The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

Chapter 28

Like a lone drifter, Isaac stumbled across the old, filthy train yard that dated back to the eighteen hundreds. He wasn't lost, the man was well aware of his current location; it was the simple matter of biding his time to meet up with his last hope in the world.

As he trekked along the live rails, Isaac couldn't help but to recollect upon the times when his father would take him down to Cypress Underground to watch the trains go by when he was only a child. He recalled with fond quietness how much he wanted to hop onto one of the giant steam engines and take off down the track that seemingly led to anywhere on earth.

It was his undying desire to rid himself of not only his demonic affliction, but also the burden of his illicit affair, but deep down, there was always that one 'something' inside of him that constantly reminded Isaac that it would be virtually impossible.

Watching Karyn speed away in her green Monte Carlo two days earlier left him with the emptiest feeling. He knew that he would possibly never lay eyes on her again.

Isaac was nearing Lake Logan. The icy chill in the air was becoming increasingly harsher as snow flurries blew past his face at wild speeds. He carefully stepped over a track where a huge black Conrail engine was slowly towing itself down towards his direction until he met face to face with the mighty body of water ahead. Isaac stood at the pier. Every so often he would catch a sudden glimpse of déjà vu the longer he remained still, as if it hadn't been so long since he had visited the same sight.

He watched with bleary eyes as the choppy, foam riddled waves jostled up and down. Isaac stepped aside to allow the seagulls to gather the remains of a partially eaten fish that was lying frozen on the pier next to him.

The very first and only time in his life Isaac ever contemplated the notion of suicide was when his father took him to Ashlandview. But at that moment, he was all alone. There were no orderlies or compassionate speaking doctors to monitor his every movement.

He recalled the look of complete shock in Lynnette's eyes as she stood and watched him hold Isaiah in his arms earlier in the day. What she thought he was doing would be just as hard to explain as what was dwelling inside of him.

He closed his eyes and allowed the fierce February wind to push his body back and forth. Isaac was only five steps away from the edge of the rickety pier. The closer he inched forward, the more he could feel the animal inside of him claw about. It was such a nauseating sensation, much like a rat scraping its way out of a burning building.

"Hey...hey, you," a heavy male voice hollered from behind. "Hey, get away from there! That area is closed!"

Isaac abruptly opened his dreary eyes and turned around to see a black figure running towards him from out of the snowy distance, waving his arms as if he were landing an airplane. The young man stepped back from the edge and began to walk away.

"Didn't you see that sign there, man?" A heavyset black man with a full beard panted as he caught up to Isaac.

Isaac stopped walking long enough to notice an orange sign to his immediate right that read BOARDWALK CLOSED FOR REPAIRS.

Nonchalantly shaking his head, Isaac wearily uttered, "No...I didn't see that."

"Had you stayed out there any longer, the damn thing would've collapsed, with you on it!" The man said out loud.

Isaac never bothered to reply to the gentleman; he instead stuffed his frozen hands into his coat pockets and walked away, not looking back once.