The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

"They both will fall to the ground. People will wail in agony at the feet of their god...but they will not find mercy."

Isaac's grainy, wicked sounding voice droned on over Doctor Sanyupta's tape recorder.

"I see, Isaac. And can you tell me when these buildings will fall? Do you have a specific date? A month, time or even a year," Sanyupta asked with a thoughtful composure in his tone.

"Od ton kcom em, hctiw rotcod." (Do not mock me, witch doctor) Isaac hissed.

"I assure you, Isaac, I am not mocking you. I am simply curious to know just when this harrowing event will occur, so I can warn others, that is."

"Your time in this world is drawing to a close, mystic. Ruoy niart lliw eb ruoy tsal etaf. Deeh ym ylluferac." (Your train will be your last fate. Heed my words carefully)

"I will do my best to be very careful, my friend." Sanyupta compassionately assured. "On that note, let us conclude our session for the day. After lunch, you can go downstairs and help set up the Christmas decorations with the others."

Doctor Levin pressed the off button on the tape recorder before wiping his teary eyes dry. He wished that he had known about the recordings earlier, but like most of his so called "safe patients", he chose to shove Isaac off to the side, waiting to see if he would relapse back into his schizophrenic state once again.

Just one week earlier Isaac seemed perfectly well. From Jeremiah's point of view there were no apparent or visible signs that would have suggested the man required more time at Ashlandview.

But there was Jeremiah Levin, slumped over at his desk while the Thursday edition of the Cypress Guardian that was lying in front of him kept begging for the young doctor to take yet another glance

down at Isaac Mercer's grinning black and white photo.

There was an overwhelming sentiment of shame that he was sinking in. Jeremiah felt like a failure not being able to fully diagnose Isaac's problem. There was that persistent pinching in the back of the man's throat that wanted to believe Isaac's despairing shape-shifting story, to a certain degree that is.

All alone in his office, Jeremiah sat and stared endlessly from the newspaper to his multiple degrees on the wall that in times past he cherished and fawned over so proudly. He has listened to the chilling taped sessions at least five times in the past hour, and not one of his precious diplomas had prepared him for any of what he had listened to in Sanyupta's meetings with Isaac.

A series of knocks at the door interrupted Jeremiah's penitent moment to himself. Discreetly and quickly, the man wiped his eyes with a Kleenex before shouting, "Come in!"

From behind the door appeared a young, bearded, well dressed white man. With a cordial smile wrapped around his face, the man strolled inside and announced, "It's almost noon, Jeri. How about some lunch? My treat."

Clearing his throat, Jeremiah swiped the newspaper from off his desk before slipping it inside one of the drawers.

"Sure, Paul, I need to get out of here for a while anyways." He sighed.

"You know," Paul prudently uttered, "these cases usually turn out like this most of the time. You let it get to you now you'll carry it forever."

Jeremiah stopped his every movement at that instant to look up at his colleague with a belligerent frown as if a mountain of anger was building inside.

"Paul, how many patients have you had die since you've been a resident here?" He pointed.

Paul blushed and turned away as to say that the question had embarrassed him. All Jeremiah could do was continue to stare on at the man.

"C'mon, how many," Jeremiah impatiently persisted.

"Look, Jeri, if you're worried about what you're parents are gonna say, then don't be. Paul shrugged. "You've got a helluva career still ahead of you. This is only a minor setback."

Wearing a deadpan expression on his pale face, Jeremiah got up from out of his seat, grabbed his coat from off the coat rack and stormed right past Paul on his way out the door.

"You forgot to close the door!" Paul shouted, following Jeremiah down the hallway.

The instant Jeremiah reached the elevator, an unrelenting sense of being closed in suddenly seized him. Even though he wasn't even remotely hungry, the very thought of remaining inside his office and waiting for his next appointment was about as appealing as listening to a two hour physics lecture.

"I hear Sanyupta is heading off to Calcutta next." Paul commented before pressing the button to call the elevator. novelbin

Sighing, Jeremiah replied, "Yeah, that's one city down, ten more to go."

"Can you imagine how long of a train ride that is from Bombay all the way to Calcutta?" Paul grinned before entering into the waiting elevator.

With a slight, thoughtless pause in his step, Jeremiah followed in suit. The man stuffed his hands into his coat pockets, looked up at the ceiling, and at the blink of an eye, he cleared his mind.

***

Karyn drove along the pot-holed layered road at speeds that barely reached 15 mph. Behind her were the sounds of angry cars and trucks honking their horns and yelling for her to move faster. One by one she watched as vehicles veered past her, cursing and giving hand vile gestures.

As soon as she saw the bridge just a few yards up ahead, Karyn began to press harder on the gas until both she and her car were right under the bridge's steel girders. To the side was a large enough walkway where she could park her car without obstructing traffic any further.

The withdrawn woman sat in her cold vehicle, sulking and feeling sorry for herself. Everything she did, from knowingly sleeping with an attached man, to handing down her curse only gripped her body with the kind of sweltering fear that wouldn't allow a person to breathe, let alone live in peace.

"Go home." She muttered with a trembling bottom lip. "Mama...I wanna go home."

Without allowing one more thought to enter into her head, Karyn began to slip off her clothes. From her hat, scarf, coat, sweater, pants and boots, all the way down to her underwear, every item went flying to and fro inside the car until she was completely naked. Before long, the woman found herself crying. She was crying so hard that the tears were blinding her. Karyn then found herself looking up into the rearview mirror only to see that her eyes had turned completely white and fangs were gradually growing from out of her mouth.

Without even cutting off the ignition, Karyn got out and stepped onto the freezing cold pavement while drivers honked their horns and careened their vehicles from one side of the road to the other, gawking amazingly at the woman that was casually stumbling along the ice coated bridge.

Karyn could feel the fur begin to stalk out of her skin; that alone caused her pace to quicken towards the bridge's double ledge that led to the tip that overlooked Lake Logan.

It was well below ten degrees that afternoon. It was a possibility that people could see her change, but that jarring notion didn't seem to weigh heavily upon the fraught woman as she stepped up onto the

first ledge and looked out over the sprawling, mighty lake.

Her nipples, along with just about every other portion of her body were near frostbite stage at that point. Her toes felt as though they were going to fall right off of her feet at any moment. With every passing horn, Karyn found her shaking body nearing closer to the second and final ledge. Within the part of her brain that still held a remnant of common sense, she realized that it wouldn't be too long before someone would eventually pull over and try to coax her from off the bridge.

One final, fond memory crossed Karyn's mind at that instant. She recalled the past Sunday when she saw Isaac at the gas station. How her heart jumped from both fear and elation from just knowing that he was alright after the incident from November. He was the very first and only man that she truly cared for, even though she knew full well that he never held the same feelings for her in return.

And that was all she needed. Before her hands could even grow out into claws, Karyn shut her eyes and took one last look at winter before stepping out into the thin air and plunging herself into the inhumanly cold water below. The woman let go, not once holding on for one closing gasp of air. As she went under, Karyn could feel the beast try to escape from out of her body one last time. She made sure to keep her demonic eyes open for the entire journey downwards into the abyss as more and more space came in between both her and the surface above.

With only her right hand extended outwards, she reached.

***

Lynnette laid motionless in her hospital bed with her body wrapped from head to toe in nothing but bandages. Her entire face had swollen to twice its own size, while her left eye had ballooned to the size of an egg, nearly protruding out of its socket. Her right eye was completely swollen shut.

In order to keep the blood properly circulating she had to have her right arm elevated. She was hooked to a respirator; with blockage in her throat, breathing at that stage was unbearable.

She laid, watched and helplessly listened as her parents and three sisters who were all gathered around inside her room yelled, screamed, ranted and raved about how much of a bastard Isaac was for doing what he did to their beloved Lynnette.

Their scorching words against the man were filled with all kinds of colorful cursing, some of which Lynnette had never even heard up until that point. Every breath that the young woman could grab was sheer ecstasy.

With her one eye, she could see where her finger used to be on her right hand. Writing poetry, going to school, even being a mother to her son were about as important as sailing around the world to her.

The enraged human beings that surrounded her bed that afternoon were becoming more and more transparent, like mere distortions in time. From left to right, her bulging left eye scanned the five grown images in front of her, hollering as though she weren't even in the room.

Eventually, Lynnette learned to block them out of her head until all that was left were eyes. Two shining eyes that glowed in the dark. Nothing else but the two eyes stared back at her.

"You people are going to have to leave if you do not keep your voices down!" A doctor impatiently bellowed as he stormed into the room.

Lynnette watched as her family turned their furious attention away from Isaac and to the hapless doctor that was only looking out for his patient's best interest.

Then, something happened that Lynnette honestly hoped would not...she caught sight of Isaiah who was being held by one of her screaming sisters.

The child was sucking on his thumb while glaring back at his battered mother. In her one good eye, instead of seeing her baby, all Lynnette could spot was Isaac and his glowing eyes in the dark as they made love. She recalled the endearing story that he told back at Jimmy's roller rink, and the look of joy on his face when he arrived back from Ashlandview. Unlike in times past, the memories no longer left the fond effect upon her heart. Lynnette's soul had drowned the night before, and it would be an awfully long time before it ever dared to resurface again.

Isaiah reached out with his tiny right hand and playfully pointed it at his mother. Lynnette didn't move. She shut her eye as tight as she possibly could...wishing she could vanish away from the entire world.