Dead Soul

DEAD SOUL



Michael awoke with the same dream every night. The one where he was running in the dark from the man he had murdered just one year ago. The man was Blade Hanson, a mass murderer who tried to attack Michael while he was working the graveyard shift at the cemetery. The dream always consisted of the same events over and over. The memories of Blade’s oversized body lying on top of him and Michael smashing him over the head with his working shovel. This evil man he had killed would not leave his mind and it haunted him every night.
Michael got out of bed with the sweat coming down out of control on his forehead. He opened the fridge and sucked back the orange juice. Samantha, his wife was asleep upstairs and his daughter Jennifer was also in bed. The clock read 11:05 and his co-worker Ralph Davis would be outside honking the horn in his old Buick in about twenty minutes. Michael sat at the table with the juice in his hand. He was remembering the event that changed his life a year to the day.
He had been working his usual 11 to 7 shift at the graveyard. Michael was a maintence man at the Roswell graveyard. Roswell was a small graveyard for young children who died by way of cancer. It was a full moon that night and Michael was working by himself. He had heard about Blade Hanson’s escape from prison that afternoon but thought nothing of it. He was shovelling a grave sight of a young boy name Jax who had died a week prior of leukemia. It had been a quiet night and Michael was close to the end of his shift. Then from the shadows behind a large oak tree appeared Blade Hanson. A giant of a man with a baldhead and wires growth on his face. He was missing three of his front teeth and looked like he had been sweating like a pig. Michael stood motionless in front of the figure.
“You a sweet little thing aren’t you?” Hansen’s voice spoke in low undertones.
“Stay away” Michael replied with the shovel in his hand.
Blade continued to come closer with blood red eyes. He was rubbing his sandpaper hands together. Michael raised the shovel in defence but Hanson was not intimidated at all.
“No man says no to Blade Hanson,” he said as he immediately ran at Michael and wrapped both of his grizzly arms around him. Both fell to the ground but only one let out a scream. Hanson had his forearm logged in Michaels throat and his other arm was reaching for his genitals. Michael still had the shovel in his hand, but he was losing his breath because of the giant limb under his chin. Michael couldn’t move but found enough strength in his body to strike this predator in the temple with the shovel. Blade rolled off of him, holding the side of his head to stop the blood from squirting. Michael got up covering cemetery dirt. He looked down at his attacker who was slowly getting up. Then raised the shovel over his head and began to smash it continuously into Hanson’s skull.
HONK HONK……the horn was going nuts as Michael still sat at the kitchen table thinking. He rushed to get dressed and ran outside.
“Jesus Mike, we’re going to be late” Ralph’s ashy grey moustache moved wildly when he spoke.
“I know, but will it really matter?” he answered.
“We’ve got to work at Fall well tonight” Ralph spoke.
“You’re kidding me right?” Michael replied.
“No”
Fall well was the cemetery where Blade Hanson was buried and Ralph and him hadn’t worked there in almost eight months.
“What’s the matter Mike? You look like you got something on your mind” Ralph seemed concerned.
It’s a year today Ralph” Michael started but Ralph was still puzzled.
“A year for what Mike?”
“A year since I was attacked by Blade Hanson at Roswell” Michael’s voice was raspy.
“Has it been that long?”
“Yep”.

They arrived at Fall well cemetery a little after 12:30am. They were late but neither of them cared. When they got there they unloaded their equipment from the back of the car and took a walk around the sites. The graveyard was scattered with all kinds of tombstones of different shapes and sizes. Names of dead souls littered one end of the graveyard to another. Finally they came to the gravesite that Michael had waited for, the tombstone and burial ground of Blade Hanson.
“That bastard deserves to be here after all of the shit that he did” Ralph said as he lit up a cigarette. The tombstone was pale white and read………
BLADE HANSON
MAY GOD BLESS HIS SOUL
“Piece of shit” Ralph repeated to it followed by a huge gob of saliva that he spit on the side of his stone. Michael just stood there motionless, remembering the nightmare that Blade had caused.
“Let’s go” Ralph started to walk away but Michael was frozen.
The sky began to turn dark red. Hanson’s tombstone lit up and started to glow. Michael and Ralph both took short steps back. The light began to shine brighter and both of them had to cover their eyes. A sharp bolt of lightning struck from the blood red sky and hit Ralph in the chest sending him back three feet. Michael’s eyes were in a heavy gaze at the stone and it got deeper every moment. Then from the depths of hell rose Blade Hanson’s spirit from his resting place. Michael’s body could not move. Every part of his skinny figure was in a trance. Hanson’s soul was a shade of white rounded cloud of dust with murderous floating red eyes. It floated in the air in front of Michael and the wind then started to pick up speed. The spirit let out a cry and then shot it’s way into Michael’s chest sending him to the ground knocking him out cold.

The red sky had banished and Michael and Ralph both lay flat on their backs. Ralph got up first. He turned and saw a figure lying in front of him. He got up off the ground and walked over to it.
“Mike, you okay?” he asked.
There was no response. Ralph’s face dropped. Michael’s body had changed. He had huge bulking bodybuilder arms and blotches of unfamiliar blond hair lay awkwardly on his head. Both of his two front teeth were gone. His legs were still scrawny but his upper body was enormous and sweaty and his face was a deformation of his own and Blade Hanson’s.
“Mike?” Ralph asked one more time questioning even himself as he tapped him on the shoulder.
Michael’s eyes opened, only there was no colour in them. They were pale with vanished pupils. His obese hand grabbed Ralph by the throat and trusted him up against the oak tree. His head split open instantly. Michaels half and half body rose up. His mind was different now and thoughts were not normal. He was thinking of breaking a child’s neck with his bare hands or raping an old lady. This was not Michael. He had taken some of Blade Hanson’s features and he had also taken his sick and twisted mind.

Jen had got up much earlier then her mother but she usually did because she was excited to see her Daddy in the morning. Samantha came down the stairs not to long after. Her eyes were filled with sleep and her arms longed for Michaels touch in the morning.
“I am going to make breakfast Mommy” Jens five year old face lit up.
Samantha smiled “No baby you have to wait a few minutes, do you think you can wait that long?”
Jen nodded her little head yes and then sat at the kitchen table staring at the clock. “How many minutes?” she asked.
Samantha stuck out her hand. “Three” she said making the number with her fingers.
A car pulled up to the side of the house. It was seven in the morning and the sun had just set. Samantha and her daughter Jen ran outside to the car to greet their loved one.
“Daddy, Daddy” Jen screamed but Michael was not there, the car was empty “Where is Daddy? Mommy?”
Samantha was just as puzzled about her husband’s whereabouts as her daughter was. She looked around but he was nowhere in sight. “Let’s get back inside sweetie” she spoke quietly to her daughter as she rushed her in the front door of the house.
“Why isn’t Daddy home yet?”
“I don’t know dear I…” she was interrupted by a quiet tapping against the back porch door. All the blood drained from her head to her feet.
“Michael?” she raised her voice, which was not usual for her. “Stay her Jennifer” she sat her daughter at the table and began to walk to the back.

The back porch was empty and there was nobody at the door. Samantha turned back toward the kitchen then at the place mat at the bottom of the stairs by the door. There was a trail of muddy footprints that led all the way down to the basement.
“Michael?’ she repeated for a second time. She started to walk down the stairs. It was dark and she seldom went down there because the fuse was out. The farther down the steps she went the darker it got. She could feel a shadow circling around her.
“Michael” she spoke the words a little quieter one more time.
A larger hand came across her mouth and pulled her in.
“Shhhhhhhh” the voice was familiar and soothing “It’s me Michael”. He let go and she pulled away.
“You son of a bitch, you scared me to death” Samantha was frightened.
“You look sexy today” he spoke and his voice was a lot deeper than usual.
She backed up and could still not see his face but she heard his knuckles crack.
“You okay Michael? Your scaring me” she took a couple more steps back and she and he came forward.
“Let’s go baby, you and me, right now” his voice had metamorphosed to Blade Hanson’s.
“No” she cried. Michael stepped into the light and his reflection was weak and grotesque. He grabbed her arm as she tried to get away. She tried to fight him but his grip was too strong. Samantha could smell the sweat and tried to scream but Blade Hanson had come alive inside her husband.
“Mommy? Where are you?” the voice of their daughter hollered from upstairs. Michael Hanson stopped. His breath speeds were rapid.
“No women says no to Blade Hanson,” he whispered to Samantha and a tear trickled from her eye. Jen made her way down the basement stairs. Samantha shoved her husband away and busted out of his arms.
“Run to your room Jennifer,” she screamed. Her feet were taking her to the stairs but Hanson was behind her. The echoes of Jen’s shoes were heard throughout the house. They both ran to the bedroom and locked the door. Jen was silently crying. They both stood still until Hanson started pounding on the door with both fists.
“Get out here you bitch” his voice was menacing.
“Please leave us alone,” Samantha cried. The door busted open and the thing that was her beloved husband stood there with a devilish grin. Samantha jumped in front of her daughter.
“You stay the hell away from her you son of a bitch,” she said trying to threaten him.
“Out of my way” he snapped as the back of his right hand clipped her jaw sending her against the closet. He turned his eyes on five-year-old Jen.
“Daddy?” she asked puzzled and confused of this deformed monster that did resemble her father.
“No…. Not Daddy” he whispered “But you sure are a sweet little thing”. He began to come towards her rubbing his hands together. His face edged to hers and his lips puckered. Samantha was still dazed against the closet door. She saw Hanson bend over to pick up her daughter. Her eyes searched the room. There was something by the dresser. It was her hairspray. She picked it up with shaky hands.
“Hey you bastard” she shouted. Hanson turned his attention to her with Jen in his grips. Samantha clenched the hairspray can in her hand and quickly used it on his eyes sending him into a squint. He dropped the daughter and Samantha picked her up off the ground and carried her out the back door. Little Jennifer was crying wildly in her mother’s arms.
“It’s okay hunny, we’ll be safe her” Samantha whispered into her ear as they were in the garage now. The door on the garage was much more secured than the one in the bedroom. It was quiet for a second and Samantha thought the nightmare was over.
“Is he gone Mommy?” Jen asked.
An ear shattering noise followed by a car came crashing into the garage. It was Ralph’s Buick with Blade Hanson in it. Both girls screamed as the thing that was there husband and father got out of the front seat. The white eyes starred them down. The zombie body started to weaken. Samantha grabbed the axe from the side of the wall. His body was weakening and fast. He dropped to the ground. The sky above turned blood red and Hanson’s body started to light up. Samantha and Jen stood wide eyed as Blade’s spirit rose out of Michaels body. It floated in the air with the blood red eyes starring out of it. The light around it was so bright that Samantha and Jen covered their eyes. Then in a quick instant flash, the soul vanished.
Michael got up feeling drained and timid. His body was back to normal and the sky faded to blue again.
“Michael?” Samantha hesitated to go close to her husband. He leaned against the car and used it to help himself up. His eyes were baby blue again.
“What happened?” he asked. His head ached and his heart was pounding out of his chest”.
“I don’t know, some monster tried to attack us but it was you. …Sort of” she replied.
“I can’t remember anything” she spoke “It’s all a blur”. Jen jumped out of her mother’s arms and into her fathers.
“Daddy I missed you’ he hugged her tight.
“I missed you too sweetheart” and he kissed her on the cheek. Samantha approached both of them. A tear fell from her eye and she hugged her husband, he was the man she loved. Michael picked up his daughter and walked back to the house. A bright spirit came crashing through the window of the garage window with blood red eyes. It struck little Jennifer in the side and shot her out of her father’s arms. Both Samantha and Michael rushed to her aid.
“Jennifer? Are you alright sweetie?”
She opened her eyes. The pupils were gone. She smiled but both front teeth had been removed.
“Oh no” Michael covered his mouth.
“No man says no to Blade Hanson” little Jennifer spoke in a low undertone.



THE END