I hope you have enjoyed reading Robert Simms, I will be publishing the complete and edited story to kindle soon. In the mean time, spread the word, buy my book, leave a comment and enjoy.
As ever, Thank you all so much.
Harry Daniel.
It was obviously suicide. But then why did they have to keep Robert locked up like this?
The ambulance had arrived within 10 minutes but Erin had been pronounced dead at the scene and from early forensic reports she had died some time late night two days ago. She got the flowers then killed herself. Robert kept thinking of that over and over again, mixed into a continuous loop of why am I here? Why did she do it? And what did I do?
The police had arrived and Robert was told he would be needed to answer some questions and had been placed in a cell to keep him on his own, and Robert had suspected to prevent him from running away.
He was sat on the edge of his bed which was a lightly padded mattress, the type you might find on a sun lounger. The room was painted white, including the floors, and was no bigger than two of the cubicles at work. There was a light hanging from the ceiling with a metal cage around it which, Robert presumed was to keep people from getting at the glass. Above his bed there a small window which was barred. The door to his cell stood tall and firm in front of him, a thick slab of metal with a small window at head height for the guards to look in and a small horizontal one below that which was for food to be placed. Thinking about it, Robert now noticed that in his cell he couldn’t hear any of the general office type sounds that he had heard when he arrived and presumed that it was sound proofed.
Just then the viewing hatch slide open and a head peered in. Two narrow slits for eyes stared at Robert, the owner peering in making sure he wouldn’t be able to attack them when they entered the room. The hatch slide back closed and there was the sound of a big heavy lock being unlocked and the door was drawn open.
Stood in the door was Iablo. He was in the same clothes as the last time Robert had seen him and he bore the same stretched smile that sent a shiver down Robert’s spine. There was no sound other than Roberts shallow breath. He couldn’t make head or tale of the situation with Erin and now Iablo’s appearance perplexed him even further.
“Hello Robert. You know it took me three cells to find you, you’re rather more difficult to find now that you don’t reek of desperation.” Iablo walked into the cell and leant against the wall to the left of Robert as if he had not said anything remotely strange at all.
“Iablo!” Robert couldn’t believe his luck and burst out with the first question that came to mind, “Can you bring her back? Like you did with me?” Robert bit his lip to hold back the tears, he couldn’t believe his luck that he might get Erin back.
“Ah Robert, no I’m afraid I can’t.” Iablo had taken off his coat and flung it on the bed beside Robert. He paced the room as he spoke, once again giving the air that he owned the place. “She is beyond helping.”
Robert couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. “Please, you’ve got to! You did it with me, its worked, I’m happy! Why can’t you help her?” The tears rolled down his cheeks and crept into his mouth. Robert could taste the salt.
“Well Robert that’s just the thing.” Robert went to interrupt him with a puzzled ‘what’ but Iablo cut him off before he could muster anything more than a tearful squeek. It seemed to Robert that with Iablo’s return he felt the same as he had before he met him. “Robert, let me show you something.” He held out his hand and reluctantly Robert took it. The cell instantly dissolved into nothingness and Robert now knew for certain that Iablo was not of this world. A sea of blurred colours rushed past the pair and for a second Robert felt Iablo’s hand burn red hot then the colours solidified and Robert found himself back in Erin’s house. The warm homely air hugged at Roberts body which had grown cold in the cell. He was standing on the bottom step, directly under where her body should have been. A glint of hope gripped his heart. Maybe Iablo had managed to do it after all.
Then he saw her walking towards the door and he couldn’t contain the overwhelming excitement he felt. She looked troubled and was deep in thought. Robert tried called out to her as she hadn’t seemed to notice him there but no sound came. Iablo’s voice called to him from far away in his mind.
“I’m afraid there’s a bit of Dicken’s going on here Robert. They’re only shadows of the past and all that.”
Robert watched as Erin opened the door and to his surprise saw the flowers he had odered for her being passed into her arms. She thanked the driver and closed the door. A smile had grown on her face. She read the card which Robert knew to say; “I can’t wait to see you again Erin. Give me a call. Robert xxx”. Her smile faded and she walked angrily to the kitchen. Disheartened Robert rushed after her and entered the kitchen just in time to see her stuffing the flowers into the bin, petals falling off and floating to the floor.
Erin then collapsed, on the floor, tears streaming down her face. Her body shaking on the floor.
Iablo’s voice came to Robert again. “This is your fault Robert.” The kitchen and Erin crying on the floor dissolved and in their place the spectacular array of colours that Robert had seen just after he left the cell appeared. Iablo appeared standing in front of him smiling his unnatural smile. They seemed to float through the colours their legs hanging weightlessly beneath them. Despite himself Robert noticed that Iablo seemed at ease here as he had done in the cell and at Roberts flat.
“Robert, Robert, Robert. What am I going to do with you eh? You ask me to make you happy and I do. Then you cry about losing your little girlfriend and ask more of me. You can’t have it both ways my boy.”
Roberts whole body shook with fear. Tears welled up in his eyes again. “I want her, she’s the one that makes me happy.” He almost screamed the words at Iablo.
“Of course she does,” the smile stretched even further over Iablo’s face. “Robert, I think I over-estimated you, I was expecting you to figure this out a long time ago. Don’t you remember what I said to you, how I said I could make you happy?”
Robert thought back, it all seemed so long ago now, to Robert it felt like a lifetime had passed in less then three weeks. “I- I can’t remember.”
Iablo let out a shrill ‘ha-ha’. “Robert! I said I could give you the spark! That glint in your eye that you value so much! That’s what happiness is. Robert, how do you presume I was going to give you that happiness? Just pluck it out of thin air?!” Iablo seemed to be calm but Robert felt the anger in his voice.
“No.” He barely uttered the word, it drifting out between his lips on nothing more than a soft breath of air. He lost all feeling in his body and almost felt like he had left it.
“Finally he gets it!” Iablo drew a deep breath, preparing himself for the great revelation he was about to release, clearly revelling in the moment. “Robert, ever since my visit you’ve been taking other peoples happiness! Everyone you’ve come in contact with has made you happier and them so much sadder. Erin was just an unfortunate character. If you hadn’t made her fall in love with you so quickly she would probably be alive right now. You sapped the very last bit of happiness she held out of her just by making her fall for you. Bastard.” Iablo let out a long, cruel laugh at the satisfaction he got from revealing his master work to Robert.
Robert couldn’t bring himself to say or do anything. He was aware of the tears on his face, the salty water trickling into his gaped mouth. He was aware that he was responsible for Erin’s death although he couldn’t quite believe it. Somewhere deep down he hoped it wasn’t real but knew even deeper down that it was. “How?” Was all that Robert could manage to utter back. His entire body distraught with the emotional pain he was now racked with.
“My goodness boy! You really are rather thick. I must admit I am rather out of touch with the character judging, aren’t I? Lets look at it this way.” Iablo raised his right hand and some of the colours turned black and turned themselves into the Alphabet, capital and lower case letters similar to the sheets used to teach children the Alphabet. “I am Mr. Derrick Iablo, am I not?” Robert failed to respond so Iablo continued. “So let’s keep those letters up there. The alphabet shortened and was left with only the letters that made up Iablo’s name. They stood, big, bold and black against the colourful background. “Right, to be honest the ‘Mr.’ is more of formality.” The letter letters rearranged themselves to spell out Derrick Iablo. “You still not getting this Bobby?” Iablo smiled at Robert, clearly enjoying his moment in the spot light. “No? Okay. Let’s change the I from Iablo to a lower case...” The letters changed. Still Robert was clueless. “And lets get rid of the errick bit...”
Suddenly Robert saw it and, in a different situation would have laughed at his own stupidity for not seeing it sooner. The remaining words bunched together under Iablo’s will and Robert saw ‘Diablo’ written in big bold letters. He turned to face Iablo has best as he could under the weightless conditions Robert found himself in. Iablo gave him a wink, the same wink Erin had flashed him.
“Bingo Bobby boy. I am the notorious man himself. I normally use the Spanish name for me, it seems a lot more...” he paused, “Exotic. You’ve been a big help to me. You’ve fed me a lot of misery. And poor old Erin, she was so depressed when she died. But don’t worry she’s been fitting right in down under with me.”
Somehow deep down, Robert summoned the strength to fling his body at Iablo but before he could even move nearer to him the colours stopped and Roberts kitchen appeared around them. Iablo landed softly and causally leant on the worktop. Robert however crashed heavily on the floor, dazing Robert for a moment.
The sound of the kettle clicking brought Robert back to his senses.
“And here we are again.”
Robert seemed like a cowering child. The sound of the kettle, his flat it was just as it had been when he had met Ibalo for the first time. He hugged the cupboard under the sink, trying to keep away from Ibalo.
“You’re right to fear me Robert.” Ibalo seemed serious for the first time. “You know the secret, so the only help you can be is to die. The misery you will draw from your parents will be lovely after you’re gone and then I can use you forever down below.” He smirked and pointed a bony finger at Robert.
Robert felt cold and dead inside. All the fear he had ever known seemed to be pulled into the sea of emotions.
Roberts insides screamed but he grew weaker and weaker. His vision began to swim, black clouds entering his peripherals, his main focus on Iablo who grew more fierce by the second.
Robert felt the heat rising from Iablo and smelt burning hair as Iablo caught alight. A small flicker of flame at first but it quickly erupted and took hold of Iablo. All the time he was smirking his stretched smile at Robert.
Suddenly Robert was trapped in a burning inferno which took hold of his kitchen and himself as the flames leaped from Iablo. Fire crackled all around and Robert saw as his kitchen was turned to ash. He knew his own body was burning and blistering but was not aware of the pain. His eyes were fixed on Iablo who was now a ball of fire and Iablo’s smile which was now far more natural than the stretched one he possessed before.
Robert was aware of the distant sirens blearing, coming closer and closer. Robert was aware of the crackle the blaze had and Robert was aware that his body and his flat were closer to ash than they were to actual objects. Robert knew that he was dead to the world but would be in far more pain when he was dead. Robert knew that he had signed his soul away to the devil when he had asked him for help and he knew that Iablo was ready to collect the debt.
The fire died and Robert was left lying on ashes with Iablo, in his human form once again standing over him, placing a long bony hand on his shoulder.
“Come along Robert. Its best time we leave, you don’t belong here any more. You belong with me.”
And with that Robert left the world behind. The world in which he had felt so much sadness, the world in which he had been given so much joy at the expense of the one he loved. Robert left behind his parents and his burnt out flat and the memory of Erin and he followed Iablo into the eternity of torment.
***
The Lands of Power: Part 1: Discovery http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Lands-Power-Discovery-ebook/dp/B007JKAISS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331635413&sr=8-1
