By Teric Darken (Up To You)
“Ahh, yes, Old Man: Old Man although you’re barely middle aged… Withered, dried and dying, yet your skin is still elasticized. I’m not sure you’ll want to come over here. I don’t really think you’re going to want to pick me up. You might cut yourself, and it’s pretty amazing how deep of a paper cut these ancient pages can give.”
The deaf man bumbled further into the store and toward the direction of the voice, although he heard not a sound. Deaf: in that he had ears but could hear nothing, nothing apart from the clanging cymbals of his personal desires and will. And neither had he eyes to see with, although he eyed his enemy under suspicious brows.
“Yeah, I see you givin’ me the once over – for the millionth time. Why do you even bother? All you ever do is scoff. But why do you even bother to scoff when you’ve found nothing but the truth?”
Pondering the thought, the man put his hand to his chin while perusing the title across the book’s cover.
“Yes, Old Man, the question is rhetorical. I know why. I know why you hope that I’m wrong. I know why you long for me to be the foolish one instead of you. It’s because of what you’ve done, isn’t it? And it’s not only about what you’ve done, but what you do: All of that innocence stripped away… downloaded onto your computer… They balance on the teeter-totter of your playground, don’t they? They are the candied-apples of your eye, are they not? And that is how you entice them into your world, no? ‘How ‘bout some candy, gentle lambs?’ Sound familiar?”
Sheesh. What am I thinking? What am I worried about? You’re not even there. I don’t answer to you… I do MY thing… It’s MY life! Besides, I’m not hurting anyone; it’s only in…
“And your excuse is to say that it’s only in your imagination. Newsflash: As you lust in your heart, so it has come to pass. You are the predator of what you prey for. Tell you what: Come here, Guy, I’ve got a little something for ya.”
The haggard middle-aged form stooped down to pick up the voice; if nothing more than to entertain his curiosity and verbally spar.
“That’s right, here ya go: It’s a present – a little gift from me to you. Now, bend down just a bit more.”
The glazed pupils read through a few more lines, although they could not see – the wisdom of the words appearing as if mumbo jumbo to a dyslexic.
“There ya go: That’s right, it’s a necklace of sorts… a millstone to hang around your stiff but feeble neck. Here, let me cinch down that strap, get it real nice and tight. I wouldn’t want you to lose it now.”
Hey there, whoever or whatever you think you are… That’s enough, now… That’s a bit…
“Yes, you don’t have to tell me: I know it’s quite heavy.”
Yeah, it is! And not only that, now I have to wrestle with issues that I don’t personally believe in, and that’s not fair to me.
“Yes, I know it puts a burden on your shoulders in that you finally have to bear that weight. Oh, and I got something else for ya… You like sights… You like all kindsa sights, don’t ya?”
He thought of a few in his head within the moment: Thoughts and sights and sounds that would make the typical man cringe in horror or grow nauseous. Not him. He deemed himself a man’s man. He cracked a mischievous grin. Yeahhh, Buddy, if you only knew. I like ALL kindsa sights!
“Ohhh, ‘Buddy’… If you only knew! I’m gonna put you on a little cruise here in a bit. Gonna sail you out to sea – to see a certain lake. Yes, you’ll still be wearing that new necklace. Gonna be a maelstrom come up. Now, I realize you probably don’t know what that means, but you’re gonna find out, soon enough. You’re gonna have a rockin’ good time on that little ship! You might even get a little tipsy… Wouldn’t want to capsize though! Wouldn’t want to ruin a perfectly good necklace!”
Hey, now, look: I don’t know about all of that. That don’t seem too fair to me. You’re talkin’ as if I’m goin’ overboard, and I’m not a strong swimmer. Like I said, I ain’t never hurt nobody. Aint’ never laid a finger on anybody. There’s a biiig difference between…
“I don’t want to hear it. How many times did I tell you to turn away? Shut the computer off? Delete those pics you’ve downloaded of those I love dearly? I don’t take too kindly to that. What else do you think I should do? In my goodness, did I not tell you to make an about-face? Confess your crime, your iniquity? I don’t seem to recall an ounce of remorse produced from that blood-pumper of yours. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, you drove straight to the pawn shop and hocked that blood-pumper in for a stone. Can you believe it? A stone: calloused, hardened, void of feeling, incapable of love or remorse. So keep reading, keep reading all you want to with your eyes that don’t see. Keep on listening to those foreign forked-tongued voices with your ears that don’t hear.”
Dude, you keep saying all that about the eyes and ears, and I don’t have a clue as to what you’re talkin’ about.
“And why is that? It’s because, just as their possessor, they’re not living. Their roots are now stemming from a stone, remember? You’ve become all mouth. But I’ll tell you what is alive: this very Word you’re holding… these very words you are reading. For though the warning cries fall on deaf ears from a hardened heart, this very Word is alive and active. What you’re reading is sharper than any double-edged sword. And this sword has become your judge. You have lived by the sword – rejecting grace, scorning repentance, distorting love, and having dumbed-down reasoning – so by the sword you will die!”
The book was snapped shut; its pages mentally spat upon. A wise man on a fool’s errand had no room for such fodder.
“You have now read from the truth. You are now without excuse. You have drawn from my tap without acknowledging the source, so you, in turn, will be drawn and quartered: I have read you, through and through. And this rapier will, indeed, run you through. It’s time to call a spade a spade and a sin a sin. Though merely forty-five-years-old, Old Man, you are on the cusp of extinction. The hour glass is dripping dry.”
Glancing at his watch, a snicker ensued as he tossed the book back on the shelf. Yeah, well, YOUR time is up. I gotta go. As he breezed out of the store, cussing at the nonsense he had just absorbed, he mindlessly brushed past a broken lady standing in line, dearly clutching the same book to her heart.
She knew that a changing of the guard was in order, and the cost would mean trading in the old for the new. She understood that she couldn’t afford not to trade in the daily grind for freedom. She realized that when one doesn’t accept what’s been freely given is when one dearly pays.
The heart devoid of eyes and ears never considered that the very word of life would mean his ultimate death.
The stone beat a hasty retreat home and downloaded the latest file of stolen innocence on his computer. Each new celebrity was, surely, celebrating a birthday, for each was adorned in a birthday suit. It was then that he noticed the obscure lettering attached to one particular file – a file not sent from his regular supplier. The man’s heart began to race; his pulse belching and booming… Was it… Could it be? Surely not a tracing file! The police?!!! Will I be found out? Am I finally caught? Oh, dear… Oh, my… My…
“God? You calling out my name, now? And even in this, your time of direst need, you continue to speak my name in vain?”
Before the man could utter another syllable, a rapier, sharper than any two-edged sword, thrust through the downloaded file. The Law burst from the computer screen and pierced straight through his chest, severing the perp’s aortic valve clean in two.
Tha-thump…
“I will…”
Tha-thump…
“Have the…”
Tha… thump…
“Last word…”
Tha-thump…
“The wages…”
Tha-thump…
“Of sin…”
Tha…
“Is…”
As lifeblood ceased to flow through withering arteries, the flat-line shot through the man’s ear canals, ringing out as one final, continuous voice…
Thumpppp…
“Deathhhh.. .”
Sixty seconds later, the man’s wife, who was not his spouse, walked through the front door from a full day of shopping. She had some weight to get off her chest with her soon-to-be former lover. Soon-to-be was sooner than expected.
Her heart skipped a beat as she ran to the man’s limp and lifeless form laying supine on the floor: dead from an apparent heart attack. As she removed her sunglasses and surveyed upward, struggling to see through swollen, blackened eyes, the countless files of perversion and indecency smothering the screen attacked her beating heart. She felt as if she might die by the same fate…
…if not for the life found, only moments ago in the checkout line, separating her from death.
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“Ahh, yes, Old Man: Old Man although you’re barely middle aged… Withered, dried and dying, yet your skin is still elasticized. I’m not sure you’ll want to come over here. I don’t really think you’re going to want to pick me up. You might cut yourself, and it’s pretty amazing how deep of a paper cut these ancient pages can give.”
The deaf man bumbled further into the store and toward the direction of the voice, although he heard not a sound. Deaf: in that he had ears but could hear nothing, nothing apart from the clanging cymbals of his personal desires and will. And neither had he eyes to see with, although he eyed his enemy under suspicious brows.
“Yeah, I see you givin’ me the once over – for the millionth time. Why do you even bother? All you ever do is scoff. But why do you even bother to scoff when you’ve found nothing but the truth?”
Pondering the thought, the man put his hand to his chin while perusing the title across the book’s cover.
“Yes, Old Man, the question is rhetorical. I know why. I know why you hope that I’m wrong. I know why you long for me to be the foolish one instead of you. It’s because of what you’ve done, isn’t it? And it’s not only about what you’ve done, but what you do: All of that innocence stripped away… downloaded onto your computer… They balance on the teeter-totter of your playground, don’t they? They are the candied-apples of your eye, are they not? And that is how you entice them into your world, no? ‘How ‘bout some candy, gentle lambs?’ Sound familiar?”
Sheesh. What am I thinking? What am I worried about? You’re not even there. I don’t answer to you… I do MY thing… It’s MY life! Besides, I’m not hurting anyone; it’s only in…
“And your excuse is to say that it’s only in your imagination. Newsflash: As you lust in your heart, so it has come to pass. You are the predator of what you prey for. Tell you what: Come here, Guy, I’ve got a little something for ya.”
The haggard middle-aged form stooped down to pick up the voice; if nothing more than to entertain his curiosity and verbally spar.
“That’s right, here ya go: It’s a present – a little gift from me to you. Now, bend down just a bit more.”
The glazed pupils read through a few more lines, although they could not see – the wisdom of the words appearing as if mumbo jumbo to a dyslexic.
“There ya go: That’s right, it’s a necklace of sorts… a millstone to hang around your stiff but feeble neck. Here, let me cinch down that strap, get it real nice and tight. I wouldn’t want you to lose it now.”
Hey there, whoever or whatever you think you are… That’s enough, now… That’s a bit…
“Yes, you don’t have to tell me: I know it’s quite heavy.”
Yeah, it is! And not only that, now I have to wrestle with issues that I don’t personally believe in, and that’s not fair to me.
“Yes, I know it puts a burden on your shoulders in that you finally have to bear that weight. Oh, and I got something else for ya… You like sights… You like all kindsa sights, don’t ya?”
He thought of a few in his head within the moment: Thoughts and sights and sounds that would make the typical man cringe in horror or grow nauseous. Not him. He deemed himself a man’s man. He cracked a mischievous grin. Yeahhh, Buddy, if you only knew. I like ALL kindsa sights!
“Ohhh, ‘Buddy’… If you only knew! I’m gonna put you on a little cruise here in a bit. Gonna sail you out to sea – to see a certain lake. Yes, you’ll still be wearing that new necklace. Gonna be a maelstrom come up. Now, I realize you probably don’t know what that means, but you’re gonna find out, soon enough. You’re gonna have a rockin’ good time on that little ship! You might even get a little tipsy… Wouldn’t want to capsize though! Wouldn’t want to ruin a perfectly good necklace!”
Hey, now, look: I don’t know about all of that. That don’t seem too fair to me. You’re talkin’ as if I’m goin’ overboard, and I’m not a strong swimmer. Like I said, I ain’t never hurt nobody. Aint’ never laid a finger on anybody. There’s a biiig difference between…
“I don’t want to hear it. How many times did I tell you to turn away? Shut the computer off? Delete those pics you’ve downloaded of those I love dearly? I don’t take too kindly to that. What else do you think I should do? In my goodness, did I not tell you to make an about-face? Confess your crime, your iniquity? I don’t seem to recall an ounce of remorse produced from that blood-pumper of yours. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, you drove straight to the pawn shop and hocked that blood-pumper in for a stone. Can you believe it? A stone: calloused, hardened, void of feeling, incapable of love or remorse. So keep reading, keep reading all you want to with your eyes that don’t see. Keep on listening to those foreign forked-tongued voices with your ears that don’t hear.”
Dude, you keep saying all that about the eyes and ears, and I don’t have a clue as to what you’re talkin’ about.
“And why is that? It’s because, just as their possessor, they’re not living. Their roots are now stemming from a stone, remember? You’ve become all mouth. But I’ll tell you what is alive: this very Word you’re holding… these very words you are reading. For though the warning cries fall on deaf ears from a hardened heart, this very Word is alive and active. What you’re reading is sharper than any double-edged sword. And this sword has become your judge. You have lived by the sword – rejecting grace, scorning repentance, distorting love, and having dumbed-down reasoning – so by the sword you will die!”
The book was snapped shut; its pages mentally spat upon. A wise man on a fool’s errand had no room for such fodder.
“You have now read from the truth. You are now without excuse. You have drawn from my tap without acknowledging the source, so you, in turn, will be drawn and quartered: I have read you, through and through. And this rapier will, indeed, run you through. It’s time to call a spade a spade and a sin a sin. Though merely forty-five-years-old, Old Man, you are on the cusp of extinction. The hour glass is dripping dry.”
Glancing at his watch, a snicker ensued as he tossed the book back on the shelf. Yeah, well, YOUR time is up. I gotta go. As he breezed out of the store, cussing at the nonsense he had just absorbed, he mindlessly brushed past a broken lady standing in line, dearly clutching the same book to her heart.
She knew that a changing of the guard was in order, and the cost would mean trading in the old for the new. She understood that she couldn’t afford not to trade in the daily grind for freedom. She realized that when one doesn’t accept what’s been freely given is when one dearly pays.
The heart devoid of eyes and ears never considered that the very word of life would mean his ultimate death.
The stone beat a hasty retreat home and downloaded the latest file of stolen innocence on his computer. Each new celebrity was, surely, celebrating a birthday, for each was adorned in a birthday suit. It was then that he noticed the obscure lettering attached to one particular file – a file not sent from his regular supplier. The man’s heart began to race; his pulse belching and booming… Was it… Could it be? Surely not a tracing file! The police?!!! Will I be found out? Am I finally caught? Oh, dear… Oh, my… My…
“God? You calling out my name, now? And even in this, your time of direst need, you continue to speak my name in vain?”
Before the man could utter another syllable, a rapier, sharper than any two-edged sword, thrust through the downloaded file. The Law burst from the computer screen and pierced straight through his chest, severing the perp’s aortic valve clean in two.
Tha-thump…
“I will…”
Tha-thump…
“Have the…”
Tha… thump…
“Last word…”
Tha-thump…
“The wages…”
Tha-thump…
“Of sin…”
Tha…
“Is…”
As lifeblood ceased to flow through withering arteries, the flat-line shot through the man’s ear canals, ringing out as one final, continuous voice…
Thumpppp…
“Deathhhh.. .”
Sixty seconds later, the man’s wife, who was not his spouse, walked through the front door from a full day of shopping. She had some weight to get off her chest with her soon-to-be former lover. Soon-to-be was sooner than expected.
Her heart skipped a beat as she ran to the man’s limp and lifeless form laying supine on the floor: dead from an apparent heart attack. As she removed her sunglasses and surveyed upward, struggling to see through swollen, blackened eyes, the countless files of perversion and indecency smothering the screen attacked her beating heart. She felt as if she might die by the same fate…
…if not for the life found, only moments ago in the checkout line, separating her from death.
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Congratulations to Teric Darken on his newly released Christian Horror Novel: U-TURN KiLLuR available at Amazon in paperback and kindle format |