Bully of the Beast

Lu sat on a park bench under the shade of the tall oak tree, flipping through the pages of his favorite comedy book, The Amityville Horror. He chuckled as he flipped each page and read every vivid detail of haunting paranormal activity. The whimper of a small child averted his attention for a minute. His stepdaughter Regan ran towards his bench, tears draining from her little eyes. He also noticed that her yellow dress she wore was coated in small dirt blotches and a tiny tear on her sleeve.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" He said, lifting her onto his lap. 

"A mean boy took by bouncy ball." Regan stuttered through her rows of tears. "I told him give me back my ball, but he pushed me into the ground and tore my dress. And he laughed at me and walked away with my ball."

"There, there, there." The devil said, patting her head full of golden hair. "Let me help you with your bully situation."

Lu pulled out a black handkerchief and dried away her eyes. He then set his stepdaughter on her feet and followed her towards the playground. Standing in the middle of the sandbox was a small boy tossing a large, red rubber ball up and down. Little Regan hid behind her towering stepfather as they encroached the oblivious boy. Lu smiled as he comforted his sensitive child and tapped on the boy's shoulder. The boy turned, giving a scornful glare at the duo. 

"Hello, young lad." Lu greeted. "My name is Lu, though you may refer to me by different names. Lucifer, Satan, The Lord of Lies, call me whatever you'd like just don't call me late for dinner."

The boy remained quiet and continued to glare. Ignoring the Lord of Lies, he continued tossing the ball into the air.

"I see that you have acquired a little item from my stepdaughter," He continued. "And we'd much appreciate it if you could return it."

"No way, dweeb." The boy said harshly. "This ball's mine."

"Cute. Look I'm trying to not to unleash my nastier half right now. So if you could return the ball to this child and say you're sorry we'll all be good. What do you say?"

"I say your face looks like a butt-ugly goat!" The boy said with a crude laugh.

Lu's eye gave a swift twitch yet he remained calm. He knew that mocking his human appearance was the boy's biggest mistake, but he continued to smile. Judgement would be upon him. "Ok then. Just so you know, there's a special place for rude little bullies like yourself. Here's a little sneak peak."

Lu tapped his pale finger on the boy's small forehead. The boy jolted from the devil's icy poke. Every hair in his body stood on edge as a cold chill spread throughout his whole body. He was frozen. Frozen from fear.

Dark images flashed inside the boy's mind. He briefly saw haunting imagery of cages on fire and burning skeletons that wailed inside. Short glimpses of mangled corpses melting and nightmarish creatures feasting on charred remains. The last vision made him most queasy as he witnessed a great red dragon, whose hide was armored in brimstone, bathing in a pool of liquid fire. The macabre visions finally stopped flashing in his head. The boy quivered as he stood in front of the still grinning stepfather. His pale hand was still spread out before the child.

"Now, how about that ball?" He asked with bigger malevolent grin.

The traumatized boy extended his quaking arms and handed the rubber ball to the sly stepfather. He then bolted from the scene, screaming and crying as he waddled away in his urine soaked shorts. Lu gave a boastful chuckle and tossed the ball back to his stepdaughter. "Here you go, Pumpkin." He said.

"My ball!" She cheered. "Thank you, Lu. Can we get ice cream now?"

"Sure but that's going to cost you." Lu fibbed. "Not much just...one tickle, two tickle, three tickle."

Regan laughed as Lu's fingers tickled her sides. Their hands clung to each other as they walked together to the ice cream shop.

"You're really good, you know?" Regan said graciously.

"Nah. I'm really bad." Lu chuckled.

"No. You're really good."

"Okay, maybe I am really good...at being really bad."