The Demons Amongst us. Part 1

While a man has a heart attack he's shocked to see monstrous faces all around him.

                                       The Demons Amongst Us

                                    Part 1

A terrible pain in his chest.  He fell to the hard concrete unsure what was going on.  Luckily he'd landed on his back.  He noticed many people around him.  He saw one man on his phone talking frantically, hopefully he was ringing for help.  He needed assistance because he now knew what was happening.  At the age of 56 he knew he ate too much fatty food, but it couldn't be helped with all the barbecues he was invited to by his office workmates.  The tightness in his chest was unbearable.  Looking at the people he decided to focus on them until help arrived.  Then something happened which worried him immensely.  Some of the people in the crowd had monstrous faces.  Or the best way to describe it was, at least fifteen stared at him while licking their grotesque lips.  Their eyes were more like snake eyes, and inside of their mouths were sharp pointy teeth.  These creatures had no noses but instead two biggish nostrils which grew bigger and smaller while they breathed.  He cried out in sheer horror.  Was he already dead, was he going to hell?  He didn't deserve it as he'd always tried to be kind to anyone he met.  The demons were all around him.  One rushed towards him bearing its fangs.  Then he lost all consciousness.

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The first thing he could see was his feet sticking out of the bed.  A window on the left of him radiated with the sun.  Where was he, what had happened?  Within a second a man strolled in wearing a doctor's uniform.  He smiled, before saying, "You've had a heart attack I'm afraid.  Sorry to have to tell you that.  We'll sort you out in no time, but for a couple of days we'll need to take tests and keep an eye on you.  Yet again, I'm very sorry for the grave news.  How do you feel?"  He pushed his glasses up his big reddish nose.

Richard answered reluctantly, "It doesn't surprise me.  Summer times are the worst with all the parties.  Such a shame thought, as I was suppose to go on holiday in the next two weeks."

The doctor who must've been in his fifties laughed, before saying, "Cut down on them burgers and drink and before you know it you'll be right as rain."

"I don't feel right as rain."

The man came closer while holding a red folder, "Just look after yourself.  As I said before the operation is simple.  So no worries there.  I'm afraid your holiday might have to be cancelled.  I'll pop in tomorrow just to see how you are.  Goodbye."

Richard didn't have anything else to say.  The man seemed a friendly chap, the sort of bloke he'd meet at the parties he attended  "Thanks," was all he said.  Once the doctor had left Richard thought back to the monsters he'd seen.  Dread was felt.  "Who are you?  For a second I thought I was going to hell.  A place of nightmares and fear.  But I'm still here, alive and kicking.  And I'm so relieved, that one day when the gates of heaven are only a few metres from where I stand, I'll thank god for giving me a second chance."  Realising a nurse stood in the doorway staring at him while he talked to himself he came to the conclusion he needed some much needed sleep.  His eyes felt very heavy.  A moment later he'd drifted off.

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The devilish faces all around him.  Terror filled his heart.  He tried running from them, but all they wanted to do was feed off his flesh.  Their claws touching his skin, cutting him, blood running down his body.  He tried to scream with no luck.  A demonic hand was wrapped around his face.  Utter fear ran through him.  Sharp teeth ripped through his arm.  Screaming out in pain he noticed an angel only a short distance away.  Within a second the nightmare had ended.

Richard was covered in sweat.  From the window the moon was seen causing a little glimmer.  Then he had this terrible feeling the monsters knew, he knew.  This is when he came to the decision to tell the world of what he'd seen.  The moment he got out of hospital he'd head straight for the papers.  For the rest of the night he didn't sleep a single wink, but deep down he knew he needed to do something.  Even if they thought he was mad he didn't care.  What he'd witnessed with his own eyes was real and he needed to warn people.  "Please, god.  If you have any faith in me, help me with this.  As you know I'm not a religious man but what I saw will never be forgotten.  And this scares me very much."

From somewhere in the corridor a noise was heard.  Before he knew it morning had arrived.  A pretty nurse walked in to check up on him.  He felt safe again.  Only time would tell.

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Around 11 his wife whose name was Samantha came in with their two children.  She looked worried while she sat at the side of the bed.  "Are you okay, Richard.  I'm still in shock," she said, brushing a hand through her long dark hair.  "I'm so sorry I didn't come straight away but I needed to pick the children up from school, and others things which complicated everything.  Oh what a worry."

He gave her a smile, before answering, "I know what you mean.  It's a shock to me as well.  One minute I'm making my way down the street, then boom, I'm on the floor with a terrible pain across my chest."  Demonic faces evaded his mind.  Should he tell her, maybe it was too soon with everything that had happened?  "So, how are you holding up?"

"I've been better, love."  She started to cry, removing a tissue from her coat pocket she dabbed her eyes.

He could see she was upset, and felt bad.  "There, there, my darling.  Don't cry.  I'm okay.  No need to worry."  He put his arms around her.

His children stood staring at him.  Nervous looks on their faces.  Both were too young to really understand.  One was a boy by the age of 7, and his sister being slightly older than him was now 9 and a half.

Richard peered over to them, before saying softly, "You know I love you with all my heart.  Please don't worry about me as I'm feeling a lot better now.  I'm only here so they can check up on me.  Do you understand?"

The boy answered first, "We were really scared.  Sorry, daddy.  For being scared."

"Come here," Richard said.  His son did what he was told.  He hugged him, before saying softly, "You're such a brave young man.  I'm really proud of you.  I'm okay, so no need to worry."  He kissed the boy's head.

The boy looked at him with his big brown eyes, then answered, "I'm happy you're okay, daddy."

"That's my boy," was all he said.  Richard adored his family very much.  All of a sudden he glimpsed a man with thinning hair and wearing scruffy clothes staring at him from the corridor.  Within a second the person had vanished.  Was he one of them?  A shudder ran through him.  His wife then said, "Are you all right, Richard?"

She could tell something wasn't right.  They'd been married for a fair long time.  She knew him better than anyone else.  

"I'll be all right, love.  It'll take time that's all."

She smiled, seeming happy with the response.

Deep down he was in turmoil.

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In the middle of the night he awoke with a start.  Inches from him was one of the monsters.  It smiled at him before trying to grab his arm.  Foul breath came from its disgusting mouth.  Richard did the best he could to pull himself up the bed away from this horrendous creature.  The demon with its green eyes climbed onto the bed.  "Please don't," Richard begged, tears streaming down his cheeks.  A long lizard tongue appeared licking one side of his face.  He cringed, knowing he was a dead man.  The monstrosity lifted a hand up just above Richard's head.  Long sharp finger nails scraped along his throat causing him to scream out.

"Once I'm done with you, I'll look forward to visiting your family," said the demon.  A smirk on its grotesque face.  

Inner strength was felt and using his hands he tried grabbing at the monster's face.  "Leave my family out of this," he shouted.  The demon laughed.  Richard for only a split second wanted to die.  Then everything went black.

He opened his eyes, realising he'd had another bad dream.  "This is too much," he said to himself.  The ceiling light hadn't been turned off.  Peering at the small grey clock which sat only a short distance away on the bedside cabinet, it was only 3.38 in the morning.  He hated being stuck in here.  "Please be safe," he muttered, thinking back to his beloved family and how he couldn't wait  to go home, away from this nightmare which was slowly driving him mad.

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Four days later he was allowed to leave.  He didn't feel right.  He kept getting strange headaches which concerned him.  And at times his chest would ache, usually when this occurred he would sit down and take some deep breaths.  Because he loved his family dearly he tried to get what he had seen out of his head.  But every night the nightmares were terrifying.  Even his wife had noticed that something was wrong.  Then one day he told her.  She took a step back, before saying nervously, "What are you talking about, Richard?"

He knew this would happen.  But he had the perfect answer, "Maybe I was hallucinating?"  For some reason this didn't work.

She took him by the hand.  Her eyes wide open with fear.  "What you just told me isn't normal.  I know you too well.  I know deep down you believe this.  It's scaring me, Richard.  Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Out of frustration he shouted at her, then swung his hand so it caught an empty cup which ended up on the kitchen floor in pieces.

Samantha left the room swearing under her breath.  A shocked look covering her face.

Richard sat down and put his face in his hands.  He began to cry like a little boy lost.

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After that night their relationship was starting to fall apart.  The children noticed that something wasn't right.  What was her bloody problem, why was she acting so childish about the whole thing?  

A new neighbour had moved in.  The bloke kept himself to himself.  The moment Richard saw him he suspected him immediately.  He hadn't spoken to his wife for a little while.  It was driving him mad.  One day as the sun shone pleasantly Richard peered out of the window to see why the kids hadn't come back from school.  He was getting worried you see, as any parent would.  With utter horror he saw the new neighbour speaking to them.  This drove him up the wall.  Storming out of the house he headed towards them shouting abuse at the man.  His son and daughter seemed shocked by this.  

"Please, daddy.  He was being nice to us," shouted the boy.

Richard truly believed this man who was in his thirties was one of those disgusting creatures, keeping an eye on him so he wouldn't tell the world of what he knew.  He grabbed him around the throat.  "I know who you are.  That is why you moved into the street in the first place.  To check up on me.  Wasn't it."  Someone pulled at his arm and without giving it much thought lashed out.  Next thing he was aware of was his son laying on the road, blood dripping down his face as he cried for his mummy.

Richard then realised he'd done a very bad thing.  He sat down.  Tears running down his cheeks.  His life had finally reached a new low.

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The next day the house was empty.  Samantha had left with the children telling him to seek professional help.  He never saw the neighbour again, which to him seemed strange.  One night after he had downed a few beers he noticed a car parked outside of his home.  The windows were black so he couldn't see in.  They're after me, he thought.  The next evening the vehicle was back.  By this point Richard had had enough of these b******s messing with his head.  Picking up a baseball bat which he'd recently got for his son he stumbled out onto the street shouting obsceneties at them.  The car sped off into darkness, Leaving Richard with a terrible feeling that he'd just done something very stupid.  He made his way into the quiet house.  The time was 12.56am.  It was late, even for him.  He looked at the living room floor covered in cans of beer and was ashamed at the way he'd acted of late.  Especially how he had treated his son.  He would never forget the bruise on the little boy's face as long as he would live.  As a father he was suppose to protect his family.  "I'm so sorry," he said, hoping somewhere they could hear him.  He turned to the hallway to head upstairs when he saw a man wearing a suit.  Richard tried to tackle him but another person appeared through the open doorway and threw him to the floor.  

"What do you want from me?" he screamed.

A voice in his ear then replied," You're coming with us."

Something was put over his head.  He felt himself being dragged.  Richard did his best to escape.  A blow to his head and everything went dark.

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The first thing he remembered was being tied in a chair.  What did they want from him, to silence him because he knew their true identity?  He noticed he was in a big warehouse probably in the middle of nowhere, so if they wanted to get rid of him without being caught by the police, this was ideally the best location.  He shuddered at what was going to happen next.  The place smelt strange, musky.  Some bright lights came on causing him to close his eyes for a second. 

"Hello, Richard," said a man's voice.

Richard looked up apprehensively.  A man wearing a posh suit came closer.  The thing which freaked Richard out more than anything else was, the man wore a horrible mask to conceal his identity.  "So what are you going to do?"  he asked nervously while trying to loosen his hands from the ropes.

The person sat down on a chair which was about four metres from him, and in a very calm manner, answered, "You can't escape so don't even try."  Then he waited for a response.  Nothing was said, so the man carried on, "It's quite unbelievable really."  He laughed.

Richard was tiring of this now, and shouted, "So are you going to get rid of me because I know who you are?"  From behind the mysterious stranger another person appeared from the doorway holding a knife.  He also wore a mask.  Utter terror ran through him.

The man still sitting rubbed his hands together, before saying in a more serious tone, "Since the dark ages you're the first person to see our kind.  I don't understand how that's possible."  He took his mask off.  He was an elderly man with a bald head.  He glanced up at Richard.  "Through the years they've made up terrible stories about us.  Demons.  Satan.  The fires of hell."  He began to weep.

Richard knew what was going on.  "This is absolutely pathetic.  Tomorrow morning my body is going to be found, and you're feeding me bullshit.  If you're going to kill me then do it, as I'm sick of these games."  Then he regretted what he'd just said, knowing he would never see his family again.  He started to shake through fear.  The person with the knife walked up to him.  Richard was expecting the worst and closed his eyes.  The rope around his wrists fell to the concrete.  He breathed a sigh of relief.  Opening his eyes he couldn't fully understand what was going on.  "What's happening?"

The man sighed, before replying, "We aren't here to get rid of you, if anything we are in awe of you.  It's been years and years, but for some reason you saw us in our proper form.  How's this possible?"

Richard began to feel a little more relaxed than he previously did, but the question was now what did they want from him.  "I don't understand, why am I here?"  His wrists still ached.  "Is it okay if I stand up?"

"Of course it is.  You still don't fully understand do you?" the old man said, disappointment on his face.

Richard got up and the man with the knife stood back in the doorway staring in his direction.  He needed answers.  "So why am I the first person in years to see you as you are?"

The man shuffled in his chair, before saying, "Because you're the one."

"The one?"  What the hell were they talking about?

The man stood up himself.  One of his legs seemed shorter than the other.  With trouble he made his way towards Richard.  "I'm so sorry.  I'm very old," was all he said.  "But the chance of meeting you at long last inspired me to make the effort, even though the pain which consumes my entire body is awful.  Sometimes I wish I was dead."

"You mustn't say that," Richard replied.  "How old are you?  Eighty four."

The man with his wrinkled grey face had finally reached him.  "I'm over 200 years old."

Richard was in utter shock.  How was that possible?  "But how?" he asked.  

"Because our species lives longer than humans.  Does that scare you, me saying that?"

Richard sat back down as his head was spinning.  "I need time to take this all in."

The man held a small box in his right hand.  He handed it to Richard.  "In here is two pills.  One is blue and the other is purple.  When you're ready to see us properly and to learn more about us take the blue pill.  Once your anxieties have gone about us take the other pill and everything will go back to normal.  Do you understand?"

"What?" Richard asked.  "This is insane.  Why go to this effort just for me?"

The man seemed out of breath, but replied, "Because you seeing us after all this time is a miracle.  It's a sign that one day in the not so distant future we can live on this planet as ourselves.  In complete harmony with the human race.  This is something we have yearned for since as long as I can remember."

Richard still didn't trust him as much as he would've liked.  "So the moment I take the pill I'll be able to see you monsters everywhere I go?"

"Please don't use the word monsters.  That is the problem with this world.  Through my life I've seen racism.  At times it makes me very sad.  But I have faith in the human race.  I need to believe that your species can change for the better.  It needs to change.  If not, they'll wipe themselves out through their own stupidity.  This is why you're important."

"But I'm not important," he said.

The man tutted before carrying on, "If you can see us then others will in time.  And more importantly than that, if you can accept us as we are, then others will in due course."

"When should I take it?" he asked.  He had nothing to lose.  His wife had left him.  His children probably hated him.  

The man tried to smile.  Then he cried out in pain.  "How much more can I take of my body dying on me slowly."  He made his way back to the chair, then sat down out of breath.

Richard sat down himself.  Opening the box he saw two pills.  Using his fingers he got hold of the blue one and without giving it much thought put it in his mouth.  The thing was quite small so swallowing it shouldn't be too hard.  With one gulp it was gone.  He still felt the same.  Looking back at the man he saw something which made him cry out in fear.  His face had changed.  Staring back at him was a demon he had feared since he was a child.  The stories he'd been told all through his life about these vile creatures would haunt him for evermore.  "I'm not a religious man.  Everything you've said tonight contradicts everything I've ever learnt.  What should I do, because I'm petrified beyond belief."

The demon only said one more thing before leaving the room, "Believe in your heart.  I'll bid you farewell.  Good luck with your journey.  And be patient, Richard, they'll take you back to your house shortly."

Richard realised his life would never be the same again.  Then dread ran through his very soul.  "Please, god.  Give me strength," he muttered.  The lights in the building went out.  He knew it was time to go home.

                                                            

                                                                To Be Continued

Reviews

[Marie]

Steve, I couldn't have read this at a worse time. The minister of my church is in the hospital with heart problems.

The story is very exciting and fits together well. I'm glad to see you using active voice in your writing instead of passive voice.The only thing I would suggest is that you always capitalize the name of God.