Something Evil Comes This Way

Once in a while there comes a time when pure evil must come to exist. However, it is not necessarily always a bad thing.

We were running, trying to find a way to get away from something tormenting us. Not something evil, but something malevolent, something with the intent to hurt, to cause pain. At every turn it would be there, destroying, threatening. Anything that offered a chance of refuge, or a sign of hope, would be broken before there was a chance to use it. It was so difficult keeping track of everyone, making sure everyone was okay. It would’ve been easier if I was on my own.

I tried hiding things I found, so that I could bring everyone back, to make a stand, or to escape. I found a car with the supplies in the trunk. I drove it to an obscure place in a field nearby. I found a weapon of some sort, seemed as though it would help. I hid it in a vine-choked corner of the masonry. It seemed to be watching everywhere. I could visualize these things being found and destroyed, and along with it any hope we had of survival.

It was then that something even more evil animated it self. First it was the smallest speck of black. It then took on the shape of something more like a pointed fingernail, which eventually produced the hand behind it. The hand made its way to our assailant, and delivered a jab with its fingertip. The tormentor became the tormented, as it began to howl in pain. It clutched its side and fell prostrate, lying on its side, clutching its new wound. However, the hand didn’t stop there. It made its way towards the mottled face. Its fingers opened the shut eyelids, but with some fighting resistance, they closed tightly, still screaming on the ground. The eyelids were eventually wrenched open, and with another jab, it was rendered blind.

Copyright: Galerie Bernhard Knaus and Daniele Buetti

With these two locked in combat, it was our only chance to get away. Needless to say, we took a run for it, never looking back. There’s no way I’d ever return to that place, knowing what saved us, and knowing that it had the ability to do much worse.

Not based on cognizant events. Props to Ray Bradburry.