The Evil That Is Corrupting Man

<p data-p-id="9b0d743b25dd0532c335e9eff0bd1333"> The heart of man, so easily corrupted, can be taken over by any evil. No matter how strong or weak the evil is, there is no doubt that it will eventually consume someone, and cause pain to another. A person who has yet to be touched by the greedy hands of evil and darkness.</p>
<p data-p-id="4d8cbb7f322dc3111de91579380deec2"> James, a young man of the age of seventeen, sat quietly at home by himself. He was finished with his weekend homework, and all he could do was wait. Wait for his drunken father to stagger back through the old, rotten front door of their shabby excuse of a house. Wait for the painful blows that his father fiercely throws at his thin body. Each foul word he screams, filling the vicinity of Jame's cramped room with the awful stench of that days drinking.</p>
<p data-p-id="533fcc2e4774b1c559672cb1779d6500"> It's now twelve in the morning, and his father had finally arrived at their hovel. He tried to walk, but out of drunkenness, he stumbled and almost fell onto the torn up floor. James sat quietly on his bed. He had learned a long time ago that hiding, or fighting, only made the drunken beating worse because it fuelled his father's rage. He had an expression of stone. Not moving as his father yelled for him to come to him, not flinching as his father slammed and stumbled through his broken bedroom door. Not making a sound as his father latched onto his left arm with an iron grip and hauled him off of his bed and dragged him closer.</p>
<p data-p-id="70f8cd9ffa1eadc7db570858ba052b0c"> "Where's your mother? She's not here and I wish to see her." His father said. The stench of alcohol flooded Jame's nasal cavity. His father had a concerned look on his face, but his eyes belonged to a dead man. "I looked all over the house, but she isn't here. Do you know where she is?"</p>
<p data-p-id="71b99b8e061f60a443ae20d067d913c4"> James hesitated with his answer, but he knew that he would be beaten with whatever he did. "Yeah, she's in the cemetery. She died eleven years ago in a car accident dad. Please remember. I need you to." James began to plead this time. Hoping with all his being that maybe a spark of understanding would show through his father's dead eyes.</p>
<p data-p-id="81927cf6bf0c4abed268504897de8a9f"> "Don't lie to me boy Your mother is alive and well, and I demand to know where she went off to!"</p>
<p data-p-id="0756fe0706824a3784b60520bbf10e2f"> "I'm not lying! She's dead! I promise!" James let out a cry as his father began to squeeze his arm to the point it felt like he would break it. "Please don't hurt me anymore!"</p>
<p data-p-id="39350da29c1c911ca3ebc398a66af156"> "I'm not going to let a liar live under my roof unpunished!" His father yelled as he swung his right arm back, and began to beat his only child.</p>
<p data-p-id="0a2d41c051cf708be1c525f651045acd"> "Dad! No! I promise..." James's words were cut off by his father's hard knuckles connecting with his jaw. A second later, blood began to fill James's mouth from the now open wound on the inside of his cheek.</p>
<p data-p-id="3e20f6f8cfa5557254a05a258b57e57d"> The pain and agony that the poor son had to endure was excruciating. Lasting until his drunken father began to become tired and lose his motivation to continue with the relentless abuse. His anger did not fail though. He grabbed his beaten, bloody son and began to drag him by his black shaggy hair. Dragging him to the front door, he spoke, but James couldn't understand what he said because he was in and out of the existence of the world. He was fading. Next thing he knew, Jame's right shoulder connected hard against the muddy ground outside. A snap alerting him to the sound of something breaking, and then the pain came. His right arm had a bone protruding through his upper arm. He let out a blood chilling scream as he grabbed at the now useless limb.</p>
<p data-p-id="7877842bbe50880e4758e9c0f3b12974"> "Now get out there and don't come back unless you have your mother!" His father yelled as he turned around and slammed the door.</p>
<p data-p-id="edc01fbd368bc9e9b5af550755d2d8b3"> "I guess I won't be coming back then you drunken fool!" James screamed, hot tears running down his cheeks, mixing with the cold rain that poured down.</p>
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<p data-p-id="e3e6a2c9ca7d1d8295b7233a242d3983"> He started running, running no place specific, but running no matter what. The rain made the blood run thin, and it stained his grey shirt down his sleeve and his side. The pain was excruciating, and he wanted it to stop. The pain and anger causing more tears to flow and mix with the rain. Where was he going? He didn't know, he didn't care. As long as it took him far away from his pain.</p>
<p data-p-id="741394fd2f36a94f8f60fecdbe71664c"> After a few more minutes of running, he came along an old concrete bridge with green vines climbing up the sides of it. After thinking over the idea of continuing to run, his exhaustion won, and he took refuge from the rain under the arch of the bridge. James sat on a platform that made the edge of the river. Out of frustration and anger, with his good arm James began to tug at his hair, and curse to the wind. In his fit, he didn't notice that the rain had suddenly stopped pouring, and that the river had stopped flowing. Everything was still, as if time had stopped, and as if on a timer, footsteps began to approach the angered boy. The temperature dropped low, and the water began to freeze. James was suddenly aware of what was going on around him, and in a panic he scrambled to his feet. His drenched body had frost forming on it, and his breath came out in foggy puffs. The footsteps continued to get closer and closer until an old man dressed in a black suit with a red undershirt stood in front of him.</p>
<p data-p-id="4dc132f9c34b5ae609d04aa53df33c48"> "Hello James." His voice came out deep and it was mesmerizing. It pulled the boy out of his fit of fright and anger.</p>
<p data-p-id="1c978068f94383465531e60e6be6bb07"> "Who are you? How do you know my name?" James asked, getting prepared to tun as fast as he possibly can to get away.</p>
<p data-p-id="58fb38b68dd17dd4ac458dbba283eedc"> "Oh, where are my manners? I have many names, oh indeed I do, but you can call me Lucifer." The old man explained with a toothy grin plastered on his face. He the proceeded to brush back his white hair. "I'm here to help you James. Take the pain away. Fix your drunken father."</p>
<p data-p-id="dd7de40131cb7d6ded02a4de79308e7d"> James looked the man up and down. "Satan?"</p>
<p data-p-id="723897764f8e96074f429896485e12f9"> "The one and only." Lucifer laughed, picking a piece of lint off of his suit jacket.</p>
<p data-p-id="3b2638c6841f4bdd09911c7f8a58f16b"> "Please, help me. What do I need to do?" James pleaded.</p>
<p data-p-id="8fa281bfba975ca5d2205a588dfe3a92"> "First, let me heal your body." Lucifer walked over to James, and with a light touch to James's chest over his heart, he was healed. No more broken bone or pain. "Now, I need you to sign this contract, but in doing this, your soul will belong to me. Do you understand?"</p>
<p data-p-id="cd4c470bdd017ae5cf9eafcc8d2d8ae7"> James quickly nodded, took the contract, and signed his name and soul away. Lucifer nodded, and with a snap of his fingers, he had disappeared. The environment around James quickly returned back to normal. The rain pouring, and the river started flowing. Slowly he fell to his knees,and he looked up at the lightning mutilated sky. The rain fell on his pale skin, and the frost melted away. His mouth slowly curled into a small smile that continuously grew until his mouth couldn't stretch any wider. He chuckled quietly to himself, and that chuckle quickly turned into a hysterical laugh.</p>
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<p data-p-id="f66653072ef8522def17c493cc88b95c"> He made it back to his house just before noon. It had stopped raining an hour ago, and he was almost completely dry. James still had the same smile plastered onto his face, but the laughter had ceased. He stopped at the gate, looked at the front door, and began to walk in.</p>
<p data-p-id="9374baebb8e02b3040c2318a6a237eee"> "Dad?" He called out into the hovel, but there was no response. "Are you better now?"</p>
<p data-p-id="9a326c449045b832edbf7e18ffa02807"> James walked around the house, stopping in the living room at a piece of paper lying on the floor. When he picked it up, he noticed that it read, "I'm sorry James." When James looked up at his father's chair, he could see blood staining the back and side of the cloth recliner in front of the TV. Quickly, he ran towards the chair to see what happened. In the chair, his dad sat lifeless, a shotgun sat in his lap, and a hole went through the back of his throat and out the back of his head. He had committed suicide while James was gone.</p>
<p data-p-id="f7c761384ec67a0545ae1fa07d51eef8"> "No!" James screamed, falling backwards onto the floor. "This is not what I wanted! This is not what I wanted! Dad!" James screamed at the top of his lungs, and he cried out to the lifeless body that used to be his father.</p>
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<p data-p-id="7c9d057b38c6cfc5f230b784f8f06be8"> An hour passed, and James sat there shaking, staring at the shotgun in his father's lap. He considered it now, he wanted to fix his dad, not kill him. What can he do? He has no one now.</p>
<p data-p-id="7e5cc670faecaa399cacb92119df202f"> A voice clawed at the back of his mind. "End it. End it! You have no one. You're all alone now. Let the evil take you away!" It laughed at him, tortured him.</p>
<p data-p-id="656e6a553c72396499711a6ff306889c"> He couldn't take being alone. Slowly he reached for the shotgun, stuck the end of the barrel in his gaping mouth, and prepared to pull the trigger. He waited a moment, but he couldn't do it. He cried out for his father, knowing that there would be no answer. Suddenly, the old man was standing beside him. He looked down at the shaking, crying boy, and laughed.</p>
<p data-p-id="64156f1830ceb2fec05215412107fac8"> "You have been corrupted. Your heart tainted. You want to kill yourself, give yourself release, but that won't be the case. Why? Because you sold me your soul, you are mine for eternity." Lucifer hissed into Jame's ear, and picked up the shotgun. Lucifer kicked the boy over on his side, held the shotgun to his head, and prepared to pull the trigger. "For eternity you will suffer."</p>
<p data-p-id="6b39539bb1dca864d833d3088c0827df"> "No!" James screamed as the trigger was pulled, and his life was ended. He was gone.</p>
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<p data-p-id="da17c72807ad8d4b9850d85883a6f2e6"> News Report: "At about one twenty-five this afternoon, a young man and his father were discovered dead in their home. It appears that the father had shot the boy in the head after severely beating him, and then committing suicide himself. We will not give out names at the moment, but we will give you more information about this incident when we know more ourselves. This is channel eight news, good day."</p>
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