Post by Sammy Kuklinski on May 15, 2018 3:17:47 GMT -5
Folks Like Us
Caden found himself drifting into an almost hazy like sleep as he listened to the soft choir from deep in the bowels of the church. He had no idea where they had come from. His gut told him that Miss Sarin had used her influence to get them in, to bring the joy of God closer to their hearts. He would spit if he wasn’t so tired. The joy of God wouldn’t be found here, in this place. The joy of God was never discovered in a place like this. With a grunt he ran his hand against his jaw, feeling the area where Joe Stanton had cracked him with a heavy right hand. Strong man, Mr. Stanton. Miss Sarin had warned him about such a man but Caden hadn’t listened. That was his mistake. His eyes drifted forward, focusing ever so slightly on the bible that was placed in front of him. A bible he knew all too well. All members of Sarin’s inner circle were given at least one. It was a copy of the Lost Scripture, a Bible with the returned books that had been left out by the church, for their representation of the Lord. Caden had grown up a good Catholic, so he remembered the normal books. But there were 3 added in to this copy. One of those three was to be interpreted fully by each member of the family, a representation of themselves in some sense. For one of them, the book of Penance was seemingly carved into her psyche. Caden didn’t like to talk about that one all that much. There weren’t a lot of things that scared him. But a fanatic like her...that was one of them. As for himself, he was given the book of Flagellation. He supposed that had been its reprinted name. He hadn’t known what Flagellation had meant originally, but hearing what it meant now made him truly ponder if this book was called that originally or not.
This was his book. And his pact. But he was growing distracted. A photograph lay beside the bible, an image of a man wearing a hat with a long beard. Eyes alight with the glow of knowledge seemingly unseen by others. This was a man that could be a threat. So he had studied this man. This...Alexander Devin. Watching tapes when he could. Reading up on him when he had the chance of doing so. And above all else, preparing himself for the penance he would receive. His own personal Flagellation. The crimes he suffered, the sins, to be washed away by blood. Miss Sarin had specified that it didn’t have to be his blood. That was good to know. Still, he would suffer as well. Even if he were to not bleed, there was only so much pain he could inflict on someone until his mind began to revert to its old ways. He’d already collected a trophy from the girl, would he stop with just that? Almost acting on instinct he lifted his coat up, pressing his nose to the fresh patch that had been sewn into it. He inhaled, taking in its scent. Even time hadn’t dimmed the smell of Elina Cartel. A smile cut its way across his stoic face as he remembered her face. He had to focus. He had to. He had to warn this man.
“I ain’t said a whole lot since my first match-up. Been resting up after Stanton got his win. Stanton...we ain’t through yet buddy. Got a score I wanna settle with you. After all, you can’t punch someone like me in the face and think it’s all over, right? But you ain’t my target. Nah. My target right now is someone by the name of Alexander Devin. Now, Devin, you seem like a smart man. You one of them...scholarly types. Went to school all the way through. Wish I’d taken that chance, but folks like me ain’t built for schoolin’ none. Got through Elementary and Middle School but...don’t know. Folks figured I was a man around part way through High school. Sent me to work on the farms and...that’s when the bad things started happenin’. I ain’t built for schoolin’. But I know enough about myself. So, what do you know, Mr. Devin? See, I figure you think you can figure me all out. Like them doctors in the prison. They figured that I was just some stupid hick who done murdered everyone cause of an imbalance in my brain. Thought I was the product of some familial breeding, at first. Then they thought it was just me being an idjit. Finally, they figured it was because I had been beat as a kid, and didn’t know how to reciprocate love. But they were wrong on all sides. See, it ain’t got nothing to do with my head. We was born in sin, Mister. We are all products of it. You, me, everyone. And some of us gotta pay for those sins with blood. It ain’t pretty. It sure as hell ain’t right. But folks like us, we gotta do it.
That’s the thing about folks like us. We ain’t never been the kind of people to leave a job half done. See, I done only a part of my salvation. Book of Flagellation. chapter 10, verse 2 says: “He who only seeks salvation through the easy path, shall find himself burned by the fires.” I don’t like fire, Mr. Devin. One of the things I’m most afraid of. So the idea of burning for eternity, cause I left a job half done, that don’t sit right with me. And Miss Sarin agrees. See, she knows what I gotta do. So she guides me along it. She helps me see what it is that is right and wrong. And what I’m gonna be doing, at Light’s Out. She knows that it’ll help me. She knows that at the end of the night, it’s the only thing that’ll help me. This is my path to Salvation, and I can’t let things like morality or mercy get in the way. So, Mr. Devin, when we get into that ring, I gotta make you bleed. I gotta make you suffer. I gotta make you hurt and you gotta do the same to me. We gotta beat ourselves bloody, so that all them sins we got can be washed clean. And at the end of it, you know what’s gonna happen. I’m gonna be the one still standin’. Because you’re smart. You know that if you get up after all that we go through, that the next time I hit you, you will never stand again. I won’t be able to stop myself. All that sin that’s still inside will force its way out. It’ll carve its way through my flesh. It’ll tear you to shreds. You don’t want that. So, you’ll stay down. And I’ll take my trophy from you. Cutting away a shred of who you were, that sin that has leaked into reality, and I’ll wear it on my coat. A patch of sin. My pound of flesh.
Mister Devin, I’m doing this so that I can warn you. There ain’t no way that I’m gonna let my sins keep piling up. There’s a mission I’m on. A mission from God. And I ain’t gonna just let it sit. I gotta go through with this. And push past you, onto more powerful and painful Penance. Flagellation. Pain that will lead me to salvation. That is what I am searching for. Glory be to the one who had given us the chance for salvation. Glory be to the one who has faith in us all. Glory be to he who has named me his chosen of Flagellation. Praise be your name. Amen.”
Post by Alexander Devin on May 16, 2018 20:02:39 GMT -5
"There is such beauty in a flame. It holds no prejudice. Anything can burn; you just have to find the right spark. Mountains must crumble. Oceans must boil. Everything that they have built must be turned to ash.”
♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠
Alexander sat at the back of the restaurant, leaned back as much as he could be in his booth, hands clasped in his lap, listening to the lull of conversations and the roar of the baseball games playing on the various flat screens situated around the place. He had no idea what teams were playing really, or who was winning at the moment. He was more content to sit here and relax to the tune of the natural environment rather than join in with the cheers and other conversations that meant nothing to him, coming from people he would probably never see again. His dad was big into sports, that much he knew. He played sports, but nothing professional. He would take the younger Alex to games just for the chance to spend ‘quality’ time with him. The whole father/son deal. It was one of those things he looked forward to as a boy, those times where the world was a sports game and snacks and long conversations with his dad. Days like these where he could use a chat with the old man, were days that he missed very much. So many tales from the road that he wanted to share over burgers and a beer, laughing and reminiscing. He had grown up a simple kid, with loving parents, but being on the road had him farther and farther away from that home in the hills that he had known for a majority of his life. Now he was here in the next city on his journey in this business, waiting for his food to arrive while simply letting the stress melt away like water. While some would rather flock to other places and read from mindless books, this is where he wanted to be. Where he could get a decent bite of food that didn’t result in something burning.
But beyond food and drink and everything else, he had other things to reminisce and think back on. He had no book to refer to or twitter to look on and get that little bit of information. Except for some picture of a man with wiry long black hair and a beard that reminded him of Paul Bunyan for some reason. Eyes wide, but with that hint of crazy attempting to break free on whatever unsuspecting bastard was in the way. For his luck, Alexander didn’t want it to be him. This man was Caden Walker, a man from the church coming with the good book in his hand believing that beating him was his way out of the sins he had committed and adding another trophy to his collection. He had come across people like him before, people who lived their lives by a book such as that and believed every word in it. It didn’t bother him, for he was not a religious man by nature so he let things like that slide believing that those who tried to sway would eventually see their own dismal end at some point. Elina Cartel was the unfortunate precursor to this match. It was a shame she did not listen to the truth. So it was up to him to come to the front and lay down a few truths of his own. Not to warn, but to inform and show Caden what was, and what was coming should he continue to try and please the wrong people all because of some book. All because he wanted to wash away his sins..
”I’m off to a shaky start, I’ll admit. I come here to tell everyone about the world and what I’ve seen as the truth of things, but there are a lot of deaf ears around the battlegrounds. But I will not quit or surrender to the rising tide of oppression and silence. I will continue my path until my voice is heard by everyone, and ears are opened to what really matters. Now, next on the paper, ink barely dry is Caden Walker. A man of many thoughts, many sins, looking for many ways to repent and be cleansed as they say in the church. They do say that right? You’ll have to forgive me if I’m not as up on what is a part of that as you are. I was never one to sit in on stories that had no ending or truth to them. You...you seem to have sat through every single thing spat out to you by the men of holyness, listening to them tell you how to treat your fellow man and such. I can see it in your eyes. I know many things, to answer your question Caden...Walker. I know of your struggles with Stanton, your attempts to wash away the sins of your past by doing little things that your book says or Sarin speaks to you about. I won’t figure you out, because you bring to me such an interesting picture...Caden. Your very presence, your words tell me more than a sheet of paper ever could. And those doctors? Hah! Doctors will only try to poke you with needles and give you suckers for being such a good boy then send you on your way back home to mommy.
Alexander laughs softly
We were all born as simple creatures of sin, true as it is, but some of us choose our own ways to wash away those imperfections and sorrows. You have your way, and I have mine and that’s the way I’d like to keep it, you understand?
That’s the difference between folks...like you and folks like myself. Someone who takes orders from a dusty old book written by someone who no longer has the voice to speak and a woman who can’t let go of the hand that feeds her such misgiving lies. Who seeks absolutions in other places other than the truth of his words, his own heart. That to me, is not a man seeking absolving. That is a puppet dancing on the strings of its own making. Being made to dance for the people, and show them a lie. Speak to them of bright things when in reality the darkness is more comforting than being in the sun. I prefer to leave nothing unfinished. I close every book, and end every sentence as if it were my last. Leaving things undone is sloppy. I have no one to help me, no one to pull the strings towards that eventual point. I am guided by my own wisdom and the motivation to spread my truth to those with closed ears. Even yours Caden. When we get into that ring, there will be a moment where we must decide what to do and then we must go forward. You seek blood, I seek to deliver a very interesting message. I want to use you as that catalyst for the message. How interesting it would be to use the proverbial sinner as the sacrifice to show the world what really lurks behind the shadows. You will try to wash your sins away with my defeat, with my blood being shed but it is me who will show you the way to the real salvation you seek. I will be relentless and without mercy. I will show you that there are more dangerous things in this world than your precious book or ‘Miss Sarin’. I will shove it in your face, this truth that I know until it is burned into your very soul!
I will show you this sin and carve it into your existence so that you always remember the day that you burdened yourself with another failure. Another reason to ask for forgiveness from the good book and your precious lady so that you can baptize yourself in the blood of lies and deceit and wear that on your coat for the world to see what kind of a man you are.
Do not warn me Caden of what you seek to bring upon my soul. Warn me of what will happen when I lay you down and send you to greener pastures after telling you the truth and showing you the way of things. I do not fear you, or what you think is salvation that you are bringing. I fear for your soul, for your livelyhood. That even after I walk in there and do what I must do to deliver that truth to you, that you will still walk in darkness. In sin. In the burning fires that you so fear and seek to run away from. I am searching for those who will listen. Who will open themselves to me. May you take these words to heart Caden Walker, and dream of days where the sin tastes like bitter burning candy to you.”
Alexander chuckles, as the waiter appears with his food, and the scene slowly fades out.
