Who Will Know

by Austin Feathers

It has been four years since Travis started his journey in eradicating things from his past. So far, he has been freed by two of his demons and is at peace for now. However, there is still one thing stopping him from achieving total peace– more like one person. A certain song bird that has been there since the beginning, making those songs, as Travis put it, “a curse that has haunted me for my whole life, he is the existence of my suffering!”  Travis decided that today is the day he finishes what he started all those years ago. “If I get rid of him, I will finally be rid of all of my demons, I’d finally be able to move on and become a better man,” Travis says this as he is preparing his supplies for this final trip, packing everything from extra clothes to extra bullets.

Before he leaves for the journey, he grabs a beer from the fridge and proceeds to open it. Just before the cold beverage touches his lips, Travis begins to gag and throw up right where he is standing. He did this only as a test to see if killing one of his demons worked, and with the result he has just gotten, he is greatly pleased with the results. As he walks to his truck, Travis knows he is going to have to visit someone he hasn’t seen in a long time.

“In order to find a fool, you must simply ask another,” Travis murmurs, as he parks the truck.

He finds himself in front of his old friend David’s house. He stares at the door with great hate, just before kicking it in with a swift roundhouse kick.  David is found just exiting his bathroom with a shocked look on his face and begins to laugh manically as Travis stands towering over of him.

“It’s been four years Travis, four years since we last met, and judging by your recent activity. I knew my time would come sooner or later. But in all the truth Trav, you don’t got the balls to do it. As long as you worship money, I’ll always be here.”

A smile begins to craw its way onto David’s face while Travis stands there with his hands shaking, gritting his teeth.

“Where’s Sal, David?”

David is now looking at Travis with a confused look on his face.

“What?”

With that small reply, Travis becomes enraged and grabs David by the shirt and yells, “Where is he?!”

David lets out a chuckle.

“Sal, if you want to get to him, you’ll have to look deeper than me to get to him. I’ll warn you now, you won’t like what you find.”

Not satisfied with the answer he gets, Travis throws his old friend’s head into the toilet, hoping to get a better answer out of him. A few seconds later, he lifts the head up and David begins to groan.

After spitting out some toilet water, David says, “That dark void that you call a heart?  Sal can be found deep in a cave out in the desert near El Paso.”

As Travis hears the location, he beings to turn to exit the house but as he begins to walk away, Travis can hear David singing one of “his” songs.

While on the road Travis begins to hear that same song David was singing; he thinks that it is just the radio, but then quickly learns the radio has been off ever since he left David’s house.

“He knows, Sal knows I have a 14-hour drive until I find him. He is just singing to torture me, he knows this is the only thing he can do until I find him and end him.”

After arriving in El Paso, it does not take him long to find the cave only because the closer he got, the louder the singing got with every passing moment. While walking towards the cave, Travis notices that the singing stops.  He sees that the cave was once boarded up to prevent anyone from entering. Without a second thought, he walks in with the thought of finally being rid of his last demon.

There is no light source inside of the cave; Travis is covered in a complete void of darkness not being able to see his own hand in front of his face. The only thing stopping him from turning back is his own determination. After what seems like hours, Travis begins to see a light at the end of the cave. His heart begins to race with anticipation of finally coming face to face with his final demon. When he finally reaches the exit, he is blinded by how bright the white light is. When his eyes adjust to the light, Travis finds himself not in a cave opening, but in his own bedroom. While he looks around the room, he sees things from his past: old projects he worked on, trophies he earned. At the far end of the wall is a plain mirror. Travis stares at the mirror for a while and becomes shocked with who is looking back at him. It is Sal, holding the exact same gun that Travis is holding. Sal’s face begins to show sorrow. The gun drops without discharging and in the mirror, Sal can be seen laying on the ground in the fetal position. Travis is screaming while rolling around, the singing in his head has returned and there is nothing he can do to stop it.