Early Signs

At the stroke of midnight when the blood moon is at its peak and the skies turn red, when darkness has fallen upon the face of the earth, unleashing the terror that lurks within, he will be released from the bondage of hell, allowed to roam the earth, searching for souls that are indebted to his master, for he has an axe to grind with each of them.

You’ll know he’s coming when you hear the drums when you hear the eerie whispers of the night creatures closing in on you when hearing the ear-piercing screams of souls crying out in agony. You’ll know he’s coming when you smell the noxious stink of death in the very air you breathe and when you feel a harsh heat hovering over your surroundings.

Then you’ll see his torch, burning like the flames of hell. The mark on your hand you thought was an injury from a spindle is the license he needs to come for you and whatever you do, do not look him in the eyes for therein lies your worst nightmare.

He has no form, he has no soul but he does have a name, or something close to a name.

He’s called, ‘Mid-knight’.” Drake covered the passage from the big book with a thick brown cover which he just finished reading out to Jason.”Pretty cool, isn’t it?” he smiled intriguingly.

Read Also: Legend Of The Warrior Angel

“More like disturbing,” said Amber as she took a seat beside Jason. She must have overheard the story while walking over to their spot in the school library. “Seriously, Drake of everything to love in this world you chose demonology.” she dropped her backpack at her feet and tried on Jason’s new fancy glasses that were laying on his side of the round between them. “How do I look?” Eyebrows wiggled.

“Weird. You look weird,” Jason replied, clutching them off her face and she drew a sulky hiss at him.

“Do you guys think demons are real?” asked Drake.

“No,” they chorused.

“What about ghosts?”

“Buddy, the supernatural only exists in books and movies, okay? They’re not real,” Jason said in finality. He was in denial. These past few days, he’d seen things he couldn’t explain, things that weren’t normal, for instance, the animal figures he’d once seen lingering over a couple of commuters on a train just three days ago. They looked like wild animals of the cat and dog family. He could have sworn that those smoke-like figures had locked eyes with him and maybe he even heard their raspy growl.

He hadn’t been sleeping fine because the voices in his head wouldn’t quiet and the nightmares wouldn’t stop. It was becoming worse by the day and his pride as an unbeliever didn’t let him open up to anyone, not even his friend Drake.

These visions or whatever they were had begun the very day he turned twenty-three. A particular demon that matched the exact description of Mid-knight had been appearing in his dreams, threatening to come for his soul. Two twisted horns were planted on its head, it had the face and body of a human but red with a long drawn-out tail. Jason didn’t believe in demons but by the looks of things, demons were about to make a believer out of him.

He woke up quite late today, must have missed his six AM alarm clock because he awoke at almost mid-day. Still sleepy, he found his way to the fridge to fetch something, a gallon of milk perhaps and as he pulled the door open, the entire thing came off of its fringes.

“What the…?” he mumbled, trying to wrap his head around what had just happened and before that thought was over, the rumble from his sudden pull now caused a ceramic jar to fall off the fridge top. As swiftly as it plummeted to the floor, Jason strategically placed a foot in its path and it landed perfectly on his talus. Jason giggled as he raised the jar into the air like a professional footballer and caught it a second later in a palm.

Read Also: A Heart Full of Vengeance

He grinned wildly. Now that was cool, he thought to himself. His strength had increased or was the fridge door cranky and what happened was just a mere coincidence? Maybe he just got lucky, probably the door was too worn out and would have come off at anyone’s pull. The damn thing was old anyway, long overdue for replacement. Nothing special. No biggie. What about the amazing reflex? Just luck. He managed to convince himself that nothing was out of place.

The Attack

“Angels, divine beings that dwell in heavenly places,” said professor Williams as he looked at the images of some winged human-like creatures projected on the board behind him. “In various theistic religious traditions, an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. It is believed by some that Angels are celestial intermediaries between God and humanity.”

Drake raised a hand to indicate he had a question.

“Yes, Mr. Finchley,”

“If Angels are real, does that mean that-“

“demons are as well?” the professor interjected, “there is no scientific evidence of the existence of either of them. For the sake of this theology class, however, it is okay to believe that they do exist.”

As other students asked their questions about the supernatural, Jason began to feel like the world around him was swirling, his head became heavy and dizziness overwhelmed him. Voices were gradually fading away, and his vision was blurry.

Amber who was sitting next to him noticed he was struggling to stay awake so she tugged his sleeve and lightly pinched his hand. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he replied, massaging his eyeballs. Jason excused himself and headed to the restroom to wash his face, hoping he’d feel better after that. He stared at his reflection while wiping his face with a handkerchief. The faucet was still on. Jason turned it off and looked at the mirror again. It was then he caught the image of Mid-knight standing behind him and with a fearful gasp, he swiveled, only to discover that there was no one there.

His breath was heavy, fear had gripped him wholly. Mid-knight was messing with his head. But why? He was panting with both hands pressing over the rim of the solid surface sink which soon broke under his weight. The pieces scattered on the floor creating cracks and holes in the tiles. What were you saying about that increased strength?

The front door got kicked open and a lady rushed in,” Jason Orwell?” she halted before him, tensed up.

“Who wants to know?” he asked

“Consider me your guardian angel. You have to come with me. Now,” she replied.

“What, why?”

“Because your life is in grave danger.”

He sniggered, “Okay, lady I don’t know who you are or what games you’re playing but I’m not interested.” He walked past her.

“Those who killed your parents are coming to kill you,” she said after him.

Jason stopped at his pace, the statement had rung a bell in his head. His parents had been dead for twenty-three years and his uncle Stan wouldn’t tell him how they died. Stan was a father and more to Jason, he’d taken him in as a baby the night his brother, Jason’s dad and his wife were murdered by a demon whose human name was Freya. They did not go down so easily and as she expected, the fight was epic as they were worthy adversaries. Stan had run away with the infant, narrowly escaping death, and dreaded the day that Freya would come looking for the boy who still had no idea who he was, or what he was.

“Excuse me?”Jason turned to her.

Suddenly, the fire alarm came on and everyone began to evacuate the building. There was a loud noise outside the restroom, students were screaming with racing footsteps pounding against the floor.

“They’re here,” she said coldly.

He ignored her, rushing out to check what was on fire. The hallway was crowded with scared students and lecturers alike all running for their lives. Everywhere was in turmoil. He coughed at the smoke-choked air as he tried to ask what was in flames but none of the fleeing people even paid attention to him. Amber and Drake were nowhere to be found in the chaos. Soon, everyone cleared the building leaving him alone in the hallway.

Jason pushed forward against the crowd and traced the smoke to the theology class, hoping his friends weren’t trapped in there. He wondered where the strange lady from the restroom had vanished to all of a sudden. He rushed into the lecture hall, shouting his friends’ names one at a time. He covered his nose with the fabric on his sleeve. The raging flames died down gradually as he was about to leave since his friends obviously weren’t in there.

“Jason,…” an eerie feminine voice whispered in song form. He heard approaching footsteps coming down the series of long steps arranged like those in a theater. Eyes up, he saw a white-haired lady, “I have waited a long time to meet you.”She stopped somewhere on the seventh step as she sucked on a lollipop.

“Who are you?”

“Call me Freya,” she smirked and snapped her fingers. Two snarling hellhounds crouched in like predators preparing to launch an attack on their prey. One was at a distance by the entrance through which he’d come in and the other was by the exit to his far left, “You have your mother’s eyes. Now let’s see if you have your father’s courage. Attack,” she ordered her beasts and they charged in at him with frightening growls. Jason wanted to run but they were coming from both doors. He begged Freya to call back her angry dogs but she just stood there, smirking and licking her lollipop.

One of the beasts leaped toward Jason, flashing its canine and claws. Out of freight, the boy missed a step backward and almost fell. While struggling to gain balance, his arms flailed carelessly in the air and a powerful force came forth, slamming the beast halfway across the hall. Jason unintentionally flung a hand toward the other beast in an attempt to support himself and it also met the same fate.

Without wasting any time, he dashed out through the exit and they got back up, chasing after him. Jason ran faster than he’d ever run before. These weren’t dogs, no, they looked more like wolves but were almost five times the size of an average wolf. There was no time to think about how he did what he did back in the classroom; all he was more concerned about was survival. How would he outrun a wolf, let alone two?

His sneakers squeaked over the floor as he tripped after taking a sharp turn into another corridor. Where was his so-called guardian angel now that he was in desperate need of saving? He thought he looked stupid for flinging his arms in hopes of conjuring whatever power it was that saved him minutes ago. His attempt was futile.

The front door far ahead of him parted violently as a black motorcycle rode in speedily riding directly toward him. A short distance behind him, the rider hit the handbrake and the motorcycle screeched to an abrupt halt with its back tyre raised in the air. Seconds later, the raised tyre at a calculated swerve by the rider, rammed the closest beast in the face. The force was so strong that it knocked the hound off balance. It fell a couple of paces with a broken jaw. The back tyre landed and the rider planted her feet on the ground. Jason recognized that outfit- a checkered ash shirt and a pair of brown trousers. The helmet came off and her hair fell loose on her shoulders. It was the girl from the restroom.

“Well, don’t just stand there, hop on!” She took out a shotgun, cocked it, and fired three times at the other beast that was now coming at them. She missed the first shot, it weaved the second but the last one got it in the head and it immediately fell, lifeless with an open skull sprouting blood.

Jason held on to her waist from behind as she revved the engine and rode away.

Freya walked past the dead beast and bent over to sympathetically rub the furry head of the wounded one as it lay groaning in pain. Rising to her feet, she licked the lollipop and said to herself, “Next time, Jason. Next time.”

Story by Samuel Francis

Tags: crime tragic