Chapter Nine: The House of God

As I sat there regaining my composure I found myself exhaustingly thinking about that other memo. I must've read it about two hundred times already, each time through getting a little more clearer than the previous one. But still no matter, I'm at a complete loss for what its supposed to mean. Angels? Wanderer? A loner? Ahhhh! What could all of this possibly mean? Well, you better not ask me because all you're going to get is a dull expression. Ha, yes I know. Jesus hell this is confusing. Why couldn't he have told me what he meant by these instead writing a whole bunch of confusing words? Ahh well. I guess I do have the time to figure it out but still, I would really rather not. Especially if there's more of those things around here.

Ahhhh, freakin hell! I'm never going to figure this out. Well, it does mention God quite a bit. But what can that possibly mean as well. Wait a minute! A scene from about a week ago flashed in front of my eyes.

"Look at that Darren!" Kara's voice said in my ear. We were both together walking down an awfully busy street on our way home from the Historical Society.

"Huh, what's that? I asked her. She was looking up in awe at a large and magnificently beautiful house.

"That house must belong to God. Look at how beautiful it is!" She said joyfully as she tugged my sleeve over towards her.

Yes! That absolutely has to be it. It says "The building in the City of God", that must be what it's referring to. Finally I figured you out! Then it hit me. What if that isn't it? Well too bad then I guess, it's the only clue I have and I'm going to use it. I slowly brought myself up to me feet, slipping the headphones around my neck and stuffing the CD player in my back pocket, being extremely cautious as to not disturb that creature. I ventured closer to it until I was only about a foot away. Horrifically disgusting it is. It stood absolutely still, not making even the slightest of movements. Heh, I guess the thing doesn't need any air. Upon examining it I kept asking myself, there's no way this thing can possibly be real. But it must be or it wouldn't be standing here on its arms. To ease the tenseness of the situation I decided to name the thing. Out of pure boredom more than anything else I guess. Crawler is his name. The crawling cadaver, ha-ha.

I slipped pass the creature taking heed to man's saying. It didn't even notice me passing it. I guess it's only affected by sound since it can't see with its head all bound up like. God, that would suck if that happened to me, it must hurt like hell. Luckily for me though, the building Kara was talking about is only about a block away. It was pretty hard to see though and that is going to make the short five minute walk about twenty minutes.

As I walked towards the center of town the fog got thicker than ever. This is unreal. Also as I went into the heart of town, the buildings kept getting more and more rotted and old looking. It was as if while I'm walking many years are passing. Eventually I got to the point where the building that I needed to go to was only about fifteen feet away. I don't know, I can't really explain it but while I stood there a feeling of hopelessness washed over me and numbed my body. And here it is: What if this isn't the place? What do I do then? Two questions I have absolutely no answer for. And that only made me feel worse.

I approached the front of the building. Surprisingly this one didn't seem to have undergone the extreme stress as all the other ones did. In fact it almost looked normal except for the obvious signs of aging. It was, however just as magnificent as it was before. It stood quite a bit higher than the other buildings, towering them in superiority. A white building, with no windows at all, and a large wooden door. The ground around it was very well kept and trimmed as was the path leading up to the magnificent stairwell. Two large marble statues lay on opposite sides of the concrete pathway. They both appeared to be some ancient and biblical creature. I didn't pay much attention to them though. I was to excited about finally reaching the destination. And not running into any obvious problems on my journey here. Excited that since I figured that memo out that I'd be able to get back home to my nice little cozy apartment building, the town bustling with happy people, and the pretty smile on Kara's face as she watched the sunrise out the back window over the lake.

The door opened up immediately when I pulled it open. Good because I was expecting it to be locked, which now that I think of it definitely should have. Oh well I guess it isn't really my problem and it is after all, a lot better for me that it is unlocked.

Inside the building, though, it was completely dark. Entirely dark. I mean dark, you've never seen darkness like this before. It was creepy and my whole body began tingling with foolish fear. I barely finished making second step in on the hard floor when I was hit with sudden nostalgia, not the good kind either. I seem to remember this place from somewhere though I'm not sure which, hell, I can't even be sure if I actually do remember this place from someplace or just something about this place brings up some old memories.

Okay now, I really have to be extremely careful. The darkness made the building extremely hazardous, more so than even a construction site. And another very important reason I had to be careful is that I can't be too sure that this place has any monsters in and if it does I can't risk hitting into something and alerting them to my presence, or worse, me actually bumping into them. Oh god, that thought is too horrible to even think of. Imagine that, while walking forward I bump into a sleeping crawler and wake it up. I blocked that out if my mind. Can't let my thoughts wander now, no, this is the worst type of situation to let that happen. I have to stay focused, and by God, I definitely will.

My feet were making too much noise on the hard floor and no matter how hard I really tried I couldn't seem to prevent them from doing so. So I took up shuffling on the ground. It was only a little bit less as loud but it seemed a lot more of a natural noise. Less likely to alert any watchers in the darkness. There didn't seem to be any window in here either, or they were boarded up, but I highly doubt that. I mean look at the place. From the outside it looks really taken care of and I bet in here it is exactly the same. Just as I was about to set my foot on the ground as I was taking another step forward, from somewhere a switch and an intense light lit up the room I was in. Yes, I knew this place was familiar! It's the courtroom I was in during the…. A door opened down the aisle and two men walked out. I dove behind a bench not wanting to be seen. I landed badly and scraped my chin pretty nastily and stood back up and peered over at the men who just began a conversation. The man on the left I recognized automatically, it's the man in the black clothes. The other I don't know, but by his clothes I'm going to a hazard a guess that he's a priest. He was too far away to tell what he looked like but he was about the same height as the other man, give or take a couple of inches. They started to talk, quietly, as if they didn't want to be heard.

"Father Bailey." The man in black said as he shook the other's hands and nodded towards him.

"Hello Joseph. How are you." The priest said tiredly and rather quickly. The man in black, now Joseph, continued. Funny, he doesn't look like a Joseph.

"Father I did as you told me and came to report to you the progress. I'd say everything is looking rather well. Except…." He looked down at his feet wistfully.

"Except?" The priest said terrifically concerned.

"Well, one of them got loose." He said, his voice cracking as he mumbled the "loose."

"Hmm, I see. Well Joseph, how bad was it before it escaped?" He asked calmly as he walked closer to the man in black and set his hand on his shoulder. The man looked up genuinely satisfied with himself.

"Ohhh, don't worry about that Father. I sliced him up pretty good." A devilish smile appeared on his twisted face. " S'only about half of 'im left." The priest smiled at this as he turned around.

"Well that's good, he's not a worry then, I'm sure that kid will take care of him." He said.

"Is that all Father?" The man asked hopefully. It was obvious that the man was greatly intimidated by the priest, almost to a point where it could be called fear.

"No it is not." The man frowned and sulked. "I wanted to ask here are the rest of them are doing. The ones who haven't been born yet."

"Well, they're all doing fine so far. We're not experiencing any of the problems that occurred last time." Joseph said to the priest.

"Good, I knew this new theory would work. How many left do we need?"

"Oh! Only one sir."

"That's great, everything will be done soon. Very soon. Well that's all Joseph, my dear. You may go now."

"Thank you Father. Goodbye." The man said as he shook the priest's hand and walked my direction towards the door. Oh crap! He's going to see me. I shoved my body onto the floor and tried to roll into the small gap between the floor and the bench. It really didn't do any good. As he past me his eyes connected on mine. That was it, that was the only recognition he made of me. He continued walking and left. Oh god, I'm relieved. That was too close, too, too, too, close.

"Might I dare ask who my visitor is?" The priest called out through the large room. His voice echoed off the walls and benches, magnifying it about three times. Mmm! Is he talking about me? No he couldn't be, he can't possibly see me here, can he.

"You really haven't a reason to hide young man." he said again. I know for sure now that he's talking about me. I stood up slowly and faced him, his eyes met mine and he smiled.

"Well hello there stranger." He said to me. "Will you honor me by gracing me with your presence a little closer." He motioned for me to come up to him. Without seeing any reason not to, I did as he directed me to. I walked up to him, once I got there I clearly saw his features. His face was deeply worn by an ongoing stress and weariness, his eyes are surrounded by deep red circles, and his face darkened and rough. My God, what has this man been through. Before I could think of any possible reasons, the priest talked again.

"Now what can I help you with, son. Clearly you're here for a reason." He said as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Yes, actually I am." I said as I handed him the memos. He took them curiously and read them, his face becoming more serious. When he finished he handed the note back to me and went through the door again. What the hell? Am I supposed to wait here for him? Exactly after asking myself that the man walked back out with a small bag in his hand. He set in on the small table against the wall and carefully took out its contents and motioning for me to approach his sides.

"Here you do, this is all for you my boy. And let me see that pendant around your neck." He said. I gave it to him and approached the small wooden table, eager to see what was there. Holy hell! There's a large silver pistol and box of ammunition. A large red book discolored in some places. On the front it said: The Book Of God. Also there was a small wax candle, I mean small, it was about the size as half of a pencil, and nearly as thin too. The last item was a small golden ring. An inscription on the inside said, "To My Dearest Emma." What the hell is all this for? I was about to ask the man when he placed the pendant in my hand again and spoke.

"You will take all of this and leave." He said quickly and firmly. He reached down into the pocket in his robes and took out a letter, he handed it to me. Then, get this, he left the room and walked through the door. Take it and leave? And just what the hell am I supposed to do with it? The gun yes. But the rest? I ran at the door and tried to open. Locked. Well that was expected.

Ahh, not more of this, now I have to figure out where to go next. Without thinking I sat down in the small wooden chair near the table and opened up the envelope, taking the clean paper out of it.

"Dear Emma,

Honey, daddy is doing just fine if you're wondering. You don't have to worry about me at all. But I'm worried terribly about you darling. I want you to go and stay with uncle Joseph until I get back. That way you'll be safe. And don't worry at all, I've already told uncle Joseph and he'll be coming to get so you won't have to go out alone. And remember don't leave the building honey. Just stay put and wait for him and everything will be all right. Okay sweetheart. I'm going to have to go now, another just fell!

Missing you, Love Daddy

-Andrew

August 16, 1993"

Well okay, but one question, just what the bloody hell does this mean! Well wait a minute, I know what it means. It's just some letter from a guy to his daughter, but how the hell will this help me. Wait a minute! The ring, the inscription on that said Emma in it. Does that mean… yes it has to be the same girl. Ahh! But some help that is. The book. Hmm, pretty ritzy if you ask me. I opened it up and flipped through some of the pages. What I saw just made me a little angry. Like hell, I can't read this. It was printed in some weird language, none that I've ever seen before. It was large too, must be about two thousand pages or so. Now let's see this, I picked up the large pistol. Pretty heavy, this thing must pack quite a punch. I was never really interested in guns and I set it aside without a second glance. Now this candle, what can this possibly be for? Hell if I know.

I put it back down and just merely glanced at the ring. Oh, and just how am I going to carry all of this stuff. That really didn't need to be asked. The bag obviously. Rather large and durable too. I stuffed everything in it except for the gun which I put a clip in and put in my front pocket. Have to be prepared don't I? I threw the bag over my shoulders, like a backpack. It stayed on amazingly well, perfect fit. I was about to leave when I remembered. How could I forget? The pendant. The priest took it from me, he must of done something to it. I grabbed it in my hands. No, nothing's different. Oh well.

I left the building and stepped back onto the foggy streets. Something was different and I noticed it automatically. I'm not in the same part of town anymore. I know it's strange but I didn't recognize any of the buildings or surroundings. No that can't be possible. But it was as I stepped more into the street and saw the other side I realized, it is in fact different. I've about had enough this. First Kara's torn up body, the fog, the cold, the monsters, and now that priest and all this crap he gave me. I'm not even going to rationalize this because I know that there is no rational explanation. And for the first time, mainly because of not knowing where I was I became scared. Scared of the unknown that lurks on the streets of this abandoned town, hiding in the fog. Hiding, waiting, and watching me. It's driving me freakin crazy.