Thursday, March 19, 2015

THE DEMON IN THE NIGHT. A short story.

THE DEMON IN THE NIGHT.

     The sun had just come up and the shadows were still long across the landscape.
     It was early in the morning. Tony always got up early when he went out to look for cans. He knew of at least three other caners in the area who were also looking for cans and would grab them all up for their selves if he did not get started before dawn. Of course Tony kept all the cans for himself too.
     Today Tony was looking for cans along the train tracks. His large plastic bag was almost half full with mostly still damp beer cans people had left behind after a night of partying out here where there was not one to check IDs.
     He found the cans one at a time for the most part. Then he came across a pile of beer cans along the side of the tracks. He placed his bag down and started to flatten the cans underneath his worn out dusty shoes.
     As he picked up the cans he notice a dead cat. It seem to have just died. The blood was still fresh around it. It looked as if it was gutted.
     Tony picked his bag back up and walked on. Very shortly he came across another dead cat. Then another. Then there was a spot along the tracks where there was about three or four more dead cats lying around. Tony was wondering why there should be so many dead cats in one spot. His wondering was interrupted by the sound of something running toward him. He turned around.
     The only thing he saw before he died was the large yellow teeth wrapping their selves around his face.


     The creature was spitting out blood as it ran along side the tracks. It had eaten too much and was feeling sick. The was sun was up and it was afraid. It always stayed hidden in the bushes in the daylight so no one would see it.
     It ran across the tracks and got behind the bushes where he had been hiding since he came to this place.
     A train drove by the bushes a little while later. As the creature watched the train cars drive by it dozed off to an uneasy sleep. It dreamed of home.

     The police picked up the pieces of the dead tramp and carried them away in plastic bags. They looked at all the dead cats and decided that a pack of dogs had killed the cats and the tramp looking for cans had also been attacked by the dogs.
     The owner of the dead cat disagreed. She told the policemen that the dead cats and the man could have only been killed by a group of satanists. She told them that they should not be blinded by the Devil. That all good Christians knew the works of the Devil. And she was a good Christian.
     The policemen told her that they will put it down in their report.
     For the next week the policemen would crack each other up by doing imitations of the woman.

     As the creature laid behind the bushes it dreamed of home. It dreamed it was home again. It was back in it's hut with it's mother and sisters and brothers. Outside the window of the hut the two suns shined brightly. It was never dark at home.
     It enjoyed the dreams of home and often was sad upon awakening from them.

     At the church bake sale Karen Toseli told everyone about how demon worshipers killed her cats. She told about how demon worshipers needed good Christian cats in order to do their evil rites against good people like herself.
     The new preacher tried to get Karen to calm down. She was frightening the children with her talk of demons and the end of the world coming soon.
     She told him that she was doing God's work and if he was a good Christian he would be warning people there about the demons around and among them.
     She told the preacher that the Devil made him blind to the truth and that he had no business being a preacher.
     After she walked away from him she stop to shake the dust off her shoe. Just like they said to do in the Bible when leaving unbelievers.

     It had a nightmare. It dreamed about the weird people who caught him in a net and put it into a cage. It dreamed about being in a darkroom wondering what was going to happen. Then the flash of light and then the fire. It dreamed of running away from the wreckage of the spacecraft. The horror of finding itself on a strange unknown world. The horror of not knowing the way back home.
     When the creature awoke it was dark again. It hated the dark. But the dark was the only time it could roam around free without being seen. The weird upright creatures here frighten it and it wanted to avoid them. The creature walked along the train track. It was hoping to find some more of the small furry animals to eat. The large weird creature he ate tasted terrible.
     It heard the meow of a cat. It ran toward the sound. Suddenly a loud blast filled the air. It fell across the train tracks dead. A large shotgun wound across it's chest.
     A few minutes later the police came out and found Karen carrying around a shotgun. She told them that she shot the demon the satanists called up. She then started to meow like a cat.
     She was going to tell them about how she got the demon to come to her by making cat noises but they were not listening to her anymore.
     They took the shotgun away from her and drove her to the mental hospital. They told the doctor that she was meowing like a cat and waving around a shotgun.
     A train ran over the body of the creature. The rats took care of the rest. There was nothing after awhile except for bones for anyone to find. That is if anyone cared to go looking for the demon that Karen Toseli kept ranting about.

     On a planet far from Earth a mother wonders whatever happen to it's youngest offspring. The other mothers of the village warn their small ones to beware of the strange creatures from beyond who would take them away from their home.

THE END

Copyright 2015 By Teel.


No comments:

Post a Comment