The Ship On The Horizon

Evan watched from his window. His close-set eyes were firmly set on the ship, which seemed to remain motionless on the horizon and had done so for the past hour.

'When will it get here', he heard himself mutter. He continued to watch, afraid that if he turned away the ship would vanish from sight and all would be lost for him.

He pulled up a chair and sat by the window, his pale, thin hands rested against the window frame.

He could hear voices below him in his father's room. They talked in hushed tones and yet they seemed loud, as if they were shouting. He wondered if they knew, if they had guessed and even so, they could nothing about it.

They lived on an island in the middle of nowhere. There were no doctors around, no help, no law, no love, no respect. It smiled within him.

The ship was turning, it was on its way, heading straight towards them. His heart pumped twice as hard for a few moments. It was happening, finally, the ship was coming, a nightmare ending forever.

A smile spread over his lips and he prepared to go downstairs. He should be there at the end, free at last.

How many times he had wished his father gone. A man who never understood the gift Evan had. That he could see things around us that most cannot. Unworldly things, like the ship of death that made its way across the sea to their very residence. Even had spent many days in the attic as a child, hiding from his father, from the beatings, the recriminations, the heartbreak. His mother had died when he was small, he barely remembered her or how she died.

His eighteenth birthday had come and gone a few weeks back without even a card or kind word. His father had always hated him. Never understood his intelligence, his need for knowledge. He would kill things to understand how they worked and his father would beat him for it.

He was kept away from the outside world on this Island where he could see demons hopping around, often trying to possess those that they touched. But they never could, except him, of course. He knew that one of them was within him, but most of the time he was in control. Was it the demon that made him do the things he did? Things his father had covered up over the years. Sometimes he wondered if he really was the one in control.

They hadn't locked him in the attic today, sometimes they did. Sometimes they couldn't stand the sounds he made, the meowing and crying, screaming and low grunting. They feared him, all the servants, anyone that came. They did not see the benefits of having a demon live within you.

The ship would be here soon and his torment would be ended. He would inherit money and be able to leave this place, to go out into the world and spread his poison, not literal poison, not like that he had used on his father. He had been unsure about that, the poison should have worked immediately and if not, then he expected that it was not going to work at all. But then the ship appeared on the horizon and his hopes were once again raised.

He could see death, he could watch it approach and today it was on that ghostly ship that had waited so long on the horizon and was now docking in their port. Only he could see it and only he saw the dark figure with a scythe leave the ship and float towards the house.

He was elated, he sprang towards the door, he wanted to see the light in his fathers eyes go out as the death reached him. He rushed down the stairs, almost hopping with excitement. The voices were louder now and he could hear his father's amongst them, sounding strong. His foot caught on something and he fell. Tumbling over and over as his neck bent and snapped beneath him at the bottom. He lie at the foot of the stairs with death standing beside him. A weight was lifted from within him, a dark presence gone and he stood up, free at last.

His father would mourn him but there would also be relief to balance the loss and the demon that had lived inside for so long had returned to where it came from.