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Written by Mark'ee Drankard
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As the dust from the debris cleared away Dr. Becker quickly
turned on his
flashlight, followed by his assistant Dr. Merger. "I can't
see shit," Dr.
Merger blurted out. "I can, just keep walking," spoke
up Dr. Becker. Dr.
Merger squinted through the darkness and continued to travel forward.
The two
individuals were archeologists on the Southeast end of London,
excavating a
site theorized to be the tomb of Jack The Ripper. "Stop,"
Dr. Becker called
out throwing his beam of light at a cement block wall. "What
is it?" Dr.
Merger called back. "Pass me down the hammer." Dr. Merger
reached to his
side, removed a hammer and passed it to Dr. Becker. "Step
back," he yelled as
he swung the hammer. Shocked that the first blow crumpled one
of the bricks
Dr. Becker knocked out the rest with one stroke also. Gagging
on the dust Dr.
Becker motioned his partner forward and stepped inside a small
brick room.
Shining his flashlight around he could see the room contained
remnants of
human skeletons. There was one skeleton that stood out from the
rest. Over in
a corner there was one skeleton that was entirely undiminished.
On the hand
of the skeleton was a gold ring that contained an emerald in it.
Dr. Becker
dislodged the ring and quickly pocketed it before his co-worker
could see.
"What have we got?" Dr. Merger whispered. "Just
another dead end again,"
replied Dr. Becker sadly. "Let's get back before we miss
our plane."
On the flight back to Dallas Dr. Becker looked a little out
of sorts. "Jeff
are you okay?" Dr. Merger said putting his hand on Dr. Becker's
shoulder.
"I'm fine just a little stomach pain."
During the trip to his apartment Dr. Becker dozed off for a
few minutes only
to be awaken by Dr. Merger. "Home sweet home," he said
smiling. Dr. Becker
grabbed his baggage and exited the late model Buick. On his doorstep
he
fumbled for his keys and unlocked the door. Heading right for
his bedroom he
plopped down on the bed still feeling afflicted. "A shower
ought to do the
trick," he whispered to himself unbuttoning his shirt.
Moments later Dr. Becker stepped into the shower and turned
on the hot water.
He sighed as the water hit his body and he closed his eyes. His
sighs quickly
became grunts as a needlelike pain shot through his entire body
and ended in
his head. He gripped the shower curtain pulling it down. "Lord
help me," he
screamed out in anguish. Suddenly Dr. Becker fell to the floor
out like a
light.
The chiming of the telephone woke Dr. Becker out of unconsciousness.
He
sluggishly dragged himself off the floor and grabbed a towel.
Stepping into
the living room he picked up the phone. "Hello," he
said with pain. Nothing
but serenity was heard on the other end. Dr. Becker glanced at
his watch that
made out 10:15pm. He quickly hung up the phone.
As Dr. Becker finished dressing there came a knock at the door."Mark,
it's me
Candice," said the voice on the other side of the door. Wiping
his nose of
blood Dr. Becker inched his way towards the door. Upon opening
it his fiancee
hurried in and hugged him. "I missed you so much," she
said looking him in
the eyes. "Mark are you okay?" She continued. Picking
up a pencil Dr. Becker
wedged it into Candice's eye. Her body made a thud against the
floor sending
the pencil deeper into her head. Dr. Becker removed a fire poker
from the
fireplace, stepped over the body and exited out the door.
At the same time on an elevator a woman in sweats sang as she
turned up the
volume on her c.d. player. As she reached her floor the door opened
and she
was greeted by Dr. Becker who shoved the fire poker through the
woman's
cardiac organ. The woman slid against the wall, smearing blood
on the
elevator wall. Down the hall a woman started screaming and ran
dropping her
groceries. Dr. Becker humbly turned and walked in her direction.
Two hours later the Dallas Police Department was working in
Dr. Becker's
apartment taking photos and conversing about the gory scene. Detective
Edwin
Best bent down and exposed Candice's body. "Kinda reminds
you of Jason
Vorhees," a patrol officer snickered. Detective Best looked
up and frowned,
"Find me some evidence." "Detective Best,"
someone called out. "We found
another body on the third floor elevator." Detective Best
stood up and
turned to the patrol officer, "Get me that evidence."
Over at Dr. Merger's apartment the phone rang. "Hello,"
he said picking it
up. "It's got me man," said the voice on the other end.
"Who is this?" Dr.
Merger answered. Nothingness was heard and Dr. Merger hung up
the phone.
Picking the phone back up he dialed up Dr. Becker's apartment
but the line
was busy.
At the same time but different locale a man stopped at a red
light and bent
down to pick up a cigarette. When he arose Dr. Becker stood on
the driver's
side of the car. "Where did you come from?" The man
belted. "Hell!" Dr.
Becker said shattering the glass with his clenched fist. Yanking
the man from
the car through the smashed window Dr. Becker gripped the man's
gullet.
"Don't kill me, please!" The man screamed. Within a
second Dr. Becker
fissured the man's neck like a twig. He then let go of the body,
turned and
walked off.
Noticing what just occurred two young men standing on the corner
rushed up to
Dr. Becker. "Yo man what you doing up around here?"
One of them yelled. Dr.
Becker without hesitation turned his head and seized the youngster
by the
neck and slammed his body to the ground,the other screamed and
ran off.
Back at Dr. Becker's apartment Dr. Merger learned the detestable
events that
occurred. "Where's Mark?" Dr. Merger asked one of the
police officers."You
know the occupant of these premises?" Replied one of the
police officer.
"Yes, I do," said Dr. Merger. "Do you know where
he is, or have you seen him
this evening?" The police officer questioned again. "No,"
said Dr. Merger. At
once a picture of the dark room in London flashed through Dr.
Merger's head.
"I have to go," whispered Dr. Merger and ran out the
door. Hurrying back to
his apartment Dr. Merger went to his closet and removed a nine
millimeter
pistol. He pulled the slide back and glanced into the mirror.
"Sorry Mark,"
he said and walked out of the apartment.
At a local school where students were engaging in a night course
Dr. Becker
stepped through the front door. A security guard stopped him with
a rigid arm
observant of the blood on his hands. "Holy-----" prior
to finishing his
sentence he was silenced as his head was shoved through the glass
door. "What
was that?" One of the students in a room down the hall asked.
With that
question the lights flickered then went completely out. One of
the females
screamed. "Calm down," the teacher said. "Someone
is at the door," another
student yelled out pointing. The teacher walked over to the door
and opened
it. All the students jumped up when they heard the teacher's screams.
Making
it to the front doors the disordered group ran into the street
yelling. Dr.
Merger who was driving by stopped his car. "What's happening?"
He asked one
of the students."There's this lunatic in there and he killed
our teacher,"
one student screamed out.
Dr. Merger exited his car and ran into the structure. "Mark,
it's me Jeff,"
he yelled. Out of the darkness Dr. Becker stepped forward. "Something
about
the room has got you hexed," Dr. Merger continued. Dr. Becker
raised his hand
displaying the ring. "Take it off Mark." "It doesn't
have to end this way."
"Mark are you listening?" Dr. Merger spoke up. Without
warning a hand pushed
Dr. Merger out of the way and Detective Best started firing his
weapon at Dr.
Becker. "Noooooo," yelled Dr. Merger. "What the
Hell are you doing?" "My
job," answered Detective Best walking ahead. The ring on
Dr. Becker's index
finger glowed gloomily then gradually withered away. "Get
this piece of filth
out of here," said Detective best.
Three weeks afterward a man walking past a jewelry store stopped
when
something snared his eye. Stepping inside he questioned the manager
about his
observation. "Yes, sir," he said to the manager. "Yes,
I want the gold ring
with the emerald in it." As the man exited the store along
with the ring the
manager looked up and thoughtfully said, "Have a nice day
and enjoy your
ring". "That's the way things are around here, usual
as business, business as
usual." Or was it?
