Damien's Awakening

Insidious

I gazed at the rifle; completely awestruck of it's beauty. I ran my hands down its cold, metallic barrel  letting the feeling imprint itself on me. My fingers then inched itself towards the bolt of the weapon...I instinctively cocked it and saw a bullet rocket out of the chamber and hit the floor. I picked up the lone bullet and examined it. It was quite large and had a pointy tip. I wondered to myself....how many bodies could this bullet go through. I smiled and placed the bullet in my pocket....This bullet is going to be special. I gandered over the amount of ammunition that was left for me. It was definitely enough for me to accomplish my ambitious. There was nothing holding me back now...I've obtained my weapon of choice and was very eager to start my "judgements". No sheer amount of words could describe how I felt right now. I also felt strange...there was a certain temptation to satisfy the dark presence of death. I don't know where this feeling came from, but it seemed as long as I held the rifle, it grew stronger. However, the feeling didn't displease me; it felt strange because it was new to me. Nevertheless, I have to practice shooting my new rifle. I must be able to master it, if I ever wanted to kill effectively.

I took a carton of ammo and headed out back to do some test shots. Luckily, my parents has also bought me a picture target to go along with my gift..I nail the target to a large oak tree about 15 yards from my house. The target was simple enough, three red circles with a medium sized dot in the middle, so it couldn't be that hard.....About a hour later, I've used up all the bullets from the carton and not once have I been able to hit the the middle dot or the inner red circle. I cursed myself for not living up to my expectations...Just then I heard that same diabolical chuckle from earlier. This time it was more feminine, but it was unmistakably Death. Death's presence seemed to give off an amusing appeal to it....almost as if it was mocking me. That very thought enraged me, and caused me to verbally lash out at death. I soon realized that it was a grave mistake. I've never been so scared in my life...I stood there in shock waiting for death to break the awkward silence. Moments later, I felt an incredible chill run down my spine..It was freezing cold and seemed to pulsate my spinal cord. The pain was unbearable...It moved from my tail bone to the back of my head, there it seemed to subside, but it got immensely worse...starting to progress through my head now. It felt like a migraine from hell. It didn't stop there, the pain soon begun to manifest in my eyes...My vision blurred and all I could see was red. By this moment, I thought I was gonna die...Everything I worked for would've been gone. During these moments, I thought only of the sweet crimson, and how I wouldn't every take part in it's scarlet offerings.

All of a sudden the pain stopped and I reclaimed my vision, but it was different from before..It was clearer, sharper, and more saturated in a way. I began to see a dark figure pick up my rifle, cock it, and shot the red dot, on my target, down center. I focused my eyes more, and saw a woman...probably in her late twenties, dressed in all black with long flowing hair. Her face looked angelic, yet demented. She wore dark makeup, but I could tell she was very beautiful without it. I walked closer to her, and with every step, I felt the dark presence grow every so stronger...It didn't take me long to realize that this woman was death itself. As I got closer, I saw a dark aura resonate from death...There was also a long black tail and horns to accompany her appearance.

Now I was a couple of feet away from her. Her gaze was directed towards me...Her features changed little as I got closer, it was always angelic, but this time it was a little demonic as well. She spoke my name and handed me the rifle. She told be to shoot. That's all she said and looked intensively at the target. Doubtful, I looked down sight of the rifle and noticed that it was drastically different. I could see the red dot as if it was a few feet from my face. I pulled the trigger, and without a doubt hit the same spot death hit when she fired. The feeling of me hitting the mark was on par to the taste of the sweet crimson. I pondered on it for a couple of seconds, and realized that the pain that I felt earlier was not for torment, but actually for my benefit. It gave me the ability to never miss a shot...kinda like a scope on Sniper rifle that hits whatever is on the middle of its crosshairs. Death begun to walk towards me. I was no longer scared of her; in fact, I embraced her presence. She slowly approached me..reaching her hand out to caress my face. Her hands were as cold as ice, but I did not shiver for I thought it'll show weakness. She pulled my face towards her robust bosom and begun to lightly stroke my hair. I was confused upon this behavior, but surprisingly it brought me to ease. She spoke my name again and begun to say what she done to me.

She spoke like an angel. Death told me that this was only the beginning, and that there were many things in store for me. She also told me that these things weren't free....they come with a price, but when I asked her what it was, she only smiled and brushed my hair out of my face. I wasn't persistent with it afterwards....she seemed to have a certain charm about her that made me forget all of my worries. Death didn't talk for very long; in fact, it probably only lasted a couple minutes. Once she was done with what she had to say, she kissed my forehead and dissolved into the air...taking her presence along with her. I instinctively didn't think nothing of it at first. I picked up all the gun casings that were left over and ripped the target down from the tree, deeming it worthless since I have this newfound power. I trashed everything and went back to my room with my rifle. Once there, I start to feel a small pain from were death kissed me. It felt almost as if it was sizzling. Getting worried, I rushed to the bathroom and looked into the mirror....What I saw shocked me. There...on my forehead...was unmistakably the dreaded number of "666"....the mark of the beast.