Weirder Than Weird (15 page)

      “In my fright, I must have exhaled or gasped too loudly because the thing suddenly turned its attention toward the window. A shiver ran through me as I took a few steps back, hoping that I remained undiscovered, but as I did I could hear a buzzing sound. A few seconds later the thing was clinging to the outer wall of the tower and staring in at me!

     “I stared back in abject horror. A strange clicking sound emanated from the creature’s throat and it reached its powerful arms between the bars, attempting to grab me. I backed up against the far wall in a kind of shock. It stared at me with its vile pus-like eyes, then smiled. Its teeth were pointy and thin and seemed to crisscross in every direction like pick-up sticks tossed to the floor.

     “As if my horror couldn’t be heightened any further, the creature said in a loud and inhuman voice, ‘FEED! FEED!’ I could feel the blood run cold in my veins. The strength of the creature was astounding, for it proceeded to pull one of the bars from the window, but to my relief, the others held firm. The thing was not going to be deterred, however, as it began scraping away the mortar surrounding the bars with one of its sharp claws. For some inexplicable reason, for I’m not courageous in the least, I made a quick movement toward the window, hoping to shoo the thing away, but it lunged at me through the bars with an angry hiss that sent me trembling back against the wall once again. I watched helplessly for more than an hour while the creature made progress at scraping away the mortar. Suddenly, it turned its head and looked back over its shoulder. A second later I could hear the buzz of its wings as it flew back to the safety of its nest. I stepped up cautiously to the window and looked out. I could just see its tail end passing through the nest. I noticed something else that was very telling… the sun was rising.

*        *        *        *

     “I awoke a few hours later by the sound of Carlos calling my name. I opened my eyes to a depressing sight. I was hoping that it had all just been a bad dream but I looked to the window and my heart sank. Only three bars remained. I walked over and immediately saw that the mortar had been thoroughly gouged out in deep pockets around the remaining bars. I told Carlos my tale but he only laughed and dismissed it as a nightmare. It was useless to argue the point, so I settled in for another long day of chatting with Carlos, napping and staring out my window.

     “That night, my nightmare, as Carlos called it, continued. I was lying quietly on my bed when I heard that same disturbing flutter of wings that sent my heart pounding. The creature alighted once again outside my window and continued with its abhorrent scraping and the incessant ‘FEED! FEED!’ intoned under its breath. I felt as though I were going mad since there was nothing I could do to better my situation. Another bar broke free from the window and the thing let out an evil laugh at his accomplishment.  Hour after hour, it continued on with its scraping until once again the sun began to rise. It looked back and let out a loud cry of exasperation and with one mighty tug, another of the bars broke free with a resounding metallic snap! I could see the delight on its face as it turned and flew back to its nest. I was relieved to see it gone but I was deadly certain that, the following night, the creature would enter my cell. 

*        *        *        *

    
“As you can well understand, I was completely exhausted and at my wits end. I contemplated my situation all that morning and concluded that I didn’t much care for being eaten alive. But I had no real options left to me. I had no weapons to defend myself against the inevitable attack that would come this very night and I had no chance against the creatures overwhelming strength. No, I could only do one thing. I reached down and picked up the twine from the hay bale and twisted it into a kind of rope. I walked over to the bars on the cell.

     “
I heard a door open from below. The sound was followed by a set of feet shuffling their way up the long winding staircase. The wooden door flung open and my captors stepped through with large grins on their faces. ‘You are free to go, Senior. Your company has paid well for you and we will now keep our word.’ With that, his partner undid the padlock and the door swung open. I stepped out of the cell with tears running down my cheeks. ‘What about my friend Carlos?’ I said. ‘Hasn’t the poor man suffered enough?’

     “The two men looked at each other as though I was quite insane and I stepped to the front of Carlos’ cell.

    
“‘Carlos, I’m free,’ I yelled out, ‘and I’m going to see to it that…’

     “My face went white
and I was reduced to utter silence, because before me, in the back of the cell, chained to the wall, was my friend Carlos. A mere skeleton!

*        *        *        *

     “You might think that my tale would end there, but you would be wrong. I ask you to please be patient, for there is a little more to my story and I think you will be quite surprised by how it all ends.

    “I returned to Mancora and submitted my bizarre account to the magazine. A few days later I received a reply from my editor. He didn’t chastise me at all for my costing them thousands of dollars in ransom money; in fact, for whatever reason, he never even brought it up. His only concern was with the story I sent him. ‘They’ll never buy it!’ he wrote. ‘Try again, and this time, make it more believable!’ I laughed for hours after reading that telegram. This, from the same magazine that had an exclusive interview with the Yeti Snowman in this month’s edition! I could have submitted a revision but I was adamant. My tale really happened the way

I wrote it and I would not budge an inch on changing any of its details.

     “In the end, I sent them something entirely different that seemed to appease them, but for the life of me, I couldn’t get the Devil’s Tower out of my mind. It haunted my waking hours and my night time dreams and, as a result, I soon became a frazzled shell of a man. I was extremely depressed, not able to sleep or eat, and there was, of course, the enormous amount of tequila that I was consuming on a daily basis just to dull the anxiety. I woke up one day after riding a three-day bender and I knew something just had to change. I needed to get this behind me, pure and simple, otherwise I would go mad.  That meant nothing less than exacting my revenge upon the creature.

      “The next morning I was on the first train headed back to Palo; only this time, I took along with me a very capable friend. Its name… Smith & Wesson.

*        *        *        *

     “Upon arrival at Palo, I immediately rented a horse and set out for Devil’s Tower. I didn’t linger in town this time, for I was a man possessed with one mission in life: To kill the creature that insisted upon haunting my very soul.

    
Hours later, I arrived at the tower and my heart was pounding so hard that I was

certain I would pass out at any moment. I pulled a camera from my backpack and took a few photos of the tower. I decided earlier that I might write a book on my experiences, provided
of course, I got back alive. I grabbed a long coil of rope from one of the saddle bags and proceeded on foot to the rear of the tower. As I rounded the building, I stopped and stared in wonder at the old tree growing out of the rock wall. I never had seen it this close before and it looked quite magnificent in the daylight.

     “
Wasting no time, I tied off one end of the rope around a large boulder and tossed the rest of the coil over the side. I shimmied my way down the rope until I came to a thick limb that grew close to the rock wall. I hopped easily onto the limb, tied off my rope and started to climb toward the nest. As I glanced down, my eyes happened to fall upon patches of sun-bleached bones strewn across the rock wall. At that moment, it occurred to me that the white objects I wasn’t able to discern from the darkened tower were actually human bones! I shuddered at the thought, but continued my climb.

      “My ascent was easy enough because of the many limbs so closely grouped together, only, my heart was beating so loud in my own ears that I thought the noise would be enough to give me away. I finally reached the opening of the nest. I knew this because I could smell a foul stench emanating directly above. I pulled myself up slowly and cautiously, just far enough where I could get a momentary peek into the entrance. I suddenly felt unnerved. It may sound foolish, but because of my obsession and my hasty desire to kill the beast, I really didn’t have a well thought out plan as to how I would actually accomplish the task once I got there. Would I just shoot into the darkness of the nest hoping that one of my six bullets would find their mark? And if they didn’t, what then?

     “
As it happened, I had no need to worry, because the horror of what transpired next quickly decided things for me.

*        *        *        *

     “As I peered over the edge of the nest, I did my best to remain quiet, but as I pushed myself up, one foot lost contact with the limb I was standing on and I slipped, causing a terrible racket and undoubtedly giving away my element of surprise. As a result of my slip, I unintentionally reached up a little too far into the opening of the nest to support myself, and that’s when it happened. The creature sprang from the darkness with the quickness of a cobra and buried one of its sharp pointy claws deep into my left shoulder blade, like a butcher’s meat hook. I let forth an agonizing moan as the thing pulled me up and partway into its filthy lair. It looked down at me with those demonic bright eyes and seemed to laugh. At that instant I was sure it recognized me. It moved its repulsive face closer to mine and smiled with those sharp needle-like teeth.      

      “‘FEED! FEED!’ it said in its evil bug voice. But I was determined not to be the main course of this or any other insect’s meal. I reached behind me with my free hand and pulled my pistol from its holster. ‘FEED THIS!’ I shouted in dramatic fashion and fired a point-blank shot into the center of the creature’s solar plexus. It immediately tore its claw from my shoulder and both it and I screamed out in pain. The thing staggered as I pulled the trigger once more. This time, the bullet tore through one of its putrid eyes, obliterating it in an explosion of yellow pus that splattered both me and the nest in a reeking stench. The creature fell on top of me. I could feel its rage. It was now outside the protective confines of the nest and I heard a sizzling and crackling noise as it screamed in utter agony. I looked back and witnessed the effect the sun was having on the creature; it was literally frying to death, like bacon in a pan. But still, it attempted to pull its way back into the nest.

     “
In one last surge of anger I kicked the creature in the face with my boot, completely shattering its other eye and sending it over the side. I heard a momentary flutter of wings as it tried to recover, but the sound was short lived. I quickly adjusted my body so that I could witness its demise but all I saw was a thin line of green smoke hurdling toward the ground, ending in a wisp of ash. The deed had been done and I laughed harder than I had done in a long time. I immediately started my way down the tree. I remember thinking that I could now put this nightmare behind me. Only, in hindsight, I should have given more attention to the muffled clicking sound I heard coming from somewhere within the tree.

*        *        *        *

     “I struggled my way back up the rope and headed for the tower itself. I wanted to take a few more pictures for my book, which would include the interior of the tower as well as my old jail cell. My motivation for coming back had always been, first and foremost, the destruction of the creature, but I also had my friend Carlos in mind. I fully intended to give him a proper burial; perhaps that would help him find everlasting peace.

     “I made my way up the winding stairs and entered my old room. I was, of course, a bit apprehensive about returning but my nemesis was now dead and I knew that I had nothing left to fear. I called out for Carlos a number of times but he didn’t answer. This wasn’t unusual and I thought that it might be for the best; after all, I wasn’t looking forward to explaining to him that he was actually dead!

     “I stepped into my old cell and walked over to the window. The daylight was fading fast and I pulled my camera out to get one good picture of the tree. I suppose my adrenaline was finally wearing off because my shoulder began to ache terribly. I obviously lost a good deal of blood and suddenly felt light headed and extremely weary. I decided to lay down for awhile in the hay, just to take a quick nap and recover my strength.

     “I
quickly floated off into a wonderful dream where I found myself back in my hometown playing a game of baseball with my childhood friends. It was my turn at bat and I stepped up to the plate, feeling extremely happy and sporting a huge grin. I looked down and tapped my bat against the plate, but saw that it was covered in dirt so I asked the umpire to clean it off. He dutifully bent down with his small whisk broom and moved it back and forth across the plate. It made a strange scratching sound that, for some reason, started my heart racing. While he was bent over I could hear him mumbling to himself the same words over and over in rhythm with the brush strokes. His intonations were indistinct at first but to my horror, I soon recognized the words, ‘FEED! FEED! FEED! FEED!’ When he finally looked up at me, I reeled back in terror because I could see that he wore the same ghastly face of the Praying Mantis!