Flux

anyway, having a smoke might take the edge off things but it didn’t work. Two thirds of the way down his first joint of the evening, Iain burst into tears. He went back to the cupboard and fetched out the half full whisky bottle he had in there. He let the tears come.
    Unsurprisingly, before long Iain was well and truly trolleyed. Tears still fell down his face and snot dripped from his nose but he was way past caring. Moving to the stereo, he flicked it on and cranked up the volume before slumping back onto the sofa. Smells like teen spirit by Nirvana filled his head from the speakers. I wish I had a shotgun, was Iain’s last thought before the room spun and he fell into a fitful, drunken slumber.
    He woke to a room full of darkness and the sound of static. With a mouth that felt full of gum, he wanted to vomit. From somewhere he couldn’t place, came voices, two men in conversation too quiet and distant to distinguish any words spoken. He strained his ears. There were other noises, on the periphery of his hearing; tortured screams, the clanking of chains and grinding of cogs, laughter! But not the jovial kind, and there, subtle, but there none the less, the cries of a new-born infant.
    The harder he concentrated, the clearer the noises became until they rang as a din in his head. The voices remained eerily imperceptible. They were arguing, no, not arguing but rather one party was shouting, the timbre of the voice full of anger, the other frantically apologetic, begging even. Still, even if the gist was clear, the words and meaning remained elusive and Iain turned his focus to the other sounds.
    He wasn’t as frightened as he once was, and frankly too worn down to care he listened intently for some meaning. A clue to help in his mission perhaps? Mission? That is now what he saw himself as being on; a quest to prevent the fulfilment of his prophecies. What if I am a prophet, like in the bible? Obviously not Jesus or anyone, more like Job or Noah, a pawn to further God’s great plan. His thoughts were running away with him and while they did he stood up, motionless, eyes closed, with arms outstretched like Christ on the cross and the whole world fell away around him. Only the uproar of hell remained.

    No longer in the darkness of the living room; the stereo did not exist. He was standing on the rim of a vast volcano, looking out across the crater. Black smoke rose up to be quickly swept away once it emerged, by a wind which Iain braced against. It exhilarated him as he looked down onto the fires and molten rock below, where man and beast toiled in eternal damnation. The beast looked back.
    They fixed gazes for what seemed like an eternity but Iain did not flinch. Like those before him, he was directly empowered by God and feared no evil. He spat into the volcano and the beast flared with rage, sending forth a shockwave which shattered rock and flattened its minions.

    The next time Iain opened his eyes, it was light and Bert sat in the armchair opposite. His neck hurt from lying at an odd angle, his head hurt also and he needed water. “Go away,” he grumbled to the old man, burying his head in between a cushion and the inside corner of the sofa.
    “Have you come to a decision?”
    “I said, go away!” The emphasis on away, his voice angry.
    “Is that your answer?” Bert asked, surprisingly solemn of voice.
    “Your answer is no!”
    “I warned you.”
    “I’m not scared of you. I’ve been through too much to give a flying fuck about anything you could do to me!”
    Bert snarled, his top lip retracting to reveal rows of pointed teeth. “You ‘aint seen nothing yet you snivelling little piece of shit! I’ll show you what I can do you fucking cunt!”

    Just then, there came a knock at the door.

    “Answer it then you little twat!” Bert spat before walking into the kitchen. Shell-shocked from the tirade, Iain did. On the other side stood Gary, a worried look etched onto his face.
    “Aright mate, How you doin’?” he asked, a smile appearing on his face at seeing that his friend was at least still alive. “Just thought I’d see how you were, me and Dave were beginning to worry about you. I tried phoning a few times.”
    “Oh, I’m fine. Come in.” He held the door open for Gary to enter, signalling to the sofa.
    “Cheers.” Before he got two paces into the room, Gary stopped dead in his tracks at what he saw, his jaw hanging limply before emitting a long and drawn out “whatthefuck!”