The Horror Library - The Best in Horror Fiction

The Man in Red
By Jason R. Beirens

*With respect to H.P. Lovecraft and Hanna–Barbara

The man in red sat in the carriage waiting for the right time. The midnight hour was approaching, time for his travels to begin. His long white beard was twisted and knotted like twine. His red top hat resting in his lap, his fingers dancing on the brim in anticipation of what was to come. The white felt trim twisted underneath his calloused hands.
He looked to the sky above the thick fog. The moon a sliver in the sky surrounded by a million tiny stars. The horned creatures arrived a few moments before the clock struck for the twelfth time. The little hunched men attached the reigns to them, shaking in fear as they did so. The horned creatures snorted in disgust of the hunched men, and what they were doing to them.
The large twisted clock tower rang out, and the carriage was on its way. Out into the night sky carrying the man in red and his many gifts. He laughed as we went out into the world, his gaunt figure shaking horribly with each stifled guffaw.
The handles of the reigns were thin, strands jutted out at odd angles, and the fibers seemed to be made of metal. The man in red either didn't mind, or didn't notice his thin claw like hands bleeding. He carried on until he reached the first village.

Now this was long ago, so the man in red has changed. This was when the world was new and creatures we now have no recollection of existed and walked freely amongst the world of man. No museum holds their bones and no one save a few remember they existed at all.

The first village was made up of mostly humans, though some that appeared to be men were not. They wore the skin infallibly and moved about most comfortably in the dark of night. Daylight was not as much trouble to them then, as it would later become.
The man in red landed in the town square where the large village tree had been let to grow. Some of the almost men came out to watch, they respectfully kept their distance from him. Rumors, not yet proven, spread amongst the almost men that the man in red was one of them,
The man in red hurried about his task, leaving gifts for those that deserved them, and something worse than nothing for those that deserved nothing. Whatever the thing was that he left for the undeserving was never revealed to others, and it was never written of in any form. Most that received the thing were never heard of again, or made mad and were never listened to again.

Around the world and back again, for at this time gifts were not only left for those who believed a certain way. He would visit all creatures, even those that lived under the water. The pressure of the deep did not affect the horned beasts or the gaunt figure, not even in the slightest, changes did happen to the physiology; they were slight, hardly noticeable at all. The deep ones received gifts that no words could describe. Though just to say that the fact that the man in red was able to fit them in his satchel was an amazing thing, some said it was magic. Everything can be explained and I know how he did such tricks, but in my opinion it should be kept a secret. Human ears are not meant to hear certain things.

It was of course in the winter when this all happened, though on the underside of the world it was summer. The man in red did not care if it was hot or cold; he only carried on with his task with a stern grimace on his stony face. He took out tiny presents for the small blue creatures of the forest, and left them just outside their homes, he carried on and left the other thing for an evil hungry wizard that lived close by, closer by than he knew.
Some of the humans of the time accompanied by some of the other creatures created songs about the man in red. They sang them annually as he came. They hoped that the songs would please him and convince him to leave only presents behind in their towns, cities, caves, and farmhouses. The sight of them singing together was a strange; it raised laughs in the horned creatures and the man in red.

Now though let us get to the point of this little story. Now that you know the world a little more, the way it was long ago, the story will now crop itself into a small port town, which sat on the edge of the great sea that was at the time unnamed. The name of the town was August, and a form of the town still to this day exists. It still holds its name and place. Aside from that though most all has changed.

The town tree loomed large and cast an ink black shadow over the town square. The almost men existed in the town of August, though only at the mercy of the man that made the town, Mister Bellows. Some of you may know of him, and most will not.
Mister Bellows sat under the town tree waiting for the man in red. They knew each other well.
It was fast approaching time for his friend to appear. Bellows sat in wait. He had a gift for the man in red this year. The gift though would have to wait; a deep creature had different ideas for what it wanted for the solstice. It's many tentacles slithered up into the town, pulling its body behind it. It was an undulating mass of seaweed green and blood red, a true creature of the season. Its many eyes glazed over taking in the dry world. The creature hungered and its power was great. It had power enough to challenge Bellows, who at the time still knew little of his potential. Imbued by God with power second only to God himself, Bellows was the first creation. The deep creature knew of this, but knew not of the power Bellows allowed to lay dormant, that he himself was ignorant of. The creature and Bellows had met many years earlier; the deep creatures lived a very long life indeed. They first met when the world was younger than it was even at the time of this story. They fought for a town the creature had gotten a taste of Bellows' power. The suction cups take in mana energy, bio energy, that is how the deep creatures fed. Bellows had the most it had ever tasted. The creature never forgot the succulent flavor, it bided its time, let itself grow more powerful by age, until it could wait no longer to feast. Bellows would be its solstice gift and it would leave some for the rest of the deep ones down in the green world of the trench.
Small flakes of snow began to fall and the forest around the town began to receive a blanket of white. As the snow fell the deep creature approached the town, and so did the man in red. The horned creatures grunted, as they landed on the dry dirt floor, kicking up wisps of dust that danced in the winter wind. The man in red not accustomed to seeing anyone in wait was at first angered. He was to kill the creature that dared disturb his task. Before he was able to strike though Bellows turned around. The man in red was elated, his gaunt face cracking into a smile,
"Bellows lad how are you? Didn't expect a visit."
"I am here to give you a gift. I thought it fitting to give it to you here."
"And why is that?"
The answer was not given though, the deep creature found them. The many tentacles took the two in its grasp and began to feed. The two powerful creatures struggled to break free. The horned creatures took to the sky, away from the gigantic mass of the creature. The suction cups siphoned life from the two beings, the deep creature ate well. It's many eyes smiling. The man in red freed his arm and took his long arched fingers and dug into the creatures flesh. Some tentacles fell back, many others though lunged forward. Bellows snapped clean in two. His legs fell to the left and his upper body fell to the right. Each half now freed began to attack the creature. Bellows knew that it wanted him and that the man in red was only here by coincidence, somehow he knew this, but how he couldn't know for sure. His legs ran to the side of the great beast and began to kick like a child. They were mindless things with only survival instincts. The upper half of Bellows took a more intelligent approach. He climbed up into the creature's tentacles evading all attempts to feed from him again. He took hold of the man in red and gave him his gift. What the gift was and is cannot really put into words clearly, what it did though, it made the man in red more powerful, and in turn awoke much of the dormant power in Bellows himself. It was an unexpected side effect, but a welcome one in this situation. His features began to plump, his beard fluffed out, his power grew, and became too much for the deep creature. Some of the tentacles exploded, some fell away lifeless. The man in red was not freed though, and the creature began to quickly make its way back to the unnamed ocean, the creature's immense body flailing, trees breaking away and falling to the side as it went, making it's way back to the beach, falling into the water, frantically swimming away into its trench home, down into the deep. Bellows held on. His legs left behind to mourn the loss of their other half.
The deep creature felt itself slipping away at the touch of the two figures. It had sought to feast, to gorge on the power of Bellows. Now it found itself dying, the power to great for it to digest. The man in red took a hold of the tentacles still holding him and gave a bit more power, fed the creature. Its eyes exploded. A mass of green flowed from the empty sockets. Bellows climbed down towards the creature's brain. The thick hide giving way to his hands, Bellows screamed,
"Must I kill you?"
The deep creature did not answer, could not answer, it was in too much pain. Bellows repeated his question in the creature's dialect, still no answer. They stopped then, before Bellows could ask for the last time. The creature died on the bottom of the ocean, very close to its home. The man in red and Bellows found themselves in a town filled with others like the creature they had just fought. Some came out from their cave homes, tentacles dancing in the dark green world. A couple smaller creatures approached the body. Bellows' upper half floated off the floor and the man in red stood watching, waiting.
Suddenly the man in red spoke in the dialect of the deep creatures,
"This is my next stop. I do not bring you gifts I bring you only death. I am sorry this creature died, it was killing us, we only fought back. The creature that is now dead was at one time known to be good. To me and others, this year it was to receive a gift, like the years before."
Bellows floated silently.
"What was this creature to you?"
Each creature answered in turn,
"Father", "Elder", "Lover", "Friend", "Mother", they went on.
The man in red listened, and when they were done he spoke,
"What is it you ask of me, what can make amends for this ill?"
There was silence for a long moment, then it was broken,
What was said is not for us to know.

The man in red and Bellows made their way back to the surface, and Bellows put himself back together again. The horned creatures landed, the man in red left the town its gifts, not one creature in the town received the other. The man in red continued his task, making up time as he could, and Bellows walked out to small beach and looked out into the water, watching the progression of the moon, and holding his gift from the man in red.