The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

Dressed in his slightly tattered grey winter coat, a Cleveland Browns knit hat and a Band-Aid in the center of his forehead, Isaac stepped inside and gladly shook Levin's hand.

"Hi, Isaac," Levin warmly greeted.

Rubbing his cold hands together, Isaac smiled back, "How ya doin', man"

"Well, why don't you have a seat?" Jeremiah said as he sat himself down behind his compact desk.

Isaac took off his coat and hat and laid them on the leather couch behind him. He then tried to caress some warmth into his arms. He was wearing a green Izod sweater and a faded pair of blue jeans, and even in all of his layers the young man still felt like a six foot tall ice pick.

"Can I bum a smoke off of you, my man?" Isaac anxiously asked.

"Sure." Levin strangely eyed Isaac as he opened a drawer within his desk and took out a pack of Marlboro's.

Isaac secured the cigarette from the doctor and waited until Levin whipped out a lighter to ignite the tip.

"I wasn't aware that you smoked." Levin curiously grinned.

Isaac sat down in the chair in front of the desk and stated, "I don't smoke in front of my father and kid. But anywhere else, I'm game."

"I understand." Levin nonchalantly waved his hand. "Everyone here seems to frown upon anyone who smokes anymore." He hopelessly sighed. "So, how are you doing these days?"

Gradually coming down from his cold fit, Isaac explained in between puffs, "Not bad. Been looking for a job. And I got engaged the other night."

"Congratulations!" Levin lit up. "When is the wedding?"

"My lady says she wants a spring wedding, so, I figure it'll be sometime around April or May."

"Super, just super," Levin graciously smiled.

Isaac stared pensively at the doctor while taking a long drag on his cigarette. He wasn't accustomed to being around such a young looking professional man. In a way, it put him at ease, it made him feel as though he didn't have to live up to a lofty, generational expectation that seemingly everyone over the age of forty had already set for him.

Studying Jeremiah with a keen eye, Isaac cunningly grinned, "You sure you're a psychiatrist and not some college kid trying to get extra credit from his professor or something?"

Levin just sat back. "I'm actually five years older than you. I received my bachelors from Ohio State when I turned twenty-three. I hope that meets your standards." He cracked a smile.

"Man, you must've been real smart back in high school. If it hadn't been for me smoking since the eighth grade I probably would've joined the football team. And who knows, maybe the NFL."

"My dad once told me that smoking was the poetry of liars. It hides the true you behind a façade of so called lethargy."

Isaac screwed up his face and giggled, "Your dad sounds like mine. I swear, that man can recite just about every verse out of the bible, and ninety-nine percent of the time I don't have a damn clue as to what he's talkin' about."

Jeremiah joined in on the humor while unhinging his tie. "I have an uncle who happens to be a rabbit in Utica, New York. Till this day the man still gets me to recite verses out of the Tanakh."

"Does he have that real deep Jewish accent? You know, like he's gagging on something whenever he talks?" Isaac smirked.

"Yep, that's my uncle Jerome alright." Levin lightheartedly chuckled.

"Don't get me wrong, I love my dad to death, but you get tired of always hearing bible verses night and day. You would think after hearing it for twenty years that I'd have the whole bible memorized by now." Isaac joked while squashing the butt of his cigarette out in the glass ashtray on the desk.

"So tell me, how do you and your father get along?"

"We're cool, I guess." Isaac exhaled.

"Just cool," Jeremiah queried.

I mean, besides what happened back in November, me and him see eye

what took place back at that house? Doctor Sanyupta never went into much detail back

"No, I mean me trying to

"Oh really," Levin

Isaac sulked. "I wasn't exactly myself at the time. I swung at 'em, next thing

"It was that

father? The man isn't exactly a lightweight,

"How did you feel when your father brought

things at the time. But when I finally came to and realized what I had done to both him and my lady,

Levin pointed his eyes down at his desk and said,

"Yeah, she died six years

you say that her passing

we always got along. If anything changed after my mom's death, it had

"You keep mentioning November." Levin

"Hold it right there." Isaac adamantly pointed. "I know what you're trying to do. Sanyupta did the same thing. So before you try and

"Really,"

Sometimes I can't remember things. Hell, I can't even

his ballpoint pen and began to jot something down on

from blackouts before. Have you seen a doctor about them? Are any of these blackouts preceded

don't have the money to go see a doctor just so he can tell me to take some Anacin. If it weren't for the state paying for this visit I

down to the root of these blackouts, Isaac, especially since they began after the incident

about in his seat like an impatient five year old at that moment. He tried to cut his eyes away from the doctor's, but Levin was seemingly just as persistent in reaching

and watched some TV. After that, everything went dark. When I woke up the next morning, I was hanging

murmured, still scribbling away on his pad. "Any

to his job to see if I could get on. Then, we got back in the car, my dad stopped at a red light, and...that's

did mention that you would see...another person in your bedroom from

exhaled as if he were too ashamed to hear anything more come from the

you and me in here. The only other person that knows about

Isaac looked up and coughed, acting as though he were trying to find the proper words to

of nowhere, and then it just leaves. It never speaks. It just walks around. I don't know if it's a ghost

want to talk about what took place inside that house, but piece by piece, it'll start to come together for you. I mean, I heard when they first brought you to

snicker to himself as if he were recalling something funny before he said, "I guess Sanyupta told you about what

Levin sat back and took off his glasses. "Uh, yeah," he modestly answered. "I'll admit that it's not exactly what I expected to hear from

you've never heard a colored

"I thought you people didn't like to be called colored." Levin haphazardly jibed while apparently waiting for a smile to make its way to

Isaac glared oddly at the doctor before laughing. He got the joke, he was just awestruck at the sheer boldness of

Hun, and a woman who believed that she was a ghost, even

Isaac dropped his head and said, "Those cats weren't my friends. And as far as what happened back in November, let's just say, for now...I got caught up

happened across some of your x-rays from your hospital visit after the incident. Isaac, I just have to know, were you beaten up that night? Because your x-rays revealed significant damage to your entire skeletal system.

once again regressed into his vegetative state of silence. He was determined not to go

begin to imagine the utter pain and agony that

"Well, all I can say is that...I wasn't beaten up.

were about to throw another barrage of inquiries at Isaac, he paused to examine the young man who suddenly took on the eerie appearance of someone who wasn't even in the same room

closer to

"I miss my mom." The young man

"I beg your

mom. Sometimes she could be just like my dad, spitting bible verses left and right, but for a long time, she was my best friend. I was the one that pulled away from her. I got to that age when I thought I was too cool. Couldn't nobody tell me shit. I'll never forget the day before they took her to the hospital, she and I argued because I wasn't doing my homework. That was the last time I spoke to her before she

a look of syrupy sympathy in his blue eyes, Levin got up, sat down on the edge of his desk in front of Isaac and said, "Guilt binds us in all sorts of trouble, Isaac. This so called ghost that you see, this mythical creature that you think you are, it's all part of the culpability that you've been carrying all this time. It finally materialized when those men were killed in that house. Do you feel guilty that

When I was laid up in Ashlandview, I got a chance to do a lot of thinking. I got a son. I look at a lot of brotha's out there now, fuckin' up, doin' things they're not supposed to be doin'. I swore that I'd be different. I want my son to look up to me like I look up to my dad. I want my fiancé to have a man that she can depend on. I swore to God and even my own mother that I would be different. God spared my life that night because he wanted to give

The more Isaac spoke, something inside of him began to twist and turn, much like a stomach ache, but on a less gut wrenching