You Can't Just Stop

                 A chilling December breeze swept through the desolate streets of Osseo, Wisconsin. The first serious snowstorm of the season fast approaching, the wind acting as a warning of sorts. The young man paced nervously from his front door, to the end of the driveway, a cheap cigar clenched between his chattering teeth. How long had he been waiting out here? Common sense would drive the average person indoors, but anxiety had taken over at this point, and he was ready to leave this life behind as soon as his taxi arrived.

                 Thanksgiving had been nice this year at the Reynolds home. Your typical turkey dinner, a Peanuts special on television, a painstakingly boring game of monopoly, and for the adults, wine to end the whole hurrah. There was some fighting towards the end, but it wasn’t anything Little Dave couldn’t handle. That stupid fucking nickname his siblings had bestowed upon him at birth had been the entire basis of the ordeal. The name was ironic, of course. David was a lumbering 6’3, weighing in at roughly 350 lbs. He’d been large his whole life, and had to deal with constant mockery from every angle. Not only for his size, but people perceived him as…slow. Now at the age of 32, he’d still dealt with it thanks to his older brother and sister. He knew they didn’t mean to hurt him, or anger him, to be honest he often wondered why they’d bothered mocking him at all.

                 “Hey buddy! Let’s go already!” The cabby yelled through the window as he pulled up. David tossed the dwindling cigar, and hesitated as he reached for the handle.

                 “I think I’ve changed my mind…” he mumbled, reaching for his suitcase, instead. The cabby screamed, demanding compensation for the ride over. To which David gladly obliged, apologizing as the taxi sped off angrily.

                 David sighed and made his way back to the front door, deciding he couldn’t leave his family on such a bad note. He had overreacted, and besides, this was HIS house. If anyone should leave…

                 “GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!” David screamed, as he stepped in. The faces of his brother and sister stared back at him, expressionless and cold. They sat disturbingly close on the couch. A soft sobbing was heard from the next room over. Probably his mother. “Way to go MARK!” David lurched towards his brother on the couch, lowering his gaze to eye level. His brother said nothing. Only continued to give that piercing, disapproving stare. “Oh FUCK YOU BOTH THEN!” he screamed wildly, driving a fist into the side of his brother’s head.

                 The man flew to the floor limply with a sickening “thud” as his skull smacked the floor. Memories flooded David’s mind as the fresh purge of blood covering the floor released the foul odor of decay. “Oh my god...” Vomit covered the dead man as David fell back in shock.

                 The sobbing in the other room intensified as it all came back to him. The fight, the screaming, and the blood. They’d kept yelling something at him. “You can’t just stop, Little Davie” His cheeks flushed with anger. “You can’t just stop” David stood up in a panic, and yelled “YOU CAN’T JUST STOP?!”

                 He sprinted to the back room, and the sobbing stopped as he approached the door. His parents stared back at him from the center of the bedroom. The strong odor of death just as prevalent. David gagged and stepped back. What did it mean?

                 “You can’t stop, Davie” A voice sounded from behind. David swung around, only to be greeted with a sick caricature of a person. Impossible features composed a face comparable to something imagined in a schizophrenic’s nightmare. “You can’t just stop” And David understood. This was the end of times, and he would be the prophet to deliver the message to them all. The demonic creature beckoned him to follow as it seemed to glitch towards the door.                  As David stepped over the remains of what had once been his brother, he saw them sitting on the shelf. His medication. Images flashed through his mind. “You can’t just stop taking them Davie!” “Little Dave you know what happens when you just stop!” He grimaced as he grabbed the kitchen knife set next to the medication, and continued after his new master