Friday December 31st 2010
Old Years Night.
Jacob Herzfeld lay on his back, his tiny body a frail and weakened figure, left physically and mentally impotent by the passage of time. He had looked into the eyes of death and found it wanting.
The respirator forced another unwarranted breath into his exhausted lungs while the heart monitor slowly pinged. The sound of the monitors and medical equipment reverberated from the old wooden walls until the slow, erratic pings became a constant, whining tone.
The candle light that remained in Jacob’s eyes was blown out by the winds of time and the book was finally closed. The final chapter had been written and the story was finished.
A burning white light filled the room and his old crippled body was filled by a new energy. A middle aged man in a black suit and black briefcase entered from the door to his left and confidently strode to the foot of his bed. Jacob was dwarfed by the stature and poise of the well dressed stranger.
“Well then, what do we have here...” The figured slowly and deliberately placed his case on the end of the bed and opened the case with a loud click. Instead of echoing within the room, the clicks and movement of papers echoed furiously within Jacobs mind causing a new form of pain to be introduced into his frail mind.
“Jacob Herzfeld also known as Randolph Grüber, born June 25th 1923, murderer, thief, traitor and war criminal. Your crimes have funded your life since you were 20 years old and your punishments will be more terrible than your pathetic mind can imagine.”
Jacob let out a cry of panic as the stranger’s words sent slivers of ice though his soul.
“During World War two, your actions lead to the death of thousands of Romani, Jews, Polish and Homosexual civilians.”
The room filled with the ghostly bodies of a hundred tortured and executed prisoners. Their faces twisted and contorted with abject terror, their eyes mirroring the image of the young SS officer, armed with his Luger P08 pistol, herding in prisoners to false showers where Zyklon B would be dropped through vents in the side walls, releasing toxic Hydrogen Cyanide and executing thousands of innocents.
Hundreds more eyes, projecting the crystal clear image of the same young officer smiling the smile of a manic as he pulled the trigger of his Luger and sprayed the brain matter of hundreds of prisoners onto the cold brown earth.
The twisted bodies limped and stumbled forward to the bed, bringing their horrible forms and projected images into sharp, inescapable relief. The leading figures raised blue-gray arms and stretched and latched onto Jacobs’s tiny frame, holding still his mind and body and preventing any escape from the terrible scene.
The strangers mind shattering voice spoke again. “You stole the belongings of those you killed to finance your greed.” Jacob’s soul froze at the sound of this unearthly tenor.
The ghoulish figures held tighter.
“You betrayed your fellow criminals to save your own worthless skin.” The burning white light shifted hues to a dark crimson red. “You lied and deceived everyone around you in order to escape the judgement that you rightfully deserve.”
Suddenly the ghouls vanished, freeing Jacob and giving a false feeling of liberation. The sound of ancient gears and cogs started a terrible tremor, shaking the room and throwing portraits from the walls.
Eldritch, blood dripping hooks , connected to thick iron chains, ejected though the dark wooded walls and dug deeply into Jacob’s flesh pulling his body in opposite directions and raising him from the bed.
“Your punishment is eternal.” As he spoke, a burning red portal opened at the foot bed opened before him. “There will be no rest, no reprieve and no escape.” The hooks pulled towards the fiery opening.
As Jacob’s skin breached the portal an intense fire leapt onto the wrinkled body, burning and charring with a pain unknown to man. The wrinkled skin turned to black leather as his body was sucked into the burning vortex.
As the tip of his head had passed through the gate, it sealed shut and the room was once again quiet. The stranger put his documents back into his briefcase and shut it with an echoing click. He adjusted his tie and straightened his suit then slowly and in a measured way, picked up his case, walked slowly thru the door and shut it with a gentle thud.
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