CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FOUR

 

 

Back at his apartment, Tom immediately returned to where he had left off on chapter three, "Initiation Ceremony".

The illustration was of a man on a road that ended.  There it split into two paths.  The path to the left was wide and straight.  It gently sloped downward.

The path to the right was narrow and had several sharp turns.  It was a steep climb.

On this Y-shaped road, the man headed down the path to the left.

The chapter began with the reassurance that if he later changed his mind and believed the new direction in his life was not right for him, he could easily go back.  The following chapter held the key to reversing the ceremony.

Tom decided to read over the next chapter quickly to be sure it would be possible to change his mind.  Even though he did not believe that anything in the book was real, he was curious.

He was having such good luck; meeting Angela, an expensive gourmet meal for free, rescuing her.  Tom felt it would be foolish to stop now even if his good luck was only a series of coincidences.  He was enjoying himself.  Why should he stop?  He continued reading.

The author explained the ritual. It was more a matter of giving the reader the courage to be on his own.  However, it still required that he set the proper atmosphere.

Tom closed the blinds to block out the streetlights because the room had to be dark.  There had to be complete silence.  Luckily, the other tenants in his apartment building were mostly older retired people who went to bed early.

When he read the next paragraph about the need for candlelight and a certain type of incense, he feared the ceremony would have to wait for another night.

In frustration, he turned to the back of the book.  The last pages were stuck together.  When he took a closer look, he found a crack between some of the stuck pages and the loose ones.  His thumbnail barely fit into the crack.  By using more force, he was able to pry the pages apart.  He carefully rubbed the seam hoping he had not damaged the book.  It formed a tightly fitting box.  Soft red felt lined this hidden compartment.

One item at a time he carefully took the contents out of the compartment and placed them on the kitchen table.  Everything he needed was there; candles, candleholders, incense, a razor blade, a white rag, and a round cloth that opened into a circle about one yard in diameter.

Imprinted on the cloth was the same image of a serpent that was on the front cover of the book.  The back of the cloth had the symbol that was on the back cover of the book, a large letter “Y” altered in the same way.  The left fork ended with an arrow while a short horizontal line blocked the right fork.

Underneath the cloth at the bottom of the compartment was a small clear glass vial half-filled with a dark blue liquid.  He closed the back of the book to continue reading where he had left off.

Following the directions was like playing a game for him.  It was a different type of game.  It was not a computer-generated game nor a board or card game.  The novelty of the procedures lured him into the ceremony.  He wondered what would happen.  How would it feel?  What was next?  He slowly went ahead with the ceremony.

As instructed, he took off all his clothes then sat on the floor of his living room.  The book with all its contents was now on the coffee table.  The side of the cloth with the altered letter “Y” was facing up.

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Tom hesitated when he read the next section.  It required him to cut his left palm with the razor blade.  He must smear the blood from this wound along the bottom of the “Y” and then continue up to the left fork of the letter.  After the blood soaked into the cloth, he was to turn it over, so the serpent side was facing up.

Tom paused for a moment before continuing.  The razor easily cut deep into his hand with only the slightest pain, but when he smeared his blood on the cloth an intense heat went from his hand up his shoulder, past his neck and into his head.

"Damn it!  There must be something on the cloth."

He knew it was too late to wash his hands.  Any damage would have happened by then.  Besides, the instructions forbade it.

He used the white rag from the book as a bandage.  The heat instantly stopped.

Tom continued with the ceremony.

He placed one candle on the dragon’s head and one on its tail.  The dragon’s fire destroying its own tail symbolized the end to Tom's old ways to make room for the beginning of his new life.

At first, he could not get the candles to light.  Down to his third attempt he was about to give up.  He believed the candlewicks were too damp to take the flame.

Tom tried another match.  Both candles simultaneously shot up flames over a foot high filling the room with an intense skunk-like smell.

Gagging and nauseated by the overpowering stench he blew hard into the flames.  At first the flames jumped up even higher almost setting his eyebrows on fire.  A moment later, they died down to a more normal size. The skunk-like scent changed into a pleasant creamy aroma.

Inhaling the creamy scented smoke from the candles, he forgot for a moment where he was and what he was doing.  Tom realized he was intoxicated by whatever was in the smoke from the candles.

He continued the ceremony by placing the black inch high incense cone in the center of the cloth.  He touched the tip of the cone with one of the lit candles. Instantly, the cone hissed sending sparks flying in all directions.  A thin black line of smoke rose straight up.  It hit the ceiling forming a huge mushroom shaped black cloud that spread out in all directions.  When the cloud floated down to the floor, Tom did not choke or cough on the heavy fumes.  Instead, he enjoyed being light-headed.  A moment later, the smoke detector beeped.

Inebriated by the fumes Tom staggered into the kitchen where the detector was in the ceiling.  The chair he climbed on swayed back and forth while he twisted off the top of the device and pulled out the battery.

Back on solid ground, he opened the window to let the smoke escape.  The rest of the black smoke was in the living room making it difficult for Tom to see where he was stepping.

The smoke's scent reminded him of an old church he once visited with his parents when he was about six years old.  It was after the funeral for a friend of the family.  His parents wanted to say some prayers before leaving for home.

At the time, a quiet peacefulness came over him as the sun began to set.  The sunlight filtered through the stained-glass windows on the right side of the church.  There was a lingering scent from the incense used in the ceremony.

The slowly changing light of various colors coming in through the stained-glass windows passed over the casket.  Long dark shadows forming behind the casket from the setting sun fascinated him as they crept in overtaking the entire church.  An evil power seemed to force out the holiness.

He panicked, grabbed his mother’s arm,  and began to cry.

“It’s okay.  Don’t be afraid of the dark.  They’ll soon turn on the lights.”

Even now, the memory of evil dark shadows creeping in to overtake the holiness occasionally came to mind in a fleeting moment or in a nightmare.

Next, Tom examined the vial.  It held about a tablespoonful of dark blue liquid.  The vial itself was made of clear glass.  It was embossed with the image of a serpent wrapped around the vial until its head faced its tail.  Etched fire came from its mouth.

The vial had no label, which worried him.  It might be some narcotic.  But he did not want to stop now.  As far as he knew, one vial of dope could not get him hooked.

Tom unscrewed the cap and carefully smelled its contents.  The stench caused his nose to burn and his eyes to sting.  After a moment, the irritating fumes changed into a pleasantly soothing vanilla-like scent.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and swallowed the sweet liquor.  Nothing happened for a moment.  Then all at once, it hit him hard.  The room began to spin.  He planted his hands firmly on the floor to keep his balance.

His vision began to fade.  The words in the book became blurry.  He tried to focus his eyes by squinting.  It did not work.  In a panic, fearing the liquid might have permanently damaged his vision, he ran to the bathroom sink to splash cold water into them.  After a moment, he realized there was no reason to try flushing the poison from the outside.  The substance was working from inside his body.

“What if there was something poisonous in the vial?  Methanol can blind you if taken internally,” Tom questioned himself.

“If my vision is affected it might be too late to do anything about it now.”

He could only hope his partial loss of vision was temporary, that it would pass when the effects of the liquid wore off.  He had come this far.  He decided to complete what he started.  He returned to his place before the book and candles on the living room floor.

He felt the presence of evil in the room.  In the darkness, he saw something move but he could not be sure because of the dimness of his vision.

“Who’s there?  Get out now.  I have a gun and I’m not afraid to use it,” he bluffed.

Before he could get up to look for the intruder a fine high-pitched ringing in his ears increased in volume until it was unbearably painful.  Tom covered his ears then shook his head until it stopped.

Assuming there was no one else in his apartment he returned to reading by candlelight.  The words were barely legible in his present state.  He read several passages aloud.

In a dreamlike state, he heard the loud clang of a cathedral bell.

“Why aren’t you at work?” An echoing voice thundered through the apartment.

Seeing only darkness, he realized the blue liquid from the vial in combination with the incense and smoke had now completely blinded him.  Instead of fear, he could care less.

He heard himself mumble something incoherently.

“You sound terrible,” the thundering voice reverberated.

“Why don’t you take the day off?  I’ll put you down for a sick day.”

Tom dreamed he got up and walked down a long corridor still naked from the ceremony and still in a state of bewilderment.  How he found himself in this corridor was a mystery.

His vision was returning.  He was able to see blurry shadows.

Tom realized he was hallucinating but could not stop it.  It just felt so real.

There was something he was intent on doing yet had no idea what it was.

Then he saw himself outside in an open field.  Behind him from a distance, the indistinct shape of a flying creature with glowing fiery red eyes came ever closer.  Tom ran.  The creature kept getting closer until it changed into the form of a dragon.

It flew slowly flapping its wings.  The air swished with every slow flap.  Tom screamed out in pain as the dragon’s flames burned his back.  The flames engulfed his entire body until all he could feel was pain before losing consciousness.

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