Absence of Faith

by Anthony S. Policastro

  The woman's voice changed to a higher pitch and spoke in German. "You are a great man, Adolph. I, too, will try to return when you do so that we can be together again. Thank you for being my husband these last few days. I will take the poison as you have asked. Good-bye, my love. I love you."

  The woman became still and Kyle touched the woman's hand. It was hot. Within seconds she moved and her eyes fluttered back to life. She began speaking again.

  "My greatest triumph is yet to come," the woman said in the deeper voice. "When I pull the trigger and end my life here, I will start again in another life and I will succeed...for next time," the deeper voice said.

  The woman's head jerked violently. Kyle jumped back. Her body began to shake - her arms and legs moved randomly in all directions and Kyle backed away towards the door. Her torso began to convulse. He turned and ran for the door. Suddenly, the room was awash in blood red light. Kyle turned and saw that the woman's body continued its wild seizure, but now the red light surrounded her and her body became brighter and brighter. Kyle shielded his eyes and he felt his body hurling towards the door uncontrollably. He hit the door with his right shoulder and head. Dazed, he found himself on the floor trying to untangle his limbs.

  "Swoosh!" Kyle felt the pressure increase on his eardrums. His back was hot and the air moved violently picking up papers and toppling the living room lamps. The pain in his head increased and he placed his hands over his ears. The woman's body suddenly began to violently thrash and flop like a mad fish out of water. Then two narrow streams of red-hot light burned through her eyes and formed an angled wedge about 10 feet long and four feet at its widest part. Kyle tried get up, but his body was pinned against the door by the intense air pressure. The wedge pulsated, and then there was a flash and everything in the room turned white. The giant wedge of light narrowed into a pencil thick beam, thrust itself into Kyle's left eye, and disappeared.

  "Ahhhhhhhhh!" Kyle screamed. It was the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness.

  The Other Syde - Chapter 9

  The day-glow red sign stood out like a beacon on the highway in the bright noon sunlight. It was like a fireball in the sky, despite the brightness of the July sun. Kyle noticed it right away and felt an uncanny attraction to the place. He pulled his dark green 1995 Dodge into the sandy parking lot and stopped in front of a large glass-windowed storefront. Another sign with the same script lettering and red day-glow neon blazed in the window, "The Other Syde." A hand-painted mural of gargoyles and demons pulling souls from the earth into a dark, fiery world surrounded the neon sign. Kyle stared at the mural, shrugged, and then walked into the store.

  The room was dark and filled with large round display tables. Each table had a tall, but different, room lamp illuminating various items covering the tabletops. The lamps had sales tags hanging from the shades. The items on the tables included day-glow lipstick and nail polish, custom jewelry, and books on the occult and Satanism. Kyle picked up a silver necklace with a pendant in the form of a coiled snake.

  "Welcome," said a raspy voice coming out of a dark corner in the shop. "That's nice. Do you like it?"

  "Huh? No. Just looking," Kyle said.

  He turned in the direction of the voice. "Where are you? I can't see you. My eyes haven't adjusted," he said. Suddenly, the room blazed white and everything around him vanished into the white light. Kyle squinted.

  "You're our first customer, today," she said. "Sorry, about the lights. I didn’t get around to turning them on."

  "What kind of store is this?" he said noticing the bright green streaks cutting through long, black perfectly straight hair.

  "We sell everything you'll need for the other side," she said.

  "What other side?"

  "The side of our savior," she explained running her hand seductively over her shoulder and down her arm. "What are you looking for?"

  "I don't know. I just saw your sign and decided to stop in," he replied. "The name was far out."

  "Well, I can help you with whatever you need. I have more tables in the back," she said her eyes shining.

  She moved like a ghost from behind the counter, her black robe-like outfit flowing like fine silk as she walked. Kyle followed her into the back of the store. She opened a door and passed through. Only candles - black and red candles, lit the room. The air smelled hot and waxy. The girl walked over to a shelf and pulled several books off.

  "These will help you to learn what to look for. The set sells for $129.95," she said handing him the volumes.

  Kyle looked at the titles. The Satanic Bible, The Compleat Witch, What To Do When Virtue Fails, Book of Shadows. He opened the Book of Shadows.

  "Ha! This one must be a reject or something. All the pages are blank," he said.

  "That's the way it's supposed to be," the young woman replied rolling her eyes.

  Kyle looked at her incredulously, a strange smirk on his lips. She stared back at him like a stone.

  "Too much like religion to me," he said.

  "Just the opposite. They're anti-religion," she said.

  "Well, I hadn't planned to spend that kind of money on books."

  "Think of it as an investment in your afterlife," she said moving to sit on a canvas cot on the other side of the tiny room. "Besides, you don't have to pay with money."

  Kyle looked at her strangely. His stomach seemed to be lifted inside his body, but he liked what he was feeling.

  "That's ok," he said placing the books on a small table nearby.

  The woman moved her long legs up onto the cot and posed seductively. Kyle ran his eyes from her toes to her milk-white thighs. She smiled and deliberately turned her head towards the light of the candles. Her skin was flawless, white, smooth, and clear as if she had never been in the sun. A tiny round black object protruded from her lower left cheek. At first, Kyle thought it was mole, but when she turned, he saw it was an earring with a black polished stone about the size of a shirt button embedded on a silver mounting. A silver star was etched into the black stone.

  "Thanks, but no thanks. I got to go," Kyle said and rushed out of the room. The woman followed and stopped at the door staring at Kyle. He looked up at her as he started his car and she smiled sweetly. Kyle drove out of the parking lot into the stream of traffic.

  That night, Kyle couldn't keep her out of his thoughts. He kept thinking of what would have happened if he had stayed. She would have taken the robe off revealing her body. He would have touched her all over with his hands, and then with his mouth, putting kisses everywhere. He would go slowly, discovering every inch of her body, until the final moment of pleasure. He would ask her to do the same to him, first slowly peeling away his clothes, then his bad feelings, and then his dreams for he was in a dream and didn't need any others. He couldn't sleep.

  The next day he returned to The Other Syde and found the store closed.

  "Shit!" he grumbled.

  The mural on the glass display window caught his eye again. He focused on a gargoyle pulling a thin, bony naked man down into a fiery pit. The gargoyle seemed to laugh at him. He turned away suddenly, and thought he saw his face on the unfortunate figure.

  "Screw all the weird shit," he said to himself. "I'm not letting this one go," he stammered and got back into his car and drove off.

  He returned the next day, and the store was open. He walked in wearing his tightest fitting jeans and a black t-shirt. The store had several customers milling around the tables. He walked toward the counter.

  "I'm looking for the girl who was working on Saturday," he said to a thin man with a white pasty face.

  "She's in the back. I'll get her," he replied.

  The pasty-faced man returned with the girl in tow. She walked towards Kyle wearing black stretch pants and a purple stretch top, which accented the size and curves of her breasts.

  "Hi. Good to see you again. Are you looking for me?" she said.

  "Yeah, I was thinking about those books..."

  "You're goi
ng to take them?"

  "No, but I'd like to learn more about them and you. Would you like to go for a drink sometime?" he said.

  "That depends on what you want to talk about...me or the books?" she replied.

  "Honestly, I could give two shits about the books. I'd like to talk about you," Kyle said.

  "Ok, you're on. I'll meet you at The Ink Well say around eight tomorrow night?"

  "What? Where?"

  "It's a small cafe in the West End on Canal Street," the girl explained.

  "I'll find it. Ok, see you then," Kyle said. "I didn't catch your name?"

  "That’s because I never gave it to you. It’s Chantress."

  "That's a nice name," he said.

  "It was my great grandmother's. What's yours?"

  "Kyle."

  "Nice to meet you," she said holding out her hand for him.

  Kyle took her smooth white hand and shook it weakly. Her hand felt like velvet in his hand.

  "Nice to meet you, too," he said. "Can I have your phone number?"

  "I'll give it to you at the cafe," Chantress said. "Let me have yours. I'll call you if I can't make it."

  "Yeah, ok," Kyle said.

  Chantress walked behind the counter and grabbed a small pad and a pencil. Kyle recited his phone number and she wrote it down. The paper stock was neon green.

  "Great, see you," he said.

  "Bye. See you tomorrow."

  Kyle went home and fell into a deep sleep thinking about Chantress and the tiny room in the back of the store and what would have happened if he had stayed. Then he thought about their date the following night and how they would celebrate their mutual attraction.

  * * *

  Kyle rushed into the Ink Well as if something terrible was chasing him outside. The room was dim and smelled of coffee. Everyone was dressed in dark clothing and some of the women wore white, pasty makeup.

  "Over here, Kyle!" Chantress stood up from one of the larger tables against the wall in the back. She wore tight-fitting jeans and a black tube top, but it was the black cape with one-inch silver stars that Kyle noticed. Her hair glistened with silver sparkles and a rose-scented perfume.

  "Hi," she said. "I thought you were a no show."

  "Oh, yeah...my car got a flat," he said out of breath.

  "Oh, I want you to meet some of my friends," Chantress said taking his hand and directing him into one of the empty chairs at the table.

  "Guys, this is Kyle. Kyle, that's Krista and Yanni."

  The two girls dressed similar – both had short black capes draped over their shoulders, too much black eye shadow and fire-red lipstick with matching long red fingernails. However, the two contrasted like a salt and peppershaker - Yanni’s hair was blonde; Krista’s was brown.

  "Nice to meet you," Kyle said turning away from them.

  "Likewise," they replied.

  "This is nice," Chantress said.

  "So...is this a preview of Halloween?" Kyle said.

  The girl's faces went sour.

  "Kyle doesn't know everything yet, guys, so give him a break," Chantress said.

  "Know what?" he said.

  "About our beliefs and what all of this means," she said. "I'll tell you about it later."

  Kyle raised an eyebrow.

  "Do you always ask strange girls out?" Chantress asked.

  "No, not at all. I don't know why I even stopped in," he replied.

  "Fate, I guess. I'm glad you did. Do you live around here?"

  "Oh, yeah. I have an apartment in Cedarbrook."

  "Oh. What sign are you? Wait, let me guess...Aries."

  "How did you know?"

  "It's not everyday that a guy asks me out after seeing me only twice. I think that was pretty bold - a dead giveaway for an Aries. Besides, I like that sign. I'm a Taurus. We are supposed to get along really well."

  "I think we'll go to the ladies room," Yanni said. "See you guys later."

  The two girls got up to leave, their black capes flowing like ominous shadows in the dim, smoky light. A waiter came over dressed in a black shirt and black pants. He looked at Kyle.

  "What can I get for you?" the waiter said.

  "A Bud Lite."

  The waiter nodded and walked back to the bar. Kyle turned towards Chantress.

  "Are those two...you know...connected?" Kyle asked.

  "How could you tell?"

  "Easy. They dress almost identical and their lipstick was the same color. What are the odds of that happening?" Kyle explained. "Anyway, I could just tell - a feeling I get...something about their body language...the way they moved next to each other as if their bodies were in sync."

  "Does it work for guys, too?"

  "Even better. I can almost pick one out of a crowd," he said.

  "Does that make you one?"

  "No, I'm straight as an arrow - and always will be. The whole gay thing has me baffled. I can't understand what makes them attracted to the same sex. I just don't see how they can do it to each other."

  "Well, I'm glad," Chantress said.

  "What about you? Are you like them, too?"

  "Maybe," she said.

  "You go both ways?" Kyle asked raising his eyebrows again.

  "No, silly. I was only kidding. I'm as straight as you. I've known Yanni and Krista since high school. They are really sweet, sensitive girls, who got screwed up by too many guys," Chantress explained.

  "So they became gay?"

  "No, silly. All three of us are really good friends. They got screwed up and found comfort in us and it just happened," she said.

  "And it didn't happen to you?"

  "No. It's not my thing. What would you do? Disown your best friends because they’re gay?"

  "I guess," Kyle said looking deeply into Chantress' eyes.

  "What? You don't believe me? Why are you looking at me that way?"

  "I know you're telling the truth. I can tell. I have this ability..." Kyle said.

  "So do a lot of people. I can judge character, too," she said.

  "No, no. This is different. It's like I can see into a person's soul, see into their mind, and see what they are feeling and thinking. It's so clear sometimes it's scary. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it's intense," Kyle explained.

  "How intense?" she said.

  "Like I'm totally inside the other person. It's like I'm totally swallowed by them and everything around me disappears," he explained.

  "You're clairvoyant, then?"

  "I don't know. I don't think that's it. But, this is something different. I can tell if a person is good or bad," Kyle said. "I can sense their evil and their good. Some have more good...some have more evil. It's wild."

  "That is wild. Have you ever spoken to anyone about this? You know, like another psychic or medium?"

  "No. You're the first to know," he said.

  "Where were you born?"

  "What's that got to do with it?"

  "Maybe, nothing, maybe, lots," Chantress said.

  "Vietnam. My father was stationed in Saigon and met my mother there. They lived there until I was born. Then my father got typhoid fever and died. My mother took me to the states after that and we lived in New York until I was three, then she met my stepfather, married him, and we lived all over Europe. He's a career man in the Army. Europe is really my home. I was happiest in France. We lived there for about six years," Kyle explained.

  The waiter returned and placed the bottle of beer in front of Kyle.

  "That’s four," the waiter said.

  Kyle dug into his pocket and pulled out a crumbled five-dollar bill. He smoothed it out and gave it to the waiter. The waiter took a dollar out of his waist pouch and handed to Kyle.

  "Keep it," Kyle said, and the waiter left.

  "Where are your parents now?" Chantress said.

  "They live in Middletown. My father retired from the Army about two years ago," he said. "He worked at Fort Monmouth."

  "Would you like to go back to France some
day?"

  "Oh yeah, but just to visit...maybe live there for several months..."

  "Gee, for someone who didn't want to tell me where he was born, you sure tell a lot," Chantress added. "Have you had these experiences before?"