CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 1
Barry didn't remember when the clock had struck 2 am, but apparently it had. And in the meantime, an hour and a half had drifted by. But that was okay. Yes, it was perfectly okay......because HE would be here soon.
HE would come walking through the door of the little eons-old donut shop and then they would see. The middle-aged greaseball behind the counter...he would learn his lesson oh my, oh yes he would...and the fat typical cop down on the last barstool with his eternal smirk...he would be silenced.
Oh yes, HE was coming soon, very soon.....and HE would teach them all.
Barry clasped his 67 year old weathered hands together in glee, then, rubbing one of them against his dirty stubbled cheek absentmindedly, chuckled knowingly to himself. He began to rock back and forth in his booth.
The same one he had occupied every night for the past several months.
The greaseball, Franky, edged his way down to the end of the counter and nudged the cop, Harold, who was thumbing through an old edition of Reader's Digest.
Harold took a sip of his lukewarm coffee and glanced up in question.
"Old fella ain't right," Franky said quietly, his eyes pointing down to the old beggar rocking to and fro in the booth."Been comin' in at the crack of dusk ever night I've been workin here and stayin almost until my shift ends.
Say you don't reckon he'd try to hurt anybody do ya?"
Harold grinned and shook his head at Franky.
"Boy, you know that old man just sits there and smiles to himself with his jelly donut and small coffee...that's all he ever does.
Don't have nobody, don't have nowhere to go to keep warm at night. If ya weren't kind enough to give him that little bit to eat he'd probably of done wasted away. Now don't you think if he wanted to hurt somebody he'd of done it by now? Now quitcher paranoia and warm my coffee up will ya?"
It was about this time that Barry started in the booth. Both his hands shot down to the tabletop and he held on to it as if he feared being sucked up through the ceiling.
Startled, Harold moved his hand to the butt of his gun (an involuntary reflex acquired after fifteen years being on the force).
Equally shaken, Franky dropped the piping hot coffee pot onto the floor. It shattered. He jumped out of the way of the dark lava river, cursing and searching around for a spare towel to clean up his mess.
Harold stared at the terrified old beggar. Not even enough time had gone by to ask "what's wrong?" before Harold saw what Barry was peering at through the coffee shop window.
"Holyyyyyy Jeeesus," Harold whispered.
Barry loosened his grip on the tabletop and excitedly began to bounce up and down in the seat.
"HE'S HERE," he screeched, like a child.
"HE'S HERE, HE'S HERE!!!!!!"
| Chapter 1 by London_Reign |
" What in GOD's name is that?" gasped Franky.In the harsh neon light of the shop vision could be deceiving. Franky rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
Harold was now sitting facing the door with mouth agape too shocked to react.His half-eaten doughnut dropped from his hand.
In his 15 years on the force Harold Fitzsimmons had never seen anything like this.
The demon sauntered in,the little silver bell over the door announcing it's arrival as it entered.
"Evening Gentlemen" it said in a voice that spoke directly from the bowels of Hell.
A voice that spoke of untold misery and pain. The voice of despair.
" I knew you'd come" panted Barry in his
excitement. "A deal's a deal right?"
" Yeah, a deal is a deal" replied the demon and sneered at "Barry The Bum", as Barry was known in the neighborhood.
Harold suddenly came out of his trance and reached for his gun but one look from the demon froze his fingers before they reached his hip.
Franky still couldn't grasp what he was seeing. It was a demon alright, a demon right out of his wildest nightmares. Cloven hooves, horns, and a long serpentine tail that moved as the demon spoke as if to accentuate it's words.
"Let me tell you why I've come" said the soul stealer."I've come because your demented little friend over there summoned me. You see he found my masters book while rummaging through the trash barrels of the widow James after she passed last month. The old dame was a familiar ya know.Her son threw the old tome out not knowing of it's importance. The fool!"
Barry's toothless grin widened as a little stream of spittle oozed it's way down his unshaven chin.
"It's very easy to summon us" continued the demon. "All that stuff about pentagrams and burning black candles is for the tourists. All you really need are the right incantations. and a little bad luck. Now down to business...."
| Chapter 2 by slo |
"Down to business?"Franky wondered."What the hell kind a bullshit business is this
somebitch into? I didn't live this long,only to get killed by some God forsaken demon!" But Franky could do nothing more than watch things play out.
Harold had seen and heard enough.He wasn't about to wait and see what kind of
BUSINESS the demon had in mind.
He looked over at Barry, who was drooling all over himself.Harold winced in disgust
as he reached for his gun.
"Ok you son
of a bitch! I ...."
Before Harold could get another word out the demon's
eyes lit
up and a bright red beam shot out of them.The beam blazed across the room
and cut right through Harold's gun hand cutting it off at the wrist.
Harold screamed in agony.Barry just kept laughing like a madman.
Franky could only
stand there and add his own yellow stream to the spilled coffee on the floor.
It was another slow night in the life of Buford Washington.
"Not as slow as the 12 year stretch in the state pen." Buford thought.Buford Washington was a good and honest man,that couldn't get a break.
Tired of low paying jobs and not being able to support his 3 children.(Robin,his wife, died of cancer a few years back).Buford decided to take down the local Bank Of America.The only problem was his partner was a complete idiot.The cracker didn't have a clue.
"I guess I'm just as much to blame for working with that moron." Buford thought.
Buford came out of the bank with two bags full of $100 bills. He didn't realize the cracker had decided to move the car!
The cracker later told police "It was hot out there and I just wanted some shade." The only problem was the cracker decided to park in a no-parking space! As soon as Buford came out of the bank,the cops arrested him.
The cracker couldn't look Buford in the eyes as he was being escorted into the squad car.Buford got 10-20 in the state pen (his children were sent to a foster home,he hasn't seen them since.)
"Life sure could be a bitch sometimes."Buford thought as he put another tray of donuts into the oven.Just then Buford heard a scream coming from
the dining area.
Working on instinct Buford grabbed the biggest knife that he could find and ran to the dining area.
"All right.
What in the fuck are you crackers up to
now?!"Buford yelled.
As he looked at Harold he noticed the missing hand.Then he looked at Barry,who was laughing hysterically.Finally he noticed the demon
near the front entrance of the donut shop.
Buford got one look at the demon and his eyes nearly popped out of his skull as he screamed "I don't know what these honky mutha fucka's have done but it ain't got shit to do with Buford!!!" Buford dropped the knife and ran for the back door.........
| Chapter 3 by Houserat |
Meanwhile back in the donut shop the huge demon looked over at Barry.
"Well why did you summon me?" the demon demanded.
Barry chuckled and shook from being overly nervous. "I hope you can do what I want you to do!" Barry blurted out.
"I can do anything you could imagine and more, but I don't do things for free" the hellspawn said.
"I want revenge. Ever since I was a child, the people in this damn town hated me for no reason. They just despised me!" Barry cried out.
Harold, as he lay in a puddle of his own blood slowly fading in and out of consciousness, could hardly spurt out a sentence without pausing for air.
"Barry, no one in this town....knows you, you're an old .....homeless man, nothing more."
"I wasn't the town bum all my life, I was just like you all once til your parents decided they had seen enough of me, ruined my life forever,and killed three of my friends, and since your parents are all dead, their children shall pay the price!" Barry screamed.
The demon grew more and more frustrated as Barry talked on about revenge and things.
"So how do you want revenge Barry? And remember my price for such assistance is high."
Barrys old wrinkled face widened with a smile. "Demon, give me invincibility , and...."
The demon interupted Barry. "And you want two things? The price must go up." The demon laughed.
Barry nodded in agreement. "And bring back my long dead friends so we can get revenge together."
The demon nodded his head and it was done.....
| Chapter 4 by SilentAssasin |
"I don't care about the price, I'm an old man, no possessions, no happiness, no need to continue living on Earth.. I just want to avenge those who ripped it all way from me.."
Harold rolled over in his puddle of blood, grease,and coffee. "Franky.. call... call for help.. I..... don't think.....I'll..last.....mu..ch... longer".
As the final syllable escaped his mouth, his mutilated arm, which he had elevated onto the barstool in hopes of slowing the bleeding, fell to the floor with moist thud. A stream of blood splashed upon Barry's face. The madman laughed hysterically.
"Enough you wretched imbecile.. What do you want? revenge?, invincibility?, resurrect your dead friends? Consider it done.. You are now souless, bound to earth forever, life will never escape your aging body, I have ripped your long dead friends from somber sleep in heaven and placed them upon this earth again, but if you had of thought this out, you would realize their bodies have rotted away, so let their souls infest YOUR body."
Barry slouched slightly in his booth, "This wasn't part of the deal.. I didn't agree on a price yet."
"DEAL!? You are an idiot.. you, a plague upon the Earth, believe you can bargain with me..I have your soul.. you have your revenge,invincibility, and.." The demon rumbles with hellish laughter, ".. Soulmates".
Suddenly a loud explosion comes from behind the counter.. Franky falls quickly to the ground.. Then the loud clank of the gun. Donuts lie drenched in blood.
Barry quickly slumps to the counter and glances down at the corpses of the men who he has been looking to get even with for years. Two people of hundreds he had to destroy.
The demon approached Barry. "You have not escaped Hell.. you have made your own Hell." With that the demon disappeared.
"You will suffer.. you have ripped us from eternal rest."
"Who said that?!"
No answer.
"You have damned yourself.. we are you captors now, we own you."
"What the fu...? hellllllllllllppppppppp!!!!" he screamed watching as his fingers painfully snapped in two one at a time.
"Welcome to Hell Barry" a voice combined of three children giggled.
| Chapter 5 by Mike_Menace |