Rubber wheels rolled across uneven
pavement as Marvin Hauck pushed the rims of his wheelchair. It was a backwoods little town, lost in
Kentucky where few knew of it. The sidewalks were cracked and sprouting weeds.
All the streets were little more than dirt and crumbling asphalt. Marvin grew
up in that little town, and that wasn’t an easy thing to do.
Every day, Marvin made a trek to
the small diner where the most beautiful girl he ever saw would serve him
coffee and a sandwich. Today was
special, today he carried a gift. Today he would have the guts he never had
before.
He pushed his way through the heavy
front door of the diner. Its rusted hinges squealed in protest as always. Lori
looked up from a newspaper with a smile.
“Hey!”
she pushed back her red hair with one hand, “There you are. I have your coffee
ready. You want a ham sandwich today?”
“Sounds
great,” Marvin said as he rolled up to his usual table.
“Oh
look,” an irritating voice floated from across the room, “it’s wheelie boy.”
“Shut
up, Kenny,” Lori retorted.
Kenny
and his two friends laughed. They had been a source of torment for Marvin since
elementary school. Kenny’s two friends made for a strange trio of bullies. The
skinnier one than Kenny had only two large teeth in the front of his mouth, so
they called him Tooth. The bigger one than Kenny was Kegger. Whenever the trio
went drinking, Kegger always carried the keg. Kenny was the brains of the crew
and that still didn’t say much for him. They often ran afoul of the law, but
seldom did anything come of it. Kenny could what he wanted since his father was
the Sheriff.
Marvin
hated their leering faces that sometimes haunted him in his sleep. He couldn’t
count how many bruises and abrasions they had given him. He couldn’t count how
many times he had to struggle back into his chair after they dumped him out of
it.
Marvin
struggled to push the trio out of his mind as Lori came up with his sandwich
and coffee. He looked up to her and smiled.
“I
brought you something,” he almost stammered, but held it together.
“Really?”
Lori almost blushed at the thought, “Well, what is it?”
Marvin
pulled the small box out of his backpack that he kept on his chair. He opened
the little box and showed her its contents. Lori gasped as she took the box and
lifted out the jeweled heart pendent.
“Marvin,
that’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” she kissed Marvin’s forehead, “I’m
going to go try it on in the mirror. I’ll be right back.”
That
kiss was the most awesome thing Marvin had ever felt. He was lost in the
thought, dazed, but then it was shattered.
“What
do you think you’re doing?” Kenny now stood over him with a hateful scowl. The
punch came out of nowhere and rolled Marvin backwards. “That’s my girl, retard.”
Another
punch, and then another hit him. Lori’s scream stopped the assault.
“Kenny!
You monster! Get out!” Lori ran to Marvin. “Oh my God, let me help you.”
“No,
no, I have to go, please, I’ll see you later.” Escape was the only thing on
Marvin’s mind and he went as fast as he could down the street to get home.
Amazingly,
Kenny and his crew didn’t stop get in the way. Kenny was too busy trying to
sugar talk Lori into forgiving the bad behavior. Marvin could hear her shouting at them from
blocks away. Years of their abuse flooded back to him as he rolled into home.
He washed the blood off his face and looked in his mirror.
“No
more.” He said to himself. “No more.”
Marvin
lived alone, his mother and father were long gone. The only thing he had left
of his father was the twelve gauge shotgun in the closet. He knew a little about
shooting a gun, but he hardly had any skill. Still, he grabbed the gun, loaded
shells, and headed back out. He made way down the street with rage and purpose.
He almost didn’t see Kenny’s truck as it pulled up in front of him two blocks
from the diner.
Marvin
struggled to pull up the shotgun from his lap as the trio got out of the truck.
The stock of the weapon got stuck in the arm bars. Kenny grabbed it away before
he could do anything about it.
“Wow,
lookit here! Marvin’s got a shotgun. How about you step into my office, wheelie
boy,” Kenny stepped into the alley they happened to be in front of. Kegger grabbed the handles of Marvin’s wheel
chair and shoved him in behind Kenny. Tooth followed with a sledgehammer.
The
alley was a dead end with a dumpster and a few trash cans. Garbage littered the
ground in the form of beer cans, bottles, paper and leaves.
“I have
to hand it to you, wheelie, this is a nice gun,” Kenny said, “I’ll be taking
good care of it, don’t you worry. But, I get the feeling you planned on
shooting me with it. Are you that stupid, retard?”
“I’ve
had enough of you. You’re nothing but a tormenting monster. You won’t do Lori
any good. Heck, you’ll just smack her around,” Marvin said through gritted
teeth. The back of Kenny’s hand stung across his face.
“Wow,
you really are stupid,” Kenny’s friends laughed and repeated the word stupid
like a couple of parrots. “You aren’t getting out of this one. I have to teach
you a lesson.”
The
first blow of the sledgehammer was to the mid-section. Marvin couldn’t scream
if he wanted to. The next broke one of his useless legs, then a hit landed on a
shoulder. After that, Marvin couldn’t hear their laughter anymore and a blow
broke his jaw in three places. Even after he was thrown to the ground the
beating continued. Blood spattered the ground, surged from his mouth and a rib
punctured a lung. When it finally stopped, Kenny turned to the wheelchair and
exacted his vengeance on it. Kenny smashed the chair beyond use or repair. Marvin
didn’t hear them leave him to die.
All
Marvin could see at first was his own blood covered hand. He moved his fingers
slightly and coughed. He knew he needed to call for help, but it was getting
dark and he couldn’t make a noise. No one would see his body until morning. He thought
of Lori, the girl he would never have and cursed himself for being stupid.
The
night was still and hot and Marvin didn’t know why he found the sudden cool
breeze odd, but he did. First a leaf and some paper started to blow around in a
small eddy, then the wind rose. A tin can clattered by and a bottle rolled
noisily under the dumpster. At first it
was dim and he thought it a trick of his dying mind. Then the blue light grew
brighter as the wind rose to a deafening torrent. Trash cans fell over. Marvin
struggled to lift his head and see what made the light. As he saw the floating
blue pyramid spinning in the air, lighting flashed through the alley. The wind
now threw trash clear out of the alley and something lifted Marvin’s body into
the air.
Whatever
had him in front of the pyramid now grasped his body like giant invisible
hands. The moved him as if handling a broken toy. Bones snapped back into place
and the rib was pulled from his lung. The pyramid pulsated blue light and then
a bright beam blinded him. Now the true changing began. His arms grew and legs
lengthened. Sinew of muscle formed across his body and stripped his bloody
clothing away. For what seemed and eternity, his body bathed in the blinding
blue light.
As the
light faded, something set him slowly to his feet, almost gently. Marvin felt
himself gasp as if breathing for the first time ever and he dropped to one
knee. With awe and shock he stared at
his new large hands and couldn’t believe what he had become.
Back in
front of the diner, Kenny and his friends waited for Lori to come out. They
stood on the sidewalk with special plans for Lori. Kenny wanted her to
understand who she belonged to once and for all. The sudden crash and spraying
of glass sent all three of them sprawling to the ground. Kenny leapt to his feet and stared in shock
at the windshield of his truck and the destroyed cab and hood. There, embedded in
the midst of it all, was a wrecked wheelchair.
The
sound of heavy and deliberate footsteps caused them all to turn and gaze down
the street. What they saw was Marvin
Hauck, and yet it wasn’t. He now stood over six feet tall, broad shouldered and
with emerald green skin. Where skin couldn’t be seen was covered in an Egyptian
armor of green and gold. On the front of his headdress a golden ankh was
mounted and it had an eerie glow. He
continued to move toward them.
Kegger
grabbed the shotgun out of the back of the truck and fired three times before
he ran out of shells. Not one of the shots fazed the new Marvin at all. Marvin
strode up and backhanded Kegger much like Kenny had done to him. The other two stared
in horror as Kegger’s body landed across the street in a shop window. Marvin
stared hard at Kenny as he reached out a fist and hit Tooth in the face. Then
Marvin reached out, and closed a great hand around Kenny’s neck, lifting him
from the ground. He couldn’t believe the
satisfaction he felt at the sight of Kenny’s terrified face.
“Um,
excuse us, but you probably don’t want to do that,” a voice came from behind
him.
Marvin
turned in surprise to see two who were dressed similar to him.
“Hey
there, I know you must be really confused, but we’re here to help, really.”
Said the one with the head of a hawk.
“Who
are you?” Marvin dropped Kenny who pressed against the wall of the diner,
hoping not to be noticed again.
“I’m
Horus and my dog-faced friend is Anubis,” Horus gestured a thumb at Anubis.
“Oh,
even you with the dog jokes, bird brains,” Anubis said.
Marvin
stared from one to the other more confused than ever.
“You’ve
been chosen, and not for revenge,” Anubis continued.
“Then
for what?”
“A new
purpose. It looks like the Powermid chose you to become Osiris,” Horus offered.
“I don’t
understand any of this.”
“We
know. That’s why we want you to come with us. We’ll help you,” Anubis said. “We
were chosen, just like you.”
Before
Marvin, now Osiris, left with them, Anubis walked over to Kenny and leaned over
him with eyes glowing.
“Would
you like to see us come back?” Anubis gave a toothy smile.
Kenny
shook his head as tears flowed down his face.
“Then
you better find a way to never hurt another living thing again, or we will.”
As the
left in a cosmic ray of light, Marvin saw Lori watching from a window. He
waved, but knew that now his life was taking a direction into a greater unknown.
