Red - The Beast This Night Doth Come

That chanting rhyming verse playing over and over in your head, the dark sin lined city street, the blanket beneath which you cower is not match for the beast...within

Red

The Beast This Night Doth Come

 

Darkness carves an unrelenting scar on my mind; deeper and more intrusive as I feel every slice of its rusted and dull blade. Sinister thoughts play their indecisive tricks on my brain as I imagine I can see many things that I cannot. For this I find is not a dream, but a nightmare which grips tightly while I am awake. To breathe is difficult, as is this life; this predicament I now find has engulfed the very soul of my existence. Hovering in a flowing cloak of coal black night, the beast waits for even the slightest movement to know that here I lie. Not a blinking of an eye or a twitch of some offended nerve shall I allow to reveal my blanket encased haven. “For in this haven I now lie, if found this darkness I shall die” This I repeat over and over again within my brain, as if a recorded cylinder on the Edison Phonograph runs gouged, holding its needle securely in the same groove, spinning repetitively while never truly ending its cryptic cycle.

 

Upon the curtains flashes a monotonous beating rhythm of red: the color of sin, the color of evil, the color of" blood. So bold is its depth that I can taste it; the beast tastes it as well. I flinch. I should not have flinched. The dark figure notices and quickly grasps me. I am no longer hidden as I lie before its death-laced stare, drenched in the color of my undoing. I cannot fight it, as it finds me, once again, with eyes of deepened focus and unrelenting hate. I am powerless under its spell. I dress methodically at its command"while unspoken"I still hear it clear.  

 

The fog is heavy this night as we, the beast and I, lurk within the shadows of the Whitechapel district; the red light district as painted by the press. Red,appropriate we think. The stench of vomit and urine hangs like an old dampened undergarment long in need of a good cleaning; repulsive as it breaches our nostrils searching for a place to make its residence. Cobblestones wet with the sin of a thousand nights reflect our movements in a blurred and untraceable fashion, when the doxie appears. Hair red as the fiercest fiery flames, lips painted crimson, neatly edged and formed to produce a garish resemblance of what they truly are not. Fingernails, the hue of the finest rubies, flash beneath the gas lights flickering. Her  dress, flowingly draped, trimmed in exquisitely patterned lace, yet with breasts somewhat conceled yet temptingly exposed and smooth as that of a newborn babe, flaunting as is her sin, her red godless sin, it taunts us. I fight this urge, this desire to repent her soul, to take from her all that is evil and dispense with the lies dancing within her eyes.

 

Shuddering from the cold, I watch her approach as if she has not a care. Indeed, there must be and will be a care and this we shall provide momentarily. I think back to the safety of my bed, the warmth of the flannel which earlier I lay beneath.  “For in this haven I now lie, if found this darkness I shall die,” sings its haunting melody in my brain. The beast hears it, too, but easily ignores the warning it broadcasts. I search deep within, but cannot find the strength to resist. The beast controls me now as I harbor all that is good within my hands.  She enters the alley and we swiftly move to take her. I follow my orders as directed; cutting, slicing quietly and quickly like the darkness of this dreaded night. When I am finished I stare. I cannot help myself, the scene so gruesome as to make me sick, though digesting the goodness of what needed be done is soothing. Blood, deep red blood, flows into the gutters this night as I make my way home. The streetlights cast our shadows; there is only one upon the pavement. The beast, the ripper, as the newspapers have named it, feels no remorse, yet I do experience pain. My work this night is done, but tomorrow the darkness will once again fall and the beast, now sleeping soundly within me, shall rise. Once again I will recite, “For in this haven I now lie, if found this darkness I shall die,” but it shall be to no avail. It will call me from my sleep.

 

“Jack,” it will growl. “Wake, the red still flows.”      

 

 Jack Ivey

Author's Note

Read with the lights on

Reviews

[Kristin Lee]

Very dark! I like it...but you know me...I like the dark ones :)

You have great imagery in all your poems. Dark or light, its in the way you string your words together, almost as if you are painting a picture. And that is exactly how writing should be.

[LadySoDivine]

Personally, red is my favorite color, so I had to read this (took me a while, but I told you I would).
I love how you used Jack the Ripper. I have always been fascinated with him, I watched a lot of shows about him. And I like the portray you made.
The first paragraph reminds me of my childhood - how I would lie in my bed at night with the covers over my head, to protect me from the monsters hiding in the darkness of my room. It's sad that those monsters continue to follow us through years as we grow up. They live inside our minds and feed on our biggest fears.
Excellent job, Jack!! :)

[Jack...]

Thank you so much. this was written for a contest on another site...the rules were, the title had to contain the word RED, it had to have one rhyming phrase that was used twice and 750 or less word count.

[LadySoDivine]

Well, you did a really good job with it. :) Did you win?

[Jack...]

No, but I came in second

[Marie]

I must have read this before, but I don't see my review here. Very good rendition of Jack the Ripper...

[Jack...]

Thanks Marie

[Helen Crutchett]

This story was fantastic Jack! Kept me on the edge of my seat whilst reading though the gripping narrative. Chilling and gothic to the core. Will stay in my mind tonight and I probably won't be able to get to sleep!

Thank you for submitting this to my contest! Helena

[Jack...]

Thank you so much for your kind words Helena. I am happy you liked it but remember, it is only a story...sleep my friend, sleep.

[Helen Crutchett]

You are most welcome Jack.

I will sleep, albeit wth the lights on! ;)

Kindest regards,

Helena

[Veronica Chandler]

This one scared the living daylights out of me! Jack the Ripper! The double meaning is not lost on me as I am laughing and chilled to the bone with fright. I will be sleeping with the night light on tonight.

[Jack...]

Thanks Veronica, this was wriiten for a contest titled RED. This is what I came up with. I was attempting to write a piece in the style of Poe.

[angelina neves]

horrible at it's best!

[Jack...]

Thanks so much

[InsanityWriter]

Oooh! Haunting ending. ;) Nicely done.

[Jack...]

Thanks so much

[Ayvid N]

This is sinister and blood curdling. You could bring on that shiver. Loved the description of the redlight scene. Very engagingly and attractively done. The final slaughter was gory and grisly and more. Give us more of such chilling reads. Thanks a lot for sharing this write Jac. It was invitingly different. :)

[Jack...]

Thank you so much for reading and commenting on my little story. I am happy you enjoyed it.

[Ayvid N]

Oh yes I did. Looking forward to more of this kind of writing from you.

[Jack...]

I have another on here titled, "Into the sunset" if you'd like me to send an rr to you?

[Ayvid N]

of course, yes please!

[Holly Mason]

what a different piece was not expecting that at all.
I hope it makes you feel good creeped out I am right now*)
great story kept my interest from beginning to the end...red still flows.
thank you for sharing

[Jack...]

Thanks for reading. It was a contest entry on another site, just thought I'd share.

[Holly Mason]

well hope you win*)what is it a horror write contest?

[Jack...]

No it was a contest with the theme "Red". 700 word max, had to have the word Red in the title, it had to have one rhyming phrase that was used twice in the story and the running theme had to be Red. This is what i came up with.

[Holly Mason]

well I am from Florida land of the absentee ballot...got one?now that I live up north maybe it will get filled out correctly*)

[Jack...]

Ok, now you have lost me.

[Holly Mason]

absentee ballots are filled out in the mail then mailed back...a lot of Floridians are snowbirds and they are usually up north during voting,or they just can't make it out to vote health,no longer drive ect. so they get absentee ballots-and 90% of the time Florida has to recount so I am offering to give you my absentee vote*)

[Jack...]

Ah, now I get it...I can be a little slow at times. Just a short paragraph of oh say...100 words and I easily understand. :)

[Holly Mason]

well at least with 100 words or so we get eachother*)

[SarahV]

This is truly a remarkable piece of work! You said you tried to write in the style of Poe and you really did succeed in doing so. Also I love the melody: “For in this haven I now lie, if found this darkness I shall die,” - this is amazing. Definitely 100/100, keep up the good work! :)

[Jack...]

Thanks so much