Work of God
By Matthew C. Herch Jr.
Part 1: Creation of the Monster
Old Lakes was a beautiful mixture of colors and sounds during the fall. A cool crisp air surrounded the small southern United States town, allowing the elderly chimneys to produce their smoke. Old Lakes was a pride in the south. An ideal town for those wishing to raise a family. It was during the fall of ’67, however, that changed all that.
His name was Abraham Gantino. Abraham, or Abe as his family had known him, was the ‘special’ son of a devout religious Italian family. When Abe was six years old, his father and brother were brutally killed during a bank robbery in New York. The loss of her husband and older son left Abe’s mother a nervous wreck. She became paranoid and very protective of her surviving son. Spending most of their time in church, Abe’s mother would brainwash him with warped interpretations of the Bible. Because he was so young, Abe soaked in the information and regarded it as the truth. Several people had heard what Abe’s mother had been teaching him and tried to intervene, but they were always met with resistance. The teachings were just too ingrained into his head.
Abe’s mother had always home-schooled him. The family was against the concept of social interaction. They believed that social interaction is the main ingredient of evil. Because of Abe’s lack of interaction with other children, he had no friends. He was even hostile toward other children.
Finally, when Abe was seventeen, his mother grew very sick, and because of her paranoia, she would not see a doctor. She died in her home on Christmas Eve. Abe was devastated beyond words, but he noticed something in the way his mother died. She suffered greatly. Abe, through all his brainwashing, came to the conclusion that she died because she had destroyed the parts of her body that caused her to sin when she was little. He took the famous Bible verse too seriously. “If your hand causeth you to sin, cut it off. It would be better for you to enter into heaven crippled than to enter into hell whole.”
Abe grew angry with the world. He felt that sin had taken over his family and his entire life. He decided to ‘cleanse’ his town of sinners. Using his Bible verse to justify his cause, he set out into town to cleanse the breeding place of all sin. Old Lakes Public High School.
Part 2: The First Cleansing
Abe grew up to be a very handsome man at the age of twenty-seven. He had lifted weights ever since his mother’s death, making him strong as a bull. His dark black hair and pale white skin made him look mysterious and deep. He had many female admirers over the years, though he considered dating to be a sin. His only daily activities included eating three meals and planning his cleansing mission.
For weeks Abe tried to decide on a child worthy to cleanse. Finally, after three weeks, he found Greg. Greg was a sixteen-year-old student at Old Lakes High School. He was a star football player and would be called an asshole by most people. He was very handsome, however, and this made all the girls wild. His short, jet-black hair and muscular build put him on every girl’s wish list. Enough was enough. Abe had chosen his subject.
One morning, Abe noticed Greg walking down the street accompanied by two female students. He was fondling one of them and holding unto the other. “Do not lust after a woman.” Abe said. He walked to his closet, pulled out a machete, some duct tape, and an extra Bible. Today was the day. He threw on his long black trench coat and walked out the front door, slamming it shut behind him.
It was a very cold morning, as October mornings usually are. Abe followed Greg through the town streets, trying to stay far enough back that he would not be seen. Greg stopped suddenly in front of a large brick home, saying goodbye to his two ‘lady-friends’. Abe laid back, hiding behind a large shrub. Greg was finally alone, he would not suspect anything. It had to happen now, Abe thought. He waited until he heard the door of the house close, then he sprang from behind the bushes.
Greg was startled, but quickly realized he was being robbed. He began running down the street, listening frantically to the crackling of the leaves behind him. Greg was a fast runner, but Abe was faster. Greg needed to make a decision, and quick. There were two ways to go: either down the alley, where Greg had never been, or across the street. Abe was nearly on top of him when he suddenly turned right, into a short alley. Great! Abe thought. He knew the alley was a dead end.
Greg reached the end of the alley and turned around quickly. He ran forward throwing all his weight into Abe’s abdomen. Abe buckled over on the ground in afetal position. Greg stepped back and was about to run when Abe jumped to his feet from the ground and grabbed Greg by his throat. With all his might, Abe threw the muscular boy against a garage and held him there while he reached into his coat.
Abe watched the boy’s eyes fill with fear as he pulled the long machete from his coat. The boy immediately tried to beat his way out, but Abe caught in the jaw with his fist, making the boy’s jaw crack to the side. It was obviously broken. He threw the machete to the ground and pulled the duct tape from his coat. Greg kicked, jerked, and tried to escape, but Abe held him tight against the wall. Without letting his subject go, Abe grabbed Greg’s head and held it tight. He placed one end of the duct tape on the boy’s mouth, and wrapped it around his head several times. The boy screamed in pain as the tape pulled on his broken jaw. He let the roll hang, not bothering to cut it from the boy. He threw the boy to the ground and taped his hands and feet several times over.
“You are being charged with crimes against God. You must now pay the price.”
Abe picked up his Bible and opened it to Matthew. “If your eye causeth you to sin, gouge it out. It would be better to enter into heaven blind, than to be cast into hell with sight.” Abe finished the passage and set the holy book on the ground. He picked up his machete and held it underneath Greg’s left eye. He took one deep breath and shoved the weapon underneath the boy’s eye. The boy shrieked in pain, spitting saliva out from beneath the tape. Blood poured out from the gaping wound and flowed over the curves of his face. Abe then did the same to his right eye. The boy’s shirt, pants, and the ground where he lay were covered with blood. The boy was still screaming as Abe sank two dingers into the stab wound. He hooked around the boy’s eyeball and pulled hard, ripping it from his skull and tearing out a section of his optic nerve. Yellow puss seeped out from the eye socket. He then did the same to the right eye.
Greg was on the floor crying and screaming, though no tears flowed. The boy was loosing blood fast, so Abe had to work quickly; he had to take off the boy’s sinful body parts before he died. Abe picked up his Bible and read the next verse. “If your hand causeth you to sin, cut it off. It would be better for you to enter into heaven crippled, then to be cast into hell whole.” He set the Bible down again.
The boy was nearing his last moments. His breathing became shallow and the blood began to slow. Abe quickly extended the boy’s arm, lifted his machete, and brought it down on Greg’s wrist. Blood spurted out of the stump of the boy’s arm, spraying Abe.
One last cry of pain erupted from the behind the tape, then finally, the breathing stopped. Abe had killed the boy before he had a chance to cut off his other hand. He made a quick sign of the cross over the boy’s lifeless body. Abe felt he had failed the boy, and that he was now destined for hell. He decided he would use the boy as an example to all the residents of Old Lakes.
Abe kneeled on the boy’s chest, making a small amount of blood spurt from his mouth. He placed his blood-coated machete against the boy’s neck and pushed slowly. The machete sank easily into the soft neck, until it hit bone. He lifted the cold metal out, making a strange sucking noise. He lifted the machete and swung it, chopping the head off completely, the bone snapping and crushing beneath the cold steel.
Abe lifted the head from the ground and placed it on a nearby garbage can. Above the boy’s headless body, on the wall, Abe wrote words in the boy’s own blood.
“This is the work of God; to save sinners from hell.”
--The End--
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