Out of the Shadows

by Timothy Boyd

  “Henry, no!” cried Charise.

  Gary grinned evilly as he removed the blood-crusted shiv from the woman’s throat. He quickly spun her around to face him and jammed the weapon deep into her gut, her eyes wide with horror at the betrayal.

  “Charise!” Henry started toward them.

  Gary pushed her to the ground next to Tom and brought the blade up in front of him to stave off the trusting fool.

  Henry, fiery tears in his eyes, cried, “We had a deal!”

  “The deal was that I wouldn’t slit her throat.”

  “You asshole!” And without thinking, Henry recklessly charged at Gary.

  Tom and Charise sat, propped against the wall, slowly but surely dying as the two men fought with the ferocity of rabid animals. Henry punched Gary’s face, knocking out a tooth. Blood flew through the air as Gary retaliated, kneeing Henry in the crotch. Henry pulled him to the ground and the two wrestled, punching, clawing, elbowing, drawing blood and blackening eyes.

  Tom slowly tried to get up to help, but Charise reached out her blood-soaked hand and clutched Tom’s. He weakly turned to look at her.

  “He needs… to do this,” she mustered between gasps. Tom seemed unsure about heeding her words, so she continued, her lip quivering, “Please don’t leave me.”

  Tom looked down at his watch, his face growing paler by the second. “It’s… almost time,” he said with an air of hope in a hopeless scenario.

  Charise smiled, trying to hide the fear of their inevitable fate. “Right.”

  Gary’s knife flew through the air and landed on the ground. Henry elbowed him in the face and quickly crawled toward the blade, but Gary pounded his fist down onto Henry’s sliced calf.

  He howled in pain as Gary clamored over him, going for the prone weapon. Both of their faces were bloody to the point where no one knew whose blood was whose. Henry grabbed Gary’s foot, slipping in the pool of goo that poured from his friends. He reached forward and managed to thrust Gary’s face into the wet tile, stunning him for a moment, hearing his nose cartilage crackle.

  Henry reached over him, snatched up the knife and painfully jumped to his feet, ready for Gary’s retaliation.

  The crazy criminal scrambled to his feet and turned to Henry, the two facing each other for their final showdown. Suddenly, Gary glanced behind Henry and straightened as his eyes grew wide with terror, and he slowly started backing away.

  “Henry…” Charise coughed and pointed weakly behind him.

  The ground rumbled as sheets of rain crashed onto the tiled floor from missing chunks of ceiling, and Henry turned to see the thing he had hoped never to see again. Bloody, bony, and beast-like, the sleek creature flexed its talons, ready to have the fun it earlier had been denied.

  In Darkness

  IX

  Choices are the hinges of destiny. There are always two paths to take: the easy one, and the right one. This was not the destiny that Charise had had in mind for herself, but as she sat against the wall, her life pouring from her wounds, a sense of peace overcame her. Because she had made a choice. A choice that led her into the asylum this night. That drove her to help a father and son reconnect, mending scars and healing wounds that were too deep to see. To pull a friend, long lost, out of the darkness and back into the light. Not the easy choice, but the right one.

  Earlier in the night, when Henry had fled his father’s room and neglected to get her a cola, she could have grabbed him and forced him back in; she could have stood blocking the door until the conversation was done. But then it wouldn’t have been Henry’s choice, and she knew he needed to pave the path of his own destiny.

  As the nightmarish storm cascaded into the hospital from the hostile outdoors, Henry was in the unfortunate position of having to choose a path without having the time to think through the outcome. His eyes flicked quickly back and forth from Gary, wide-eyed and frightened and slowly backing away down the hall, to the hideous feline beast, its beady eyes fixed upon the four-course meal that lay before it, its jowls dripping with fresh gore.

  More instinctively than anything else, he turned his back on Gary and stepped between the beast and the two injured people on the floor, Gary’s shiv in his hand, ready for the predator to leap for its prey. The creature shifted its gaze, drilling deep into Henry’s soul. The two locked eyes, waiting for the other to make the first move.

  Lightning crashed and a torrent of rain splashed through the ceiling’s gaps down onto the group below. The beast lowered its head and growled viciously, attempting to intimidate the foolish man in front of it. Henry noticed its back haunches lower and flex, and he knew the moment of attack was only a second away.

  In the instant that Henry blinked to remove rainwater from his eyes, the creature was airborne, its talons splayed, mouth and fangs ready for contact. Henry swung the shiv fiercely as he dodged to the side, the monster landing on the floor next to him. A talon swiped through the air as Henry dove to the other side, slipping on the slick tile and falling to the ground.

  As Gary turned to flee down the hall, the earth shook violently, and cracks assaulted the hospital’s walls. Sparks rained down from the emergency lights above as the entire ceiling was pried from the building, lifted into the air, and blown away into the raging storm.

  The floor below Gary crumbled underneath him, breaking away into another abyssal depth. He hollered in fright as he suddenly had nothing on which to stand, but his hands caught grip of the tile’s edge leaving him dangling for his life.

  Henry leaped into the air and landed on the back of the beast, wrapping his arms tightly around its head and throat. He plunged the knife into its side, and it howled in anger as goopy blood drained from the wound.

  The beast lashed its talons feverishly above itself, trying desperately to remove the assailant from its back, but Henry would not release his grip. He stabbed again, this time into its belly underneath. As the knife broke through the creature’s skin, Henry felt resistance and pushed harder. It cried out in agony, now furious with him, leaping into the air like a bucking bronco.

  Finally, the rain caused Henry’s grip to falter, and he rolled clumsily off to the side, the knife sliding away from his grasp.

  The beast’s claws slipped on the soaked and bloody tiles as it attempted to regain its composure. From the chasm in front of them, Gary was finally able to pull himself up far enough to rest his forearms on the floor. He reached out to Henry, calling for help. Henry, mildly disoriented, located the knife a few feet away and began crawling after it.

  Hand only inches from the shiv, he froze, feeling a familiar reverberating resonance fill his body as the ground shook. He once more felt content, knowing any decision he made would be the right one, because materializing above the chasm where Gary hung was the golden radiance of Mother, come to protect him.

  Charise noticed the black angel of death appear above Gary, and she was suddenly more afraid for Henry than she had ever been before. Still clutching Tom’s weak hand, she squeezed and made a silent prayer. Please, dear Lord and Savior. Protect that precious man from this insufferable evil. Give him the strength to do what mus’ be done. An’ if he ain’t quite strong enough, please take him willingly into Your lovin’ arms. Amen.

  Henry felt the warm embrace from Mother, even through the dank, chilling rain. As the beast launched itself through the air toward him, ready to land its killing blow to the prone man on the floor, Mother’s guidance helped him reach for the knife and roll over just in time…

  The beast landed on Henry, and its screech melded with his own cry into a single spine-tingling howl. And then everything went quiet, save for the ceaseless patter of frigid rain and distant thunder.

  Charise looked on in horror at the lifeless Henry trapped under the beast, a thick pool of blood oozing from under him. The dark angel pulsed with glee as Gary stared at the mass of beast and man before him. Charise cried, an incredible weight in her heart, her weak sobs sending pangs of excruciating pain through her body
. She stared across from her at Robert London’s door, a nearly unbearable sadness overwhelming her. One thought flowed through her mind: I failed him.

  The beast’s talon twitched.

  Charise was shocked out of her grief as she held her breath, watching each of its limbs rise up once more, bringing the thing to its feet. As it rose up to its full height on all fours, it suddenly fell over onto its side. Henry slowly pushed the beast’s body away and picked himself up from the cold floor, removing the shiv from the creature’s chest.

  Through blurred vision, Charise looked up toward the heavens and smiled, silently thanking God for protecting him.

  Henry stood and turned to look at Mother. He smiled at her presence. As her aura pulsed, he heard her voice hiss, “Kill… Charise. We don’t… need… her!”

  He left Gary dangling from the edge and calling for help, and he turned toward the dying woman against the wall.

  Charise knew what was about to happen. Her lip quivered as his towering body came close and hovered over her. She looked up at the boy she once knew and muttered, “I’m so sorry I failed you, Li’l Bobby.”

  A flash of recognition crossed through his eyes as his gaze penetrated the dying woman’s.

  “Only thing I ever wanted to do was help, Child. I’m sorry I couldn’t.” She didn’t bother wiping the tears from her face.

  Henry knelt down in front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder, the knife ready in the other. A tidal wave of thoughts and memories flooded through his mind as he became overwhelmed with abrupt emotion. He looked directly into Charise’s eyes and said plainly, “Sometimes… people are beyond helping.” He thrust the knife forward as hard as he could.

  Her eyes opened wide as her breath caught in her throat, and after a look of confusion swept over her face, she slumped sideways onto Tom’s shoulder, her eyes fluttering closed.

  Henry considered the now-unconscious friend of Charise, his stomach shallowly rising every few seconds. He knew it would be mere moments before the man would die, so he left the knife where it was and slowly stood, turning to face the Essence.

  “Please! Help me up!” Gary pleaded, daring to reach a hand toward Henry.

  “Begging isn’t very becoming of you,” Henry spat.

  “Kill… Gary,” the poltergeist instructed. “Kill him… and you will finally… stand alone!”

  Henry approached the gaping rift from which hung the once terrifying and formidable man. Now he looked pathetic, unintimidating, and childlike. Glancing into the pitiful patient’s frightened eyes, a shiver overtook him, and his mind conjured the image of his own thin body in Gary’s current predicament, begging for mercy and life, as if their roles could easily be reversed.

  And then something happened. A shift in his brain, as if all of the answers to questions he didn’t know he had began to manifest. As he studied the pathetic person dangling for his life, he suddenly knew what must be done. All of the night’s events finally made sense.

  He reached down and outstretched a hand toward the criminal, who took it and expelled many “thank yous.” But Henry didn’t pull him up. He maintained his grip on the vile man and glanced up at the spectral being.

  “That’s the problem, Mother,” he said to her.

  She pulsed, waiting for him to continue.

  “I don’t want to be alone,” he said defiantly. Henry pulled Gary up from the pit as the specter shrieked with lividness, pulsing madly through the rainfall. “I miss my mother so much,” he continued to the malevolent ghost. “But you are not her.”

  The being fluttered spastically above the chasm.

  “I understand what’s happening now,” he continued, seeing that his words had become the weapon with which to fight this hovering monstrosity. “I spent so long not making choices that indecision became my choice. Charise always pushed me, but I was afraid of the decisions I would have to make.”

  Brighter and brighter the ghostly visage pulsed, sending waves coursing through the already-crumbling walls.

  “You fed on that fear.” Henry sighed and smiled, “But I’m not afraid anymore.”

  The image of his mother began twisting into something more ferocious, no longer holding human shape.

  “I make my own choices!” he yelled at the misshapen essence over the sound of the storm and the growing rumble. “You have no more power over me!”

  The vibrant spirit rattled the walls and let out a tormented shriek before exploding into a ball of light, knocking Henry and Gary to the ground, and disappearing into thin air.

  Henry lay on the freezing floor, staring up at the black, starless sky through the missing ceiling. He noticed that the storm had begun to let up, and only a slight drizzle rained down from above. He felt so overwhelmed that his emotions threatened to explode, releasing a great catharsis that he had so far denied himself. He lay, terribly afraid of what needed to come next but knowing it had to be done.

  “I’m proud of you, Child,” came Charise’s weak voice.

  Henry sat up and looked at her, smiling. He scrambled over and helped her sit up straight. Stuck in the wall between her and Tom was the shiv with which he’d intentionally missed his mark. He removed it and tossed it behind him.

  “I’m glad you caught on,” he said with a grin.

  She placed a weak yet tender hand on his cheek and smiled back. “I’m glad your dumb ass missed my fat one,” she chuckled and then grimaced in pain, clutching the hole in her stomach.

  Henry looked at Tom. “Is he going to make it?”

  She glanced down at Tom’s watch. “If he can hold on a few more minutes.” Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed movement. Henry saw the look on her face and quickly stood, spinning on his heels.

  Gary rose, holding the shiv that Henry had discarded, his face stoic and unmoving.

  Henry looked into his eyes with an incredible guilt and sadness. “I don’t think I can forgive myself.”

  Gary sneered. “So, you finally get it, do you?”

  Henry said nothing.

  The madman pushed further. “You don’t have what it takes to do what needs to be done.”

  “We have a different idea of what needs to be done.”

  Growing angry and desperate, Gary spat, “I can make you more feared and respected than your father ever was! People would grovel at your feet!”

  After a moment, Henry replied, “I don’t need you.”

  Gary scowled, “Then it looks like one of us has to die, and I’m the one with the knife.”

  He quickly advanced toward Henry, the shiv raised above his head, ready to strike.

  Charise gasped and yelled, “Henry! Behind you!”

  Eyes wide with adrenaline, Henry spun just in time to see the bloody skeletal beast launch itself into the air toward the two men. He collapsed to the ground onto his stomach as the creature soared over him, using its last ounce of energy to attack. The beast collided with Gary, whose head flew through the air, bouncing off of the wall in the distance. The two bodies, intertwined, slipped across the tile, over the edge, and down into the bottomless chasm.

  Henry stayed on the floor to catch his breath, having too many sudden scares for one night. Finally, he slowly rose to his feet, staring into the black abyss.

  “It’s over,” Charise said with relief.

  A twinge rose up Henry’s spine, and a tear rolled down his cheek. “No, it’s not.” He turned and walked up to his father’s door, glancing back at the woman on the floor.

  She regarded him with intense pride, beaming and allowing a few tears to escape her eyes. When she saw him reach his hand up toward the door, she said, “Li’l Bobby…”

  He looked at her expectantly.

  “Do me one good, and grab a cola on your way back, would ya?” she smiled.

  He returned the expression and then entered the four-digit code into the lock’s number pad. When the small scanner became illuminated, he placed his shaky thumb on it. The door’s locking mechanism released, and he wrappe
d his fingers around the handle. “Charise,” he started, his voice choking in his throat.

  “What, Child?”

  He wished there were something he could say to her that would make her understand how much he appreciated everything that she had done for him, even how much he loved her for it. But no adequate words came to his mind, so he simply said, “Thank you.”

  He pushed down on the handle and entered his father’s room.

  Charise watched the door close behind him, left with a strange sense that he wasn’t actually saying “thank you…”

  …but rather “goodbye.”

  * * *

  Henry’s wet shoes once again stepped onto the soft burgundy carpet of the room. The wall sconces remained on, warming the space. The mahogany paneling that lined the lower half of the walls and the dark purple-striped wallpaper above it were still intact. There were no cracks in the walls, and the ceiling remained over him. It was odd that the room seemed untouched by nature’s previous fury.

  He took a few deep breaths, building the courage to cross the den. He passed the brown, leather couch and the small aquarium. He passed the oak desk with family photos and the shelves full of books.

  He approached his father’s bedside, seeing him still strapped down with thick leather belts. Robert James London lay calm, watching as his son approached. Henry pushed the IV stand out of his way, placing it next to the other machines. The only sound in the room was the rhythmic beep of the heart monitor.

  He placed his hand inside the old man’s and smiled. “Hello, again, Father.”

  “Henry,” was his father’s weak reply. “I’m glad… you came back.”

  “I have something that I need to say.”

  Robert waited, a knowing look on his face.

  Inhaling deeply into his lungs to calm his nerves, Henry finally said, “I’ve been living a lie, Father.”