#049 ~ Demon

'You might need language support for several languages to get the full effect of the story below.  Don’t kill me; I’m just the messenger.  Oh wait!  I’m the author.  Whoops…  Enjoy!

Demon

Rod Tanzol

The gray sky grew grayer, and the colorful world lost its saturation. Johnny sat inside and wasted his day. He dawdled and idled. He napped and he lounged. He relaxed on this dismal day. His laziness was completely justified. Long ago, a man with two tablets even stood atop a mountain to declare this right. Time passed, and Johnny accomplished nothing. His wristwatch eventually read 23:00. Upon internalizing this information, anger and regret dominated Johnny.  “Where did my day go?” he asked himself. He waited for a response. A moment of awkward silence passed. He did not answer.

He tried making the most of the time he had before he would crash. Since he had school the next day, he knew staying up late would be irresponsible. In 30 minutes, he miraculously did his laundry, read a week’s worth of news, cleaned the living room, and fed his cat. He thought about what else required his attention. Nothing did! He was surprised. No pressing matters were in his life. He spent his last free thirty minutes reading a book.

He dreamt that night. It was a splendid little dream. Bright colors, loud sounds, flora, and foliage filled the scene. He assumed he was in a tropical rainforest, but he could not actually see any trees. He knew that the leaves grew atop trunks; he saw leaves but no trunks. Another anomaly irked him. He saw feathered wings flying about and pelts preying about, but he saw no animals. Despite feeling is if he were abusing substances, nothing was amiss. He enjoyed his trip-like bliss.

In the morning, Johnny woke up rather late. He only had fifteen minutes to get to school. Racing time, Johnny drove to school, where his friends greeted him, “¿dn s,ʇɐɥʍ ˙ʎuuɥoɾ 'ƃuıuɹoɯ pooƂ”

Johnny felt as if a monkey slapped the underside of his brain. Not were the words he heard upside, but so were his ears. “Could you please repeat yourselves, guys?”

They chanted, “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.”

“Excuse me?” Johnny requested. He was not sure whether if he were still asleep or if he were losing his mind.

His friends cryptically spoke again, “Mῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκεν…”

“Shut up!” he interrupted. He paused for a moment. He calmed down, shook his head, and rubbed his eyes. He kindly asked them to speak again, “ いづれの御時にか、女御、更衣あまたさぶらひたまひけるなかに、いとやむごとなき際にはあらぬが、すぐれて時めきたまふありけり。”

“Stop doing that!” Johnny roared! “Now speak normally!”

They continued in a fifth language, “話說故宋，哲宗皇帝在時，其時去仁宗天子已遠，東京，開封府，汴梁，宣武軍 便有一個浮浪破落戶子弟，姓高，排行第二，自小不成家業，只好刺鎗使棒，最 踼得好腳氣毬。”

Rage filled Johnny. With the fury equaling in magnitude of a woman’s scorn, Johnny exploded, “Shut up before I kill you all!”

“We were just messing with you,” the group resolved in unison.

Johnny continued threatening them despite their repeal, “If you ever do that again, I will slit each of your throats and rip out your vocal chords.”

“Va bene,” they said. Johnny flung himself at them. His nails were sharp, and so were his teeth. He was ready to take action. They dodged him, destroying their unity, but they quickly regrouped. “Wake up before you kill us, Johnny!” they begged. Johnny threw himself into a wall.

He awoke again. He went through his morning routine again. He arrived at school, and his friends greeted him, “Good morning, Johnny.”

“I had the weirdest dream last night. In it, I tried killing all of you,” he confessed.

In their irritating harmony, they asked, “Well, what did we do to you?”

“Well,” Johnny tried explaining with the most appropriate spin, “You all first spoke upside down. I don’t know how that happened, and then you started reciting famous texts in foreign languages.”

“Why did you want to kill us?” they asked.

“To be honest,” he spoke in a defeated, doubtful voice, “I thought you were all possessed by the devil. I mean, I thought you were all speaking in tongues.”

“Don’t be silly,” they affirmed. “We’re not possessed by the devil,” they laughed. Their voices then dropped and seriousness and fear arose, “You are!  Please don’t kill us!  We just want to help.  We’ve scheduled a priest to do an exorcism later today.”

Johnny fit of excited incredulity mixed with senseless violence consumed him. With bat-like wings flapping, a horny head, claws, and scaly skin, Johnny attacked his friends. Blood spewed everywhere. He killed everyone who hadn’t fled. He feasted on his friends' corpses until he flew away.