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That Which Walks The Night.

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Guest kath

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Its 2 am on christmas eve and while I try to sleep, I lay and wonder about the world about me- that which lay within the bright lights of the holiday season-

I moved into this neighborhood 4 yrs ago, and while my neighbors are nice, they are straight from the movie, the burbs. Everyone knows eachother, everyone knows whats on eachothers back porch. I have seen my neighbors outside in their bed cloaths, and in their boxers and i really didn't need to know them that well.

I listen though-

I listen to what they say, because the tails that they tell are interesting to say the least. For I have met some of the others in the neighborhood, and I have to wonder what else may be lurking in the shadows of the hearts of men.

The widow who bemoans that she all her posessions in an unexplained house fire, and then, in a different sentence, that she lost her husband in a fire. It was the same fire, and the neighbors wonder why she was out so late that evening, and he was not- neither smoked, no reason for the fire, no cause for the fire- yet she can not put the fire and her husband and the house in the same sentence, and it seems that she placed more value on the contents of the house than her husband. The neighbors shake their head. Something odd happened that night. They look at her, they talk about her, as if it was yesterday, but the fire happened 20 yrs past.

There were a series of rapes in the town a mile from where I grew up, and it was discovered, by chance of one of the victums a partial licence plate, a discription of the car, and of the man, and he lived 2 miles from where I live- and across the street from a co worker that I drop off every other day after work.

I was driving to work, and stopped at a stop sign, and saw spray paint on the shed of one of the neighbors who lived next to the playground. It took a few days to read what was scrawled, and I realized it said CRIPTS. and I know that corner is where the school bus picks up the elementary children for school.

There is a small private airport not far from where I live- no tower- no gate or customs- you land and pay a fee when you step off of the plane to park it. there are many such airports in the area- some seen as a line of defense if the larger one would ever be taken or shut down in these days. The airport connects with a main road that leads past my neighborhood, directly into the city, and was known to be a major drug pipe line.

There was talk at work, the other day. They had caught a murderer that had been slaying women in the town next to mine, and he lived at the bottom of the hill on my street. he was caught, and confessed to just one of the murders, not the 14 that he was thought to have commited.

When I was growing up there were 18 unsolved murders from a serial killer, he would tie the doors shut from the outside, if you had a screen door - to the front door so you could not get it open- and then come through a window. He would rape the woman, and then bind them and stab them. His first victium was my mothers god son, at first the police said it was drug related- there were surringes and morphine about the house but the drs verified, with the aid of the pharmacy, everything was accounted for. He had been injured during the war and could not walk - the morphine was for pain releaf. The police were still saying that it was the drugs when the next murder happened- and there were no drugs involved. It was the summer of terror, as the murders were happening 3 miles from where I lived. the last one- the woman was left alive while he killed her husband. She was able to find the window that he came through and get out and crawl across the yard as her older son came home from work. She told him to get away- that his father was being murdered, and he pulled her into the car and got her to the hospital, and she lived to give an account to the police. 18 people died that summer.

The arsonist, who burned down 20 buildings was caught- not by a tip, but by chance.

It started on a few days before christmas eve- a young woman took her child out to see the christmas lights. they had no money to buy presents, or to pay the bills. when she came back she found her apartment in flames. She lost- everything. The community pulled together and payed her bills, gave her a better appartment and toys for the child.

The buildings that burned were empty- no one got hurt- some were for sale, others were abandoned, and at first it looked like someone was doing it to help the local developer grab up the land, or get the insurance money. We would shudder- when we heard the fire whistle go off- we knew there was another fire happening somewhere on the bitter cold evenings of that winter.

The police were having a coffee break at 2 am at dennys and they happened to look across the street when they saw movement- when they saw the flicker of light moving towards a building that a developer had been wanting to buy for a long time but the owner refused to sell. They walked across the street and saw the person push the dumpster that was on fire, up against the building and watch the flames lick higher against the the side of the wood shingles.

One of the police officers had the presence of mind to use the fire extinuisher from his car to put the dumpster out, as the other cuffed the person responsible...

It was the young woman who had lost her appartment - the first of the fires.

When I was young, we would hurry past a garage at the bottom of the hill. A man had hung himself in it. While my mother said that the family involved had too much inbreeding in it, and that many of them were a bit - over the edge- the events of the mans death brought changes.

Every morning the farmers would pack their wagons and take them to the bottom of the hill so that the train would take it into the city. The man who died had a younger sister, one who had just married, and his idea was to make a farm market, so that the people would have to come to them. not - spend money on frieght to get it into the city- something unheard of in those days. two or three of them would take the wagon down depending on the amount of produce. The story that was told was that one thought he had boarded the train with the other, and the other thought that he had returned home with the team and the wife. He didn't come home for supper, and it was thought that he may have gone to the tavern for a pint- but the next morning he was not home and when the others went down to load the produce on the train, they found him swinging on the rafters- with the block sitting far away from the body. It was speculated that he must have kicked it away- It was known for years later that his sister had mental problems- and the farm stopped taking its goods into town via the rail, it started its own farm market, and people came to them to buy the produce fresh from the fields.

My best friend was distressed to learn that the body of an 18 yr old was found floating in the river behind the mall where they shopped- where they had just been that very day. The police learned, through dna, and a tip, who killed the young man, and my friend was horrified to learn that it was done in the house directly behind hers. The people who killed the young man, a 40 yr old woman and her 19 yr old husband, and his friend did it because they had nothing better to do that day. they lured him into their home and killed him in the basement, then painted and cleaned to get rid of the evidence. Blood tells, though.

My niece is a kindergarden teacher, and has had to expell 4 students all who are 5 yrs old- for attacking the student teacher, and their classmates with sissors with the intention of stabbing them to do harm. One of the students had been sitting on the front steps with her cousin, who pulled out a gun and blew his head off in front of her. He was just 10 yrs old, and in her words, he ment to do it.

People wonder, what is happening in this world, how can people do such things, where is some place safe?

When did this all start and why?

as safe as we are, as safe as we think we feel, in all of this , the world is a place where one hopes the horrors happen far away, not as close as our back yards. Where do our childern learn these things?

When did the family begin to fall apart?

was it when prayer was removed from school?

or before?

my guess is it happened when we went to war, and it left the house wives to work in the factorys - and when the men returned they found the women didn't want to give up their jobs.

it happened when *mothers assistance* came into being- something that paid women to be able to survive if the the husband was not in the house any more. Men left their wives to go live away from them so they could get the money.

It happened when the goverment decided to support immorality, by paying unwed mothers per child, for their support- giving them access to medical care and food stamps- with no regard to how many different men she may have had children by. There are entire neighborhoods where for several generations, none of the people who live there have ever worked a day, yet they have everything provided for them.

It blossomed with the advent of the vidio games that promoted killing the opponent for points. Not just knocking them out, but taking a gun and shooting them and the resulting graphics that spray the blood and gore- are seen as cool.

Maybe it started with the movie Bladerunner- with the special effects showing a bullet ripping through a mans brain as he ran away.

Maybe it happened after watching the 5 oclock news and seeing surgery done at the dinner table.

I remember watching PBS with my brothers ( I had to have been about 10 at the time )and all of a sudden they have "the mirical of birth" as one of the things they are showing and they zoom in between the womans legs as the baby is crowning- and my dad crosses the room and changes the channel. I was old enough to know where babys came from- and old enough to be shocked that this would be seen during childrens programing- early in the morning when there were cartoons on.

maybe it comes from watching shows like Law and order, and CSI and Crossing Jordon- seeing the horrific crimes that people have done- watching with cold indiference as they slice open a body to gaze inside.

My 10 yr old nephew had said to me that he wanted to be a ferensic scientist, because he saw it on CSI and it looked really cool. His mother buys him games like Jurassic Park where you have to shoot the other guy before they shoot you. My nephew doesn't like those games though- he would rather play one that involves climbing and figuring out puzzles to get to the other side to win. He is a gentle spirit. Granted, the science on CSI and Crossing Jordon, is very cool.

I had to tell him though- that while it looked cool on tv, a dead body did smell bad. Death has a smell all of its own, far worse than a potato going bad in the pantry. (for those who thought they could smuggle conch shells into the united states wrapped up in their luggage they discovered that the smell does not wash out of the clothing- that it leaches through plastic- and it stains the earth, - you can tell, when something has died, by that smell-

Maybe it came when roe vs wade happened- when people began to believe that it was easier to end the life of an fetus, instead of saying they were ending the life of an infant. If we can not protect the helpless, what chance does our world have?

there is a stain, on the hearts of men. One that does not wash off with repentance. The woman involved in Roe vs wade now says what she did was wrong. The child of maddlino Ohara whom she felt she was protecting against the prayer in school has turned against what his mother beleived, The daughter of the man who charged that the words "Under God" offended her- has said that it was her fathers decision, not hers.

Yet there is hope.

A highschool was informed they could not say a prayer during graduation. There was one student who had said it would offend her to be forced to say the prayer and the judge said that they could not do it during the program.

The valivictorian stood up and said "*I* will now say the Lords Prayer"

And the entire assembly of people there, stood, and said it with her.

The student who had protested it was upset that the court order had been ignored and was going to seek damages. her classmates whom were interviewed later said she really needed to get a grip on herself of what was important.

The court later ruled that the valivictorian broke no court order as the first amendment protected her right of freedom of speach, and amonished the girl who had pressed charges against her saying they had other important things to do.

The battle goes on though for the soul of the country. it is not an individual who protests the placement of the ten comandments in the court houses, but a group of lobbyest-

and you have to wonder-

What part of Not killing, stealing, commiting adultry, lieing, covinting the neighbors things and taking care of your parents do they have problems with?

Faith is for those who have nothing else.

If we ask when did the hearts of men turn to the shadow realm, and wonder if it is too late to save the world from distruction, then there are lessons that we must learn, now, before its too late.

Kath

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I do agree with you up to a point kath, is there inherent evil out there??? Absolutely, without a doubt, I have handcuffed them, thrown it on the ground and testified against them in court many times. Received death threats from them from their prison cells and subpoenas from their lawyers claiming unfair treatment. Do I lock my door at night?? you damn right I do. But do I think it is all going to hell in a handbasket? I cant, I wont. For every scumbag I have met in my life I can see another shining child's face riding a bike or walking with his/her parents in the park or sitting in a library reading a book. I'm not sure if any one factor is to blame for things being the way they are. Every generation back through the years has claimed the younger generation will be the "death of us all", but here we are. Still trudging along trying to figure out the meaning of the roller coaster ride. To give up and just see the bad is easier I think, its everywhere, in every aspect of our lives, brought up close and personal to your living room by your friend and mine, mass media. There have always been demons and bad people in our society, but giving them prime time coverage and some peoples desire to be in the forefront of the our daily lives just makes it worse. Copycat crimes are at an all time high since 2000. There has to be something worth fighting for, otherwise what is the point? why not just join the party and do upon to others the evil that you see done on a daily basis? To decide to get up in the morning and not let what you see go on around you dictate your attitude is one of the bravest and hardest things you can do. It will always be this way and always has. Recognizing the bad things that go on around you is a good thing, it means you are alert and looking out for you and your loved one. Accepting that there is nothing worth fighting for is tantamount to throwing in the towel on the way to the ring. Look around for something cool, its out there, believe me, I searched for it a helluva long time before i stumbled across what i like to call my "niche" in life. It will often happen when you least want nor expect it to and will most likely come from a direction you wont be looking in. But that is what makes the good things in life good, take care Kath, have a good holiday and a good new year......Gunslinger

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I was Santa the saturday after christmas- yeah, a girl Santa and I had everyone fooled because I dropped my voice. One child observed later that I had the same glasses and eyes as santa- another told his mother that he knew there were alot of santa's helpers out there- but I was the *real* santa-

One of the children placed in my arms was a year old little girl whos eyes could not focus, and you could tell she had serious medical issues. She weighed maybe 14 pounds and didn't wiggle or squirm she was just as if she was in the twilight sleep - but she still smiled when spoken too.

I learned yesterday, from her grand father that she died on christmas eve from what the drs said may have been a massive heart attack. I spoke with one of the people that I work with and found out that the babys mother had been murdered earlier in the year, by the babys father. The grand father had lost his wife less than a year ago, and now, just has one remaining grand daughter left of his entire family.

I have to believe there is a God who cares for all the innocent children. I have seen great good in the world- but at the same time, there has been so much death.

I was training a young man yesterday as part of my job, and he was there when I learned about the babys death, and he had to step away, because it brought him to tears.

Its not that I dont feel, anymore. I do. but I am numb from my own grief, my own sorrow for the death of my uncle and father, and those whom I care for within the last two years, and I wonder if there is hope- for every smiling child there is one who cries, or parents whom can not care for their children.

If we can't save the children, what hope have we for the future?

Kath

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Beautiful, Gunslinger! I could use a few pep-talks from you, my friend!

Thanks, I think all of us here have a dark side streak in our blood, but like Frank Black, you have to try everyday to press on no matter what obstacle is thrown at you or what evils you see and witness. Good to here from you Raven Wolf, all is well in your neck of the world?

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  • 1 month later...
Guest fledgling666

wow, haven't been around here in a long time.

that was some amazing writing, kath and gunslinger.

"earnest hemingway once wrote 'the world is a fine place and worth fighting for' i agree with the second part." - morgan freeman, 'se7en'

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