Drowning the Demon
by MR
I'm an uncover-type guy. A people-watcher. I've
learned how to read'em like a book. I know what to
say and who to say it to and just how loud to whisper.
Kinda funny really, they think they've got me so
snowed and I know what's going on better than they do.
I was there, man. I lived it. Pretty crappy
experience all around, but hey, life's a bitch and
then you die.
Dr. Chu wouldn't let them drug me last night. So now
I remember it all. Couldn't remember it before cause
the shit they gave me kept me from dreaming. But now
I remember and I know what I gotta do.
And I know just the person to help me get what I need.
Denny O'Brian, one of the night orderly's. Wears a
St. Christopher medal and a crucifix. Kept crossing
himself when I was telling them 'bout the Fraser
Monster. He believes. Rest of them just shake their
heads and mutter about delusions and persecution
complexes and paranoia. But Denny, he believes in
true evil. He knows I'm not just flappin' my jaws. He
knows the Fraser Monster's real.
Read my chart on the sly this morning, found out
Fraser's dead. Really dead. The real Fraser's really
dead, and it sure's hell wasn't me or Dief that tore
his throat out. Know who did, saw it happen, just
didn't wanna remember. But I dreamed about it last
night.
Wish I hadn't. But I'll live with it for now.
I cornered Denny after breakfast and started working
on him, playin' to his fears, his belief in evil.
Good Catholic boy Denny. He can get me what I need.
Not sure he doesn't think I'm a couple a bricks shy of
a load, but he's afraid to take on the Fraser Monster
himself. Like I told him; once it gets rid a me,
it'll be coming for everyone else.
But I can stop it. I can save him and everyone else.
All he has to do is get me what I want. Small price
to pay for being alive. He could lose his job if they
find out, but it's a helluva lot easier to get another
job than to come back from the dead.
I can guarantee you he'll come through. Not gonna
risk getting his scrawny neck snapped by something
from the Twilight Zone. Not when someone else's
willin' to do it for him.
Talked to Dr. Chu for nearly three hours this
afternoon. She's a good doctor, really smart, and
that's her biggest problem. She's got the autopsy
report now. She knows there's no way I could've killed
Fraser, but she can't think outside the box. In her
world there has to be a rational explanation for what
happened
So she knows I didn't murder him; now she thinks I
must've seen who did and that's what made me crazy.
And she's right in a way; I saw 'what' did it, and it
sure's hell made me crazy, but there's no way she
could accept the truth. She's too smart to believe
it.
I told her 'bout Fraser and my's adventure. Didn't go
into too much detail, cause there's a lot of stuff she
wouldn't understand. Fraser's father hanging around
all that time, for instance. Wish he'd told me about
it before, 'cause there were days I was pretty sure
one or both of us were crazy. Didn't mention our
visits with the First Nation people. Learned a lot
from them. Some of it didn't make much sense at the
time, but I think they knew what was gonna happen
when we got back to Chicago. So they prepared me for
it best they could. If I ever see'em again, I'll have
to remember to say thanks.
I feel kinda bad lying to Dr. Chu, but I can't risk
her deciding I need to be locked up and shot full a
happy juice. Glad she won't be here later tonight.
Wanna keep as many innocent people as possible outta
the crossfire. The monster's my problem now. The
final showdown'll be just him and me.
My boy Denny came through like I figured he would.
Slipped me the stuff after supper. "Mr. Kowalski," he
says, "what if it doesn't work?"
And I just smiled and told him not to worry. Cause if
it doesn' work all the "Hail Mary's" in the world
aren't gonna save any of us.
Lights out at ten, and I make sure to lie down and
snuggle under the covers. They check us every
half-hour so I figure he'll be here before 10:30. And
I'm waiting for him now; sitting in the chair in a
corner with the bottle in one hand and the gun in the
other. Denny couldn't quite figure why I needed both
of'em, but I told’im to trust me. Didn't find it
necessary to let him know only one of'em's for the
Fraser Monster.
I'm an undercover-type guy. Know all about making
sure there's an emergency exit.
Don't ask me how I know he's here. Change in the air
maybe. But I can feel him coming, getting closer, and
then he's right outside the door. The doors here are
thick wood, at least 4", with heavy steel hinges and
double locks. Like that's gonna keep him out.
And like I figured, he rips the door off the hinges.
I think he could just step through it if he wanted,
but something tells me he likes grand gestures. Gotta
show everyone how mean and tough and bad he is. He
could've just pulped me like a pancake but that would
a been too easy, so he raped me. I'm kinda surprised
he settled for tearing Fraser's throat out; strikes me
more as the type that'd eviscerate him.
Funny thing, how he tears the door off the hinges
without making any noise. Shit Ray, he's a monster.
He can do whatever he fucking wants.
"Hello, Ray," he says, and in the dim glow from the
hallway I can see he still looks like Fraser. If
Fraser'd ever had glowing red eyes. He looms in the
door staring at me and I stare right back at'im.
Makes him mad.
"Don't you have anything to say to your old friend
Fraser?" He steps into the room and the smell hits
me. Jesus! Smelled that a couple times before;
bodies left lyin' dead too long in a warm room.
I pull myself together and look at him. "Got a couple
things I'd like to say to Fraser. Just not real sure
how to get messages to the afterlife."
He grins, and I realize the longer he stands there the
more the monster's bleeding through the Fraser
disguise. Sucker's got scary teeth. "You could
always deliver it personally." And he comes a little
closer.
"Yeah, I probably could." I'm tensing up now. Check
to make sure the bottle's still in my right hand.
"But ya know I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that.
Knowing you were wandering around hurtin' people, I
mean."
He laughs, and now he isn't Fraser anymore. Can't
quite make out exactly 'what' he is, but it's big
enough to block the light from the hallway. "And what
are you going to do about it, Ray?" His voice is the
voice from my dream, the voice that kept whispering to
me while he raped me. "Skinny little thing like you?
You couldn't stop me then and you can't stop me now."
"Think so?" I stand up and thumb the lid off the
bottle. "How many days it been since you killed
Fraser? Bet you're getting thirsty again, huh? Have
a drink on me." And I let'er fly.
Bullseye! The Holy water hits him right in the face.
For just a second nothing happens, and I'm thinking
I'm gonna be seeing Frase a lot sooner than I planned,
but then 'he' screams. Long and loud and hard. Hands
that don't feel like hands at all reach out and grab
me. He pulls me close, and the smell alone's enough
to kill you. And for one long instant I can see his
face melting; can see what he 'really' looks like.
Then he lets go of me and sorta folds in on himself,
like the Wicked Witch of the West, and all the time
he's screeching loud enough to wake the dead.
They find me there a few minutes later, sitting in the
middle of this big puddle of crap. I look at them and
I know I've got a gleam in my eye that ain't quite
natural cause one of the night nurses mumbles "Oh my
God!" and runs off to call Dr. Chu.
"Mr. Kowalski?" It's Denny. He's edged a little
closer to me than the rest of'em. He looks at me and
the mess I'm sitting in and smiles. "It worked, huh?"
And I smile back, cause I know there's still one more
thing I gotta do. "It half worked, Denny." I say,
then I look at the rest of'em and take a minute to
realize that I know what they're thinkin', how fuckin'
scared they are right now and God, isn't that a rush?
Then I look back at Denny. "There's just one more
thing I gotta do." And I reach around behind me and
take the gun outta the back of my scrub pants and put
it against my head. "Tell Dr. Chu I'm sorry, will ya?
I wanted to tell her the truth but there's no way she
would've believed it." Then I pull the trigger and
the tangle of other people's thoughts screaming in my
mind explodes, and I smile. Gonna be seein' Fraser
again soon. The "real" Fraser this time.
FIN
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