Deliver Us From Darkness Read online

  If it can be done with a penny and five bottle caps, he thought, maybe it can be done with playing cards. It was worth a shot.

  Brent rifled through the playing cards, pulling out four red cards and the ace of spades. He lay them face down on the table, closed his eyes, and mixed them up. He then situated them into a row, confident that he had no idea which was the ace.

  Looking down at his neat little row, he placed his right hand over each of the cards, wondering what that was supposed to accomplish. It was obvious to Brent that Kim’s trick had something to do with having marked one of the bottle caps. But after a moment’s thought, Brent realized that Kim would have had to mark the right bottle cap before the penny was placed under it; something else seemingly impossible.

  Okay, Brent thought, There has to be something to this hand-over-the-cards thing. Was it a sense? A feeling? Brent refocused. Okay, the ace of spades. Ace of spades. Which one are you? He suddenly grabbed for the nearest card. He turned it over. Two of diamonds. Well, that didn’t work. He flipped the card back over and mixed them up again.

  Kim had closed his eyes while moving his hand over the bottle caps. Brent, too, closed his and leaned his head back as he had seen Kim Cox do. He began to move his hand over the cards again.

  “What are you up to?”

  Brent jerked upright. It was his mom. She sounded a bit amused and was now standing behind his chair. “Umm … just working on a card trick I saw earlier.”

  “Oh yeah? Are you any good?”

  “We’ll see in a few minutes, I guess. Gotta figure it out first.”

  “Well, you’ve got my curiosity piqued. Let me know when you’re ready to amaze me and your dad.”

  As his mom went to sit down near his dad, each in his and her own recliner, he returned to the task at hand. Okay, let’s try this again. He closed his eyes, leaned back his head, and placed his hand over the cards, moving it back and forth.

  Thinking it was about time to drop his hand, he did so. He opened his eyes, flipped the card, and saw the annoying red of the seven of hearts. He sighed. What’s the trick?!

  Then it hit him. Kim had never said anything about it being a trick. He had initially used the word “magic”, and later, when asked, he had said, “powers.”

  What did that mean? What kind of power? Power that the penny had? That he had?

  “Power, huh?” Brent said under his breath. “Well, then, let’s get a little hocus-pocus weird with this.” Once again he shuffled the cards and set them in line. He, again, closed his eyes and leaned his head back. He, again, placed his hand over the far right card and began moving it to the left. Power. Power. What kind of power? He began making a second pass back to the right.

  Determined that something would be different this time—that something would stand out—Brent kept his hand hovering and moving over the cards. With eyes closed and his brow furrowed in concentration, a thought sparked in his mind. Power to see! He believed he was onto something now.

  The ace of spades. Black. Shaped like a … spade. The picture formed clearly in his mind. He could see the card. He also visualized the tiny words printed below the spade. Maybe the name of the card company, he thought.

  Without warning, what felt like a blast of heat shot up into the palm of his hand!

  What the…? He opened his eyes and jerked his hand back. He did not just imagine that. He examined the palm of his hand, but didn’t see anything unusual. Turning his attention back to the row of cards, he lowered his hand to the one over which his hand had just been. His heart began to beat hard with anticipation. Had he done it? Had he just figured it out? He flipped the card over.

  There it was in all its black beauty. The Ace!

  “Yes!” he nearly shouted.

  “Figure it out, Hon?” inquired his mom.

  “I think I actually did!”

  “Good for you.”

  Brent reshuffled, redistributed, and reattempted.

  It happened again. Heat. The secret was heat! He saw the card in his mind, and he actually felt heat rise up from it. This… this is amazing! He took a steadying breath. Okay… Okay… Let’s see. I’ll bet it doesn’t have to be five.

  He reached for the deck of cards and looked for an additional two red cards. He shuffled them, placed them in a line and, once again, found his ace. I’m three for three with this!

  Again he reached for the deck. Let’s make it thirteen. Another attempt, and another success. Twenty-five? Success. Thirty-five? Success!

  He could hardly contain his exhilaration. Even more exciting was that he was accomplishing the feat with black cards mixed into the rows.

  All fifty-two? Why not? Why shouldn’t it work?

  With all fifty-two cards spread out in neat rows, taking up most of the table, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his card. As he moved his hand over the first row of cards he felt no heat, just normal room temperature. He opened his eyes and gathered those cards to the side.

  “Okay, you’ve got us both curious now.” It was his dad. “What’s the goal?”

  Brent looked over his shoulder. Both were standing there. “Well, I’m looking for the ace of spades.”

  His dad cleared his throat, and with humor playing in his voice, asked, “Isn’t part of performing an illusion the knowledge of where the card is while your suckers remain clueless?”

  Brent found humor in that, too. “You’d think so, huh? But, this isn’t an illusion. This is just as exciting for me as it is for anyone watching.” He turned back to the table. “Okay, no talking. Give the Great Brent the atmosphere he needs to astound you.” He heard his mom restrain a laugh.

  He concentrated. He moved his hand. He felt some warmth. He pushed aside the cards that had remained cool. The card that had just generated the warmth didn’t quite feel right, though. He’d leave it for the moment and continue his search. He cleared another six cards before coming upon another card that was generating some warmth. I wonder what that means? He continued on.

  After his hand had passed over the last of the fifty-two cards, he looked at what remained. He was down to seven cards that had caught his attention because of the heat they seemed to generate. He took a deep breath and looked back at his parents who were watching intently. His dad, with arms folded and a slight smile on his face, was obviously entertained.

  As Brent was about to continue, his dad said, “Sharon, hand me that pile of cards our magician just pushed to the side. Let’s see how impressive he is before he makes his final pick.” His mom picked up the pile and handed them to her husband. He re-formed the deck and then began to search through them. Brent held his breath.

  “Well, Brent, you’ve got something going on here. Your ace of spades is not in this deck.” He set the cards down on the table.

  “Okay,” said Brent, “Let’s see how impressive I really am.”

  Brent couldn’t stop thinking about his initiation into darkness back in July of 1979. The innocence of it all. The stupid card “trick” wasn’t even about gaining control! It was just a stinking grab for attention! Something that was supposed to be fun! No torment! No voices!

  As it turned out, Brent’s parents had been very impressed with what he’d done with the cards that first day. In fact, his father had gone so far as to sit down at the table with him and even reshuffled the deck himself. Then he arranged the cards on the table himself. Apparently, it had been time for a reevaluation of the card trick.

  Brent had passed the test again, with flying colors. Though his dad couldn’t find them, he had been sure there were markings on the cards. There had to be. Right? Because, obviously, there had to be a naturalistic reason to produce such astounding results.

  When pressed, a third time about how he’d done it, Brent simply said, “It’s a secret.” He was beginning to enjoy that he knew something that no one else could figure out.

  However, as the days and weeks went on, his family and friends, who were initially very impressed with his ability, grew more
and more indifferent. It was rarely brought up any more to brag about. Brent didn’t like the waning of interest in his ability and began to wonder what other attention-grabbers his giftedness could secure.

  He tried the shell game that had originally been done on the sidewalk with Kim Cox. Yes, he’d been able to duplicate it, but to everyone else it just seemed even more a parlor trick.

  He was getting frustrated.

  Late one night while lying in bed, a few weeks into his new skills, he had the spark of a new idea. It was obvious to Brent that he was able visualize what he wanted to find and then find it, but what if he could visualize what he wanted to happen and then cause it to take place?

  But how? If it was at all possible, he was going to find out.

  Brent realized that this was the moment … this was the decision that had set a dark and dangerous new course for his life. He wanted to ebb the flow of memories; bring them ultimately to an end. He desperately wanted to stop reliving the beginning of his life’s end.

  But the memories persisted…

  Okay, what do I want to happen? It would have to be something…something so unusual that if it actually happened it would be obvious that I was the cause. He pondered the idea for several minutes, and then it struck him. Ohh… what if!

  Michele.

  Impossible! Now you’re just being stupid.

  But … what if …?

  If he were able to get Michele Atwell to go out with him, he’d know, without question, that he had a truly astonishing gift. Not one time had he been able to catch her eye. He didn’t understand why. He wasn’t exactly hideous to look at, and he was an athlete…

  Okay …. I’ve got my goal. He smiled to himself. What if he were really able to make this happen? He would sure turn some heads at school with her on his arm!

  Brent knew it was an impractical pursuit. It was ridiculously improbable. … Which made it the perfect test. The question was: How does one go about manipulating someone else’s desires? Would he have to be able to see her in order to throw a whammy on her? Could it happen as he lay in bed? Was there a way to study up on this?

  He chuckled and shook his head. It’s a stupid idea! Idiotic!

  Still…

  It took a full day before he got past all the moral objections he had to manipulating another person’s will. First, he doubted that it could really be done. So what real harm would come as a result anyway? Second, if the impossible happened and she did go out with him, she’d be getting someone who wanted her for more than her body, though that body was certainly a perk! And who’s to say that in some cosmic sense it wasn’t supposed to happen anyway? After all, if it was a gift—a gift that had to have come from God, since he probably did exist—then wouldn’t he just be accomplishing what he was gifted to do?

  Moral constraints out of the way, he began to practice. Practice was probably the wrong word to use since he didn’t have a clue what he was doing. But then, a lot of the practice he did on the basketball court to acquire his skills had been little more than trial and error; pretty much just like this.

  He had one class with Michele; English Composition. He’d have to choose a seat somewhere behind hers. Then he could try to … well, do something. He’d figure it out then.

  Monday morning Brent walked into his first period English Comp class. He got to the classroom early so as to get the best possible seat for getting a good look at Michele. The problem was that she never showed up. She wasn’t there the next day either. As it turned out, she was home, sick with the mumps of all things.

  At home he resorted to Plan B. Okay, there really wasn’t a plan, but he was going to at least attempt to make some sort of headway. So, locked in his room he sat at his desk with his eighth-grade year book before him; and in it, a picture of Michele. He focused on the photo and strained to make his thoughts known to her.

  You like Brent Lawton. You want him to be your boyfriend. Conjuring those two sentences in his mind was enough to cause him to laugh out loud. “Oh brother! Have I lost it.” But Brent felt a niggling to go at it again. So he did.

  The more he said it, the more he also felt like he was making some sort of mistake. It wasn’t a conflict of conscience, but something else. He was doing something wrong.

  He sat back with a sigh and rubbed his eyes.

  “If you’re not sure that anything you’re doing is right to begin with, how can you be certain that anything you’re doing is wrong?” he asked out loud. He leaned forward and looked at Michele’s picture again. “I want this girl,” Brent murmured. “I need this girl.”

  “I’m going to have this girl.”

  He attempted again to speak to her mind—believing it had to somehow be possible—that she wanted him. Then a thought occurred to him, almost like a whispered voice. “You’re saying it wrong. She needs to believe the thoughts are her own.”

  “Her own thoughts,” Brent mumbled. Yes! That’s it! She needs to think that the thoughts I’m sending are her own! Brent gave himself an I-could-have-had-a-V-8 pop to the forehead and looked again at her picture with renewed enthusiasm.

  I like Brent Lawton. I want him to be my boyfriend.

  The thought voice spoke to him again, “Out loud. Be more subtle.”

  He stared into her eyes; willing himself to see their greenness; seeing more than a photograph. He was looking at the object of his desire face to face.

  “Brent Lawton,” he began again in a whisper. “Brent Lawton.” He felt like he was drilling Michele’s eyes with his own. “Brent Lawton. I wonder why I never really noticed him before. Brent Lawton. Now that I think about him, he is kind of cute. Brent Lawton. I wonder why I never really noticed him before. Brent Lawton. Now that I think about him, he is kind of cute.”

  The repetition of just his name and those two sentences went on for nearly an hour until Brent felt a rivulet of sweat travel down his back. The chill of it alerted him. He blinked and sat up. He blinked again and looked at his alarm clock. “What? No way.” He looked at his watch. “An hour?” He rubbed his eyes and pushed back from his desk. He felt weak, as though he had been through a hard workout.

  “Okay, that was a little weird.” He stood up and went downstairs for a snack. “I need some protein.”

  THE FOLLOWING MONDAY, again early for school, he sat at his desk hoping. The classroom was about half full when she walked in. Michele Atwell in all her long-legged beauty, looking none the worse for the type of ailment she had suffered through. She was laughing with a girl named … Hmm … He couldn’t remember. Michele’s best friend. A mixed pair to be sure: nerd and absolutely-not-nerd.

  As Michele and friend started looking for seats, Michele turned toward the back of the classroom and caught Brent’s eyes. For a moment—a brief, glorious moment—her eyes widened in surprise. She caught her breath, smiled a quick smile, and darted her eyes toward the floor as she took a seat.

  Brent’s heart skipped a beat. Maybe three or four beats! She had just noticed him! She didn’t just see him, as she’d done countless times, but she noticed him!

  Brent nearly exploded in song! Nearly being the operative word. Good thing, too, because the only lyrics that erupted in his mind at that incredible moment were, The hills are alive with the sound of music!

  Good grief! How embarrassing would that have been?

  He smiled.

  No, he didn’t … he grinned.

  He grinned like a Cheshire cat!

  BRENT AND MICHELE were now an “item.” Guys and girls alike throughout the school were either high-fiving him or looking at him in utter amazement. Good grief, he thought while walking to class one afternoon. Every girl in this school must have thought I was a total loser!

  After a while, though, even the wonder of bagging Michele Atwell wore off in the minds of his classmates. And he was once again relegated to the life of the average.

  Much like an adrenaline junkie, Brent needed his periodic “fix” of popular opinion. So he began making it a practice of l
earning more ways of exploiting his gift for glory.

  It was becoming much easier to manipulate situations to his liking now that he was listening more attentively to his thought voice. It was a bit eerie at times, as he was growing to believe that it might really be a voice. And if it was a voice that was guiding him to do things he didn’t know how to do himself, was it his voice he had been hearing?

  The question both troubled and fascinated him. That is, it fascinated him until one night, about four months into his relationship with Michele.

  It was that horrific night that the thought voice said something that gripped him with fear.

  “Hello, Brent.”

  In an old farmhouse hundreds of miles away in a small town in the eastern hills of Kentucky sat what appeared to be a frail, aging woman. She was certainly aging, but her appearance hid the strength that she kept in ready reserve. She was thin with a small frame, but she had been steadily working, keeping up her small farm for almost more years than she could count. A widow for the past seven years, Hannah Moore readily admit- ted her own amazement at being able to take on and accomplish all of the work the small farm required.

  It was just after 7:00 p.m. and she was now allowing herself some down time. She sat comfortably in her favorite rocking chair in the bedroom. The old coal stove was ushering its heat, pushing back the wintry cold that invaded other parts of the house. Coal trucks that constantly worked their way up and down the winding road of the hollow “dropped off” free fuel for the residents of this otherwise-forgotten back road. The warmth of the room soaked into her body allowing her to finally relax.

  She was grateful for the rest. It had been a frigid day. But, still, the chores had needed to get done. She had awakened early to feed the chickens, hogs, and her two dairy cows, and after making sure that they were as warm as the weathered buildings would allow, she turned her attention to getting back inside and to domestic concerns. Though she certainly didn’t like the cold spell that had hit, it did allow her to focus on things that still needed to be done around the house.