Absence of Faith (20 page)

"Kyle! Stop!" the dark figure
echoed.

The voice seemed to be coming from
everywhere. Kyle stopped and turned around. The man stepped into
the mercury orange light from the streetlight. It was the man he
saw in the restaurant, the man he saw in his dream, the man he saw
in his apartment.

"Who the hell are you?" Kyle
shouted.

"Kyle, you know this is evil. You
know the Magus is evil. Don't go," the voice echoed.

The man's face did not move and his
eyes remained fixed and trance-like.

"You're my..." the voice faded
away. Then the figure dropped back into the darkness and
vanished.

"Holy shit! What the hell is
happening to me?" Kyle darted off like a spooked deer back to his
car. When he opened the door to his apartment, he glanced at green
glowing numbers on the stove and saw it was 9:20 p.m.

"What's going on?" he shouted into
the empty apartment.

He couldn't account for the lost
time.

T
he rain
fell steadily in straight lines dashing all of Chantress' hopes of
getting to the beach that day with Kyle. The sky was covered in
dark gray clouds indicating that the rain would stay for hours. She
was sad because it would have been their first time together on the
beach and she felt in touch with nature lying on the hot sand and
listening to the roar of the waves. She looked forward to having
Kyle's hot skin touch hers, to his touch as he rubbed suntan lotion
all over her, to his kisses and his contained passion. She was
still wearing the black T-back bathing suit she purchased
especially for him. Her thoughts excited her. She stared at the
long silver slivers of rain hitting the bay window and dripping off
like endless tears - tears for the sun. She was anxious for Kyle to
arrive - they had planned to spend the afternoon in her house since
her parents had gone to their vacation home in the Pocono Mountains
in nearby Pennsylvania.

She watched every car hoping that
Kyle's would be the next one. Then a green car appeared and she
watched it slowly make its way up the suburban street. She watched
him pull into the driveway and try to duck the rain as he ran to
the front porch. The doorbell chimed its familiar sound and
Chantress got up.

"Hi," she said as she opened the
door.

"Hi," Kyle said looking her over
from head to toe.

"I bought it just for you," she
said turning around to model her backside.

"Wow! I love it!"

"Me, too," she replied breathing
the words instead of speaking them.

"Come on in."

She led him to the living room sofa
and they kissed long and hard, then she stood up.

Kyle took hold of one of her
shoulder straps and moved it down. He did the same with the other,
then grabbed the suit and pulled it down to her ankles. He
undressed quickly and they embraced.

"Now, I want you to put suntan
lotion all over me," she said. "Then I'll put it on
you."

Kyle looked at her
strangely.

"Well, if we can't have the beach
and the sun, we can pretend," she explained matter-of-factly.
"Besides, the smell of suntan lotion makes me horny."

"Anything you say," he
said.

Kyle grabbed the large brown bottle
of lotion and squirted some on her shoulders. He worked his way
down from there slowly rubbing the lotion into her smooth, silky
skin. He moved down her back to her backside and rubbed there for a
long time. Then he turned her around and squirted more lotion on
her shoulders. His hands worked downward. When his hands reached
her thighs, she pulled him close to her and down onto the
sofa.

"What about me?" Kyle
asked.

"What?" she breathed
out.

"You didn't do me!" Kyle
protested.

"I am doing you!" she
replied.

She pulled him into her and they
made love several times. When they had finished, Kyle got up and
looked at the family photos on the fireplace mantel.

"Is that really you?" Kyle said
staring at a photo of Chantress and her parents at the beach taken
a few years ago.

Chantress had short hair with
yellow streaks and wore black lipstick.

"Don’t look at that. That was my
ugly stage."

"I think you were cute."

"Thanks. I think you are,
too."

"Whoa! Look at that! I’ve never
seen a gun with a barrel that long!" Kyle said looking at the .44
magnum stainless revolver locked in a glass case in the middle of
the mantel.

"That’s my dad’s. It's his prized
possession. He's won several tournaments with it."

"Why is the barrel so long? It
looks hard to hold."

"I think for accuracy and speed.
It's a target shooting gun. You wouldn’t hunt with it or use it for
self defense."

"How do you know so
much?"

"My, dad, he took me to all the
competitions. I guess he really wanted a son and since I was a
tomboy growing up, I was the next best thing."

"Do you still go now?"

"No. My dad doesn’t shoot much
anymore. He’s into golf now. We should go upstairs and
shower."

"Okay."

She led him upstairs to the
bathroom and they got into the shower together.

"Can you stay the night?" she said
while she washed his lower body.

"Yeah," he said barely getting the
word out.

They lathered each other into a
frenzy, and let their love flow like the constant streams of water
that bounced off their soft bodies. After the shower, they lay on
the bed and slept. When they awoke several hours later, Chantress
prepared a salad and put a pot of water on the stove to boil some
spaghetti while Kyle read the sports page of the local Ocean
Village newspaper,
The Sentinel
.

"You know, the Mets have never had
a fair shake," he said. "Since day one they have been the
underdogs."

"What do they play basketball?"
Chantress asked.

"I can see you're a big fan," he
said. "Baseball."

"Oh."

Kyle finished the sports section,
and then turned the paper over and glanced at the front-page
headlines. The lead headline caught his eye.

Pastor dies at Bingo then
burns
Parishioners flee in panic

By Julie Watson
Ocean Village Sentinel
Special to The Associated Press

OCEAN VILLAGE - A retired pastor
died at a Bingo game Friday at Ocean Village Methodist Church,
sparking a stampede, resulting in the injury of five senior
citizens.

Pastor Herbert Wilcox, formerly of
the Grace United Methodist Church of Red Bank, died yesterday while
speaking before the Friday night Bingo crowd at church here on
First Avenue.

More than 100 parishioners fled the
church in a panic when the pastor's skin began to mysteriously burn
and blister. The fleeing crowd trampled five seniors and three
suffered minor injuries, according to a representative at Ocean
Village Hospital.

Many of the fleeing parishioners
claimed it was the work of Satan, and that the pastor was taken to
hell, according to an eyewitness.

"It's definitely the Devil," said
Homer Whitehead of Atlantic Avenue. "His skin burned black - that's
all the proof I need. The Devil took him to hell, and if he can get
a pastor, then he can get anybody."

The pastor's body has been taken to
Ocean Village Hospital for an autopsy, but the results are not
available at this time, a hospital representative said.

The representative had no comment
when asked about the pastor's skin.

In a related report, an Ocean
Village woman claimed she died, went to hell, and came back with
burnt skin as proof of her journey.

Mrs. Martha Whitehead of Atlantic
Avenue said she was taken to hell by the devil.

"I was there. I know I was there.
The devil is going to get us all," she said. "This is the end of
the world."

An Ocean Village Hospital doctor,
who declined to be identified, reported several cases of
unexplainable near death experiences, where patients claimed they
went to hell.

The mysterious symptoms have been
labeled, the Hellfire Syndrome, and include being pronounced
clinically dead, coming back to life with burnt skin, and having
memories of entering a dark tunnel and falling downward, according
to the doctor.

The origin of the symptoms is not
known at this time, according to the doctor.

"Many patients have awoken
hysterical, claiming that they went to hell. All develop burnt
skin, similar to severe sunburn shortly after they awaken," the
doctor said.

One religious leader reportedly
said, "This is definitely the beginning of the end of religion as
we know it."

(See related story on Page
3)

Kyle opened to page
three.

Hundreds of seniors
flock to hospital; 2 die

By Julie Watson
Ocean Village Sentinel
Special to Associated Press

OCEAN VILLAGE - An elderly couple
from Cherry Blossom Boulevard was killed last night in a stampede
of seniors who rushed to Ocean Village Hospital in a panic claiming
they were fearful of dying, according to police.

The crowd swarmed the hospital
emergency room demanding to be admitted for ailments as minor as
the common cold, according to hospital staff.

The crowd pushed on the emergency
doors until the glass burst sending a couple through the doors
killing them, police said.

John and Mary McBride were
pronounced dead on the scene and 5 others reported broken limbs and
multiple cuts, according to a hospital spokesman.

"The devil is going to get us all!"
Mrs. Jerry Washburn shouted from the unruly crowd. "We need to be
in the hospital to make sure we don't die."

Many seniors said that they wanted
to be in the hospital so that when they became ill, the hospital
staff was immediately available to prevent complications and death.
Many said they would pay anything. One man reportedly told the
staff they could have his house as long as he could stay in the
hospital.

"Satan has regained his power and
he is more powerful than God now. He has taken some of us already,"
explained Homer Whitehead of Atlantic Avenue. "He took Pastor
Wilcox and he almost got my wife! The poor pastor burned right in
front of our eyes!"

Mr. Whitehead's wife, Martha, had a
near death experience and claimed she was pulled into a fiery hell.
When she regained consciousness, her skin began to burn and
blister, according to Mr. Whitehead.

The mysterious symptoms have been
labeled, the Hellfire Syndrome, and include being pronounced
clinically dead, coming back to life with burnt skin, and having
memories of entering a dark tunnel and falling downward, according
to a hospital doctor, who refused to be identified. Other cases
have occurred throughout the county, sources said.

However, Doctor Matthew Stokes,
chief of staff at Ocean Village, and Doctor Carson Hyll, a
neurologist, said an undetectable and mysterious disease that
attacks the nervous system, and later skin cells has caused the
symptoms.

"No one is going to hell and coming
back," Doctor Hyll said. "The burnt skin is a symptom of the
disease and the experience is a chemical imbalance in the brain due
to the disease."

Doctor Hyll told the crowd that the
symptoms were caused by a medical problem since he was ill with it
six weeks ago and had the same reactions.

"Everyone is jumping to
conclusions," he said. "I know there is a medical explanation for
all of this. The devil is not rising up and taking souls to
hell."

Doctor Stokes, a town elder and
former mayor, said he agreed with Doctor Hyll.

"There is nothing to worry about.
In all my years as a physician, I am sure we'll find a medical
explanation," Doctor Stokes said.

Kyle put the newspaper down and
stared out the window.

"What's the matter?" Chantress
asked.

Kyle remained silent and
trance-like. Chantress went over to him and brought her face close
to his.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

His eyes were threatening, empty,
and cold. A chill ran through her like an icy river. She had seen
this look before in some of the Satanists, especially in the Magus
and it frightened her. It was as if a blackness was seeping into
him, taking control of his inner being.

Kyle did not respond and then
suddenly jumped up shouting as if a bolt of lightning had struck
him.

"That's it! That's it! Hannibal
will love it! This is so great!"

Chantress' frowned and her eyes
grew darker.

"Where did you hear that name?" she
said coldly.

"What name?"

"Hannibal," she replied, her eyes
burning with anger.