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Order this writing that appears in the one-of-a-kind anthology Instant Karma the Down in the Dirt September-December 2023 issues collection book		get the 422 page September-December 2023 Down in the Dirt 6" x 9" ISBN# perfect-bound paperback book:

End of Agony

Brandon Perez

    Debbie and Chris rushed into the laundromat, completely out of breath. Chris leaned against the glass door, putting his full body weight on it. Debbie sat on one of the waiting chairs. The door was left unlocked, but nobody was in the room. The backwall had been crashed into by a drunk driver and was being painted all week.
    Chris took a deep breath. For a moment it was silent, but he knew danger couldn’t be too far behind. Reluctantly, He looked around outside. In the middle of the street a fire grew wild, some people ran throughout, but there was no sign of it. Chris pulled back to see Debbie staring at him in anticipation. He shook his head no and she sighed a sigh of relief.
    “What are we going to do?” Debbie asked, frantically. “It’ll come in here eventually.” She said, which put the nail in the coffin of the short-lived relief in the room. Chris knew she was right. There seemed to be no escape from the creature and its need to hurt.
     Their night, which started with three, had been spent running throughout the town, searching for any type of safety.
    “I don’t want to be next.” She said, with fear evident in her tone. Andy flashed before Chris’s eyes. Chris shuttered at the memory. Chris felt shameful for how weak he was, shame for the way he fell to his knees when he should have fought.
    Becoming desperate, Chris’s eyes bounced throughout the laundromat for any type of solution. There were baskets. He racked his brain for some type of use for them. He thought for a second that they could get in them and roll through the back street. Quickly realizing the stupidity of the suggestion, he shook it away. His eyes then darted to the machines. Big enough for a person, but how secure could they be?
    Out of curiosity, he glanced back out through the glass door. The fire still raging on, the people all having run off, everything was the same as the last time he’d checked, except for one thing; Walking into the arcade two doors down, he spotted it. The monster, no taller than an average man. It was made of some type of ooze. Perhaps it was tar, but its skin didn’t burn, it only felt slimy and sickening. Chris knew. The creature had grabbed him back at the house. The reaper would have claimed him had Andy not hit it over the head with the golf club. For a second Andy thought he may have killed it, but he only angered it.
    The creature, with skin of something filthy, had eyes of red and teeth like a collection of daggers. It knew no reasoning, nor morals. Only agony.
    Chris knew quite well they didn’t have much time before the creature walked into their laundromat, looking for anybody to hurt.
    “We need to kill it, Chris,” Debbie said in between her sniffles, “There’s nowhere else to run, it’s it or us.” She said, looking up at Chris with sadness and hatred in her eyes. Sadness for her dead lover, hatred for the creature that killed him.
    Chris knew she was right. He looked around again, his eyes bouncing from the carts to the paint, to the lights, to the door, then to the washers and dryers. The sound of his gears mentally turning was almost audible. A smile crept across his face, and he looked down at Debbie.
    “If we need to kill it, then let’s kill it.”
    Before she could answer he got up from the front door and walked to the back. He opened it, not going outside, but holding it.
    “Go on down the hill.” He said, holding the door open. Debbie walked foreword but lingered. She stopped before exiting and looked at Chris.
    “Don’t get yourself killed,” she said, softly.
    “I won’t.” He replied, smiling. She smiled back and took a step forward, stopping once more before exiting. She turned back and looked at him again.
    “And Chris,” she started.
    “Yeah?”
    “Send it to hell, won’t ya?” she asked, still smiling. He nodded, and she left, closing the door behind her.
    Chris was not completely sure his plan would work, but it had to. If it didn’t, it was not only his life, but Debbie’s.
    Chris opened all the washer and dryer doors. He left them open as he walked to the other side of the store and grabbed all the paint thinner available, putting them into a laundry cart. He pushed the cart throughout the store, saying a prayer to whatever being was listening. He threw the paint thinner cans into the laundromat and closed the doors. He rushed to the cash register, quickly grabbing all the quarters, then rushing back to the machines. A few quarters dropped on the ground and made clinking sounds as they bounced. He put the quarters in, quickly bouncing from machine to machine. The machines turned on, turning side to side he heard bangs like thunder. He rushed to the back door, nearly tripping on a cart left behind. Putting his hand on the doorknob he took one last look behind him. There he saw it. The creature, his eyes nearly burning a hole through his skull, stood at the door. Aggressively, he pulled the door towards him and boosted himself in. The creature smiled and took a step forward. He yielded when the first machine blew up, sending sparks through the air. He screeched as the fire bounced upon his skin. The creature fell to its knees, attempting to put the fire out in a panic. As the second machine exploded, Chris smiled. Sparks flew, this time not only onto the creature’s skin, but his too. As the fire spread, he continued a smile through the pain. A smile for Debbie, who he knew now would have to run no longer.

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