Seraph Vs. Diabolus

He felt it raging throughout his body. He knew that he was going to have to fight again. Fight  for the one thing that he treasured more than anything  his soul. He knew that he  was coming again. He comes every year and only once a year. He glanced at the calendar and the date was circled in red marker. He knew that he had to get ready for war which would rage inside of him. 

People called him many names. He was known as the Prince of darkness, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Iblis, the angel of death or most commonly known as Satin which is what John B. called him. John had always been a little different as in he didn’t do the normal things that you would expect a child to do. He hated to play with legos which most of his friends played with and he always ended up throwing them instead of building tall towers with them like his friends and brother and sister did. He only liked spicy foods and only would eat them starting at the age of two. His parents couldn’t understand that but they obliged him and cooked him spicy chili and peppered chicken for his meals at dinner. Sometimes he was the life of the party and other times he was sitting in a corner by himself just watching the other party guests. He would sit there for hours and just watch. Nobody noticed him much watching. They had always dubbed him as a little weird and thought that was just his personality. Only John knew that it was not. He tried to fight these things and more but it was always a losing battle. He hoped that it would be different this year. He prayed that it would. 

When John was five years old he looked forward to Halloween. This was the first Halloween he was going to trick or treat with his older brother and sister.  He was going to be a Fireman that year but something he never felt before raged inside of him.  He had a fire raging throughout his whole little body and didn’t know what to do. He ran to his mom and tried to explain it to her but she didn’t understand and told him it was just Halloween jitters. John knew that it was more than that. He tried to change into his costume that night, Halloween night, but something stopped him. His fireman costume levitated off of the bed and burned  in thin air. Then the fire went out as quickly as it started. He lied on his bed and then a strange voice spoke to him. It was a voice he had never heard before. The voice was raspy and scratchy at the same time. The voice told him that he had to listen. When John refused something bad happened. John was levitated off of his bed high to the ceiling and abruptly dropped back down to the bed a few seconds later.  Oddly, he was not scared anymore.  He came down the stairs with his mom’s red lipstick covering his face like a mask. He had on a red turtleneck shirt he took from his older brother and his good black slacks on from his good  suit. He had painted his toenails and fingernails with a black sharpie marker and made two horns out of tin foil which he taped to his head. His horrified parents didn’t know what to do.  They grabbed him and washed the lipstick off of his face . But, they could not wash off the evil from his soul. 

John’s Halloween’s were like this for the next five years. He always dressed like the devil but didn’t understand why he only knew that the voice told him to do it and he obeyed.  He tried to fight it one year and  he had planned to be something else but on that night something happened. That night  the walls bled  in his bedroom when he was trying on his angel costume and the voice was angered that he even tried to be an angel. That is  when he decided never to go trick or treating again.  His parents  did not know what evil lived in their little boy. l They knew Halloween was the worst night of the year for him and them.  His parents could not take him dressing as the devil any longer. John was told to answer the door and hand out the candy to the trick or treaters but when he touched the candy a strange sensation ran down his arm to his hands. His hands felt like they were on fire each time he reached for the candy.  He could not make his hands touch that candy so without telling his parents he would just refuse and hide in his room until the night was over. 

John hated Halloween. He hated everything about it but he especially hated the way he was going to feel and the things he would do under the cover of the dark night and the devil. He had been doing evil things since he came of age ten years ago. He was an adult now and soon to be 30 years old and tonight this had to stop. John could not do the things that put him in danger but most importantly others in danger as dictated by the devil. 

The devil had other ideas and he was more powerful this time. John had been trying to resist him the past few years and not fully cooperating but this year was going to be different. John was going to do something he had never done before. He was going to do something that nobody had done before and the devil was going to make sure that nothing and nobody stood in the way. Ready or not John was going to be in for the night of his life this Halloween.

It was Halloween. The day was here. John’s body once again filled with something he could not fight. That evil spirit had invaded him again. He cried out in frustration to try to make it go away and leave him alone but his cries were only laughed at by the devil. 

“John, I am not going anywhere. This is our special night and tonight you are going to do what I tell you to do. There is no need to try to fight. I am stronger than you. I will win. I always win.” The devil’s voice said.

“Not this time. You will not win and I will not do what you want.” John yelled back.

“Johnny boy, you know that is not true. Why do you think I chose you? Why do you think I come to you every year? It is because Johnny we are one.  You will prove to me that you are mine.” The devil answered.

“Never!! I will fight you to the end. I am tired of being your evil servant on Halloween. This time you will lose. God help me.” 

“Oh Johnny boy don’t bring God into this. You shall see. I will win your soul tonight. “ 

John felt it again, the familiar rage entering his body. He tried to fight as hard as he could but it was slowly taking over. The devil was trying to hold on and he was trying to fight for his soul. 

He put on the same costume he had put on when he was a boy. He had brought the costume this year as years in the past. His devil costume was sitting on his bed when he got home from work just as it had been for years. Put out by the devil. As he slipped into the costume he didn’t feel anything. He was just the devil's robot. He picked up the pitch fork and his tail and went to the party next door. The party the devil wanted him to go to. Everyone knew him and complimented him on his costume. There were a few other people dressed like the devil but only one real devil was in the room and that was  inside of John. 

Screams came from the bedroom. The host, Virginia, who was dressed as a pirate, ran into her bedroom and came out screaming almost as loud as the woman in the room. 

“Someone call 911. Katie’s in labor. The baby is coming!” Virginia screamed. 

Everyone reached for their cell phones at the same time and the whole room of costumes were calling 911.  Everyone except John.  John ran into the room. He ran because the devil told him too. He  was not a doctor and didn’t know anything about delivering a baby.  He knelt in front of Katie who was screaming with each contraction and squeezing  Vigrinia’s hand. John suddenly knew why he was there. Katie was not having anyone’s baby she was going to have a baby that the devil would take and John was going to help him. John put his fake pitch fork down near the bed and kneeled directly in front of Katie. The baby was coming fast. He could see the top of the baby’s head already.

“Johnny boy you know what to do. You must deliver this baby and give him to me.” The voice inside his head demanded.

“No, you will never have control over the baby like you have over me. I will never give you this baby.” John screamed back.

Katie and Virginia didn’t seem to notice John screaming in thin air and didn’t notice the words he screamed. Katie was screaming and so was Virginia. Katie was pushing her baby into the world while John was kneeling in front of her trying to help as much as he could.

“The baby is almost here Johnny boy. Soon it will be time.” The devil said.

“No, never!” John thought. 

“For the love of God please save this baby.” John continued screaming. 

“I told you to leave God out of this. Stop it.” The devil said. 

Something magical happened. John looked over his shoulder and there he saw it. It was a symbol that he had waited for all of his life. 

“John, everything is going to be okay. I am here.” A voice whispered. John looked around to find the voice. He saw an angel standing over his shoulder with three wings. 

“Who are you?” John asked.

“I am Seraph. I am an angel. Together we will defeat Satan. This baby will be safe and so will you.” 

The baby came into the world crying just as most babies do as the paramedics arrived. John moved out of the way and let them take over. Seraph was still in the room although nobody could see her except John. The paramedics took Katie and the baby to the hospital. John sat on the chair across the room from the bed where the baby was just born. Seraph stood next to him.

“Seraph, can I ask you something?” 

“Yes, but you probably already know that answer. You already know that you had enough love inside of you to defeat the devil. You always did. And when he asked you to do something horrific and something that went against your soul  that love took over. I only came to help you feel more of the love that you already had inside of you.” The angel said.

“Am I safe now?” John asked.

“As long as you keep that love in your heart and let it flow you will always be safe from the devil. Now, I must go.” The angel gently touched his shoulder and disappeared.

The angel was right. John was safe, his soul was safe and so was his spirit forever. Once again Love had conquered evil just as it always will.