IS

It seemed like forever had passed. I was finally beginning to contemplate opening the door when the lights and radio came back on, making me jump at my own reflection in the mirror. Just how much could the human heart take? This wasn’t the first time that thought had crossed my mind. I dropped the chrome bar to the floor and placed both hands on the sink vanity in front of me, dropping my head to take long, deep breaths.

If I hadn’t been so emotionally drained and wrapped up in consuming fear, I would have possibly been entertained at the fact that Men at Work’s “Who can it be now” was repeating strong in chorus throughout the bathroom. I reached to turn it off, putting myself in dead silence once again. For this I was thankful, and yet cautious.

I unlocked and turned the knob to the barricade that had only a short while ago separated myself from the evil that mocked me. And as I cautiously opened it, I felt almost confident that the evil had gone, as the remaining stench was mild at best–-when the phone rang from the kitchen down the hall.

“No more games!” I screamed, while the phone continued to call for me. “If you’re still here, show yourself-–now!” I added, as I slowly began to creep through the door, praying that I had sent that last demand out to an empty house.

“You are brave – but ignorant as well.”

“What? Powder, is that you? I desperately began a visual search all around, when my borrowed voice continued to speak again.

“He is gone from you now Joshua, but you put yourself at great risk by not knowing this for sure.”

What? Where are you?” I asked, as the ringing in the kitchen was eventually interrupted by Corey’s prerecorded voice message, followed by a message from her in real time.

“Josh? Alley said you asked me to call. Also something about your cell phone being ruined? Okay, call me back, honey. I love and miss you! Bye! Beeeeep.

She seemed so far away from me now. Not by miles, but rather another world away; as if she were already a memory of what my life had once been, before any of this had happened and altered the possibility of what might soon be.

“Where are you?” I shouted for a second time, losing my patience for not having answers–-when I finally got one.

“I am with you Joshua, but not in body.”

“I don’t understand!” I blurted out. And then I began to feel that I understood. That I’d been hearing him in my head this whole time. “I need your help. I can’t do this without you!” I shouted, hoping for the right response.

“I know what you are thinking Joshua, and you are a fool!”

“I gotta say, that’s not the answer I was hoping for!”

“Did I not make you aware of what he was capable of?” he added.

“Yeah, but I’m not just gonna lay down and fucking die! And what about you? You’ve been able to avoid him this whole time. You must want to live too, huh?”

It fell silent. And then he appeared from around a corner, scaring the living hell out of me.

“Fuck!” I screamed. “A warning would have been nice!” as the sickness of his scent had this time followed.

“Clothing is not needed tonight, Joshua?” he asked. I grabbed a towel and ducked into my room for a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

“Why do you call me Powder?” he asked, almost showing a slight sign of curious emotion.

“For the same reason you talk to me in my voice” I answered, as I entered back into the hallway, pulling the shirt over and past my head and shoulders, and then gently tugging it into place. “It feels right to me. Besides, there was this movie…”

“Yes, I know this,” he interrupted. “A young albino male human, who has powers not accepted by the rest of his race, and he is made an outcast.” He looked to the floor, and then back to me. He brought about his eerie smile and asked, “You are making humor with me Joshua?”

“Hey–-it fits!” I replied.

His smile was quickly replaced by alarm, as he turned to the outlying windows that faced the schoolyard. “He is coming.”

“What? Now?” I asked, feeling as though I hadn’t been given enough time.

“Yes, now Joshua. I must go, and you should leave as well.”

“But you and I-–we need a plan!”

“The only plan you should follow, is to leave-–now!” he said with a raised tone in his, or rather my voice. He then moved through the already opened door wall, and was gone.

Not knowing how much time I had before its arrival sent a wave of panic through me. I rushed the door behind him, slammed it closed, and locked it; as if locking anything mattered anymore. I guess I was acting on pure human instinct. I then frantically searched for my keys. Just as I found them and began to make my way to the garage entrance, I heard the faint sound of a dog barking. Coincidence or not, I continued moving at record pace, bolting through the door and slapping the large button once again. I then raced around to the driver’s side of my truck and slid in behind the wheel. The large door seemed to be taking forever, as it was only half opened by the time I turned the ignition and slammed my door shut.

“Come on, come on!” I freaked, as if it would make the door climb any faster. It’d barely finished when I threw it in reverse and hit the gas, only to have my escape cut short, slamming the brakes hard when my peripheral vision saw something in the rear view mirror… It was Hercules.

“Hercules! Move, boy!” I yelled, still staring at him in the rear view mirror, while his eyes reflected red from the brake lights, as he sat back defiant on his haunches. I then turned and rose up in my seat to yell a convincing command, when my skin began to crawl before a single word left my lips. I gently sunk back into my seat and slowly turned to find that my headlights had set the stage for its appearance, as the evil stood there in the center of my garage floor, gazing a hideousness that left me paralyzed with terror.

I wanted to scream, yell, lay on the horn, anything to get the attention of a neighbor or someone close by. I couldn’t move or speak. It wasn’t just the fear that kept me there—he was doing it. He had control of me, control of every part of me including my mind, as the most disturbing thoughts imaginable played on in my head.

I saw things that made me convulse with the horror only something not of this world could show to me, as every orifice in my face began secreting fluids resulting from the physical and mental trauma I was writhing within. He tipped his head to one side, displaying a malevolent sneer of acceptance to what I was going through. He couldn’t kill me yet, but it was as if he was preparing me; tenderizing the meat before the cooking would commence.

Just when my mind and body could take no more, just when I felt I would rather die right there on the spot than have to endure another excruciating second of torture, I became coherent enough to hear Mike’s garage door begin to open next door. I then felt the mental strings of bondage severed, as I fell forward onto the steering wheel, setting off the horn. It was loud and almost unbearable, but at the same time, possibly the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. As I laid there shaking and half choking, a weak grin came to my face. I smiled because I knew that for now at least, I would be safe… for now, at least.

I felt myself drift in and out of consciousness as the loud decibels of sound were replaced by quiet voices; voices that resonated concern and fear. My mind was numb and confused, trying desperately to make out those voices, as I felt myself being tilted back and eventually lifted from where I had been. The next thing I felt was the cool grass under my body, as my eyes began to focus to the dark images that peered over me.

“Josh? Can you hear me?”

I recognized it. It was Mike’s voice. Other voices, women’s voices, were ranting on behind his, worried and panicky, making me question just how bad my appearance must have seemed. My focus started to come around, and I was finally able to put faces to the women’s voices I heard. It was Mike’s wife, Mary, and Nancy Gust from across the street. “This isn’t too awkward,” I said, as I tried to sit up, digging my fingers into the thick grassy roots beneath me.

“Easy, easy,” Mike spoke.

I felt something slimy and wet swipe the right side of my face.

“Hercules, no!” I heard Nancy shout. She then had to physically pull him away from me.

“Your buddy wants to give you kisses,” Mike teasingly announced.

“That’s a change!” I quietly replied under my breath.

“What?”

“Nothing. I think I’m okay now,” I quickly answered, anxious to move past my last remark.

“Josh, what the hell happened to you?” Nancy asked, as she continued to keep a firm hold on her dog.

Just when I was about to announce some bogus excuse for my state of being, I heard my own voice broadcast something-–inside my head. He is not gone, Joshua. He is still close by!

Right at that very moment, at the same time Nancy Gust continued to ask the questions everyone was thinking, I saw it, amidst the shadowy void of space between the two houses. It was there.

“Josh, Are you okay? Did you hear me?” Nancy continued, concerned, just as the others were, I’m sure for my lack of attention.

For a horrifying second it moved forward from the darkness into the light, just so I and I alone could witness its evil grimace. As quickly as it appeared to me, it then regressed back into the darkness, and was gone. My gaze then traveled to Hercules who had, without any doubt in my mind, seen it too. He turned to me, panting and flaunting his mammoth canine grin.

“Josh!” Mike yelled loudly, with one final attempt to grasp my attention. I then looked up into his troubled eyes and came back to the reality at hand.

“Have you heard anything we’ve said?” Mary asked.

“Maybe he should go to the hospital?” Nancy added, practically drowning out the last part of Mary’s question.

“No, no! I’m fine now, really!” I blurted out in my defense, as I took Mike’s hand and pulled myself to my feet, trying my best to appear normal and rehabilitated from my recent incident.

“What the hell happened here, Josh?” Mike asked, while I lifted the front of my shirt to finally wipe the existing body juices from my face. It was then that I noticed a deep red smear, before dropping my shirt, not wanting to draw any more attention from the women… no such luck!

“Are you bleeding? Is that blood?” Mary asked, when Nancy mentioned the hospital again.

“You know, it was really stupid. I was backing out of the garage, when I noticed Hercules behind me. I hit the brakes, flew back, and then bounced forward. I guess I hit my head and knocked myself cold for a minute or two.” I was a fucking genius. At least some of what I came up with was true, as I didn’t like to lie.

“Hercules!” Nancy snapped.

“No–-it really wasn’t his fault!” I stated. “I was in a hurry, not paying attention.”

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Mary asked. “Because we could all just jump in my car and—”

“No, I’m good–-really. You guys were great, thanks!”

As they all began to slowly move away from me and back to what the night had in store for them, Nancy made one last remark. “You know, you could have a concussion and not even know it. Better stay awake for a while. Quite a while!” she yelled.

“Oh, that shouldn’t be a problem,” I yelled back, as I watched Mike and Mary get into their car, and then Nancy and Hercules eventually disappear through her front door.

Everyone moving forward with their normal, uneventful lives, while I remained amongst the absurd and disenchanted; what the night had in store for me.