Old Man Mercy

Of all the people living in Sunnymay retirement home Old Man Mercy was probably the most bizarre. He was admitted almost 30 years ago by his family who didn’t want him living on his own.

At that time he was 97 years old, now he was 127.

The workers at the home have regarded him as a rumor and have pretty much stayed away from him, except for the usual checkups and food deliveries.

He was nothing short of a strange old man. He spent every waking moment sitting in his chair staring at the wall.

That’s all he ever did and all he will do, at least when people were around.

For the first five years his room was like everyone else’s, a bed, television, a chair, a table and two end tables each with a lamp. He sat in the chair even then.

Once the sixth year came around things started to change.

It would seem without Mercy’s aid, the lamps vanished of the end table one at a time for the next five years. When one was replaced the other vanished. Mercy just sat in his chair.

The caretakers at the home continually questioned him about it but he never spoke a word to them, just scanned them over with his eyes. Eventually the lamps disappeared and no one replaced them.

The next thing to vanish was the television, just the same as the lamps before had done.

He would answer no questions about the television and eventually the room was void of lamps and a television.

Once the lights were gone (save the overhead light which was much too weak to use often) Mercy himself had apparently moved him and his  chair to face the spot on the wall where the television was and directly under the overhanging light.

The end tabled appeared on either side of him and stood like guard towers ready for anything it seemed.

This all took place over a span of 30 years and he was now rumored by the staff to be some above human creature who should be left alone.

Old Man Mercy, man of a thousand mysteries continued to sit in his chair, his bed as untouched as the day he arrived, his voice a locked away as treasure, looking for something…

Which was about to arrive.

On the first day of the 31^st year, a young man appeared in the retirement home. He was dressed in evening clothes, with a nice black jacket over a white button-up and a grey vest. He had his hair shining with gel to hold it in place and his brown eyes were darkened beyond human eyes.

Mercy gave no notice to the man when the puppet entered the room and took his place at the blank wall facing the old man.

The overhead light began to flicker on and off at that point, casting a longer than usual shadow behind Mercy. In the moment of complete darkness two candles appeared on both sides of Mercy on the end tables.  One on Mercy’s right side was an all black that had a pure white flame atop it and the one on the left was all white with a black flame a lit on it.

Mercy, for the first time, moved his neck and flexed his cramped muscles which had lost their use so long ago.

Mercy finally had a new body to use.

The young man was in front of him stared at Mercy with his glazed eyes and stood with his back against the wall.

The man had lived for 31 years and in that time had committed several horrible acts such as butchering his family and those he saw fit to murder and got away with every single event.

The wall began to breathe inward and pulled the man to it wrapping bits of plaster around the arms and legs of the new vassal.

The man woke up at that time and began to fight the wall but to no avail, all the while screaming at Mercy to help.

The old man raised his frail arms to the candles and chanted a few words over and over using the old vocal cords that had little use in the past. The hoarse chants echoed in the room till the whole ritual was through.

Now the young man was lying in Mercy’s bed with his life slowly draining away screaming at the nurses and doctors who rushed in that he wasn’t dying, he was too young.

In the meantime, Mercy was walking down the street in his new evening clothes and began his new life as a 31 year old man with the world before him.