the cabbie from hell

an old piece i dragged up

story

2009-03-23

The night was black, and the street was silent. James Arnold Cutler stood on the corner of the street. The party had been wild, and there was alcohol, so James had decided to leave his Porsche in the long country stretch where he had parked it. Then, with a massive amount of alcohol on his breath, he stumbled into the dark night. And now, here he was. Cold, damp, tired, and hungry… not to mention very tipsy. The bottle of high quality Jamaican rum was tightly clutched in his hand. He took a swig, and ran to the middle of the road, waving his arms madly at the approaching taxi. It honked, and then swerved madly, skidding off the road and suddenly coming back again, driver stopping the car, and leaning his head out of the window, screaming profanities. Then, as James walked towards the car, the driver’s eyes opened in fear, and he stepped on the accelerator, and careened away into the night, headlights piercing through the matte black pitch. Just then, a cab stopped in front of James. “Get on… guv’nor. I’ll see where you wanna go.” Gratefully, James climbed into the car, and breathed “Huntington way Thirtieth Avenue.” The driver tipped his cap, and started out. The engine spluttered and coughed as the taxi driver floored the accelerator, and then, with a jump like a wounded beast, the car roared away into the darkness. The cabbie took a drag on the cigar, and the green smoke wafted out of the window. James looked in wonder as the smoke formed rings and puffs around the cabbie’s head region. But the smoke was flowing down, and the rings were green… not gray… something was afoot and James wanted to know what. “You know they say…” grunted the cabbie “owe the devil a debt, and he’ll come to collect. And you my friend owe me. A very large sum indeed. And I have come to collect.” James widened his eyes in fear, as the cabbie raised his hands, and let the cab crash into the lamppost. James knew a moment of excruciating pain, and then all was black. When he came to, he was in a brightly lit room, surrounded by the school lockers. They looked several years older than before, but there was still one that kept his name in sharp focus. “James… James…” the locker seemed to call out. But before he could reach it, an encrusted, barnacled man appeared. The cabbie laughed an inhuman devilish laugh. He raised a finger, and the locker burst into flames. “but.” He said, watching James despair, “I’m a gambling man, and I’ve staked everything I have against you… tell you what. I’m going to set you a couple of tests. If you come out of it, you go to heaven. If you come out of it badly hurt, then you’ll get sent back to earth. If you die, I’ll claim your soul and your body for my use… are you ready?” James didn’t even get to answer, before the cabbie cried. “Let the games begin!” he disappeared into the black and whit background, and then, without warning, the floor below James opened, and he plummeted down. The darkness of the chamber was frightening, pressing down on all sides. James pushed against it, and found the darkness engulfing the fingers, almost licking them, tasting them, then there was a loud scream of pain, and the darkness opened, and James mother stood there, the darkness engulfed her up to her neck. Electricity ran along the darkness, and then jolted James. The smell of burnt flesh filled the room, as James yanked his arm from the wall of antimatter. The fingers were slightly burnt, and the tips were charred. “No!” he yelled. “no no no no no no no!” the darkness fled from the momentary outburst and then receded, but there was no door. The only way out seemed to be through the trapdoor in the floor. Did the evil guy like floors or what? James thought to himself. “ I heard that!” yelled a voice above him. James muttered oaths under his breath. He surely wasn’t going to heaven. He knew that. And it wasn’t like he was pious or religious or anything like that. But he would definitely get back to earth, if that was the last thing he would do.

James stumbled through into the next room. It was almost totally empty, and had a shiny feel to it. Cold air blew through the walls. James reached over to one of the walls and examined it. The walls were porous. James reached his hand for the door and quickly pilled back, sensing the sting of the hypodermic needle though his good left arm. Slowly, he started to make out the gleam of hypodermic needles in the room. Some were easy to find, as they were caked in blood. The others seemed to have been replaced recently. Even the floor was covered in needles. The disgruntled cabbie appeared in the room, floating off the floor. “You got off easy…” he snarled at James. “But the following are going to be way tougher than the previous one. You want to see?” he asked. Before James could reply, the cabbie clicked his fingers and the corpses of several people appeared right over the blood caked needles. James opened and closed his mouths in horror. The cabbie grinned, and licked his fingers. The cadavers disappeared and were replaced by the putrid scent of sulphur. As the ground blazed to life, the ground shook in the throes of a massive earthquake, pushing the floor up in uneven sections. “Now get across…” said the cabby before disappearing into the flames, an echo of an evil laugh resounding behind him.

James took a tentative step, and saw the needles strike upwards. The toe of the expensive loafer was sheared off and the needles arced high before returning and falling into the holes. James started running. Several needles ripped into his back. But the pure adrenaline of the running sustained him. Fortunately they were only needles… and not barbed harpoons. The needles that ripped through his back now returned for the kill. James kept on running. The needles were close behind, and reached for the exposed back of James. Flames licked at the shreds of his tuxedo. They caught fire, and he shrugged it off, throwing the flaming jacket into the path of the needles. The needles plunged into the thick material of the tux. James swore. The tux was a rental. If the cabbie didn’t kill him, the owner of the jacket would.

Then, the holes in the floor started getting bigger. Some were as big as a man. Others were as big as his torso. The ones as big as his wrist shot harpoons and the ones that were as big as a man shot missiles. James kept running, his body pumping adrenaline into his body, giving him the burst of power. He kept on running. Then, the edge of the cliff loomed into view. The missiles and harpoons were almost upon him. What could he do? The missile’s fireball would incinerate anything that he threw at it. There was no other option. He had to jump. It was either a death by falling, or a death by painful impalation. He threw himself over the cliff as the missiles collided on the point where he had been just a second ago. The massive fireball incinerated the harpoons, and sent him plummeting over the edge. Then, he landed in something squishy.

The dark room stank of sweat and reeked of cigar smoke. It all seemed to James like the interrogation room of a bad movie. The voice rumbled. “Do you, James Cutler swear to god to tell the truth, the whole truth and only the truth?” James saw the cabbie, wearing a perfectly coifed wig and the robe of a judge around his grimy shoulders. The judge bore down on James. “I am the final task. Beat me…” the cabbie paused a moment to let the words sink in, then resumed “But no body has defeated me. Not ever, not now, and definitely not you…” the cabbie finished his sentence and brought the gigantic wooden gavel down onto the wooden floor. James could do nothing but stand and watch. The gavel sped towards him. He dropped to the floor and rolled, off the wooden plaque. The boom of the hammer threw him backwards, into a corner. He felt his wrist crack. The numb right hand still clutched the small crucifix from the time of his death. It felt warm, reassuring. “god give me the strength I need…” he prayed. James looked down as the cabbie reached a gigantic hand for him. It was only then that James realized, tiny maggots wriggled from the tears in the cabbie’s skin. All of a sudden, the crucifix burst into flame. The flame scorched the skin closest to James. The cabbie howled and cursed in anger, drawing back the hand, and spitting on it. James looked in disbelief. He thanked god, and prayed again. “lord… deliver me from the hand of evil, and your word shall be a double-edged sword” the crucifix burst into a silver sword, and the wooden part of it fell away. The sword bathed James in incandescent blue light, and started healing all of his wounds. Then. The cabbie looked long and hard at James. “as long as you have that sword, I have no power over you. You are free to go.” He pointed towards the last door. James suspiciously walked towards it, and then he turned around. His suspicion was correct. The cabbie’s claw like hands reached towards his face, in an impossibly long moment. James thrust the sword forwards, and there was an unearthly howl, as the cabbie disappeared into nothingness, and the world dissolved into nothingness.

When James woke up, there was a blinding white light, and he was wrapped in bandages. Beneath it all, he smiled a private smile. He was home.

Reviews

[Undying Glory]

really should have reviewed this earlier, methinks. it's a great story, and i loved it a lot, although i have to agree with alicia here about the paragraphs. but overall this is really nice, and more reviews are on the way!

[The_Dreamer]

Wonderful descriptions, you handled them perfectly! But the paragraphs seemed a little too long, like a big block of text, one after another. Maybe you could split it up a little more, especially at the parts where there is dialogue. Overall, it is an excellent job!