The Devils due

I awoke at dawn as I did every morning since that horrible day. Awaking from a night filled with tossing and turning, dreams not of beautiful scenes but of dark landscapes filled with shadows and inhabited by people walking aimlessly to and fro. On the faces of those who had a face, there was nothing but a blank stare, like a walking corpse you might find in a low budget horror film. I did not do the usual things people do in the morning such as get the morning newspaper from the hallway and make a pot of pipping hot coffee to enjoy with a Cinnamon roll or cook ham and eggs to wash down with freshly squeezed orange juice. No I would do as I have done every morning for the last fifteen years. I rose out of bed, relieved myself in the bathroom and went directly to the living room window for the daily vigil.

As I peered out of the large bay window of my living room, looking at the sunrise on this early Summer day, I could see the small farm perched on a hillside not far down the road. It seems that the animals have a special affinity to the sunrise. Perhaps it is because their minds are free of the thoughts that are foremost in the human mind, thoughts of personal attainment, power, fame, lust and so many others.

As my words of prayer fell on deaf ears, I watched the animals through my window, birds sang while others rustled for food along the grassy path leading into the woods, no doubt a shortcut made by children, as it lead to the street with the only candy store in town. Squirrels played tag up and down a nearby tree while chipmunk's sat up next to one another as if having a staring contest. I could just make out the forms of the animals at the farm down the road and noticed that they to seemed more alive at this particular time of day.

Horses moving closer together, bowing their heads at one side then the other of a companions head then running off swiftly in one direction stopping abruptly, then darting off in another direction like a quarterback in a football game evading his opponents while trying to decide which teammate to throw the ball to. The cows were slowly leaving the heard of which they had been in during the night, meandering around the pasture occasionally stopping to eat some hay then moving on again flapping their tail to chase away the flies and letting out a boisterous "Moo" every now and again.

Sometimes in the still of the night, if all were quite at the break of dawn, one could hear the raspy yodeling of the barnyard rooster, the farmers alarm clock announcing the birth of a new day. I thought for a moment how inside us all was a deep abiding respect for the farmer. Their day is long and their work is hard and yet not once have I ever heard one of them complain out load about their chosen profession to anyone. Oh yes, they would complain about the weather, too little or too much rain and you would hear comments like " if the good lord don't give us some rain soon, my crops wont be worth picken" or 'my cow's are swimming in mud, lord if this keeps up I'll be wearing my fishing waders to walk out to em"

But never in all my years have they complained about their profession. It was as old as time itself and surely it had to be one of the first professions afforded to man. All farmers seemed to be in harmony with life, with nature and with themselves. Walking with a proud stature and looking another man squarely in the eye's when talking to him, always speaking what's on his mind when asked a question and shooting straight from the hip when giving an answer. But never forgetting to tip or remove his hat when in the presence of a lady. I wish now that I had become a farmer instead of going to business school and becoming what I became.

As a young man I was determined not to die a poor man as my father had done before me, not that he was an unhappy man by any means of the word but to the contrary, he and my mother seemed very happy. I never understood how a husband and wife could be so poor, live in a tiny three room flat, take public transportation to work and church, for they could not afford an automobile, and yet be so happy in their life. But they were just that, happy. I know now that it was their love for each other and of God that bonded them so to happiness. Ah but not me, oh no, this was not the kind of happiness I envisioned for myself as I grew older and out of my childhood.

As I began working and loosing my dependence on them, I started to save for college, business school to be more precise. I wanted more out of life as an adult. I wanted the best things that life had to offer, the best clothing, the best cars, food, wine, entertainment and of course the best woman. I worked two jobs to put myself through college, never once wavering in my quest for a better life than that of my happy parents.

It is at college where I met my beloved Lorinda. She sat alone at a table in the college library reading William Shakespeare's  tragic love story "Romeo and Juliet". I was to learn later that he was her favorite writer and that "Romeo and Juliet" was her favorite of all writings. As I watched her sitting there I studied her features as she sat quietly reading. I could not believe what a strikingly beautiful figure of a woman she was. She had long auburn hair which cascaded down her delicate face and ended in two flowing trails around her neck like waterfalls around a lush green mountainside. Her skin was pure and white as the driven snow, she wore a yellow sundress with a pattern of small Daisey's on it. Resting gently in each earlobe was a small Golden posts to which were attached a tiny red gem, complimenting her hair and enhancing the beauty of her alluring eye's. Her arms were thin and ended with the shape of small perfectly sized hands, the fingers narrow and dainty, surely any man would relish holding one of them in his own. I could not see her shoes for they were resting under the table out of my view but I am certain that they were attached to the most curvaceous long slender legs merely by the way a couple of the men were gawking from nearby tables in the direction in which they were. I felt a bit of anger and jealousy rise within me and then subside for if I had been sitting with them I too would be gawking, although with less obviousness and more self control. After all we were gentleman not cavemen.

When she looked up at me for the first time and I saw those green eye's sparkling like two giant emerald gemstones, I could not resist her charm and fell deeply and unequivocally in love with her right there on the spot. I will not bore you with the details of our courtship, but it is needless to say it was I who did the pursuing.

We had a large wedding two years later, as I was already making leaps and bounds up the corporate ladder in my dream of a perfect life. Time passed and we found out that we could not have children, the doctor had mentioned adoption as an option but the idea was distasteful to me and I made it perfectly clear right there in the doctor's office. I never asked Lorinda her thoughts on the matter and after my outburst in the doctors office, it's little wonder why she never told me her thoughts on the subject of adoption. But it was very apparent that Lorinda was torn apart inside by the news and it seemed a bit of the sparkle had left those beautiful green eye's forever. Yet she stayed the loyal and devoted wife, never wavering in her love for me.

I, on the other hand began staying longer and longer hours at the office. "I am sorry dear, but I am the President of one of the largest corporations in the country" adding in self defense, "surely you can understand that I cannot shirk my responsibilities to all the men and women who work there". It sounded good to me at the time but I now know that I blamed Lorinda for not providing me with a child, a boy, an heir to the throne of the vast Donald Lemore fortune. I became so obsessed with work that I did not notice, nor did she tell me that she had found out from the doctors tests that she was gravely ill, more precisely, she was dying of a rare decease and that it was incurable. No, she said nothing but still continued to be a loyal and loving wife all the time she was waiting to die alone in our eighteen room mansion. Her only company was that of the servants who all seemed to love her and give her more attention then her own husband.

I never took the time to stop and notice that the light was fading from her eye's, that her skin was now so pale that you could see the veins on her face through it. She had lost so much weight that even a blind man would have noticed something wrong being so sensitive and highly attuned to his normal surroundings and people he loved. But not I, no I continued to work twelve to fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, counting the pennies and making sure all the "i"'s were dotted. Hiring and firing men and women with the care and commitment of a true corporate leader. Heartless would have described me better.

Then one day the phone call came and I literally dropped the phone from my hands as if succumbing to a stroke myself at the news. "Mr. Lemore" the voice on the phone said.
"yes this is he"
"this is Dr. Kendel down at Memorial Hospital, your wife has just been admitted to the Hospital in very serious condition and to be quite honest I'm not sure how long she has to live sir, it would be prudent of you to get here a soon as possible"
Suddenly nothing else mattered to me but Lorinda, I threw the phone down and ran from my office not saying a word to anyone, jumped in my Mercedes Benz and was off to the hospital like a shot. When I arrived at the hospital, the doctor on call met me, "I'm sorry Mr. Lemore but your wife has passed on"
the only words I could manage to blurt out were "oh no"
"we did everything we could to make her last moments comfortable Mr. Lamore, I assure you we did"
"did...did she say anything doctor...anything at all sir" tears were now welling up in my eye's and I felt the weight of the entire world on my shoulders at this moment.
"well sir, she just kept repeating your name and then..well it was strange sir"
"what...tell me for god sakes man, what did she say, I need to know"
"her last words were.."Romeo and Juliet"
I felt a spear plunge through my heart, and I knew that I too had died that day.
The doctor told me how he never had seen anyone take on death so bravely and without fear as she did. So much so that it touched his heart and he said a small prayer for her as she passed on before him.

I stood up from the bench I was sitting on and told the doctor that I would take care of all the arrangements, no others. He gave me his condolences and walked away. As I was leaving the Hospital I passed the receiving desk where several nurses were standing in conversation, they were looking in my direction, a look of disgust and disapproval on their faces as they spoke. It would seem the were able to peg me right on the money for I was full of shame and remorse at my life and what I had done to my poor beautiful wife Lorinda. May she and God forgive me for my arrogance and ignorance.

It is strange how life can abruptly stop, turn to you and smack you extremely hard in the face with reality. My only regret about it was that life could have chose to do it a few years earlier, then perhaps I could have done something to save my beloved Lorinda. but life never steps in to interfere, we choose our own paths and we reap the rewards from them, good or bad. In all honesty, Donald Lemore died in that hospital room with his wife and I was just a shell of what he once was or perhaps could have been.

I cared no more for the wealth I told myself was so Lorinda could have the finest things in life, funny thing is that she never asked for them. I know now that it was for me, to sustain my own greed and lust for endless wealth and power, and to what end....this. I lost the one and only person I loved deepest in my lifetime and my only thoughts were that wherever she might be, she would forgive me for being such a blind fool.

Disheartened and devastated by the truth of my life, I sold off my entire estate, corporation, stocks, bonds and investments. The bulk of my estate I chose to donate to the research foundations that were so desperately trying to find a cure for the decease which took my wife. I kept only enough to live on comfortably in this apartment. And there you have it, that was fifteen years ago and here I remain, never dating, never falling in love again, never feeling anything again. So here I stand at my living room window once again for my daily vigil which I have done for fifteen years now.

I prayed to god, to anyone who would listen to my prayers, bring me peace and put an end to my sorrow. let me feel the warmth I felt as a youth in my heart again.
That is when he came to he came to me, oh not in the still of the night when thoughts of self induced torment stir within us all. No, he came to me as an epiphany, as I watched the morning sunrise through the large bay window of my living room gently sweep over the hillside bathing everything it touched with a warm and bright new beginning, as I prayed yet once again for peace to find me.

He did not speak at first but rather queerly gazed upon me as one might do while studying a painting of some fortitude mounted under small accentuating lights on a wall in a museum. I believed it was "Death" standing before me, since it seemed to be what I was really praying for in the back of my mind. He wore no black robe, had no skeletal fingers, but portrayed a boyish face and a pleasant smile. His dress was that of an eighteenth century nobleman, elegant and yet masculine in appearance. The only thing to stand out in my minds eye was his hair, it was as gray as mine was but with hints of red and yellowish streaks at both temples. When he spoke to me, I trembled as I knew I was in the presence of an unearthly being, an entity from a domain forbidden to mortal men.

"You have called to me my son and I have answered your call", he said
"Are you an Angel?" I asked
"of sorts"
"you will give me the peace I so long for"
"I will give you everlasting peace such as you have never known, but first you must ask me to do so with your own words, you must invite it from me"
His voice was soft and caressing to the soul, almost purveying to me the peace I wanted so badly just in the sound of his voice.

"you mean I have to invite death, I must die to find peace...are you Death"
"Yes, you must die and welcome it from me, but fear not old man, I will make it quick and painless, this I promise you."
"But if I die, how will I know.... that I am at peace", nervously adding "I will have no consciousness to enjoy this gift of peace that you have given to me so generously"
" Oh, I assure you that you will be very aware and conscious of your peace for the duration of eternity my son". I could see that one of his eyebrows rose when he said this and his voice sounded a bit more serious than when he previously spoke.

"and I will be at peace", feeling my words becoming redundant even to myself.
"yes" he replied
"like when I was a young boy"
"yes"
"forever and ever", I still asked further
"yes"
I thought for a long hard moment of my days as a youth, so happy, so full of peace and wonder at the world around me, so innocent. Not knowing of the cruel hardships that this world can bestow upon ones shoulders to carry through life.

"OK...OK, I'll do it" I spurted out like a young boy who was just given his first chore for a payment greater than he believed he deserved.
"take me Mr. Death, I give myself to you freely here and now"
A thin smile came upon his boyish face and he uttered a deep guttural sound, a Demonic chuckle.
His eye's met mine solidly and I froze like a mouse before the gaze of a stalking cat preparing to painfully play with it's prey before finally ending the poor creatures suffering.

I saw in his one eye, the pupil glowed amber red as coal and within the raging fire of the iris was a glimpse into the epitome of extremes that hell has in waiting. Bodies writhing in pain and torment under whips of barbed wire while misshapen creatures danced an obscene contortion of movements around them, displaying unearthly features of grotesque creation. Flames spewing up from the ground which was in itself a floor of molten lava and rock. Demons whose arms were the giant wings of bats, circled like birds of prey, swooping down and unleashing the barbed whips upon the defenseless souls that were scrambling about moaning and pleading for mercy, of which there was none.

While in his other eye, I could see the sharp glistening of four distinct ice stalactites resembling the canines of a rabid wolf, dripping with a frothing saliva of decease and insanity. Within them lie a storm, a blizzard of ice and snow, limbs being bitten and torn from screaming souls by flesh eating ghouls, blood splashing and splattering in a bazaar Mosaic, staining the white snow, part animal and part demon, spiraling horns adorned their heads and their feet were hooves like that of a goat, they had long unrealistic arms with patches of blackish gray hair in some places while completely bald in others, their hands were more like claws and their finger nails more like the talons of a vulture, eye's glowed a ghostly greenish white and seemed to follow mine, as some paintings seem to do. Providing me a small glimpse of the penances that hell has to offer.

"No..NO.No....you are not death are you, you tricked me, you lied to me" I screamed in panic
"I never said that I was death fool" he replied in a voice as strong as any rumble of thunder I have ever heard. Then, as I watched in stunned horror, the reddish yellow tints in his hair slowly became flames, growing larger like the tentacles of an octopus and tickling at his face as he spoke.
"No....No...NOOOOOOO" I cried out, feeling like a man who was just thrown from a rooftop by someone he thought was a friend. He laughed with a hollow bellow that echoed in my ears like a badly played tuba.

"Your soul is mine now and for eternity, and oh... you will have peace alright" adding with enjoyment, "peace as you have never dreamed, so much peace that you will never sleep or eat or love ever again, the peace that only Hell can bring you" I began to cry, to weep uncontrollably before this harbinger of Satan. His appearance had changed even more now, though still bearing boyish features, his eye's glowed a deep crimson red and his tongue became elongated and forked, flickering like a snake as he spoke. The small flames that were dancing at his temples now engulfed his entire skull as if some exaggerated Halloween wig. And there was now a horrible odor permeating the entire room, resembling the putrid smell one gets when driving by a dead and rotting animal, baking in the hot sun along side the road. My stomach churned with nausea, I could feel myself trying to hold down vomiting and my flesh felt as if it were going to burst into flames yet it was soaked with sweat. Large goosebumps swelled my entire body making my hair stand on end as if wishing to flee from my skin. My legs would no longer sustain the weight of my body trembling so and my small gold cricifix broke free and slid from my neck to the floor. I fell to my knees before this accursed creature from hell. It gave off a whimper of victory at this obvious defeat of my powers to resist it, bringing back memories of the schoolyard bully we all feared running into and took great pains to avoid.

A single tear crawled down my cheek and leapt away from my quivering cheek, falling on the golden crucifix lying on the floor beneath me which had adorned my neck earlier and must have fallen away during my uncontrolled trembling. As it embraced the cross it gave off a small yet significant aura of light, with colors such as that of a rainbow after a violent thunderstorm. Strangely, I could now hear the sound of delicate crystal wind chimes softly caressing the air around me. And there was a gentle sent of Jasmine in the air, which was my Mothers favorite scent.

I felt that suddenly things had changed once again and raised my eye's up slowly, it felt as though there were a thousand tiny weights holding them down. To my disbelief, there was now a third figure standing in the room, but yet it was not standing at all, there was no figure that I could make out but a large translucent ball of pulsating light. A prism of colors to beautiful to describe and I felt a warmth that one feels when standing in front of a crackling fireplace after coming in from a cold winters day. It positioned itself directly between me and this vile abomination of evil incarnate. The glowing entity spoke, but the words sounded as if they were coming from afar, not even in the same room but from a hallway somewhere in space and time. "You will not take this soul today, servant of evil" it announced with an air of authority.

The vile one rose up,growing to twice its previous size and pointed a red bony forefinger at the glowing apparition. "You have no business here do-gooder, a deal has been struck and I will collect my due, begone with you before I loose my patience further" screamed the demon.
With that the glowing ball of light intensified so bright as to entirely drown out the vision of the immense evil towering over us. I had to shut my eye's to the brilliance of the light, the wind chimes had the resonance of a Cathedrals organ pipes now, a small spider scrambled away to safety being shaken loose from it's foreboding web in a nearby corner. "You will leave this place now, spawn of Satan, or you will be gone for eternity, choose thee now" spoke the ball of light. What was amazing to me was the fact that as intense as the light and wind chimes were, the lights voice never wavered in it's tone, it stayed firm and with authority yet calm and unshaken.

There was a loud squeal such as no creature on earth could ever make, sending shivers down my spine. The room shook violently so that the walls seem to be moving in and out like a beating heart,I thought the chandelier, which was swirling and rattling so violently was going to come crashing down upon me.  Now the brilliant light began fading away...."Hold your faith close to you at all times" was the last thing it said. Then...suddenly... all was quite, the only scent I could smell was that of my own unpleasant sweat as my clothing was soaked with it. I turned my head this way and that, I saw nothing out of the ordinary, nothing unearthly. Slowly I arose and looked at the clock on the wall, hardly five minutes had passed since I began my silent vigil at the window of my living room. Was it all an hallucination, a figment of my overactive imagination, a photo developed by a tortured mind swimming naked and unprotected, drowning in the pool of madness. I ran to the sink in the small kitchen that was afforded to a single mans apartment such as this were and frantically splashed cold water up into my face. I was afraid to look into the small mirror I had hanging on the wall beside it. I did not want to see the image of the man I knew would look back at me.

As I walked back to the living room of my flat, I heard voices coming from the hallway. Unsteadily I bent slightly to peek through my doors peephole into the hallway, I could see very clearly a young girl and two older women. The young girl was of about eight or nine years old, she had beautiful long Blond hair and was wearing what appeared to be a uniform of some sort, a small brown skirt and vest with a white blouse, white socks and small black shoes with a little buckle around the ankle, there was an emblem embroidered onto the sleeve of the blouse. In one hand she held a brown paper bag with string handles and a small logo of what seemed to be a small animal of some kind, perhaps a dog or bear. Her other hand was being held protectively by an older woman in her early thirties, dressed conservatively in a blue knee length skirt and matching jacket over a light blue blouse with the collar pulled out, her hair was as Blondie as the young girls but not as shiny and was covered with a blue bonnet, she wore blue dress shoes with a small heel. Most likely her mother by the proud look on her face. The other women was much older, Mrs. Beckerman, my neighbor down the hall still wearing her pink pajama's under a pink night robe and yawning with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other, her hair was up under a women's sleeping net with a handful of stray hair poking out of one side and she wore bright pink furry bunny slippers.

Mrs. Beckerman was holding two small rectangular boxes in her hands. "Thank you so much Mrs. Beckerman, if I can sell five more boxes of cookies I could win a brand new bicycle with real neat pink steamers on the handlebars" the young girl announced excitedly to the woman in the flat down the hall who must have purchased some of her cookies. The older woman smiled warmly at the young girl. "Now Trisha Marie, you know we have to meet your father soon, we will go out again selling tomorrow honey"
"But Mom, Sally Dearmont will win the bicycle, she always wins everything" the young girl exclaimed
"Please Mom, just one more door, pleassssssssssseeee"
The older woman shook her head back and forth fully knowing she would give in. She tilted her head at the young girl in the way that only a mother can do, as if to say "you know you are pushing your luck, but I will give you a break this time around"

Pulling her mom by the arm while waving goodbye to Mrs. Beckerman the young girl approached my door and began to knock feverishly as if she had to beat the clock. My heart went out to the young girl in her plight to win the bicycle, as a child I had lost out in similar contests to another lad who just seemed to be lucky at everything in life. I knew the feeling of defeat was very unpleasant to one so young. I thought of the events that had just taken place in my living room and like Scrooge, began to take a whole new look at life. I decided that I would purchase the last five boxes she needed to win the bicycle.  Looking down at my clothing in such a state as it were I quickly threw on my smoking robe, brushed my hair back with my fingers and opened the door.

"well hello there young lady"
"good morning sir, I'm sorry to disturb you so early in the day, but would you be interested in buying some bear scout cookies, they're the best tasting cookies in the whole wide world...honest" she said peering up at me through Dow like eye's.
I placed one hand on my chin squinting my eye's and slightly tilting my head upward as if pondering over the question. "well it just so happens that I have to go to a party today and have nothing to bring" I said
"oh, cookies make a great party favor sir, don't they Mom", looking up at her mom for approval of her statement. The older woman smiled at me warmly, shrugged her shoulders and looked at me as if to say 'hey I'm only the mom'.
"well maybe a few boxes just might do the trick" I said
"I guess I can take a few off your hands, hmm...let's see, can I purchase say five boxes from you young lady" The young girls eye's almost popped right out of her head with excitement at my words. Tugging over and over again on her poor mothers arm, I thought for a moment it would become detached from it's socket. "How much are they?" I asked
"just two dollars a box sir, a real bargain in today's world wouldn't you agree"
I had to laugh out loud at that remark, as in today's marketplace it was not far from the truth indeed.
"OK, I'll be right back with your money so don't run off and sell my cookies to anyone else while I'm gone OK"
"Oh nooooo, I would never do that sir"
I walked quickly over to my desk and retrieved my wallet from the the top left drawer and returned to the door. Bending down and stooping on one knee I handed the girl the money, she took the money and gently touched my hand as if to say thank you. looking at her small angelic face, I could see she had the most beautiful blue eye's and long golden hair. I gave her the biggest smile I could muster in as long as I can remember. Watching her and waiting for her response, I noticed that she had stopped smiling now and her face was very serious. Startled, I flinched and looked closer at the young girl and noticed that there was something odd about her face, something I had not noticed before. My heart started to pound like a base drum in my ears, there at the sides of her temples were reddish yellow streaks of hair. I quickly remembered the last words of the glowing ball of light. "keep your faith close to you at all times"....I swirled my head around to the spot where my golden crucifix had fallen on the floor, it was gone and the only thing I could hear from behind me was the young girl laughing.