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Pantheon
By
Seth Miller, Jun 5, 2007
Security Officer Charles Gilmore studied himself in a public bathroom mirror. The way the dim light filled in his sunken features on his pale face and lanky body reminded him of a skeleton trying to look alive. After a brief once over Charles broke down and cried for reasons he could not even explain.
He had a tendency not to show any emotion or talk about his troubled past. As a result, Charles was very antisocial so as to spare himself any possible insults on his ego, and in secret, he would make fun of everyone who came into the convenience store he protected. In moments like this he realized how ashamed he was of the person he turned out to be, and wished that he could change. But as quickly as his sadness was brought on it vanished when it was purged through salty tears, and his old brooding self returned.
“Don’t be a pussy!” Charles said to his reflection as he straightened his white button up shirt and adjusted his black clip on tie.
Charles turned away from the mirror and was about to exit the lavatory when he spied a little green garden snake beside a trash can next to the door, spread out on the dirty concrete floor. He reacted by putting a hand over his mouth to muffle his girlish scream and jumped back in fear. He hated everything about the limbless reptile, because they looked so alien and vicious. Mustering up his courage Charles took great strides on his tiptoes out the front door and into the convenience store which smelt of burnt hotdogs and cheap air fresheners. After looking around to make sure no one saw him in his moment of weakness, he regained his composure and breathed a sigh of relief. Charles then surveyed his domain by scanning the aisles crammed with merchandise for any suspicious characters, but of course at this hour of the night there was usually no one in the store at all, except for the occasional homeless person.
The speakers in the ceiling rattled when The Beatles song “Eleanor Rigby,” began to play which put a faint smile on the usual grimaced face of Charles. He stepped lively towards the cash register keeping his hands stuffed in his pockets, and started to sing along: “All the lonely people where do they all come from?”
Suddenly a man in a black ski mask with a thick wool trench coat and gloves, popped up from behind the counter. He looked nervous and jittery and when he noticed Charles he yelled out some profanity in a high pitched voice and raised his shaking gun towards the wide-eyed security guard, who went for his weapon as well. The mysterious man managed to shoot first but Charles was quick enough to draw his gun and put a bullet through the wooden counter which hit the robber in the leg. The wounded masked man rolled over the top of the counter and plopped onto the hard cement floor which made him lose hold of a few of his precious coins that he clutched in one of his hands along with some cash. Issuing some more choice words the man shot wildly at Charles causing him to take cover behind an aisle of aluminum soup cans. Seizing the opportunity for retreat, the masked man quickly crawled up a nearby dining booth to a standing position and stumbled out the automatic doors.
With adrenalin surging through his body Charles tumbled out into the open coming to a squatting position with his gun aimed at the main entrance. He was breathing hard now and perspiring heavily. Never before had he experienced any action while on duty as a security officer, and he was more than relieved that he had persevered through the short gun fight. Charles knew that his jurisdiction was limited to the convenience store property, and that the right thing to do was to call the police, but something inside of himself urged him to pursue the robber and take matters into his own hands. As he ran out the front door Charles thought of all the possible admiration he would receive if he single-handedly detained the perpetrator, or better yet, he thought to himself with a sly grin, kill the assailant saying it was in self defense.
The comfortable climate controlled room of the convenience store gave way to the humid air of summer, as Charles stepped out into the empty parking lot. The city was asleep under a starry night sky and an orchestra of grasshoppers was playing a symphony in a cemetery near by. The robber’s shoes made a loud thud as it hit the asphalt and echoed off of the surrounding buildings, giving away his location. Charles zeroed in on the mysterious man who was advancing toward a dark alleyway and was soon on his trail. Charles sprinted across the wide open road but came to an abrupt halt when he discovered something in a heap on the ground which made his blood turn cold. At first he thought it was a mangled corpse, but on further inspection he concluded that it was some sort of full body costume, which oddly enough resembled his assailant! For a moment Charles became rational and considered turning around and leaving all of the mess up to someone more qualified but then decided against it when he remembered all the fame and respect that came along with the title of hero. Besides, this bizarre clue sparked his curiosity and he wanted to see the true identity of the man behind the mask…and body suit.
Charles pressed onward and entered the narrow alleyway which was littered with trash and covered in shadows. The darkness was foreboding and even the constant drip from a drain pipe sent chills down his spine. Charles held his gun close to his chest and gritted his teeth as he ventured further into the ominous side street. Perhaps it was stress or fear that suddenly gripped him, but it seemed to Charles with each passing step that he took, the more nauseous and disoriented he became. The discomfort intensified to the point where Charles had to eventually lean against a wall in order to keep from falling to the ground. As he pressed his forehead up to the abrasive surface of the bricks that made up the entire wall it began to sway as if it were seaweed under water. Charles jumped back instinctively but quickly let his guard down when he looked past the wavy first image and saw a group of people huddled close together. Some were pointing in amusement while others were taking pictures on their camera phones. A pair of outstretched bloody hands came into the bottom of the frame, and it dawned on Charles that he was looking through the eyes of this helpless man.
“What’s going on here?” screamed Charles, his voice in sync with the robber’s own voice. “Wh-where are you, you son-of-a-bitch?”
A high-pitched cackle suddenly filled the cramped alleyway, reverberating off of the solid walls and bombarding Charles from all directions. During the cacophony of psychotic laughter, a light flickered on around the corner up ahead, and Charles holding his ears, reluctantly followed. The laughter infiltrated his cranium like a jackhammer to concrete, as he ran closer and closer to the warm glow of illumination. Along the way he stumbled over many more full body costumes, with hollow features of men and women.
Rounding the corner with determination, Charles skidded to a stop when he found a man facing a wall who was wearing a uniform much like his own.
“Who are you?” inquired Charles, his voice shaking with fear, while the man simultaneously mocked him.
Charles gave a weak little laugh trying to fight back his tears as he walked forward. Stopping mere inches from the now silent man, Charles put a firm hand on his shoulder and spun him around to find that the person starring back at him wearing a sinister grin was indeed he himself! Charles felt the sting of fear pulsate through his chest as he staggered backwards and fell to the ground. Not saying a word, the mirror image of Charles turned his attention to the rough brick wall and put the right side of his face against it and began to grind. Charles lifted his torso off of the ground by his hands and pushed up into a standing position. Keeping his eyes glued onto the deranged man, Charles turned to run but discovered that his exit was blocked by a crowd of nude two-dimensional animated body suits. They marched in unison side by side into the light and Charles could see their hollow features fixed in angry expressions.
“Do you recognize me?” said a haunting female voice as she wobbled and stepped out of the crowd. She pinched her empty sagging breasts and pulled them far away from her rubbery physique as she threw her head back and moaned in ecstasy. “You were the reason why I committed suicide! You kept critiquing my body and embarrassing me in public-treating me like a whore! When you found me dead, with my brains blown out, you didn’t even shed a tear!”
“I didn’t make you pull the trigger darling!” Charles said with a sneer.
The woman bowed her head and joined the group. Then a man emerged from the crowd with thick curly black hair and beard. He constantly beat his chest with his fist and gasped for air. “You watched me die Charles! You could have tried to save my life when I was having a heart attack but you chose to do nothing!”
“I was just a kid, Dad!” screamed Charles, who was now in tears. “I didn’t know what to do! Mom never loved me after that…”
Like the creature before him, the wide hairy man bowed his head and stepped back into the mass of rubbery bodies. As if the collective knew their time was short, all of them began to shout out their grievances and wave their hands in threatening manners.
Charles directed his attention back to his exact replica in hope for answers and sympathy, but found the man still rubbing himself against the wall. He noticed the man’s skin had become discolored like decaying flesh and hung loosely from his body. Before he had the chance to question, the rubbery hands of the group of creatures were now upon him. They grabbed, groped, and smothered him in their numbers, dragging him to the ground. They parted once he was securely pinned down so he could see the last transformation of his counterpart who in that instant when their eyes met, clinched his amorphous face and ripped it down the middle. A huge snake uncoiled from his body and stretched its self upright. Its black scales simmered in the light along with its cold dark eyes. It hissed revealing fangs and a forked tongue then lurched forward. Charles screamed for mercy, but it fell on deaf ears.
An hour had passed since the robbery occurred, and people were now swarming in the little convenience store. They looted and fought over snacks like hungry animals. No one bothered Charles as the last moments of his life spurted out of his neck wound and onto a crimson pool on the white tile floor. It was like he wasn’t there at all.
Seth Miller comes from Denton, NC, a quiet town with one grocery store, several churches and thrift shops, two video rental establishments, and a nice library.
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