You said if I told, the Devil would get me while I was sleeping. Reach right up from under my bed and drag me to hell. I wore socks to bed for two years. My feet sweating under the covers and one morning, a sock was gone. Snatched right off my foot. You said that was a warning. A reminder not to tell who had left the barn door open that day. I believed you.
A few years later, I was walking home from school and saw you and your friends swinging a burlap sack against St. Catherine’s brick wall––something screamed from inside it, screeching like a demon. I ran from you and the gates of hell. That night when we went for groceries you pointed to the door under the wall and said, you tell anyone about me or my friends, the Devil will creep out of that door to get you. He’ll stick to the shadows and when you aren’t looking, he’ll grab you and take you. I was pressed up against the wall when you said it, your big hand forcing my face to look at the door. I should have believed you. I always had. Or maybe I was ready to meet the Devil, I’m not sure.
But later that night, after I told dad about what you’d done, after your beating and your crying had died out, I sat in my room waiting for the red-eyed Devil to come for me. I could hear you sniveling through the thin walls. I smiled, then laughed. At you. At your pain. I slept hard that night and woke up happy.
I never did see the Devil but when I was older, when I had time to think about it, I wondered if he’d visited me anyway––if he was the one who made me laugh.
4 Replies to “Red-eyed Devil”
I don’t know how you keep doing it. Check another one off. And again with an ending I never saw coming. It’s true it was the sadistic part of him that laughed. Is that the Devil in all of us, the part that likes revenge? Well count me in if it is. There have certainly been times in my life when the suffering of others has put a slight smile on my face but don’t tell anyone…
It makes you wonder where all your secret glee at someone else’s trouble come from. Especially when you feel they deserve it. Something I always used to say when I was younger is ‘but it isn’t fair.’ We all know fairness has nothing to do with it. But when you think a punishment is fitting to the crime, you can get a little sense that karma does work.
Whoa, scary thought.
I guess our job is to ensure that those fears remain deep and that they rarely surface.
Any conscious and deliberate consideration of the influence of evil without control can be tragic for us and those we love.
Just begs the question as to where those emotions/reactions come from doesn’t it? Something to ponder…
Word of the Year-2025
For my 2025 word of the year, I chose COURAGE. I know, it’s not the most original pick—but hear me out. Something about courage stuck with me this time, especially after watching a documentary on The Tragically Hip. For those unfamiliar, they’re kind of a Canadian thing. A band that
Hinterland is Real
They say seeing is believing. I didn’t know what that meant until that night. I was coming home late, later than I should, and I knew I was going to catch heck. Momma didn’t even pretend to be patient when me or my sister wasn’t home in time for dinner.
Deadly Mist
The mist crept closer, slithering across the boot prints she left behind on the soft, moist ground. She urged her legs to go faster over the uneven path. A leafless tree grabbed at the flying strands of her long silver hair as she ran past. They hung like shiny tinsel