This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book... “the Relic, the Effort, the Yell” Down in the Dirt (v139) (the September/October 2016 Issue) You can also order this 6"x9" issue as a paperback book:

Order this writing in the book Edible Red the Down in the Dirt July-Dec. 2016 collection book		get the 318 page July-Dec. 2016 Down in the Dirt issue anthology 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

The Coin and the Pendulum

Allan Onik

    The room was dark and Tab sat on the moldy mattress. He looked at the tendrils of light that flowed through a window above him, and rolled the coin between his fingers. “Just one shot...” he whispered in the darkness. He squeezed the bridge of his nose and sighed.

    The man held out the coin to the boy. “You see this?” He said, “This is a 50 Reichspfennig. The Furur issued it to his soldiers during The War. Before the Allies released me from Auschwitz I looted it from a Nazi I strangled with my shoestring outside the Jewish barracks. The pillows in the barracks were stuffed with the hair from those who had already seen the gas chambers, and then their bodies to the ovens. I slept with nausea and hid the coin in my shoe.
    One day I found myself in a strange chamber, tied to the floor. A clock with a scimitar pendulum was above me in the dark. I had no food or water, and had decided that this was some sort of deranged torture room. Every twelve hours the clock would chime and the blade would sweep. The device would lower at this point and I knew it was only a matter of time. Just a matter of time my dear boy...
    I could feel the coin still stuck to my foot. It gave me hope in the darkest of hours, when I thought I might be lost to madness! And that’s when the vermin came. Rats the size of small cats that rubbed their mouths against my lips and sniffed and bit at my body. But alas! Over a course of days my strength had faded, but the reproachful creatures had eaten away at my tethers. I stood up from my bondage, only to notice a smiling, red, glowing demon in the corner of the pit. The vile beast spoke to me: “Run from your fears, and be consumed...” Its voice was deep and rich. I took the coin out of my shoe and thought of your aunt.
    When the allies found me in the Nazi torture chamber for the killing of the officer they said the pain of the needles and fire had made me hallucinate beyond any normal human capacity. I haven’t told anyone until now. And I wanted to give the coin to you, so you could keep it safe—even when I’m gone.”

    Tab kissed the coin and slipped it into his breast pocket. He picked up the .300 M91A2 rifle and walked to the window. The Mosul crowd was bustling, and he scanned. “Subject One spotted,” he whispered into the microphone. He squeezed the trigger. A shot rang out in the courtyard, followed by panic and hysteria. “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been eliminated, initiating extraction phase...”
    A voice spoke to him in his earpiece. “Affirmative. Eagle Delta is on its way.”

Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.

Problems with this page? Then deal with it...