The Legend Of The Christian Zombie Vampires

Chapter 5

Oracle and The Hell Hounds

Mitch woke from his dream with great determination for the day ahead. The morning was cool. It seemed as if summer was nearing its end. A breeze of fresh air hit his face as he walked out of his apartment. The 23-sign flashed sunshine beams back into the street as he closed the door behind him. A few cars passed by on Triviz and Mitch could smell coffee coming from upstairs at the 46. Mitch walked upstairs and made a right turn. He knocked on the door twice quickly, paused, then knocked once more. He heard Darius yell “entra” then he opened the unlocked door to see Gregg and Darius on the floor looking up at the screen. They were playing a basketball video game and yelling obscenities at the screen. Darius and Gregg had this weird thing that, for years, “Five” was the longest winning and losing streak that either would achieve or succumb to. This was one of those days where there was one win, one loss and the game never seemed to end. Mitch thought of an old movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and when he says to Reggie, “C’mon Reggie, you know this game never ends.” That was these two guys getting down like brothers. Neither man acknowledged Mitch as was the routine when they were playing one of their games. Darius raised a hand and pointed to the table. Mitch knew this as a signal to start rolling up whatever weed was on the table. Mitch noticed the mysterious ashtray still on the table. It looked like a regular cross at the time. Mitch was a little bit irritated at how nonchalantly Gregg and Darius treated this mystical object. He noticed that it was the same bag they smoked the other night,

“That’s a fucking foul!” Darius yelled. Gregg changed the tempo of his offense. He loved that run and gun style against Darius’s half-court game. Like boxing, baseball, and life… it was always styles that made fights. Competition was where Darius and Gregg made the day fun. Mitch rolled the blunt and lit it. Still irritated by their demeanor, he did not offer to pass it around. Even if he had, they were in a tight game and it was the 4th quarter, so it wouldn’t have mattered. Mitch sat there on the couch. His anger grew with each passing moment. He stewed in the middle of the couch, his long legs cramped in between the small space between the couch and black table. He clutched the blunt in his hand, almost breaking it between his fingers. The game was tied 73-73 in the fourth quarter with 14 seconds left Darius’s team had the ball. A timeout has been called. Darius began speaking to himself as if he were a coach instructing his players. “Alright guys we don’t need to force anything, just get the best shot you can, worst case, we win it in overtime.” Gregg looked kind of mad. He gave up a ten-point lead in his typical three-point happy approach. Darius always seemed to lock down on defense when the last few minutes came. As Darius gave his “Make me a Prophet” speech to his fake team, Gregg looked over at Mitch, whose eyes were as red as the Devil’s dick. He paused the game with a matched irritation and stood up. Darius paused the game to see what was transpiring. Gregg reached towards Mitch quickly and snatched the blunt away just before it touched Mitch’s lips again. “What the fuck man?” Mitch whined. Gregg took a puff and handed it to Darius who sat calmly with no side taken. Gregg always did get uppity when people smoked their buds but didn’t pass quickly. “Just like ball, if you’re not Kobe or A.I, you got to pass that shit homie. You’re in our house.” said Gregg. Darius noticed Mitch staring deeply at the ancient cross-shaped ashtray. He grabbed it from the table and took it to the kitchen. He opened the freezer door, took out a fresh quarter ounce, and put the cross over the three other quarter bags and shut the door. Darius took a long drag off of the blunt and exhaled a huge cloud of smoke. He stared at Mitch seriously at first then let out a huge smile. He extended his hand and passed the blunt to Mitch and said, “Look man I know it’s a lot but quit worrying about all that shit. What’s important now is hitting this game winner. I’m on a three-game losing streak and I got to get off the Schneid. It wasn’t always like this, for the longest time we didn’t have to worry about anything. We even had our own gremlin.” Darius laughed hysterically. “Yeah remember G… Aldo our gremlin? You shot him with those Roman Candles, and he fell down the stairs. Damn that was a fun ass Halloween remember that shit”!

Gregg, still looking at Mitch with a bit of anger, turned to Darius and his facial expression changed immediately. A smile burst out and he spoke with a smile. “Oh shit! I forgot about that day!” Gregg looked at Mitch and saw how upset he was. One thing about Darius and Gregg was that as much as they loved competition and winning, they also never liked anyone around them projecting negativity. “Mitch, bro… before The War, you know, the thing that’s not letting you sleep, we were your age. Things were different. Darius is right. You can’t sit here worried about shit you can’t control or handle. That cross, the one in the freezer… It tells us about something that you can control. It tells us about goodness in the world. It has to stay up.” Gregg took the blunt, took in three small puffs and handed it to Darius, who was ready to finish off the last 14 seconds of the game. Darius hit it lightly and the two picked up their controls while Mitch sat in a different posture. His legs now lay across the old ragged brown couch. He continued smoking the blunt as the end of the game played out. Darius and Gregg assumed their previous spots on the floor, bumped fists, then Darius unpaused the game and the action resumed. Mitch stared blankly at the screen. He began to feel drowsy from the smoke session and started to doze off. He fell into what felt like a deep sleep and had a vision of the ashtray. The cross was now in flames and a man in a white suit with slicked back jet black hair motioned for him to touch the flame. Mitch came to. There were four seconds on the clock. The player on the screen dribbled the ball left, then right, and let go a shot from the top of the key. Darius yelled “Gametime!” But before the buzzer sounded the lights in the apartment went out. “That went in. Good win D!” said Gregg. Luckily, it was daytime, and everything was still visible. Gregg stood up and deliberately dropped the black control to the ground and walked to the kitchen as if he had lost. He poured 3 cups of coffee and passed them around. He motioned for Mitch to scoot over. Mitch obliged. “It’s hard to sleep when you lose, Mitch. Like we were saying earlier, things you can control are the ones you have to own. You cannot sit around and feel helpless. Life will not let up. I know you don’t want to hear it, but life only gets harder. So, be young, have fun and chill.” Gregg looked at Darius, who was still holding his control and smiling at the end of his Schneid.

“Yo D… remember before all that went down. The party! Do you remember that one? Aldo and Diane! Kathy, you and I were there… Shiloh and Brandon too. Remember?” Darius nodded with a happy look. His eyes were wide and gleaming. Gregg looked at Mitch. He started to explain. “So, it was Halloween. Brandon had just released an album. I wish I could remember the name. But he had that song… It’s gonna take a miracle, so I’m gonna grab some cereal!” Darius laughed out loud but sang on queue. Darius once again erupted in laughter and said. “Oh yeah, I remember that song! Fucking Brandon! A real soldier of peace. He brought us a real nice fruit basket at our house-warming party. Too bad fucking Shiloh ate half the fruit, he also ate half the food in the refrigerator. But that was Shiloh. Can you imagine Mitch, someone who would just come over and raid your fridge on the random. Then again, you never have shit in your refrigerator. It was a great time in the favela! Fucking Halloween!” Darius grabbed a tall green bong from the corner and placed it in the middle of the table. He grabbed a pinch of the mysterious weed and loaded it into the carb. He motioned to Mitch instructing him to smoke from it and said, “it’s about time we sat down and kicked it. We are gonna tell you a story. If you listen and understand it, then you will understand what is to come. If not, well…I don’t know. Damn, how do I start this one?” he looked over at Gregg, perplexed. Gregg cleared his throat with an ahhh… “so, it was Halloween. Brandon had that song, and even though we laughed at him, he was our boy. He was. Is… Family. Shiloh, Diane, Kathy, Darius, myself and Aldo were all around. Darius and I went to get some meat to grill up. We made asada and queso for the block. We had music going and everyone that year had decorations up. Even though there was an individual need for festivities, there had been tension on the block. See, Diane and Kathy always had beef. [Gregg] This night was young though. This night was different. Kathy came up the stairs. Remember D, she NEVER came up those stairs, but once. [Darius] That’s right bless her heart she didn’t really move for anyone. She really did love us and made sure we had everything we needed. She was gonna kill Diane earlier that week over like twenty bucks. [Gregg] Yeah! But she brought us some candy because we had food going and the kids were coming up to trick or treat. She came up and sat on our old ass couch. The same one we are sitting on now. Come to think of it Mitch, she was sitting right where you are now. Anyway, we were handing out candy and then we heard Diane come and knock that eerie knock she always used. She never waited for us to answer either, she always just used to come in. I remember how she was dressed that night too. [Darius] How could we forget? That infamous black sun dress with the green floral pattern. She was braless as usual, and always dangerously close to a nip slip. Crazy thing is she was kind of a sweet lady. A little bit out there… but sweet. When she burst in, she said something about wanting to blow someone. I politely declined and offered her a drink. She turned and looked at Kathy. [Gregg] Usually they clashed but the moon was deep in its own glory that Halloween. Diane pulled out her phone and called Shiloh. He was a great friend of all of us. She asked him to pick up a bottle. She asked Kathy what she wanted to drink. Kathy said Tequila. So, Diane requested that from Shiloh and a few minutes later, here he comes. He was dressed up for the occasion. [Darius]Ha! Come to think of it he was dressed up like a vampire…ain’t that about a bitch. I remember thinking he kind of looked like Eddie Murphy in Vampire in Brooklyn. Brandon showed up around that same time. They both had a few bottles, something told me it was gonna be a fun night. [Gregg] A fun night? A fun night! Oh my God, it was! So all of us are there and we have Shiloh and Brandon, who are mad at each other about some studio gangster comment that in the long run, never meant a thing. Diane and Kathy are taking shots together and Darius and I are not even in costume yet. Yo, what was Brandon dressed as? I don’t remember. [Darius] Brandon did not wear a costume that wasn’t his style. Remember, Brandon does not like any sauce with his chicken fingers. [Gregg] So the moon is lit! And we are all having a good time. Then Aldo shows up. Now, how can I explain Aldo? He was half Gollum half… [Darius] No that’s about right Gollum. Aldo was just, for the lack of a better term, a real-life scumbag and I say that in a very loving way. We have collected a variety of stray pets during our time here and Aldo will always be one of my favorites. But he was a real-life Gollum. He was dressed as Jason Voorhees and was terrorizing the neighborhood kids. He had stolen some pumpkins that night. Aldo loved to steal. [Gregg] I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I like that shit bag. No sir! But he came up here fucked up with some poor kids’ pumpkin and was like… Gregg, c’mon man, it’s our turn to squash something. I looked at his grin. I saw some kind of I don’t know… honesty? I thought… Yeah, let’s squash this now. I grabbed the pumpkin and ran down those stairs with him. [Darius] I went outside and watched from the front porch. Gregg and Aldo put the pumpkin in the middle of the street then we all watched with childlike anticipation waiting for a car to drive over that pumpkin. To this day I can’t explain to you why it was so captivating. [Gregg] to be honest… it was captivating, because it was symbolic. For us to squash this pumpkin while Diane and Kathy and Shiloh and Brandon were doing the same, would have meant for all of the neighborhood to have peace. But as it goes… car after car slowed down and drove around that pumpkin. I was too proud or too angry to let it go without the big autumn squash getting squashed! Soon a purple car, a classic car, I don’t know the make model or year rolled up slowly and Aldo grabbed the pumpkin. He got into the car and rode away. I looked back and Darius was the only person left. [Darius] Yeah that shit was pretty disappointing. Diane and Kathy were going at it yelling back and forth. I put my arm around Diane and told her to calm down. I offered to walk her home. I once again politely declined her advances and walked her to the door. One thing we can never have over here… the police. [Gregg] I heard Kathy and Diane getting at each other, but I didn’t know what it was about. I know I saw you walk Diane back. Shiloh was right behind you two. Brandon got in his car and didn’t say a word. The kid’s laughter was all gone now. The street was empty. I was done with Kathy and Diane’s drama too. Come to think of it, where did you go Darius? Because I remember hearing Kathy talking from her room. Her window was open. She was saying something about the end of those days. I didn’t understand. I thought she was drunk. [Darius] I went to Diane’s spot. She wouldn’t shut the fuck up about Kathy. She just kept cursing her and lighting those damn funny smelling incense. I smoked some of her buds and made myself a roast beef sandwich. Then Shiloh came over they went into Diane’s room. I figured that was my cue to leave so I grabbed my sandwich and made my way back here. [Mitch] So what does this have to do with the War? [Gregg] It was the last time we saw Aldo as himself. The car he got in was driven by Him. He returned to Diane’s that night. Late. We never knew her after that party. Kathy… well she spoke of the future and did it often. She became an Oracle with, and by all her beliefs. The moon was more than a glow that night. It was a signal. The War had begun. Sides have been chosen. [Mitch] what about Shiloh and Brandon? [Darius] Shiloh went with The Father of…him. The next time we saw Shiloh, he was a fucking vampire and tried to kill us. Brandon’s fate was not determined that night. It was the last night of peace in the neighborhood. After that all hell broke loose. Literally Hell broke loose! The moral of the story Mitch is you don’t have any control over this shit, and you never will. See, you got me all riled up and shit. Roll up homie.”

(To be continued)

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