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.

back in November, me and him see eye to

"You mean with what took place back at that house? Doctor Sanyupta never went into much detail

"No, I mean

really," Levin panted. "What brought

exactly myself at the time. I swung at 'em, next thing I know, I wake up in my

"It was that

"Have you ever seen my father? The man isn't exactly a

you feel when your father

Isaac sat back in his 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

his desk and

died six years ago

that her passing brought you and your father closer

death, it had to be that my dad stopped working so much. I think he slowed down so he could spend more

"You keep mentioning

Sanyupta did the same thing. So before you try and go back in time with me, understand,

"Really," Levin's eyes opened

"Yeah, I keep on having these...blackouts. Sometimes I can't remember things. Hell, I can't even

to jot

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

a doctor just so he can tell me to

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

moment. He tried to cut his eyes away from

some popcorn and watched some TV. After that, everything went

murmured, still scribbling away on his

his job to see if I could

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

before he turned his head and exhaled as if he were too ashamed to hear anything more come from the

steadily spoke, extending his right hand outwards to Isaac, "it's just you and me in here. The only

acting as though he were trying to find the proper words to say at that

and then it just leaves. It never speaks. It just

"Isaac, I understand that you don't 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 Ashlanview that you were a...for lack of a better term, a wreck. But after only a few weeks, you've made significant improvement. You're

if he were recalling something funny before he said, "I guess Sanyupta

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

really mean to say is that you've never heard a

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

at the doctor before laughing. He got the joke, he was

in this profession for two years now, and so far I've had three people tell me that they were vampires. One guy that swears he's James Bond. Another person tell 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

cats weren't my friends. And as far as what happened back in November, let's just say, for now...I got caught

Isaac, I just have to know, were you beaten up that night? Because your

his vegetative state of silence. He was determined not

to imagine the utter pain and agony that you went through." Jeremiah

can say is that...I wasn't beaten up.

looked as if Levin were about to throw another barrage of inquiries at Isaac, he paused to examine the young man

in his seat, slumping closer and closer to the floor like he was

"I miss my mom." The young man uttered in a tone

beg your pardon?" Sitting

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

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 you

that I felt that night was real. I'm talking about a second chance. 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

and turn, much like