Twenty Devilish Faces -The Fight for Alexis
I wanted to shout out, but no sound would emerge, I couldn’t move, speak and worse I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t release the huge energy buildup of terror from my body, I was sure I was going to explode. I was suspended in in-animation between sleep and wakefulness, hanging in neither world and aware of both, silent, trapped and tormented.
The light from the icosahedron hanging just above my head raped my mind, there was no place I could hide, yet I must resist, Alexis was mine, my baby girl, barely old enough to speak in full congruent sentences, she needs me my mind was screaming, he’s not having her, I’m her Mama.
The icosahedron began to move up and down my body, from my face to my feet, with each movement it became more invasive, more terrifying, more evil. Then the pain started, my whole body wracked in agony, silently I was screaming but still I couldn’t make any audible noise, still the worst torture was I had to suffer this in silence, my mind terrified for me, for Alexis, for everyone I knew, what was this magic, this indescribable evil that had complete control over my body?
The pain stopped as abruptly as it had begun and somehow silently I could hear a voice in my mind, clear, menacing and oh so powerful and persuasive:
“Give Alexis to me, that’s all you need to do, agree to my demands and you’ll be free, refuse and you’ll never see her again, agree and she’ll live with you under your care until her 16th birthday and then she’ll be mine.”
Surely, I was sleeping, as realistic as all this seemed, all of my life experience was telling me none of this was real, no strange three-dimensional shapes could control my body and make me mute, this was just a hallucinogenic effect of something I’d eaten, Alexis was in her bed in the next room, she wasn’t in any danger, no-one, supernatural or otherwise, wanted to steal her. I began to breathe deeply attempting to get hold of my anxiety, one deep breath after another.
Then something from deep inside began to stir, I found that I was floating up and up and off the bed, my breathing became shallow again and through the fear and the disbelief I realized that my body was beginning to betray me, serotonin and dopa-mine flooded my mind and insides, energy exploded in my genitals and I wanted to scream with both terror and delight yet still I was mute, still unable to release, still totally beholden to whatever Devil this was that haunted my reality, and then I found myself falling, falling into a void, devoid of light, consciousness or dream, a nothingness, well they say sex and death are two sides of the same coin!
It was still dark when I awoke, or had I slept all day? My body ached in ways I’d never imagined was possible before today, like I’d competed in a marathon with no preparation at all. I was just lying there in my bed feeling like I was unable to function, not able to construct my memory to recall the experiences of last night. My mind drifted to Alexis, there was something I’d been worried about, something relating to her safety. I couldn’t recall but then I stopped myself, Alexis wasn’t in the next room, she was with my parents to give me a break, to let me recover, I’d been ill, physically and emotionally after Chris’s death, I needed to heal, to exorcise my demons, we’d fought that night and never had the chance to hug, kiss and say sorry before his car hit that wall. The police had said there was alcohol in his blood stream, he’d died because he had been drinking and driving but we’d been drinking together, and the drinking led to our pointless fight, and then, and then, oh what was I going to do, how could I ever recover?
Without moving my body, I allowed my eyes to scan the room around me, something was strange about my room, something not right. My eyes came to rest on a small mirror which seemed to have some traces of white powder on it and for some reason there was a razor blade. Drugs? Surely not, not without Chris, never alone. I resolved to get up and go and check on Alexis, surely, she can’t have slept all day too, she was only a little girl, a baby, what kind of mother was I neglecting her? and then I remembered she’s safe, she’s with Mum and Dad
I wanted some water, my mouth was so dry, I knew it would take all of my willpower to get out of bed, my body so ached, so I used my will to force myself, yet I didn’t seem to have any control left over my body, my mind was active, yet my body was somehow catatonic.
As I lay in a pool of my own sweat the strangest of things happened. I watched the essence of who I am step out of my body and walk away from me and then my consciousness shifted to the essence of me and I was free, I could travel wherever it was in the Universe I wanted to go.
I resolved to find Chris, to heal whatever emotional wounds were left between us and for a moment I thought where’s Alexis, maybe she’s with Chris, maybe I can see them both
I still loved Chris, despite our awful fight on the night he died, yet I couldn’t shake the belief that there was something demonic about him, his rages when he was still alive and at times he seemed to revel in violence, physical, emotional and verbal. I left the house and headed for the bus stop, I must find Alexis, I needed to know she was safe, although Chris was her father I couldn’t be sure he’d protect her. Then it came back to me like a flood of memory like a tsunami in my mind, the icosahedron that controlled my body last night and the voice in my head, menacing me, abusing me, the extreme pain. How was this related to Chris, was he dominating me still from beyond the grave, was Chris just one of his incarnations, was he in fact Satan himself?
As I neared the bus stop, a bus just drove on by, I’d tried to convince the driver to stop but his strange, distorted yet somehow familiar face wasn’t having any of it. When I finally arrived, I permitted myself a moment just to breathe, to gather my thoughts, to think how I was going to find Alexis.
I could see a bus coming my direction about half a mile away, I put my hand in my raincoat pocket frantically searching for my purse and then it occurred to me, I didn’t need money I was in a different world with different rules and alternative expectations. As the bus neared I stuck my arm out to indicate that I wished to ride. Strangely the bus didn’t slow down, if anything it started to increase its speed. As it fled by I realized that the driver had exactly the same face as the driver of the previous bus. He hit the horn and it appeared that he was pointing at the bus stop as the vehicle just drove on by. Why was the driver’s face so strange and so familiar, how peculiar was that? Then it occurred to me, yes, he looked a little like Chris, no wonder this was so disturbing.
In the absence of knowing what to do next I began to examine the bus stop to try and discover what the bus driver had been pointing at. For the first time I noticed a large photograph of that icosahedron shape that had so disrupted my sleep. I looked closer and noticed that in each of the twenty sides was a different photograph all of the same person, some angelic, many demonic and one or two of a damaged young man holding a young child in his arms. I looked closer in horror, they were all of Chris and in one or two of his photos he had Alexis with him. I froze not knowing what to do and then one of the demonic versions of Chris suddenly seemed to speak.
“No bus will stop for you without your photograph, you must go to the shopping center where the bus station is, it’s on Twenty Face Road and the name of the shopping center is Icosahedron.” the demonic Chris like photo then roared with laughter.
That shape again, I didn’t like it but what choice did I have, I must find Alexis?
I began to walk, looking around for someone to give me directions. Up ahead of me about a hundred yards I could see a man who seemed to be dressed in some kind of silver cape. I ran to catch him up, to ask where the bus station was. As I approached him, he swung around to face me ever so quickly, suddenly a flash of light exploded in my eyes and for a few moments I was temporarily blinded. He seemed to revel in my discomfort and in his demonic like voice he cried:
“Now I have your photo, I’ve captured part of your soul, your only hope of finding Alexis is to go to the Icosahedron and we’ll take more photos there, keep walking straight on, straight on, straight on my love.”
...and all of a sudden, the strange man disappeared, and I was left again to find my own way, I was to walk straight on, straight on, straight on…
After what appeared to be an eternity, quite possible in this place I knew, I could see a strange building in the distance, it had many sides, twenty I was prepared to bet...and on each side, was a huge photo, some angelic, some demonic and others of a disturbed young man holding a child in his arms. I didn’t need to look, I knew these photos were of Chris and one or two of Alexis.
At the front of the building were two large, automatic sliding doors, that opened themselves to correspond with my arrival, I paused temporarily before concluding I didn’t really have much choice, I had to enter if I were to find Alexis and heal my relationship with the demonic Chris. I entered the Icosahedron Shopping Center and noticed that it was full of unusual and strange people, everywhere I looked was surrounded by outsiders. The shopping center was characterized by a complete lack of signs or directional information, if I were to find the bus station it would have to be through trial and error for you could be sure no-one here was going to help me.
While I was searching for the right part of the Icosahedron Shopping Center, so I could locate the bus station, strange and somewhat unpleasant men periodically would approach me and take a photo without waiting for permission, each one would make some creepy comment about capturing my soul and then leave before I could respond, it was quite possible I knew that all of these men were different presentations of Chris, this really was his world!
Seeking to change the pattern of events, I decided to alter what I was doing.
Directly ahead of me I saw a large pair of dark oak colored wooden swing doors, I decided that’s where I would head for, I would start by entering that room. As I reached the doors I noticed my name was written across them in large gold letters, as if somehow, I was being expected, very strange.
The doors swung backwards and forwards frantically after I’d pushed my way through them and for a moment or two distracted my attention away from observing this room. I noticed I was standing at the top of a flight of stairs and at the other end of the room there was a large cinema screen. As I took the first step down I could hear a voice somehow from outside of me saying the word ‘twenty’ as the number ‘20’ flashed quickly across the screen. As I took the next step down the voice said ‘19’, and on the next step ‘18’ ‘down, down, down’ I thought this was a little unusual but, in a trance,, I decided to continue, and I heard the voice again as the numbers flashed across the screen quickly, almost too quick to detect ‘17, 16, 15, drifting on down now.’
I could sense my eyes beginning to feel heavy, wanting to close and just go with it, go with the voice, obey the commands, but I had to find Alexis, I had to remain alert, ‘14, 13’ 12’ that’s right now, drifting down’,11, 10, 9 doing so well now, just listening to my voice’ I fought for control over my senses, this hypnotic voice bit by bit dominating my mind, dominating my will. ‘8, 7, 6, that’s right, drifting down into that place beyond the mind, the place of peace, the place of Spirit’ The place of Spirit? This was becoming weirder by the minute, I must maintain control, I must remember why I’m here, Alexis, that’s right, I was looking for Alexis and to heal the wounds in me that were Chris, ‘5,4,3,2 and 1 deep, deep, deep hypnosis. You’re listening to my voice and soon you’ll find that even if you want to be able to be alert and awake, you just won’t be able to, you’ve given your power to me, just let go now, just relax, that’s right, that’s right, deep, deep, deep hypnosis, very good now, very good’
On the cinema screen or the screen of my mind, I wasn’t sure, I saw the strange man in the silver cape again. He was wearing a veil, so I couldn’t make out his face and as I began to distinguish the trance from my location I realized that it was his voice who’d influenced my mind on the flight of stairs. I noticed again that the room was filled with outsiders, all seated with me on the floor, for there were no chairs to relax in. The man’s voice seemed to dominate us all and I could feel terror rising through my being
Somehow, subliminally, the man in the silver cape, quite possibly Chris or Lucifer, commanded a man and a woman in the audience to stand and pour liquid onto each of our heads, like we were being anointed, attuned, or ritually initiated into a Satanic - like cult. I screamed, finally finding my voice
“No, I’m with God, I’m a Christian” and I ran from the room, desperately searching for other alternatives. Next to the cinema screen, I found a small side door, pushed my way through it and was about to run but I found myself in an area with a very large swimming pool. The pool was filled with outsiders and at its very center I saw Chris holding my baby, holding Alexis in his arms. I screamed and dived into the pool determined to rescue my baby from this evil. As I plunged into the cold water I could hear demonic like telepathic voices saying, ‘you’re too old, it’s time for you to die and be reborn’ I surfaced for air and was about to swim again to rescue Alexis from this madness when briefly in the periphery of my vision I saw a spinning metal disc flying towards me and a moment later I was in darkness, nothingness, dead I presumed.
“Mother, Mother,” I could hear a voice, maybe I wasn’t dead or maybe that woman I could see was some angelic being of some kind.
“Mother, Mother, you need to wake up and take your medication, we need to feed and bathe you, the Priest is coming to see you this morning.”
I opened my eyes, feeling discombobulated, there was a woman, probably in her fifties or perhaps early sixties standing by my bed calling me Mother.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’m your daughter Mother, you forget me every morning.”
“No, you can’t be, I only have one daughter, she’s not even two years old yet. Oh God, Chris has her, Chris has her in his world, he’s evil, she’s not safe...Alexis, Alexis” I wailed.
“I’m Alexis, Mother and I’ve been living with you and caring for you for the last twenty years.”
“That’s impossible, it can’t be true, I’m only 25 years old” I screamed.
“No Mother, you’re 83 and you have an illness called Alzheimer’s Disease which robs your memory and your personality and can make you hallucinate.”
It took me a moment or so to try and process this information, I didn’t really believe this woman was my baby Alexis and there was no way I’d lived for 83 years already.
“I don’t believe you, you’re evil like Chris, you’re in league with him” I snapped and for some reason I was overcome with a determination to hit this woman, to hurt this woman like she hurts me.
“Whose Chris?” she asked gently.
“He’s my daughter’s father, Alexis’ father, he died before her second birthday.”
“Mother, my father’s name was Michael, he was like an angel, he died two years ago after living together with you for fifty-five years.”
A few hours later after struggling with eating and bathing and throwing these tablets around my bedroom that this woman was trying to force feed me, trying to poison me with, I saw my baby girl, I saw Alexis.
“Alexis, I called out.”
That’s right Mother”, that woman who was pretending to be my daughter Alexis said. “This is Alexis my Granddaughter, your Great Granddaughter.”
I stared at her, she was safe, Chris didn’t have my baby, I’d won, she was safe.
A young man in his mid twenties entered the room and announced that Father Cooper had arrived to see me. As the Priest came into the room I didn’t take make notice of him at first.
“Hello Evie” said a familiar voice “I hear you’ve been having trouble with devils again.”
I looked up alarmed, not so sure of my victory after all.
“Hello Chris” I said, “I wondered when you’d arrive.”