Alex Saw the Devil

by Felix Fausto Perez

When Alexandro was a young boy, nine or ten, he wasn’t a bad boy or
misbehaved. He liked playing soccer very much, played with his friends, did good in school, loved riding horses and when he didn’t run away from home for the whole day he would help his grandparents with the chores. In fact that’s what got him into trouble most of the time. He didn’t curse, think about hurting others or stole from people but very often he would sneak out of the house and next thing you know, he was nowhere to be found. Every time Alex, as he was known by everyone, got home late he would get his butt whipped with whatever was available. Sometimes his mama Carmen would tell him “One of these days the devil is going to appear before you, drag you or perhaps take you because you are out so late.” And that’s just the way he felt late one night when he was coming home from spending all day and part of the night at his friend’s house.

Alex grew up from the age of two with his grandparents in a village
in Mexico of about forty-five families. It’s a rural area far away from
civilization. There was no phone, electricity, paved streets or potable water. Everything was done very primitively. The land was plowed with the help of horses or mules and there were only three pick-up trucks in the whole place. Some one owned a television but it wasn’t Alex’s grandparents. No television at his house meant that the only way to pass time was to tell stories by the fireplace, under the candlelight or fuel lantern. Sometimes scary stories. Alex’s grandparents used to talk about all the unexplained things and noises that would happen in the creeks and orchards. They would talk about the black horse dragging chains through the street in the middle of the night or the big black dog with glowing red eyes that would cross people’s path, circle around them in the middle of one of the creeks and then disappear before their eyes.

Alex never thought it would happen to him but it did. It happened one
summer at about eleven o’clock at night. Alex had spent all day away from home, mostly at Julio’s house. They were best friends, never got tired of each other and at school, they were inseparable. They had been playing Mexican lottery under candle lights. Before Alex knew, it had gotten late. The only way to tell time was to listen to the radio or if some one had a watch but Alex didn’t dare ask the time because he knew he would be sent home when Julio’s parents realized how late it was.

When it got dark and Alex wasn’t home he thought about all the
stories he had heard told by his grandparents. He knew that to get home he would have to cross the creek where the big black dog had been seen by many people and that he’d most likely do the walking by himself. Unless someone happened to walk by and Alex could tag along and have company. But at that time of the night people in the village weren’t out any more. Even though it was a weekend. It seemed like the place was haunted every time darkness sat.

Every member of the family was getting ready to go to bed except Julio because he was having fun playing with Alex. Julio’s mother looked at Alex and finally told him the words he feared to hear. “Alex. It’s late, we are going to bed and you need to go home. Your mama Carmen is probably worried about you.” With a sad face, Alex looked at Julio then toward the door. He didn’t want to go but he couldn’t stay. Alex and Julio made plans to meet the next day even though Alex did not know if he would be allowed to go out the next day because he had stayed out so late and had not helped with the house chores. As soon as the boys said their goodbyes Alex walked out the door with his eyes not yet adjusted to the darkness. It was dark. First couple steps out of the front gate he stumbled and almost fell but he managed to stay on his feet and continued his way home, by himself.

Alex’s house was about two blocks away but even though he walked as
fast as he could he didn’t seem to gain as much distance as he would like. He didn’t seem to go fast enough but nonetheless he was approaching the creek he feared to cross. The creek was about half-way down the street from his friend’s house and at that time of the year it was dry. Alex continued at a fast pace without looking to the sides for fear of seeing something jumping out of the bushes or from behind the fences. All his senses sharpened and he was paying close attention to every noise he heard.

The night was silent. Suddenly he felt a gust of wind go over his head
that scared the living soul out of him. At first he thought it was the devil that had missed his head but when it screeched after it passed him he knew it was just a barn owl. His heart was racing worse than when he played soccer because of the frightful moment the owl had caused and because he was almost at the creek’s edge.

The crossing of the creek was covered in cement so pick-up trucks wouldn’t get stuck. When Alex started to walk on the cement he felt the urge to run until he got home but decided not because of the poor visibility. He could fall, get hurt and would take longer to get home. The short distance to cross the creek seemed longer than when Alex crossed it during the day. His short legs couldn’t advance while all kinds of thought crossed his mind. What would it be? The lady that howled at night for her kids ever since she drowned them in the river, the black horse dragging chains or the big black dog. Or perhaps the man who hanged himself on the mesquite tree just on the other side of the creek.

As he reached the center of the creek the hair in back of his neck stood up. He felt a chill and got goose bumps all over his body. He felt a gust of wind coming down stream the creek and as soon as the gust of wind was gone, in a blink of an eye, the big black dog was there. He couldn’t believe his eyes. His whole body was trembling, his legs shaking and his voice gone. He wanted to yell for help but it was impossible because when he tried not a bit of sound was emitted. Some one had told him that if he ever saw the devil all he had to do was pray to God and it is gone but he could not pray. He could not keep walking because the dog was blocking his path. It was a big dog. The biggest he ever saw. Perhaps bigger than a Great Dane but nobody around the area owned that type of dog. It looked at Alex and he saw the glowing red eyes. Alex felt like he was suspended in the air. Maybe it was because he could not feel the ground under him.

The dog circled him once. Alex thought that was the end of his short
life. For sure the devil was going to take him. On the second time around the dog disappeared. Just like it appeared it was gone. In a blink of an eye. Alex looked up stream, down stream, but it was nowhere to be found. He had seen it as clear as it had been in day light but now it was gone and dark again. He finally felt his feet on the ground and was able to move. Faster this time. He was almost jogging and now that he was away from the creek he did not dare look back for fear that the dog would be after him. Alex rushed home. It seemed like it took him forever but when he reached the front gate he didn’t pause to open it. Instead he jumped the fence because it was faster. He just wanted to get inside the house where he could feel safe. He was not even thinking of the whipping he would be getting from his mama Carmen.

Alex walked inside the house very stealthily and went in the bedroom.
Both his grandparents were asleep, had been for hours. He climbed in
his bed and went to sleep but not before thinking of the black dog he had seen. He never thought it would happen to him but it did. Now every time he crosses the creek, day or night, he is reminded of the frightening night when he saw the devil.