An essay by Nathan Orbos, as provided by Mathew Allan Garcia
Art by Scarlett O’Hairdye
ONE
Let’s talk, shall we? You and I. I want to clear the air. There are things that’ve been on my mind for a few millennia. You’re old enough to know the truth. You’re ready to accept it.
Who am I? I am the object of your fear. I am the thing you’ve been trained to hate since you were able to be trained to do anything. Why? Well, let’s just say that my eyes were too large, my smile too wide for my face, my ideas too convincing. I can’t help it. I’m just a happy guy. I like to smile, and I get overly excited sometimes, I admit.
I’m going off topic now. This isn’t about me. It’s about you. Let me just go right on ahead and say it: Things are bad. And worse things are about to happen. They’ve been there all along. Long ago when my brother and I disagreed about how things were going here. On Earth.
So let’s talk. Let’s talk about how this happened. How you’re going to fix this.
First, the elephant in the room: I’m Lucifer. Yes, Beelzebub, The King of Darkness, Legion, all that jazz. Now I know your opinion of me is low. I get it. But put that aside for a second. Just for a second. Hear me out this once.
I promise you will not be possessed simply for reading this. You will not get a bad case of diarrhea and vomit split pea soup. God will not send you straight to hell for entertaining my ideas. Relax.
We’re all friends here.
To read the rest of this story, check out the Mad Scientist Journal: Winter 2014 collection.
Nathan Orbos is a normal man. While under anesthesia for a terminal illness he began hearing voices that he, upon waking, set on writing down. His collected words would later be known as The Book of Lucifer.
Mathew Allan Garcia lives with his wife in Hesperia, California. He has four dogs, as well as countless demons that he has yet to exorcise onto paper. His work can be found mostly in his head, as well as First Stop Fiction, and Mused Literary Review. He has been writing for as long as he can remember.
Scarlett O’Hairdye is a burlesque performer, producer and artist. To learn more, visit her site at www.scarlettohairdye.com.
This story originally appeared in B O D Y Literature.
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