Neon Nights

by by: Anthony mayfield

  'Now that I have told you everything, answer my question.' 'What question?' she pre­tentiously asked. He looked at her lovingly, and as tears welled up in his eyes, he dropped

  his head and in a whisper he asked, 'Is it to late for us; do you still love me?' 'You can't just waltz in here, make your confessions and expect me to melt in your arms, Michael. This isn't the movies. I've heard I'm sorry too many times, too much has happened.' 'Yes or no, Nancy.' he stated. She couldn't bear to look at him. She wanted to run to him and make some confessions to him too, and to tell him that she still loved him but something was holding her back. Maybe it was pride, maybe reason, she didn't know which. Turning to walk away, she answered, 'I don't know anymore, Michael. I just don't know.'

  Chapter 7

  After Terron and Vice had finished building the altar on the exact spot that the last one had been erected, they hopped back into the car and drove off. Looking at the gas needle, Vice told Terron to pull into a service station for some gas. Pointing to his right, Vice said, 'There. Over there is one of those combination convenience stores and gas station.' Terron guided the smooth riding Mercedes up to an unleaded pump. 'You go in and pay the man, I'll pump the gas.' Terron said. Toilworn, Vice got out of the car. Paying little attention to where he was going, he stepped down into a shallow pothole, stumbled, and murmured an obscenity all in one motion before regaining his balance and making his way to pay for the gas. His stomach growled and he decided that the first order of business would be to find something to eat.

  He entered the store, looked around for the snack stand, and headed for it. The store was empty with the exception of the clerk and a stunning young woman standing at the counter conversing with the clerk. She was 5'9" tall with shoulder length auburn hair. The complexion of her skin looked like she had basted beneath a tropical sun. However, on closer observation, Vice noted that her complexion was natural. He was immediately taken with her. He stood, frozen for the moment, looking at her and eaves dropping on their con­versation. The clerk was talking, 'I'd better let you get back Jenny; I know your folks will be worried sick if you're not home soon. We've been talking for an hour or more.' 'Oh, let them worry Stan.' she said. 'They have got to learn that I am a grown woman. I know they're concerned, but I can't depend on them the rest of my life. I mean, I'm 25 years old. It's time for me to get out and get on with my life.' 'Yeah, I know. But this is your first day out by yourself, they're bound to be a little worried.' he said. She chuckled, 'Yeah, as usual Stan, you have a good point. There's nothing to worry about though, God is looking after me and, as of today, I've got Blondie too. Isn't that right girl?' 'Roof, roof.' Vice looked down, and for the first time, saw the large white Huskey at her feet.

  'So, does this mean that you've abandoned your hopes that God will open your eye' Stan asked. 'No!" She emphatically replied. 'Why would you even ask such a question?' 'Because at one time, you were adamant about not getting a seeing eye dog. You held to the belief that God was going to fulfill a personal promise that he had made to you and give you your sight. So, I was just wondering if you had come to realize that you will be blind the rest of your life and, therefore, since you want to get around, you decided to get the dog.' 'I won't be blind the rest of my life, Stan. God can not lie; that which he has promised, he is more than able to deliver. God said that I was healed, I received the promise, and that's that. One thing that I have learned about God is that he allows us to learn everything possible

  from what appears to be a dire situation. He is not concerned with time, or tears that are only shed to try to move him emotionally; and many times the father will begin to tell us something but before he can finish, we run and start to act on the little we have received.'

  'God said that he was going to heal me but he never said when. My job is to hold on to the promise and continually remind and thank him for the promise, and just like Moses, as I persist I will inherit the promise. So, until God opens my eyes, I don't see any point at all in staying couped up in the house like an invalid. Do you?' 'Alright, don't get excited.' Stan said apologetically. 'And no, I don't see any point to you being couped up.' he said with a smile. "Well, I guess that I really should be getting home.' she said. 'I'll see you later, Stan." "Ok, be careful. I'm going to be getting out of here in a few minutes myself, just as soon as my relief person shows up.' She grabbed the reins around Blondie's neck, 'Come on girl, let's go.' The dog came to attention and slowly began to pull Jenny along.

  Vice quickly walked up to the counter, tossed a couple of bags of potato chips down and told the clerk to figure in the gas too. He paid the man and trotted back to the car. Terron had finished pumping the gas and was sitting in the car behind the wheel. Agitated, he asked, 'What took you so long? You know we still have to find a sacrifice.' 'No we don't.' he answered. "And why not?' 'Because I've already found one.' He pointed to the young woman in tow by the white Husky. Terron looked and grinned. 'Alright! Let's get her.' With that, he started the car and took out, slowly following behind her. The sun, wafting carelessly in the midst of blue and orange skies, slowly made its decent.

  'It'll be dark soon.' Vice said. 'Look, there's an alley just ahead. Let's pull in there and wait for her to pass, when she does, we'll grab her.' Tenon sped up and pulled into the alley. He left the car's engine running as they got out of the car and waited. Tenon walked up to the mouth of the alley and looked out on the street. No one was around, the streets were vacant with the exception of an occasional motorist. As Jenny and Blondie passed by, Tenon whistled for the dog. 'Here girl. Come here girl." he said gently. He held out a potato chip, the dog smelled it, and turned into the alley. 'Blondie, No!" commanded Jenny, but it was too late. Tenon snatched the harness from Jenny's hand and pulled Blondie into the back seat of the car. Vice grabbed Jenny and covered her mouth so that she couldn't scream. Tenon ripped open her dress, and snatched off her brazier. Bewildered, Vice asked, 'What are you doing?' Tenon raised his eyebrows and smiled, while unfastening his pants. 'Well, the boss said that we were hell on earth, right? So, I'm just going to introduce her to a little of it, that's all.' Agitated, Vice said, 'I thought we were going to use her for the sacrifice?' Tenon grinned, 'She'll still be sacrificial when we finish.' Catching on, Vice smiled and said, 'Ok, but let's hurry.'

  At that moment, Jenny bit down hard on Vice's hand and, at the same time, drove the heel of her shoe into his shin. 'Oooow.' he yelped. She began clawing frantically at Terron. He stepped out of her reach and slipped on a pair of brass knuckles. She was screaming for help when Terron drove his fist into her jaw. She spun around and fell to the ground. Vice hopped over to her. His hand and shin were bleeding. 'Why, you no good...I'll teach you to fool with me.' He kicked her in the ribs and stomped her repeatedly. Tenon grabbed him, 'Hey, that's enough. You want to kill her before we get her to the altar?"

  Jenny was a bloody mess, she was barely conscience and sobbing for help. 'Now what?' Vice asked. 'Roll her over on her stomach and pull her panties off, I'll do her from behind.' A jogger, passing by, saw faint, flickering shadows and heard Jenny's weakened cries, stopped and yelled, 'Hey, what's going on down there?' Startled, Tenon reached for his gun and began shooting. The jogger ducked behind some trash cans and began hollering, at the top of his voice, for someone to call the police. 'Let's get out of here.' Tenon shouted.' 'What about her?' Vice asked. 'Leave her, we don't have time.' They jumped in the car and peeled out of the alley. Seeing they were gone, the jogger emerged from his hiding place, and ran down the alley to where Vice and Tenon had been standing. Jenny was laying in a puddle of blood. Her face was swollen to twice the normal size, her chest, stomach, and ribs were badly bruised from the stomping. The jogger stooped down to help her. 'Nooo.'. she cried, weakly flailing her arms about. 'It's alright now Jenny. It's me, Stan.'

  Tenon pulled up to the hotel, Vice got out and went in for Thayer and Connley. They came down shortly, got in the car, and Tenon pulled off. Thayer turned and looked in the back seat. There sat B
londie in between Vice and Connley, panting. She was whining, ever so softly, as she looked out the window and at the men. It was as if she knew that she was in trouble. 'Was that the best you could do?' Thayer asked. 'We had this blind woman but...' Tenon interrupted, 'Yeah, that's the best we could do.' They made it to the altar without further discussions. Once there, Thayer told Connley, 'Get the mutt and bring it to the altar.' Thayer went to the trunk of the car and pulled out a large suitcase. In it were four black robes, a set of sharp knives, and four communion glasses. They quickly changed into their robes. While they were kneeling in a circle, Thayer began to pray. His throat expanded like a bull frog's and his eyes rolled back in his head as he spoke in a throaty, occultic language. Suddenly, the sky changed; black clouds and gray skies united and ushered in.

  A manacling, whirling wind whipped about them as Lucifer listened intently to Thayer's prayers. Blondie's mouth had been taped shut and she was tied to the altar. Holding a six inch, two edged dagger above Blondie's chest, Thayer, swayed, from side to side as though he was out of control. In the midst of his ceremonial swooning, he plunged the dagger deep

  in Blondie's throat. 'Aaarrrgghooow.' She moaned. Blood spewed from her nostrils and stained her cotton white chest before filling her lungs, choking off the air. Thayer made an incision from her throat to her hind legs. As her slit stomach lay wide open, Thayer and the others hoisted their glasses and filled them with the warm blood. Thayer uttered other cryptic words and they all drank. Hell shook with pleasure. Satan commanded demons to get what Thayer had requested, and they scampered amid the hustle bustle to carry out their orders.

  The activities of hell were going on at a frenzied pace, there were new arrivals every minuet. Attendants from heaven and hell waited on the outskirts of the spirit world to receive their own. Those who had believed and received Christ were whisked away to heaven, and those who rejected Christ, were taken to one of two locations, the dark side, or the torture side. Hell was divided into four sections, the dark side, the torture side, the section where satan and his host of demons dwelt, and the abyss, where demonic spirits were cast to prevent their return to earth.

  In hell, the air is constantly filled with the stench of rot, decay, and the siren like wails of the eternally damned. 'Ooooooh. No, no , no, no! I'm soooooory. Forgive me Lord, Just one more chance, pleeease. Have mercy on me.' Over and over and over again, the cry never ceases. The ambiance of hell, at its best, is grotesque. There is a thick mass of maggots, lice, roaches, and an assortment of other loathsome, squiggly insects everywhere. 'Squish, squish, squish.' Is the repetitive sound made whenever anyone walks across the ground and mashes the bugs into a delectable goo that satisfies the pallet of the demons as well as the rodents that over run everything.

  The only thing that grows in hell is mold. It gets as high as ten feet before canker worms gnaw through it and knock it down. And even though all of hell is pitch black, most of its occupants are taken to the dark side. They are housed in fox holes that are dug at a 45 degree angel in the side of mountains. One such mountain was larger than several of the earths largest mountains combined. The darkness there is thick and draping; It's like being cast into a vat of molasses that's filled with sharp, penetrating quills. It's sticky, inhibiting agony. It would be easier to look into murky waters and spot dry land than to press your nose against the mountain wall and see that wall.

  The torture side is where special people are housed. People like satan worshippers, so called christians, who talked one life and lived another, educators, politicians, law enforcement officials, lawyers, and leaders from all walks of life were taken to the torture side. Basically, it was for anyone who held a position whereby they could have influenced,

  enlightened, directed, or educated vast numbers of people about Christ and didn't, due to ignorance or misuse of authority. Many were shocked to discover that there was no in between, no purgatory; and that everything that they had ever done was either to the Glory of God, or damnation. Even if one had been a most persuading representative for satan on earth, his reward was punishment. 'Afterall, satan thought, anyone who would be so asinine as to think that they would be able to rule in hell deserved to be tortured.' In fact, he found sheer delight in the torturing of those who had been most loyal to him. He would laugh and spit with glee as he watched the most sadistic acts imaginable perpetrated against those committed to the torture side.

  Some were placed in iron chairs that were heated until they were cherry red. Some were tied to the floor for the insects and rodents to chew on, and others were placed in racks, hung upside down, and beaten mercilessly for days at a time. 'Poke, stab punch.' Never ending, relentless, repetitious pain with no chance of ever dying; without any counselors, doctors, or medicines to heal your mental and physical throbs.

  The citizens of hell always found it entertaining when the diseased, suicidal, or atheist arrived in hell. The facial expressions, alone, of those who committed suicide to escape the pressures of life, only to end up in hell, brought rolls of laughter from hell's hosts. Then there was the shock to those who discovered that the incurable disease that they had on earth was still theirs in hell. 'What, you thought this was a hospital?' one of the imps said, laugh­ing so hard that tears flowed from his blood shot eyes.

  All new arrivals stood like comedians as the creatures paraded before them pointing, expelling gas, and foaming at the mouth in a chaotic merriment. Hong Kong, China, America, Japan, Russia the arrivals continued to come from all over the world. The rich and the poor, and all nationalities that rejected Christ, ended up in hell clinging together, forgetting the trivial differences that separated them on earth. Sometimes, a particularly amusing batch of new arrivals, would be jeered and ridiculed for days while others were whisked away to their holding place. Pointing stiff, twisted fingers into certain ones faces, demons would questions their unbelief. 'Do you believe now?' one screamed out in between gut wrenching guffaws as he pointed to a young atheist. Even when considering all of the elation over lost souls, there is never a wasted day in hell. Day in and day out, twenty four hours per day, from sun up to sun set, in the north, south, east and west, demons work feverishly to deceive, kill, steal, and destroy. They never sleep nor slumber; but then, neither does the Hosts of Heaven.

  The two little demons finally returned after scouring the dark side for two women who were brought before satan. Rayona, an intellectual who had been educated in the best schools the world had to offer, was perfect for the mission satan had in mind. As was Sylvia, who was a street smart prostitute. Both were in their early thirties. Rayona was killed in a skiing accident and Sylvia died from a drug overdoes. They stood, weighted down with shackles and chains, before the strongman himself. Since no one had or ever would escape from hell, the chains served no other purpose other than to be burdensome.

  Satan began to talk sweetly to them as he had to Eve in the Garden of Eden. 'My dears, I have a proposition for you that, should you take it, you will be greatly rewarded.' As he spoke, boils on his face bubbled and burst spewing out a hot yellowish mucus that ran into the cracks of his parched skin. 'I'm going to permit you to go back to earth to help in a mission that could, in itself, gain us full control of an entire state. Everything that you want, need or desire will be at your disposal if you do exactly as you are told. And, if the mission is as great a success as we anticipate, I will allow you to rule all of earth with me.'

  Sylvia was excited. 'Wow, when do we leave?' Satan chuckled and said, 'In a matter of minuets.' 'Wait, not so fast,' Rayona said, 'What if we refuse?' Satan's smile changed to a sneer. 'Refuse!" he shouted. 'If you refuse you'll be turned over to the tormentors from now until eternity ends, which my child, as you now know, it never does.' 'How do we know that you will keep your end of the bargain?' she asked. 'Are you questioning my integrity you impudent spirit of disbelief? It was unbelief that got you here, remember? I suggest that you trust and believe me if you want to get out of a bad situation!' 'But, but you're the f
ather of lies, how can I believe you?' Every demonic eye in hell was on satan as that question ran through their minds. Their expressions were inquisitive, as if they had had the same question for thousands of years but were too afraid to ask.

  'Patoo.' He spat a wad of steamy spittle in her face. 'How dare you insult your lord. Get her!' Instantly every demon, imp, and angel of darkness available, pounced on her. They were clubbing, and yanking on her limbs as though they were trying to rip her apart. 'Stop. I'm sooory, I'll go.' she screamed. 'Let her go.' satan commanded. Before ceasing the attack, one of the demons plunged his talons deep in the back of her neck and pulled them all the way down her back. She let out a curdling whoop as the little demon fluttered further in to the darkness. - It was Olar. 'I thought you'd see things my way.' satan said while laughing a deep guttural laugh. 'Take them and have them fitted for the finest earth bodies available and then deliver them to BA-El in St. Louis.'

  One of the demons removed their shackles and led them away. As they were going out, satan said in his most authoritative voice, 'Don't do anything foolish ladies, you can never en­ter heaven now, so don't even try to repent. You belong to me. Don't betray yourselves, mess up and you'll end up right back here groveling at my feet.' He gave them a stare that sent waves of chills throughout their bodies, intimidated, they turned and ran out.

  Thayer and the boys had returned to the hotel to await the new arrivals as they continued to plan the next phase of their mission.

  God, the Father, in his equanimity, majestically looked down on the events of satan and his hosts; unmoved, He and all of Heaven were at peace. There was no need to urgently respond to satan's antics. None of Heaven was anxious; they knew that Heaven never or never will be caught off guard. Since God knows everything, past, present, or future, He nor Heaven is ever placed in a position where they have to react. Contrarily, Heaven acts, while hell reacts. The Father never has to counter satan's attack, He simply allows it to happen and then He uses it for our good. Thus, by satan's own acts, he is defeated.