Chapter 26:
The Last Judgment
AN: Well, guys this about does it, just one
more small chapter to go after this. Many of you have been asking about a third
and all I have to say, is read the next chapter ;)
Here we go...
We ran as fast as we could, stopping right in front of the place, the smoke and
fire making it at least twenty degrees hotter than it actually was. Kevin
looked over at me, as if to let me know how dangerous this was, like I wasn't
already aware of it. I nodded and we ran up the three steps and attempted to
open the front door. Of course it was gonna be locked or so we thought, that's
why we were a little surprised that the knob turned with the simple twist of
the handle. We entered into a cloud of smoke. I started coughing instantly.
"You okay?" Kevin asked me. I nodded, "Jesus" I looked over
at what made Kevin's facial expression change from fear to horror. I turned
around and saw the padlock. "This is the place Kev, let's find Nick and
get out of here!" He nodded, never fully taking his eyes away from the
padlock on the door, once you came into this place, you were not meant to
leave.
We walked into a kitchen area and saw a door broken down in the kitchen leading
downstairs. "Do you think he's down there?" I asked Kevin who was
bent over coughing. "I don't know, Bri, but we don't have much time!"
We headed down the stairs. When we got to the bottom I almost cried out in horror.
The place was a complete mess. A bed turned over in the corner, looked like it
had been thrown there, papers and wet towels were everywhere. Kevin walked over
and bent down by the heap of towels, he grabbed one looked at it and then
rubbed his temples. "There's blood on this Brian" He said bringing
himself back to his feet. "Where is he?" I asked in a panic, I ran
into the bathroom area to see once again the place was in disarray, it smelled
like Nick though, this whole room did. I walked back out ready to run upstairs
to check that out, but stopped when I saw Kevin reading something. He seemed to
forget that there was a fire in the house. That is how caught up in the moment
he was.
"Kevin we need to go" He looked up at me, I swear I saw tears in his
eyes. "What?" I asked a he walked towards me holding up this book, it
looked familiar. I had seen it before. "It's his journal" He
whispered. I took it from him, refusing to look inside. I placed it in the back
of my jeans, "I'll give it to him when we get him out of here now COME
ON!" I was a little scared, normally it would have been Kevin egging me on
that way, not the other way around. I hoped he wasn't giving up.
We ran up the stairs and by now the smoke was thick and black, there were no
flames as yet, I imagined the flames were upstairs, which is where Nick and Joe
would be too, if they were home at all. We ran up back through the kitchen
stepping over the door and up the steps...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Joe was on top of me, his weight making it very hard for me to breath, add to
that the smoke that was coming in from under the door. The heat of the room
made me realize that outside of this hell, there was an even hotter one.
"Joe, please get off please" I said as he brought down the bat again
only missing my head by inches, I had a grip on his arms now, in the process, I
dropped the knife. He saw it drop and smiled. "See Nick I told you this
was meant to be" I was able to loosen myself from under him enough to kick
out my legs and roll him over.
He grumbled when our positions switched but unfortunately it didn't last long,
He flung me off of him and I was thrown into the very hot door.
"Shit!" I yelped but before I could get my bearings he was on me
again. "This is how it should be Nick! Stop fighting" I was
struggling to break free. Twisting my body around, I grabbed for one of the
bundles of newspapers and hit him with my full strength, at least what was left
of it. I hit him right in the face, and he fell back. I stood up and quickly
ran for the door but he grabbed my right leg making me fall to the ground, I
got a hold of what I needed though, the knife. He pulled me towards him and as
he did I said a little silent apology to God for what I was about to do. He
pulled me closer and closer to him all the while ranting things from the Bible,
"I saw the dead, the great and the lowly standing before the throne",
pulling me closer and closer to him while I braced myself holding the knife in
my hands.
"The dead were judged according to their conduct" I kicked at him
temporarily freeing my leg form his grasp. "Then death and the netherworld
were hurled into the pool of fire" He grabbed me again this time getting a
very firm grasp on me. I had no choice now, I had to strike. "Which is the
second death" Now he was on top of me, I held the knife in my hand and
went for his heart. He grabbed it by the blade, "Anyone whose name was not
found in the book was hurled into the fire" My breath was heavy and my
pulse racing as he held the knife, blood coming from his hands, I was powerless
to do anything now, just hold on to it with all of my might. He managed to turn
the knife around, almost twisting it out of my hands, it was now heading for my
chest. He laughed and yelled MIZPAH NICK!!! While I tried my hardest to prevent
him from hitting my heart.
~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*
The steps were creaking as we slowed to a careful walk. Flames were now visible
at the top. This whole place would be coming down soon, I was sure of that.
When we got to the top we saw pictures all in flames as well as several rooms,
"Where do we go first?" I asked my cousin as I closed my eyes to help
ease the burning sensation. "I have no idea, why don't we go door to
door" He said as we kicked open the first door, it was totally smokey but
not on full fledged fire yet. Not having any windows might have helped keep the
fire from burning out of control. Kevin was just about to kick down door number
two when we both stopped. We looked at each other and listened. Neither of us
said anything just waiting to be sure, "MIZPAH NICK!!" We jumped at
Joe's voice booming through the creaking and crackling fire.
We pinpointed the door we heard him coming through and without any hesitation,
Kevin kicked it down. Ignoring the flames that were all around him. We ran into
the room and stopped. We just stopped as if time stood still, horrified. A
vision that would come to haunt me for many nights to come creeping up on me
like the worst nightmare one could ever have. This wasn't a nightmare though, this
was reality. And the reality we were both facing was grim. Nick lying on the
floor covered in blood, unconscious? Dead? He looked peaceful. Joe's back was
to us so we couldn't see him but he was holding a knife in his hand, it was
bloody. So was his hand, it looked like he was wearing a red glove. He was
peering over Nick.
"I know you are here" He said without even bothering to look. We
walked, no ran over to Nick, As we got closer my hands started to shake, please
don't let him be dead please don't let him be dead. I chanted over and over
again. I dropped to my knees next to my fallen brother, the boy who less than a
year ago, I had never wanted to speak to again. I cried when I got a look at
him up close, I placed my hand on his chest and was happy to see he was
breathing. Kevin and I just sat there next to Nick, not caring about Joe,
forgetting he was a homicidal maniac. "He will be okay" Joe whispered
through harsh breaths, I looked up and noticed all the blood that was on Nick
belonged to Joe, he was holding his chest with his left hand. "You need to
get him out of here" Joe said, Kevin stood up and grabbed Nick and
gingerly put him over his shoulder, "Come on buddy let's get you out of
here" I followed after, "Joe the police will be here any minute"
I had to turn around and ask him, "Why?" He turned to me blood
dripping through his arms, "Because it was God's will" He then laid
down on the floor.
"Come on Brian let the son of a bitch burn!" Kevin said as he ushered
me out of the room, Joe just lying there with his eyes closed. Dead.
The floor boards from the attic above us were starting to collapse and we found
ourselves dodging them to make our way out of there, the steps where even more
wobbly this time and collapsed the second we were down. He flew out of the
house and when we were a safe distance away, Kevin placed Nick down on the
ground. I grabbed his hand and just talked to him lovingly, through tears. It
would be a long time before we all got over this. A long time.
Nick's eyes flew open and he started to try to break from my grasp. "It's
okay buddy it's me Brian"
"Brian?" He said in disbelief. Kevin had joined him on the other
side, he looked from me to Kevin and then just started to bawl. Kevin picked
him up and held him in an embrace. Police and fire engine sirens racing towards
us in the background.
***
