"RENEWAL"
Ah for the opportunity to have a second chance in life. A way to improve yourself from what you were before. A chance to correct your errors and make changes. This short story gives us all hope for a renewed future .. or does it?
Only glowing...the gaslight flickered in the corner of the room, casting eerie shadows on the melon skin walls.
The room was all that could be afforded from the Parole Board's twenty Dollar allotment. Two bucks a night rent wasn't bad but he'd spent fourteen for the week. With the price of decent liquor at a buck-fifty and the minimum sustainment for a week of life on the outside at four bottles - his finances had reached the bottom.
Twelve out of fifty-six years years wasn't a long time to spend in prison, taking into consideration the fact that the sentence was originally twenty years. The Parole Board had been lenient.. good behavior. His problem at the moment was to get some sleep. The last few hours had been spent in absolute misery. He'd been running a high fever, alternating chills and sweats. The dingy room offered little (if any) comfort.
He lay sprawled upon the bed, perspiration dripping from his brow. The last bottle of whiskey was half empty but what remained would douse the fire inside him. He downed it with great care, closed the gas jet and eased himself onto the pillow.
Below he could hear the clink-splashing of the dishes in the dishpan as his landlady went about her chores. He hadn't eaten at the evening meal but undoubtedly the other roomers had. Thinking about them all sitting around that gaudy dining room table, making idle chit chat about terribly mundane topics as if the balance of the entire world hinged on every word .. made his head swim. The empty whiskey bottle slipped from his fingers. Finally, silence crept into the boarding house and Walton Humphries drifted asleep.
The bell in the neighboring Church tower knelled six o'clock. Walton yawned solemnly and sat up in his bed. The fever had broken! In fact, he'd never felt better in his life. He rose and moved to the dresser searching for a match. The darkness was a cowardly thing that leapt back as he lit the match and touched it to the gas jet. Today was the day that he would reestablish his funds to buy some new clothes and liquid refreshment. The laundry on the corner was a pushover; plenty of cash on hand and just a little old lady tending it. Walton dressed rapidly in his usual double-breasted, gray suit (also supplied by the Parole Board), stealthily sneaked down the stairs - past the dining room door and the other roomers who were noisily eating their breakfast, and out onto the street.
He strolled heel-first with confidence as he watched the rising sun. The children playing ball, jumprope and hop-scotch around him did not interrupt their games because of his presence, but who would fear a well dressed, silver-haired man? At least, he hoped the woman in the laundry wouldn't! A song whistled from his lips and the morning birds seemed to join in the melody. He felt great. He looked great. This was a wonderful day for renewing his life of freedom. The Parole Board was right! He had learned from the error of his ways. He wouldn't make those mistakes again. This time .. he wouldn't get caught!
Gradually, chillingly Walton Humphries realized that the street he was strolling was unfamiliar to him. The storefronts and houses were quite plain, colorless. Everything seemed shaded in gray or white or black except for a deep indigo sky....and no clouds! The trees were bare and...the birds, who moments ago were chirping Walton's tune...had stopped their singing. Walton Humphries staggered at first, then collected his thoughts; he'd made a wrong turn while he was day dreaming about his renewed life! He searched for a guiding landmark or street sign but none could be found. His next impulse was to ask for directions. It was then he realized that no one was around. In fact, there was no sign of life on the street....no people...no birds...no animals...no insects. Everything was deserted. Walton looked forward. Walton looked backward. The emptiness seemed endless; no sound, no breeze, no movement!
He turned and walked on. Once he thought he saw a snickering face peering out of a foggy window but when he looked closer, it was gone. 'Imagination', he thought and walked on. Perhaps it was the rise in temperature that impelled him to look toward the sky for the location of the sun. When he did, he saw there was no sun. There was no sky! It had been bricked in! The buildings on the side of the street had gotten taller and now joined together above his head in a large, colorless, nauseating brick arch. He turned to run in retreat. After only a few steps he stopped. He could sense a long tunnel had formed. His feeble attempt to escape was futile. A large door at the end of the tunnel was closing behind him. The perspiration of the previous night was returning now. It streaked his forehead and dripped off his cheeks. In the distance...a noise! The rumbling din of a....factory. He was inside a production plant of some kind. Must have stumbled in through an alley entrance when his mind was wandering as he walked. That's it! That's the explanation. All he had to do was find the workers and ask for help finding his way out. Surely this must happen quite often, what with them leaving alley doors wide open and all. Anyone could just wander into a factory as large as that and get lost!
He paced forward, happily expecting to find rescue with every step. The noise seemed nearer now. The factory's intense heat was affecting Walton Humphries and his stride began to falter. Every step became more labored. The brick arch was of unbelievable length. Thirst filled his throat and pursed his lips. He wondered if he would still be able to speak once his rescuers were located! At last the origin of the sound was just a few yards ahead... through a smaller arched opening. A pulsing red glow lighted the way. The hiss of boilers filled the air and whisps of steam drifted out into the tunnel through the open archway. Walton Humphries, wide mouthed with awe, walked through the archway and into the central room. It appeared as though hundreds of tunnels exactly like the one he'd entered through met there.....and there were people!
Men and women alike emerged from these arch-tunnels and began forming long lines. Screams of terror and sobs of sadness filled the chamber. Agony and pain was reflected on their faces. A monstrous, dark-eyed, cloven footed creature stood high on a stone pedestal. Upon his command arms of flame and steam flared out of the pit at his feet. Simultaneously the people at the front of the line would be drawn down into the huge cavern. Their shrieks of horror echoed off the walls and a smile would ripple across the mouth of the cloven footed one.
******************* Above the tumult Walton could hear his landlady's voice.....
"I found him this way this morning, Doctor. He seemed like such a nice man, though none of us knew him well. He must have passed sometime during the night!"
"Another death due to the Scarlet Fever'd be my guess. I'll send someone from the morgue over later to pick up the remains."
******************* Walton Humphries' soul involuntarily fell in line with the others. The flames in the pit grew higher, and the chamber was again filled with the laughter of the cloven footed one.
