â⌠in the mists of the throne stood four beasts and a lamb.â
Revelation
A full moon hung overhead in the midnight sky. A light fog lingered waiting the dawning of a new day, as a scream went unanswered.
A woman lay on the ground backing away from a dark figure that was crouched on all fours. Tears streamed down her terrified face staining the collar of her shirt. Her eyes were wide with fear as the dark figure slowly approached her.
She couldnât believe what she was seeing; the figure opened its mouth revealing its many teeth. The beast lunged forward pinning her to the ground with a gigantic clawed hand. Her scream echoed again as its large teeth bit deep into her leg ripping meat from the bone.
It howled in response, bloody saliva dripping on to her bleeding leg. A claw tore open her leg as it began the tedious job of skinning her. Its other claw found her throat and her last scream died quickly in a gurgling hush.
The beast was careful as it pulled the skin and muscle from her bones. It was like a surgeon, cutting and stripping the meat from her corpse, until only two piles remained of the woman, one of meat and the other of bones.
With the job done, it took the tibia in its hand, careful not to fracture it and spill its contents, and broke just the tip off of one end. It held its prize high over its head and let out a guttural howl and slowly lowered the broken end to its open mouth. Its tongue licked the marrow from the bone much like a dog might with a bone. Crunching the bone little by little until there was nothing left of the bone and only then did it take up another bone. In similar ritualistic fashion it devoured every bone that lay in the pile until there was none left.
With its hunger satisfied for the moment it left, leaving the pile of meat and dried blood for the flies.
ĂĂĂ
Aaron slept while morning came, shining brightly in from the window into his bedroom. He tossed and turned; his bed soaked with sweat and piss. His head thrashed from side to side and he awoke with a scream.
Opening his eyes and peering around the room, he realized that everything was the same as it had always been. He looked into the mirror above his dresser and saw his terrified reflection looking back at him. The nightmares have gotten worse, he thought to himself, and he didnât know why.
It had been months since he left the hospital and hadnât the doctors told him to expect disturbing dreams? He looked down at his sheets seeing again the blood that plagued his dreams and not knowing where it came from.
He blinked and the blood was gone, replaced by urine and sweat. They had also told him to expect that as well, having a catheter up your piss hole for so long took its toll on your bladder control.
He had been in a bad car accident and died, so they told him, but they were able to bring him back. Aaron was clinically dead for only a minute or two, but that was long enough to give him these terrible dreams that literally scared the piss out of him.
On many occasions he tried to remember the dreams, but they were as elusive as his memories of the accident. The only image that he could recall was lying in a pool of his own blood. Every morning when he awoke with a scream, this is what he saw.
After throwing the soaked sheets into the corner with the pile of dirty clothes he went right for the shower. Today would be the first day back at work since the accident even though Bill, his boss, told him to take more time off. But Aaron had told him that he needed to get back into a rhythm, besides he hoped the distraction would stop the dreams.
Water began to fall from the shower, he always started the morning with a hot shower and today was no different. Steam clouded the small mirror over the sink were Aaron watched his reflection fade away. His mind was cloudy as the mirror was and he was prone to memory lapses now. Just small gaps now only a minute or two, but he was afraid that they would get bigger as time wore on and how would that look to Bill if it occurred on company time?
When the mirror was translucent Aaron wiped his hand across it revealing his green eyes. âEverything is going to be fine,â he told himself not believing the words even as he spoke them. He watched his reflection fade out quickly, vanishing again in the steam.
Aaron Jacob lived in the city of promise, New York City, and was a nobody in a city of nobodies. His fifteen minutes of fame had been only a side note on the local news broadcasts.
He was a writer working as an editor for The New England Publishing House. He hated reading through books written by others, but this was the only job that he could land after college. He slaved over the literary works of others because he hadnât made it big as a writer himself yet.
He had a few books to his name, but nothing that was going to get him a book deal. Not even his own publishing house would print one of his books and that made his work even more undesirable.
It was funny to him now; the job that he hated was his only salvation to the torment of his current situation. The sun reflected off the glass buildings as he emerged from his building into a sea of rushing people. Walking anywhere in New York was bad enough, Aaron couldnât imagine what it would be like to drive in this crazed city.
Aaron pressed his way toward the subway station, calculating the time it would take him to get to his destination and, like so many others on the street, he added a sense of urgency to his step.
ĂĂĂ
Even in the bright morning Jennifer could not believe that her cries for help went unanswered. She could see the street from where she lay. She could see the crowds of people rushing past the alley from where she and her attacker were.
She was laid out on the ground, her hands pinned and legs open. Her golden hair was matted with garbage and her torn blouse was stained with dirt and oil.
Her cries were rewarded with a painful hand across the cheek from the man that lay on her. Jennifer turned away from her attacker, who stank of liquor and onions, the smell almost choking her.
The blouse she wore hung from her sides exposing her quivering breast that he fondled with his free hand. His eyes devoured her, looking from her breasts to the skirt that she wore. His tongue hung out the corner of his mouth as he spoke to her.
