Post by rorschach on Sept 15, 2009 14:11:32 GMT -5
Just a possible beginning to a story I've had rolling around my head for the past couple days. Let me know what you think.
“Sometimes, there exists a man whose very life is an affront to God, boy,” the old timer said as he stirred the campfire. “Hezekiah Jackson is such a man.” The youngster looked into the old man’s craggy face, but the old man’s flint gray eyes betrayed nothing. “What has he done?” the boy asked, genuinely curious about the monster they were chasing across the Badlands. The old man took a moment to respond, as if weighing whether or not he ought to tell what he knew, whether or not he ought to haunt this kid’s dreams forever with the grisly details of Jackson’s many crimes. He came to a decision, and began to speak.
“I think the more accurate question is, what hasn’t that cur done, boy. But I’ll tell you this: he’s raped, he’s tortured, he’s maimed, and hell, we know of at least one case where he out and out cannibalized someone….and those are just the children. You get told stories as a kid about things that haunt the night….well, I’d much rather run into one o’ them things than Hezekiah Jackson. I’d say it was my devine duty to send him into Satan’s waiting arms, but I am not so sure ol’ Nick would welcome the challenge to his crown. “ The old man poked at the fire again, and embers danced into the night air. “I won’t be the first to try and kill that son of a bitch. I surely won’t….but if there is a God above us, and I believe there is, he weeps every night that Hezekiah Jackson draws a breath, and I could do him no greater favor than to blast the stain of that evil bastard clean off of His Earth.”
“But why you? Does not the Bible say ‘Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord?” the boy asked, and from the granite set of the old man’s jaw, and the sudden fire in his eyes as he sat forward, he was immediately sorry he had done so. “The Lord?” the old man said, an ugly smile cracking his weathered face. “The Lord’s been running scared of Hezekiah Jackson for twenty years, and I do believe every angel in Heaven has too. That’s why it has to be me....because son, sometimes you have to send a demon in where angels fear to tread. “
The boy was suddenly and acutely aware that he was alone out here with this crazy old man, and he suddenly became very afraid. “Hell,” the old man said, a grim chuckle escaping his lips. “I might under other circumstances believe what you just said….leave the vengeance up to the Lord. But the way I see it, The Lord never lost a pregnant wife and a two month old daughter to that evil monster, so the job’s mine by default.”
“Sometimes, there exists a man whose very life is an affront to God, boy,” the old timer said as he stirred the campfire. “Hezekiah Jackson is such a man.” The youngster looked into the old man’s craggy face, but the old man’s flint gray eyes betrayed nothing. “What has he done?” the boy asked, genuinely curious about the monster they were chasing across the Badlands. The old man took a moment to respond, as if weighing whether or not he ought to tell what he knew, whether or not he ought to haunt this kid’s dreams forever with the grisly details of Jackson’s many crimes. He came to a decision, and began to speak.
“I think the more accurate question is, what hasn’t that cur done, boy. But I’ll tell you this: he’s raped, he’s tortured, he’s maimed, and hell, we know of at least one case where he out and out cannibalized someone….and those are just the children. You get told stories as a kid about things that haunt the night….well, I’d much rather run into one o’ them things than Hezekiah Jackson. I’d say it was my devine duty to send him into Satan’s waiting arms, but I am not so sure ol’ Nick would welcome the challenge to his crown. “ The old man poked at the fire again, and embers danced into the night air. “I won’t be the first to try and kill that son of a bitch. I surely won’t….but if there is a God above us, and I believe there is, he weeps every night that Hezekiah Jackson draws a breath, and I could do him no greater favor than to blast the stain of that evil bastard clean off of His Earth.”
“But why you? Does not the Bible say ‘Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord?” the boy asked, and from the granite set of the old man’s jaw, and the sudden fire in his eyes as he sat forward, he was immediately sorry he had done so. “The Lord?” the old man said, an ugly smile cracking his weathered face. “The Lord’s been running scared of Hezekiah Jackson for twenty years, and I do believe every angel in Heaven has too. That’s why it has to be me....because son, sometimes you have to send a demon in where angels fear to tread. “
The boy was suddenly and acutely aware that he was alone out here with this crazy old man, and he suddenly became very afraid. “Hell,” the old man said, a grim chuckle escaping his lips. “I might under other circumstances believe what you just said….leave the vengeance up to the Lord. But the way I see it, The Lord never lost a pregnant wife and a two month old daughter to that evil monster, so the job’s mine by default.”
