The Time Travel memoirs: Lost And So Alone

There on the step of my cottage stood a monster.
It was a moment of my life that I would never forget. We all hear of people who have power, whether they are the government or a monarch. None of these people have actual power, what stood on the other side of the cottage door had.

It was what the ignorant human would call a demon that was for sure. The demon stood about seven feet tall and stood with confidence. The demon had the look of someone who owned the place. Its face was a maroon colour, mostly red, but tinged with a faint charcoal black. The demon had horns which grew out of his head just above his ears and curved about thirty centimetres upwards. Other than that the demon looked almost human, it wore a leather duster which almost touched the floor.

There was something about its posture which made me think it was in pain. It was tall but it was bent over slightly. The duster was open enough to reveal the demon’s chest. I almost felt sorry for it, as its chest was laden with sharp objects. Sharp pieces of metal were buried deep in its flesh, I noticed broken glass too. The demon made no attempt to rid itself of the objects. He walked forward into the cottage shunting me to the side; I was too shocked to notice. I was almost paralysed in fear. I came to my senses when he was on the other side of the room. I noticed his legs were in chains and he was dragging them slowly.

He reached a claw to a cupboard in the kitchen and snapped it clean off, he pulled out a box of cigarettes and lit one. The demon didn’t seem to enjoy the cigarette, when it took a drag of the cigarette he didn’t seem to gain any pleasure off it. It was as if he held the cigarette for the sake of holding it. The demon sat down in the chair that I had been enjoying my cup of tea in and began to work on the cigarette.

I gathered up all of my courage and took the knife out of its sheath. “How dare thee intrude here beast, to your feet.” It stubbed out the cigarette on his chest and sighed as the butt went out. He looked at me and began to giggle; it was an almost comical laugh, a laugh that later I would find out, simply did not suit his voice. He sounded like a demented clown, he laughed hysterically, reminding me of an occurring nightmare as a child. It was a nightmare about a clown who came to murder me.

He spoke; his voice was bitter and angry, it had a hint of an Italian accent, I could not explain why but I had my theories. “Human, you are the one who is the beast. And technically you are the one intruding; you are here because I wish it.” He stood up to his full height and grabbed me by the neck; I was raised instantly off the ground, the strong muscles in the demons biceps worked against me and I lost air. I gasped and shuddered in the air, never taking my eyes of that of the demon, I was terrified, curious and excited at the same time, there was no real time or need to be scared.

“The name is Damian.” The demon announced, he threw me to the edge of the room and I hit my head off the wall. That had hurt, the demon laughed, I must have looked pathetic. “Human, I am naught but a simple sinner from my lord Beelzebub, I have come here to tell you some…” he stopped to giggle, he did this for a minute before he stopped.
“Some grave news.”

My voice came out, shakily, “my luck hasn’t been brilliant lately, so you can take your grave news and bin it, I don’t want to hear it, now leave.” The demon raised his eyebrows and looked at me with a mixture of anger and surprise on his face.
“Now isn’t this fascinating, a human who isn’t afraid of one of us. When the demon’s visited me I was dragged away screaming. You’ve just got to go with the flow Mr. Carter.” I picked up a vase and flung it at the demon; it made contact and exploded into a cloud of dust.
“That was a very bad move, George, very bad move.”

The demon strutted over to me, I closed my eyes like a coward, waiting for him to smite me. He didn’t. I felt the old combat knife being wrenched out of my hand. I opened my eyes and watched the demon bend the strong metal of the knife with his bare hands. He giggled and flung the weapon across the room.
I stared into the demons eyes. “Why are you here, I’m no use to you. I’m lost in time.” Damian tilted his head, a giggle rising in his chest. “I know, you are lost in time because the king of demons wishes it.” I felt sick and petrified. “Why does he wish it?” Damian lit up another cigarette, “it’s my job, I am a harvester.”

I looked at him confused.

“I’m a noble servant of Beelzebub, in hell we call people like me harvesters, I was forced into the job by Beelzebub himself. People like me harvest souls, but each of us is employed to harvest souls in a different way. I am hired to be creative; many of my methods take a long time to take the soul of the human. But it works, I am known in hell as the demon of madness.”

He would never say it, but it was obvious he did this over a long period of time to spite the devil. God, the devil, I must be dreaming, yes, this is a nightmare. Fooling myself into believing it wasn’t real was stupid. I knew it wasn’t, I needed to figure a way out of the room.
“Dear boy, consider it an honour to be harvested by me, I am Damian Marone the third and I assure you, this isn’t personal.” I stood up slowly and sat down on a chair. “Damned right it’s personal, you are talking about death.” I began to look around the room for the exits, but Damian had me trapped here, in the war. Going out there would be as dangerous as staying in here.

Truth be told, I shouldn’t have understood what he was telling me as thoroughly as I did. I should have been crouching in the corner weeping and begging him not to kill me. I understood well, far too well, so I asked him the question that would start the mess that would rule my life.

“So what have you thought up for me?”
Damian’s head snapped to where I was sitting, scars where his eyebrows would have been were raised. “I’m impressed that the information has sank in so quickly human. It usually takes... persuasion to understand.”

I nodded slowly

“I understand alright, you bastard. You like your work; you like seeing ordinary folk like me suffer. But you tell us that it isn’t personal, that you are just doing your job.” Damian giggled once more, it was starting to get on my nerves, every time he giggled I flinched. “That’s the thing human, you are not ordinary. You know how we can take this amount of humans without people asking questions? Because you are no one, you live alone, there’s nobody who cares about you.” I knew all of this was true, but to be told it by a demon was damned right insulting. “Faith...” Damian cut in; “Faith left you, she doesn’t want to be with you any longer. She doesn’t care, nobody does.”

Damian giggled again. He began to giggle harder at my pained and patronised expression.
“That’s not the point though is it?”
Damian smiled through the smoke.
“Of course, you are correct. The point isn’t to patronise you or to make you unhappy. I don’t care if you are in pain or if you are suffering. The soul has a purpose. The soul is converted into power when it is taken and powers the deepest darkest depths of the underworld. Your own soul will be drawn out by the method of madness, so it will be a lengthy process I’m afraid.” Damian smiled maliciously.

I stood up, “you’ll never get mine.” I had genuine panic on my face, the demon was smiling, it knew something.
“The curse is set upon George Carter, on this day, you are stuck with the curse of time travel. Each night when you fall asleep, you will be transported to a different time or planet. You have no control over this matter, the deed is done. Across the universe you will see so much death, so much evil and horror that you will eventually go mad. That’s the theory anyway.” Damian giggled.

“I don’t understand…”

Damian flicked the cigarette butt into the fire and stood, he clicked his claws and what appeared to be a portal appeared in the living room. The portal had simply risen out of the ground graciously. It was like a window, but what was on the other side made me want to close the curtains. There’s something about the look of hell that doesn’t appeal to me.
“George Carter, you will sleep this night and when you wake, you could be anywhere in the universe.” Damian shrugged and looked back at me. “Enjoy it whilst you can, the universe holds too much terror and dismay to keep you sane forever.” Damian turned back to the portal and stepped through it.
Was it wrong that I was slightly excited?