Monday, July 23, 2012

My Uncle and His Ritual


I was frozen in fear on the ground with no weapon and whatever it was kept crawling towards me.  I had fallen down over some loose boards running away.  My flashlight had rolled away shining its light back down the dark hallway I was trying to escape.  Back toward that thing, that half a body lurching toward me.  It crawled rapidly lunging one arm over the other, writhing and gnarling in horrific movements.  It growled flailing saliva on the ground.  Its eyes were a milky gray with skin rotted and peeling.  Its eyes glowed in the light.  I looked past it and could see another one sliding up the wall and a third chewing on Jeff's face.  Bill was already dead.

Why was I even here? It was about a week ago talking with my uncle that has led me here.  

My mom had died a few years back and I never knew my father.  My uncle was the closest thing to a dad that I had.  After my mom died, I went to live with him.  He never had any kids of his own so he always treated me like an adult which I kinda liked.  One night I had to explain to him I had gotten beaten up at school.  I didn't like explaining my embarrassing beat up stories to him but I continued and told him they had dunked my face in a toilet full of piss and even had my face rubbed in dog shit in front of a girl I liked.  I told him it had been going on for years.  I could tell he was very upset and gave me the advice that any adult that didn't know how to handle that situation would give, he told me "I had to defend myself." 

It was a few days later after that we sat by his fireplace in his old 18th century victorian house and he started telling me about my father.  He told me how he used to beat my mother and do drugs and cheat on her.  He was very abusive and always threatened that if she left him he would kill her.  My mom was apparently in a bad place and didn't know what to do.  Then he started telling me ghost stories from his time in the war and some about the city.  He told me that during the vietnam war, all the men in his small platoon had unknowingly picked a burial mound to sleep around and laying there in the mud that night all the men had horrifying nightmares. His dream was of an old mansion on the outskirts of the city where his house is now and of a ritual in that mansion.  He didn't know why he was so intrigued with the ritual.  A burning curiosity that stayed with him long after the war.  At first I didn't believe him but the level of sincerity on his face won me over and a cold chill of fear and reality began to set in.  Why was he telling me this?

Then I knew.  He had done it.  He tried to fight the burning urge to perform it but couldn't fend it off.  He told he had done the ritual done years ago in that mansion a year after I was born.  He told me of these creatures that were called eaters that came only if the ritual was done correctly.  It took about a few hours for them to lurch out of whatever bowels of darkness they laid in but they always came.  They were half body creatures that were rejected from death and were damned to feed on sacrifices of the living flesh.  As I was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, he got up and served himself a glass of brandy before he continued.  The chilling fear began to snake over my skin.  Something about it was horrific yet fascinating and felt very real.  He was a big burly man with a huge mustache and gut.  He had an imposing figure and whatever he told me I took very seriously.  He was not a bullshitter and never needed to lie.  He always spoke his mind.  I was very inclined to believe what he was telling me.  I never knew my uncle to make up stories to get a laugh or to scare.  He was always straight forward.  

The mansion used to belong to an old woman back in 1792 that practiced the black arts.  The story goes that one night she was trying to summon undead creatures to become her slaves to enact her will upon the town.  She was successful in summoning the creatures but apparently they weren't as she expected.  They were only a torso with rotted flesh and blind.  They only hungered for flesh and couldn't leave the grounds of her house.  They were useless to her and she couldn't expel them back to hell.  They were forever damned to remain on her property with her.  The best she could do was contain them only to be released when she needed them.  A ritual.  She placed a black incantation on them for if she ever needed them, a very specific ritual needed to be performed.  Only one other knew the ritual, her underling by the name of Rosa.  Years pass and Rosa betrays the old witch and feeds her to her own creatures.  Well, that's how the story goes anyway.  The ritual was kept very secret with only a few knowing about it and even fewer knowing how to do it.  

My uncle came about the ritual only through a nightmare from the war.  A vessel.  Only there to deliver the message.  I asked him why he did it?  He told me that for years that burning curiosity was like a madness threatening to overtake his soul.  Every night for years upon years he would see that house in his sleep and he tried so hard not to do it.  Then finally he had a reason to.  He laid out raw lamb meat in the living area of the house.  He then lit 45 candles and arranged them in three triangles around the meat.  Each triangle consisted of 15 candles with each side having a line of six.  Then he had to make an altar of ebony wood he had none but he knew the floor boards were all ebony.  He ripped them out and built a triangular structure.  On top he placed cinnamon and wormwood.  On the candles he then had to burn nettle leaf.  He then placed a pound of flesh onto the altar cutting his hand and dripping his own living blood onto the meat.  Then repeated Invoco caput pedibus edere six times which according to my uncle roughly translates to "I call upon thee to eat from feet to head."  

I was afraid to ask but I knew the creatures were only summoned to eat living flesh according to my uncle.  I finally asked who he sacrificed to them. He said he finally had a reason to use the ritual and find out if it was real.  He told me he used it on my father.   He needed to help his sister and get that man out of her life.  He never told her what he did. He said my father was an awful man and deserved for his face to be eaten along with his body.  They came for him that night and ate my father as my uncle watched from outside where they could not go.  He watched as they ripped apart his face and arms and tore his skin away from his bones.  He watched and felt satisfied that evil found an evil end.  Then he told me that those bullies deserved an evil end.  He asked for their names and I told him it was Jeff and Bill.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

He Knew it Had to be Done

He couldn’t concentrate on the road.  It was usually a relaxing thing for him to do to drive at night but tonight driving on a dark stretch of road was not the therapy he needed, it only let him think about things he‘d rather not but he needed to do this.  Something about the vague moving darkness that existed outside the orbs of yellow streaming from his headlights allowed his mind to wander.  All he could see in those tiny spaces of ambient thought was her face.  He couldn’t get his mind away from her.  It wasn’t fair.  Why did it have to be this way?  She was gone and nothing would change that.  Lonely thoughts began to fill his head and he again started thinking about the first time they met.

“Hi,” she said with a bright smile.  He looked up from the concession stand he was working.  He usually worked the concession at the high school basketball games.  It wasn’t the most glamorous job but at least it was something to do.
“Hi, what are you looking to get?”  He took a quick glance at her and immediately her cuteness was overwhelming.  He tried looking else where to keep from gawking and noticed she was with a group of people here for the game.
“Can I get umm, a large coke and some popcorn?”
“Sure, anything else?”
“Nope, I think that’s it.”
“Alright,”  he said slapping his hand on the counter as he turned to get her coke and popcorn.  The whole time he was thinking about how really cute she was and wanted to say something smooth yet flirtatious to her.  He looked over his shoulder a few times to glance at her.  She was standing there fumbling with her phone.  She had short brown hair, pale skin and beautiful big brown eyes.  She was fit and had a tight tiny frame of a body.  Her smile was the most radiating thing you could see.  It was large and welcoming, the type of smile you wish you could come home to when you had a bad day.

“Aren’t you in biology with me?” she said as she put her phone away in her purse.
“Uh, yeah.  Mr. Peters’ class.  I sit like two rows behind you,” he said filling the coke cup with ice.
“Yeah.  I thought you looked familiar.  I don’t think I know your name.”
“Joe,” he said as he placed the coke in front of her.
“Emily.”
“You’re new here right?”
“Yeah, just moved here about 3 months back. Trying to meet new people.”
“Hurry up Emily,” someone shouted from behind her.
He looked over her shoulder and saw the group of people she was with.
She turned and yelled, “shut up Corey or you wont get any popcorn.”
“Seems like you got plenty of friends,” he said.
“Oh yeah, well most those people are my cousins.  I have a lot of family here.  One of the reasons my parents decided to move here.”
“That’s nice. Probably makes the move here easier then, huh.”  He grabbed an empty bag and began filling it with popcorn.
“Yeah, for the most part.  I still miss my friends though you know and moving sucks.  I still have mostly all my things in boxes.  Lazy right,” she said smiling at him.
“Nah, not lazy.  Just organizationally deficient.”  She let out a small giggle behind her smile.  “And moving to a new school does suck,” he continued.  “I did it a few times with my mom when I was younger and it made it hard for me to make friends.  But I’ve been here now for the past 4 years and I like it.”
“How about the concessions?  Is this fun?”
“Well, not always because its work but I get paid by Mr. Ruiz so that’s nice and I get to see the games.  But we suck though.”
She giggled and flashed that bright beautiful smile again that he was beginning to like seeing.  He just wanted to keep making her smile.  This was the first time he had ever talked to her.
“Well, I’m not much into sports but I think I can get into coming to the games.  Its pretty fun doing the cheers and stuff.”
“Yeah its fun,” he replied as he continued to scoop popcorn into the bag.
“Good company and good concession stands right.”
He smirked and she looked at him with a confused smile and asked, “What, is that not the case?”
“Maybe good concession but definitely not good food.  I mean look at these hot dogs. Would you eat that?”
She laughed, “ok, maybe you’re right.  They do look like the skin of the real housewives of Hollywood  or something,” he laughed at the image of old scabby tanned women with leathery cracked skin.
“But at least you got raisinets,” she said.
“That we do,”  he replied as he placed the bag of popcorn down.
“So, its all gonna be $3.50.”
“Oh dang, good thing I’m not paying.”
“Are you just gonna walk off with it now.”
“Maybe I am.  Aren’t my good looks at least enough to convince you to let me have the coke.”
“Heck no.”
She gasped in fake disgust, “are you saying I’m ugly?”
“No, for your good looks I would let you have the coke, the popcorn and a day old wiener, at least.”
She started laughing showing off that gorgeous smile of hers.
“Well, don’t worry.  I won’t make you give me these and you can keep your day old wiener.  My dad gave me some money to buy snacks.  So its all good,” she reached into her pocket and handed him a five.  “Oh and don’t tell my dad but you can keep the change.”
He smiled and right before she turned to leave he stopped her for a moment and said, “Emily…”
“Yea,” she replied.
“Don’t tell Mr. Ruiz then,” and he handed her a box of raisinets.  She gave him that big smile that he liked so much by now.

A coldness on his cheek refocused him on the road.  He didn’t notice his eyes were tearing up until one streaked down his cheek.  The road seemed to last forever.  He had a 2 hour drive in front of him still.  His mind was a mess but focusing on those few sweet memories helped him concentrate. The road had been a long depressing straight line but he knew he was coming up to a stretch of twist and turns with the road winding up the mountain side.  He always got nervous driving through the mountains.  He found comfort in the memories he had with her even though it brought with it so much pain.  He wouldn’t forget her, he loved her.  He knew that much.  Even if she rejected him at first.

They were at the carnival with friends and the two of them went on the Ferris wheel alone.  He saw this as the perfect opportunity to ask her something he’d been meaning to ask for a few weeks now.
“Emily, can I ask you something?” he said in a nervous tone and before she could answer he asked, “do you like me?”  He had finally built up enough courage to ask even if it had taken weeks of constant will.  She looked at him with endearing eyes and replied, “Yea I like you Joe but not in the way I think you mean.  Maybe one day but right now I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”

He felt the sting of rejection crawl up his spine.  At that moment he wished he could disappear or jump out of the moving Ferris wheel.  “Why not?” he asked.
“I dunno,” she said looking down fumbling with her nails.  “I’m just not ready to make that kind of commitment to anyone you know.”
He understood.  He didn’t blame her for not wanting to.  He took a risk and came out on the short side of it.  If anything he came out of that rejection with more of an endearing heart for her.

The flash of another oncoming car took him out of his trance like state of thoughts and memories.  He had loved her but she had lied to him.  She did commit to a boyfriend and his name was Todd.  He was the reason why she was gone now, why she was dead.  But he would make sure he would do what needed to be done.  He would make Todd pay.  He didn’t like thinking about Todd, it just filled him with anger and hatred.  He preferred to think about her but it was painful.  He missed her so much.  He reached into the back for a bottled water and accidentally brushed against a hand.  He jerked away forgetting it was there and grabbed the water.  After taking a gulp of luke warm water he looked into the backseat to a sleeping man, tied and gagged.  “We’re almost there Todd.”  The anticipation was building under his skin.  There was a part of him that didn’t want to do this but his devotion for her made him unwilling to abandon his endeavor.


He finally arrived to the turnoff, an old dirt road that continued into the woods of the mountain.  The road was only wide enough to fit one car.  At the end of it laid an old wooden cabin.  He got out of the car.  Opened the rear door and began dragging Todd into the cabin.  Todd began to wake up.  He had a welt on the back of his head from where Joe had hit him.  Joe took off the gag.  Groggy and hazy he began mumbling, “yerrr, heyyy, wwwhattss gooing on, hey!  Help!  What is this!  What’s happening?!”
“You’re facing your reckoning Todd.”
“What are you talking about?  Who are you?” he asked looking up at Joe.  “Is that you Joe?  Let me go, what are you doing?”
“It’s too late Todd, nothing can stop this.”
“Stop what?! What’s happening?” he began to writhe around like a worm with his bindings, fighting for any ounce of freedom but he was tied too securely.
Joe opened the front door to the cabin and dragged Todd across the floor into the middle of an empty living room.  “This is my uncle’s old cabin.  No one comes up here anymore, so it’ll be just us two.”
Todd’s face began to curl in fear as the gravity of the horrific situation began to set in.  This was real and Joe had a terrifying determined will permeating from his eyes.  It sent desperate chills of fear throughout Todd’s body.
“Why am I here Joe?”
“Because of Emily,” he replied opening a closet door and pulling out an old rusty axe, a shovel and a butcher’s knife.  He began inspecting the knife with surgeon like care.  “My uncle, back when he still used this place, used to hunt for all his food.  You know, like how the pioneers did.  And you needed big burly knives like this one to chop up some of those thicker pieces of meat.  He left a few knives behind.”
“Joe, I don’t know what you’re planning to do but put the knife away, okay buddy, put it away.”
“And my uncle,” he said completely ignoring Todd, “taught me how to cut up our game.  How to give those big swings to split the meat in one swipe,” he continued as he acted out the downward motion with the knife.
“Joe goddamnit!  Listen to me!  You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes I do!”  he growled, “you’re the reason Emily is dead.  You!”
“What Joe?” Todd said looking up at him in utter confusion, “Emily’s not dead Joe, she’s alive.  What are you talking about?”
“She’s dead and you’re gonna pay Todd.”
“She’s not DEAD Joe!” he said in horrific desperation.
“Shut up Todd!”
“Joe, listen to me.  Emily is alive.  She went away for the weekend but she’ll be back. I promise you she’s still alive.”
“Aren’t you curious to why she hasn’t called you or texted or anything Todd?”
“Probably forgot to or phones dead, bad reception or any number of other reasons Joe.”
“I wondered Todd,” he said as he picked up the axe, “I wondered why she stopped talking to me.  I was her best friend and maybe even one day her boyfriend but then I found out why.  It was because of you Todd.  You took her away and I was cast aside.  Now you’re gonna pay.  She died because of you.  I didn’t want to do it but when I became nothing in her life I had nothing to lose.  She became dead to me after that.”
“Joe, oh my god! You didn’t…”
“You’re the reason her life ended.  If she had never met you she would still be here.”
“Joe please…don’t…Don’t please,” desperately letting out his last plea as he began crying uncontrollable tears.
Joe went into the empty kitchen and began dragging a black bag across the floor. “Look Todd,” he said as he opened the bag revealing a face surrounded by body parts.  Her feet chopped at the ankle lay by her cheek and her hands lay sprawled across her forehead.  Emily’s eyes were still open, looking straight at Todd.
“Oh My God!  No! Why Joe! Why!”
“Because I loved her you goddamn fool!” he yelled as he approached Todd with the axe in hand.  “See this axe, I did most of the work with this,” he said reopening the front door of the cabin.  “Animals love the smell of bloody flesh.”
“Don’t kill me Joe…please don’t,” he said in a mess of bawling dignity.
“Oh don’t worry Todd,” he replied placing the gag back into Todd’s mouth.  “I’m not gonna kill you,” he said as he pulled out a revolver from his back pocket.  “I’m letting you live with this,” he continued as he put the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.