The Animal Within

The horrific professor...

The Animal Within…By Sami Khalil

The wafting smell, coming from the weathered, natural stone chimney, held an uncanny mystery. Depending upon the vagaries of the weather, it caused latent fears within neighbors to surface, cross-referencing unruly ways. Knowing their neighbor belonged to “The Church of Satan” beforehand, facts could not sway their purblind thoughts in idle curiosities.

Upon studying ancient myths, legends and theology, “The Creep” as he was known, who was a professor on the subject at The University of Alabama, had fascinating fever of animals, their influences on art and the religious ceremonies of the ancients, knowing there were many untold sacrifices made to the gods or God, which brought about transformations and redemptions. Why not, he thought to himself, when all of humanity duly possesses “the animal within”, enthroning our genes along with a spirit?

 Even many known cults sprang around the beast of the wilderness. Some mummified them, preserving them for posterity.

The smell kept on baffling the neighbors, for what in the world was happening among those walls, caused such massive annoyance, prevalent in mindscapes. The Creep’s noted yard, was attended by animal statues of all sorts, most notably the ram, the winged bull, the monkey, the beetle, black cats and The Sphinx. 

Mistrust was sharply present towards this neighbor, as rumored by them, that his house was peopled by phantoms, tending to his needs. The house was modest but eerie looking. Five-sided rooms, with niches pointing to Egypt, made it so unique. Even certain trees that were planted, held Gothic meaning. Those trees stood eminently haunted, bearing a mournful appearance of weathered fate.

What was observable too, were the dark-tinted vans, carrying night guests in and out, gesticulating from across the fence sight. The large bullpen he had built, possessed dogs and cats, suitable for breeding purposes and selling, as was told, which made no hesitation of suspicion. It felt like the worst animal shelter. 

Finally, a neighbor called the police to investigate, after his dog went missing, due to weird circumstances (people from different places reported theirs missing too along with cats). To shine a light on the problem, the police obtained a search warrant, entered the house, rummaging through aforementioned speculations. To their surprise, the house was meticulous. They turned their gaze to the chimney and it was clean as a whistle. As they were looking around diligently, the detective, who was very crafty, went outside, digging in the yard insidiously. He stumbled upon charred bones, which looked suspicious, to be sent to the lab for testing. 

Compared with the dust collected within the chimney, they uncovered the taxonomy truth of evidence. A great clue was evident to the detective, which gave it all away, knowing about the professor and his ways, was the mural on the wall which stated: “Release the animal within.” The professor took it literally, admitting after many interrogations, that he believed in fire (Hellfire) which was the only way to release those animal instincts from dormancy. He did chop to pieces canines, felines and anything he could get a hold on, burning them in his bloody chimney. Another queasy shock was induced by the fact that, a local veterinarian supplied him such with many stolen ones. Come to find out, he had a book published long ago, stating in one section:

“Fire unravels the blurred lines between the human and animal kingdoms. Must not we burn in Hell for purification.”

Reviews

[Sami Khalil]

“Release the animal within.” The professor took it literally, admitting after many interrogations, that he believed in fire (Hellfire) which was the only way to release those animal instincts from dormancy.