Salience

The stranger wrapped his giant arms around Acher's face squeezing the life and fight out of him. Tossing him into the back of his station wagon he wrapped his feet together before closing the trunk door behind him. He took a moment to stand and compose himself looking around the gas station. Quiet. After a few moments of savory satisfaction of victory, he walked to the driver's side gliding into the front seat. Acher struggled in the back of the station wagon kicking against the side panels. The stranger couldn’t hold back his glee and smiled so sharp that blood trickled down the sides of his devilish smile. His tongue quivered as it licked up the small streams and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Acher was lucky not to have to watch this moment for it was certain to not only scare him but throwing up now would most certainly seal his death. The stranger turned on the radio with gargled sounds until soft jazz bounced off the car walls.

How long had it been? Acher couldn’t tell, he just knew that the stranger was driving out of the neighborhood and to a different part of the city. The clouds showed him that he was still within several miles of his home though exactly where was a mystery. He stared as hard as he could trying to memorize anything that could give him a clue to some type of success to escape. He recognized that the car was turning more and more so he knew they had to be close to the destination at hand. Was this to be his end? To die tragically like his mother? Her eyes stared back at him in these moments. His eyes flickered as tears begged to escape and yet like an outside force kept them from falling. His body slowly rocked as he felt the car stop. He poised himself like a rattlesnake ready to bite with his feet. He waited for the perfect moment. The trunk door swung open, and he lunged his feet so quickly that his body hopped off the floor. The stranger deflected the legs with a single arm and laughed.

“Nice try, but this isn’t my first rodeo son,” he said. He then grabbed Acher’s legs and pulled him over his shoulder. Acher at the moment knew a horrible truth.

“You! It’s you, you effing bastard! You’re the one who’s been trying to run me over in my neighborhood,” he screamed. He wiggled with all of his strength but from the outside view, it looked like a worm in the clutches of the bird. Unphased. The stranger walked towards the house looking only where he was going. The house was an ordinary house with nothing screaming out of the ordinary. Its roof was flat with red side panels for the windows with the curtains drawn so that nothing could be seen inside. The door had a sinister feel though it looked as though it should be a plain door. When they reached the entrance he effortlessly reached into his pocket pulling out the house key and twisted the knob until an audible sound was heard. He walked through the entrance lightly kicking the door shut behind him. He then slipped out of his shoes and pushed them together using only his feet pushing them off to the side neatly as he turned towards a dark corridor. Acher could smell something odd, a smell that he felt he recognized but couldn’t put his finger on it. The darkness started to surround him more and more and something about this house gave him an odd chill. It was plain-looking and nothing was out of order or place. The living room, from his quick glance, had a single TV on an entertainment system with a dull green couch parallel. The kitchen had a small wooden table that clearly looked used with three chairs surrounding it and no dishes to be found in the sink that could be seen. That smell hit him again. His eyes rolled into the back of his head. Why did this smell bother him so much? His mother's eyes pierced him again. His face contorted at the sight and he shook his memory of her to focus on the house again. The walls were a tan color, something out of an old house catalog or something that his grandparents would have lived if they were still alive. The bathroom was the only part that seemed to be disheveled as the quickest glance wasn’t enough to really gather anything of importance. They stopped and the darkness seemed to swallow them. This door had more than just fear coating it. It had its own kind of hunger to it, like it had been starving for a meal longer than it should have and was salivating at the sight of Acher’s presence. The door didn’t make a sound when it was opened but Acher swore that it hummed the moment they stepped past it.

The descent felt like a lifetime and the smell grew strong. Mold, stale water, stone, soil, and that lingering smell was long forgotten. Acher couldn’t see a thing and yet the stranger seemed to navigate without hesitation. He knew exactly where to go and each step sounded happy. Acher never thought about it till now but that sound reminded him of his sister coming down the stairs when he would return home from playing outside or any reason to not be home. She was so happy to see him and now he wouldn’t hear those footsteps again and each step now pained him a grief that he didn’t know he could experience again since the passing of his mother. The stranger smiled again and this time you could hear the tearing of flesh from his lips. He seemed on edge like he could barely contain the moment. His body trembled with each step further down into the basement.

The final step down had the sound of ecstasy as the stranger placed Acher in a corner. He slowly brushed his hands across his body taking in the fear and anger. His mouth danced and it produced saliva. His nose wiggled in the smell of his youth and he felt himself feeling warmer and warmer. He dragged his hands away.

“Usually they are more louder than this,” the stranger said.

“They?” Acher asked.

“Yes, they, they put up a fight more than this and yet something tells me you are fighting in your own way.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“Yes! That’s it, get loud. I love hearing your panic and fear so much that I can hardly keep myself contained.”

“Untie my feet and see me contain my foot up your ass!”

“Now, now, let’s not get so naughty just yet,” the stranger said as he touched himself.

“I must leave for now but I shall return and hopefully we will have a bit of fun later.”

Acher said nothing just laying there. The stranger stood up and walked back up the stairs taking a moment to lift the bottom side of the staircase and folded it upward so that no one could access the stairs unless from the top. Acher laid in his thoughts staring into the darkness creating shapes and desires in the black.

Time was nothing but a figment of his imagination at this point. Sitting in darkness distorted so much of his senses that he found himself with his feet propped up on the wall. He would pass the time by caterpillaring to the other side of the basement or crocodile rolling. Time was the enemy here and it scraped at his mind as he lost it over and over. Slowly he felt himself metamorphizing into insects, crawling, scraping, headbutting, and the like. The stranger would periodically check up on him with that devilish smile and the smell of blood on his lips. He would feed him and give him sips of water and with great pleasure help Acher relieve himself as needed in a bottle. Acher fought those tears at night, he didn’t ever want that man to hear him or see his anguish. Every touch, breath, and grin filled him with hate, anger, and fear.

“Stupid SPs. Where are you now? Can’t save me again. Can’t take something else away from me?” he asked. Talking to himself became more frequent as the loneliness set in. The darkness and his voice were his only friends. His body ached from the stone floor and the smell had blended in with the darkness. Acher found himself wondering if he felt slightly smaller when he saw the stranger. His body told him to shrink. Impossible as it seemed though he wished he could every time the door opened and the stench of blood and something else crawled the stairs into his nostrils. His eyes widened for a moment, only for a moment, as the feet descended into the darkness. Lights have never touched this place and yet the stranger always knew exactly where Acher was. He was once again in a corner squishing his entire being into the cracks. He saw the stranger's eyes glitter in the dark knowing that he was looking directly at him. A flicker of desire and lust. The stranger glided over reaching his long fingers over his body, Acher clenched his teeth to the point of cracking.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” Acher yelled. To the stranger's delight he smiled once again that smile of pure evil but a surprise came with that smile. Acher threw his leg towards his face slamming the strangers head, as hard as he could, into the wall. The stranger grabbed the side of his face that was struck and a new desire was glimmering in his eyes. Bloodlust. His fingers contorted into claw-like shapes as he raked his fingers across Acher’s chest. Letting only the smallest whimper out he breathed as hard as he could to the pain. The ecstasy-filled moans of the stranger bounced off the walls of the prison burrowing into Acher’s ears.

“How very noble of you to fight back, though I was certain that your legs were tied together. No matter, you may have that freedom for now. Your time is coming close and I am filled with hunger beyond any I have held before. To taste you will be the best meal I have ever dreamed of. Let’s not spoil the mood with such violence,” the stranger said rubbing the side of his cheek. He left for what felt an eternity returning with his measly meal of bread and water. Acher once again tried to kick the stranger but slipped falling onto his head against the wall.

Laughing the stranger said, “What a nasty fall you just had. Let’s not get hasty. Our time of fun is near, just be a little more patient.”

“Fuck you!” Acher yelled. He wished he never spoke those words for he saw a face he never imagined possible. A face so twisted with glee, lust, and something else he couldn’t quite figure out but reminded him of the death of his mother. Their eyes pierced not just his soul but his entire being. This look paralyzed him for the first time. At this moment he saw true evil and knew that soon he would meet his end just like his mother did those years ago. The stranger left after a final touch of Acher's face and giggled a gleeful laugh like that of a child getting their favorite present for Christmas. That laugh would haunt Acher the rest of the night. The face chased him wherever he went within the basement. The thought of how his foot escaped was the last thing he remembered when reminded of the words and the face he just saw and heard.

“How did my foot get out of the wrap?” he asked grabbing his ankles. Everything felt as it should, no bruising or breakage. His body told him once again to shrink but he didn’t understand what that meant. The door opened and a new smell disrupted his senses as loud crashing thuds danced the corners of the basement. A final smack of flesh and concrete concluded the symphony and the smell of death lingered. A howling laugh was heard up high and the door shut closing out the laugh to a small whisper. Acher crawled towards the sound feeling the cold rough concrete around his fingertips as usual until something fleshy stopped him. He crawled up the object pressing his ear close. Silence. It took a moment but finally Acher built the courage to touch the face to find out what it truly was.

Letting out a scream, “A body!” he scrambled as fast as he could away knocking his head against the wall in the same spot he hit earlier releasing a small stream of blood down the back of his neck. Unphased he just stared where he felt the body.

“Hey! Wake up! Are you… are you alive?” he asked shakily. Silence.

“Please! Hello!” he screamed louder. Nothing.

“He can’t hear you,” said a voice. Acher had never yelled that loud in his entire life.

“He is a dead boy,” said the voice.

“Why? Why are you doing this?” asked Acher.

“Why? Why you ask? Why not? I am hungry and I want something that I can not have in society. So I take what I want when I want it,” said the stranger.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Didn’t I?”

“No.”

“I am doing this because I desire to kill and to taste young boys such as yourself.”

“But why?”

“Such a childish thing to do, continue to ask why when you don’t understand. How could you at such a young age? Thats what makes you so desirable. Your innocence and purity. It tastes better that way.”

“You keep saying taste, what do you mean? Why are you doing this? Let me go!”

“You will see soon enough what I mean by taste, this was a mere accident. I gave in too soon when I should have waited and fell to my desire prematurely with this one. It won’t happen again I assure you and soon I will finally get my fill of you.”

“Please, I’ve lost so much. Please let me go,” Acher begged. He finally was broken, at the end of his road and could no longer keep up the facade of toughness.

“Mmmmmm. I love this part, almost getting me so excited that I could have seconds, but no. I mustn’t. I must wait until I need to feed again. Patience young one.”

“I’m tired of waiting, just do it already! Kill me or let me go.”

“If I let you go, you will turn me in, you have seen plenty to start a proper investigation.”

“If I said I wouldn’t?”

“But you wouldn’t keep that promise would you?”

“Of course not, you’re evil.”

“What an honest child. Again, you excite me.”

“So, I’m here to die, that it? Then do it!”

“You are, but not yet, I must first fulfill other needs that you don’t understand or are just now starting to understand. You must have these lust desires as well.”

“Don’t you dare touch me!”

“Oh, I’m going to do more than just touch you, and then I will drain you and watch the light flicker out. It’s honestly my favorite part to the point where I could finish again just watching,” he said as his body vibrated again. Acher caught himself almost vomiting and kept it in as best he could.

“Patience, your death will come soon but I’m sure it will feel like a lifetime,” the stranger said as he reached for Acher’s chin. Acher felt his body recoil naturally and tried to hide his chin from the monster. It seemed to have worked and he saw the stranger give a strange look but seemed to ignore his thoughts and turned away. The creaking sound of the stairs being folded gave relief and Acher found himself slumping over.

“Why did I have to be a teenager right now? If I was bigger I’d be able to do something,” he said. His body then felt weird as if his body was listening to him. Acher found himself pushing the very thought from his mind as he went back further into the corner dragging his feet across the concrete. He felt is chest and found a stinging sensation and stickiness as he fingers pressed against himself. He stared at the spot where he thought he found the dead body. He pressed his palm against the underside of his chin and stared. He glanced again only this time he thought he saw the body in full detail. He blinked repeatedly staring into the darkness. He never noticed but there was a glint of light from the bottom of the door at the top of the staircase and he found himself wishing, begging to be tall enough to reach the stairs. His hand reached out automatically at the thought and touched the wood. He jerked his hand back as fast as he could and felt his hand. Had he imagined it? He reached out again. Nothing. The darkness is playing tricks on him, it’s impossible to magically get taller.

He found himself lying on the floor as far away from the body as he could. Staring hard into the smallest beam of light that he could focus on. He thought if only he had the abilities of some animals to see in darkness he could feel more comfortable in this hellish prison. Like the owl and at the thought the room around him began to glow. As if some God heard him giving him mercy, any mercy to help relinquish his anguish in the depths of the hell he found himself in. He saw the stairs clearly and saw how they folded and where they were tied. The body had added to the bouquet of smells laid at the bottom. He squinted looking more in awe and disbelief and began to touch things to confirm the reality. He went to rub his face and poked his eye incredibly hard. Instantly the world became black again and his eye stung the size of a dinner plate it felt. Impossible he knew though that’s what his pain was telling him. He dried his tears and found himself looking into the darkest black of the room wishing that the God could hear him again.

“Bring back the light, please,” he said. The room glowed once again and besides it looking fuzzy to the left side he felt relief. Was the God playing a cruel joke on him?

“What’s going on? Why can I see?” he said. He slowly pressed his hands against his face and something was different. The sides of his temple felt like it was bulging outward several inches past where they normally should be. He traced the sides of his temple and found that his eyes were the size of a baseball.

“What's happening to me? What are you doing to me? Let me out!” Acher said as he slammed into the walls and shook and cried. He squeezed his eyes so tightly that the dancing sparkles of fairies flashed in front of the darkness. He felt again to see if it was all a dream. Normal feeling again but the room returned to darkness.

“Am I doing it? Can I see in the dark?” he asked. He tried to calm himself and thought once again to see in the dark. Nothing happened, his body had ignored him. Whispering words of encouragement he tried to see again.

“Please, please, please,” he said. The room glowed as it had before. Tears dripped from his face. The first bit of happiness he had felt in a long time. He walked to the stairs careful not to touch the dead body and looked up the stairs.

“Was it my imagination or did I really touch this thing?” he asked. He reached out towards the folded stairs. His hand felt empty. He thought to himself; be taller. To his amazement he saw his arm reach out as if it had been that long his whole life. He gripped the wooden stair so tight you could hear the wood splinter. Anything was better than staying in this dungeon this prison of darkness. He felt weak as he pulled himself up towards his goal and pushed with all his might finally climbing over the side of the stairs. He felt splinters and scrapes singe his arms but he looked forward. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time. Purpose. He now walked the stairs with his own smile. He didn’t know if what he was doing was real or if he was living a dream but he decided to see it through to the end no matter what. He felt a hand on his shoulder and knew its familiarity.

“Mother,” he said.

Pushing him gently to the door he reached out twisting the knob to his next destination, perhaps his final destination. The door eerily opened not making the slightest sound and Acher took a giant step through looking around.

“Now what?” he asked.