The Last Days of Reinhardt Becker

DARKNESS hangs heavily upon me as I struggle to wriggle from its torturous grasp. I am smothered by its heaviness upon me as I consider my fate. Someone please reveal to me that this deed is nothing but a cruel and unusual prank, I await the sound of laughter as the perpetrators come to remove me from this hell. I hold my breath and intently listen, I can only hear the distant scratching of vermin within the castle walls and the pounding pulse in my temples. It is as quiet as it is dark, the silence rings as loud as church bells and my silent screams are deafening as I slowly slip into madness. No one is coming for me today, tomorrow or ever. I was put here to suffer and suffer I will until I finally succumb to the lack of food water and light.

Slowly piecing together the fog of the events of last evening, there is so much that is blank and vacant. The aftermath of a cocktail of alcohol and a drug of some sorts perhaps, maybe a hallucinogen. Yes, that would be perfect, maybe this is not real but a hallucination of some sort and I just need to outlast it's effects. Meanwhile I shall investigate my confinement and test its limits while I endure this drugged feeling.

Slowly of course, on hands and knees along the wall moving in a clockwise direction slowly inching forward little by little. I can feel the cool floor beneath me, the ancient stonework is rough and sharp in some places as I keep my left hip and shoulder against the wall. I pause for a moment as I lose my courage and curse everything and anything that is the work of the creator. How can this be happening to me I ask the darkness as if someone would be there to answer me. Anger has replaced courage as my fuel to move forward and forward I go.

A cold slimy sweat traverses my spine as I collapse in a heap. Four walls at least ten feet each and no windows with a stone ceiling slightly higher than my five foot eight inches high. How did I get here and why am I here? Defeated I stare into the dark and watch as demons and sprites dance to and fro mocking me and my predicament. I must be the first human they have witnessed for some time as they seem to be as curious of me as I am of them. They multiply in number as the more of them I notice the more of them appear as the small chamber becomes suddenly crowded.

They are difficult to describe as they seem to morph as they mockingly crawl around the room always keeping one of their hideous eyes upon me at all times. Maybe four foot tall humanoid like things with bugged-out eyes and deformed hands with swollen knuckles as if they have been beating against these walls for eternity. They disappear as quickly as they appeared, frightened by something?

IT is a loud and terrible moan that echoes inside these confined walls that has scattered the creatures back to whence they came. I raise my arms to defend myself only to realize that I am the creature emitting that horrible sound and I slowly back into the nearest corner and cower. I close my eyes tightly hoping that when they open I will be back in the vineyards tending my grapes in the beautiful summer sun. As I slowly open my eyes the difference is naught, it is just as dark eyes open as eyes closed, am I blind?

My lips are parched for it has been too long since I've drank last, and that was a dehydrating mixture of cognac and an unknown drug. The sound of a distant steady drip of water has revealed itself to me as I lovingly dream of it as if it were the nectar of my soul mate as she surrenders to me. The first drop splashes away quickly as my lips and tongue panic and strike out after it only sending the delicious drop further from reach. In my present state of mind and situation my senses have been twisted and sharpened simultaneously, the drops of water fall every twenty-four heartbeats, and I wait as I count down to zero.

The musty drop tastes of dirt, fungus and has a vile odor as it might as well had been the excrement of the devil himself. I find myself not catching water droplets in a triumphant display of survival, but I am pitifully licking the condensation of the far wall like a caged beast. Panic stricken I toss myself against each wall repeatedly as I hope to either crash through the wall or snap my neck, one way or the other I will escape my confines.

In the darkness there hides a light, a key to salvation, but when that light cannot be found darkness damns for all eternity. The sins of Reinhardt Becker were his to bear, although the punishment does not fit the crime it is his to ponder for all time. Some distance from where he lays unconscious his identical twin brother Richard fills his wooden pipe with tobacco and stares at the full moon shining down on the moors. It has been a full day since he blocked in his brother after luring him to the dilapidated abandoned castle with the hopes of finding a hidden wine cellar. Reinhardt was so excited when they FOUND the small chamber and removed the racks of wine. We cleaned the chamber and celebrated our find with a delicious cognac.

Yes, Richards favorite drink, cognac laced with opiates. When sipped in small amounts it is relaxing drink, but when gulped in celebration it is paralyzing at best and at worst deadly. Death was not the plan, but suffering was the condition Richard had longed for his dear brother to experience. The opiates gave Richard plenty of time to wall him in and time for the mortar to set. In his eyes his brother had committed the ultimate sin and Richard was willing to burn in hell as long as he could watch Reinhardt burn beside him. Richard lights his pipe and watches the silhouette of the castle from a hill a couple of miles away. An evil smile upon his lips Richard climbs onto the wagon full of vintage wine and starts towards home. A long debilitating weight has just been lifted, the eternal bond between twins that never materialized fully, has been severed once and for all. The cognac is raised to the heavens in celebration as the wagon disappears.

JOHANNA is the given name of an angel sent from the stars, sent not to me, but sent to my twin Richard. As I slowly decay in this chamber, my stomach has now starting to digest itself searching for life giving nourishment. The cramps are as painful as the realization of my imminent demise and a reminder of the torture I have yet to experience. So I dream of that face, that face that looked at me so lovingly and completely. That face that did not realize that she was not sneaking intimate relations with her husband to be, but with his identical twin. She called me Richard, she never knew the difference, she told me she would love me for an eternity and a day. Her slender fingers traced the muscles on my back up and down and lightly scratched me as we arrived at the gates of bliss, and that last kiss.

I knew he was watching, I could feel the heat from his anger, he would never reveal my ruse for his beloved Johanna would never be the same if she knew. So I enjoyed every second of my pleasure and his torment was delicious. I watched as she gathered her garments and ran down the back stairs before the servants discover her, blowing sweet kisses my general direction.

OBVIOUSLY, I underestimated my dear brother Richard, I the untrustworthy made the ultimate mistake in trusting my brother. We never spoke of what I did other than I would tell him when we drank that I would not hesitate to taste his sweet Johanna again. I left him no choice, it was the ONLY thing Richard could do, he had to dispose of me and his plan I must say was brilliant. Forever wild it would be no problem convincing people that I took off to the Alps again for a lengthy stay. Dear brother you have done well, the perfect revenge, no worries of your evil twin taking your place in your marriage bed and fathering your children with my evil seed.

THE flood of emotions has taxed me beyond comprehension, my thirst and hunger has plunged me into an excited state. I must eat, the smell of Quail entices me further into the dark corner opposite of me. There in the darkness a foul and loathsome creature sits eating my beloved juicy bird, it pauses to lick it's wretched misshapen fingers and consider my presence. With a grunt the creature offers me a piece of the breast, as I reach for it the thing pulls it back and laughs hideously. With all the strength that I possess I snatched the delicious breast meat and slither into the opposite corner.

THERE in the darkness I find my light of redemption. In that lonely abyss of slow death I Reinhardt Becker will survive! I have taken from the beast this lovely morsel of nourishment from which I will survive for all eternity. As I slowly enjoy it's flavor, uncooked wild meat is a delicious favorite of mine, I dream of being seated at the end of a great table beholding a great feast. Servants bring bottle after bottle of the best wines and plate after plate of delicious wild game. I have ascended hell and now sit at the heavenly gates from which I will pass through and spend my eternity in the heavens where I belong!

NO says the gatekeeper, NO NO NO!! But please hear my story please and you will let me pass. All that is said is NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO...there is no heaven and no gatekeeper and there was NO quail. There is only poor Reinhardt Becker sitting in the dark and forsaken corner of his tomb screaming NO NO NO NO NO NO ... as he devours his own hand.