horrors2

BatsBjorg.The_Horrid.tex

  1\chapauth{BatsBjorg}
  2\chapter{The Horrid Beginning of It All}
  3
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  5Eleven-year-old Luke Bavarious stood frozen in the doorway to his
  6bedroom. He couldn't turn the light on. He wouldn't be
  7able to turn it back off from his bed. But he couldn't get to
  8his bed without the light on. He was in a real pickel.
  9
 10
 11
 12``Dad!'' Luke Bavarious yelled. Another year, another
 13month maybe, and he'd be too old to yell for his daddy. But
 14yell he did. ``Dad?''
 15
 16
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 18Luke Bavarious could hear the sounds of the Mets game from the
 19living room. He could also hear the sound of another Coors popping
 20open. His father's alcoholism had become publicly known sense
 21his mother had left. Luke Bavarious thought his father was probably
 22about halfway through his Coors consumption. The consumption
 23varied based on how poorly the Mets were playing, and right now
 24they were on a hell of a skid. Luke Bavarious got a not-unwelcome
 25rush from thinking the word ``hell.'' Hell, hell, hell,
 26he thought. Shit, hell.
 27
 28
 29
 30``{\bf Dad?}'' One more time.
 31
 32
 33
 34``{\bf Goddammit} Luke! What is it now. I toldja gota bed fiteen
 35mints ago!'' Maybe more than halfway through the night's
 36Coors.
 37
 38
 39
 40``C'mere a sec!'' Luke Bavarious wouldn't
 41tell Bartholomew Bavarious what he wanted until he came to the
 42bedroom.
 43
 44
 45
 46``Goddammit{\ldots}'' Luke Bavarious heard his father
 47mumbling curses under his breath, heard his shuffling steps down
 48the hallway, and then he was there. Luke Bavarious could smell the
 49putrid stink of stale Coors and BO oozing from his father's pores.
 50Or maybe his unwashed undershirt.
 51
 52
 53
 54``Will you turn the light off for me after I get into
 55bed?''
 56
 57
 58
 59``Jayzus! Notiss shit `gin!'' Luke Bavarious
 60watched, horridfied, as his father drunkenly reeled into the pitch
 61black bedroom. His father wiggled his ass at the closed closet
 62doors. ``Scareduh monshters? Monshter inna
 63closet?''
 64
 65
 66
 67Luke Bavarious felt a thin stream of vomit rise up in his mouth,
 68then burn his throat as he forced it back down. His voice cracked.
 69``Dad, don't. Just{\ldots} just.. get the light,
 70wouldya?''
 71
 72
 73
 74Bartholomew Bavarious ignored his son. Or maybe didn't hear him over his
 75own drunken whoops. ``Monshter inna clos{\bf et}!  Monshter inna
 76clos{\bf et}!'' He sang over and over, in a childish rhythm. Luke
 77Bavarious stood, unblinking, unbelieving in the doorway. He saw the
 78closet doors rattle slightly.
 79
 80
 81
 82``Dad!'' His voice pitched upward, like a little
 83girl's would. It was the last time in his life his voice
 84would break like that. ``Dad, seriously. That's not a
 85good idea{\ldots}''
 86
 87
 88
 89``{\bf Notta guddea}? Oh fuck you, Luke Bavarious.'' And with
 90that, his father threw open the closet doors, completely unprepared
 91for the horrid behind them.
 92
 93
 94
 95Luke Bavarious couldn't turn away. He saw a fountain of vomit
 96bubble up and spew forth from his father's mouth, but he
 97didn't notice his own vomit until later. It got all over his
 98feet.
 99
100
101
102The horrid in the closet shot two tentacles out as fast as
103lightning. Bartholomew Bavarious' eyes bulged, the Coors
104leaving his body in a flood of beer-scented piss that soaked into
105the carpet. The horrid's tentacles wrapped around Bar\-thol\-omew
106Bavarious' throat. Two more wrapped around his arms. A slimy,
107barbed tongue eased from the horrid's mouth. It slashed
108Bartholomew Bavarious' face open, clear from one cheek to the
109other. Blood erupted from the face, mixing with the beer-piss in a
110rusty puddle.
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112
113
114``Oh dad!'' Luke choked out. The horrid turned its horrid
115head for one horrid second. A glimmer of recognition flashed in its
116horrid eyes, but only for a horrid second. Then it unhinged its
117horrid, terrible jaws, vomiting forth a horrid stream of green,
118acidic vomit. Bartholomew Bavarious' clothes started to steam
119and simmer. The last thing Luke Bavarious saw were his
120father's eyes plucked out and eaten, first one, then the
121other.
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124
125A single tear rolled down Luke Bavarious' cheek. Then
126suddenly, he was not sobbing. He knew what to do.
127
128
129
130He sprinted to the bedroom his parents had once shared, back before
131the Coors and the publicly known alcoholism. He took his
132father's Beretta from the nightstand, relishing the feel of
133it in his small hand. It was cool, in every meaning of the word. A
134shock of what he would later know as desire prickled at his belly.
135He raised the Beretta, testing it. He grabbed ammo and shoved the
136gun in the waistband of his pants.
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138
139
140From the bedroom that was once his, he heard slurping sounds. He
141decided to take the shoes he'd left by the front door instead
142of his favorite sneakers. Now that he thought about it, those were
143kids' shoes anyway, and Luke Bavarious was a man.
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