Demon Town, page 13
“So, are you apprenticing for your uncle Pete?”
“No, just helping out for now.”
“Well, it’s a decent way to make a living and your uncle’s a good man.” Larry winked. He had the list half-filled already.
“How do you remember where everything’s at here?” Mac asked as he watched Larry.
“I pretty much grew up in the store.”
Mac thought back to when he first started coming in to McGwire’s with his dad. He could remember Larry working back then. That was 15 years ago and Larry was just a young man then. Mac was following him around down another aisle when he experienced another of his headaches. It came with no warning and the pain was so excruciating that Mac almost lost his balance as he reached out and grabbed a shelf for support. He covered his eyes with his other hand and stood there bent over for a moment.
“Hey, are you okay?” Larry asked.
“Yeah, I think so.” Mac answered. “I just keep getting these freaking headaches.”
“Do you need an aspirin or something?”
“No, I’m okay.” Mac replied as he stood up. He took his hand away from his face, but kept his eyes closed as he grimaced in pain. He opened them and blinked repeatedly as he tried to refocus. Larry McGwire stood in front of him and watched Mac intently. The blurriness started to slowly subside and everything around him became clear again.
“Are you sure that you’re alright?” Larry asked him as he stood nose to nose with Mac.
“Yeah, I’m good.” Mac said and rubbed his eyes, but as he did so Larry’s face began to change. It was like a quick snapshot, there one instant and gone again. Larry McGwire’s face was momentarily replaced by something dark and gruesome with black soulless eyes that glared back at Mac. Grotesque grey mottled skin and jagged teeth replaced Larry’s human features. Something that looked like a cross between a man and a snake and straight out of a nightmare appeared for an instant and was gone again.
Startled, Mac jumped back away from Larry. He caught himself before he fell, but when he looked back at Larry, everything was normal.
“Are you sure that you’re okay, Darien?” Larry asked putting a hand on Mac’s shoulder.
Mac flinched at his touch and tried to recompose himself. “Sorry, I thought I was going to faint.” Mac lied. “These headaches are really doing a number on me.”
Larry studied Mac, but something in his eyes made Mac uneasy. Perhaps it was because they were the eyes of a monster mere seconds ago.
“Maybe you better go see a doctor.”
“Yeah, I think that you’re right.”
“Okay. Let me grab the rest of the stuff on your list and I’ll meet you at the counter.” Larry said and started walking away. He glanced over his shoulder, but the look on his face didn’t suggest to Mac that Larry was checking to see if he was going to be okay, but rather that something was troubling him.
“What the fuck is going on?” Mac mumbled under his breath when Larry was out of sight. He made his way back to the counter where Terry was trying to help some other customers. There were five people lined up standing and waiting as Terry fumbled his way through an order for paint. Mac leaned against a shelving unit and as he stood there another blinding pain over his right eye hit him and he winced in discomfort. Luckily for him, this time the pain only lasted a moment and then was gone.
He opened his eyes when he heard Larry McGwire greeting the other customers as he carried the rest of Uncle Pete’s order to the counter. To Mac’s horror, Larry’s human features were gone again, replaced by the monstrous creature that he had witnessed minutes ago. This time Larry McGwire’s face didn’t flashback to his human features. With his eyes wide in disbelief, Mac watched the other customers as he tried to gauge their reactions. To his astonishment, no one batted an eye at Larry or the monster disguised as Larry McGwire. They laughed and joked as he wrote up Uncle Pete’s order.
Mac thought that he must be losing his mind. A creature not of this world stood in their midst and no one else even noticed? Surely, someone would realize that Larry McGwire was not what he appeared to be, but rather some monstrous beast, wouldn’t they? Why weren’t the customers screaming in horror instead of calmly talking with whatever it was about last night’s ball game? Was he going insane? In the back of his mind, Mac heard the old man’s voice like a whisper in the wind. “Things are not as they appear in your little town. All in good time, you’ll see.”
As he contemplated what the old man had done to him this time, Mac was tapped on the arm by a carpenter standing beside him. The carpenter pointed to the counter where the monstrosity formally known as Larry McGwire was holding a pen and a bill for Mac to sign. “Anything else I can help you with, Darien?”
As calmly as he could, Mac walked past the other waiting customers and signed the invoice.
“No, that should be all.” Mac said as coolly as he could. Nothing out of the ordinary was going on here.
Dark taloned hands slid a cardboard box full of light switches, outlets and wire towards Mac. It took every ounce of strength that he could muster to stop himself from screaming out. Nobody else could see what Larry really was and there was no way to prove to them what was standing in their midst. Not now, anyway.
“You make sure to see a doctor and get those headaches checked out.” the creature said winking at Mac.
“I will. Thanks for your help, Larry.” Mac smiled back and made his way past the other customers. Once he was outside, Mac walked around the corner where no one could see him and set the box down in the snow. He remained bent over and placed his hands on his knees and threw up.
It was all at Mac could do not to tell Uncle Pete what he had seen at the hardware store when he returned with the supplies. He wanted to...he really wanted to tell his uncle, but every time he had rehearsed it in the van, it sounded more ridiculous than the previous time.
“Hey Uncle Pete, did you know that Larry McGwire is a freaking monster?”
“Yeah, for some reason I can see that he’s not human, but no one else can. What’s up with that?”
“Better think twice about returning any of this stuff, Uncle Pete. There’s more to Larry than meets the eye and I’m here to tell you that he’s got a really fucking ugly side!”
In the end, Mac said nothing about it to Uncle Pete. He would never believe it. Shit, Mac didn’t even believe it and he saw it firsthand. He carried on as long as possible without saying anything, but decided to approach the matter in a different way. “Hey, have you ever noticed anything...unusual here in Paradise Flats?”
“Like what?”
“You know...really weird shit that seemed like it was really out there?”
Uncle Pete frowned. He wasn’t sure where Mac was going with this. “No, not that I can think of offhand.”
“Hmmm.” That wasn’t the answer that Mac was hoping for. “Have you ever heard anyone saying that they’ve seen things that just didn’t seem real at the time?”
Uncle Pete stopped what he was doing. “Are you okay, Mac? Did something happen?”
The moment was right there for Mac to tell his uncle and unburden himself with what he had seen and what he could make people see. Then, he would just have to hope that his uncle wouldn’t think that Mac had completely lost his fucking mind.
“No.” He hesitated and thought that it would be better to change the subject. “No, I just like hearing supernatural stories like UFOs, Bigfoot....that kind of stuff. You’ve never seen or heard anything like that?”
Uncle Pete laughed. “In Paradise Flats? Are you kidding? Not much of anything ever happens around here and if it did, you’re bound to hear about it. Hell, you can barely take a shit in this town without somebody knowing about it.”
Mac didn’t push the matter. He decided that he would get together with Mikey and Milo after work and tell them of this latest development. Before he did, however he decided to go back to the hardware store after work and see if he could get another look at Larry McGwire to confirm what he had seen earlier. He scanned the aisles as he walked through the store, but didn’t immediately see him. Terry Philips was standing at the counter trying hard to look busy at doing nothing. Mac avoided eye contact with him and hoped that he could sneak by him without any awkward conversation.
“Need help with anything?” Terry asked.
Mac’s shoulders slumped. “Not really...actually, can you find the Big Mac’s Electrical invoice from earlier today? I don’t remember signing it and my uncle’s pretty much a stickler for anything that’s picked up being signed for.”
Uncle Pete wasn’t, but Mac was winging it the best that he could. Terry’s face lit up. This was something that he could handle. As he flipped through the invoices, Mac continued to look for Larry McGwire. He didn’t have to look long as Larry emerged from the back room with a customer who was holding some paint swatches. For a second Larry looked like himself with his regular human features, but it didn’t last, however. The monstrous look returned and Mac’s heart sank. He hadn’t been mistaken. Larry McGwire wasn’t human and judging by the lack of any reaction to his hideous appearance by anyone else in the hardware store, Mac was the only one who could see him for what he really was, whatever that may be.
Mac acted as if he couldn’t see through the gruesome masquerade and that everything was business as usual. He pretended to read a note that lay by the counter while Terry looked for the invoice.
“Here it is.” Terry said as he slid the invoice on the counter towards Mac. “Is that your signature?”
“Yeah, that’s me.” Mac smiled and wiped his forehead as if he were brushing away some sweat. “Whew, I can sleep better tonight not having to worry about that now.”
He looked over at the creature masquerading as Larry McGwire to see if he had been listening to Mac, but he and the customers seemed oblivious of him.
“So...is there anything else I can help you with?” Terry asked in a tone that was meant to imply that he had more pressing matters to attend to.
“No, that’s it. Thanks for your help.” Mac replied and walked out without looking back.
“You gotta be shitting me.” Milo shook his head in disbelief when Mac later told him and Mikey about his encounter at the hardware store. Both of his parents were still at work, so the 3M’s decided to meet at Milo’s place. “So, if Larry’s not Larry, then what the fuck is he?”
“I don’t know.” Mac answered shaking his head.
“Show me what he looks like. Show us both.” Mikey said as he got up from the recliner chair that he was sitting in and sat down on the couch beside Milo. A nervous look came over Milo’s face and he slowly leaned away from Mikey.
“Dude, people might start talking.”
“You wish.” Mikey replied with a look of disgust on his face. “Okay, show us.”
“Are you sure no one else is home?”
“Yeah.” Milo replied. “My dad’s still working and my mom has to go grab some groceries when she’s finished work.”
“Okay, but remember that you asked for this.”
Mac recalled the image of Larry McGwire’s monstrous appearance in his mind and forwarded it to his friend’s one at a time.
Milo jumped back. “What the fuck is that?”
“That’s definitely not Larry McGwire.” Mikey said in disbelief. “And you’re sure no one’s yanking your chain, Mac?”
“Besides the old man? Nope. He’s the key to all of this.”
“What did he say to you again?” Milo said as he shuffled away from Mikey to the far end of the couch. “Not all is as it appears in Paradise Flats?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
“Well, it would appear that Larry McGwire is not what he appears to be.” Milo concluded.
“No shit, Captain Obvious.”
“So, what is he then?”
“I don’t know...a demon?” Mac shrugged, even though it sounded ridiculous as soon as he said it.
“So, the old man is an angel then?” Mikey offered, but didn’t sound like he believed what he was saying.
They sat in silence pondering what they were suggesting.
“This is totally whacked...you realize that, don’t you?” Milo stood up and started pacing back and forth. “We’re talking angels and demons here. In Paradise Flats. Shit, I don’t even know if I really ever believed in the whole heaven and hell thing before now. I still don’t. There’s got to be another explanation.” Milo stopped his pacing and turned towards Mac. “You haven’t been messing with LSD or magic mushrooms have you?”
“Nope, never have.” Mac replied.
“I know. I’m just grasping for something concrete. You know how bizarre this all sounds, don’t you? Mac being able to make people see things? Angels and demons here in Paradise Flats? This shit just doesn’t happen for real.”
Milo sat down and stared at a space on the wall in front of him. Mac and Mikey exchanged bewildered glances and then found themselves trying to figure out what Milo was looking at. Finally, Mikey could take no more of the awkward silence.
“So, what do we do now?”
Mac and Milo both shrugged. When the two of them failed to come up with an answer, Mikey continued. “Okay, let’s just say that for some totally messed up reason Larry McGwire is a demon. What’s he...it doing in Paradise Flats? The old man said soon you’ll see, didn’t he?”
Mac nodded.
“Okay, so assuming Mac here isn’t having an acid flashback like they did in the sixties and isn’t imagining this whole demon thing, what’s this got to do with him in the first place? Why you?” Mikey asked pointing at Mac.
“I’ve probably asked myself that a hundred times already.” Mac shrugged.
“Why is there a demon...if that’s what Larry McGwire is...why is there a demon in Paradise Flats and why can only Mac see it?”
“What if there’s more?” Milo blurted out of nowhere.
“What?”
“What if there are more demons or whatever Larry is?”
Mikey and Mac looked at each other with puzzled expressions. They hadn’t thought of that.
“Okay, look. We can speculate about this until we’re blue in the face, but until the old man shows up and gives us some answers, we’re just beating our heads against the wall.” Mac said in frustration. “So, if he is going to show up, now would be as good a time as any.”
The 3M’s scanned the room in hopes that the old man would miraculously appear, but they were disappointed.
“So, Larry doesn’t know that you know that he’s a demon, right?” Milo started pacing again.
“As far as I can tell...no.”
“Okay, let’s do some undercover surveillance then. You know...watch where he goes, who he talks to, etc. Let’s find out if he’s the only one or if maybe there’s more.”
Mac sat hunched over rubbing his hands together. He wanted to believe that he was mistaken about this whole thing and that the headaches were causing him to see strange things. He wasn’t mistaken though. As far-fetched and as crazy as it seemed, there was something pretending to be Larry McGwire. What it was he didn’t know for sure, but he knew what he saw was real. The old man was real. His ability to make others see what he wanted them to see what was real. As much as Mac wished that this was all a bad dream and that it would all be gone when he woke up, he knew that it was all real and that it wasn’t going to go away. As scared as he was, he knew that whatever was happening here was something that he was going to have to figure out. He apparently was the key to solving this mystery and until the old man reappeared with some answers, he would have to find some on his own in a discreet manner.
“If we do this, it’s hush-hush and we just observe and not interact. Maybe that’s what the old man meant when he said that he needed my help. Maybe he knows that there’s a demon here, but he can’t see through its disguise. Maybe that’s what I’m supposed to do. Point it out let and him deal with it.”
Mikey and Milo contemplated this for a moment.
“I’m in.” Milo said raising his hand up.
“Yeah, it’s not like I have anything better to do now that sasquatch season is done for the year.” Mikey raised his hand up and then stood up beside Milo in a show of solidarity before reaching over and smacking him on the shoulder.
“Oww! What the hell?!” Milo yelled as he rubbed his shoulder.
“Sorry, I must’ve slipped.” Mikey grinned. “So, when do we start, Mac?”
It was a couple of days later on a Saturday when the 3M’s staked out the McGwire’s Hardware store parking lot. The idea at first was to find out if Larry McGwire was working and who was coming and going out of the hardware store. Mac went in and immediately spotted Larry trying to sell old Joe Brooks a snow blower. Like before, Larry appeared normal, but then his human features twisted and distorted into the gruesome demon beneath. Old Joe and anyone else who walked by seemed none the wiser that Larry was anything other than he appeared.
Mac returned to his truck parked outside where Mikey and Milo waited. It was quite chilly out so they were glad to see him again.
“You could have left the truck running, you know.” Milo grumbled. “I’m freezing my ass off.”
Mac complied by starting the truck and cranking up the heat.
“Well?” Mikey wondered out loud.
“He’s still a demon or whatever it is.”
“So, that makes two that you know of, right?”
“Yeah, Larry and Don Lawrence.”
Mac had spotted Don Lawrence the day before as he was driving past Paradise Flats Savings and Trust. The CEO of the bank was just walking out of the building and Mac noticed him and did a double take. Sure enough, his wispy white hair and wrinkled features melted away like Larry McGwire’s into something not human and as before he was the only one who seemed to notice. No other passersby even batted an eye at the creature disguised as Don Lawrence.
