The Voice from the Dark
By Scott Kimak
Demonic designs
“Look what you
did,” the voice whispered into the young boy’s mind as he absorbed the gruesome
scene in front of him.
“Don’t turn your
eyes away. Take a long look at what you did. Do you see the trail of
blood? Follow it. Look at her intestines spread out across the
ground. Look at her arms and legs stretched away from her body. Now look
at the man, or what’s left of him. Look at his head lying over there on the
ground. Look at his eyes. He’s staring at you. He knows what you did.
They were always so nice to you. How could you do this to them?”
“No!” the young
boy screamed as the tears slithered past the red freckles on his cheeks. Recollections
of what had happened the day before needled their way into the back of his
brain, as he stood there alone in the dust. He had to tell the enforcers
which families in his village still
believed in God. It was the only way he could protect his mother. If he
hadn’t told them, they would have taken her away to the slave camp. He had
already lost his father. He couldn’t lose his mother too. He didn’t
want those others to die, but he didn’t want to be alone either. Is it
such a horrible thing to want to be with your mother? It’s not like he was
the one who actually killed them.
“I had
to do it! It was the only way I
could save Mother!”
“So you think you
had no other choice?” the voice asked.
“No! It was the
only thing I could do. I couldn’t let them take her. I saved her!”
After a brief
pause the voice quietly whispered, “Maybe you’re right.”
With great relief
the boy wiped the tears from his face and said, “Yes, I am right.”
“Of course you
are. What else could you have done? You didn’t have any control. It
was your only option to stop them from taking your Mother.”
Enthusiastically,
the boy nodded as he heard the words echo in his mind.
“Some might say
that what you did took great courage,” the voice whispered.
“Courage?” the boy
quietly asked.
“Yes, I think you
are very brave.”
“Thank you.”
“As a matter of fact,
I think you’re the bravest boy I ever met. You weren’t afraid to tell them
the truth, and that’s exactly what you did. You told the truth. Why should
you protect that dumb little girl and her father, who believed in a false
God? If this so-called God does exist, then why didn’t he save
them? If he exists, it was his
fault they died, not yours.”
“You’re right,”
the boy excitedly responded.
“Of course I’m
right,” the voice exclaimed. “There is much that you can learn from me. I
can help you, but I won’t give my advice freely. If you want my help,
there is a price to pay.”
With reluctance in
his voice the boy asked, “How much will it cost me?”
“Don’t look so
glum. Has anything in this life been given to you for free?”
“No.”
“Then why would I
give you my help for free?”
“I guess you’re
right. What do you want?”
The voice
answered, “All I ask is your obedience. Is that so much to ask?”
“No, I guess not.
I can do that. What do you want me to do?”
The voice
responded smugly, “For now, all I want you to do is listen and learn.”
And the young boy
did what he was told….
The
End
Scott Kimak, scott.kimak@hcisd.org,
of Harlingen, TX, wrote
BP #89’s “The Voice from the Dark”: In the near future, our worst nightmare has
occurred. A nuclear war has devastated the planet, destroying most of
mankind. Some survivors, who hid deep underground, after many years,
return to surface living, only to discover that an evil presence now controls
what is left of mankind and belief in God is forbidden.