Eric

Eric stared into his coffee as neon lights blinked outside. He’d been there for hours, sipping gently as midnight made its presence known. He came here often, sampling its atmosphere of worn eyes, dreary sounds, and constant souls who made this place their temporary home.

It, like other diners in the area, attracted nightlife like moths to a flame; truckers, bikers, anyone seeking sanctuary in the heartland of America. He often stared into the tiled floor, feeling its compulsion, its need to take him, the worn surface reminding him of his soul as he gazed up at the lights in the large dining area. He knew none of the staff and preferred to keep his distance and they with him and everyone else it seemed. No attachments, no problems, he figured. He sometimes wondered if he was right about that but was long past caring - this was it, and he contented himself as best he could with it, for the time being at least.

As he sat there he pondered it all. The place had a stained feeling, worn from the many travelers who sought respite from their busy lives. It had the feel of the in-between, where magic could be found in any corner and stories could lure you in with magical eyes. The four AM vibe loomed as moonlight crept in and the mystery of the night invited newcomers into its grasp. White walls with baseball memorabilia and red and white chairs completed the all-American look that he found somewhat comforting, yet the night still drew in. He felt the coming storm like a shadow in the dark and his senses tingled with anticipation.

He glanced this way and that, feeling dizzy with agitation as murmurs could be heard from fellow patrons, exchanging stories as lightning struck in the distance, thunder rumbling like a truck through the plains. A trucker at the bar winked at him, a man with pale eyes, a trimmed brown beard, and a lumberjack shirt, jeans stained from years of use. Another, with a cowboy hat, dressed much the same, sat lazily at the bar, staring into his drink and occasionally murmuring to the guy next to him and making sporadic glances at the waitress who ignored his questions.

Writers of one kind or another sometimes came here, and Eric liked to stare at them, hopefully, he thought, giving them inspiration for their work as he bored into them. He didn’t care to look in mirrors, and all he knew of himself was a featureless desert where the next wandering parasite could make a home. Some left quickly, one guy actually got into a fight with him in the parking lot outside, but he’d shrugged it off. He’d remembered a writer who stared back one night in a particular way, leading to a charge between the two, enamored with each other as the writer smiled after what seemed like an eternity and left soon thereafter. He liked the buzz.

He could not remember how he came here, he often never could, although he never caused trouble. Did the fight from before count as trouble? He didn’t know and didn’t care. It wasn’t worth it, was all he knew, but he often had some of the good stuff beforehand; a vague past haunting him as he saw figures in its distant horizon. Good, bad? He didn’t know nor care, as vague whispers of recollection haunted him like voices in the breeze. His nightmares were colored by a distant figure who seemed to desire him, a monster of a man who glared into him with red eyes from the great beyond. He felt familiar yet alien as Eric shuddered at the memory.

He looked into his coffee again, its circular swirl beckoning him like a vortex as he dimly remembered his day. Going from one place to the next, a fight, as he’d recalled, something to do with a guy owing him money. Maybe he owed the guy money? He didn’t know and didn’t care. A vague grasp of reality as he smiled to himself. Someday he’d wake up, maybe they would, who knew. He couldn’t remember his last job and knew cheap motel rooms like the back of his hand. Sometimes a street sufficed, but he floated with nary a care. He was content.

For now, he hung in this strange, vaguely strung out existence as his eyes caught the attention of another. He was an older man, sat across to the left in a small booth. How he had not noticed him before now he didn’t know but his eyes were like nothing he’d seen before. They had a cold and cruel look to them, like a predator. A look that regarded him with a cold objectivity that spoke of hunger and dominance. He didn’t move, just sat, staring blankly like a snake ready to strike or a cat on the hunt.

He stared right at him, not moving, a worn face with gray hair on top, a surly looking man with a black coat and no hint of life beneath the eyes. Eric felt uneasy; in the grip of something otherworldly and averted his gaze. He stared outside the window, lightning flashing again, and noticed more people leaving before looking at the man again.

His gaze remained unblinking, unchanging as Eric felt a sudden desire to get the hell out of there. Before he could do so, he saw the man move, revealing himself to be tall and powerfully built. He moved with a grace unbecoming of someone of his stature. He moved toward him and stared right into his soul.

“This seat taken?” The man asked, his voice appearing like a whisper in a dark night, laced with potential.

Eric shook his head, overriding his common sense.

“No, go on right ahead.” He forced a smile as the man smiled slightly and sat down, his tall hulk blocking the view as they stared at each other. Eric felt a chill and a deep sense of panic as the man stared right into him; not moving, unblinking as lightning flashed across his face.

Eric shifted uneasily, not sure what to make of this sudden change in fortune. Was he cursed? He shifted in his seat some more before sipping his coffee. The other man remained fixed like a statue.

He could feel sweat forming on his brow and the other man smiled slightly.

“Uncomfortable?” He asked suddenly, grinning. “No…I’m fine, good sir, just wondering what a man like you wants with a man like me, is all.” Eric felt like it was taking all of his effort not to bolt from his seat but something about the man and his gaze fixed him in place.

“Well that’s the question ain’t it?” the man asked with a mocking curiosity as he leaned forward. “What do I want with you?” Eric felt like he was trapped with no way out. “Let’s find out, shall we?”

The man beckoned to the waitress nearby. “Just a good strong coffee, and another for this fine gentlemen…do you mind?”

Eric shook his head, going with whatever this stranger wanted. “Good, then let’s get settled. Ever since I saw you come in…you probably didn’t notice, but I felt I finally had a good meal in sight.”

Eric gulped, clearly feeling like he’d wandered into a nightmare.

“Yes sir….”

He looked Eric over like a man admiring a feast.

“Nothing better I thought, been hungry for someone like you for a while…I frequent places like this, drifting like a wanderer, taking my fill…the occasional tramp’s not bad, but you….”

He leaned in closer.

“You’re just the ticket.”

He winked as Eric suddenly felt paralyzed, a strange rumbling in his ear as the man took his coffee and slurped it slowly.

“Mighty bad storm coming in.”

He looked outside, cars moving out as sirens could be heard in the distance.

“I like it out here…peaceful, with the threat of potential. When the storms come in, it’s like the other side comes calling…it’s when I like to feed…the electricity.”

He shuddered orgasmically, closed his eyes and laughed slightly, before staring back at Eric who was unable to move.

“Now…ordinarily, I’d have taken you out to my car, and we’d be on our merry way…nice little road in a corn field say…and let myself at you, in all my primal glory….”

He pointed at his chest.

“It likes to feed quite voraciously…it's orgasmic, you know?”

He winked again.

“Yes sir…God it’s good…but anyway, I digress…I like to watch the eyes as this is happening, makes it even better somehow…but…and now we come to it.”

He leaned back.

“I’m gonna test something out here…just between you and me…sometimes I do this, it makes it more fun.”

He leaned in again.

“If you could tell me who I really am, you get off the hook…nice and clean see?”

He made a gesture with his hand.

“If not…then well, I’ll have my fill, and you’ll get to see me having my feast as you feel every minute of it…hours will go by, understood?”

Eric was sweating and glanced slowly in the direction of the bar. The place was deserted, the waitress nowhere to be seen as he found himself alone with this thing from hell. At that moment the lights switched off and he heard the front door lock.

The man followed his glance.

“No one here huh? See, a lot of people know me, but they won’t cross me…I come here to feed, it’s an arrangement. No one would believe me if they saw who I really was…what I really was, understood?”

Eric nodded slowly and wondered if this would be his last night on Earth. The other grinned and winked.

“Now…you just have to figure out who I am, then you can go free…if you guess correctly.”

Eric suddenly felt loose, as if the grip he’d been under had been tightened and he breathed again for the first time.

The other man laughed at him.

“Feels good don’t it? Breathing…tell me, do you value life?”

Eric nodded. “I do now…who the hell are you…what the hell are you?” Panic was filling his voice.

The man laughed, a laugh that turned bestial before he flashed red eyes briefly and leaned in.

“Take a wild guess…do you remember your father?”

An image flashed in his head briefly of a man from years ago as he tried to recall.

“No…he left when I was too young to remember….”

“Well then…”, the man said with a sense of satisfaction, “there’s your clue.”

He eyed him suspiciously. “What do you mean?”

The other grinned. “Wouldn’t you like to know…we all need a starting place, right?”

Eric looked perplexed.

“I never knew my father…my mother refuses to speak of him…did, she died many years ago.”

“And did she ever leave you anything behind, clues, memories?”

“Nothing…just a vague sense that he was a disappointment…my father was a disappointment…she swore off men after him, said they were no good pieces of shit, and that I should do better.”

“Hence the drinking, right?” The man eyed him mockingly. “Just a fine specimen of a man aren’t you? The regular town drunkard, not a thing to your name except credit card bills, petty thefts, and an eye for trouble.”

Eric stared at him again, stunned.

“How do you?”

He laughed again, a softer but harsh laugh that sent chills down him.

“I know things…” he tapped his forehead. “And right now, I know you don’t have much hope left in this world…a bum scrounging for scraps from an unkind world who fuels his drinks with gambling and whatever else he can steal. You’re a nobody. But you still haven’t guessed who I am.”

He grinned.

“And until you do, you don’t leave here. And if you do…you won’t be long for this world, and that’s a promise.”

He looked at his watch. “Time doesn't exist here…so, please take it, it’s yours.”

Eric stared at him then saw a young boy to his left in the middle of the diner. It was him as a youngster. He was staring like a newborn and didn’t move. The other man looked at him, following his gaze.

“Ah…you remember him, do you? Is he…you?”

He asked mockingly as Eric felt tears coming down his face. The boy smiled and then disappeared as voices could be heard arguing. A door slamming as Eric closed his eyes remembering.

“They used to fight…Mom and Dad…terribly…he’d hit me, again…and again…and again.”

He pounded the table with each utterance of “again”, lowering his face to it as the tears fell.

The other man stared at him, lapping it up, as his eyes widened, feasting. He looked not unlike a snake, ready to pounce.

“And then what…?” he asked, clearly savoring every minute of this and slowly rising to his feet.

“He’d leave…in a drunken stupor…I don’t remember anything after that…Mom got rid of him…kicked him out after he’d beaten me one night…I don’t remember it, just the blows that wouldn't stop…oh God.”

He pounded the table more violently as the other man’s eyes widened, almost inhumanly as lightning intensified outside.

“Jesus!” Eric cried out, raising his head as the other man suddenly towered over him, the room growing dark as the flashes intensified.

“I'm your father, you sack of shit…and I’m here to tell you that your time has come…I’ve been looking for you…and when we’re done, we’ll be as one, finally!”

He grabbed him and pulled him into him, blood spraying as the feast began. Outside, the sirens intensified as screaming and moaning sounds could be faintly heard, a man in the throws of ecstasy as two became one.

Hours later, the man stumbled into the bathroom, feeling lightheaded and stared into the mirror. His mouth and chest were caked in blood and he looked pleased, staring into himself. He felt a kick and doubled over, his insides wretching as the process began. He began congealing into one form, features disappearing as a figure began moving inside, the lightning dancing as it moved like an alien entity.

Near dawn, a new man, curled up in the fetal position, awoke on the floor. He was a strange kind of hybrid as he looked in the mirror. He was young, blonde, and a strange combination of the previous two men. He grinned, and walked into the diner, naked as the day was new.

The waitress was looking in from the outside, her face pale at the scene of slaughter inside. She looked at the man as he grabbed some blood stained clothes, hurried outside, and got in his car, speeding off into the new dawn.

He heard his son’s voice in his head. “Father…what have we done?”

“We’ve united, that’s what we’ve done…the night I left, I found…him and all was right again. I was merely searching for completion, which I found in you…now, we’re free to be together forever. Every being we consume, we take on a new life. You’ll see.”

He grinned as his son writhed in the cage inside him and the car sped off into the desert.