheriff said beginning to cry. “I thought my mother a better person than that. But I can feel it inside of me; I can feel that I am bonded to you somehow.” The sheriff put his head down and began to cry softly.
The man in white rolled his eyes. “I do not have time for this; I have other things I need to do. You can keep your soul for now, but if you ever get smart and realize you will not find the boy without my help than call for me and I will come.” The man in white began to fade. “Your mother did not know it was me at the time,” and the man in white was gone.
The sheriff sat up and looked around curiously. He was furious that the devil had tricked his mom, yet at the same time the man in white did not have to tell him that. He could have let him think his mother was a whore. The sheriff sat back to rethink the deal the man in white had offered. He would try to search for Caleb himself a while longer, but if nothing turned up he may just call on his father to help.

Caleb shifted around in his seat. “Are you still with me father?”
“Yes I am my son. Your story is too intriguing to walk away from, even if I tried. I would like it if you kept on going.”
“We have been here a while, I was just making sure that you were still comfortable. I will continue.”

I was standing in the lobby of the hospital taking in my surroundings. Sick people were sitting in chairs waiting to be seen, nurses were walking around everywhere with something important to do, while the janitor, a middle aged black man, pushed a mop across the floor. I walked up to the janitor whose name tag said Robert.
“Hi Robert, my name is Caleb, I was wondering if you could show me where the maternity ward or the nursery is. My sister just had a baby and I am dying to see him for the first time.” The Janitor looked me up and down, and then smiled.
“There is nothing better than hearing the sounds of a newborn baby. Your sister is blessed. Many people look down on custodial work, but here at the hospital, I get to listen to the sounds of a new life everyday. That puts a lot of things in perspective.” The janitor kept smiling to himself for a moment, while I waited patiently. “Oh excuse me,” Robert laughed. “I got caught in the moment. The maternity ward is up those stairs two flights, and then your gonna take a left. The nursery is right there next to the ward if you keep going a little further, you can’t miss it. I myself stop by the viewing window every day in about an hour so maybe I’ll see up there.” The janitor kept smiling and mopped his way down the hall away from me. I walked to the stairs and slowly began climbing them, savoring the evil that was about to take place. I became lost in my thoughts of different scenarios of how this would take place, and yet, somewhere in the back of my mind, I was screaming at my self to turn around. It was then I felt the tip of the ruby hilted dagger press into my flesh. I situated it in the waistband of my pants and kept climbing the stairs. When I reached the top floor, I turned left like the janitor told me and easily found the maternity ward. My hands were sweating and I could almost hear the giddiness of the man in white echoing in my head. I walked into the ward and stopped as I hear the sounds of joy and love coming from a room. I moved quickly into the bathroom behind the door as footsteps fast approached.
“I’ll be right back honey don’t worry,” a man said as he walked into the bathroom. In his excitement he kept the lights off and the door open. I could sense how happy he was, and how much of a man he felt he was now that he had his family. Pure love for his newborn was emanating from him in powerful waves. I slowly took the dagger out of my waistband as I heard the steady stream of urine begin to dwindle. I walked behind the pride-filled man as he bent down to flush the toilet. When he stood up again, I ran the blade into the back of his neck. He jerked once and was still. I saw his face in the mirror of the bathroom as I was laying him down. He was still smiling.
“Honey hurry up,” a woman’s voice called out, and the small noises of an infant followed behind. I wiped the blade off on the man’s shirt and took his blue hat and put it on my head as I walked out to meet the woman and her new baby. With the dagger out and the hat pulled low I walked towards the bed where the woman held her face buried in her new child. I walked right up next to the bed without her even noticing it wasn’t the man she loved. I stood there for a moment almost drowning in the anticipation, and then I reached down to take the baby. She offered the babe to me for a split second until her maternal instincts kicked in and she tried to pull back. It was already too late because I had him in my hands. I yanked the newborn out of her hands. She screamed. I shook my head at her and she instantly knew she was to be quiet. A nurse, who must have heard the terrified scream, burst into the room. She rushed to the petrified woman’s side. The woman had not taken her eyes off me or her son the entire time, and the nurse sensed something was wrong. As soon as she stood and turned around, the dagger was in her throat. Blood spewed from her mouth and onto the baby as she gurgled and spun around. The new mother never took her eyes off her baby as the nurse fell on top of her, blood spraying out all over her. In some state of shock, the mother did not scream she just laid there shaking not taking her eyes off the baby. I swayed the baby to the left and to the right watching the mother’s eyes follow in unison. I smiled then, and the new mother saw, that is when the pleas began.
“Puh-please, p-p-p-please don’t h-h-hurt my baby,” the woman begged and cried. Her tears matted her blonde hair to her flushed cheeks. She was a pretty woman through the trauma she was facing now and even after the stress of a fresh delivery. “I’m beg-begging you,” she pleaded still crying almost unable to catch her breath. “I’ll, I’ll g-give you anything you want, ju-just puh-please put my baby down.” He baby had started crying now and his mother’s tears were coming down harder as her breathing was coming in rapid sessions. “Puh-please put my baby down.” I nodded as I dropped the newborn baby on the ground. With a “thud” the baby hit the floor as the woman jumped off the bed to try and catch him. She went to her baby and just as she was about to touch him I grabbed her and lifted her off the ground. I stabbed the dagger into her back and made her watch as I stepped on her new child’s head with all of my weight. She let out a scream of anguish, that shook the man in white’s grasp on me and for one split second, I was free to see the atrocious act I had just committed. My self awareness snapped back into my head then, shut and locked the door, and hid in the recesses of mind. The man in white now had full control. I dropped the woman onto her dead child, and watched her cry cradling her lifeless son in her arms until she too joined him in death. I licked the blade of my dagger clean; it tasted of desperation and love. I walked out of the room, surprised no one else was around. The man in white had full control of my body, yet my emotions were mine, my eyes I could feel were being shared. I tried to stay hidden in the dark depths of my mind, yet I believe it was the man in white, who pulled me out, or maybe someone or something else. I was slamming my conscience into the barrier of my mind Satan had created but it was no use. I was dying on the inside tortured and confused. The deaths did not bother me; the mother in pain tore at my heart. For some reason at that moment, I began to try and think of the scripture my mother used to quote at me, that was when I heard the man in white’s laugh.
“You disappoint me my son, you will learn however,” and his voice was gone, just as were the thoughts of my past and the scriptures. I walked out of the room down the hallway towards a sign that read nursery. I shuttered inside of myself and went back to try and hide inside of my mind. The sign on the glass door read “Parents Only” I pushed the door open and walked inside. There were 13 cribs in the room and only 12 babies filling them. There was no one in the nursery to try and stop me; there was no one in the hallways around either. They would soon come looking for the nurse I had disposed of, but I would be finished before they came. I walked over to the first crib and my body picked the baby up. It was pink and wrinkled, and smelled of new life. The baby looked me right in my eyes as if peering inside of mind where I was trying to hide. I watched my other hand come up with the dagger and slit the baby’s throat. Blood sprayed out across my face, and the baby gurgled but never took its eyes off mine. My mother’s eyes came to me then again, and a blinding pain came right after and crashed into my skull. The baby was thrown back into the crib as the pain subsided and I could hear laughter in the distance. I went to the next baby, and the baby after that, and the baby after that and so on, until the nursery floor was slick with blood, and dead quiet. All I could hear was the beating of my own heart. I walked out of the door of the nursery knowing I was evil and finally starting to accept it.
As I was walking down the hall, I heard a woman scream. As I was walking down the stairs I heard more people screaming, and watched pandemonium begin to rise in the hospital. As I was walking towards the doors out of the hospital, I was tripped by a mop and fell, my face smacking the floor.
“You the man just did all them horrible things,” the janitor said, tears drenching his cheeks. “I led you to them babes, so I’m partly to blame. But there will be justice in this world, and then you can be at the mercy of God’s justice in the next one.”
I did not acknowledge what he said, and I am sure he noticed. I began trying to get up as the wooden handle of the mop came down on top of my head, the world went black.
“The soles of my feet were on fire as I screamed in agony. The metal of the chains burned against my naked flesh as I looked down and saw millions upon millions of hands reaching for me, yearning to pull me down into their lake of fire. The smell of burnt flesh stung my nose as the fire moved up to my knees. There was no going into “shock” in this place, I felt everything. My though process was shut down as the flames caressed my cheeks, not yet able to strike me with their fiery whips. Through the pain I looked down once again and gasped at the vastness of the lake of fire. There was no beginning and no end. It was like looking into a burning outer space. I saw bodies once again burning and regenerating under me as I was lowered even more into the flames that had now reached and melted my manhood. The pain was too much to bear yet I could not lose consciousness. I heard laughing then over the sound of my own screams. Up on a rocky ledge stood the man in white, holding the end of a chain that was lowering me into the eternal fire. I was in too much pain too struggle as the flames reached my chest. My head fell to the side and I saw Johnny, the man in the red Ford truck, smiling, standing in the lake of fire untouched by the flames. The man in white’s laughter grew even louder as the flames finally reached my head. My body was writhing in agony as my eyes began stewing in my skull. I took one last look Johnny who was still smiling at my suffering. The man in white’s laughter was smashing the inside of my head as I saw Johnny’s smile grow wider. My left eye was completely gone and the vision in my right one was fading. Johnny lifted a woman up, as my head jerked up from a spasm of pure torture. Hands began ripping me apart as I was finally submerged in the fire. I took one final look at Johnny’s smiling face and screamed as the pain intensified a million times over. He had my mother. The man in white’s laughter followed me to consciousness.
I woke up sore, on a hard stone floor, surrounded by stone walls. As I stood up to get my bearings, I turned around and saw I was caged in. One whole wall of bars stood before me. I walked to them so I could see what was out there and there was nothing, just some more bars lining a dimly lit hallway. I backed away from the bars to a bunk bed in the corner of my cell. I sat down on the bottom bunk and tried to remember how I had gotten here. Somehow I had crawled part of the way out of the recesses of my mind in to the tiny light of my cell. I remembered then. I remembered the little faces looking up at me as I stole their lives. I remember the little head giving way under my shoes and the mother’s agonizing scream as they died together. Grief wracked my body as I slowly crawled back into the emotionless pit of my mind. The world meant nothing to me anymore; I just wanted it to be over. I didn’t know if I was terrified of what I had done, or if I was terrified at the thought that I may have actually enjoyed it. A creaking noise broke the silence of my thoughts as my body tensed searching for the source of the sound. It had come from the bunk above me. I stood up slowly and looked over the tiny railing of the prison bed. My eyes beheld a man sleeping in a fetal position with a soft smile upon his face. He had been in the cell with me this whole time and I had not even realized. I stared at this man, this prisoner like I, and wondered what he had done to deserve the same fate as me, a destroyer of the innocent, and a murderer of babies. I kept staring at this man, wondering what evil the man in white had made him do, or if it was even the man in white at all. I wondered if a man could be evil or do bad things without having any influence from the man in white or his followers. I was pondering all of this while taking in the man’s small body and hairy face. He had long dark brown hair that looked stringy and dirty. He smelled rotten onions and yet I could not make myself look away. My fascination with this man was strange and yet I could not fathom a man that would deserve a cell with me on his own accord, without being tainted by the man in white. Somehow I could feel that he had no connection with him. My thoughts went back to the evil acts I had committed and the evil acts that the man that lay on the bed before me committed. I did not even notice when the man’s eyes started to open. I almost didn’t notice as he started screaming, since it had become such a common sound to me, except he hit me in the process of his flailing. He began thrashing his body around on the bed, shrieking at the top of his lungs, keeping his eyes locked on mine. Through the reflection in his eyes I what he saw while staring at me. The pointed teeth, the oversized mouth, the dark hair that framed the leathery skin of my face, I took a step back in horror as this was a similar monster to the one I had seen the man in white turn into some time ago. The man was shrieking even louder now and he began rousing my anger.
“Be quiet man, I’m no monster,” I begged him holding my hands up in front of me, yet he would not hear me. The noise he was making could wake the dead and all of a sudden my world went wavy and I was thrust back into my mind. My eyes still provided me windows into the outside world and I could still view this man’s face being smashed in as I pounded him with my fists. I immediately felt his nose give way and his cheek bones shatter as I pummeled him harder and harder. I was relentless in my attack as teeth began flying away with the blood. An eyeball slid out with one blow and then was crushed with another as I rained down a barrage of fists. Very soon blood was everywhere, and even sooner the screaming had stopped. Again I took a step back only this time it was to view the havoc I had just unleashed on this prisoner. His head was hanging off of the side of the bed as his medium length hair reached out for the ground, dripping blood. I lay on the floor under the man then, feeling the coldness of the stone press against my back. I opened my mouth as my face became splattered with even more of his blood. Soon the steady drip of red was pouring down my throat and that is how the men in the blue uniforms found me when they came to investigate the screams.

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.