Deep Evil

“I hope you don’t come back again, Mr. Cramer,” the old jailor said.

“I make no promises,” the man replied with a chuckle as he walked out of the prison.

Alan Cramer was a notorious burglar in his town, spending more time behind bars than he did in his own house. Despite the jailor's sincere words, not a week went by before he found a new target. It was a wealthy businessman called Kane Law, who lived alone on the outskirts of the town.

On a day when Law was out of town, when midnight arrived, Cramer sprung into action; he infiltrated his target’s house with ease. Cramer hid in the blindspots of the CCTV cameras and climbed the parapet walls to disable them. There were two German Shepherds waiting for him on the other side, but he bribed them with meat.

Cramer had heard from a maid who worked at the Law’s house that there was a room that was off limits to everyone except him. Everyone who worked for Law assumed he hid money and other riches in there. The maid said that she was fired while trying to sneak a peek at what was inside. However, no one had ever found out what was beyond those double-locked doors. Cramer thought he was about to discover a treasure, but what he found was trauma.

Inside the secret room was a teenage boy, no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, bound and gagged to a chair. His eyes were plagued by fear—with a gaze that pleaded for death. Cramer stood there, unable to move a muscle for almost a minute before rushing to the boy's aid.

"What happened here? Did Law kidnap you?"

The boy said nothing. Cramer paced around the room, thinking about what his next move would be. He didn't want to leave the boy to suffer, but he didn't want to get cuffed for burglary either. So, he compromised: Cramer called the cops and gave an anonymous tip about the boy being held hostage. He then told the boy that he would have to tie him back up for the cops to find him.

Cramer watched from up a hill as the cops arrived at Law's house about an hour later. Two days later, the boy's identity was revealed to be Peter Law—Kane Law's son. Law was arrested and put on trial, while his son was put in foster care. Creamer followed the case closely, attending court on each hearing day. Kane didn't deny locking his son in a room, but he said he had no other choice—that his son possessed great evil within him. Kane was sentenced to twenty years in prison and his son was put in foster care.

Two weeks later, Cramer turned on the news to find that Kane Law was found dead in his cell, and that there was no discernible cause of death. A similar news popped up a week later, where Peter Law’s foster parents died under mysterious circumstances. A hint of doubt slowly crept into Cramer’s mind: was the boy really a victim? Was Kane Law telling the truth? He shrugged it off as overthinking, but those doubts began to stir once again a month later, when Peter’s second foster parents were also found dead in their home.

The causes of death in both cases were inconclusive, and so was the evidence. There was nothing useful to point a finger at anyone. That night, Cramer decided to break into Kane’s house yet again. Rummaging through Law’s belongings, Cramer found a journal; and in it was a revelation he did not expect:

This is getting out of hand. Peter killed one of our maids again, so I had no choice but to lock him up. He’s too dangerous; he cannot control himself. I can’t let him roam freely around the house—or anywhere else for that matter. I don’t know what’s wrong with that child, but there is a deep evil within him. I wish I had the strength to use the dagger on him, but I can’t… I can’t kill him.

“Dagger…” Cramer whispered.

He looked around Kane’s room until he stumbled across a hidden latch on the floor. Inside it, he found a dagger with a decagram carved into the hilt. He wondered whether he was up against something supernatural. Peter wasn’t sent to a foster home again for another month. In both previous cases, his foster parents died exactly two weeks after he was adopted, so Cramer assumed it would be the same that time as well.

Two days before the second week drew to a close, Cramer broke into the foster house and bugged it. Afterwards, he waited, slowly listening to everything that was happening. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and Peter barely ever spoke a word, let alone show any signs of aggression. It all seemed too good to be true. Once the two days expired, however, at night, things changed. Cramer, who was just across the street from the house, heard Peter’s foster parents begging for their lives.

Cramer broke into the house immediately and found Peter standing before his new foster parents—who were pressed up against the wall by an unseen force. He could only assume that the boy was using telekinesis. Cramer tried to attack Peter, but the boy volleyed him to the other end of the room and pinned him against the wall as well. However, there was something else about Peter’s face that was off-putting; Cramer didn’t see or feel any rage directed towards him. In fact, Peter’s eyes were the same as they were when he found him in that room.

Before Cramer knew it, Peter was in his mind. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait until I’m done,” he said, turning around to suck the life out of his new foster parents. The couple gasped and coughed and wriggled against the wall for an entire half a minute before finally hanging lifeless. Seconds later, they hit the floor. Peter turned around and walked up to Cramer, who just stood there, motionless.

“Do it,” Peter said.

“I… I can’t…”

“Don’t hesitate now. I can’t stop—no, I won’t stop—unless you kill me.”

Cramer had no choice; he plunged the blade into the boy’s chest as his hands trembled. The look on Peter’s face as he did so unsettled him even more. Even as his heart was pierced, the boy had a smile on his face—even as he fell to the floor and gripped his chest, his face was so peaceful. Cramer quickly left the house and cleaned the weapon before throwing it into a lake. He skipped town the same day.