Sins of the Fathers

by John Richmond

A LONG WHILE went by, or maybe it was only a minute. Johnny couldn’t tell. None of his senses worked; there was nothing to gauge the passage of time. It was dark where he was, dark, but not empty. There was...Another in here with him. Johnny wondered if the other knew he was there, and then it turned toward him. Its searchlight awareness defined him, and Johnny understood that everything he had ever known about dirt, and sickness, everything he had known about greed and insanity had been...small. In the dark, the other came for him.

  Mine.

  Mine!

  MIIIIIIINE!!!

  * * *