Apriltown part I

Fink

I was on my way to meet the man. The luckiest man alive. Since his deal with Lucifer, his wildest dreams became reality. He now owned the town, Apriltown, in Northeast Georgia.

The infamous, Michael Rockerfellow, the man who turned legend. He was only eighteen years old when his parents died. He had no prospect of going to college. His only goal was to wed this girl named Elizabeth. She was a beautiful, charismatic, smart and money-hungry young woman from a middle-class Hungarian background. Michael's parents were into the dark arts and left books about the devil and witchcraft all around their house. It was only a matter of time before little Mikey would find himself reading about Lucifer, about spells and potions.

I arrived at the chateau and the guard opened the gates for me. As though he was expecting my visit. I drove up to the driveway and got out of my car to go knock on the main door.

ROCKERFELLOW'S CHATEAU

As the maid opened the heavy doors for me. I greeted her, and stepped into the chateau. She closed the door and signaled for me to follow her into the chateau.

"Good evening. I am Fink Neptenu. I am here to see Mister Rockerfellow."

"Good evening Mister Neptenu. Master Rockerfellow is expecting you. He is in the lobby. Right this way sir," Anita guided him.

"After you. Thank you."

Mr. Rockerfellow was only twenty-two years old but he had the mannerism of a 50-year-old as he was rocking back and forth on his expensive lofty chair.

Anita announced my arrival to her master and waited for instructions.

"Master Rockerfellow, Mister Neptenu is here."

Rockerfellow was an old mind occupying a youthful, athletic body. He was dressed in blue true religion jeans with a white V-neck t-shirt. He had deep blue eyes, a chiseled chin, with eyebrows for days. He had long luscious stylized red hair and rocked loafers way better than Michael Jackson.

"Jacob told me all about you. I feel like I know you already. Do you want coffee, tea, water, champagne or orange juice? Your wish is my command," Rockerfellow offered generously.

"Great things only, I hope. I will have some tea. Thank you."

He looked at the maid and gestured to her to get tea for him and me.

"Definitely. Have a seat please," Rockerfellow stated dismissively.

"You know why I am here. I would rather not take that route, but I have no other option."

"I have been there. I know exactly what you mean." Rockerfellow comforted empathically.

"But do you have any regrets?" Fink queried with curiosity painted all over his face.

"I am just enjoying my lavish lifestyle. I have no regrets. I have a beautiful wife, a graceful chateau, a maid and I own many cars. I also own a town and I can expand my business to wherever I want. I am living the dream. The other part of the deal is that I cannot help anyone by giving them any of my good fortune. When this life is over for me, no one will be able to inherit my wealth. Not even my wife or children. But I can help people by casting spells for them to gain their hearts' desires, as I feel obligated to do so anyway." Rockerfellow replied in a matter of fact fashion.

Anita was carrying a tray with a German tea set with two tea cups, a sugar bowl, milk and tea spoons.

"Two sugars, Mr. Neptenu?"

To the maid

"Yes, as usual. Thank you."

Anita was handing the cup of tea with two slices of sugar to Fink and adding some milk to the other cup before handing it to Rockerfellow. "Will that be all?"

"Thank you Anita. That would be all. Tell my wife, we have a guest."

"That's very grand. But I do not like the part where my family cannot inherit my wealth." Fink is second guessing himself internally.

"That was my deal with the prince of Darkness. Yours may be very different from mine. It's whatever he feels you deserve. He will match your request but his form of payment from you is a curse that could last till after you are long gone."

"So, there is really no hell if I have to pay for the deal in the form of a curse."

"Hell and Heaven are whatever you want them to be. Hell could be whatever that blocks you from living a happy and complete life. Heaven could be whatever that is helping you live a happy existence. Did you ever think of that?"

"I never thought of it that way. But I do think that our society wants to control us by forcing us to abide by these "rules". If we don't, we become rule-breakers, criminals; if we are criminals, ultimately we will go to hell in the Afterlife. Some rules have no grounds to be instated and some others are just inhuman but if we don't follow them, we are criminals; no one wants to be a criminal. I truly feel government and religious systems dictate what hell and heaven should look like and who gets the proper admittance."

"I agree. Are you ready to get what you want from this lifetime?"

"More ready than I'll ever be!"

"Let's go to the dungeon!" Rockerfellow stands up and guides Fink down to the dungeon.

In the dungeon, Fink is following Rockerfellow. He finds himself in a very dark and sinister looking room, and the atmosphere there is less inviting than the lobby of the chateau. 34. Down in the Dungeon, Rockerfellow sits on a chair that looks more like a throne than anything else, opens a spell book, and starts to explain to his guests the different spells he can use for one to become rich and famous.

Rockerfellow is eying a spelling book as he is having a conversation with Fink.

"You want to become a rich and famous author, right? There are various spells to cast where you can become rich beyond your wildest dreams, but to become famous, there's a lot in play, because you have to become creative, artistic even, to create art that is so unique that you, the creator, will become famous for."

"I am ready. But don't forget that I want to become rich and famous in order to marry the love of my life and have children from our union.

"Before I begin to read from the book, I want you to do as I say, do not question me, just do as I say, even if you don't think it's morally right."

"I will not question you."

"I want you to take your clothes off and be completely naked and submissive, open and ready."

Fink takes all of his clothes off without questioning the requester.

"Use these scissors from the table, cut an inch of your hair and place it in the bowl right in front of you."

Fink does as instructed.

"Use the golden dagger from this table, prick your ring finger and drain the blood into the bowl."

Fink shakes his head but follows instructions.

Rockerfellow is humming a ritual song, and seconds later he is singing loudly, as fire blazes up from the fireplace, he continues to sing loudly. Abruptly stops, and start reciting a spell from the spell book. He repeats the spell as if in a trance, he walks toward Fink and places his hand onto Fink's head. Fink looks almost possessed as Rockerfellow continues loudly to repeat the spell. Fink drops onto his knees. Once he finishes reciting the spell for the third time, the fire goes back to its previous state, calm and low, and Fink regains consciousness and gets back on his feet. He orders him to dress up and leave the dungeon without questioning anything that just took place.