Absence of Faith by Anthony S. Policastro Page B

his
limbs.
    "Swoosh!" Kyle felt the pressure
increase on his eardrums. His back was hot and the air moved
violently picking up papers and toppling the living room lamps. The
pain in his head increased and he placed his hands over his ears.
The woman's body suddenly began to violently thrash and flop like a
mad fish out of water. Then two narrow streams of red-hot light
burned through her eyes and formed an angled wedge about 10 feet
long and four feet at its widest part. Kyle tried get up, but his
body was pinned against the door by the intense air pressure. The
wedge pulsated, and then there was a flash and everything in the
room turned white. The giant wedge of light narrowed into a pencil
thick beam, thrust itself into Kyle's left eye, and
disappeared.
    "Ahhhhhhhhh!" Kyle screamed. It was
the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness.

The Other Syde - Chapter 9

    T he day-glow
red sign stood out like a beacon on the highway in the bright noon
sunlight. It was like a fireball in the sky, despite the brightness
of the July sun. Kyle noticed it right away and felt an uncanny
attraction to the place. He pulled his dark green 1995 Dodge into
the sandy parking lot and stopped in front of a large
glass-windowed storefront. Another sign with the same script
lettering and red day-glow neon blazed in the window, "The Other
Syde." A hand-painted mural of gargoyles and demons pulling souls
from the earth into a dark, fiery world surrounded the neon sign.
Kyle stared at the mural, shrugged, and then walked into the
store.
    The room was dark and filled with
large round display tables. Each table had a tall, but different,
room lamp illuminating various items covering the tabletops. The
lamps had sales tags hanging from the shades. The items on the
tables included day-glow lipstick and nail polish, custom jewelry,
and books on the occult and Satanism. Kyle picked up a silver
necklace with a pendant in the form of a coiled snake.
    "Welcome," said a raspy voice
coming out of a dark corner in the shop. "That's nice. Do you like
it?"
    "Huh? No. Just looking," Kyle
said.
    He turned in the direction of the
voice. "Where are you? I can't see you. My eyes haven't adjusted,"
he said. Suddenly, the room blazed white and everything around him
vanished into the white light. Kyle squinted.
    "You're our first customer, today,"
she said. "Sorry, about the lights. I didn’t get around to turning
them on."
    "What kind of store is this?" he
said noticing the bright green streaks cutting through long, black
perfectly straight hair.
    "We sell everything you'll need for
the other side," she said.
    "What other side?"
    "The side of our savior," she
explained running her hand seductively over her shoulder and down
her arm. "What are you looking for?"
    "I don't know. I just saw your sign
and decided to stop in," he replied. "The name was far
out."
    "Well, I can help you with whatever
you need. I have more tables in the back," she said her eyes
shining.
    She moved like a ghost from behind
the counter, her black robe-like outfit flowing like fine silk as
she walked. Kyle followed her into the back of the store. She
opened a door and passed through. Only candles - black and red
candles, lit the room. The air smelled hot and waxy. The girl
walked over to a shelf and pulled several books off.
    "These will help you to learn what
to look for. The set sells for $129.95," she said handing him the
volumes.
    Kyle looked at the titles. The
Satanic Bible, The Compleat Witch, What To Do When Virtue Fails,
Book of Shadows . He opened the Book of
Shadows .
    "Ha! This one must be a reject or
something. All the pages are blank," he said.
    "That's the way it's supposed to
be," the young woman replied rolling her eyes.
    Kyle looked at her incredulously, a
strange smirk on his lips. She stared back at him like a
stone.
    "Too much like religion to me," he
said.
    "Just the opposite. They're
anti-religion," she said.
    "Well, I hadn't planned to spend
that kind of money on