THE FATAL KISS

By Aaron Rayburn

Lightning stabbed aimlessly at the earth as Victor McCullough peered outside his huge, bay

window -- the only window in the entire house.

Victor had designed the house with only one window because he said windows of a house

were the eyes to its soul and he felt that a house had too many outlets to other worlds. And he

made sure his house was different. He felt his house didn't need to see any further into other

worlds than it already could with the one window. He and his window spent many days and

nights in the Study, gazing out at the Pacific Ocean.

Victor lived in Mill Valley right outside San Francisco and just a few miles from the Golden

Gate Bridge. It was a place he and his late wife, Judith, absolutely adored.

The blissful view overlooked an expanse of land which Victor had inherited and turned into

his very own golf course. Of course, over the years, he made the surrounding land into a resort

for the elite golfers around the area and in turn, made an excellent return for his investment.

Life for Victor and Judith went extremely easy, that was, until five years ago, when Judith

was suddenly and violently involved in a hit and run automobile accident.

And for the past five years, Victor vowed to catch the bastard who took his dear, sweet wife

from him, but after several months of searching, no one could be linked to her death. Victor then

began retiring to his bedroom earlier and earlier as the days progressed to weeks, weeks into

months. Soon he began to blame God for all the grief and suffering he had to endure. He didn't

know what he was going to do now that Judith was no longer a part of his life.

He simply could not take the agony loneliness brought him. Several times he swore he would commit suicide, but something deep inside him -- gut instinct maybe -- told him that would not be a good idea. He decided to wait out his time and discover what would happen, what fate would deal him. Much

to his chagrin over the past five years, nothing ever did.

He sighed heavily in the dim candlelight as he drummed his pencil against the notebook in

front of him.

Victor was in the process of finishing his journal entry for the day when he first spotted the

dark clouds moving in from the Pacific. He gazed out at the darkened purple sky and watched

the lightning zigzag across it. He bent back to his journal, excited about what he was writing,

knowing that one day his writings would be studied worldwide.

Victor would comprise all of his philosophies into a book and in his own mind, thought it

would be glorified by every top philosopher in the world. An image of a classroom full of

scholars studying his book as if it was a textbook popped into his mind. His lips curled at their

corners as glee spread throughout his body.

Thunder boomed in the distance, then Victor's mind transferred from the classroom to the

fifty years he had spent with Judith. He sighed, thinking back to the time when he was courting

her, to their marriage and to their wonderful inheritance from a rich aunt. Life was so magical

back then, but now, five long years as a loner, loads of money and nothing to spend it on, he

spent his days forlorn and highly depressed.

He and Judith had no children and every one of their relatives were long dead. All Victor had now was a couple of assistant pricks who wanted to take his business away. Mostly by a guy named Isaiah.

Isaiah Reynolds was Victor's chief assistant to the course, personal assistant and stock

broker. Basically, he was Victor's ass wiper.

Victor thought him grand at one time and a godsend. But now, as his health was betraying

him, he thought him as the Devil. If he was smart, he'd fire him immediately, but he knew he

couldn't do that. There were things Isaiah had helped him achieve that weren't exactly legal.

There were things Isaiah knew that would get Victor into grave danger and Victor thought it best

to just leave him alone.

But so what? Who really cared if Isaiah took his business or not? He certainly didn't care.

All he wanted was Judith. He would do anything to be reunited with her ... anything at all. He

longed for her touch, her warmth, her passion and her love. There was no one in the world like

her and no one could ever replace what they had together.

As Victor watched the lightning flash across the sky, he wished wholeheartedly that one of

those bolts would strike him.

He rose from his chair and took a deep breath. He thought perhaps it was time to venture

down into the basement. He knew he hadn't visited it for some time now: two weeks, which

was long overdue.

He knew the lightning would never strike him, he couldn't get that lucky. And he knew that

no matter how many times he blasphemed the Lord's name, he wasn't going to get the

satisfaction of dying. Suicidal thoughts were soon put to rest because Judith had advised against

it. Most of the time she would tell him to keep positive and that one day, they would ultimately,

be reunited.

Victor held on to the ledge of the window, staring out at the flashing lightning and the dark,

choppy waters. Tears suddenly flooded down his cheeks. He lowered his head to his hands and

sobbed. "Why, Judith? Why? Why did you have to die? Why did you leave me here to rot?

All I ever wanted to do was love you for the rest of our lives! I cannot bear this alone!"

The image of the basement popped up into his feeble mind.

Yes, he thought. I'm supposed to go to the basement.

Victor knew he could relieve his anxieties there. He released the latch on the window and

pushed it open. A gush of wind blew in onto his face, drying the tears there. He smiled in spite

of himself.

After a moment, Victor trekked across the room to the stairs and descended them. It seemed

every time he journeyed the flight of steps, it took just a little bit longer to get where he was

going.

Old age is going to get you, old man, said his mind.

He wished it would sooner than later.

Victor came upon the basement steps. "Just one more flight," he told himself. "Just one

more."

He proceeded down the wooden planks to the cement landing, then veered to his right.

There was an Oakland Raiders jacket hanging from a gold-plated coat rack. And beside that was

a large refrigerator door with a chrome handle protruding from it.

He slipped on the coat, then opened the freezer door. He could already feel the cold air

frosting the stubble of his beard. He knew he was in no condition to face the bitterness of the

visit, but he also knew he couldn't bear not seeing her for another minute.

Victor stepped up into the area and closed the door behind him.Inside was a bedroom-sized freezer filled with large blocks of ice stacked and molded

together in every corner of the room.

Victor scanned the light blue walls and found the pictures of aliens, flying saucers and

mystical creatures -- Bigfoot and the Loch Ness -- exactly where he had left them. And that was good. No one had bothered them. He quickly turned toward the other side of the freezer and

found the pictures of angels and devils, Satan and Jesus, entwined in picturesque conversation.

He found it all very comforting and relaxing.

Victor was very particular and old-fashioned when it came to things of that nature. Nobody

else knew what kinds of things he was into and he did a very superb job in hiding his interests

and fascinations.

Ever since Judith died, Victor had taken on a completely different religion. One that had

points of both Christianity and Satanism evolved together. He figured he could be in the good

graces of both deities and still have the chance of being reunited with his love, wherever she may

be.

In the middle of the room set a coffin with a frost proof, clear, plastic top. Inside the coffin

laid a woman who appeared to be in her early twenties. Seven feet in front of the coffin was a wooden, flat podium with a Ouija Board perched on

top of it.

Victor stepped up to the coffin and peered inside it at the lovely resting woman. The woman

with her long brown hair, her soft smooth features, her full lips and elegant aura. Victor knew

the woman wasn't Judith, but she looked like Judith when she was in her twenties.

And so Victor used her.

He gave the order to have the woman killed so that he could use her body, put her into the

coffin, which he had designed as a kind of temple or shrine to gaze upon Judith's beautiful being

as it had once been. And he needed a body to talk to his long lost wife through the Ouija Board.

As he put his hand to the glass, tears fell from his eyes. "I miss you so much," he cried.

"One day soon, we'll be back together."

He closed his eyes, mumbled a prayer, then stepped back to the podium. He raised his

eyelids and stared at the Board in front of him. The Board was the only way he was able to

contact his wife and it was only through the Board that he was able to contact his wife and it was

only through the Board that he was able to maintain his sanity and not kill himself through the

mercy of his misery.

Victor applied his fingertips to the ends of the wooden planchette and concentrated. He had

to think of only Judith or else he might get an entity he didn't want. The medium who sold

Victor the Ouija told him that if he suspected anyone other than Judith, then he was to terminate

the contact and try again another day.

And Victor was careful to heed the medium's warnings.

"Judith?" Victor called. "Are you there?"

The planchette stirred on its wheels, then slowly rolled to "Yes."

Victor smiled as goose bumps popped up on his skin. He let out the breath he was

unconsciously holding. "I want you to know that I love you so very, very much!" he said.

The planchette began to make figure eight movements. After a moment it moved to "I", then

to "L" and finally to "U."

"Why can't we see each other?" Victor wailed.

The planchette went to "B", then to "C."

"Because why?" he asked, his hands following the steady pattern of figure eights.

The Board did not answer.

A swirl of wind circled the room, making the hair on Victor's skin stand on end. "I'm going

to kill myself if I can't be with you!" he announced loudly in the chilling room.

The oracle swiftly moved to "No."

"Why?" he asked. "I can no longer stand myself."

Again, the wooden piece moved to "B" and "C."

"But I need you!" he pleaded. "I can't live this life anymore!"

The steady breeze swept through the room, moving the set of skull wind chimes Victor had

put up on more than a week ago.

"I'm going to do it, Judith," said Victor in a threatening tone. "And there isn't anything you

can do to stop me!" He took his hands from the planchette and then several blocks of ice

exploded behind him.

Victor shielded his eyes, knowing Judith was very upset with him, but he couldn't help it.

He had to do what he had to do. Since God had taken his one true sweet love from him, he was

going to have to do what was necessary to make his wish come true. Even if it meant angering

God and blashpheming his name.

There was another gust of wind, one so strong that it blew the Ouija Board across the room

and against the wall.

Victor stared humbly at it for what seemed an eternity before ambling over, picking it up and

placing it back onto the podium. "All right," he said, resigned. "I'll talk to you some more, but

you can't keep me from doing anything I don't want to do."

He put his hands back on the planchette and it began to swirl across the board. "This body I

possess," he said, nodding to the body in the coffin, "is not enough. I need you as you are."

The wooden pointer began circling madly across the board. Finally, it came to rest on

"Yes."

"Yes?" Victor asked, unbelievably. "You'll come back to me?" His heart raced maniacally

as he tightened his clutch to the planchette. "Do you honestly swear?" he asked.

The rolling planchette swerved around the small board before finally coming back to the

word, "yes."

"Oh, my Lord," chanted Victor. "Oh, my God. I can't wait! I just can't wait!" He moved

his knees and feet in a feeble attempt at a dance, his fingers still on the moving oracle. "Oh, my

prayers have been answered at last! This is the grandest day of my life!"

The planchette, with each passing second, began to move faster. After almost a full minute,

it was moving so quickly and violently, Victor had to let it go. He became aware that Judith was

angry at him for reasons he was unknowing about.

With his hands at his sides, he asked the room, "Are you angry with me?"

The planchette circled madly by itself in those same figure eight patterns. Victor looked

down on it, disbelieving. The sight -- like the exploding ice blocks -- was astounding and

miraculous all in one.

Victor trained his old eyes upon the ceiling. "Are you angry with me, Judith?" he asked

again.

No answer came. The planchette raced distressfully along the edges of the board.

"Whatever did I do?" Victor pleaded. "Please, my dear ... speak to me!"

Then, the planchette shot forward with a tremendous clamor, striking the glass fixture of

Judith's Death Certificate that hung on the wall over the casket. The glass shattered, chinking to

the floor.

Victor put his hands to his face in horror. "Oh, no!" he cried, rushing to the shattered glass as

fast as his arthritic body would allow. "Why?" he bawled. "Why do you want to disgrace

yourself in this manner? It was an accident, Judith! You had no control over your death!" He

began putting the slivers of glass into his shivering palm.

Suddenly more blocks of ice exploded beside him, sending him soaring backward against the

far wall. As an enormous pain erupted through his body, he felt himself slide down the wall into

a slumped stupor onto the floor.

"Why?" he muttered, his yellow-stained teeth lined in blood.

But then he knew. He knew what Judith was trying to do. She was trying to kill him. He

knew there was something wrong with the act of suicide and so Judith was taking his life with

her own doing.

Victor smiled amid the pain. He tried to open his eyes, but couldn't find the strength. There

were bones broken inside him that he never knew existed. He didn't think he could bear the pain

much longer. He wished that Judith could find a faster way to do the job.

A moment later, Victor began to hear a crackling sound and suddenly he felt a tremendous

heat in front of him.

He willed one of his eyes open and saw a high blaze from inside the coffin. He thought of

the body inside it and how the fire would melt the ice, the casket and the body inside it.

And then the unmistakable stench of burning flesh set in.

He knew that if he didn't get out of there, the fire would eventually get him. And he didn't

want to leave this world in such a brutal, agonizing fashion. He had always hated fires -- feared

them.

"No," he whispered. He needed to put the fire out, but was too weak and broken to move.

Judith sure picked a swell method of death, he thought sickly.

But, ultimately, he knew that Judith knew what she was doing. He put his trust in her ability

to pick out what was best for him. And if fire was the only way, then he would have to be okay

with it as well.

He knew he could endure a lot of pain for the ultimate prize: an eternal reunion with his

living, holy, matrimonial goddess.

As the flames licked at the coffin and the Ouija Board podium, Victor saw something. He

saw movement from inside the coffin. He cocked his head upright and watched. To his

amazement and horror, the young woman rose to a standing position, her body and garments

untarnished from the flickering flames.

Victor's eyes shot wide in their aged sockets. "Judy?" he said in disbelief.

The woman's body climbed out of the flaming coffin, smiled, nodded and slowly approached

Victor's broken body. The flames followed her like slithering orange snakes, licking along her

legs and feet, enveloping them in a orange-red aura.

Victor had begun to cry. "I can't believe it's you!" he marveled.

The woman stopped and stood a few feet from him. She took in his ailments, then slowly

raised her arms.

Victor's body rose from the floor and into the air, the pain leaving his body at once. "It's a

miracle," he said slowly, methodical.

There was a loud booming from above. Victor had thought the storm was directly above

them in the darkened sky. He toyed with the idea that lightning was what would strike him

dead. And he welcomed the notion.

But then Victor soon realized that the heavy thuds from above weren't thunder, but the heavy

foot falls of people.

People inside his house.

People who were coming after him.

"Where's he at?" one voice shouted.

Victor's heart thudded heavily in his chest. He knew instantly that his awful crimes were

about to catch up to him. The people above were probably the authorities and the only person

who could have ratted him out was Isaiah, though Isaiah was just as guilty as he was, being the

one who actually went out and committed the murders. But being the brain that Isaiah was, he

was sure to have covered his bases and framed Victor as the culprit.

Victor cast a sick glance toward the back door of the freezer. He didn't know exactly how

many bodies were in that compartment -- just that there were many. But he did it to find the

perfect match of his beloved queen. It was all for Judith!

He looked up at the flaming woman, the heat radiating off her body making him gasp for air.

"Please hurry," he pleaded. "Judith ... take me ..."

The woman ambulated to Victor, flames swaying around her. She gripped his head in her

hands, then craned her neck to kiss him.

Victor's heart fluttered gleefully at the memory of Judith's sweet kiss. The moment was

magical -- almost hypnotic. But then the heavenly moment ceased.

Suddenly a growing discomfort erupted inside him. He found that he could no longer

breathe. He looked wildly around the room and found black smoke filtering through the space.

He tried to pull away from Judith, but couldn't. It felt as if his lips were tightly secured to a vise

He screamed through his teeth, but the woman would not let go.

Fire flared up all around him, melting the flesh of his legs and arms. The pain! Oh, God, the pain!

I'm dying, he thought dismally.

He could hear the voices above clearly now. They were stampeding down the basement

steps. They were coming after him.

"Why would he be in the basement?" Victor heard someone say. Then a familiar voice: "Just

trust me!"

Isaiah Reynolds.

He had finally come to kill him and inherit his fortune, for he was the only one in Victor's

will.

Victor stared for a shocking moment at his reflection in the mirror on the opposite wall. He

saw a different man from the one he had know all these years. The man in the mirror wasn't him

at all.

The skin on his body had sunken in, his hair had rotted and fallen away from his skull. There

were spots of blood leaking from the pores of his body. He saw himself as a monster. And still,

Judith's lips were locked onto his, sucking the life from him.

His air had ceased, its supply extinguished. He was seeing the world for the last time and

although he was suffocating and burning, he couldn't have been happier. He and Judith were

about to be united in the next world.

For a split second, he heard pounding outside the door. He looked around the room, taking in the sight. Most of the ice had melted away and all his possessions were burning. He looked into the eyes of the woman in front of him and for the first time he realized something very important.

It wasn't Judith.

His mind conjured up another entity. One that was most dreadful beyond all human

imagination. He tried to scream, but the only sound was a cackling laughter from the entity that

continued to suck the life completely away from him.

Victor saw, through the windows of the demon's eyes, Judith had intentionally killed herself

on that dreadful day five years earlier. He saw into her mind. He saw she wanted to be away

from him, that she hated being married to him. He saw into her past. He saw the many different

sexual partners she had. He saw the writings of her diary, how she planned to murder him.

Victor McCullough's soul screamed.

I thought she loved me!

Victor understood now that Judith never intended to be reunited with him. She had led his

mind astray.

Victor didn't want to believe it, but everything seemed to fit now.

Through the demon's eyes, Victor caught a glimpse of Judith putting a gun to her head and

pulling the trigger. And he understood, from his own philosophies of the afterlife, that if he

performed the same act, he would be free to roam the earth as a lost deity with the only love he

had ever known.

But Judith didn't want that. And it saddened Victor to no end how much Judith had deceived him.

The pounding on the door continued and then it burst open, a half dozen men pouring

through, but it was too late.

Victor's body suddenly went limp, falling lifelessly into the burning flames. He no longer

cared how many bodies the authorities found in his residence, for they would find many.

Victor was finally set free from the earth's damnation, from his own damnation, because of

one demon's fatal kiss.