Chapter 4: The Son of Death
The unusual death of the boy made my life miserable again. No one wanted to neither talk to me nor be in my company. Everybody kept to themselves and no longer would the old boys bully anyone else. I would have dreams about me again walking that lonely path and just when I would be about to open the wooden door I would wake up. Could never differentiate whether it was a dream or it was real. I would be standing in front of the door in the alley trying to break open the door, a force would compel me doing so but even a bigger force would stop me at the last minute. The thought of what was behind that door always was made my heart beat faster.
Well it was time for me to start my new life at this place and with mysteries and shocks a year went by, as I turned twenty I got a cleaning up job at the factory. I had to clean up the mess made by the workers at the factory while working and eating. It was a nothing job but I enjoyed it thoroughly as it would take me away from all my nightmares for some time, it was like meditation for me back then. Thought of running away but just couldn’t do so. Couldn’t connect what was convincing me to stay here at this cursed place. Months passed by and the nightmares would continue, where I would tell unknown people the number of days they would live. These dreams became very frequent with each passing day.
One night I dreamt of a family of a couple and two children about to start for a picnic and I told them “one day”
They didn’t even notice me as if I were not there. For this particular dream, saw their car fell off a mountain and all of them screamed to death while on the fall. I was also there at the wreckage exploring the remains as if checking if someone survived or not, when suddenly I froze up with a sense of horror. I turned back to see the bully staring right into my eyes. He had grown bigger and more ferocious; he disappeared into thin air leaving an echo of laughter. I got up to see the dormitory almost empty and everyone staring me as a group from the window.
They all knew evil resided in me.
There was one particular lunch at this orphanage when I looked at the amazing food that I got to eat, I then recalled the same thing that was told to me about the wealthy man from the south part of the town who made these scrumptious meals possible for all of us and the one incident when he came to the previous orphanage and patted my head.
Had heard very little of him since then but he was a very important person as he had said, “Is he the one?”
That meant he had some clue as to who I was or may be even my parents. Tried to find out something about the wealthy man through the old staff who was a cook at the orphanage, he said “He is the devil and has no name everyone calls him Master D, when it comes to the business he does not know how he treats his servants, they are like slaves of the Egyptian era. Makes them work in the field without water or food.”
“But he has always provided good funds to the orphanage?” I replied.
The man looked at me for a moment and smiled, “Kid do you really know anything about this person or not?”
“What do you mean? I said.
“The man’s life is a mystery with no family and when I was a kid of your age he was the same and now I am touching forty and he looks the same.”
“So you mean, he doesn’t age or what?”
“Precisely and to add to it no one has seen him eating either. There are coal mines he owns and the men who work there are treated like slaves, never paid and once they are taken to the mines they never return.”
I was stunned to find this out as the old man continued,
“There’s more. The devil has as a large estate where he keeps a lot of young girls at his disposal, girls from all over the world. There is a separate section near the beach which is protected like a castle and which no man has ever entered but once a girl tried to escape through the sea route and was eaten alive by the sharks in that area, it’s said that there is a lot of meat thrown on the sea shore and there are hundreds of deadly fishes guarding that place. The only girl that survived that place was a girl that was expecting a child when she was brought there. She was sent back after two days and this is how the story got out.”
I wonder how come I never heard this till now; he continued “There is a girl sacrificed on every full moon in a ceremony near the beach and this monster feeds on its blood, the carcass is then thrown into the sea for the fishes to feed on it.”
As he said this, he cut a fish head with a big knife. I didn’t know if he did this on purpose or just to spook me.
He went on, “Do you know what he does with all these girls?”
I kept quiet, “He abuses them in every way possible one at a time mostly but even two or three is what we have heard of.”
I was starting to wonder if he was referring to the same person or some other.
“Then why does he donate here so much?”
“That is one thing no one knows about but he pays in gold and that too small pieces of ancient bricks of gold.”
Gold, ancient bricks this was getting more and more intricate. The deeper I went, the deeper the dark hole would become. I left the kitchen biting a carrot and lost in thoughts of this monster when someone spoke in an authoritative voice.
“How are you Mark?” The wealthy man stood in front of me.
I had thought of him as an angel for souls like us but the last hour or so there was a complete transformation in that thought. He had the same face, same age features and if I could recall correctly was even wearing the same clothes, also carried the time piece. I had many questions but this is what I asked, “How do you know me?”
He put up his signature smile again and said, “I think you already know the answer, we met when you were a small boy at the previous orphanage.”
“Do you also know my parents?”
“How would I know that? All I know is that you are a special child as others at the orphanage.”
“You are a monster, I know everything now.” I was literally shouting at the moment.
The wealthy man did not give a reaction to my remarks but moved a bit to the left now his back was facing me. “I do this to protect me from you, to please death and spare me my life.”
I was astonished to hear this, “Protect you from me? What possible harm can a lone orphan bring upon a mighty wealthy man such as you?”
“You are not ready yet but you soon will be. You have special powers that will be used by death to control the circle of life. When the time is right you will discover these powers and then you will control an entire region for death.”
I did not have words to say, what this person was saying was not making sense to me. He continued, now for the benefit of everyone, this memory will be erased from your mind. A head ache started to grow in my head and it was rather a painful one. Nerves of my brain started to pump up more blood and got swollen; I might have looked like a monster from the comics. It was a never ending battle and I was shouting suddenly everything was quiet. I was resting on a comfortable bed as soft as I had ever been on.
I opened my eyes and found myself on a king’s bed; it was indeed a king’s room but looked more of a dispensary now. I wondered what I was doing there and all I could remember the last thing I was doing was eating a carrot. There was no one around so I started to leave the place like a thief, carefully lifting one step at a time and avoiding making any noise what so ever. After crossing half of the room, I was at a section where old paintings were making the wall look elegant and classy. I noticed one of the paintings of the king who was the only one to own this castle. The next was of what looked like a regiment of knights followed by the five knights and then there was the painting of one knight.
I knew who he was. When I carefully looked at the face, he resembled a lot like me. I was both surprised and scared to look at it now. There was also a painting of his family that consisted of his wife and four children. The last painting was a blank one and from the look of it someone had torn away the painting on it. As I turned back to leave the place, the nurse came in
the dispensary, “What are you doing out of bed?”
“I don’t remember, what happened to me?”
She said,” A carrot got stuck in your throat and the cook helped you to get it out. As you passed out, he brought you here for further treatment.”
I rushed back towards the kitchen; the cook might have more answers for me. As I entered the kitchen, there were a lot of people in there and they all turned back to look at me. I made my way to the front to see the cook’s body hanging itself from the roof of the kitchen. Someone said that he was under a lot of stress and gave up on life. So like many paths for me to find out answers go blocked, so was this.
On the day I turned twenty one, my Grandparents who had adopted me as a kid paid me a visit. They broke the news that their son and his whole family died in a car accident when their car fell off the mountain. I was horrified and prayed that they were not the same family in my dreams the other night. Finally they told me that they wanted me to move in with them. I lightened up by this news and agreed with them without any hesitation. They wanted me to move in as soon as possible and then left for meeting our care taker, who first agreed and then said that it will at least take a week for all the formalities to get over and then only can I be moved out of this place. As my step grandparents left I was overwhelmed by this feeling of relief and thought to myself that after a week I would be far away from all the troubles. Little did I know that this week would change the course of my life completely?
The very next day I was sent back from the factory as they hired someone else for the job on hearing the news that I would be leaving the place after a week as it is. While walking back to the castle the same cat came out of nowhere and stood in front of me. Not knowing what to do I tried to alter my way back to the castle but it would just take a few steps the same way I would and then stop. I decided to stand still after a moment or so and when no movement happened from either of us, she made a move towards me and within no time was rubbing her body with my boots with her tail held up high. This was the first time I felt affection after a long time so I picked her up gently and she did not resist. She liked me rubbing her forehead and made an appreciating voice. I started walking towards the castle; finally I had made a friend at this horrible place. Just few yards from the castle it jumped from my hands and started running away and then stopped, it turned back making an unusual noise as if wanting to convey something to me. It wanted me to follow it which I reluctantly did but I knew what was in store, it led me to the same alley. Frightened but I kept my spirits high and followed it. There was a blind turn which would lead me to the same door; I often kept on looking back as to see if I was being followed. Just as I reached the blind turn and at the same time was looking back, out of nowhere there stood the bully wearing a hood, his face slowly turning dark and he was staring right into my eyes. His face completely vanishing and there was nothing but darkness in the hood.
There he stood right in front of me, He said, “Son, I am Death.” I just remember that he kind of shook my hand before I passed out.
I woke up in my bed and thought that I had one of those nightmares those seem very real but are just a dream but then again I was not sure if they were dreams. I looked at my hand which was paining and had an unusual burning sensation. It had this scar as if some creature had clawed it. It was very painful and I would hold my hand by the wrist just to ease of the pain. It started soothing out after a day, which I just spent laying around in my bed. I thought to myself so two days were gone and now five more to go before I left this place and everything behind.
On the third day I sat on the high tomb of the castle and looked at my hand the scar was gone. The view from the tomb was mesmerizing; as I stared into the clouds I started collecting all the pieces of this puzzle together. First I am found at the graveyard with no parents to claim for, taken to an orphanage and everyone associated with me keeps dying. Then got adopted by an old couple who hardly visits me but sends me a key for god knows what. After my reign of supremacy I am brought down on my knees by the bully who like most of my problems either died or went away. Then finally I moved out of the orphanage into another mess. Now I tell people whom I have never met before that when they are dying, all this happens in my dreams which look like reality and lastly what’s behind the door is still a mystery and this Death Spirit would not let me get behind that door and why did it give me this scar on the hand?. I also wondered what that painting meant in this puzzle and what would I do next? There is no one to talk to; my life’s been a bumpy ride all along. Of what little friends I made at the orphanage, I don’t know if they are still alive. I couldn’t get the pieces of this puzzle together. But at the end of these thoughts I had recalled two things to look forward to, One about the painting which I intended to see once I was a free bird. Second, unlock the door in the alley and that had to be done before I left this castle. What happened in the next five days I could not remember clearly it was like rubbed off from my memory?
But the biggest question still remained, why did Death call me “Son”?