horrors2

scarycactusjunior.The_Runawa.tex

  1\chapauth{scarycactusjunior}
  2\chapter{The Runaway}
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  9Jimbo hawked a giant ball of phlegm between his dangling feet off
 10the boat dock and stared into the murky water as he watched his
 11creation sink to the murky inky depths of the lake. Watching it, he
 12thought long and hard about his current situation with his Pa. Pa
 13was starting to frighten him with his publicly known alcoholism.
 14Every horrible night Pa would sit on the porch of the rustic swamp
 15cabin in the wicker rocking chair by the front door and drink his
 16Coors repeatedly for hours. And then, with his eyes horridly
 17bloodshot he would come stomping back into the cabin and find Jimbo
 18for the nightly beating. Sometimes the beatings were so bad they
 19would leave Jimbo in a sobbing heap, his blood and tears mixing
 20together on his lips. Pa wasn't always like this, Jimbo had
 21vague memories of happier times; the sunshine days of his early
 22childhood when his mother was still alive and Pa hadn't drank
 23so much.
 24
 25Jimbo heard the front door of the cabin slam, followed by
 26Pa's heavy, booted footfalls. The wicker rocker began to
 27creak. Jimbo noticed that the sun was rapidly sinking, the drinking
 28would begin soon, followed by the almost ritualistic beating.
 29
 30Jimbo thought to himself. He thought that he didn't have to
 31return to the cabin. He could make Pa come looking for him in the
 32swamp, at night, while drunk. Decided, Jimbo arose and proceeded to
 33make his way deep into the swamp, trying to get as far away from
 34the cabin before full dark made it impossible to find his way
 35through the swamp. He tried not to think of how the cypress trees
 36looked like forlorn entities locked forever in their torment
 37because of the way the fading daylight lit them, or of the stories
 38his friend Benny used to tell about the Swamp Creature.
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 40The Swamp Creature was said to be a being of such hideous
 41countenance that it would drive any who were unfortunate to see its
 42horrible face completely and totally insane. Privately Jimbo
 43thought it was the thing that had made the crocodile eat his mother
 44all those years ago. Jimbo remembered the sight of all that blood
 45on the water; red blood on black water that boiled and roiled like
 46a vicious tempest. Jimbo shuddered and tried to push those thoughts
 47out of his mind.
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 49Distracted as he was, Jimbo slipped on a patch of slimy mud and
 50slid on his buttocks a little way into the swamp-water. He jumped
 51up quickly and stared wild-eyed around him, looking out for crocs.
 52His heart was pounding; he could feel the blood pounding in his
 53ears. Suddenly, he was very afraid. He fought the sob welling up
 54within him and went on his way. It was too late to turn back.
 55
 56He saw something then, a glint of gold in the reeds. Bending down
 57to get a closer look, he noticed it was a badge of some sort. Jimbo
 58picked it up and felt a feeling dread wash over him; it was a
 59slightly tarnished police badge. Jimbo read the name on it
 60aloud.
 61
 62``Bavarius{\ldots}''
 63
 64There was a squelching sound behind him, and Jimbo turned around to
 65come face-to-face with a creature straight out of nightmares. It
 66looked like it had been a man once, but now it had no eyes and only
 67one shriveled ear remained. It looked almost half-melted and
 68inhuman.
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 70Jimbo vomited great jets of putrid vomit into the swamp. Some of it
 71landed on the Creature and made it even more horrendous to look at.
 72Jimbo vomited again until he could vomit no more. Tears sprang into
 73his eyes and he sobbed loudly, vainly. The Swamp Creature moved its
 74stumpy arm to catch the paralyzed Jimbo and crush him into the
 75once-chest. It breathed its foul swampy breath into Jimbo's
 76face as it spoke.
 77
 78``I am Luke Bavarius.''
 79
 80At only thirteen years old, young Jimbo went instantly
 81insane.
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 85Two days later, there was an article in the newspaper about a
 86bizarre murder that had happened out at Old Man James's
 87cabin. Old Man James had been found dead in his wicker rocking
 88chair, a brass police badge shoved into his jugular. He had not
 89even dropped the beer he had been holding. On the cabin walls
 90behind him, written in blood and vomit was a single cryptic word
 91scrawled over and over: ``Bavarius''. Police searched the
 92cabin and found James's son rocking on his heels in the back
 93room, wearing only urine-stained briefs and giggling softly to
 94himself. He was taken into custody and placed in the State mental
 95hospital, where he remains to this day singing softly to himself
 96over and over.
 97
 98``Bavarius.'' 
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