The Tapestry (5 page)

    Sandra couldn’t help wanting to go and talk to the man, she was on a night out with the girls and they
had made a strict pact of no boys tonight. It was due to Becky's recent harsh treatment from her now ex boyfriend Marcus. It seemed he was only with her for a free ride as he was unemployed and always sponged off her. After her recent layoff at the paper shredding company she had worked at for the last six months he unceremoniously dumped her and moved in with one of her friends (
also ex now)
and will undoubtedly repeat the cycle again with her.

    So tonight was about getting Becky out and having a bit of fun, in fact getting wasted was more like it if Sandra and Shelley had anything to do with it. Boys were off the menu for this evening but,
there was something about that guy.
He hadn’t said a word to anybody since he came in apart from Jackie behind the bar and that was just to order a drink. She didn't know what it was but she knew everyone was talking about him, asking who he was, where had he came from?

   
Unaware she was doing it, she was biting her bottom lip and her breathing had become heavier whilst gripping the top of the bar stool she had perched herself on since she had seen him, she could not seem to take her eyes off him. The air around her seemed to be getting denser as if it were closing in on her which was making her breathing heavier. She could see he was looking straight at her and (
were his eyes purple?)
his eyes seemed to be drawing her in but she felt rooted to the spot. She had never felt like this before, she felt intoxicated with something but it wasn’t alcohol, she could hear her own heart beating rhythmically in her head. The music and the chatter in the bar became muffled. There was a new aroma too; it was a heavy and sickly sweet scent which was so thick she could actually taste it and with every breath was making her feel more drawn to this strange intoxicating man that she had never seen before tonight.

    Shelley brushed her leg on the way down, she had also been in this weird trance like state gazing into the stranger’s eyes but her heart had not quite been
strong enough, at least not strong enough to substitute alcohol for blood as that is all they would find in her veins when they did the autopsy. Her blood had somehow been replaced with alcohol.
(When they tested they would find that it was Courvoisier VSOP)

    Sandra hardly noticed
this; all she did see was Becky. She was moving towards the stranger as if to go and sit with him. That broke her free from her trance, she felt as if she had been released and the only thing on her mind was that Becky wasn’t having him. In her mind she had already staked the flag saying MINE.

    There was no conscious thought of what happened next, it just happened. She threw herself at her friend screamin
‘get away, get away bitch’. The friends fell to the floor scratching at each others eyes and necks. The crowd in the bar seemed not to notice them at all. One chap even stepped over them to get to the karaoke area as he was next up to sing.

    Becky's broken glass inserted nice and smoothly into the soft skin of Sandra's neck. Becky twisted it and plunged it further in till Sandra’s screams were nothing more than gargles as blood poured from her neck and out
of her mouth onto Becky's face.

    By now Sandra should have been dead in a bloody heap on the floor of the bar but somehow she still had the energy inside her to ensure that if she wasn’t leaving with the stranger then neither would Becky. She
pulled at the large piece of glass that was embedded in her neck till it was free. It took three full force stabbing motions into her friends stomach before she realised she was dying...
and she was killing her friend.

    The strange man smiled at her as he got up and walked out of the bar. It was no longer a sexy smile
.

    The air seemed lighter as he left along with the sickly sweet aroma. The friends looked at each other with their last breaths not knowing what had happened or why but wishing they had stuck to their pact...
No boys tonight.

                                              
CHAPTER EIGHT

    Saul was overflowing with what you might call a demonic hysteria. The insane twisted noise that should have been a laugh was heard for miles... yet it made no sound. Not a sound that could be heard with human ears. It was heard by the human soul that dwells within each and every one of us and at that point everyone within range of that sound, just stopped dead... too scared to move, frozen with fright to the spot. That chill you get down the back of your neck like an icy hand on a hot body. The cold sweat of true fear, like a rabbit in the headlights gripped hold of the people of Manchester for what seemed like an eternity.

    No one knew what had happened or why but when the hand let go. Nobody mentioned it, the soul knew and knew it was too much for the earth bound body to bear so it protected Gods children
, as it always does, for that is the purpose of the soul. The people of Manchester carried on as if nothing had happened.

    The demon had laughed because he had taken a ride with his apprentice and was
more than pleased with what he had seen. He knew Gavin would not have waited to bring the victim back to the warehouse. His thirst for the dark powers was too strong to let him wait. He saw no need for punishment, he had done what was requested of him and more... he was going to be useful...very useful.

    When Gavin returned to the warehouse
(although it still resembled a very plush hotel)
Saul was sat in a very large wing back chair by one of the pillars in front of the bar. He was dressed in the suit that betrayed the shadows and belied the very light that Gavin walked into.

    He
rose from the chair and wore his most magnificent
(I’m proud of ya son)
smiles as he strode over and grabbed Gavin by the hand as if to shake it, but when the mystical man held his hand a surge of energy shot through his arm.

    ‘Close your eyes and follow me
, this is your reward’

Gavin did follow him but he didn’t have to move to do so, he followed him through the catacombs of his own mind. Saul showed him the man that he once was. Gavin was a sick man before he met Saul. This
, he had not known, he walked through the passages of his own mind with Saul. The passages were long and they stunk of failure and disease. Not a smell one can normally detect but Gavin was healed now and he was thankful for that. There were doors on either side of them running along with only a promise of light from little gas lamps on the walls, about a hundred doors on each side, with corridors running off in a hundred directions. There were an endless number of twisted staircases leading to other levels of his mind. The walls and doors were brown and slimy, the ground beneath their feet was wet, there was a constant dripping from all around. It was as if the place had not been well maintained at all. As they walked along Gavin would stop and put his ear to each door to listen. There were banshee type screams coming from one room and from another room all Gavin could hear was crying, mutterings from another. Saul stopped at one door and invited Gavin to open it. He put his ear to the door.

    What he heard took him back to the
bad place
, some of us would call it childhood, but he called it the
bad place
. He knew what was on the other side of that door.

   
‘How is this my reward... bringing me here to the dark doors of my past which I have locked away forever... tell me.’ he cried ‘How is this a reward’ he shouted again. He turned to leave although in that instant he realised his folly.
How could he leave his own mind? He didn’t even know how he had got there in the first place
so he was grateful when Saul spoke and laid his hand on Gavin’s arm to stay him, before he could confuse himself even further.

   
‘You are here because until you know the child you were... then you will never be the man that you deserve to be. Remember this; I am the only one you have trusted ever. Do you want to know why that is? I can show you.’

    Gavin knew better than
to question Saul. He was right; he was the only one he had trusted apart from his beloved. He put his hand on the door knob which was dripping with a black slime that was cold to the touch yet it seemed to be alive in some way. The black slime oozed over his hand and formed itself into the shape of a padlock which had somehow locked his hand to the door. He tried to pull away but his hand was now part of the door, part of the lock. Was this a trap? He trusted Saul and yet he was now stuck here. He pulled and pulled but to no avail. What was going on?

    ‘What is this? You said I could trust you. Why have you done this to me?’

‘Don't worry’ answered Saul, his voice was uncharacteristically soft. ‘This is a defence mechanism that you have put in place yourself to stop you looking back on your past, or “
the bad place
” as you call it, all your childhood memories are behind that door and you never wanted it opened once you had locked them away. All you have to do is realise that you are a man now and your childhood is of no consequence to who you are going to become. Realise that and the door will open for you.’

    He knew his Stepfather was on the other side of that door with his Mum and he felt scared. Not scared of what he would do now because he knew he could no longer be hurt by such a man. But he was scared of what he might see. He had seen so many horrific things in the bad place. He had done so many horrific things and had them done to him that he didn't want to see. That is why this door was locked.

    ‘Why do I have to see this, I don’t want to see this please don’t make me’ Gavin begged.

   
‘And what of the man who is behind this door?’ Saul asked. ‘Should he get away with his crimes because you are too scared to confront him? If you can’t confront him in your mind then you will never be able to exact revenge on him in reality will you’ he bellowed ‘And I have walked the halls of your mind Gavin, I have seen what you want to do to this, this dirty, cowardly little man. I have given you the power to do this. But first you must rid yourself of your irrational fear of this man. I am only trying to help you but you must help me to do that. Become a man and walk through that door. Open the door. Break the lock... only you can do it, focus on the lock and see it falling away. After all, it’s all in your mind’

    Gavin felt a surge of hatred run through his body from his toes up to the hairs on his head, he once again realised Saul was right. How could he ever take his revenge on him if this man were to reign over
the corners of his own mind? He needed to break the lock and confront him. He focused his thoughts on the lock which was writhing around his hand. He pictured it snapping and falling to the floor with a clang. It didn't so much fall to the floor but withdraw back into the door screaming in pain as it did so. An even blacker substance heralded from its ooze. He pulled his hand free.

   ‘How do you feel?’ asked Saul

    ‘I feel good’ replied Gavin as he laid his hand on the door knob again. This time it turned.

                                 
                 
CHAPTER NINE

    Aha... I see the bedside lamp is still keeping you company, don’t tell me it’s just to help you read. We both know its true purpose. You want to see the shadows when they come for you... and who can blame you? But think on this. Do you really want to see the shadows in all their glory, knowing they are coming for you? Do you really want to see the armies of hell marching to your door with nothing but bloodlust in their feverish twisted minds, or would it be better to sit in blind ignorance: I hear they say it is bliss.

    Maybe you think you’ll be able to run away like the scared little rabbit that you are? But rabbits are often frozen in the oncoming headlights that become portents of
its very doom.

    Well don’t
worry; I’m keeping the shadows from your door a little while longer. After all, I can’t tell my story to a corpse now can I? Well maybe I could but I don’t think it would be as much fun. No I am only visiting with you again to tell you the story of Clara.

    Clara
had seen a lot of terrible things in her fifty years on Gods Earth and a lot of beautiful things. Unfortunately for her the terrible outweighed the beautiful as Clara had a gift that had been passed on through the family line. She was what some of us might call a psychic or a fortune teller.