The Dark Side

• Peter Hodgins, Grade 11, Holy Spirit College
• Short Story
• 2001

Finalist in the 'Zapped! 2001' competition

The second blow struck the patio tearing the lingering Christmas wreath from the front door. The black ball of destruction came swiftly back for another bout of peril with the lounge room window.
I watched in silence as my house, my home and my life was slowly but violently being destroyed before my very eyes. I was powerless as a fly faced with the harsh reality of Mortein.
Another swing of the giant pendulum went through the roof gradually revealing the hardwood skeleton of my humble abode. Instead this clock was ending the time that my wife and I have had spent making many beautiful memories. Tick, tock, smash, as a shower of glass leapt from the French doors on the up stairs verandah.
I sat as the fear of this situation slowly seeped through my skin, closing its vice like a hand tight around my gut. I knew that there was nothing I can do but thoughts of “what if” raced around my mind. If only they could see a fraction the consequences now, like tiny glances through a window of time. That alone would send any God fearing man into deep convulsions of fear. I was the guardian of that house, and only I was aware what it stood for – the purpose to seal the evil that once engulfed me. I had not shared my black secret with anyone, not even my beautiful wife. She was an innocent flower, so delicate and pure. As I pictured her an avalanche of memories came crashing, through the pine wood forest of my mind. but alas memories are only memories.
A brick stumbled away from the exploding foundation. They were nearing the seal, the last battlefront, but best line of defence. I sensed the thoughts of the men, the henchmen for the developers. Their stupid road could not be worth this much hardship for the entire world.
I had been there for a few hours, the workmen were now staring down in the recently opened – air basement. The seal was now revealed. The slab of diamond was marked with a warning engraved in gold.
“Here sealed beneath the earth
lies the condemned powers of evil,
Beware those who try to
Release such a vile element.”
The feeble tools of the modern man were unable to make any impression on the casing, such was the power that protected the stronghold. A man was standing by, examining the gold plaque for its sincerity. He removed the crucifix from around his neck and began scratching the surface of the metal. Suddenly the powers of good and evil met. The two forces tear a hole in the very walls of the prison that held my ultimate fear. It was now free.
I watch from inside my own mind as darkness shrouds my consciousness, now having to endure the sensations of a life I fear to live. Over five hundred years I have been free from my dark self but now I am complete. I am an accomplice to the sin of sowing the seeds of evil throughout the world.