A Hideous Power

Copyright 2007-2012

by madengineer3

all rights reserved

*

My name is Paul. I live in a very rural area. I try to live a quiet and uneventful life. I believe in the truth of the old Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times." I hate conflict because I find self control to be greatly needed and very difficult. I try to fit in, and generally do. I am a good member of our local Community Church and attend most important civic events. After all, I need to "fit in" as far as the community is involved. However, because I am not what I seem to be to the casual observer the dangers caused by losing my temper are almost unimaginable to normal folks. I am one of the last of a dying breed that is all but extinct. You might not even class me as a human. In the old days they might have called me a wizard, warlock, shaman, or witch doctor. There is a monstrous power hiding inside me and I dare not let it out except in very rare circumstances. Let me tell you about the last time I had to let some of it loose.

I had a person living next door to me named Brian who had a younger sister named Eleanor. Eleanor had been living in Brian's house for many years. I met her, by pure chance, when I was out looking at the barbed wire fence way out behind my house. She was alone, and crying. She didn't even know I was there, at first.

I spoke to her, identified myself, and tried to find out if I could help with what was bothering her.

"I don't think anyone can help me Paul. My brother, Brian, was named the executor of our parent's estate. I had been allowed to live at my parents home with the promise that it would always be available. Being somewhat blind and crippled, and without college training, I have no means to support myself. My brother has told me that if I want to leave I can only take my clothes and my Bible. He also said that if I want to stay there will be certain things that I will have to do for him. I have no money, no place to go, and almost no hope. Just walking out here to be alone for a while took me the better part of an hour. It would take more than a day's walking for me to get into town and once there I would have no place to go. Our only telephone is in Brian's room, which he keeps locked."

"If you don't mind me asking, Eleanor, what kinds of things does your brother demand."

At this Eleanor's face turned a deep shade of red and her tears came back.

I told her that she didn't need to answer my question and that I was sorry it had upset her.

I suggested that she come over to my house for tea some day and we could talk about her situation. I also told her that in an emergency she could come over to my place at any time and I would provide her sanctuary.

After making sure she was o.k. I headed back to my house. As I walked away from her I turned to one of the powers that I need to suppress most of the time. I opened a channel so that I could see what she was thinking. She was brooding over the sexual favors that her brother required for her to stay in her home and have food to eat. Now that put me in a fowl mood! I needed to be careful. I didn't want to be responsible for literally destroying Brian.

In the past I had some minor dealings with Brian. He was a bully and a brute. He didn't treat his farm hands or his livestock properly. He seemed to have a mean streak in him that was a mile wide. But now, when I found out how he treated his own flesh and blood I was almost in a rage.

It was about ten that night when there was a quiet knock on my back door. I got up and turned on the outside light. It was Eleanor. She looked a mess! I let her in and had her sit at my kitchen table. I offered her a cup of tea and some cookies while she told me what had happened.

As soon as she got home Brian started to yell at her and push her around. When he found out that she had talked to me he had punched her in the gut and told her that she wasn't to leave the house unless he told her to. Then he raped her.

As soon as Brian had gone to sleep she quietly left the house and came over to my house.

She asked some very important questions.

"What am I going to do? What can I do? I can't stand up for myself. I can't prove what he has been doing to me and I can't continue to live this way. Oh, Lord, what is to become of me?"

"Eleanor, may I make a couple of suggestions?"

"Please do, Paul. I've run out of answers."

"First of all, I have a guest room that has a good lock on the inside. You are welcome to use it for as long as you want. Second, I have plenty of food and you will not be any burden to me. Third, it would be nice to have company around here. It does get lonely at times. Finally, I will not make any sexual advances toward you. You will be as safe here as you were with your parents. Could you handle that?"

"Are you serious, Paul? What do you get out of it?"

"I don't like to see people or animals hurt for no reason. Now, I'm not as big as Brian but I can assure you that I am not afraid of him. Unfortunately, for him, he is not as afraid of me as he should be. What do you say?"

"Can you show me the room, Paul?"

I led her to the ground floor guest room. When I had moved into the house I had remodeled it so that the guest room had its own bathroom. She looked at the solid oak door and heavy latch bolt on the inside of the door. I showed her that there were some useable clothes in the closet. There were also a robe and pajamas in the dresser.

She decided to take me up on my offer.

I told her that if Brian came over that she should lock herself in the room and let me take care of the problem.

We both went to bed, in our separate rooms, and tried to get a good night's sleep.

*********************

At Six thirty the next morning there was a loud pounding on my front door. I got up from my chair in the kitchen, slid my forty-five caliber Colt semi-auto into my waist band, and answered the door.

Brian was there and mad as a wet hornet. He started to try to push his way into my house when he spotted the forty-five in my belt. That gave him pause.

"What are you after Brian? And, why are you being so noisy this early in the morning?"

"You know damn well what the matter is. I want my sister back right now! Get her!"

"Brian, she is my guest. As such I am responsible for her safety as long as she is here. She is an adult and can make up her own mind as to where she wants to be. I suggest that you head back home and stay away from her unless you want me to bring the Sheriff into this situation. I'll bet that he is not fond of rapists. I should warn you, I may not look like any danger to you but I can assure you that you are incapable of beating me."

If looks could kill I would have been dead, but Brian didn't have that particular gift. He started to move towards me and I simply rested my right hand on the butt of the Colt. He looked at me again and started to walk away. As he was leaving he told me "You haven't seen the last of me! You have no idea who you are messing with."

Neither did he!

****************

The next few months passed without any incidents. Brian seemed to be keeping his distance. Eleanor and I had gone into town several times to purchase food and needed supplies. Among other things she needed some decent clothes and the local eye doctor checked her eyes and provided updated glasses for her. My doctor gave her a good physical and a prescription for some medicine that would help her reduce the pain of her arthritis.

We got into a regular schedule. Other than shopping there were only two other trips that we regularly took. I took her to church with me and followed that with dinner at a good restaurant.

*******************

Then the excrement hit the impeller. I had to make a quick trip into town to pick up some small, but very needed, hardware. I told Eleanor that I would be back in about an hour.

When I arrived home Eleanor was nowhere to be found! Her bedroom door had been smashed in with a sledge hammer. A note was left telling me that if I wanted to help her that I should go to Brian's house and I had better be unarmed.

I immediately went over to Brian's house. As I walked in he was waiting for me with a shotgun.

"You damn fool, you came over. I'm going to enjoy this."

He tossed me two pairs of handcuffs. He told me to put one pair on my wrists and to latch one half of the second pair around the chain that separated the pair I was wearing. Then he marched me out of the house and into his barn. He had me walk up to a steel floor support and had me put the unattached handcuff around the pipe and latch it to the chain between the cuffs I was wearing. He felt safe with my arms fastened around a steel column

"So much for your bragging that I could not subdue you. You will never get out of here alive, but I'm going to have fun seeing how long I can play with you before you die. First I'm going to sic my dogs on you. Before they kill you I will switch to the whip. You see this bull whip over here. I'm going to rip every square inch of skin off your body with it. I'll enjoy it but I guarantee you that you won't enjoy it at all."

"So, you're sure you have won Brian?. It does look that way doesn't it? You have nothing to lose now, why don't you tell me where you've imprisoned Eleanor?"

"Why, what good would it do you, Paul?"

"None, it's just idle curiosity."

"It can't hurt now, you will never be able to tell anyone. She's in the bottom of a cistern just outside of this barn. One of those concrete slab that forms the pavement leading into the barn closes the top of the cistern. I figure that she has another couple of days to live. Dehydration and hunger will kill her by then."

"That's all I needed to know Brian. I suggest that you surrender now, while you can."

"Ha! What can you do handcuffed to a six inch I beam?"

"Watch your handcuffs!"

As Brian watched he saw the steel warp and snap as if it were made of cheap plastic. I was not physically doing anything with my arms but the handcuffs looked like some invisible machine tool was pulling them apart. Brian's face blanched. He picked up his shotgun and fired both barrels at me.

He stood there with his mouth hanging open when he saw the lead shot hanging still in mid air. Then he watched as the shot dropped onto the floor.

"How is that happening?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you Brian. Let's see if you believe this."

At that moment another pair of handcuffs lifted themselves off the workbench where his bull whip was laying. They flashed over to him faster than his eyes could follow them. Half a second later Brian's hands were fastened together with the cuffs.

I walked over and took Brian's arm.

"Brian, I'm going to ask you nicely, once, and only once. Which slab do I need to move?"

"What are you going to do if I don't answer you?"

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "How about this?"

Brian found himself floating just under the main ridge beam of the barn roof. He was approximately thirty feet off the concrete floor.

"Ok., ok. put me down gently and I'll tell you."

As Brian's feet hit the floor he took off running. Seconds later he was back beside me with his feet floating six inches off the floor. Whatever was holding him was squeezing him hard enough so that he could barely breathe.

"I asked you, which slab needs to move? This is my last gentle question, the rest will hurt significantly."

Brian's face now showed real terror. He had never run into power like he was seeing demonstrated here.

"That slab that is under the old Case tractor. The tractor transmission is frozen up and it needs to be moved first. I needed to use a crawler tractor to move it there."

As Brian watched the tractor was suddenly a foot off the floor and rapidly moving aside.

Brian watched as the entire slab was lifted up and placed beside the tractor. Moments later Eleanor could be seen floating up through the opening.

I turned to Brian, "Back up against that wood support beam and put your handcuffed arms over your head as far as you can reach with your feet flat on the floor."

Brian did as he was told. The next thing Brian saw was one of his hay hooks slamming into the beam so hard that half of the hook became buried in the hardwood beam. Brian was temporarily trapped.

"Now Brian, nobody will believe a word you say if you tell them what happened to you. Since your sister is obviously unconscious she has seen nothing. I suggest that you move. In fact I suggest that you move a long way from here because if there is one more attempt to hurt Eleanor I will not be as gentle as I have been this time. Do you understand me?"

Brian shook his head in the affirmative.

"We better not see you later Brian."

Before Brian could say a word, Eleanor and I were gone.

************

If Brian had been a sane and reasonable man things would have ended there. But, as you have seen by the narration up until now, Brian's pride wouldn't let his reason rule him.

He left the area and I had hoped that we were through having to deal with him.

I had a good attorney, who also attended the church I go to. I had him draw up the needed papers so that Elixir's name was listed as the sole owner of half of the property. The animals were sold to another farmer since neither of us wanted to run the farm.

***********

Over the next few months Eleanor and I became much more than just good friends. Like most humans, or in my case humanoid, we both had sexual needs. What had started out as friendship moved into serious courtship. Because of our belief that intercourse before marriage was wrong we avoided it. That does not say that we didn't enjoy heavy petting.

Just about one year after we met we were married. Because of Eleanor's arthritis we made sure that we wouldn't have any children. After all, raising kids is a young person's game and we weren't young.

It was early spring, two years into our marriage, we suspected that Brian was back. One night, while we were asleep, a fire started in the back of my house. If it weren't for the alarms that I had installed I would have lost the entire building and its contents. I was outside hosing down the burning area while Eleanor called 911. Our local volunteer fire department showed up within twenty minutes and were able to save most of the structure.

The local fire inspector looked at the building the following morning. His conclusion was that it was arson. The fire had three independent starting points. No random accident has multiple starting points. On top of that the odor of an accelerant, gasoline, was clear even to human noses.

I didn't raise my concerns with Eleanor. But I definitely talked with the inspector and the sheriff's investigator. They indicated that they would be on the lookout to see if Brian had moved back into the area. They were sure that they knew the types of things Brian had done, while his sister lived with him, but they never had enough proof to get a search warrant.

The sheriff's deputy looked carefully for vehicle and/or human tracks leading to the house. There were tracks found but they led to the road. Someone must have spent time watching CSI or such because the tracks had all been rendered useless by a stick or small broom.

It was two days later that I noticed that Brian's house was again being lived in. I mentioned that to the Sheriff's investigator. He dropped in to see who was living there and it was Brian and his common-law wife. Brian, of course, had an airtight alibi for the night of the fire. He had been in bed with his wife and she swore to it.

I had night/day vision video surveillance equipment installed at the same time the contractors were finishing up the repairs on my house. From now on in, data from the cameras would be streaming to a computer with massive hard drives. (4Tbyte)

The next thing that happened was the passage of a bullet through the house. Eleanor and I were eating dinner when there was the sound of breaking glass and shattering lath and plaster walls. We phoned the Sheriff again and their investigator came out to review the damage. We determined several things. The bullet hadn't dropped on its way through the house. The distance from the floor to the bullet holes was within a small fraction of an inch from room to room. The holes in the front wall and three interior walls were all the same size, 0.500". That bullet would never be found! It was obvious that someone had used a high powered rifle chambered for the 50 Cal BMG (Browning Machine Gun) cartridge. Without the bullet, ballistics could not be used to trace the bullet to a specific rifle.

I knew that unless I did something to stop this trouble I could lose Eleanor. After all, unlike me, she wasn't immortal. I decided that I needed to force Brian's hand. The following day I put my plan into action.

I watched Brian's house very carefully for the next week. Every time he went outside he found that he had tremendous crushing chest pain. It didn't last long but it was enough to frighten him. After a week of this he came over to our house with his wife in tow.

He knocked on the door. When I answered it he informed me that he was sure that I was doing something to hurt him. Of course I proclaimed my innocence. He then informed me that he was going to complain to the Sheriff and have me arrested. Upon saying this they both left.

Two hours later a sheriff 's deputy was at my door. He asked if Brian and his wife had come over earlier. I indicated that he had. He then informed me that they claimed that I had pointed a gun at them and threatened to kill them.

I took the deputy back to the computer that recorded outside and inside movement. He watched the video of Brian and his wife coming up to our door and me answering the door. The audio was very good, as was the quality of the video. It was very clear that no gun was present and no threat had been made by me. I fast forwarded the video and showed him that, per the time stamp, the deputy had shown up almost exactly two hours later.

With that, I burned a DVD of those sections of the recording and thanked him for dropping out.

Having been foiled again, Brian was too stubborn, too proud, or too stupid to leave things as they were. After all, I didn't want to cause him problems if he left my wife and me alone. However, he was smart enough to leave us alone for the better part of a year.

Our wedding anniversary was coming up and I invited our friends from church to come out and help us celebrate our special day. I had the party catered. We all had a very good meal followed by a delicious dessert. It was about nine p.m. when the festivities wound down. I decided to leave the clean-up until the following day. After all, I did the cleaning because of Eleanor's arthritis. We had been in bed, cuddling, for over two hours when the alarm went off. It wasn't loud, just a gentle beeping and a flashing light. Someone was doing things outside the house. I got up and quietly went to a window on the side of the house the alarm had indicated. I cracked the window open and could smell the thick odor of gasoline. The monitor showed Brian moving around the house pouring gasoline along the entire perimeter of the house. As he reached the front of the house he walked about fifty feet away and lifted a bottle with a rag in it (a Molotov cocktail). I was not going to let him burn my house down! I opened the door and told him to leave while he could. He laughed, lit the rag and tried to throw the bottle.

He was stunned to see that the bottle appeared to be stuck to his hand. He decided to run foreword and start the fire with the burning rag. Unfortunately, for him, he couldn't seem to move his feet. He panicked. After all, he was holding a large bottle filled with gasoline with a burning rag hanging out of it; and he couldn't drop the bottle or move.