Chapter Twenty Eight
Walking through the field Gabriel's mind began creating painful friction. His mind filled with the thought of Tiffany, and what happened to her. Tears were still running down his face as he collapsed to the ground. His fingers clinched to the dirt as he tried to squeeze out his pain. Weather it was lust or love did not matter, now it all translated to pain.
Gabriel laid there in the dirt for hours just letting go of his emotions. He no longer cared about where he now was, or what would happen next. All he wanted was to see her again, but would he ever? Where do the dead go when the heavens and hells are on earth. She had a life, an after life, and now she was once again dead. So where was she, and how could he be with her.
Those thoughts filled his head until finally they reached a breaking point. Someone or something took her pendant when they killed her. Now it was time for Gabriel to use his gifts from Frigga once more. Although Gabriel had a good idea of who it was, he still had to see. Grasping the pendant in his hand he placed his fingers on the yellow jewel.
“I don't remember what to say.....Frigga?” Gabriel said pushing his fingers hard on the Yellow jewel. Nothing happened as Gabriel's face turned from sorrow to anger.
“Frigga!” Gabriel shouted and somehow he got a response. Gabriel now found himself tumbling through the sky. Spinning around and around, one moment he would see the ground far below and then the sky. The wind was blowing like crazy and he struggled to control his tumbling through the sky. At first he thought he was falling but then he realized he was flying through the air.
Below him was a massive city with huge sky scrapers that were burning. Black smoke floated through the sky from all over the city. It was nothing but rubble, ruins, and chaos. One huge sky scraper suddenly collapsed and spewed ash into the sky. On the main interstate below were thousands of abandoned cars.
On one of the roads below Gabriel could see movement. It was about ten demons herding a line of thousands of humans. They were all tied together, naked and miserable. Some had war wounds and others were being dragged by those in front of them. It looked like the demons were taking slaves. All along the other streets and open area's were corpses of people. This wasn't like the anarchy in Axal. This was organized madness.
Flying next to Gabriel was the orchestrator of madness himself. Riding on a giant two headed lion with red bat like wings sprawled out. Apollyon sat on it back looking down on his creations. Around his neck was the yellow pendant glowing in the sun and flames. A smile was across his face and he was glowing like a child on his birthday. All the destruction he ever wanted was finally coming to pass.
They flew across the landscape for miles. Gabriel watched as they passed burning towns and city's. Forests, fields, and even rivers had flames spewing from them. There was so much smoke in the air that the sun looked gray. The only signs of life were slaves or demons and the dead littered the ground. Two demons were in a parking lot playing with corpses. They tossed around body parts and cheered as severed limbs splattered into the asphalt.
Another demon was lining up corpses of men and leaving them face down. The line went on for block after block. At the end of the conveyor of dead was a massive demon. His belly hung out to the point that it was inches from the ground. He was pushing a steam roller over the top of the line. Bones crushed under the weight of the roller. The demon struggled to push the roller but continued on with laughter.
Just down the line from the roller was a pack of demons having a feast of smashed flesh. They picked away at the corpses eating on the parts with fat and leaving the rest for the birds. The demons had ate so much that they were throwing up. It was a disgusting site. It was as though they only wanted the taste. Then once full of flesh they threw it up to make room for more. It was a vomit filled feast of flesh that seemed to amuse Apollyon as he looked down laughing.
There were so many corpses, and demons that they searched for ways to amuse themselves. Outside of a library was a massive world globe. Next to it was one demon chopping up corpses while another tied body parts to the globe. He was using strands of human flesh as rope. Gabriel couldn't believe what was happening below him.
The sickest and foulest of all beings had been released from their once eternal cage. Now their twisted minds were free to devise all sorts of chaos. Apollyon seen it as a masterpiece, like an art teacher looking down at his students twisted designs. What would happen once they had destroyed everything though?
What was the point in this madness, when eventually there would be no more pain to cause. No one would be left to worship Apollyon in their agony. The demons would run out of corpses to mutilate, and city's to burn. Maybe that was why they were taking slaves. It was all to spread fear, and force mankind to worship Apollyon. But as long as Gabriel was immortal he vowed to kill Apollyon. Gabriel had seen enough, clinching the pendant he cried out.
“Midgards calling!” Instantly he found himself laying in the field. It was nice to see a place that had not yet come to ruin. Gabriel looked up at the sky and thought about all he had seen. Why would Apollyon want to kill Tiffany, and why wasn't Cain there? Gabriel found the corpses of all of heavens abominations except Cain. So was he dead, alive, or one of Apollyons slaves.
The only chance Gabriel had against Apollyon was with the help of the other gods. But how could he get to them from the field. Sure he could use the pendant but he couldn't do anything in physical form while with them. Nothing he could think of would work, and the chances of finally killing Apollyon was far fetched. Revenge was once again the only thing driving Gabriel's existence.
Night fell over the field as Gabriel tried to figure out his next move. An old fence surrounded the field and would be of no use against predators or demons. Wolves howled off in the distance as the moon shot up into the sky. Slowly and painfully Gabriel drifted to sleep under the night sky. A cool breeze gently blew over him, providing enough comfort to finally give in to sleep.
“Hail Gabriel!” A voice said in the darkness. Somehow Gabriel now found himself standing in the middle of the field.
“Who is there?” Gabriel asked.
“Me!” The little monster from Gabriel's dreams said as he appeared in front of him.
“Yes, this is I.....Many things, tonight the gate keeper of nightmares.” The monster said.
“So I am back in dream land...” Gabriel said with a sigh.
“For now, right now someone is coming to meet you. Not in your dreams but in the land of those awake. I really don't know why you would want to leave this place though. You could stay here with me and we could create beautiful things in a dream.” The man said.
“How do you know someone is coming to meet me?” Gabriel asked.
“I can hear him...Walking through the woods and looking to interrupt dreams. Don't you hear him just there?” The man said pointing. Gabriel could hear someone walking up to him but could not see him. Then a gentle touch and a flash of darkness.
Sitting in a kitchen Gabriel began looking around. A boy was doing the dishes while his father was sitting at a table reading a magazine. They boy slowly and quietly drained the water and started drying the dishes. He looked as though he was only seven or eight years old. Thick glasses rested on his nose, and his hair was a tattered mess.
“Dad....” The boy said.
“Yes Jack what is it?” The man said looking up from his magazine.
“I have a question...Do you ever, hear like a voice?” The boy said.
“What do you mean?” The man said laying down his magazine.
“Like a voice inside your head, that says things?” The boy said looking down at the floor.
“Hahaha! Jack you mean your thoughts? Yes that is nothing but your mind thinking.” The man said still laughing and picking the magazine back up. The boy just turned away and began putting away the dishes.
“That is not what I meant...I mean an actual voice that tells you things.” The boy said. There was no response from the father though and G
abriel moved in closer to see if the boy was speaking.
“He always just ignores me, never listens to the things I have to say. I don't like hearing these voices and I do not know if it is even normal. Maybe other people can hear voices too. Asking them to do things or giving them strange ideas. Keeping me awake at night when I am trying to sleep. I wish I knew what was wrong with me. I am so strange, even my dad thinks I am crazy.” The boy was not speaking. Though Gabriel could hear his mind, as he watched his lips in confusion.
With a flash they were now sitting in a school bathroom. Jack was using one of the urinals and leaning in towards it. Three boys walked in the bathroom and one of them signaled to the others. The boy nodded his head and kicked jack into the urinal. Jack tried to turn around but one of the other kids pushed his head into the wall.
“Haha look the queer pissed himself!” One of the boys said while the others joined in the laughter. Jack just stayed quite and looked down at his drenched blue jeans with holes in them. His glasses fell off and landed in the urinal when one of the kids pushed his head into the wall.
“Come on lets go or we will be late!” One of the boys said as they ran out from the bathroom. The boys had a conscious sense of time, but no morals of humanity. Jack pulled up his pants and grabbed his glasses from the urinal. Holding them by one end he stumbled over to the sink and began washing them off. Once the glasses were clean he looked down at his soaked pants. Pacing around the bathroom Jack decided his next move. Instead of facing the kids in the hallway he went into one of the bathroom stalls to hide.
Gabriel could hear weeping from inside the stall. It reminded him of the days when he faced bullies. It was disgusting how cruel some kids could be. They thought it was cool to torment other kids. Though they could not see the damage it was causing to both the bullied and the bully. One day the bullied will look back at how miserable they made his life. He would have to find a place to fit in with society. But the damage would build up social defenses turning the bullied into a social recluse. Maybe one day he would be scared just to walk into a store, or watch a movie in the theaters.
From such a young age it would forever twist his view of mankind. Everyone would look like a threat, and once that happens we no longer become humans but predators. Causing pain would become a normal part of life. Turning him into a bully and possibly the next vicious killer that we all fear. That fear we feel when we hear a killer is in the area, is the same fear he walks to school with every day.
The bully, if he one day forms a conscious would have his own battles to face. Laying in bed worried about the things his children would have to see in school. Or looking back at all the pain he had caused a child. In the bullies head those he hurt would remain as children in his mind. How could he be so mean to someone so defenseless. Now how could he live a normal and happy life with the memories of the evil things he had done. There was no way to say oops sorry. I didn't mean to turn you into a social outcast who see's humanity as a monster.
Gabriel's thought's continued to race as he listened to jack weep. The school bell rang and jack too did not even flinch. After a few minutes Jack opened he stall door and walked out of the bathroom. Jack peered into the hallway before going out. Gabriel looked as well and could see the coast was clear. Jack sprinted down the hallway and Gabriel had no time to keep up. Jack burst out of the school doors at the end of the hallway and was gone.
Instantly Gabriel found himself sitting in a bedroom. On the walls were pictures of super hero's and villain’s. Sitting at a desk next to the bed was Jack with a pencil in his hand. A notebook laid on the desk in front of him and the pencil was hovering over the page. Jack's face was red and his other hand was squeezing his hair.
“Why.....They keep on being mean to me. I wish I could just be like a ghost. Then they would not be able to even see me. They could just walk right past me and not know I am even there. Instead I have to wear these stupid glasses that they all hate. Why can't I just see like everyone else. Why can't I just look like them and be a normal kid...with friends.” Jack thought and Gabriel could hear him. Jack placed the pencil to the page.
“You are pushing someone who doesn't push back. But don't for a moment expect me to stay down. Look at you waiting for the tragedy of weakness so that you can prey on the humble. Have your feast but in the night when you sleep my shadows on the wall.” The pencil stopped moving as the thoughts finished. Oddly though the voice of his thoughts were not Jack. It was a different voice and it startled Gabriel. Walking over Gabriel looked down at the page to see what Jack had written. It was the thought that was in a voice not of his own. Jack clinched his pencil tightly and was shaking.
“Stop it, just get out of my head!” Jack's mind shouted from off the page. Looking down Gabriel could see Jack had written the thought in much larger letters than the other thoughts.
“I am crazy, I really think I am crazy. These thoughts are not normal, I don't even think they are my own! What is wrong with my mind, no wonder why I won't be accepted.” Jack thought but he did not write it down. Then the pencil began moving once again.
“Trying to work my mind through this snake digestion we call civilization. I fear there is no place here for me.” Jack wrote down the thought, but once again it was in a voice not of his own. Jack looked up from the page and at a painting of superman above his desk.
“That's it...” Jack thought in a voice not of his own.
“Art never asks for acceptance, it demands it!” Jack wrote the thought down on the page. This time the thought was of his own design.
“Maybe I am crazy, but so were all the greatest minds. If only I could find a use for my insanity.” Jack thought clinching his head once again.
“Sanity was stolen from me, before I could remember a life of the sane. Now madness pounds in my heart, healing wounds of the insane. But my madness will not disillusion me of creativity. Although the world might try to rob me of it.” Jack thought, as he wrote it down on the page. Just as he finished his bedroom door flew open. His dad stood in the doorway with a disgusted look on his face. He had on a pair of coveralls covered in grease.
“Why were you not in class today!” His dad shouted. Jack just looked down at the page he had been writing.
“So you're not going to answer me! That's fine but you aren't playing video games, or leaving this room for a month! and if you ever pull this shit again you will never leave this room!” His dad said as he slammed the door shut. Gabriel found himself being tossed around from a school bus. Jack was sitting alone looking out the window.
“Hey faggot!” A kid shouted from the seat behind him as he smacked Jack on top of his head.
“What?” Jack asked turning around to look at the boy.
“I will fucking stab you in the heart with my pencil and shit on your face you little fucker! Don't ever talk to me again!” The kid said as he held the tip of a pencil to Jacks face. Jack turned around and slouched down in the seat.
“I don't want to be here, this is just a bad dream that I need to escape!” Jack thought. Jack looked out the window at the hillsides. Gabriel looked out as well and strangely they began to roll and tremble. Gabriel sat down next to Jack and continued to look out confused. Then the hills steadied and a massive castle appeared outside of the bus. It erupted from the earth and grew larger and larger. Jack just laid his head on the window looking up. It was clear to Gabriel what was happening, jack was using his imagination to escape.
“It's too bad that I have to fake my life to escape the truth.” Jack thought as he pulled out his notebook. Jack also pulled out a pencil and looked at it for a moment.
“Hah stab me in the heart with a pencil, stupid kid.” Jack thought as he placed the pencil to the page.
“Imagination is my meditation.” Jack struggled to write the thought on the page as the bus hit bumps.
“I don't even know why I try to write this stuff down. No one will ever read it, plus it's kinda stupid.” Jack thought but did not write. Then
the pencil struggled against the page once more.
“ A touch of genius and a ton of stupid.” Jack wrote the thought down and then stopped. He read it over once more.
“Yup that's what I got.” Jack smiled as he put his notebook back in his backpack. Gabriel followed Jack off the bus and into class. Jack sat in the back and remained there unnoticed by even the teachers. The whole time Jack was in school he did nothing but write. Other kid's were drawing, studying, or talking to their friends. Not jack, he was lost in a land of confused literature. Word's from school mates or teachers would provoke bizarre thoughts that he would write down.
Gabriel was sitting down on the floor in one class room. The kids all looked like grade school students. Then suddenly he looked up and it was all high school kids. Instantly though he knew which one was Jack. Acne now covered his face, but as usual he was lost in his own world. Writing, and imagining anything but reality.
“So what did everyone think of the author?” A teacher asked the classroom.
“I think he was too afraid to dig deep enough into his mind to create anything meaningful.” Jack thought, but he did not speak. He placed his pencil to his open notebook and began writing again.
“Lost in my mind, instead of trying to get out I just dig deeper. I know where these catacombs lead where walls of stone turn padded.” The voice was one from within jacks mind, but not his own. He wrote it down and then smiled as he read it over. Gabriel did not even hear the conversation going on in the classroom around him. One girl sitting in front of Gabriel raised her hand.
“Wait shhh....Yes Amber?” The teacher asked
“I think the author has a very beautiful mind...” Amber said but her voice was cut off by jacks thoughts.
“Ha! a beautiful mind? I think a beautiful mind is a imaginative one. Free of social pollutions or boring restrictions of thought.” Jack wrote it down on his notebook as he thought it out loud.
“Jack!” The teacher said as the classroom turned around to look at him. He stopped writing and looked up at the teacher.
“Would you like to share with us what you are writing?” The teacher asked.
“No you dumb cunt I would hate to share literature of any value in an English class.” A voice from jacks mind said. Jack paused and then opened his lips to speak.
“I am sorry, I was just drawing.” Jack said as he looked down at his notebook.
“So what did you think of the book?” The teacher asked as her eyebrows raised.
“Eh....I mean it was alright.” Jack said.
“Would you like to elaborate for us?” The teacher said as to mock Jack. The class chuckled and then hushed for his response.
“Well, it wasn't very well thought out. I was always predicting what came next, and it provoked no new thoughts in my mind.” Jack said.
“You know the book has been a bestseller for years?” The teacher said smiling and still mocking Jack.
“Well that says a lot about our society, what do you know about literature bitch.” A voice in Jacks mind said.
“Yeah I know....I guess I just didn't like it.” Jack said looking down at his notebook with dread.
“Well if you are an expert why don't you try writing a book?” The teacher asked and the class chuckled again. Jack just remained silent and went back into his own world.
“What a bitch mocking me like that in front of everyone. I never said I was an expert, I just don't like that stupid book she made us read.” Jack thought.
“There are very few authors who really go deep enough into their mind to intrigue me. It doesn't mean that they are not good by popular demand.” Jack still thought as his face turned red and he looked around the room.
“Shit this class is a good example of the landscape of literature. It's all about rules, grammar....Bullshit.” Jack thought as he placed his pencil on the page again.
“Stay on your comfy trails in the land of literature. I'm coming in with a match and hoping the winds of fate turn the land to ash.” Jack wrote down the thought. Jack looked up from his notebook to tune into what the classroom was talking about. It was a vague discussion of plagiarism by an author. Jack seemed frustrated by the idea of plagiarism. Then it provoked a new voice from inside of him.
“Fear of plagiarism should not alter the spread of inspiration. I don't want to patent my words, I hope they are felt by others. So that maybe then I will know I am not alone.” The voice within jack's mind said as he wrote it down. It was hard for Gabriel to comprehend all that was going on with jack. He had multiple thoughts that he could hear. Though most of them were in strange voices. It was as though he was hearing Jacks mind, and even seeing through the eye's of Jack. It was scary, and potentially brilliant.
Apollyon's Saint The Collection: Books One through Ten Page 28
