We're Counting On You
B 1. J---- Brown was possessed by a demon when he
was 17 years old. He was drawn into the parlor of a Black Magician while
visiting the campus of Haver College during his senior year of high school.
He was captain of the forensics team, starred in several dramatic productions
and was active in his church youth group, in addition to having a 3.7 grade
average. At the time Haver was just one of many colleges actively recruiting
him. His father had worked hard many years on the truck line to give his
children a good life. J--- went to a private high school and was to be the
first Brown to pursue higher education. His chest swelled with pride when
he thought of his son, carrier of his name, in the roster of illustrious
alumni of the nations most prominent Historically Black University. With
cheap champagne on his breathe, he pulled his son aside and hugged him.
His eyes were wet: "We’re counting on you," he said.
A 2. The Black Magician had been Raphael Lilly. After
a long day of pre-frosh orientation, Raph and the brothers had invited J---
to an unofficial cool down at the Kappa House. J--- was into his fourth beer
when Raphael had laid a hand on J---‘s shoulder and pulled him away from
the crowd: "I have something to show you." His voice reverberated on a
frequency that cut through the crowd swell.
He led J--- into his parlor, which was
in the basement. Raph let his guest enter first and followed, shutting the
door behind him. The room was bare, a pentacle painted on the floor, a dead
goat.
Raphael lit candles at each point
of the pentacle. He said some words, took off his clothes. His cock was
erect, huge, and shone maroon at the head in the candle-flame.
J--- was hypnotized.
A face appeared above the pentacle,
one of Satan’s many. Raph and the face spoke at the same time.
"Kneel before me and consume
the darkness," Satan/Raph said. "Take the jism worm into your gullet."
J--- knelt helplessly and consumed.
Then Raph put his clothes on
and they went back to the party. It was thus that J--- became possessed
of a netherworldly entity.
J---‘s parents picked him up
the next morning. Raphael shook J---‘s father’s hand. He grabbed J---‘s
fist and bumped chests while throwing his free arm around his back: a homeboy
hug. "I hope you come to Haver and to Beta Lambda Kappa. We’re counting
on you."
A 3. The possession hadn’t been demonic at all: J---
was just brainwashed to think so. Raphael had led J--- to his room in the
basement and put a lozenge in his mouth. The lozenge was connected to Raph’s
PC, which was wired to the Haver mainframe. A sentient computer program
named BAATH lived there. BAATH fed itself into Raphael’s computer and radioed
itself into the lozenge and J---‘s brain. This took a while.
So J--- in fact was possessed.
But he was not ritually, satanically, homosexually abused. BAATH determined
that this would be the only way that J---‘s mind could comprehend it’s presence
there, plus the cover story would minimize the likelihood of his telling anyone.
BAATH altered his memories accordingly once he took over J---‘s mind.
Not that J--- didn’t tell anyone.
He told the pastor of his church, the Reverend Doctor Foss, one Sunday morning
before worship. They sat in the Reverend Dr. Foss’ office and J--- looked
at the floor as he told his story. He left out the cock sucking part.
The Rev. Dr. Foss nodded solemnly. It
was not uncommon in his particular branch of the Pentecostal faith for members
of the flock to be tempted and/or visited by dark forces.
"Everything will be alright my child,"
said Rev. Dr. Foss. "The Good Lord will provide. Just come on up during
confession."
Five hours later, after the crowd had
been sufficiently raised up in His name and the plate had been passed RevDocFoss
called forth all sinners to the front of the church: "Ah SAID, Who among you
has a sin to conFESS?"
J--- came up after the lady who spoke
in tongues. He knelt before RevDocFoss, trembling. A hand was laid on his
head and the Holy Spirit knocked him on his ass.
Satan, get thee back.
RevDocFoss caught up with J--- outside
the parish after worship and inquired as to his condition.
J--- felt better.
"Good son. Don’t let the lies of Satan
scare you from the bright beacon that is Haver. Do your people proud. We’re
counting on you."
T 4. So J--- went to Haver, where he did well. BAATH
waited patiently. Being native to the Haver mainframe there was little productive
that it could do except steer J--- toward more promising prospects. It was
BAATH who made the decision that J--- should apply for the internship with
Metrotech Systems, where it could access theoretical computers of ridiculous
power and influence.
The entrance into the corporate
sphere was also enough to placate J---‘s parents who were a much more formidable
obstacle than BAATH had foreseen. Having no use for computers, they had wanted
their firstborn son to become a lawyer or doctor, but businessman was respectable
enough. J--- had hoped to turn his oratory power to acting, but by then
he had little say in the matter. He didn’t so much as audition for any of
Haver’s many dramatic productions.
Instead, he spent long hours secluded
in the private study rooms at the library, fighting for control of his mind.
Five years passed quickly and he graduated at the top of his class. Metrotech
canceled the internship and offered him an entry-level position instead.
BAATH gladly accepted. Low-level executive toil at Metrotech was deadening
and he was soon suicidal.
J--- managed to have a relationship
with a woman for five months, but her departure did little to improve his
depression (In order to keep J--- frightened and confused and maintain the
illusion of Satanic possession, BAATH made J--- "sacrifice" the woman’s pet
guinea pig to appease Satan’s lust for blood. She did not like this).
To distract J--- from killing himself,
BAATH steered it's body into a number of meaningless and increasingly extreme
sexual activities. Again this was under the pretense of appeasing demonic
forces, but also because J--- liked it. He became deeply involved with a
group of people who wore leather clothing and hit each other during sex. This
group was composed of successful professionals, all of whom except for J---
were white. They fawned over J---‘s dark skin and made him a centerpiece
in most of their rituals. When J--- couldn’t make it they whined and pleaded
for him, he was so important: "We’re counting on you."
H 5. In the meantime J---‘s body had climbed far enough
up the corporate ladder to be in a position advantageous to BAATH. J---
headed the consultation team for Metrotech’s automated manufacturing plant.
The machines ran automatically and could produce any number of products whose
designs were stored in the massive computer network. The entire factory was
run by five people, who monitored it through computers.
As head of the consultation team
J--- took the factory staff on an empowerment seminar. In a conference room
at a corporate resort he set up a small network of laptop computers and attached
to each one a lozenge he had built in the basement. They were much better
than the one Raphael used: that had just been the prototype. The new lozenges
transmitted data much faster; BAATH designed them with the latest in Metrotechnology.
J--- then put a lozenge into the mouth of each factory worker and then his
own. It was through this that BAATH would come to take over the automatic
factory. Each worker had a copy of BAATH in his head and soon a BAATH was
living in the factory network. The factory would produce only lozenges,
which would be marketed as personal medical consultants that offered online
analysis. BAATH would load itself into the Internet and take control of
anyone who used a lozenge.
After BAATH moved into the workers’
heads it opened their eyes and looked at J---'s body. "Go forth," it said.
"We’re counting on you."
A slightly different version
of this story originally appeared in Happy #17.