by Nathan Jay
As Mike entered the forest, he looked around nervously. The trees stood tall, like dark protectors of a forbidden world. Nocturnal creatures brought themselves into existence with strange sounds. To Mike, the animals communicated their devious intentions to one another; they all had plans to murder him. But Mike wasn’t worried.
“Come on, you motherfuckers.” He mumbled, smashing his mostly empty bottle of alcohol against the trees. Within minutes the darkness of the forest swallowed him.
Mike stumbled through the forest like a man with no direction. His drunken stupor made him trip over avoidable bushes and protruding tree roots. His only mission, to prove to the darkness that fear had not consumed him.
But deep down, Mike wasn’t afraid. He was terrified! In the bar, Mike had seen the desire for murder burning in the eyes of the stranger. He knew that man wanted to kill him – to take his soul. Those green eyes had seen through the haze of alcohol in Mike and recognized him for what he was – a murderer. The look from the stranger’s eyes brought the fear of God to Mike’s heart, piercing his soul like a hot knife through butter. The stranger scared him beyond belief because he knew what Mike had done.
“What was his name? Matt? Makeo?” Mike asked as he pushed aside bushes in his path.
“Mateo.” A female voice whispered inside his head. Mike stopped and searched the forest, but no one was there.
“Is that you?” he asked. The pain of regret was upon him now. Mike didn’t mean to kill her. But now she was gone, and it was all his fault. He wanted to break down in tears. If only she knew that he loved her. Well, maybe he hadn’t loved her, but he was fond of her. Mike always enjoyed her laughter when they watched television.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Mike asked himself.
“I gotta get a drink. Fast!” Mike whispered as he resumed his journey. Once again, his thoughts fell upon the stranger at the bar.
“Yeah. That’s it. That strange man's name was Mateo.” He whispered.
After ten minutes of walking, Mike flopped down on a log, exhausted. Realizing he was lost, he scanned the forest, trying to find his way towards the park.
“I’ll rest here for a minute. I need to figure out where I am. I never came here at night.” He confessed. But sleep was on him again. As he sat on the log, he began dozing off. Soon his loud snores rattled the night as he entered a deep slumber.
Seconds later, a shadow walked through the forest in Mike’s direction. The soft steps of the man were silent. There was no rustling of bushes or snapping of branches. There was complete silence as the individual moved towards Mike. After a while, Mateo was standing above Mike. He smiled as he watched Mike sleep.
“You came to receive judgment,” Mateo whispered.
“I’m certain he will like you.”
Mateo extended one of his long fingers and touched Mike’s chest, just underneath his heart.
“AAAAAHHH!”
Mike screamed as he jumped to his feet; his chest was burning. Clutching his breast, he searched the forest with wide eyes. No one was there.
“Where are you, you sneaky son of a bitch!” Mike yelled out; his only response was the hoot of owls in the distance. Mike wiped the drool from his lips and sat down. The alcohol was peeling away, and things were becoming more evident.
“I know you’re here, Mateo.” He whispered. But the forest responded in the same way that it had previously - silence. Mike was confounded. Mateo had come to him in his dreams. The strange man walked to Mike out of a white mist and touched his chest with a handful of fire. Mike rubbed his chest again. The dream felt so real.
“I’ve got to get the fuck out of here,” Mike whispered as he started walking again. He picked up the pace this time. There was an urgency to break free from the darkness. He had to leave before Mateo found him.
After climbing the top of a small hill, Mike took a step and fell. As he rolled down, he got pounded by tree stumps and rocks. Briars sliced through his clothing as Mike banged against small trees. Finally, he came to rest at the bottom of the hill, bloody scratches covering his face.
“Goddamn it!” he yelled, picking himself up from the ground. Painfully he pulled a long briar from the back of his head.
“Fucking bitch!” he screamed out. Suddenly, he froze.
Approaching far ahead of him was the ghostly figure of a beautiful woman. There was a soft glow of light all around her as if she were a celestial being. Her chestnut hair flowed down behind her as she walked. The woman wore a white wedding dress with pearls that sparkled in the soft light.
Mike began rubbing his eyes. As the woman walked, nothing impeded her path; she seemed to float through the trees like a ghost. All the while, she stared at Mike as if nothing else mattered. Mike felt love pounding in his chest. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
“I’ve got to be dreaming,” Mike whispered as the beautiful woman finally reached him. Although she was much taller than him, Mike could feel the love between the two of them pulsating inside. As she looked down upon him, Mike’s heart filled with passion. Her soft pink lips seemed to glisten with sweetness. He longed to embrace the love of his life in a romantic kiss.
“Mike?” she asked him as she pulled closer to his body. Mike shook with anticipation. He never wanted a woman so badly.
“Ye…Yes.” He stuttered. The woman extended her hand to Mike’s mouth. He kissed it gently, tasting the coldness of the forest. This meeting was their moment of spiritual bonding. Their love solidified through the ritual of promise. As Mike reached out to touch her soft lips, he knew that this would be the woman. Mike loved her.
Suddenly the woman opened her mouth, revealing a mouth filled with his razor-sharp teeth. Mike watched in horror as she bit off his four fingers.
“AAAAAAAHHH!”
Mike yelled as he fell onto the ground wincing in agony. As red blood squirted from his hand, the woman chewed heartily on the fingers in her mouth and swallowed. The monster’s pale skin was red, stained with Mike’s blood. As it ran down her cheeks and onto her white dress, she threw back her head and laughed. The laughter was that of a demon. Mike winced in agony as he saw the woman’s eyes turn black.
Suddenly the trees surrounding them burst into flames. Mike trembled in terror as the voices of different women screamed out to him from the forest.
“We know what you did!”
“Revenge is ours!”
“We’ll eat you!”
“She didn’t deserve death. But we will give it to you!”
“Hell awaits!”
“You will burn!”
Mike fell to his knees and began sobbing.
“I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry! Please forgive me!” he screamed out.
Suddenly his girlfriend appeared in the fire. The deep gash on her forehead leaked brain fluid down her face as both her eyes rolled back in her head.
“Mike… Mike…” she cried with arms out to him.
“You said you’d never hurt me. Who will care for my babies? Who will care for my babies?”
Mike extended his bloody hands to his girlfriend and sobbed,
“Baby. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. I didn’t mean to do it. Please forgive me.” He pleaded.
“You said you would never hurt me, Mike. Why? Why?” the ghost asked.
Another identical ghost appeared to Mike’s right. Mike fell back onto the ground, screaming louder.
“Please,” the ghost asked.
“Why did you leave my kids to die in the forest? How could you leave them? It's so cold. So cold…” the ghost complained. Another spirit of the woman appeared. Then another, and another.
Mike rolled around on the ground, engulfed in madness. His crying was laughter and screams all in one. The demons had paralyzed him with the weight of his sins, crushing his soul.
Suddenly the fires stopped burning; the only sound within the forest was Mike’s. As he lay on the ground bleeding to death, a brown set of shoes walked through the blackened
forest into the group of women. It was Mateo. He smiled at what remained of Mike, rolling around on the ground in agony for his transgressions.
Mateo walked over to the woman in the white dress.
“It’s 3 am. Reveal yourself,” Mateo commanded.
Suddenly the woman began convulsing. Her skin began to glow red as she shook violently back and forth. As Mateo watched in silence, the body of the woman caught fire. After burning for several seconds, a loud cracking sound began coming from the woman’s body. From her forehead down to her pelvis, the body split; each half of the body remained upright. Molten lava began pouring from inside the body onto the ground. Finally, a man stepped out of the fire.
“Hey, good ole buddy. It’s been a while since I saw you last,” he said in a thick southern accent.
The man was just as thin as Mateo and equally handsome. His face was cleanly shaven, his black hair shoulder length and neatly trimmed. He wore a designer red necktie with a black suit that seemed tailored to his specifications. Around his neck dangled an eyeball on a gold chain.
As the demon extended his hand, Mateo grabbed it and shook it.
“It’s good to see you, Zagan,” responded Mateo.
“I hope your travels weren’t too difficult.”
The man let out a hearty laugh.
“How many years have we been doing this now, fifty?” Zagan asked Mateo.
“About that,” Mateo responded. The man leaned to the side and inspected the bottle Mateo had strapped over his shoulder.
“You got much left for me?” he asked as he slapped the bag. Mateo removed the bag from his shoulder.
“I have enough. Unfortunately, I had to replenish my strength,” Mateo confessed.
“But this sinner should more than compensate for what’s missing in your stock.” Mateo handed the bottle over to Zagan with a smile on his face. Zagan shook the container and beamed with pleasure.
He turned to look at Mike.
“Hot damn boy, you’re a bad one, ain’t you?” Zagan asked as he inspected Mike’s injury.
“Killed the girlfriend and tried to kill the damn kids too. We’re going to have a lot of fun breaking you in,” he exclaimed with excitement. Zagan turned back to Mateo.
“Boy, I tell you what. You’d make one hell of a demon. I know I ask you this every five years, but you ever think about switching teams? We sure could use someone like you on our side.”
Mateo was not amused.
“I serve our father until the mission finishes,” he stated as he turned and walked into the forest.
“Alright, alright. I had to ask. We’ll see you again in five,” Zagan responded. He glanced at Mike, lying on the ground.
“Come on, boy. Let’s get to gettin’.” He said, gesturing towards the frightened man as he began walking away from the group. But Mike couldn’t move. He couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. Was this some sick joke? Maybe payback from Mateo for what he had done?
The man stopped walking after a few steps and turned back to Mike.
“Oh. I forgot. We have to finish you off a bit,” Zagan said with a smile.
“Girls, let's wrap this up. Package that soul for me when you finish,” he said.
“Eat the rest.”
The ghosts jumped on Mike and began eating him. His screams echoed for miles as the demon walked away into the dark forest.
Chapter 6: The Origin of Mateo Pt 1
"Mom! Mom!"
The little boy burst into Camila's bedroom and pulled on her arm until he got her attention.
"What is it, Leonardo? You see that I'm getting dressed, boy."
"Mom! Come quick! Mateo fell into the hole!"
"Oh, my God!"
Camila dropped her clothes and ran full speed out of the bedroom. After knocking over the glass lamp in the hallway, she tore through the kitchen and burst out the back door. As her bare feet pounded on the ground, images of her son buried in the dark soil singed her brain. She didn't care if the neighbors saw her running through the field naked. That hole seemed endless, and if she didn't reach Mateo in time, he would surely be dead.
"Mateo! Mateo!" Camila screamed as she pushed through the weeded field towards the hollow hole. There was no sound. Suddenly, she began crying. Camila didn't want Mateo to die, but realizing the evil she was approaching shook her to her core; she was more afraid of what was inside the hole.
She'd told both her sons on numerous occasions not to play around that hole. It was a weird existence in the middle of the green field. No grass grew around it for 10 feet. The only insects that ever went close to it were fire ants; during the summer months, they built hundreds of ant structures all over it. But beyond those ants, nothing touched the hole. Years earlier, Camila had walked into the field to see the strange opening in the earth. She'd taken her two-year-old son Mateo to the shaft with her and sat him down in the grass just beyond the black soil. Camila studied the hole and could hear the sounds of water coming from inside it like a river running beneath the ground. But when she peered in, all she saw was an unearthly blackness. Moments later, a baby Mateo started screaming at the top of his lungs; giant red fire ants had covered both his legs like pants and started biting into his baby flesh. Terrified, Camila snatched him up, brushed the ants off his legs, and sprinted back to the house. Ever since that day, she never went back – until now.
"God, please help us…please," Camila whispered as she moved through the field. The tall grass sliced at her naked flesh as she pushed on. She could hear her younger son Leonardo behind her trying to keep up, but she had no time to hold his hand. Her mind remained focused on her trapped son. Inside a pond, Mateo was a good swimmer and could hold his breath for a considerable amount of time. But keeping his breath with pounds of soil pressing down on his chest was drastically different. Camila estimated that Mateo only had a few seconds before suffocating to death.
"Why didn't we move away from this devilish place?" she asked herself as she slapped at the weeds. Ever since they'd arrived many years ago, the neighbors warned them that the place was cursed. Camila had thought the superstitious people were unhappy neighbors who didn't like them. But after the fire ants attacked Mateo, Camila's feelings meshed with the neighbors' warnings; there was something that bothered her about the hole in the center of the field. She didn't know why, but she could feel an evil presence there. It wasn't until one day after church service that an older woman, Senora Ramirez, approached Camila and told her the history of their house.
Ten years earlier, Juan Morales had lived in the house with his wife and four children. He was a modest man who made a living through farming and selling his harvests to the neighboring towns. One night after claiming to hear voices coming from the hole in the ground, he killed his whole family and threw their bodies into the gorge. After disposing of the corpses, Juan went into his kitchen and cut off his tongue with a knife. Next, he went out to the woodchopping block and hacked off his left hand and his left foot with a hatchet. That is where the constable found Juan one week later – dead, drained of blood, and partially eaten by the predators that had gathered in the midday sun.
After Senora Ramirez told Camila the story of Juan Morales, Camila immediately wanted to move out of the house. Mateo, being attacked by the ants, was no accident. She could feel the place didn't want them there. She impressed upon her husband to uproot the family and move them to her mother's house far away. But one day, in a freak accident, her husband Thiago was suddenly killed when their church steeple was struck by lightning and fell on him. Convinced that his death was no accident, Camila retreated far into the seclusion of her house, coming out only for work and chores that were nearby. She became convinced that the hole wanted them – her sons in particular and that it would only be a matter of time before the chasm would call out to them.
Camila's only hope of keeping her sons away from the gorge was to tell them stories that would scare them. She told them of Juan Morales and made the boys think that Juan and h
is family's ghosts roamed the property when she was at work; she wanted to frighten the boys at all costs, and no fable was beyond her utilization.
For a while, it worked. The boys were so afraid that they rarely went into the backyard. But in time, Camila's plan caused unintended injuries to the children. Mateo became obsessed with the bible and often spoke of the "lost souls" of men who failed to repent before it was too late. Members of the church marveled at how 12-year-old Mateo could call upon scriptures from memory. The minister commented on more than one occasion that he believed God touched Mateo. But Camila was terrified by the minister's words. She had only wanted to scare her son to prevent him from venturing outside the house. Instead, Camila believed she had done something much worse; she'd inadvertently inspired a powerful love of God within him and had, therefore, made the evil in their backyard take notice.
Camila's scary stories had a different effect on her other son. Poor Leonardo was so frightened that he complained that the ghost of Juan spoke to him in his dreams. He told Camila that Juan said she was lying and that he would eat all of them as soon as the right time passed. One night, Leonardo told Camila that Juan wanted him to cut out all their tongues and stick red-hot pokers into their eyes. She'd never hit the child before, but the way he walked into her room in the darkness of midnight and stood over her watching her sleep; the way he woke her up to reveal the horrible dream with evil dancing in his little brown eyes; she thought for sure Leonardo meant to kill them all. That moment scared Camila so much. She slapped him hard on the face. She wanted to move them all away from there that night, but she could not do so without substantially increasing her work efforts. She didn't have enough money. So, she'd decided to stay. And now the hole had done more than call out to her sons. It had taken one of them – Mateo.
Finally, Camila and Leonardo reached the hole.
"Mateo!" she screamed. Camila crawled to the edge of the gorge and looked in. She could see nothing but blackness. Frantically, she grabbed a nearby pebble and threw it in.
"Mateo! Speak to me!" she cried. A small moan floated up from out of the darkness.