Exeter

[theSOURCE]

One last story before I'm off on my wondrous adventure. I'd like to thank all my friends here for being such wonderful people. You will all be in my heart and in my thoughts while I'm away.

And please don't worry, it's only brain surgery, not rocket science or anything important like that.

I hope you enjoy this one.

Exeter

As Exeter counted out his money at the checkout stand the young cashier looked over at the clock and sighed in frustration. Exeter knew that it was late and he could appreciate the young woman's desire to close up the small grocery store.

But just the same, he also knew he had to make sure that he wouldn't be paying even a penny more than he had to.

Exeter was a man alone in the world.

Half by choice and half by circumstance, he spent most of his days alone mulling about within his tiny modest house. Even when the morning paper or the mail arrived he would wait quietly until the paper carrier or postman were well on their way before going out to retrieve the delivery.

It wasn't so much that he disliked human contact; on the contrary, he was quite lonely and longed for companionship.

But he had learned long ago what needy creatures humans could be, and being born such a generous soul he could never resist giving in to their pleas.

And so, days would pass as Exeter hid himself from the rest of the world.

That is, until his supply of basic necessities such as food (and the occasional brew) would run low, and like tonight, he needed to brave the world and go out shopping.

The young cashier cursed beneath her breath, then snapped, "Sir, would you hurry up? I needed to close ten minutes ago. If my manager finds a customer in the store when he gets here I'll get fired for sure."

"There you go, ma'am," said Exeter politely, handing over the money. He did his best to avoid looking into her eyes as she slid the money in the drawer, then placed the receipt into one of the two bags of groceries. With the transaction completed, Exeter snatched up his purchase and hurried towards the exit.

The young cashier watched as he ambled out the door, then muttered, "Freakin' weirdo..."

Outside the storefront Exeter tucked the bags into his rickety two wheeled cart and started off down the darkly lit sidewalk. Though his home was only eight blocks away, the twenty-odd minutes he would spend on his journey always felt like an eternity to him. He would often wish that he owned a car and could quickly drive to where he needed to go, but the unfortunate eye condition that he had developed at an early age prevented him from ever attaining a driver's license.

And so, because he was forced to travel by foot he decided to go out at night, preferably the later the better, so that he could avoid any human contact.

Unfortunately for him, that was never the case, and tonight would be no different.

Exeter had only managed to travel just over a block when he heard a stranger's voice calling to him from a unlit porch. He wanted to run and pretend that he hadn't heard the voice, but his nature would not allow him to do so. He kept his gaze on his groceries as a figure approached him from the shadows.

"Excuse me, mister," said the stranger as he moved closer. "I was wondering if you have a cigarette I could buy off you..."

"I'm sorry," replied Exeter, "but I don't smoke."

Exeter was beginning to feel a sense of relief that he would be allowed to continue on his way, when the stranger then asked, "Well, do you at least have a light? I've got an old cigarette butt with at least a puff or two left in it."

Those words made Exeter shudder. Though he didn't use it for smoking, he did indeed always carried a lighter with him at all times.

"Sure, okay..." he said, reaching for the lighter in his pocket.

"Ah, thanks!" said the stranger, holding the cigarette butt to his lips.

With a shaky hand, Exeter held out the lighter and flicked the flame to life. His hand was trembling so much that the stranger was having a difficult time trying to light his smoke.

"Let me help you," said the stranger as he suddenly grabbed Exeter by the wrist.

Exeter felt a cold chill run through his body as the stranger lit the cigarette, took a deep draw, then slowly blew out a cloud of smoke, all the while still holding onto his arm.

"Ah!" sighed the stranger contentedly. "That didn't taste bad at all."

Swallowing hard, Exeter cleared his throat before muttering, "You can let go of my arm now."

The stranger pulled Exeter's arm close to his face, then blew out the flame that was still lit.

"Not so fast," he said with mock sincerity. "I want to thank you first..."

A grimace brought on by excruciating pain came over Exeter's face as the stranger bit off one, then a second and a third of his fingers. He wanted to scream in agony as the stranger bit into his hand again and again, but his nature wouldn't allow him to do so. The best he could manage was to stand in silence as he heard his bones crunching and snapping inside the stranger's voracious mouth.

It wasn't until the stranger had eaten Exeter's entire right hand that he released his grip. Exeter quickly pulled back the bloodied stump and held it tightly against his chest.

"Thank you," said the stranger as he wiped the blood from his mouth. "That was really nice of you. You know something? There's not a lot of people like you in the world anymore."

Exeter nodded slightly and said, "Your welcome." He then grabbed the cart handle with his left hand and preceded to hurry down the dark neighborhood sidewalk.

He managed three more blocks before he heard a low growl, then the sound of vicious unleashed dogs barking from a yard not too far ahead of him. Concerned that the smell of his blood could cause them to jump the fence and attack him, he decided to cross the street and hope for the best.

There was no traffic at that time of the night, so besides having to struggle to get the cart off and onto the curbs, he managed to cross to the other side uneventfully.

The dogs continued to bark at him as he hurried down the walk, but they did not jump the fence as he had feared they might. He was so concerned with keeping an eye on the dogs that he didn't notice the woman approaching from the opposite direction.

"What are you doing out so late, sweetie?" asked the woman, startling Exeter.

Even with his poor eyesight he recognized her features in the dimly lit street. Though he had never spoken with her, he had seen her many times before; usually drunk with a different man grabbing and fondling her each time.

"I needed groceries," he answered meekly, trying to look away.

"Is that all you needed?" said the woman playfully. "I've seen you walking around at night sometimes. I assume you have a secret girl friend that you visit when you get... you know... lonely...?"

"I... don't have a girl friend," he stammered. "I don't have any friends..."

"Aw, that's so sad," she said as she leaned closer. "You know, I don't like to be alone either. And tonight none of my friends came to see me."

Exeter twitched involuntarily as the woman caressed his cheek and asked, "Would you spend a little time with me...?"

Once again, Exeter could not deny a request. Nervously, he shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I guess I can..."

Before he could say another word, the woman pressed herself against him and began kissing him on the neck. As she moved closer, Exeter lost his footing and began to stumbled backwards. He reached for the cart to steady himself, only to have the stub where his right hand used to be slam uselessly against the handle. With a heavy thud he fell back onto the ground with the woman landing on top him.

"oo!" purred the woman enthusiastically. "You're a naughty boy!"

Straddling his waist, she then ripped open his shirt with a grunt. Exeter gnashed his teeth as she lurched forward and bit deeply into his chest. Time and again she bit into his chest and side, pulling off a bloodied chuck of his flesh with each bite. In just a few agonizing minutes she had eaten enough of Exeter away to leave part of his rib cage exposed.

Even then, she didn't stop there. Plunging her finger between his ribs she would gouge out bits of his soft lung tissue with her claw like fingernail, then lick the bloodied bits off with her tongue.

The pain was unbearable, yet as always with the rest of them, Exeter remained silent until she was sated.

"You're such a sweetheart," cooed the woman as she climbed off him. "I hope we can get together again real soon." With that, the woman sauntered off into the darkness.

With his only hand, Exeter pulled his ripped shirt as tightly as he could around his chest and struggled to tie the ends together. He was having a very difficult time breathing with only a single lung left.

With great effort he finally managed to his feet and started his trek back home once again.

His rickety cart in tow, he strained his eyes as he looked around the street in hopes of not spotting another person walking or hiding in the dark.

It was a very difficult and painful journey for Exeter, but he found himself sighing with relief when he was but half a block away from his home. Despite his great pain, it comforted him to know that he would soon be safe from the rest of the world.

He was only a couple yards away from his front gate when he heard his next door neighbor call out to him.

"I'm so sorry to bother you," she said, reaching for him over her fence. "This is very embarrassing for me to ask, but please realize that I don't ask this for myself..."

Exeter bowed his head for a moment, then slowly turned towards the woman. "What do you need?"

The woman clenched her hands together as though in an attempt to emphasize her plight and said, "Can you spare some food for my children?"

Looking down at his cart for a moment, Exeter reached into one of the bags and withdrew an orange and a small can of tuna. "Will this do?"

The woman quickly reached over the fence and snatched away the objects from his hand.

"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed happily. "Thank you sir! Thank you!"

She then turned towards the house and called out. "Children! Come out here and thank the nice man!"

Two small figures, a boy and girl roughly seven or eight years of age, rushed out of the house, across the yard, and out the front gate. Exeter groaned painfully as the two children tackled him to the ground and began pulling on his shoes.

"Let me help you with that," said the woman, walking over to where he lay. She pulled off one of Exeter's shoes and sock, then rolled up his pant leg as far as she could. The boy made a move towards the exposed leg, but the woman stopped him, warning, "Now, now. Show your manners and let your sister go first.

The boy listened and obediently moved back, allowing his sister to bite into Exeter's calf.

The woman then did the same to his other leg and told the boy, "Okay, now you can thank the man." The boy dived forward and began gnawing on his warm tender flesh.

Exeter felt as though he would go insane from the horrendous pain. He wanted to scream, yet he could barely breath with his single lung. But even if he still had both lungs intact, he would never utter a single sound. It simply was his nature.

The children gnawed and chewed on his flesh for nearly an hour while their mother stood by, watching with glowing admiration. The feast went on until there was nothing left below both of his knee caps.

"Okay, children," said the woman finally. "It's time for bed..."

The boy and girl jumped up happily, their small faces covered in blood, and giggled as they ran back into their yard.

The woman then looked down at Exeter and beamed. "Thank you so much. You're such a nice man."

Looking up at her through teary eyes he said, "You're welcome..."

The woman then turned and walked back to her house leaving Exeter lying on the sidewalk.

Exeter could feel his life ebbing away from his tremendous loss of blood. Determined not to die like some poor diseased animal on the sidewalk, he painfully forced himself to sit upright. No longer able to walk, he knew he had to devise a way to get his meager groceries inside.

Tipping the two wheel cart down, he took the bottoms of his pants and tied them around the handle. He then tightened his belt so that the weight of the cart wouldn't pull his pants off, and began dragging himself along the concrete as best he could with his single good arm.

Though he had managed to pull himself across the walkway, he knew that it would be impossible to get the cart up the three steps to his front door. Struggling up the steps he sat himself against the door and unlocked the latch. He then pulled the two bags out of the cart and shoved them through the doorway. Abandoning his cart outside, Exeter dragged himself into the house and closed the door behind him.

A long trail of blood formed behind him as he shoved the grocery bags from the front door all the way though the kitchen and over to the fridge. With the last bit of strength he had he managed to open the fridge door, toss the bags inside, then shut it again.

Completely exhausted he slumped down on the kitchen floor. His body had become completely numb and he knew that he was dying.

As he lay on the floor, staring up at the dark ceiling, he thought that for a brief moment he had seen a tiny creature slither across his eye. In a short while he saw another. Then another.

With a spurt of new found strength brought on by fear and desperation he lifted his left hand to his face. It took his eyes a moment to focus, but eventually he saw what was before him.

There were thousands of tiny worm-like creatures emerging from his skin. He raised up his other arm and saw that they were also coming out of the stump at the end of his wrist. The creatures continued to emerge from every part of his body, squirming and tangling themselves together, until Exeter was completely entombed by them.

With one last contented sigh, he let his arms slump to his sides and closed his eyes.

He was safe now. As so many times before, his body had formed a cocoon in order for it to heal itself. In a couple of days time he would emerge whole again and go back to living his safe but lonely life.

And eventually he would need to step out amongst the needy humans once again, and not be able to refuse their pleas.

But that was his nature.

Copyright © 2009 Victor Ward

[Delovely5150]

OMG! What an awful, awful way to live. I feel so sorry for him.

Well, baby, you've outdone yourself yet again. I enjoyed that one, I could even hear those guys as they eat Exeter's crunchy flesh.

Good luck with the surgery, Vic. Know, you'll be in my thoughts.

[Still Waters]

Another one of your great stories Vic, they always leave me wondering what's happening next .....poor Exeter though!

All the very best with your surgery, you know I'll be thinking about you, come back soon

[behaviour???]

That was lovely...You made me at the edge of my seat....

Good luck with the surgeory.......Get Well

Thanks

B???

[Voyager10]

I like the story theSOURCE, and I hope your surgery goes well.

[clubfoot O.M.G.]

I loved this one Vic, it is so true to life. There are so many 'vampires' out there prepared to drain the 'lifeblood' of the true empaths that the 'good guys' don't even want to leave their homes, but they do.......................................and get 'sucked' on every time.

Brain surgery is simply not rocket science,

surgeon's hands repair with great reliance,

heart beating strongly displaying defiance,

strength of will, adding reliable resilience,

life smiling, at a mighty irresistible alliance,

tomorrow brightens, a knowing cognizance,

the Sun will shine, with obedient compliance.

May the 'Force' be with you Vic, see you when you get back.

Chris

[Ashotep]

That was such a great story. I would of wanted to poke that mans eyes out with my good hand.