Let Me Show You
A story of cosmic horror.
This is my entry for day 12 of the Halls of Pandemonium.
It had been six hours since they had seen daylight.
The air was thick and hot like molten steel. Their muscles ached and their clothes were soppy and heavy with sweat. None of them enjoyed their job; it was a steady paycheck that put food on the table, but all day long they were weighed down with a dreariness like iron chains.
Their shift was nearly over when they found the cemetery.
Nick was the first one to speak up. “What the Hell?”
Jack took off his helmet and wiped sweat from his brow. “How did a fucking cemetery get in the middle of a mountain?”
There was no mistaking what it was. Headstones rose from the ground. Roger knelt down in front of one of the markers. He shined the light on his helmet over it. “What kind of language is this?” he said.
Nick knelt beside him and inspected the writing on the headstone. It didn’t look like any letters or symbols that he had ever seen, and though his formal education was limited he had traveled the world extensively in his military days. If this was some language spoken by humans, he would have recognized it.
“I can’t tell if they’re symbols or they’re supposed to be letters or what,” he said. “Maybe they’re supposed to be—what are they called—hieroglyphics—or something like that.”
Jack called out to his two crew mates. “Hey, check this out.” Nick and Roger stood and approached Jack, each taking up position on one side of him. In front of Jack stood a podium and on that podium was a book. The book was not a delicate volume. It demanded authority. Its covers and spine were laid with steel plates and more of the otherworldly symbols were etched all over them.
Jack took the front cover in his hand and started opening it. Nick grabbed his hand and pulled it away. “Are you crazy? What do you think you’re doing?”
Jack swatted Nick’s hand away. “It’s just a book. What harm can it do?”
“You have no idea what kind of harm it can do. Haven’t you ever read any science-fiction books or seen any scary movies? You open that book and we’re eating each other for dinner before you know it, or some portal to Hell is going to open and demons are going to come through and violate our bodies.”
“No, I ain’t never read science-fiction books and I’ve only seen a few scary movies, so—unlike you—I’ve got a firm grasp on reality.”
Jack reached for the cover once more. Roger put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “I really don’t think you should be doing that, Jack,” he said. “Nick kinda has a point.”
“I tell you what,” Nick said, planting his hand on the book’s front cover, “why don’t we let the archaeology department at the college know about this? They’ll know how to handle this safely.”
Jack laughed. “Now who’s the crazy one? You want to tell somebody else about this? It could be worth tons of money. Unless they’re willing to pay us for it, I ain’t telling nobody about this. Now, move your hand before I break it.”
Nick moved his hand with the timidity of somebody being forced against their will to risk their life. “Why do you want to see what’s in this book so bad?”
“I just want to, okay? I’m curious.”
“You don’t think you’ll be able to understand it, do you?”
“Who knows? Maybe there’s a guide to translating it inside.”
Jack opened the book.
The first page was blank. He started flipping through the pages. More of the unknown symbols were scrawled inside. There were pictures of many-legged beasts, tentacled creatures, and what appeared to be cosmological charts inside. The print was small and filled every space where there was not some picture or diagram. He reached the end of the book and closed it shut.
“Are you happy now?” Nick asked. “Is your curiosity satisfied?”
“I guess so.”
“So what should we do?” Roger asked. “Should we keep on?”
“I don’t know,” Nick responded. “I don’t think I feel safe going much further. Why don’t we tell the foreman about this and see what he says? Our shift is almost over anyway.”
“Yeah. Sounds good.”
The three men turned to head back down the path they had cut through the rock. When they were just a few steps away, Jack turned back around and went back to the podium. He hefted the book and cradled it in his arms.
“What are you doing?” Nick asked.
“I want to take a closer look at this thing,” Jack said. “Might have overlooked something.”
“You can’t read it. None of it made sense. What do you think you might have overlooked?”
“I don’t know. I just feel like I should take another look at it, is all. You’re not going to tell the foreman I took this, are you?”
His tone was not without threat. Nick and Roger looked at each other, then back at Jack. “No,” Roger said. “We won’t tell.”
“Alright, then. Let’s call it a day boys.”
Jack, Nick, and Roger made their way to the mine’s exit and took the lift back to the surface. The cool air felt crisp and light on their skin and the natural light of the setting sun massaged their eyes.
Jack immediately headed off to the employee locker room. “Y’all remember: this book is our little secret.”
#
The next day, Jack was noticeably paler. His veins stood out, cyan against his ivory skin, and his eyes were bloodshot. Nick examined him as he walked toward the lift and when he was within earshot asked him, “Jack, are you feeling okay today?”
Jack nodded with urgency. “Oh yeah. I feel great.”
“Did you look at that book last night?”
The men stepped onto the lift. “Sure did,” Jack replied. “Ya know, the more I looked at it, the more sense it made. I couldn’t understand what the words were saying, but I could understand what they were trying to say.”
Roger shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense, Jack.”
“It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me either, not at first. But the longer I stared at those symbols and the pictures in the book, the more I could tell what the book was supposed to be. I think it’s a record of some kind. Like, a travel record. Where somebody or something has been.”
“And where has this thing or person the book is about been?” Nick asked.
Jack’s eyes widened and his teeth bared in an exaggerated smile. “Everywhere! From the very edge of the universe to its center. It’s seen so many things, things that you and I can’t comprehend.”
“That sounds kinda scary, Jack.”
“But it’s not! It’s fascinating. I know that space is big, but I never really understood how big.”
“My son studies science at the university,” Roger interjected. “He says that space does have its limits, that it’s expanding but there is an end to it.”
“Oh there is an end to it, but you’ve got to travel so far to get to the end that nothing could survive the trip. Nothing natural, no machine, not even a spirit or a ghost. But the thing that book is about has been there. It’s seen the edge of forever.”
The lift landed at the bottom of the shaft. The miners stepped off and headed down the branch of the mine they were working in. When they got to the cemetery, they found that it was surrounded by caution tape. “Bob said that we were supposed to just go around it,” Nick said, relaying their foreman’s orders. “He’s not sure what to do with this yet. Technically, it’s the company’s property, so he’s got to hear from corporate before he does anything.”
Without a word, Jack ducked under the caution tape and walked up to the podium. He knelt in front of it and stared up at the roof of the mine. He was whispering something in hushed and hurried tones. Nick and Roger exchanged confused looks. Nick turned back to his coworkers and called out to him. When Jack didn’t answer, he called out to him once more, louder and sterner. Jack flinched and turned to look at Nick. “Sorry,” he said, standing. “I kind of lost myself there.” He walked back out of the cemetery and followed his coworkers around it to where they had stopped picking away at the rock the day before.
They worked for hours, toiling away at the ancient stone in their path. With tired arms and aching shoulders they forged a path through the interior of the mountain. Black powder clouded the air around them, leaving a thin layer on their exposed skin. The only light was from the units installed on their helmets; it would still be several days before an electrician and his crew came and installed lights in this shaft.
Nick checked his watch after hours of harsh labor and saw that it was time for their lunch break. “Alright, time to get something to eat.” He set his pick down and headed toward the exit of the shaft. Roger and Jack followed close behind; when they reached the cemetery, Jack crossed the caution tape again and knelt in front of the podium, seemingly deep in prayer.
Nick and Roger stopped and stared at him. “Should we do something?” Roger asked.
Nick shrugged. “Hey Jack! Jack! You gonna come eat?”
Jack continued praying.
“Jack! Jack, come on, let’s eat!”
Jack did not cease in his ritual.
Nick turned his attention to Roger. “I guess we’ll just leave him here. As long as he works, if he wants to spend all day in front of that thing, let him.”
Nick and Roger took the lift back up to the surface. They ate their lunch in relative silence, as they always did, and returned to their work site just as their lunch hour was coming to an end. Jack was still knelt in front of the podium, still looking up at the ceiling, and still whispering his odd prayers.
Nick ducked under the caution tape and put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. Jack gasped and looked at Nick. “We ready to go back to work?” he asked.
Nick nodded. “Yeah, we are. You doing okay? You didn’t stop to eat.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I wasn’t really that hungry. I’ll eat something when the shift is over.”
The three men went back to work. When their shift was over, Jack once again returned to the podium on the way to the lift. He once again knelt and began to pray.
Nick rolled his eyes. “This is getting real old, real fast.” He went into the cemetery and shook Jack. He didn’t respond. “Jack!” he shouted. He shook him again to no avail. “Jack, snap out of it!” He slapped the back of Jack’s head with an open palm, not holding back. Jack’s head snapped forward, but otherwise he did not respond.
Roger huffed. “Just leave him here. He’s bound to come out of it sooner or later. We’ll let Bob know what’s going on. Maybe he can send security down here or something.”
Nick stormed off to the lift. “He should have never opened that damn book.”
Roger caught up to him as he stomped to the lift. “Do you think that’s what’s doing this to him?”
“Whatever he saw in that book has got some kind of hold on him, I guarantee it. It’s messing with his head. It’s doing things to him.”
The men got on the lift and rode it up to the mine’s entrance. They walked off to the locker room, not speaking, and readied themselves to go home for the evening.
#
Bob met them at the lift the next day. “I’ve got some news for you boys,” he said. “It ain’t good.”
Nick furrowed his brow. “What’s going on, boss?”
“I sent the nightwatchman down there to look for Jack before I left yesterday. I called him this morning to see if he ever found him. He said he went down to the shaft y’all were working on and there was no sign of Jack. Anywhere. He checked every other shaft nearby and couldn’t find him.”
Roger narrowed his eyes and put his hand to his chest as if to massage out a tightness. “That’s not good,” he said.
“No, it’s not. I’ve called the police and reported Jack missing. I know he’s not married and doesn’t have any kids. Anybody else you think I should let know? Any family or friends nearby?”
Nick shrugged. “Not that I know of.”
Bob nodded. “You guys stay safe down there. This whole situation is giving me the creeps.”
Nick and Roger acknowledged Bob’s warning and took the lift down to their shaft. Without another word between them, they worked at a steady and cautious pace. They had just settled into a rhythm when they heard a voice come from behind them.
“I’ve seen beautiful, horrible things.”
The two men turned around, their sweat suddenly turning cold and their breathing accelerated. In the light of their helmet units there stood Jack, stripped to the waist, his upper torso covered in still-bleeding cuts. They were in shapes similar to the symbols on the headstones from the mysterious cemetery and from within the pages of the ominous book. He was smiling, his lips stretching far broader than any human mouth should be capable of, and his eyes were gone, blood pouring down his face.
Nick managed a hoarse whisper. “Jack?”
Jack took a step forward. “Let me show you. Let me show you what I’ve seen.” His voice was changed, deeper in pitch and colder in tone. “Let me show you all the wonderful and hideous things that live among the stars, the fabric of space, and in the dark between the light.”
Nick and Roger backed up, but they were stopped by the wall of rock behind them. Jack raised his hands, reaching out for them. “Let me show all the profane treasures, all the disgusting miracles, all the depraved blessings of the universe.” He came closer and closer, creeping, his body twitching.
Roger called for help. Nick joined him. They started shouting, then turned to screaming.
Jack shook his head. “No one can hear you. We are in that secret place, that reality between fantasies, that hidden dimension where there is nothing but sweet, sweet pain.”
He was within an arm’s length of them. Nick swung his pick axe at him, but Jack caught it by the shaft and pulled it away, dropping it on the ground. Roger made his own attack but Jack swatted the makeshift weapon out of his hand, sending it flying off into the dark.
“Let me show you,” Jack said. “Let me show you the answer to every question you’ve ever had.”
He grabbed the men who had been his coworkers by their throats. The lights mounted on their helmets flickered and went off, and there was screaming in the dark, then silence.
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