Darkness Within

By Timothy Goodwin

A weekend at the cabin becomes a journey into a nightmare of inexplicable horror for fourteen young adults and college students who unwittingly breach the veil between our world and another of unspeakable evil. Here they must confront the hideous entity of this realm, lest the world that they know ceases to exist, lost to the heart of chaos and oblivion…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Timothy Goodwin
• Release date: Feb 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224969005

Book preview

With slow deliberation the thing that was Alacha’ rose from the pool of darkness beneath its throne. A shapeless bulk of immense proportion, horrifying and preternatural. An unutterably hideous mass of amorphous putrescence, which filled the throng that was standing and watching with a sensation of unimaginable terror and helplessness.  It was slimy, morbid, ghoulish. Seething, surging, stewing forth; with long tentacles and grotesquely twisted appendages that moved with a repulsive kind of writhing, protruding from its horrid bulk of potted pustules that glittered sickly with a diabolical light of dark imaginings. A collection of eyes, some sunken and suppurated, others floating on stalks that wriggled and undulated horribly, covering almost the entirety of the vile epidermis of the abomination in a multitudinous presentation—looking, peering, seeking, in multiple directions simultaneously, and glistening with a certain kind of malefic glee. While many mouths filled with fangs separated by spiny teeth and serpentine tongues, babbled with the voices of the damned, screaming with torment and sanity lost.

A weekend at the cabin becomes a journey into a nightmare of inexplicable horror for fourteen young adults and college students who unwittingly breach the veil between our world and another of unspeakable evil. Here they must confront the hideous entity of this realm, lest the world that they know ceases to exist, lost to the heart of chaos and oblivion...

You are about to embark on a journey...a horrifying trip into a nightmare realm, filled with monsters, enchantments, and a force beyond anything ever imagined before...an expedition into the heart of horror, where time stops, and oblivion begins...

—ST

This tale is dedicated in loving memory to Deane and Midge

Two beautiful women in spirit and deed

The time spent with them went by far too swiftly...

For my Grandfather Jack

Whose time spent in the world made my childhood heaven; he taught me what was good and right, how to be a man, and most of all, how to dream...

And for Laurie,

whose friendship and experience as a police-dispatcher are invaluable...

We never leave the sandbox

It just gets bigger...

Eric Hawthorne

—In the Moment

––––––––

"

Prologue

Nine months ago she had been raped.

And now she was pregnant.

At the age of seventeen she would be a mother.

But she didn’t want to be a mother. Not when the father of the child was some nameless—faceless man, from out of the darkness of the street.

The father was evil.

And the baby that she carried was from the seed of the man’s depravity.

And the child would be evil as well. Vile, malevolent, malicious. An abomination.

She knew this. Her dreams told her this. Nightmares of a dark and formless apparition, with multitudinous identities, loomed over her in the night, with the faces of malformed and malefic demons, grinning and howling.

From the very moment that she felt it in her body, moving—wriggling, churning, squirming—like a pit of vipers, she knew the baby was vile. Knew that she didn’t want to be any part of it. Didn’t want it to be any part of her.

She spent days and nights at the altar of her church, praying to God to release her from this atrocity. Or see to it that the child was still-born when it came into the world. She would have had an abortion. But the church discouraged it. And the pastors explained to her that it was a terrible ordeal that she had been through. But don’t let the evil of what man has done, rob God of the miracle that he has begun in you. Don’t murder the baby on behalf of man’s sins...

But it wasn’t a miracle. It was a travesty. A horror. And the child—whether her pastors wanted to believe it or not—was pure and unadulterated evil.

Perhaps her boyfriend had sensed it too. Though he tried to mask his feelings following the rape. In some ways he blamed himself, for not being there when it happened. But what could he have done? Protect her? The rapist had a knife. She was left with that evidence by a scar that made a thin line across her throat. She thought he was going to kill her while he performed his vile deed—or maybe kill her afterward, she had been terrified. And she started praying to God then, but the man had slapped her face—threatening to cut her tits off, if she didn’t shut that shit up. So she prayed silently, as tears spilled from her eyes, praying to God to deliver her from this moment. And if He truly had listened, then His answer was found in the mercy of the moment where she fainted away from the reality.

She was found and taken to Mercy Hospital, where she was examined and asked more questions than she cared to remember. The nameless—faceless man had made her pregnant then, although that would take a little time to discover; and before and after the news of her pregnancy, everything seemed to be filtered through a hazy veil of consciousness.

Because of her disgust and terror of soon bringing the child into the world, her eating habits took a header. She became borderline anorexic, only eating when it was absolutely necessary, or when it mattered to keep up the ruse—for the sake of appearance—that she wasn’t trying to starve the child, when in reality, that’s exactly what she was trying to do. In spite of what the others thought—her mother, her pastors, the entire church—if God wanted the baby alive, He was going to have to show his hand.

The day previous to her administration to Mercy Hospital, where she was first examined after the rape, and now ironically, where she was expected to give birth to the evil inside her, she weighed only 104 pounds. Before her pregnancy she had weighed 91 pounds. She had awoken from a series of nightmares, where the father again loomed over her; a face of ever-changing masks, and a body as formless as the darkness that surrounded him. But she could feel him inside her, his seed burning her like frigid ice.

On the day that she was admitted, she had awoke feeling nauseous, dizzy, and felt the swelling of an incoming migraine. She wanted to die. Wished she could die. Even prayed for death. If God took her life it wouldn’t have been a terrible thing. It would have been a blessing. Sweet release from the vile atrocity that would otherwise be born.

On the way to the hospital she suffered abdominal pains that were not in fact related to contractions. It was something even deeper. She sensed it.

Her mother was worried sick to her own point of nausea. She was terribly concerned about her daughter’s health, she had looked sickly for about two weeks. She hoped that her daughter’s condition wouldn’t affect the child in a detrimental way. She had wished that her husband were there with her, but he had passed on, following a boating accident six years prior.

Along with the dizziness, the nausea, the migraine, the girl complained about trouble seeing. It was as if a fog had moved in around the edges surrounding her field of vision. She had hoped it was God coming to take her away. But it wasn’t. Not yet. Not until the baby was born. And the girl wondered in her state of delirium: Could the devil exist without the presence of God...?

And suddenly she was terrified by the possibility of the implication.

Further into her delirium she demanded that her mother leave her at the hospital and go home.

Leave me to Mercy’s sake! Get out of my life, you ignorant and naïve bitch! I told you—I told everyone, that it’s evil, god damn it! Evil! But you wouldn’t believe me!

The girl was put under sedation and monitored closely. Her screaming and cursing was subdued, but not alleviated. And her mother had no choice but to wait in the lounge during the delivery.

She started to speak a litany of gibberish then.

Sah-Sah-Soach ni’agni ebluow...Lilith de Seudoma.... Soach ni’agni...

The fog grew thicker, and with it came the darkness. Shadows at first, and then shrouds...enfolding her.

And she heard the doctor and the delivery personnel ranting, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. Only the occasional demand: Push, baby-girl...c’mon, push...!

She supposed that she did as she was told. Whether she wanted to or not.

All she saw now was darkness.

When the baby was brought into the world, the girl didn’t see it. She didn’t want to see it. Hearing it cry was insufferable enough.

Her words following the birth of the boy who would be called Daniel—or Danny, were cryptic to the ears of all those in the delivery room, and with dread following unprecedented amazement, would be the last words that the girl would say before death claimed her: "A child will be born in the darkness... And from the Abyss will rise a man of great power, the harbinger of Nod’deg-armas...

T

he day was as perfect as the sky.

An almost azure blue canvas of billowing white cumulous clouds that floated lazily across the ether. Set ablaze at their edges by a sun of dazzling brilliance.

The wind was a gentle breeze, caressing the birds and the leaves in the surrounding trees. And the temperature couldn’t have been finer if it were embracing a tropical paradise...

Eric Hawthorne

—In the Moment

DARKNESS WITHIN

PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE

AN EVENING AT DAVNER’S CABIN

1

J

ennifer Nichols reveled in the feel of the wind softly blowing her silky blond hair back as it lightly breezed through the back passenger window of the dark blue Ford Explorer XLT 4x4. The XLT was pulling a four-sided trailer with provisions—mostly cases of beer, for a weekend at Davner’s cabin.

The Explorer was headed in the direction of Beaver Dale it’s final destination would be a two-story cabin ten miles beyond, that was designed by Tyler’s father, Owen Davner over fifteen years ago. 

Jennifer was pushing her head over the passenger’s door window divider, feeling the sun on her face, she acknowledged that it was a beautiful day—the Summer’ Solstice, and she suspected it would be a beautiful weekend, perfect for camping; even if it was going to be done mostly inside a cabin with all the comforts of home.

That’s not camping. She heard the voice of her mother telling her.  Camping is when you have to rough it, and suffer things like going to the bathroom outside.

Sorry mom, but the cabin has indoor plumbing.

"That’s not roughing it."

Oh—well... I guess I won’t be roughing it then.

Jennifer was currently attending her first year in college at Kilicut Maine University; her Major was Computer Programming, as she eventually worked her way toward her ultimate goal; a PhD in Engineering. With the striking looks of a Centerfold, Jennifer could easily have been a model if she chose to. But she didn’t cater to that vanity shit, and she wanted to do something with her mind, something challenging, certainly she had the intellect for it, and intimidated most guys as a result. And she preferred that, over posing for a bunch of men she would never—or care to ever see, just to make a living.

Lanny Conive on the other hand would have no difficulty posing for men that she would never see in order to make a living. She was wild-spirited and quite the exhibitionist at times; taking off her top at the drop of a hat and throwing it to the wind, exposing firm breasts, no smaller than honeydew melons. Or lifting her skirt to show off her g-string and tramp stamp that she was quite proud of. But rather than be a model, she would choose to be an actress, if the opportunity presented itself, and currently she was attending Springvale’s Acting Studio in hope to prompt her in the right direction. While on the weekends she would sing with a band, Mistaken Identity; she wasn’t the primary singer, rather she was the glorified go-go dancer first and foremost, as she often times jokingly referred to herself as; the energetic bitch that would encourage others in the clubs to get up and dance, while she occasionally slapped a purple tambourine and flaunted her sex-appeal. From time to time she would also play the harmonica. She didn’t get paid much, but she got her drugs for free; a lot of Mary Jay, and little bit of coke, and sometimes a hit of acid or two. At the moment she was wearing her bad-girl’s outfit, something a biker chick might wear; cut-off jeans and a leather jacket, and boots that climbed almost to her knees, beneath the jacket she wore something that looked like the cross between a bikini and a woman’s sexy undergarments mating; her top looked like a white bra that was covered by what appeared to be a red laced bikini top, the cut-offs that covered her fine ass was something along the lines of frayed stone-washed jean, cut in the fashion of bikini bottoms, and slit up the side just for more appeal, contrasting this was her black—what she like to call her—fuck me boots.

At the moment the blue-eyed brunette beauty with the trendy blond streaks was sitting next to Jenni, while she casually rested her head on Jessie Pruit’s shoulder, light sounds of snoring drifted from between her lips, as it was almost a three hour drive from Springvale to Ottercreek, and Lanny had been up all night the previous evening.

There was no commitment between Jessie and Lanny, they weren’t even dating—although Jessie would have very much relished for that to be the case. Jessie was a good- looking young man of eighteen, with dark hair and blue eyes, standing about 6’1" and reaching for a scholarship in football, and it looked promising. He figured if he scored on that Lanny would look at him twice.

(Lanny doesn’t care if you get a scholarship or not. She’s not even attending college.)

Another part of him suggested that Lanny already had looked at him twice. After all she was resting her head on his shoulder. But then again, that could just be her cock-tease promiscuous nature; with Lanny it was always difficult to know when she was being sincere. Was the word even in her vocabulary? He rolled his eyes as the beauty rested her head on his shoulder, trying to distract himself by thinking of other things beyond the girl next to him.

Between summer, school, and his free-time, Jessie was working construction with the Beverly Brothers. But after three months with them he was having second thoughts about the company that he was working for. It seemed, after a time, like a fly-by-night construction company. Always late with his pay-check, lax attitude on the job; the boss, his brother, and partner would spend too much time away from the site. Oh, sure. They were always getting lunch, or running an errand. But they always seemed to be going to some place obscure and out of the way to do it. And although he never saw them drinking beer or smoking dope on the site, there were telltale signs that suggested that might have been the case.

What it came right down to when push came to shove was that it was difficult finding a legitimate job that put integrity and professionalism first. Everyone seemed to be trying to play an angle or cut corners these days. Either that, or he just wasn’t lucky in finding the right position yet that he could appreciate.

I need some cigarettes, Shannon told Tyler who was currently steering the Explorer down the long open road.

I think there’s a Quick Stop about five miles up ahead, Tyler told Shannon.

Get some beer, Brandon called from the far back seat, he was resting his legs on a duffel bag and a cooler, and smoking a joint. The sweet smell of marijuana filled the small area where two young men were sitting.

Right, beer-run, Jason added from the far back seat where he sat across from Brandon. To Brandon he said, Don’t be bogartin’ that joint, man.

Shannon was a salesperson at McKane’s Jewelers, and she wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted to do with her life. If nothing upcoming inspired her, she supposed that she would go right on being a salesperson, as she was doing very well in that position—or maybe she would choose to be a regional manager, or perhaps even owner of her own store; like her boyfriend Tyler who, had been voted Most Likely to Succeed in high school. To this day she believed that it was the skiing accident two years ago at Redoubt that messed up his head a little and somehow gave Tyler the notion that he no longer wanted to be a doctor. It wasn’t a tragedy any way you looked at it; when Tyler was in his junior year of high school he had already owned and operated a computer store, while his father Owen owned four car dealerships, in Springvale, Portsmouth, Portland, and finally, Salem Massachusetts, with over a thousand units of new and used cars. So anyway you looked at it, Tyler would come out smelling like a rose; if his computer store failed, then he always had his