The Eternal Lesson
Victor Cerda, Jr.
Will wanted to stay, but knew he had to go. He led Gina through the hallway of their two-bedroom apartment, reached the door, turned around, and kissed the hand of Quentin, his newborn son, who was cradled in Gina’s arm. Will reached for Gina’s open hand, and she squeezed it gently.
“Please be careful baby, and good luck,” she said, and she kissed his forehead.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be all right.”
She smiled and said with a tear in her eye, “I love you.”
He forced a smile and said, “Love you, too, baby.”
Turning the doorknob to leave, Will heard a soft voice behind him say, “Bye, Daddy.” It had been years since he’d heard that. He turned and saw his first-born son, T.J., standing next to Gina with his head rested against her hip. Was this forgiveness? If not, it was a start.
“Be good for your ma while I’m gone,” Will said, rubbing the top of T.J.’s head.
“I will,” T.J. answered and he ran back to the black and white TV, with a coat hanger as its antenna.
“I told you all he needed was time,” Gina said as Will opened the door. Hoping she was right, he stepped into the hallway and down the twisted staircase.
What am I gonna do? he asked himself as he ventured down the broken sidewalk of is run-down neighborhood. He walked slowly, head hung, both hands in his pockets. He was off to a late start and concerned about money: for food, rent and living. The little money they did have, Gina spread out for as long as she could, but now it was gone.
“Yo, Willie!” shouted a sharp-dressed man running toward him. “Damn, baby, where da fuck you been?”
“What’s up?” Will replied. It had been a long time since he’d seen Darrell, and he wasn’t excited to see him.
Darrell embraced Will tightly, tapping his fists against his back. Will reluctantly returned the gesture.
“Ain’t seen ya ‘round lately,” Darrell said, stepping away from him. “What’s been up?”
“Tryin’ to make them ends. Know what I’m sayin’?”
“Yeah, I heard you was lookin’ for a nine ta five. Given’ up hustlin’ and stealin’. Man, when I heard dat shit, I laughed my mutha fuckin’ ass off. I said ‘Will ain’t had no job his whole goddamn life, and he ain’t ‘bout ta start now. What da fuck he gonna do?’ Man, you don’t know nothin’ but hustlin’ and stealin’. Ya need ta stick wit what ya know. Ya need ta come back and work for me.”
“I can’t do that, D,” Will replied. Everyone called Darrell D. The last person to call him Darrell had ended up with a bullet in his brain.
“Tell ya what,” Darrell said, reaching into his leather coat pocket. It was mid-summer and too hot for a jacket, but he wore one every day. “First two are on me,” he said as he pulled out and displayed two vials of rock cocaine. Darrell was known as a shit-talker and a fast-talker. As a pimp, he sweet-talked his women, and, as a drug dealer, he smooth-talked his customers. He didn’t care if Will smoked or sold the coke. He knew that if Will took it, he’d be back for more and next time it would have a price tag.
“No, thanks,” Will said, stepping back with his arms in the air. Not long ago, he would have stolen for what was being offered to him, but he’d made a promise to himself and Gina, and he planned on keeping it.
“I ain’t sayin’ ya gotta smoke da shit, man. Ya need money, sell it. It’s a one-time offer, baby. Take it or leave it.”
“Yo, man, I got shit to do,” Will said, stepping back and dropping his arms to his sides. “I’ll check you later.”
Darrell shifted the vials from his left hand to his right and extended his right hand to Will, attempting to give them to him as they shook. “You take care now,” he said, tapping Will’s knuckles.
Will let the vials fall to the sidewalk as he pulled his hand away. One of them shattered as it hit the cement. As he walked away, Darrell bent over and picked up the vial that didn’t break.
“You ain’t gonna find no fuckin’ job, man!” Darrell shouted, and shoved the vial back into his pocket. “Ain’t nobody gonna hire no dirty ass, ex-fuckin’-con for nothin’ but cleanin’ up shit.”
Will continued to walk away, but Darrell shouted louder.
“Ya know, I can always put Gina’s fine ass ta work. I bet she could make a nigga a hell of a lot a money. Why don’t ya try dat shit? I heard she can suck da fuck out a dick.”
Will spun around and charged Darrell. Darrell lifted up the back of his jacket and pulled out a gun he’d tucked against the small of his back. Before he could aim it, Will tackled him, and gun hit the cement and slid into the street.
“Git da fuck off me!” Darrell shouted. Will sat on his chest and kneed his arms. “I was just fuckin’ wit ya, man, now get da fuck off!”
Will wrapped his hands around Darrell’s neck and squeezed. “If you go near her, I’ll rip your fuckin’ head off. Got it?”
“I was just playin’,” Darrell choked.
“I don’t fuckin’ play that shit,” Will said, releasing his neck. As he got up, Darrell rolled toward the curb to retrieve the gun, but Will kicked him in the face.
“You’re fuckin’ dead!” Darrell shouted as he rolled around on the sidewalk, holding his nose with both hands.
“I’ll just have to see to it that it ain’t you who kills me,” Will said, picking up the gun. He pointed it at Darrell’s head and kicked him in the stomach. “But you ain’t fuckin’ worth it.” He turned on the safety, hid the gun under the back of his shirt and continued down the street.
“Fuck you!” Darrell shouted. “I know where you fuckin’ live! I fuckin’ promise you I’ll....fuck!” His voice was replaced with laughter.
Will turned around and saw two crack-heads stomping on Darrell, who flopped around like a fish out of water. While Darrell lay face-down on the ground, one crack-head took his jacket and shoes, then searched his pants pockets. The other brought over a brick from the alley and slammed it against Darrell’s head.
Will felt neither sorrow nor pleasure from the murder of Darrell. It just was.
An hour into his journey for employment, Will found a “Help Wanted” sign in the window of a grocery store a few miles east of his neighborhood. He entered the store and headed for the nearest cashier, who was hard at work scanning groceries for a young couple. “Excuse me, who do I talk to about the job?”
Without looking up from her register, she pointed behind him and said, “Him.”
“The guy in the clown tie?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks,” he said and walked over to the short, balding man who was bagging a variety of canned soups for an elderly woman. “Excuse me. I’d like to apply for the job.”
“Sure, give me one second,” the man said, and he continued to bag a head of lettuce and a dozen apples. He placed the woman’s bag in her cart, turned to Will, and said, “Follow me,” then led Will down an aisle of baby food and diapers to the employee breakroom at the rear of the store. “Have a seat and I’ll be right back with an application.”
“Is it possible to have an oral interview?” Will asked.
“Applications are mandatory. Have a seat and I’ll be back.”
Will sat down at one of two banquet tables. A redheaded kid was seated at the other. The gun slid up Will’s back as he leaned forward. “So what job are we applyin’ for?” he asked the kid. He reached around and pushed down the gun.
“Bagger,” the kid answered without looking up from his application.
The store manager returned and handed Will an application. “Here you go. Bring it to me at the front of the store when you’re finished.”
The redheaded kid stood. “I’m finished.”
“Already?” the manager said, taking his application. “All right, follow me.”
Will felt like he was back in school. The teacher and smart kid had left him alone to fail the test. He stood and grabbed the pencil the redheaded kid had left behind. He returned to his seat, holding the gun against his back and thought, Oh well, here goes nothin’.
“No, no, don’t hurt me,” she cried, with a thick German accent. “I have nothing.”
Will paused for a moment, noticing she was wearing a diamond ring and pearl earrings. He reached down to grab her purse, which she was gripping tightly with both arms.
“Hey you!” the store manager shouted from the doorway of the store. “Get away from her!” He ran toward Will and the woman.
“Shit!” Will shouted, and he ran around the corner of the store. When he crossed the street, he slowed down and began to walk. He came upon a gas station, about a mile east of the grocery store. He went inside and patiently waited behind a small boy who was buying candy and chips. “You got any job openings?” Will asked the plain-looking female cashier as the boy ran around him.
“Not right now,” she answered, chewing gum.
“You mind if I pump gas for tips?”
“You can’t do that. We have a no loitering policy here.”
As Will stepped off the curb and into the street, with his head hung low, he heard Gina’s voice repeat over and over in his head, “I love you.” When he reached the center of the street, a loud screech hissed out to his left and he was pushed to his knees. He leapt up as quickly as he went down and saw his assailant was inside a black BMW.
The man inside the car leaned on his horn and shouted out the window, “What are you, crazy? Watch where the hell you’re going!”
Surprised he wasn’t hurt, Will stumbled toward the sidewalk. As soon as he was out of the BMW’s way, it sped off down the street.
The man inside the car bent over and retrieved his cell phone from beneath his seat. A soft voice on the line shouted, “Joseph? What’s going on? Is everything OK? Hello?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“What happened?”
“Some idiot thought he had a bumper on his ass and walked in front of my car without looking.”
“You didn’t hit him, did you?”
“No,” he laughed. “He got away.”
“Joseph!” the woman said as if she were scolding a child.
“I’m kidding. So why did you page me?”
“Why do you think? Ted just left for Florida and the girls don’t get dropped off ‘til seven. Got time?”
“I can make time,” Joe said, and he looked at his watch. “See you in ten minutes.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Joe hung up and dialed another number.
“Hello, Thomas residence,” a young voice answered after two rings.
“Hi, princess. How is your day?”
“Fine.”
“That’s good. Can I talk to Mommy?”
“Yep,” she answered. “Mommy, Daddy on the phone!”
“Hi, honey. I was just thinking about you,” Joe’s wife said.
“Yeah? What were you thinking?”
“I need you to stop at the store on your way home.”
Figures, he thought. “Speaking of on the way home,” he said. “I’m going to be late.”
“Ah, Joe,” she said. “I made your favorite.”
“So we’ll have a late dinner. I’m sorry, honey, but I have to get this couple’s signature before they change their minds, or find a different house. You know how it is. It shouldn’t take too long. They’ve already looked at it about three times. I have a feeling that this is it. Now, what am I picking up?”
“Brenda needs typing paper for her history report, and we need more candles for tomorrow.”
“Didn’t we save the ones from Tina’s birthday?”
“Yes, and if you were turning five, we’d have enough.”
“Ha-ha,” Joe said. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, we’re running out of milk.”
“All right, my love. Be home as soon as I can.”
Will wiped the gravel away from his worn jeans and continued down the street. Ain’t nobody gonna hire me, he thought. But I gotta do somethin’. He shook his head to clear it, took in a long breath of air, and released an extended sigh. All of the houses on both sides of him were cleanly painted and surrounded with picket fences. Damn, he thought. How long I been walkin’?
He felt uneasy and out of place, like a lost child in a department store. He had heard of this place, “rich bitch island.” Although it wasn’t an actual island, the one hundred residents could only be reached by one road.
He heard a car approaching. He wasn’t about to find out if someone saw him and called the police, so he took off running down the street. He turned down an alley and ran three blocks at top speed. In the middle of the fourth block, he gasped for air and leaned against a garage. As he slid down, the gun fell next to him.
He heard a door slam across the alley, forcing him to shove the gun under his shirt and slide around the corner. He peeked around and saw a middle-aged woman strapping a newborn into a car seat. After she drove past him in a silver Volvo wagon, he inspected the house she’d left and noticed an open window. Seeing no movement in any direction, he put the gun against the small of his back and ran to the open window. He pushed it higher, climbed up, and fell into the house.
He rose from the kitchen floor and stood still. He walked slowly out of the kitchen and into an open hallway. There was a dining area to his left, the front door to his right, and a staircase directly in front of him. He went past the front door and found a large room full of electronic equipment including a computer, a large-screen television, a VCR, a DVD player, and a stereo. “Damn,” he said softly, wishing he had a vehicle. He had robbed many houses in his day.
“Cash and jewels will have to do,” he said as he ran up the stairs. To his left were a bathroom and a child’s room, to his right, a teenager’s room and two closed doors. He opened the first closed door slowly and found a baby’s room. “Gettin’ warmer,” he said, and he headed for the last door at the end of the hallway.
He opened that door. “Jackpot,” he said. He felt like a child searching for eggs at an Easter hunt. He pulled clothes out of the dressers, shook them, and tossed them aside. He pulled pairs of women’s shoes off the closet shelf. He pushed aside a row of hanging dresses and found a safe on the floor. He tried to pick it up, but it was much too heavy. “Fuck!” He turned around, shoved the mattress off the bed, and ran out of the room and down the stairs.
On the second-last stair, he heard voices outside the front door. He saw the doorknob turn, leapt around the corner, and crouched, hiding behind the staircase.
Two young girls entered and ran up the stairs behind him, the eldest singing, “I hate you, you hate me. I chased Barney up a tree-”
“Mommy!” the smaller girl pleaded. “Tell her stop it.”
“Brenda,” a middle-aged woman said as she passed by Will, with a baby cradled in her arms. “Stop teasing your sister.”
“Yes, Mom. And you stay out of my room.”
Will pulled out his gun, raised it with both hands, and pointed it at the woman as she walked away from him.
“Mommy, Brenda pushed me!” the smaller girl shouted from the second level.
“If you two don’t stop it,” the woman said as she turned around. “Oh my God,” she gasped. “Please don’t kill me. Take anything you want.” She fell to her knees. “Please, I beg you.”
“I won’t hurt you,” he said, lowering the gun. He heard footsteps coming down the stairs from behind him, then stepped toward the front door.
“Who’s that, Mommy?” the small girl asked as Will opened the door.
“Go back upstairs, baby,” the woman answered.
Will stepped outside, slammed the door behind him, and ran.
“You think she knows?” the full-figured woman asked as Joe licked her nipple.
“Knows what?” he asked, between licks.
“About us.”
“No way. She trusts me. Besides, she thinks I’m working right now.”
“Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Trust her.”
“Crystal?” he laughed, looking up at the woman. “She doesn’t like sex enough to cheat on me. So, yeah, I trust her.”
“You don’t have to like sex to cheat.”
“What are you saying?” he asked, and he looked up from kissing her breasts.
“I’m just saying not everyone cheats for sex.”
“Well, tonight it’s about sex,” he laughed, and he flipped the woman onto her stomach and entered her from behind, something he couldn’t do with his wife, because it made her feel like a dog.
Will collapsed between two rows of tall bushes that bordered a vacant bank. Exhausted and out of breath, he lay on his back and placed the gun on the soil next to him. He placed his hands over his beating heart and tried to calm down. He crawled to a small opening between two bushes. After a car passed, he saw a convenience store across the street. “Please be alone,” he said, watching a blond, teenage boy he saw through the window.
Driving home, Joe rehearsed his excuse. “I sold the house and they insisted on signing right away. And you know me, I had the contracts with me, so it took a little longer than I expected.” He picked up his cell phone and dialed.
“Hello,” a nervous voice answered after two rings.
“Hi, honey. What’s wrong?”
“Where in the hell have you been? I’ve been paging you for the past half hour!”
Joe never had heard his wife use the word “hell” before. “I’m sorry. I left my pager in-”
“I think we’ve been robbed.”
“What do you mean, ‘you think’?”
“When we came home from picking up Brenda, there was a man with a gun in the house.”
“What? He didn’t touch you, did he?”
“He didn’t do anything. When he saw me, he ran out the front door.”
“Thank God. Are you all right?”
“Yeah, just a little shaken up.”
“Hang on. I’ll be home in about five minutes.”
“Did you stop at the store?”
“No, I’ll go later.”
“Brenda has to finish her report tonight, and she needs paper. The world doesn’t stop just because someone messed up our room.”
“Messed up our room?”
“Yeah, there are clothes all over the place, but it doesn’t look like he took anything.”
“What about the safe?”
“The police said he tried to move it, but nothing’s missing.”
“The police? Are they there now?”
“Yeah, when you didn’t call back, I had to call somebody. They said they shouldn’t be here much longer.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come right home?”
“I’m sure. Everything’s fine now. I just have some cleaning up to do.”
“Well, this settles it. Tomorrow we’re getting an alarm.”
“Joe, let’s not overdo it.”
“Overdo it! I’m not gonna let someone waltz into our home whenever they feel like it and wave a damn gun around at my family!”
“Joseph! Calm yourself. We’ll talk about this later.”
“I’m sorry, honey. I just can’t allow that. When I’m not home, I want you to feel safe.”
“I do and we are. Believe me, he looked more scared than I was. I really do doubt he’ll be back.”
“Well, I can’t take that chance.”
“Are you on your way to the store?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t forget: milk, paper and candles.”
“Got it. I’ll be home as soon as I can,” he said, and he hung up. “Damn it!” he shouted, slamming his fists against the steering wheel. “I moved to the valley to get away from this shit!”
Will watched the store and the sunset for about twenty minutes. All he saw was two passing cars and a couple walking their dog. No customers had entered the store, and it looked like there was only one employee. “Fuck it,” he said, picking up the gun.
As he stepped onto the parking lot, a black BMW sped past him and parked in front of the store. Keep going, he thought as he accelerated toward the door. Joe leapt out of his car and almost ran into the store. Will followed him. Joe ran up and down each aisle like a mouse in a maze.
“How’s it goin’?” the tall, pimpled clerk said to Will as he walked by.
Will headed for the magazine rack at the far end of the store.
“Do you guys carry typing paper?” Joe asked the clerk.
“You just passed it. Down to your right.”
“What about candles for a cake?”
“Can’t help you there.”
Will looked around, turning pages of a music magazine. Joe walked to the back of the store and pulled a gallon of milk out of the cooler. Will watched him from the corner of his eye and put down the magazine. They both headed for the counter, Joe reaching it first.
“Will that be all?” the clerk asked Joe.
Will pulled out the gun and shouted, “Back the fuck up!”
Joe stood frozen.
“I said back the fuck up!” Will shouted, pressing Joe’s chest with the nose of the gun.
“Please don’t kill me,” Joe pleaded, backing away from the counter.
“Stop and shut the fuck up,” Will said. He pointed the gun at the nervous clerk. “And you, take all the cash out the register and put it on the counter. And if you push that damn alarm, I’ll blow your fuckin’ head off!” He pointed the gun at Joe and shouted, “Don’t you fuckin’ move!”
“I won’t-I promise I won’t,” Joe cried.
“Faster!” Will shouted at the clerk.
“I’m sorry, it’s my first time,” the clerk said, his hands shaking.
“You look like you’re well off,” Will said to Joe. “Put all your cash on the counter. Slowly.”
The front door flung open and two police officers dove inside. “Drop your weapon!” the thin one shouted as he slid on the floor, pointing his gun up at Will.
Will shoved a pile of bills into his pocket and grabbed Joe around the neck as Joe tried to run away. Will pulled Joe in front of himself and used his body as a shield. The clerk dropped behind the counter. Will placed the gun against Joe’s temple and shouted, “Drop ‘em or I’ll shoot him!”
“Oh, my God,” Joe cried. “Please don’t kill me. I don’t wanna die.”
“Release the hostage and no one will get hurt,” the overweight cop said nervously, kneeling next to the thin cop.
“Please help me,” Joe pleaded.
“Shut the fuck up!” Will shouted in Joe’s ear. “Step the fuck back and let me outta here!” he shouted at the police.
“Just calm down and think about what you’re doing,” the thin cop said calmly.
“I know what the fuck I’m doin’. I’m tryin’ to get the fuck outta here. Now move the fuck back!”
Joe screamed, “I don’t wanna die!” and tried to pull away. Will grabbed Joe around the stomach with the hand that held the gun-and accidentally squeezed the trigger. Joe went limp and fell to the floor.
“Fuck,” Will said, looking down at Joe, who was clinching his stomach and screaming. Before Will could look up, his chest was filled with bullets. Will opened his eyes, but he couldn’t see anything. He tried to get up, but he couldn’t. His entire body was numb. He tried to shout out, “What’s happening?” but nothing came out. “Oh, my God. Am I dead?” he asked as he felt himself being lifted upward. “God, no. I can’t be dead. Please don’t let me be dead. I can’t be. My baby needs me. Give me a second chance. God, please, I need a second chance.”
The dense darkness that surrounded him slowly turned to light. He could see hundreds of people around him: people of all races. Some wept, some smiled with anticipation. Everyone was nude, but no one seemed to mind. They seeded like Adam and Eve were before they bit into sin: without shame or lust. As Will was placed in a standing position, the people around him began to fade.
A flash of light caused him to look up. An enormous outline of a human, without sex or race, stood before him. Will fell to his knees and dropped his head.
“For whom do you weep?” a thunderous voice echoed from the image.
“My family,” Will answered. “They need me. I need them.”
“Are you prepared to face your sins?”
“Yes,” Will answered reluctantly.
The image faded and was replaced with images from Will’s past. They were played in chronological order, from his childhood to his death. Everything he had ever done when he knowingly hurt someone, either mentally or physically, was shown to him, followed by its consequence. Each scene only lasted a moment, but there were many of them. He tried to close his eyes and look away, but he could still see the surrounding images. He covered his eyes with his hands but saw through them. When he saw himself push T.J. to the floor and slap Gina, he cried out, “Please, please make it stop. I can’t take it no more. Gina, I’m sorry baby. I’m so sorry.”
The images disappeared. The large image of the human returned and said softly, “Rise, my son. You will suffer no more.”
All of the pain and sorrow left Will’s heart, leaving him with an odd sense of peace. The image opened its arms and hugged him, as if it had regained a long lost child. With a renewed innocence, Will felt cuddled by the mighty embrace.
Looking down at his stomach, Joe cried out, “God, I’ve been shot! Somebody please help me!”
“Don’t worry-hang in there,” the thin officer said as he knelt next to Joe.
“Bill, thank God it’s you,” Joe said, dropping his head to the floor. He knew Bill from church and had sold him his first house. “Get me an ambulance. He shot me.”
Bill turned to the overweight officer and shouted, “Call for an ambulance!”
“Damn, this guy’s messed up,” the clerk said, standing over Will’s body. “He’s dead.”
“Yeah, he’s dead,” Bill answered plainly.
Joe coughed heavily and spit out a mouthful of blood.
“Come on, buddy, hang in there,” Bill said, holding Joe’s hand. “An ambulance will be here in a few minutes.”
“All I know is, I ain’t cleanin’ this shit up,” the clerk said as a pool of blood crept toward his feet.
The voices outside of Joe’s head began to fade until he could only hear his own thoughts: My God. I’m dying. I don’t want to die. I’m not ready.
He felt his heart stop beating while he was being lifted upward.
At least I’m going to heaven, he thought as he was placed in the standing position.
“Are you prepared to face your sins?” the image before him roared.
“Yes I am,” Joe answered confidently. He didn’t feel much remorse as the images of his sins flashed before him. Most of them he expected. The final scene was of his own death. He didn’t understand what he had done wrong. He was answered with his own voice as it echoed around him: “Get this nigger off of me.” Every hurtful thought he ever had was played back for him in surround sound. When it was all over, he stood in silence.
As if a trap door had been opened beneath him, Joe fell rapidly into darkness. He could feel his heart awaken and pump fresh blood through his veins. His mouth was forced open by an invisible hand. He tried to push it away, but his arms were held down at his sides. He screamed out as his jaw snapped in two and the sides of his mouth tore to each ear. His nerves were ten times more sensitive then they were when he was alive, so the pain was ten times worse. While what felt like a metal wire wrapped itself around the base of his tongue and sliced it off; his upper and lower eye lids were cut off. The wire moved to his lips and sowed them tightly together.
His fall ended on a bed of nails, one inch high and one inch apart from each other. They pierced his entire back, holding him still, with his legs slightly spread apart and his arms at his sides. As he was lifted into the standing position, a legion of screams echoed around him. A putrid stench came to him, causing him to fill his mouth with vomit. He swallowed it.
“My God, whatever I have to do to get out of here, I’ll do it. Please, please get me out of here.”
A thunderous laugh arose from behind Joe. Joe tried to turn, but his head was held straight by the nails. The voice roared, “It’s too late for that now. My brother doesn’t want you, so he gave you to me to play with.”
“I don’t understand. I don’t belong here. I’ve believed in Christ my entire life and did the best I could,” Joe said.
The voice laughed, “You fool. It’s not enough to believe. That would be too easy. You fucked up. Now your ass is mine.”
A creature more horrifying than Joe had ever imagined stepped in front of him. Its form suggested it could never walk, but it moved with great ease, its knees bent behind it as if its legs had been turned around. It had three long, sharp claws instead of toes. They scraped against the ground, screeching like nails being slid across a chalkboard with each long stride.
It stood face-to-face with Joe and hissed at him. It thrust out its serpent-like tongue and licked Joe’s lips, leaving behind a trail of saliva. It looked like a bat with a hundred pointed fangs, its eyes as red as fire. It had two horns, like a bull’s, on the top of its head. It unfolded its crippled arms and wings, exposing an alligator-like chest. Its three fingers moved like snakes and had nails that looked like spears. It thrust one of its fingers into the top of Joe’s head and laughed, “Allow me to play with your fears.” It pulled out a piece of Joe’s brain and slid it into its mouth. It looked down at Joe’s penis and said, “You won’t be needing that little thing anymore.” It bent over and bit off his penis. It chewed it into pulp, laughing in Joe’s face, then ran off into the darkness.
What do I have to do to make this stop? Joe thought. I’ll do anything. Just please, make it stop!
Beyond the many screams that surrounded him, Joe could hear scratching sounds approaching him. Rats of all sizes ran out of the darkness and onto his body. They feasted on his skin and flesh until they reached his bones. As they scattered into the darkness, his body produced more flesh and skin. A second wave of creatures quickly approached. Centipedes, roaches and large worms crawled all over him. The centipedes forced their way into his eyes, ears and nose, entering one and exiting another. While the roaches ate away his fingernails and toenails, the worms entered his anus. They journeyed through his intestines, to his stomach, burst out of his naval and then reentered his anus. The rats returned and devoured his skin and flesh. Joe’s heart continued to pump fresh blood, his flesh replenished only to be eaten over and over.
Joe’s house appeared before him. It was as if he were across the street and the front wall had been removed. The man who had killed Joe appeared behind the staircase, and Joe’s two daughters appeared upstairs. They all moved in slow motion. Joe’s wife appeared and walked past the killer, her son in her arms. The killer ripped the baby from her and shot him in the face. He threw the dead baby to the floor and chased Joe’s wife around the dining room table. Joe’s daughters came downstairs, but when they reached the bottom, the killer shot both of them in the chest. The killer tackled Joe’s wife to the floor and ripped off her skirt and panties as she kicked and screamed. He flipped her onto her stomach and entered her from behind. She screamed out as he thrust himself inside of her.
Joe tried to scream, “Get off of her you dirty fucking nigger!” but the effort tore his lips.
The killer slit Joe’s wife’s neck as he reached orgasm. Then darkness fell before Joe. As the scene began to repeat itself, he begged for it to stop, but it got worse-the killer raped both of Joe’s daughters before killing them.
Joe once prayed for eternal life, he now prayed for eternal death.
Will found himself among loved ones. His mother, sister, two brothers, three aunts, an uncle, ten cousins, his grandparents and many friends surrounded him. They all sang, danced and laughed as they held each other. Will turned around when he heard, “Daddy, daddy!” His eldest son was running toward him with open arms. As they hugged, Gina came to them with Quentin in her arms. They all embraced each other tightly-and forever.
