The Curse Of The Moloch (17)
Miz' Jezebel, his vindictive mother, was there in the kitchen of the grand house waiting for him when he returned dejected and forlorn. In her sixth sense she had a feeling of his early return, as she had heard from gossiping tongues of the raid. "Now give me back them food stamps ye be taken frum me. . Gimme them. T'night ye an' yer pals 'll be mighty hurtin' fer a bit ov drink, won't youse..." She stretched her arm towards him and grasped the stamps from his clenched fist. She continued to censure him with the bitterness of her tongue, tearing to shreds Jeremiah's entire being; her damning words increased in tempo as they ridiculed his simple mind and mimed his ways, both sober and drunken. "Babble, babble, babble, talkin' t' strange hidden critters. T'aint sech a thing. Jess yer crazy mind a' workin'," she ridiculed him, stomping her feet rhythmically to the madness of her jeering. Jeremiah blocked his ears and screamed out for her stop but to no avail. "T'aint so... T'aint so..." "Babble, babble," she continued without any thought to the effect of the taunts upon her unstable son. The bottled misery, she endured for the past years, opened and it spilled their slime in her vindic-\b tive jeering. Miz' Jezebel, in the madness of her tongue, was beyond reason, and she continued to pour out the foulness of her life. "Jess like yer pa... danm 'im t' hell... may he rot 'n th' miz'ry of his grave... drinkin' his life 'way.. Yer jes lik yer miz'rble ol' man," she heckled him viciously. STOP, ye be a' hurtin... STOP!" Jeremiah yelled in anguish as he pressed harder on his ears. "Babble, babble, y' crazy loon," Miz' Jezebel jeered him as her body spun slowly in a maddened dervish spin, her feet banging on the boards. Then she stopped and pointed a boney finger at her son; without thought or reason she cursed his very existence as being the reason for the mark of the Moloch on her soul. "Damn ye. . ye be birth wit' mah curse ov th' Moloch... Thet devil bin a-hauntin' me fer yars. Ah see him a'comin' thru thet drinkin' thets foulin' yer looney mind.. thet heathen evil spirit 'll be a-comin' t' take ye, don' y' fear.." The mention of the evil Moloch inflamed his crazed mind and increased his dementia. Evil creatures of the nether world reappeared and hovered over Jeremiah as he raised his hands, threatening by force to stop the jeering words of Miz' Jezebel, his aged and spiteful mother. But there was no stopping the madness that gripped her and the foulness continued to flow from her lips, increasing in their viciousness. The fierceful demons and shadow spirits prodded him forcefully with fierce taunting words, and the mark of the Moloch burned fiercely on his brow. Over and over the monstrous creatures plagued him until he could not bear their gibes. Then without thought, Jeremiah grabbed a small piece of wood from the pile lying near the range oven and lashed out at his mother. The first blow missed but the second one grazed the greying red of her scalp causing blood to flow. Miz' Jezebel screamed as she placed her right hand on the trickling blood trying to ease the hurt on her head. Seeing another blow aimed at her, she bent her aging body dodging the swinging stick. With a suprising agility of her careworn body she pushed one of the chairs against her son causing him to trip and fall. Miz� Jezebel, maddened by the blow, stared hard at her fallen son and with damning threats cursed loudly his very being. "Damn ye, damn ye t' hell. . Th' wicked devil' go in t' yer very soul. Ah hear th' call ov th' Moloch comin' after ye. D'ye hear th' fire god's a-comin' after yer miz'rable hide? D'ye hear he be a'commin' a' ye? Damn yer hide y' miz'rable tetched critter!" Jeremiah, angered by her threatening words, threw aside the chair and lifted himself from the floor. Burning anger etched his soul as he rushed towards his mother with the clenched stick of wood, but the fallen chair entangled him again. Miz' Jezebel saw her son's horribly contorted face mixed with an angry scowl on grinning lips, and her reasoning quickly returned, causing her to tremble with fear. She gasped for breath, turned, and ran from the kitchen. Terror gripped her very being as she made her way to the dimly lit hall. Her body shook tremorously as she grabbed the hanging kerosene lamp and made her way outside of the grand house. Her search for a haven led her to the opening leading to the cellar below. Jeremiah roughly pushed aside the chair, and tried to follow her retreating footsteps, but the darkness of the passage stopped him. Anger gripped him as he scurried back to retrieve the kitchen lamp. Holding the light aloft he searched out the corridor for signs of his mother's presence; only wavering shadows coursed through the dim light. Evil demons and spirits then filled his angry mind and directed his insane reasoning. They goaded him through the open door of the grand house, and led him by the fury of his temper. The damning creatures of hell steered his clumping feet to the wide opening to the cellar, but when he reached the top of the leading rickety steps he was struck by a tightening in his chest. Jeremiah wheezed and coughed through the pain of his sickly lungs as he tried to catch his breath. After a few moments the breathing resumed a partial normal pace; whereas he shook his blurred head to search out his way. The grin on his scowling face grew as he saw specks of blood on the cellar stairs reflected by the glare of the smoking lamp. The evil demons and shadow spirits whirled around his head as he clumped down the creaking steps. His breath came in short bursts mixed with harsh coughing, and from his grinning mouth white spittle dribbled as he cursed in a slurred tongue. Jeremiah, maddened by the sight of evil spirits taunting him, searched the cellar for Miz' Jezebel, his hurt and frightened mother. Through the dim light of the flickering lamp he looked about the junk strewn interior. The blood smeared handle of the door leading to the former liquor closet gave him a hint of her wherabouts. The crazed figure ran foward and tried to to force it open, but he found it sealed to the pressure of his rough hands. Jeremiah, angered by the locked door paced the earth-packed floor; each step taken increased his mad temper. Again the evil spirits entered his mind and directed him; he placed the lamp roughly on a discarded wooden box lying near the small closed room. With a found heavy stick he pounded on the door. No intelligent words were uttered as he banged on the portal, only harsh grunting and a sickly thin laugh, "Heh, heh, heh!" Miz' Jezebel, within the safety of the closet, held her breath and refrained from answering his threat; she simply prayed to the 'Lordy' for deliverance. The door remained secure to Jeremiah's forceful pounding, which enraged him to the very core. Ill winds blew about as the torrent of madness overflowed. The lamp flickered his menacing shadow as he rushed about frantically looking for pieces of wood and shreds of paper, which he piled against the unsubmitting door. Piece after piece of debris was thrown until half the portal was covered. The fated monsters of his mind tortured Jeremiah with taunts, and, in the fit of his uncontrolled dementia, he lifted the kerosene lamp and threw it on the heap. Flaming kerosene spilled onto the pile of wood and paper causing a burst of hellish fire and blinding smoke. It spread swiftly to the door, the age-worn timber supports of the cellar and to the countless odds and bits of stored combustible material. The exploding flames spread rapidly eating ravenously its meal, both decaying wood and screaming flesh. Jeremiah, fearing for his miserable life, climbed the burning stairs; the tongues of fire charred his very footsteps. As he stumbled upwards he saw by the brilliance of the blazing storm strange fearsome creatures tearing apart the stone walls trying to escape their des truction by the creeping flames; the myriad of figures screamed and whirled in terrible agony in their torment as they were consumed. But Jeremiah, by a quirk of fate, escaped the rapid tempo of the lashing inferno to the safety of the hard ground.. Jeremiah, with a grimmacing smile on his face, watched from a short distance as the flames consumed Miz' Jezebel's inheritance. He saw the burning brands explode and leap in fiery fierceness to the air. The fetid air about stank with a sulphuric stench of brimstone and fire of hellish sin. Deep down within the flames he could see in his confused senses the dance of the devil and his evil savants. Terrifying creatures, from the very depth of the nether world, crept in his fantasy of sight; they had joined the devil's dance and were coursing about in the glowing flames and the heated fetid air. Jeremiah remained motionless as he stared deeply at the burning building and at the tableau of the horrific celebration of the fiendish Satan and his evil consorts. He was steeped in the depth of the fantasy of his imagination, and he wasn't aware of the concerned kinfolks and neighbors that neared him. They had come quickly to aid in fighting the fire, but the consuming flames swiftly ate through the decayed timbers, rendering their pitiful efforts to uselessness; they stopped their feeble attempts and simply watched the blazing inferno. A few of the good folk noticed Jeremiah's presence and tried to question him as to what had happened, but seeing Jeremiah's contorted face, mixed with its frightening grin, left him alone. Jeremiah remained rooted to the spot till the last burning embers sputtered and flamed; nothing could move his presence not even the entreaties of the returning friendly creatures of his mind. Deep silence ensued in the coolness of the night; the only sounds heard were the crickets' mourning notes, calling out a woeful dirge of lament. Suddenly he saw rising from the depth of the burnt remains of the building a brilliant, glowing light. The glaring blaze of light flared in a menacing brightness as it rose and illuminated the gloomy darkness of the night. Jeremiah stared into the depths of the blazing light as it shone above him. Then his crazed sighting witnessed the luminous form of Miz' Jezebel, his sacrificed kin, being taken in a dark winged chariot pulled by all the myriads of the nether world - monsters of the darkness, demons of hell, evil shadow spirits of the night. As he stared he saw her companion of the air-bourne flight, a calf headed bronze figure. Slowly the mystic carrier rose to the clouded sky; as it neared him, Miz' Jezebel called out fiercely to him as she stared at him with a baleful evil eye, "Vengeance tis' mine... I'll bring ye t' th'... th' Moloch. Ye'll burn in thet' fiery pit. Yer flesh 'll burn an' yer damn bones 'll crackle. Don' ye' fear. I'll come fer ye ah promise t' th' bottom ov me soul. Don't ye fear." With the sound of a pitched hideous laugh, that shivered the very core of Jeremiah's soul, the apparition vanished. He looked towards the empty void. Suddenly sounds burst forth through the dementia of his mind. The beat of the taut drum and the blare of the horns tatooed their rhythm. He covered his ears to stop the fear-ful sounds but to no avail. He turn and ran screaming in a terrified slurred voice, "Th' Moloch, th' Moloch be comin' after me... " � � � The Evil Eye The evil one looked at his victim with a baleful eye, muttered incantations and then cast a spell over him. "Beware of the Evil Eye, beware!" warned those that feared this curse. Their warning to the good folk of the settlement spelled out its frightening and devastating effects. "The Evil Eye is the eye of fire, it burns all that appears before it..." Beware they cried in their warning. They told of their deep fear to those, that listened, that "if the Evil Eye falls upon the accursed he shall feel the terrible agony of its misery and destruction." The feared ones told the good folk that "the Evil Eye is a double eye for it hides evil under the mask of friendship. Even an innocent look should be looked upon with suspicion; the more so if those that wish you harm passed it on by complimentary words." Eye explained those who understood; it was considered unlucky to have a person's belongings praised. "The evil that it causes can affect both the offended and the offender; and a mortal being should avoid the Evil Eye of jealousy. If one is tempted by envy, a good soul could avoid the Evil Eye by calling upon the blessed
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