SO SORRY FOR THE LONG DELAY: BUSY SEASON MIXED WITH A DESIRE TO END THE STORY WELL. NOW I HAVE A GOOD IDEA FOR THE END AND IM READY TO GET BACK INTO THE FRINGES. PLANNING TO SELF-PUBLISH THROUGH AMAZON WHEN THE STORY IS FINISHED AND THEN GET STARTED WITH THE NEXT FRINGES STORY.
CHAPTER 12
THE TRUCKER:NOW
He stood with some effort and brushed the gravel from his jeans. Once his name had been William Hurd, but he had forgotten that name . As a child William had learned how much joy could be gained through hurting another living thing. His neighbor's dog had strayed into William's back yard when he was only six years old. He'd been sitting under a large oak tree, playing with plastic army men when he saw the lab and first heard the voice of the Dragon. It was a voice he would later come to love, long for, and even worship but on that first day, in the shade of the backyard tree, the child had assumed this was the voice of his father. He had never met his father or even seen the man in pictures. When asked about the subject, William's mother just became annoyed or sometimes even angry. Once when he had asked his mother if Daddy was tall or short, she had started crying. Not knowing what to do, William had left the room. When the Dragon spoke in the child's mind the first time, its voice deep and lovely, the boy sat up instantly. William was startled but excited as well, effortlessly accepting the impossible as only a child can. Here was his father, speaking to him at last, and when the voice told him to sneak into the kitchen quietly so he wouldn't wake his mother who was napping in the living room recliner it didn't cross the child's mind to disobey. He would be a good son. He would please his father. He hesitated for just a moment when the voice told him to retrieve the large knife from the drawer beside the sink, his mother never let him hold knives. His excitement over the voice quickly superseded any worries he had about his mother's rules. He had to agree with the voice; the blade felt good in his small hands, like it belonged there. He whistled to the dog, calling it to him like he had many times before. The Voice spoke again. "Look at his neck, do you see that golden line of light? That light is his life my child... you can take it. You can add it to your own. You can live forever boy." William squinted and focused and suddenly he did see a line of yellow light tracing across the dog's throat and other smaller lines traced across its body. These smaller lines were dim but the neck line... it was bright. He couldn't understand why he'd never seen them before. William looked down at his own arms and saw similar dimly glowing lines there as well. This was a present he thought: a gift from his very own father. No wonder talking about him made mother angry, she was jealous; father gave better gifts! "Cut that line with the knife child and have that light for yourself." The moment William pierced the flesh of the dog with the blade he felt something amazing happening. He felt strong, like he could pick up Mother's car if he wanted. The dog was struggling but voicelessly for William had instinctively known to start with the animal's throat. As he continued to cut blood poured out (William was careful not to let any of that get on his clothes), but with the blood the light poured out as well. William watched joyfully and with childish wonder as the golden lines on his on arms which at first were dim began to shine brightly absorbing the light from the now headless animal.
The voice told William that this was a secret, only for him. It told the boy he was special. It told him how to dispose of the body and to clean and replace the knife. It whispered to him of things to come. In the years that followed the voice would reveal much to William as he killed again and again. When he was older he learned that the voice was not his father, but by that time the now teenaged and withdrawn boy loved the voice as the father he'd never known. The voice told him of the dragon symbol and of the great task for which William had been chosen. That he would some day meet the dragon face to face and be rewarded. The dragon even whispered his true name in the young man's ear and named the boy a prince in the kingdom that was to come. As an adult William found work as a truck driver and when he'd saved up enough money he'd purchased the old cabin and equipped the place for his great work. With each death the man caused he had felt his power grow. He fed bodies into the abyss, using the symbol to pass them through and keeping the heads for himself. Sometimes the Dragon would give him dates on which to kill and he was always sure to obey, he never questioned. He always knew when he had found exactly the right sacrifice as well because the rings of golden life draped around their throats were almost blinding. Once he'd seen a victim's life glow he would continue to see it until it was extinguished. He could track a victim from miles even whole states away by their glow. It shown like a beacon in the night.
About two weeks before abducting Laura, the final sacrifice was what the Dragon had called her, William began to experience the blackouts. He never knew when they were coming, and when he woke he remembered less of himself. After the third spell he had lost his name, after the fifth his childhood memories. By the tenth he had come to know himself as "The Vessel". After his last blackout, when the girl had escaped, he'd seen his face in the mirror and for a moment it wasn't his face anymore but the Dragon's staring back. He vaguely remembered a promise about meeting face to face but then the thought was gone and he had returned to his task.
Now as he stood blood still weeping from the hatchet-wound in his head, all trace of the man who had been William Hurd was gone. The Vessel looked down at his arms and chest where the flesh was red and scaled. He looked up at the road ahead and even in the darkness he could see a distant globe of golden light. There were things he would need from the cabin before following.
