“Well, hello there little fella! I haven’t seen you before! You aren’t wearing an SMI badge. You must be a new arrival. Welcome to the underworld!”
Taariq’s eyes seemed to dilate and Frank wasn’t sure, but he thought that Taariq’s canine teeth seemed to lengthen and sharpen. Frank was positive that the enthusiasm Taariq was showing was more like a hunger than any type of friendliness. He turned to look straight ahead again, but kept one eye on close to Taariq.
“Leave him alone Taariq! He’s not your concern!”, Charon spoke up from the front of the bus.
“Take it easy, Charon. He asked me a perfectly polite question, so I am honor bound to answer him.” Taariq’s face twisted into a slimy smile.
“You see, religious people are great for several reasons. First of all, they are in utter disbelief that they have ended up in Hell. They have filled their lives with superficial good works and religious actions without ever seeking the sort of faith and true relationship with…Him…that leads to escaping this place. Those good works allowed them to heap up sin after sin of pride, gossip, selfishness and all sorts of delicious tidbits but still live in a lovely denial made possible by self-justification. The doctrine of good works saving you from Hell is one of our father’s most successful lies ever. It makes me so proud sometimes….oh, sorry, I get distracted so easily. So anyways, when these religious people arrive here, they are, (to use a colorful phrase), “a hot mess”. They are in denial, they are confused, they are angry, they are sad, they are an overflowing fountain of emotions and sins that are an incredible smorgasbord of vile tastes and sensations. It’s a beautiful thing” ,he leaned back and looked into the distance wistfully.
“Now the SMI people, they have that stench of real faith about them. Yes, sometimes they have a whiff of sadness or depression because they been here for a long time, but not enough to make them interesting. They spend their days helping pathetic creatures on earth, but instead of feeling self-satisfied and smug, so many of them keep thinking of others first, disregarding their own egos. Real faith is a pretty bad stench, but when you combine it with self-sacrificial love…it’s utterly disgusting”, he shuddered a little, and then he began to sniff the air again. His nostrils flared widely and he began moving his head around to get the full amount of smells.
“Well now...that IS interesting…”, he continued sniffing. “Our little friend has the stench of faith on him, but it’s pretty weak, but there is so much more going on there… “
Taariq stood up and bent down so he was at eye level with Frank and Leslie, only centimeters away from the golden beam separating them. He kept sniffing, and licked his lips.
“Fear, lots of fear. Do I frighten you little man?”, his voice lowered and he cocked his head to one side and grinned. “Oh, but fear is just the beginning with you, isn't it? Selfishness, lust, laziness, gluttony, caring for no one but yourself, looking out for no one else but yourself. You’ve got a catalog of lovely sinful vices tainted by such a little faith” , his eyes bulged and he opened his mouth a little wider, showing his white sharp teeth. Leslie began to stare intently at Taariq. She swiveled in her seat, putting her body between Taariq and Frank. Taariq grinned even wider.
“Taariq! You take your seat now and leave my passengers alone! I’m not warning you again!” Charon yelled from the front of the bus. Frank could feel the bus slowing down.
Taariq acted like he had not heard Charon at all and leaned in a little closer to the beam.
“You’re hangin’ by a thread little man…you’d better be careful and do what the pretty lady tells you, or you could end up under my tender care.”
“Get back to your seat Taariq. You know you have no right to him”, Leslie said in a matter-of-fact, low controlled tone. The bus slowed down to a crawl.
Taariq began to shake, almost imperceptively, first a tremor and then it finally led to a slight seizure. His eyes changed from dark pupils to a bright orange. His voice changed; it became deepe and more gravelly, but had this unearthly quality like it had been put through a reverb filter on an audio mixer.
"Shut up Leslie!", Taariq growled. "He is a feast of emotions and sins I can't pass up. The fever is on me, I can't stop now..."
He closed his eyes and opened his mouth wide and roared. It reminded Frank of the imp he had fought earlier, but this time it was lower in frequency and even louder in volume. Frank had never been so scared in his life. The sound of the roar caused a visceral feeling of uncomfort down to his bones. Frank held his hands over his ears, wanting to close his eyes tight, but not wanting to lose sight of the monster that wanted to attack him.
Time slowed down. The roar was actually causing the yellow beam to vibrate and ripple. A hole began to open in the middle of the beam. Leslie had braced herself between Frank and the demon, but she began to shake slightly. Taariq started to put his hands through the beam and the part of this hands that came through the beam had changed to hairy black claws. Leslie glanced at Frank with widened eyes trying to prepare for what could happen next.
In a split second things changed. Frank was still scared, but another part of him was angry; angry that he was about to be attacked by another demon, angry that it would hurt Leslie, and tired of feeling powerless and confused. It has been said that bravery is that point at which people are as scared and tired as a coward, but have decided to rise above their emotions and do what needs to be done regardless of what could happen to them. Sometimes bravery is the kamikaze action of a person with nothing to lose. Frank was at this point. In that moment he knew what he had to do to protect Leslie and possibly stop Taariq.
Raising his right hand, he reared back and threw a punch through the middle of the beam where it had opened after Taariq started roaring. Because Tarriq had closed his eyes, he did not see the punch coming until it squarely landed on his throat, cutting the air flow and almost crushing his windpipe. Taariq crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath.
The moment that Frank hit Taariq, the roaring stopped and the beam returned to normal with Frank’s arm in the very middle of the beam. Frank felt a searing pain and began screaming but couldn’t seem to move. Finally, Leslie pulled him out of the beam and he slumped to the floor of the bus still whimpering in pain. Things became dim after that as he went in and out of consciousness. The pain was still coming in waves, but lessening a little. He thought he saw the beam go off and Charon and several other people from SMI bind Taariq’s hands with something that glowed with the same yellow light as the beam. Frank heard the door whoosh open and something hit the ground outside as they drove away. The beam came on again and the bus was quiet.
“Try to rest Frank, we’ll be at the reception area soon” Leslie put her arm around him and patted his head in a motherly way. Everything finally went black and Frank slept for a very long time.
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