Music of the Dead

    I awake in a sweat, jolted from an unconscious state. “I have to stop drinking so much on weekdays,” I grumble. The light outside my window is dim, and the room makes no sound save for a small branch tapping on my window. I walk across the floor to my dresser to change from my drenched clothing when, suddenly, I hear a noise outside my room. “It must be Axel,” I mutter. In my two years living in my apartment, I have not sized him up to be of any importance to me. He works a steady job and can converse semi-intelligently, but I find his mannerisms and taste lacking. However, I am glad for an animated presence right now. I change from my soaked clothes and walk out of my room to knock on his door. I pause; he is listening to an awful sound, barely music. The lyrics make no sense and do not even sound like language but more like the screams of people buried alive. There is a constant guitar rift that it only serves to amplify the vocals. The drums are mashed intermittently, with a delicate triangle hit on a loop. I decide against disturbing him and his “music.”

    Instead, I walk down the hallway to the kitchen for food but do not even make it halfway when I am stopped. Our window is broken. “Great,” I mutter, “what could possess Axel to do something so stupid.” I go to inspect the window and am shocked – there is blood all around! It seems he had punched the window from the inside, perhaps hypnotized by his music. There is a faint flash of red and blue outside, possibly fireworks from the recent holiday. I will have to confront him about the window, but no sense in doing so on an empty stomach. I flip a light on in the kitchen, but nothing happens. The accursed music is growing louder as if Axel is increasing the volume in proportion to my rage. I intend to continue with my meal and remove my sandwich items from the cupboard. As I ply the mayonnaise on the bread with a butter knife, I see stains from around the knife holder, dried and red. Now, I begin to panic. I check my phone and see numerous missed calls and unanswered text messages. The top notification reads, “ARE YOU OK?!?!?” I realize something is wrong and check back out the window. 

    The flashes materialize more quickly now; it is the police! I wonder what Axel has done; he was an odd fellow, to be sure, but pretty harmless. I intend to walk outside and seek shelter with the police from my surely homicidal roommate, but I am repulsed. A barrage of bullets and demands come from the cops, more as a unit than individuals. I am now trapped. On one side, a murderous police force intent on my doom; on the other, a maniacal roommate who surely wishes to make me his next victim. I decide taking on one is preferable to the many, and I grab a knife from the holder. To my horror, it, too, is covered in blood! The music has grown louder, more desperate, and more sinister. 

    It is now time to confront Axel. “Surely I can beat him; he has never beaten me once at anything: weightlifting, video games, arguments,” I whisper. I arrive at his door and feel the evil radiating from it. The light outside is gone, and the only source of visibility is from the outline of his door. It is red, bright, and smells of sulfur. Suddenly, I notice words written in red above his door (were they there before?), “ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE.” I have never believed in Satan or the panic he brings, but my faith is now being tested. As I grab the doorknob, the music grows to a fever pitch, a roar in my ears that makes thought impossible and words incomprehensible. I steel my nerves for the entrance, but it is locked. Our doors have no locks, so he must have replaced them. I curse at him, but not even I can hear what has been said. I repeatedly wail at the door, desperate for it to break. My mind has reverted to its animalistic form – my only thought is to break in and shut the damn music off! It taunts me, begging me to shut it and Axel up for good. Finally, – a reprieve! – the doorknob comes off, and I burst into the room.

    The room is a mess. Axel stands there, looking at me with a cruel smile, and the music cranks to an unimaginable volume. His body is covered in strange symbols in Hebrew, Greek, and other languages unknown to me. Behind him, three bodies are pinned to the wall by nails. A ghastly scene! They are all stripped and lacerated, given the customary bird symbol of Viking captives. The incessant drip of their bodies travels down their mangled bodies to finally dive from their feet to the floor below. I come at Axel with the knife, foaming at the mouth. His death brings me salvation – it must! He must pay for what he has done! He screams at me, worse than any sound the music can bring, and digs his nails, sharpened like talons, into my neck. I push him off me and pin him to the ground. The police are outside, but Axel cannot be allowed to continue. I jam the knife deep into his chest so hard that I feel his heart pulsate near my hand. The music dims, and Axel looks at me gladly; he tells me I have released him from the music. I shudder at my deed but am relieved my nightmare is over.

    I collect myself and walk to the door, gaining pride in my newfound glory. I had stopped a murder, after all! I reach for the door, and I feel a hand on my shoulder – it is Axel! ‘You shall never be free,” he says monotonously at me as if he had told me our toilet paper was low. I rush outside, uncaring if the bullets hit me or not. Now, I must get away! I run to the police, waving my arms frantically and screaming for help. I am shot and fall down, bleeding from my neck and skull across the street. As I gasp for air in my pool of blood, the cops rush into the house, and I hear more screams. They administer me no aid and look disgusted at me, dying on the street. 

    “Why, what have I done,” I garble through the blood in my throat. I receive no answer, but then I see them: Axel and his three victims standing amongst the crowd. “Now you know the pleasure of Fate,” they say. I attempt to use my remaining strength to stab them with my knife, but it is no use. 

    The music starts again, and they have dragged me down to Hell.