This Is the End (21 page)

Eric Pollarine is an author, freelance writer, book reviewer with
flamesrising.com
, and constantly disheveled musician who lives, works, writes, smokes and drinks far too much coffee in beautiful dreary Cleveland, Ohio. You can contact the author through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and stay up-to-date with other goings
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on, through his website
www.unlikelyconvergence.com
.

ALSO BY ERIC POLLARINE

A Man of Letters

(Available on Amazon and Smashwords)

Stories Around The Campfire With Uncle Eric

(Available on Amazon and Smashwords)

One Fine Day

(Available late 2011 Early 2012)

Pale Horse

“
The Complete Collected Stories 2011”

(Available 2012)

AFTERWORD

So there it was and here it is; the end of the book. I hope you enjoyed “This Is The End” and I also hope that you enjoy the story that follows this brief afterword, by the editor of this book, John Lemut.

Initially John was a beta reader for my next book, “One Fine Day,” which is finished and undergoing the merry go round of being submitted to various publishers. As of this date, I am still moving forward with my plans to self publish “One Fine Day” but I thought I would give the book a shot with someone else first.

Anyway, John looked it over, read the first draft, gave me some feedback and fucking blew my mind with the depth of understanding and critical eye he brought to the beta reading process, so of course I asked him to edit this book. I’m not stupid, when you find someone who gets you, gets the work, you stick with them.

But here’s the catch, the rub: John’s a fucking brilliant writer himself. Now I can’t just go about taking time off another writers hands without offering something, so the idea came to mind that, if he had something he was working on and that he wanted to see out there, I would give him enough space in the back of the second edition of “This Is The End.”  And that story is precisely what you are about to read once you turn this page, tab over, flip your finger or whatever other way there is to get to the next page.

John’s story is original, entertaining, comedic, dark and that rarest of things…important. It’s fantastic, believable and of course a story that leaves you with that gut wrenching feeling of knowing your world view is never going to be the same after you read it.  I love it and I know that, if you liked “This Is The End,” then you’ll love it too.

HAPPY HOME

 John Lemut

The mouth of the tomb called to him—beckoned him. 

He had no choice but to drop the sack he worked hard to fill with lentils and corn and work his way up the rocky incline. His footing gave way many times but, before long, he found himself standing at the entrance of the cave. He suddenly thought himself foolish for listening to his imagination and turned away.

Just then, he heard his name being called from deep inside the tomb. 
Avernus…

He turned back and slowly crept inside the cave.

Beyond the complete blackness of the cave he saw something else, almost like a light but also like fog.  It moved as smoke from a fire.
Avernus,
it called to him again.

Curious, he stepped closer. The boundaries of the mist gently expanded and surrounded him.

He could now feel the mist had substance to it, but he remained unafraid.

The mist gathered itself unto him and was, at once, within him.

After a frightening moment passed when he could not breathe, the man felt different, but not ill or at unease. A warmth spread throughout him as an embrace. “What do you want?” he asked.

To feel, Avernus. We want to feel.

* * *

The man went home and went about his life with little thought as to the mist. At first none in his village saw a difference, but the mist soon grew weary of the everyday tasks Avernus performed.

They suggested,
Eat more food.

They whispered,
Drink more wine.

They hinted,
Touch your wife.

They commanded,
Touch yourself.

They demanded,
Hit your sons.

The mist sometimes made Avernus do things without speaking, by their will alone. They stole using his hands. They touched strange women in crowds.

People began accusing Avernus of these deeds and he was unable to lie. He told the judges of his encounter in the tomb.

“Demons,” they spat.

Avernus was shackled by his hands and feet, but the souls within did not like being bound. They took control and easily plucked the chains asunder and rent the shackles to pieces.
“No man may tame us,”
they proclaimed through Avernus.

The judges conferred and decreed that Avernus be taken back to the tomb and be held inside.

* * *

Avernus cried loudly for days and the demons inside him reveled in the anguish.

His cries could be heard from far off but the judges stood fast in their verdict.

More days passed and Avernus grew weaker.
Ask us for help, Avernus,
they said,
and we will.

Avernus held strong for three days more.

“Help me,” he was only able to mouth those days later, but the demons heard.

They took command and killed rats to nourish Avernus.
This is manna,
they teased as he devoured the raw meat.

This is blood,
they giggled as Avernus sipped from a murky puddle to which they led him.

When much of his strength returned, they rewarded Avernus by exciting him from within.

Avernus’ faith now lay with the mist that entered into him.

* * *

None came to visit Avernus, but he did not crave the lovingkindness of his wife or sons. All he needed was the voice, a chorus of warmth that soothed his skin as the sun and made him feel complete.

Shatter that stone,
the voice purred.

He held a stone the size of a man’s head in his hand and began to smash it on a piece of hard earth that came up out of the dirt floor. After many hits, the stone split in half.

Shatter it,
the voice said with more force.

Avernus grabbed one of the halves and resumed. His hands became cut and bruised, but Avernus did not stop until all that was left of the stone were small shards with sharp edges.

Good,
said the voice.
We will find manna for you.

* * *

Cut yourself,
the voice said to Avernus who held a shard of stone in his raw hand. When he hesitated, the voice encouraged,
We want to feel…

He dragged the stone across his chest; the line of red welled up with blood.

Taste it,
the voice spoke.

They frolicked in the chills and pain the cuts suffered and fell into celebration at the taste of his blood.

Avernus delighted in making his Gods, the Many who spoke as One, happy.

* * *

Word of Avernus’ hosting of unclean spirits and exile to the mountains spread far. Before winter, travelers came from the other side of the sea and asked after Avernus to those in the village.

The tomb was easy to find for the three travelers.

At the cave entrance, they could see a figure peering out at them. This figure moved back into the cave and from their sight a moment later.

“Wait here for me.”

The two other travelers, who looked much like one another, obeyed and watched as their companion bravely marched up the mountain and into the cave.

* * *

The smell inside the cave was strong, but he ventured within and did not pause.

A voice came from the darkness,
“What have we to do with you that you would make an enemy of us today?”

“Come out of the man, demon.” He spoke with authority.

“We know you.”

The traveler repeated his command.

“You are the Christ. By your God, leave us.”

Jesus sighed.

* * *

While Jesus was out of sight in the tomb, James and John sat on a large boulder in wait. For about two minutes.

James hopped down from the stone and kicked at the ground with his sandal, stirring up dust and small rocks.

John ignored him.

A bird’s call brought James’ attention to the darkening sky. A small flock of birds flew overhead and James grabbed a handful of stones and tried to knock a bird from the sky.

After several attempts, James’ frustration increased and he hit John with the last stone from his hand.

The stone bounced off John’s shoulder and left a small cut. James ran but John pursued, catching up quickly. John kicked James’ back foot causing James to trip and fall to the rocky ground.

John easily sat on the smaller James and raised an arm to strike when James cried, “The Messiah comes!”

John let his arm drop and looked for Jesus. This allowed James to crawl away and regain his feet. John saw none approach and knew he was tricked. James laughed at his brother’s embarrassment.

John held back a small laugh at himself.

Once they each calmed down James asked, “What’s taking so long?”

John shrugged.

James stuck his elbow into John’s side and said, “Hey…”

When John looked at him, James asked, “You know that’s the Son of God, right?”

John answered in irritation, “Yeah, I know.”

* * *

“He has been cut off from his people because of you. Leave him,” Jesus demanded.

“He will not like it. He worships us,”
the demons advised.

“It matters not. You must leave.”

The demons knew they could not stand and pleaded,
“Do not send us from this country.”

Jesus, set to forcefully tear the demons from the man, was distracted by the sounds of a herd of pigs moving through the grasses at the base of the mountain. “You may enter into the

swine. Leave the man. Enter into the swine and I will not send you away.”

“He will not like it, but so that we may live,”
the demons agreed.

The mist appeared from the man’s skin and blew past Jesus and out from the cave and into the large heard of swine. Avernus’ body fell to the ground in a deep sleep.

Jesus called to John and James to help carry the hurt man back to his village. James and John had new bruises and cuts about their arms, legs and faces. Jesus ignored their state and the three men carried Avernus to town, past the herd of two thousand pigs that had become choked in the sea, past the swine herders who grasped their heads in their hands in disbelief.

* * *

Word of Avernus’ arrival preceded his coming and the judges and Avernus’ family were waiting as Jesus and his disciples carried the supine body to his home for the first time in many months.

The woman and her sons did cry. The judges did demand explanation.

As Jesus told the tale, the pig herders could be heard approaching, loudly proclaiming to all who would listen of the fate that befell their herd. When they entered into Avernus’ home, they demanded to know what happened to their swine.

Jesus began the tale again, of the possession, of the demons’ offer, of the swine, and as the herders and judges became angered, John and James shared a look of amusement.

When Jesus was finished, the judged conferred and announced, “You must leave,” to Jesus and his apostles.

* * *

James and John stowed the belongings on the ship and remained aboard as Jesus slowly walked the dock.

James struck John across the leg with a wet reed. John held his brother by the throat out over the side of the ship.

Jesus ignored the sounds of His disciples but was taken by surprise when Avernus approached. He had quickly bathed and put on clean clothing but still smelled of the tomb and of the demons.

“My Lord, I beseech you, take me with you. I no longer have a place here,” Avernus begged.

Jesus placed a hand on Avernus’ shoulder and said, “No, my son. You must go home and tell your friends of the great things the Lord did for you, and of the compassion the Lord has for you.”

Jesus removed his hand and climbed into the ship. John pulled James back over the deck and the two disciples cast off the mooring lines.

Avernus watched as the ship slowly drifted back across the sea.

* * *

In his home, the first night in many, Avernus did not eat or drink. He did not hold his wife or his children.

He sat on his bedding and held the destroyed chains and shackles into which he was put when the mist first came into him. He wept continually.

His wife came into their bedchamber and asked, “What is it, Husband?”