Even as a child I was asking "Why?" about what I learned, especially in church. For instance, why oh why would I be taught the above song, spotlighting someone I was supposed to hate? To me, it was illogical... Today I found the following video of the theme from The Exorcist being played in church... In the comments, I learned that the piece was created long before it was used for the movie--that made me feel better. Indeed, when I was asked to go see the movie, and went, I left, feeling afraid. And when I fell and had to be helped back to the car, I decided that was for a reason... Ok, maybe not, but I decided I would never watch another movie related to this theme...And I haven't... That's a personal decision, and sometimes I've changed from that decision, based upon any given situation...
So when I was reading two new books written by a new author, I forgot about my personal aversion for horror related to religion. I had no problem with zombies, dracula, werewolves--they were so easy to recognize as fiction that I found the unique and supernatural world interesting... In fact, I became involved in helping this new writer find his way into the publishing world, no matter what he was writing... I believe I am one of the first readers for The Possession by A. K. Kuykendall... Of course, as a reader, I spent more time on the overall content than the topic... The book has expanded into, I understand, a trilogy. And I still have a hard time reading such a tale... Except for one thing--the strong human love of the two main characters... After all, curing someone who is possessed is not an easy task, even for a beloved...
Months later, Jamie sat in front of the Catholic Council, perched in a chair in the middle of the room while eighteen of the Council’s holy reverends sat off in the shadows in a circular pattern around her. The Church used this type of Council in the modern era, she’d been told, when a priest would recommend that a possession case was deemed worthy of an in-depth study, prior to a battle of holy wrath upon the beast. In this battle, a priest would be chosen and sent to fight for the good of the world, and to save one of God’s children... Her whole life had been turned upside-down. She’d been describing her predicament for hours. It had been months since her last encounter with Christie, yet the things she’d witnessed since then were driving her mad. She believed that the real Gregory was gone. The doll had somehow taken over her husband and didn’t seem willing to let him go. She didn’t understand the hold the doll had over him, but she sensed in her heart that it couldn’t be stopped. She’d come to the Council at the behest of a soothsayer priest named Geoden Babin, a forty-eight-year-old Catholic father, originally from Sweden. A month earlier, she’d been sitting alone in a coffee shop when he’d noticed her. He’d taken hold of her trembling hand, and calmly said, “I see flames and death.” Now she listened restlessly as Father Babin retold his story to the Council. “Shortly after meeting Jamie,” he said, “I took a trip to the Stillingsworths’ house. As I drove up the rocky path, I experienced years of pain, bloodshed, hatred, and anger spilling over me like a tidal wave. The evil almost overcame me. I could see nothing but the beast. “In the distance, I saw a man standing in the middle of the rocky drive, about four yards from the house. He stared straight at me. I assumed him to be Gregory Stillingsworth, Jamie’s husband, but the man seemed to be dying. Even from that distance, I could see and feel Gregory’s pain and knew, without question, that he was indeed the victim of possession. “As I continued up the drive, I observed black holes in his eyes. Slowing the car, I watched his eyes bleed into a yellowish glow that brightened and flashed, blinding me. The front of my car suddenly crushed inward, as if I’d run head-on into a brick wall. “I frantically exited the vehicle as Gregory stood motionless a few yards away. His eyes returned to their uniform blackness. He never made a move, as if controlled by something inside of him looking out. “Suddenly, Gregory’s arm went up like a puppet on a string, and pointed straight at me. A haunting voice rolled out from his throat. ‘Leave my covenant if you value your life, priest.’ “I could see the souls of his murdered victims forming behind him, flanking him like mutilated demons with missing index fingers. I fell back, and as I thought to turn and run, I caught sight of Jamie staring down at me from the upstairs window. Tears glistened on her face. In another window, I saw the image of a small beast with red eyes aglow. I took off down the rocky path, out to the road. “This force, strong and intimidating, should not be taken lightly. It holds millennia of souls inside, strengthening its essence somehow, making it, perhaps, the most powerful follower of Satan ever to walk the Earth.” ...She began to cry again. “Are you going to help me and my husband or what? Your soothsayer priest told you what he had witnessed. There should be no discussion of a decision. I’m coming to you because I need your help. This thing wants me. It wants my life. I’m lucky it allows me to leave the house. I fear this will be the last time I....” She broke down and covered her face with her hands. When she got herself under control again, she stood and paced around her chair. “Help me, please. Save my husband. Save me.” A new voice emerged from the Council. “Why don’t you just leave that house, if you think you’re threatened?” “Because my husband’s in there,” Jamie spat. “I will not leave his side, no matter what the cost. He is my world. Can’t you see that? He means everything to me, everything. ‘Til death do us part.” “He might already be gone to the world, Mrs. Stillingsworth,” the voice said. “How do you, alone, expect to save him by making yourself a martyr? This entity wants your soul. Can’t you see it wants your body, too, so it will have leverage in our world? This beast is powerful enough as it is. If it takes you, there may be no stopping its reign over humanity. It has chosen you to make the transition into the flesh and blood.” Not knowing what to say, Jamie stared sullenly at the group. “This possession is not like many possessions in the past,” the unseen speaker continued. “Usually, Lucifer himself embodies the soul and devours it from the inside out. This case is different. The beast that has hold of your husband is Lucifer’s child. It was stopped in its transition to the flesh and blood in the 1300s in Berkshire, England, where Lucifer’s chosen was burned at the stake, accused by the town’s Church Council of whelping the child of the ultimate beast.” Still shaking, Jamie sat back down. “Knowing this, I ask you again: will you help me?” The Council remained quiet. Moments later, a voice came from the center of the room. “No!”
...As the prophecy says, ‘Come on to the Earth the second chance for the beast to rear its fangs and create havoc upon the land, maim the weak and subdue the strong. From blood skies to forever darkness, this Second Coming will bring, thus setting the prophecy into fable.’ Pray with me, brothers, for we are to go into battle on the Sunday of the blood moon—the day of the transition.” All voices in the Council quoted the prayer. “Save your servants who trust in you, my God. Let him find in you, Lord, a fortified tower in the face of the enemy. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” As it had been written in the prophecy, the head of the first beastly jackal had to be severed during the full eclipse of the moon, in order for the new entity to lie vulnerable, and to complete its banishment from the Earth, sending it back to the pits of Hell. In Berkshire, England, in the 1300s, when the beast had reared its ugly head and seemingly died within the flames, the town had remained forever cursed with death. The beast had made its first mark upon the land at that time. It had destroyed the town’s people, causing them to turn on each other, primarily to keep them away from its death site. To this day, the site displays a charred, decayed image of a burned woman’s bones, with a grotesque figure of a would-be child dangling from the woman’s hips. The image remained in this form for millennia while the essence of the beast had hidden in an unknown form, gaining strength to one day fulfill the prophecy. Father Boug assigned Father Babin the task of finding the olden town and severing the head of the beast at the second of the blood moon’s eclipse.
“Dear God,” she sobbed, “please help me. I need You to help me, please. What have we done to make You turn your back on us, Lord? Please help us.”
“There is no God here,” Christie thundered. “Your God has given your lives to me to do with what I please. He’s weak, pitiful, a manipulator of hopes, dreams, wishes, and goals. How can He love you when you are here in my grasp? They call my father a trickster. Hell, you’re supposed Savior is the most cunning trickster of all.” “Oh, God, please help me,” Jamie cried, still pinned against the wall. Christie’s face darkened with anger. “I said... there is no God here. Do you see how fooled He’s got you? You actually think He’s coming to the rescue. Well, let me reiterate: There is no God here.”
~~~
So, we learn that even though the Catholic Church was asked to help, that it didn't seem to do much good? As previously mentioned, the legend of the possession takes readers back to th 1300s. Considerable research has been done to point out the methods by which earth's god has used humans to do his bidding. Some of these may be known from other books doing similar types of research on the activities even now, for instance, as the publishing company moves to increase publication of Gregory's books prior to the millennium (2000).
The basic set of characters is a man and woman, married for many years, with the man, Gregory Stillingsworth being a writer of horror and already claimed as the top genre leader. His wife, Jamie, gave up her own life to stay by her husband's side, as editor, and all duties related to the maintenance of their home and business. Life was good.
Gregory had been writing since he was six and seeing their son's interest and dedication, his parents had scrounged out enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. Gregory named it Buford and they had been working together since the beginning of his writing career... Was there magic in the typewriter? Well, it seemed like that, until one day, after finishing his latest novel and shipping it off to the publishing company, Gregory could not think of one thing to write about next...
Psychologically, Gregory wasn't prepared for that situation and he and Jamie were at each other, quarreling constantly. Jamie was trying to get Gregory to go away for a vacation... Finally, he agreed, but--took Buford!
Jamie decided to go back home. It was the first time they had been separated since they first met. And he met a girl at a local bar, had sex, and killed her...
Or did he? Are you reading the writer as he creates his new novel? Or are you reading a portion of the novel where the serial killer, Numan, is involved in his latest destruction? Or...
Because Gregory was writing again--about a serial killer who was living and committing horrible murders in the nearby area... and the killer, Marty Numan, appropriately called the Finger Man Killer, took a finger from each of the women... Everything was back to normal...
But Jamie was still very concerned--even scared, because Gregory now seemed so different. And, he had moved the doll that he had acquired in India many years ago, nearer to him in his office. Sometimes Jamie would find it in one place, and then another shortly thereafter, even though Gregory had been busy typing continuously...
There is just too much evil in today's world, especially after being incited into the open! For people like me I have a constant discussion with myself...Should I continue to read or watch movies that spotlight Evil because I enjoy the mystery of solving and ensuring an ending that has Good winning? I don't have an answer to that. What I do know is that, when the Evangelical Christians chose to support Donald Trump, I have been on high-alert and watching... Seeking explanations... Are we all tainted? I don't think so, but I think we must all be on guard... After all, the United States is now the country with the highest rate of deaths of children killed by guns, even higher than death by traffic accidents!!! There is something seriously wrong since evil is winning, it seems!
I had waited to reread the book so that I could read as if the first time. I find it an intelligent, conceptually intense, look at the traditional Biblical story that places Lucifer as the god of earth... The complexity is compounded by the twist and turns of the move from writer to character in the latest novel... But, if you pay attention, you will know exactly what is happening, at least after you start reading a new part and determine for yourself who was who...LOL Yeah, I admit I enjoyed its exercise and complexity, while using my kindle dictionary quite often...This author has the vocabulary of a genius, or, at the least, an excellent wordsmith...and who knows? A. K. Kuydendall just might be a genius in the horror genre! You decide...
Interestingly enough, I've already started another in the genre... Quite different... But also unique and catchy in development of the main character... Watch for it... In the meantime, if you don't mind being left hanging in the middle of a story, check this out...or better yet. Wait for the next one to start reading...It should be out soon... Be prepared, though, because you just might begin to wonder if you've...been... possessed...yourself! ...NOT!
When, toward the end of the first book, God and Lucifer begin to play a game of chess, I must admit I wondered, are we all just players in a game of chance? Or characters in a trilogy written by god himself? Got to say, it's a mind game no matter at what conclusions you arrive! We owe it to ourselves to consider the options related to good and evil...don't you think?
GABixlerReviews
No comments:
Post a Comment