by Mark Lumby
“If you knew, then why the hell didn't you walk away from it?” I asked. “I mean, if what you say is true, couldn’t you have just buried it again.”
“Yes, I could have. And I did! But it was always there, as if burying it was only a dream and I’d wake up to find it in the same place. It was no use, Daniel.”
“Maybe you didn’t try hard enough. Mom always said there was always a way. No matter how difficult it was to get there…there was always a way.”
“And she would be right in her wise words, but not this time,” he said. “The house had changed too; the air was different. I couldn't quite explain it then, but it was like, activity or energy. Something around me was happening; the air was shifting around me, through me, pumping through my heart, oozing through my blood. It was intelligent too, this energy. Whatever it was, it made no sense; it didn’t feel good. And I know that sounds ridiculous, but that’s the way it was. But in that moment, I knew what must be done. I went directly to the basement with a hammer and nails, placed the mirror back into the chest. But as soon as I struck that first nail I was attacked by a cold chill, an overwhelming awareness in which I had never experienced before. It was like receiving a life time of bad news in a single second: a sudden emptiness, a blanket of depression and a loss of everything that meant something. And it was then when I knew. I knew, Daniel.” He squeezed my shoulder. He stared at me with distraught eyes that looked too familiar, as though they had seen me before. They knew me. “I let go of the hammer and dropped the nails to the earth. I stumbled back, stopping only for the wall of cold and damp soil. It was as if I had the wind in my ears. My head was a wind chime. All I heard was whistling. At that point, I felt my legs had disappeared; only they hadn’t, of course. I fell to the dirt and cried because I knew they were gone. Through my ignorance, my damn ignorance, I had lost them. And a part of myself had gone, too.” He paused for a few seconds, walked over to the ladder and began pulling himself up. When he reached the top, he said, “I heard the door slam. She had taken Jesse from me. I don’t know where they went; they just disappeared, probably resided at her sisters for a while.”
“Why didn’t you follow them?”
“When I could move, it was too late, Daniel.” He turned and looked down on me. “You see, when they left, it was like a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. I realised that I needed them no more.”
“You gave up! Just like that!” I shouted.
He leered at me, dark sunken eyes looking into me. He shook his head. “No, Daniel, I didn’t give up. I excepted what was right.”
“Right? How can this be right?”
“Because I had been shown for a reason,” he explained. “I had been chosen! And this was my destiny just as it will be yours. They were just an obstacle, and if they hadn’t left, I would’ve killed them!”
“What! That’s my Mom!” I was astonished and angry.
“And my wife,” he reminded. “And I would’ve cut their throats to protect that mirror. Those bitches had no place here.”
I went for the ladder and began climbing, but the old man pushed the top out with his foot. “Thats enough!” I screamed.
He laughed, and I think he knew that he was stirring the anger inside. “Enough? I’ve not even started!”
“Well, you don’t need to…its over.”
“It’s not over, Daniel. Not by a long shot!” he spat.
I grabbed the ladder from the ground, leaned it against the mud and started climbing. I wasn’t stopped this time. I pushed passed him, knocking him off his feet. He laughed. I wanted to ram his face into the ground until he could no longer breath. I wanted to suffocate him. I ascended the stairs two at a time.
“Where are you going, Daniel?” he shouted.
I said nothing, just continued into the hallway.
“I need you, Daniel. Come back! I need you!”
I didn’t know if he was mocking me or just sounded desperate. I stopped and screamed into the basement, “you’re sick! You’re a sick old man!”
“I know,” a calm voice from behind said. I turned swiftly, and it was him.
“How did you…?”
“I’m dead. And I’ve been dead a long while, or at least the man I used to be has. I can move in different ways.” He pushed me up against the wall. “Now shut up whining, and listen to me you little shit!” he spat.
I tried to pull away, but he was too strong: way too strong for an old man. I stared into his eyes and saw nothing but rage and desperation.
He was desperate, but certainly not scared. He said, “the way I see it, you have two options.”
“The way I see it, the only option is to leave!”
“Yes, you can. Thats option two, but there are consequences! That road is very dark and I’m not sure you would survive. You’re the god damn son of that bitch of a daughter; how could you survive?”
I struggled and tried to shrug him off, but this force pinning me to the wall was unnatural and too strong to match any mans’ strength. He grabbed my throat in a spasm of rage, yelled in my face, then loosened his grip.
A chill crept up my spine and I momentarily froze. I was reminded of all those years ago when the blue Ford nearly knocked me down. The hand that grabbed me and threw me aside. Was it you who saved me? I stared wide eyed; the feeling was fading and I could struggle once again, but he still kept his grip around my throat.
“But option one,” he continued, “that might just work out. You see, Daniel, you’re my only blood relation. I have no one else; so you’ll have to do.”
“Thanks. I love you, too.”
He smiled thinly. “I might not even give you a choice. I might just let you leave. Throw you to the wolves and smile when they tear you apart. Because if you leave, Daniel, that is exactly what they’ll do.”
“Well, then, at least we agree. I’ll leave. Just let me go and you’ll never see me again. You can keep the house.”
He seemed to think about it. Then released me.
I shrugged him off.
He said, “I need you to be guardian. As blood you are the only living being who can do it. You must protect the mirror with your life. If its smashed, there will be hell on earth for seven years. You cannot bury it because it will find a way to surface; the damage has already been done. I cursed this family by digging it up, so we must protect the world from its evils and prevent any damage to it.”
“But it changed you!” I exclaimed.
“It did. It’s an open gateway with a direct road to hell. I am here so that any evil that comes through remains in this house. It cannot leave. I wont allow it. Its like radiation; if you’re with it, your contaminated. No escape. So, you could say that I’m contaminated, too. Badness runs through my veins.”
“You’re a demon, aren’t you?” I asked.
“I’m no demon. I would say that I work for both sides. I use the mirror for its powers. Soon you’ll realise how powerful you can be. Going out into the world without being seen, you’ll have the ability to leave your body. And there are other benefits, too, Daniel, but you’ll discover those in your own time.” He brushed passed me and headed toward the front door.
He opened it. “Thats if you use your head and stay here.”
I felt a cool breeze rush through. I walked slowly towards him. I saw blue sky; there was no whiteness, no mist or fog. I could see the garden, the clouds, and could smell the air.
“But, I always did know just how far to use them. I know my duty. I know I must protect the mirror, keep it safe. I know the damage that will occur if I don’t.”
I stepped outside; I though he would try and stop me, but he made no attempt. I turned to him. “My life will change, won’t it?” I looked again at the healed wound on his neck wondering if something in this house had done that to him. What isn’t he telling me?
“It already has, Daniel. God made us vulnerable by gifting us free will. You let yourself in. It was your choice. You had the key. You used it.” He rubbed a thin
layer of stubble on his cheek, and sighed wearily. “God threw you a damn curse, boy!” He smirked. God wasn’t a part of this. The curse, if there was such a thing, was given to me by the old man.
“So if I had decided not to come here, then…”
He put in, “then I would have no hold on you, boy. You could have walked away and continued with your life. But, I’ve got you now. I have you!” he spat. “If you leave, I will still have a part of you and I will keep on taking. Every breath you take, I’ll steal a little more. I’ll have most of you, Daniel. Most of you! And I will own you!”
“I don’t know what you are, but you’re not right. There is something seriously wrong with you up here!” I indicated by tapping my head. “You’re disturbed, you know that! You’re crazy.”
“The sand glass…you saw it, didn’t you?”
I turned to the garden ready to leave, but I stopped as he continued talking.
“Well, as soon as you entered this house, it began to fall,” he croaked and coughed: an old mans’ cough, “very slowly, grain by grain. It will continue to fill just as long as you’re here. And when its full, I will have you!”
“Amazing.” I threw my head back in disbelief. “You might think you have me, but I’ll fight you!” I warned him, and prodded his chest.
He shook his head at me. “If you don't carry on where I left off, then they’ll be no running from it! It will hunt you down and stay with you until the very end.”
“But you said no evil could leave this house. So how could anything come after me?”
Carl laughed, “If there isn't a guardian, the door is open to them. They’re free to leave, but would be very limited. And they will come for you. You can run. They will find you. They will torture your body, corrupt your mind. They will take over your free will.”
“And what about you,” I asked him.
“Depending on what you decide, if you stay, I will leave. This is your house now…”
“I told you, I don’t want it!”
“…like I said…this is your house now, and your curse. It will change you. You will forget who you are. You will become absorbed by the very evil that lingers between these walls. And you will enjoy it. As did I.” The old man simply turned and walked away. “Evil is here to protect and destroy. I choose to protect.”
I glanced into the hallway and saw him disappear into the basement.
Then he shouted, “Perceptions of fate and destiny help mankind feel comfortable and secure, Daniel. But you should feel anything but secure. You should feel afraid!”
I took a deep breathe of freedom, and although as dramatic a word that was, I truly felt as though I had escaped from something bad. I left the house behind, leaving the door open. I glanced over my shoulder and wondered if I should just sell the house. But for the moment I was relieved to leave it behind.
Just as I was about to climb into the car, I looked at the house. In its window I saw someone that was totally impossible to see. I saw myself, pale and gaunt, expressionless. These soulless eyes stared right back at me. I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I turned but there was nobody there. I looked back at myself and there was the old man, my grandad, standing behind me with his hand on my shoulder. And beside him, I saw the boy I had known. It was Jack.
I was distracted by the front door slamming and then one by one the windows shattered into pieces. When I looked back at the final window to smash, they had gone. But strangely, a part of me felt missing, too, as though a piece of my soul was in that house.
I drove back to the apartment, hoping to make some sense out of this. I passed the office building where I’d collected the keys and deeds for the house. The building was boarded up, and by the obsolete posters and graffiti on the outside, had appeared abandoned for some time.
I pulled over and I checked my pocket. I was sure I had left the keys in the front door of the house, but they were in my trousers, digging into my thigh as a reminder of the house. I wondered if he’d put them there as a warning that there was no escape. I wound down the window and threw them onto the street. I wasn’t going back there. My destiny is what I make of it. I took once last look at the office building before pushing down the accelerator.
When I arrived home, I lobbed the car keys in the fruit bowl and made myself a drink. There was a knock at the door. I checked the spy hole. It was Ben.
“Hows things?” I asked. I really didn’t want to talk. I was tired and just wanted the lay down my head.
“Things are good,” he said. “But I was thinking, we need to go for a drink sometime.”
“Yeah, sure. It’s been a while.”
“How you holding up? I mean, your Mom gone and everything.”
It was a reasonable question; no harm in it. But for some reason, I just stared at him as though he’d said something to offend. I didn’t answer the question. I said, “How’s your Mom?” I sneered. I knew what I was doing, but I couldn’t help myself.
Ben frowned, looked down the corridor, then back at me. He shrugged. “Why?”
“Just wondered.” There was a pause. Then I distracted him by saying, “so…that drink?”
“No…wait…why you asking about my Mom?” said Ben.
“Well,” I taunted, “I just wondered; does she get much?”
“Much? Of what?” he asked.
“Oh, come on, Ben. You know what I mean.”
“I’m sorry, Dan. I don’t.” But I think he did.
I laughed and said, “Dick! Does she get much dick?” I didn’t know why I was saying it; I only knew that I liked it. It was arousing. I wiped a trickle of saliva from the corner of my mouth.
“What?” He took a step back, pursing his lips.
I just grinned at him, licking my teeth and lips. I stepped closer to him. I was in the corridor and looked both ways, not because I didn’t want anyone to hear, but because I wanted someone to be passing at that particular time. “Well, you be sure to send her this way. She must be a bit dried up down there. How about I wet it for her?”
“Dan?” A disbelief took hold of Ben. He shook his head. “What the hells wrong with you!” he shouted. He was about to take a step towards me, but I got closer to him first forcing him back against the wall of the corridor.
I laughed, chuckling at first, then getting louder. I put my hand in between his legs and squeezed. “Or maybe you’re already onto that. Are you seeing to her, Ben? Are you making her wet!” I breathed at him.
Ben pushed me away. I knew he wanted to beat me…why wouldn’t he. But he didn’t. “You need help…you’re crazy!” He went back to his apartment, hitting the walls and shouting before slamming the door.
I was still laughing, and couldn’t stop. I called, “Why don't you wet it for her! You know she’d like that!” I went back into my apartment and shut the door.
And then the laughter stopped as if a switch had been flicked.
What the hells wrong with you! What did I say that for!
I rubbed my face, confused and angry with my actions, why I had said those things. That wasn’t me. I went over to the couch and sat there, thinking.
I should go and apologise. Thats what I should do. But not yet; not right now. First thing I’ll go. I’ll let things calm down first.
I knew that when tomorrow came forgiveness wouldn’t be rewarded so easily…if at all. But that was another day to worry about. I brain had been drained for the day. I fell asleep clothed. The night was humid so I was sticky with sweat. A cat searching a trash can disturbed me. I went over to the window, pushing it open. The air was cool as it dried the sweat off my face. Then there was a thump at the door, and several more followed. Someone was screaming at the other side of the door.
“Dan!” He cried. “Get your damn ass out here.” He sounded drunk.
I checked the clocked. 3:25am.
“Hey, Ben. About last night,” I called out. It was a slow pace to the door; I didn’t particularly want to open it. I knew it was Ben, but I peered through the
spy hole anyway. He looked agitated, as though he’d been thinking about this moment over and over. His face was clammy, speckled with blood. “You okay, Ben?” Given the circumstances, I knew that he wasn’t. I carefully opened the door, placing my foot behind as a precaution.
“Yeah! Why shouldn’t it be?” His voice was uneven. Something wasn’t right. It didn’t make sense.
“You hurt?” I said, noticing blood on his pale blue shirt. “I’m sorry about last night. I…I don’t know what happened.”
“Forget about it,” he waved as if by swatting a fly. “We’ve been friends too long to worry about that.” Ben pushed the door with his hand; the other hand was behind his back. “Why don’t you let me in? I just want to talk…nothing bad…its all cool.”
I hesitated, searching for something to say. “Its all cool?”
“Yeah…sure it is. You’re my bud. We’re like brothers. Yeah, thats it…brother from a different mother,” he laughed. “So why don’t you open the door?”
“I don’t know,” I said, because I didn’t really know what to say.
“You don’t know!” He pushed again at the door. “Just let me in, Dan. I just want to talk about tomorrow night.”
“Why…whats happening tomorrow night?”
“Our little party, bro…the drink we’re going to have.”
“Tomorrow? Was it planned?” I questioned him.
“Tomorrow…next week. Does it matter? We just need to get out.”
“Listen…its passed three in the morning,” I informed him. He didn’t answer back. “I told you, I’m real sorry about what I said.” I peered through the hole again. He was still there.
He muttered, “I know you are. He stared back at me through the hole as though he could see me. “Listen…trust me. I don’t want to argue. Just open the door.” He did sound sincere.
I breathed deeply, then removed my foot from the door. I stepped back and waited. But there was nothing. “Ben?” No answer. I opened the door and he wasn’t there. I glanced down the corridor to his apartment. There was a trail of blood on the floor leading from my door and disappearing into his. I quickly grabbed a knife from the kitchen drawer and followed the trail. His door was ajar as if by invitation. I pushed it open with the tip of the knife.
