Time Brings out the Devil

Note: this story contains foul language.

The lights in the dorm room flickered over Ronald’s chemistry homework. The room was suddenly an entire shade darker on this chilly, New England evening in the middle of November. Ronald looked up to see the overhead lights were slowly fading until there was no light in the room, except for an ever brightening red he could see out of the corner of his light brown eyes. Ronald swiveled his head in the direction of the red light and let out a very high-pitched yell for a boy nearing twenty.  

The alarm clock that he had bought earlier that afternoon now read 6:60. A few minutes before, it had read 5:54, but now the time it reported made no sense.  

Then, it turned to 6:61 and suddenly the room felt warmer and somehow darker. An eerie feeling fell over Ronald’s tall, thin body. He had been raised with enough religion to know that if the minute place reached six, something terrible was going to happen to him. Ronald jumped out of his chair and tried to run for the door, but then tripped over one of his raggedy sneakers that he had left on his side of the floor. He slid his body over to his roommate’s side, which was always pristine. He looked back at the clock. 

6:62 

Ronald jumped up as fast as his lanky, lethargic body would allow and bolted for the door. When he touched the doorknob, it burned his hand. He stepped back and let out a panged shriek. He started banging on the door, which was hot, but not nearly as painful as the metal of the doorknob.  

“Help me! Somebody please! HEEEELP!” Ronald begged to anyone who could hear. He looked around the room.  

6:63 

The room was now completely lit by the red alarm clock, which blared its deathly count through Ronald’s thick glasses, which he had miraculously not lost during the fall. He nervously ran his hand through his dark mop of hair. As he scanned the room, he noticed there were shadows on the wall of beings that looked otherworldly. This was some kind of Satanic gathering, to which he wished he had not been invited. 

6:64 

Ronald banged on the door and begged and pleaded with anyone who could hear him. When he stopped, he could hear a low growl coming from the alarm clock. It sounded sinister and hungry. Ronald did not want to meet the owner of that voice. He did not want to die. His life thus far had been fairly boring, but he had high hopes for his future, which wouldn’t happen if a demon ate him. 

6:65 

He was almost out of time. If he couldn’t get out the door, he would have to jump out the window. His dorm room was on the third floor, but there were some trees that could break his fall if he jumped far enough. His chances of surviving that fall weren’t great, but better than whatever kind of hell was about to go down here. He would likely break something, just hopefully not his neck.  

Ronald turned around and was about to bolt across the room when the door opened and wacked him in the back. The force slammed him to the floor.  

“You alright buddy?” Damien, his roommate, asked. He reached down to help Ronald up.  

Ronald was lifted very easily to his feet by Damien. He was a couple inches taller than Ronald’s six- foot-two, and he had a good extra hundred pounds of lean muscle on him. Damien was on the University’s football team, and Ronald was thanking whatever higher power there was that he had gotten out of practice just in time. 

Ronald looked around the room. It had completely turned back to normal. The clock now read 6:07. He turned to Damien and looked him straight in the eyes and said, “You are never going to believe what just fucking happened.” 

Damien’s blue eyes looked at him sternly, “Please watch your language. He is always listening.”  

After Damien patiently listened to Ronald’s stammering explanation of the events that had just occurred, he was quiet for a minute. Then he asked him, “Where did you get this alarm clock?” 

“At the thrift store next to that burrito place.” Ronald wasn’t a hundred percent sure his roommate had ever even eaten a burrito. He seemed more like a steak and potatoes and protein shake kind of guy. 

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you to never buy electronics from a thrift store?” Damien walked over to the alarm clock, unplugged it and picked it up.  

Ronald’s jaw dropped as Damien started turning the alarm clock over in his hands and examining it. He held the alarm clock under the cross that he kept hanging from his lamp. The alarm clock started shaking and flew out of Damien’s hands to the other side of the room, almost smacking Ronald on the way. Damien looked over at Ronald with a serious look on his tanned, marble cut face. “When you plugged it in, you woke up whatever was living inside it. We need to bring this thing to the river and destroy it tonight.” He grabbed his ball cap and placed it over his blond crew cut. 

A few minutes later, Ronald was seated in the passenger side of Damien’s rusty, old truck. The alarm clock was in a shoe box, sitting in the console between the two students. Ronald was bundled up in his old fleece and had donned his usual winter beanie. Damien was still in his post practice jeans and sweatshirt as though it was only brisk outside, and not in the low thirties.  

Ronald turned and stared at his roommate as though looking at him for the first time in the three months that he had known him. There were only a few facts that Ronald knew about Damien. He played football. He was a year older than Damien, even though they were in the same year at college, and he was a Communications Major.  

Damien seemed to feel Ronald’s stare and looked over at him with a quick smile. “Do you mind if we stop at that burrito place on the way? I’m starving after that practice.” Ronald murmured agreement. “Great, my treat!” 

About a half hour later, they had their fill of burritos and were back in the truck heading north out of town.  

“We’ll bring it out to the woods out of town and destroy it by the river.” 

Ronald nodded his meager agreement and then turned to Damien. “You saved my life back there Damien. Thank you.” 

“Don’t worry about it man! You would have done the same. Plus, I was at the right place at the right time. I guess it was Fate.” Damien shrugged. 

“So, how do you know about this stuff,” Ronald asked. 

“Well, that’s a long story, but we do have a bit of a drive.” Damien kicked the truck up a gear as they merged onto the Interstate. Many of the trees along the highway had lost their leaves, but there still remained some red and orange, and the pine trees still held their needles. 

Damien looked over at Ronald “Did I ever tell you I was adopted?” Ronald shook his head. “Yeah, I don’t really tell many people about it, because I don’t want them to think I’m some kind of freak.”  

“I don’t think anyone would think you’re a freak for being adopted. You’re like the epitome of normal, and a lot of people are adopted.”  

Damien smiled and shook his head. “Yeah, but I was adopted as an older kid, like around twelve. And my family was pretty weird compared to the average family. We were from up north, you know, the County.” 

“Oh.” Plenty of people were from the County.   

“We lived in a Village that wasn’t exactly on the grid, if you know what I mean.” 

Ronald had no idea what Damien meant. 

Damien gave a nervous laugh. “The government didn’t know that we were there. We lived off of the land and did not have much for amenities. I actually had never seen an electrical outlet until I was about ten.” 

Ronald thought that sounded like Little House on the Prairie. No wonder why he was so religious. 

“I know you’re probably thinking it was like that Ingalls Family show, but it wasn’t as... idyllic.” Damien shrugged his shoulders.  

Ronald’s family wasn’t like some family from a TV show where everything turned out alright at the end of the half hour episode, but at least he had electricity and pizza bites. “So, you never watched TV?” 

“Correct. We had radios, but only the Elders were allowed to listen to them.” 

Elders probably meant that this was some kind of cult that Damien was from, but Ronald thought it best not to mention that. Cults can be a real touchy subject. Then, another alarming thought crossed Ronald’s mind. “Wait, did you never have ice cream?” 

“Well... during maple season, we’d pour some syrup over the snow that was still on the ground and chew on that. It was more like taffy, but close enough, right?” 

“Ummm... sure.” 

Damien laughed. “No, it wasn’t. Ice cream is way better! I may be a college athlete Ronny, but I do eat junk food. Can I call you Ronny?” 

“Sure.” Ronald hated that nickname more than anything, except confrontation of course. Also, the guy had just saved his life. He could call him whatever he wanted. “So, how did you end up leaving that place?” 

“Well, I came across this book one day when I was hunting with a group outside the Village. We weren’t supposed to read anything from the Outside, so I snuck it home with me under my coat and read it in secret. It was a Calvin and Hobbes book.” 

“I used to leave reading those books,” Ronald exclaimed. “I mean, they were alright.”  

Damien laughed, “No, you’re right. That book was awesome. This kid going on all these adventures with his stuffed tiger that comes to life when no adults are around. Calvin’s life was so... easy. He had toys and clean clothes and never had to do chores. Plus, his parents were so... different from mine.”   

“Oh,” Ronald said, because he honestly didn’t know how to answer. He had been bullied as a kid for being a geek, and he hadn’t always gotten along with his parents, but his childhood was seeming more hallmark compared Damien’s upbringing. The more Damien talked; the more Ronald realized he was not at all the jock who had everything handed to him.  

“Yeah, Calvin’s situation seemed a lot nicer than mine. The Elders in my Village were always complaining about people from the south and how they lived their lives wrong. I figured if they lived their lives “wrong” then they must have lived like Calvin and his family. So, I escaped.” 

“By yourself?” 

“I knew I couldn’t tell any of the other kids about this place, because they might snitch and then I would be in a whole lot of trouble. The Elders were not kind to those who disobeyed their rules.” 

A shiver ran down Ronald’s spine. He didn’t want to imagine the type of punishment that cultic leaders could dole out.  

“So, I stole a compass and some supplies and snuck out of the Village one night. I found a river and followed it South. I walked all night, slept part of the day hidden up in the trees so nobody could find me. When I woke up, it was dark, but I kept walking. Luckily, the stars were bright enough through the clearing to help me see. I probably travelled like this for weeks.” 

“How did you eat?” 

“I hunted and fished and grazed, like we did in the Village. It was almost second nature at that point.” 

“It must have been scary being out in the woods all by yourself, especially being a kid.” Ronald couldn’t even fathom being in the woods one night as an adult.  

Ronald shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not like my Village was much for company. Everyone kind of lived under this umbrella of fear and suspicion. If you said or did the wrong thing, and was caught by an Elder, you might never be seen again.” 

“Were you afraid that they would find you and bring you back?” 

Damien’s eyes widened as though it still scared him. “Yeah. I had seen a lot of stuff; and once you’re in a cult, they really don’t like you to leave. Even if you were born into it like I was. 

Damien pulled to the side of the road. “And we’re here!” 

They both got out of the truck and donned their headlamps. Damien hoisted up a duffel bag over his shoulder, which he had grabbed from under his bed. Ronald hadn’t thought much of it when they were leaving, but now he was curious about its contents. 

“What do you have in there?”  

Damien patted the duffel bag. “Stuff to help us kill the clock.” 

Ronald could not imagine what this “stuff” could be. He suddenly was a bit nervous about being in the woods alone with a former cultist. He did not even know what kind of cult Damien had been a part of. However, at this point Ronald did not have much choice. He couldn’t outrun or fight Damien, so the only thing he could do was follow him. He grabbed the shoebox from the truck, which was radiating a lot of heat, and started walking with Damien.  

They walked in silence for a while, and Ronald digested his day. He had started his morning off being late for class, because his alarm clock had stopped working, and now he was about to try to “break” this one before it broke him. He also wanted to hear the rest of Damien’s story. 

“So, how did you end up escaping the woods and getting adopted?” 

“Well, like I said, I probably walked those woods for weeks. Then, one day, I walked into the campsite of a middle-aged couple with a dog. The dog didn’t really like me, but the couple did. Their names were Pam and Mike. They brought me to the police station. I told the authorities that I didn’t know where my parents were, which wasn’t a lie, since I only knew they lived up North and couldn’t tell them their location.  

“Pam and Mike begged the police to let me come home with them. They had retired from fostering a few years earlier, but they got their license reinstated. They adopted me a year later.” 

“Wow, that is amazing. Did the dog ever warm up to you?” 

“No, but he got really sick and died about a month after I came to live with Pam and Mike. It was really sad. We tried adopting another dog from the shelter, but it just didn’t work out. Pam and Mike felt bad that I didn’t get to experience having a pet like other kids, so they bought me a stuffed tiger, like Hobbes. I was a little too old for stuffed animals, but I loved him anyway.” 

“I bet you were disappointed he never came to life.” Damien laughed at Ronald’s comment.  

Ronald realized that he had never met Damien’s parents. “So, how come your parents didn’t come up during homecoming to see you play?”  

Damien breathed deeply, and let out a sigh before answering. “They died the summer after I graduated high school, right before I left to come here.” 

“I’m so sorry Damien.” 

“Yeah, it was tough. We’d had a big fight earlier that day, and then they perished in a house fire that night.” 

“I’m sure they knew you loved them, regardless of some fight.” 

“The fight was about religion.” 

They came into a clearing right next to the River. Damien stopped and put his bag down on a large rock and turned to look at Ronald. 

Ronald replied to Damien, “A lot of teens stop wanting to go to church as they get older. I was the same way with my parents.”   

“Well, it wasn’t that I wasn’t going to church. It’s that I wasn’t going to their church.” 

“Oh... I mean... there are a lot of other churches, plus you were heading to school anyway.” 

“Yeah, but there aren’t a lot of houses of worship for my religion, and we prefer to keep them under the radar anyway.” 

“You mean the religion you practiced in the cul- I mean Village?” 

Damien snared. “All you Christians think that any religion that doesn’t follow your exact beliefs is a cult.” 

Ronald shook his head with fear. “Not me. I’m not even a Christian any more. I’m an Atheist... at least I used to be...” Ronald looked down for a moment and then abruptly looked back at Damien. “You were able to hold this alarm clock, and it is burning hot! I can only hold the edges of the box where the alarm clock doesn’t touch it.”  

Damien laughed and shook his head slowly. “Did it really take you that long to figure it out? Aren’t you supposed to be really smart? I’m supposed to be the dumb jock, right?” 

Ronald gulped and stepped back as Damien stepped towards him. “You... you worship... Satan. Ohshitohshitoh-” 

“Hey! What did I tell you about swearing? HE doesn’t like it when you swear!” 

“I-I’m sorry.” Ronald dropped the box and stepped away from it. “H-how are we going to get rid of this thing?” 

“It’s not a thing. It’s a living being that we need to set free.” 

"How are we going to do that?” 

“Human sacrifice” 

“What?” 

Damien tilted his head, and smiled darkly at Ronald. “You’re a virgin, right?”