He Stood There Silent

He stood there silent. A bus was about to arrive and give the man a ride. The sun was fading and with each reclining step, the man nervously looked around to see if there was any police officer or an onlooker. It was getting dark. He had remembered what his old aunt had taught him before dying of heart disease. He went to the bus and ascended the small flight of stairs. He examined his surroundings and glanced at the bus driver.

The bus driver chuckled and pointed to an empty seat. The man sighed with relief and was exhausted from working at the office. He had two brothers and a sister and wasn’t married. The shabby bus creaked as the tires gave in to the old cement of the road. The bus passed the old native reserve of the Lakota. The bus stopped near a post and a bench and the man descended the stairway and exited the bus. The night was nearing; the man began to become anxious and checked the time on his watch.

My dear old aunt Lorie is expecting me... I had better hurry. The man thought.

The young man then walked toward his aunt’s house. A house near the pub seemed to decrepit and unoccupied. The shafts on the windows had been broken down, and an untouched baseball bat was left there decaying. The sight of the house caused a slight chill in the man’s spine. It had oddly looked familiar to him. He could not recall any event because he was in a rush to get to his aunt’s house. The man then heard a shrill of wind screech. He then slowly turned his head and at the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he had seen a shadow of a young boy.

He ignored the incident. He slowly stepped around the crevice of the sidewalk and continued to pace forward toward the pub that his aunt worked in. The air of the night breeze became shriller as he walked closer toward his location. An eerie presence of a saddened woman stared right at him as he overlooked the other houses. A chime of a bell near the pub distracted the man. He began to hear an unsteady rhythmic heartbeat. Another shadow came into view and vanished as the man looked around. The shadow appeared to take shape of an old geezer that the man thought he knew well.

Startled by such a noise, he checked his pulse and sighed at himself. A woman gradually appeared out of nowhere and gently put her hand on the man’s shoulder. The man felt a chilly hand grasp on his shoulder. It seemed soft and gentle as it touched his shoulder. He cocked his head slowly in the woman’s direction.

Her eyes were orbs of nothingness, concern, and despair. She spoke to the man and her voice echoed.

“Please do not go this way.... You do not know the history of this place....”

Tears dropped from woman’s eyes as she released her grasp from the man’s shoulder. The man shuddered and shook his head in disbelief. He ignored the warning of the woman as she dissipated into thin air. He continued to walk toward the pub.

He entered the pub and was greeted by his aunt. He glanced at his surroundings and he thought the area of the bar could be refurbished since the paint was peeling and the wood was scratched. He then felt gradually lethargic as he sat down on one of the tables. His aunt came, snatched a seat, and looked exhausted.

“Hello, Gareth, it has been such a long time,” The man’s aunt greeted him.

The man named Gareth nodded back in appreciation. He stayed at his aunt’s pub for the next two to three days. He then straggled out of the pub with an intoxicated gait. He entered his aunt’s house and entered the room his aunt provided him. He finally lay there exhausted. He then felt the same shrill of wind come to him. The moon was present and the trees rustled as he stared out at the window. A whirl of noise formed as he looked through the window.

A fusion of shadows crept toward Gareth’s bed and melded with each other with mumblings of a lunatic. A grueling groan could be heard behind Gareth as he gazed at the window. His ears twitched and he turned his head. A blackened figure stared at him. It expressed interest in him as he stared at it. There were no distinguishable features on the figure. It was pure darkness and it seemed as if death was staring at Gareth.

Gareth slightly startled by the creature’s presence moved toward his bed. The creature vanished into the midnight air. He lied in his bed and shut his eyes. Then flashes of his past began to unfold. He was at the tent of where his old aunt Lauren was laying on her sickbed. She convulsed violently as she coughed harder and harder. She coughed blood and it splashed and stained the ground. She complained to him that she had been receiving headaches over the past few weeks. Gareth’s eyes began to water as his aunt lay there coughing violently. She lurched and gasped for air and reached for her nephews hand. He tried to help her but to no avail he had not succeeded. His grand-aunt shook violently and had seizures. Her eyes rolled inside her skull and she before she could take her last breath she had said to him.

“If someone had slipped poison into my drink.... Please find my murderer....”

Gareth stared as tears dripped from his eyelids and all he could do was nod in agreement. He twisted and turned as the repressive memories came and bombarded him. He then fell asleep and then his vision began to blur. It appeared to be he seemed to be in the abandoned neighborhood he walked through earlier. The exception was that it was bustling with the laughter of children and people. It appeared to Gareth it was once a vibrant community.

His vision began to warp and twist as he saw the houses turn from bright to gloomy. The decrepit appearance of the houses began to creep in as the sky darkened. Pieces of wood fell from their places and time passed quickly. Lightning and thunder boomed. Then his vision warped again, back to the normal scenery. He then heard moans from all the houses... Then his dream went forward and revealed what was really going on.

Every woman in the neighborhood began to moan louder.... Then they screamed for help as their beloved husbands became berserk with lust. They were slammed on the windows and the glass began to shatter as they were thrown out without any dignity. Like dogs, their husbands went mad with lust, raped them without remorse. The screeches filled atmosphere and brought disturbing images of beseeching wives and terrified children. The wives lay there naked as their husbands forcibly had gruesome and animalistic sex.

To make matters worse, the children watched in terror as these events happened. Gareth, the full-blooded Lakota Sioux man, could no longer take it. A woman fled from her mad husband, she fled on to the street. She was pursued by her husband and then before she could scream for help she was smacked and she stumbled and was dragged away as her trail of blood poured across as she bled. He saw the mad face of his long dead uncle. He then saw a familiar shape of a figure performing witchery and various forms of the traditional dances of Gareth’s tribe.

He saw the figure summon the spirits of the long dead insane rapists of the once vibrant neighborhood and with gaze so abhorrent it sent chills in Gareth’s back.

A flash of a bright light then occurred. Gareth awoke panting as he struggled to breathe. Three apparitions were staring at him with slight concern.... They shook their heads as watched their memories play back in front of them in disgust. Then a familiar and friendly face emerged from the shadows with a ghastly pale tinge.

“My nephew, have you realized what has befallen the neighboring neighborhood near my sister’s pub?” the figure asked him.

Gareth stared wide-eyed as his aunt questioned him....

“I didn’t know it that matter was not an illusion...”

“You are about to learn more come outside,” His old aunt beckoned him to come with her spirit-white hand.

Gareth went outside and walked toward the decrepit houses; a gaze of the shadow being appeared behind him. It hissed and breathed near Gareth’s neck. The creature could feel the trepidation of his prey. It then placed its hand on Gareth’s head and a scene of the past then played. It flashed at moments at the past. He saw people asking for mercy, they were women and children. The people bled profusely and groaned in pain as it continued to seep through their wounds. The colour of crimson was splattered across the abandoned neighborhood; it seemed to be genocide.

In a low grumbling voice, the voice articulated, “Moments of agony, a hellish nightmare full of bleeding... It amuses me that you ignored the woman’s warning earlier.... You are nothing but pathetic. Your memories are pitiful you are weaker than I...”

A familiar shuffle caught the corner of the Sioux man’s eye. He recognized that it was his aunt Lorie. Her expression seemed grim and she produced a small casket.

“Spirit of Destruction, Pillaging, and the embodiment of the men who walk in the shadows, I will not allow you to go further...” Lorie glared at the being of the night.

“Lorie, you murdered me... You thought you could get away from me....” A spectre of an elderly Native American woman came to be. It stared at the person who was her sister.

Both aunts looked at their nephew. They both growled at him.

“This is a matter between me and my sister Lorie, nephew, go away and let us handle our business!”

The Sioux man then no longer could take it. He sprinted away, crying hysterically he then met a halt. His forehead rattled as his head hit a piece of rusty metal. He realized that he hit a pole and passed out. A figure then approached from the shadows and dragged him to one of the decrepit houses. The boy entered the house as he struggled to carry the unconscious Sioux.

“My father and the rest of the men of the past are monsters Mr. Wade,” The ghostly spectre of a boy stared at the unconscious Sioux.

“Harold? Is that you,” The Sioux man woke up from his grueling experience.

“Yes, you are the... Oh no, my mother’s coming....”

“I tried warning you Gareth Wade, but you ignored my warning... I will become more burdened because of you.... Your uncle raped me.... All the men in that neighborhood were nothing but rapists and Satanists!” she shouted.

Then a ghastly flash of a sick green came and Lorie had nearly killed her sister. She then turned her frenzied eyes on her nephew. Enraged, she stumbled and staggered as she attempted to pursue her nephew. She chanted gibberish, and to her nephew’s horror, the men that the raped woman described grinned sadistically. Amongst them, was accursed his Uncle who was notorious for being a disturbed man. They taunted Gareth and the shadow being became distracted.

“I have unfinished business with you Lorie Wade of the Black Ravens.... He is my prey... You will fig-“

Before the creature could finish his speech, Lauren stood her ground and summoned her spiritual guide. The eagle swooped its claws on Lorie. Lorie grunted in pain and was hurled away.

Gareth became sickened and disgusted by the unsavory events. He decided immediately to make run for hell. He sprinted, his muscles became exasperated and under his breath, he enchanted a curse on the creature and his murderous aunt Lorie not without nearly sacrificing himself to break the curse of the debilitated neighborhood. There the malignant presence disappeared. Gareth had lifted the curse and brought peace. He then stood there silently and waited for the shabby bus but he was only to be greeted by the shadow being.

“Accept your fate, you wolfish shaman, I applaud you lifting the curse, now this reserve can rest. Now my legacy will be complete. You will come with me” The shadow spoke.

With a swipe of its hand, the shaman shimmered, and disappeared.