Inheritance

  Part II

  It had been about two months since I had last talked to Wesley. On the night of his call, he informed me that his grandmother had died and that the Maine house had been bequeathed to him. His grandfather had died about two years earlier, but his grandmother had refused to move out. Since Elias’s death, she had insisted that no one stay with her. Daily calls were made to check on her until she passed. Wesley said that he was already at the house and wanted me to come up there as soon possible. He assured me that he had something I would want to see and that I was to come alone. Remembering that night when we were young, I asked what he found in the shed, but he refused to say. He asserted that I had to be there to see for myself.

  Fortunately, I was able to make it up there that very weekend. Arrangements were made for someone to pick me up and take me to the town closest to the Maine house. From here, another car would be ready for me so I could drive myself the rest of the way. Once to the town, the house was easy to find, since most of the distance was driven on a single road with no turnoffs. Once at the house, I found a note on the door that just said, “Come on in.” I walked in and found Wesley sitting in the kitchen with his feet up on a chair. On top of the table were stacks of old books and a glass of milk.

  “Glad you’re finally here! I knew that you of all people would be the one to share this with. Although, I really only invited you here because I was scared of my grandfather, but I knew you would understand and would have the same curiosity as I did,” he said.

  “Scared of what? I thought your grandfather was dead,” I replied.

  “He is, but there’s more to it than that. Obviously, you remember that night when he found us in the shed, right?”

  “Yeah, I remember. I was scared of your grandfather for the whole week after that. Was he in a cult or something?”

  “No, I don’t think he was. I think he just found himself in something he didn’t understand and didn’t know how to get out of it.”

  “Something illegal?”

  “Not illegal either. If anything, it was something that he couldn’t grasp or was greater than his mind wanted or allowed him to.”

  “What are you talking about?” I was thoroughly confused now. Wesley had the habit of presenting me with his exploits in riddles. I think he just enjoyed trying to make me guess things since he knew I would put up with his game. However, I was really interested in what was going on here since I obviously had some part in it, I just wanted to be told what was going on. “Can we just go to the shed so I can see what’s in there?”

  “We’ll go there in a minute. Let me show you some things first, just in case.”

  “Just in case what?” I asked. I was starting to feel apprehensive.

  “Just bear with me for a minute. These are some of the books I pulled from the shed. I’ve only gotten to look through about half of them so far, but I think I might understand it for the most part. Some of them are in English, but are written in an old style that probably hasn’t been used since who knows how long ago. I don’t know. I don’t know history. However, most of them are written in this weird language. I don’t know what it could be. Doesn’t look like any language I’ve ever seen or heard. I thought if anything we could have your dad look through some of these to see what he could make of them.” He opened one up and showed me the page that we had seen on our childhood visit to the shed.

  “Oh. I remember him. That giant beast haunted my dreams for a few years after,” I said. That was true. I had quite a few nightmares growing up that involved that image. I had completely put it out of my mind until I got the call from Wesley to come to the house.

  “From what I could gather, there is some type of god that walked among men. However, he’s supposed to now be asleep somewhere under the earth or the ocean or something. Some of these books say that there are cults around the world that worship him,” he said as he pointed in another book that looked to be written in the old English style he referred to.

  “I thought you said that your grandfather wasn’t in a cult?”

  “I don’t think he was. I think he was given all this information. Probably from his father and it was just passed along to him from his father and so on. I assume that he gave me this place because we had snuck into the shed and had a look at this stuff. Better to keep family secrets within the family I suppose. I had to ask around carefully and found that no one else seems to know anything and no one else seemed to want this place. Of course, that may indicate that they know something that I don’t,” he said.

  “So, this is all there is? Was there nothing else in the shed?” I inquired.

  “No, there is a bit more, but hold on,” he said as he opened up another book and set it in front of me. The page had a drawing of what looked like a giant black amoeba. The mass of the amoeba was covered with eyes. No face, no mouth, no arms, and no legs. Appendages sprouted about on random parts of the mass. No real distinction could be made of hands or feet at the ends of the appendages.

  “What is this? Biology?” I asked.

  “No, this is a soldier or a worker that the gods used to cleanse the earth. They have an endless hunger and cannot die. I haven’t read through all the books yet, but I think that might be the gist of it.”

  “Ok Wes, this is nice and silly and all, but…I mean, this would be scary if I was still 13, but now…this all just looks like some nonsense that some ancient culture makes up to explain the universe. Something to keep their subjects in fear of some god that will strike them down for doing something that displeases them.” I was getting worried now. Wes seemed too intent on making me understand all this. Maybe the loss of his grandparents affected him more than he was letting on and this was his way of coping.

  “No! These gods don’t care about us. We are nothing to them,” his voice rose above his usual laid back speech. “We are like ants to an elephant. They’ll just trample over us without a second thought.”

  “Ok Wes, Let’s get out of here. This place isn’t good for you. I don’t know what’s going on in your head right now, but it seems like losing your grandmother is getting the better of you. C’mon, we’ll go get something to eat and relax and we can talk through this later.

  “I can’t leave...you must...please. You have to come with me. I need you to go with me. I’m scared,” he said this with an unbelievable look of defeat on his face. “Just go to the shed with me first and then we'll leave. Please. Just this one thing.”

  “Ok,” I said, against my better judgment. Oh God. If we had just left then, I could have retained my sanity and my friend. I proclaim to God, but what God could save my mind now that I have seen true madness.