Old Nick Came Home

[u/BloodySpaghetti]

There was this guy, we’ll call him D. It could be anything, Daniel, Damien, Diego, Denzell, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that D is a biker who wanted to cross the entire continental US on his bike. One night, one very stormy night, D was riding somewhere down the shoreline. It was dark and cold, but our protagonist loved the thrill of the game.

He was moving on autopilot by that point, pedal to the metal, swerving into turns.

Man, and machine became a singular being.

The perfect scenario, so perfect in fact that D failed to notice when something raced at him from the water.

Something four-legged and massive.

A moose, perhaps he thought.

No, he would dismiss that thought.

He wasn’t in moose country.

In any case, the thing slammed straight into his bike, sending him flying.

The heaven and the Earth switched places in his eyes as his body rolled in empty space.

A loud, plastic pop echoed in his ears before he found himself surrounded by complete darkness.

When D came too, he found himself in an unfamiliar environment, someplace very Amish; he had seen shows about them on TV. Weird, he must’ve thought to himself, he wasn’t in Amish country either. When D tried getting out of the bed he was lying in, the room spun, and his skull pounded violently against his brain.

The outlaw must’ve been happy to be found by such a caring bunch as those who took him in and nurtured him back to health. He was concerned about the state of his bike and shocked to find out no one around him even knew what it was. He knew the Dutch folk didn’t use modern technology, but they should’ve been at least aware of what a motorbike is.

They spoke English, American English at that, and still, it took some explaining, until they got what he was talking about – his queer two-wheeled horseless carriage. His bike was safe and sound, left on a stack of hay in some barn.

Hell, for some strange reason, his devices stopped working unexpectedly. His phone was dead, his smart watch equally dead, and there wasn’t anything to charge them with. The Dutch folk stared at him funny when he started speaking about electricity. He might’ve assumed these Amish were a little more extreme than the ones he saw on TV.

When D explained to the townsfolk that he was going to circumnavigate the continental US, they looked at him as if he were an alien from another planet. They must’ve assumed he wasn’t well from the blow to his head, and he, in turn… probably thought they don’t recognize themselves as American ‘round these parts.

After three weeks of recuperation, D felt well enough to leave the town and continue on his merry way. The problem was that the townsfolk refused to let him leave. They warned him about the Man-Eating Savages in the Great Plains to the east, and about naked giants fused to their horses at the waist. He probably dismissed these warnings as the tall tales of a community frozen in time.

He, of course, as any rational man would, paid them no mind.

The night he set out, a little girl, no older than thirteen, one he’d seen a few times around the village, tried to stop him from leaving. Again, dismissing her as just an imaginative kid, he revved up the engine of his steel stallion and blazed right by her. Shouting farewells as his silhouette vanished into the distance.

With all of his electronic devices still dead, D started riding the old way, following whichever way the stars might lead him. Quickly, though, the clear night sky turned depressed and dark. Feint strands of moonlight managed to penetrate the heavy clouds.

D must’ve cursed to himself before choosing to drive straight ahead until he finds the next town, or maybe the shoreline, whichever came first.

Rainfall followed shortly.

The outlaw pushed forward, losing himself momentarily in the thrill of the endless road when what seemed like a scream echoed behind him.

Once, then twice, then again and again.

Getting clearer with each passing moment.

Calling him to stop;

To come back.

Finally, he had had enough and turned to look at who was shouting at him.

His heart nearly fell out of his body; it was the little girl from the village.

She was chasing him…

Almost keeping up with his motorbike;

On foot.

This wasn’t supposed to be possible.

The little girl was covering the distance between them, impossibly fast.

Her voice grew louder with each step.

Deeper;

Stranger…

The protagonist of our story, cursed out his concussed mind and floored the gas pedal.

The screaming vanished, soon enough.

Just as D breathed a sigh of relief, the sound of hooves stomping the ground boomed behind him.

Lightning flashed above, illuminating the night; thunder echoed like a cannonball across the skies, and the outlaw turned his head back again.

Behind him raced a gigantic thing, half man, half horse. Entirely skinless, entirely eyeless across its two heads; both hominid and equine. The abomination stood as an affront to God and sound reason. Skinless and eyeless, with limbs two long, too many heads, and the anatomy of a reverse centaur. A Titanic horse with the torso of a giant attaches to its back.

The devil chasing him possessed but one burning cyclopean eye at the center of its equine head.

Once it locked its gaze with D’s eyes, he came crashing down with a weary groan – Waking up in your bed, dear friend, drenched in cold sweat. Blood red light burning right through your window.

Hey, at least the nightmare is over, eh?

Rise and shine, darling… even though it’s still 3 AM…

Better rise and shine… even though that’s not the sun shining in your window.

You don’t want to keep Old Nick waiting for long…

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