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

with what took place back at that house?

"No, I mean me trying to hit

Levin panted. "What

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

"It was

seen my father? The

"How did you feel when your father brought

seat and rolled his eyes upwards as though he were ailing. "At first, I was pissed. I was pissed at a lot of things at the time. But when I finally came to and realized what I had done to both him and my lady, him sending me to that place made all

desk

she died six years

that her passing

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

keep mentioning November." Levin

adamantly pointed. "I know what you're trying to do. Sanyupta did the same thing. So before you try

"Really," Levin's

things. Hell, I can't

Levin picked up his ballpoint pen and began to jot something down on a

"Doctor Sanyupta mentioned that you suffered from blackouts before. Have you seen a

see a doctor just so he can tell me to take some Anacin. If it weren't

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

five year old at that moment. He tried to cut his eyes away from the doctor's,

and watched some TV. After that, everything went dark. When I woke up the next morning, I was hanging out of my bed with the covers wrapped around my

still scribbling away on his pad. "Any

I remember waking up, eating breakfast, talking to Lynn on the phone and then my dad taking me down 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 that." Isaac heavily pondered while staring endlessly at the brown

"Doctor Sanyupta did mention that you would see...another person in your bedroom from time to

Isaac blushed before he turned his head and exhaled as if he were too

look," Levin steadily spoke, extending his right hand outwards to Isaac, "it's just you and me in here. The only other person that knows about this is Sanyupta. I'm not trying to pry, I just want to

looked up and coughed, acting as though he

happened back in November, I've been seeing this...thing. I'm not even gonna call it a person because I never see its face. It just comes out of nowhere, and then it just leaves. It never speaks. It just

you. I mean, I heard when they first brought you to Ashlanview that you were a...for lack of a better term, a wreck. But after only

as if he were recalling something

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

you've never

"I thought you people didn't like to be called colored." Levin haphazardly jibed while apparently waiting

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

me that he's the reincarnation of Attila the Hun, and a woman who believed that she was a ghost, even though she was about as alive as you and I are right now. What you think you are is the least of your problems. It's normal to have these thoughts. You saw three of your friends get killed. That

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

to know, were you beaten up that night? Because your x-rays revealed significant damage to your entire skeletal system. Extreme muscle strains. And even more amazing, it appeared as though your body healed

his vegetative state of silence. He

just can't even begin to imagine the utter pain and agony that you went through." Jeremiah

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

at Isaac, he paused to examine the young man who suddenly took on the eerie appearance of someone who wasn't even

slumping closer and closer to the floor like he was about to

mom." The young man

"I beg your pardon?" Sitting up, Isaac

her. I got to that age when I thought I was too cool. Couldn't nobody tell

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

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

The more Isaac spoke, something inside of him began to twist and turn, much