ferus rex

Prologue: A young man of about 18 is sitting before an austere interview panel somewhere in England. His interviewers are especially interested in discussing a story he has submitted to them about a 10-year old boy who suffered a terrible ordeal. The story they had assumed was a work of fiction is revealed to be factual. “It is true!�? the young man assures them. “I am the boy, but the tenth year of my life is still a black hole. It’s simply not there.�?

The life of 10-year old WILLIAM RIVERA is about to explode apart. Dark forces are at work within the boy’s mind, and have begun to reveal themselves in a series of dreams filled with visions of apocalyptic destruction and African bushmen performing unspeakable rituals in the night.

Although the dreams are a clear sign that the boy’s sanity is in grave jeopardy, he shares them with no one. Neither does anyone notice the subtle changes in his behavior that also speak of his impending break from reality. To the boy’s thinking, the dreams are somehow connected to a secret process of organization, a process that will one day deliver him from the source of his all his pain. In spite of their terrifying nature, he has hung his hope of deliverance on these new dreams and on the mysterious event they foretell. Under the belief that it will hasten the day of his deliverance, the boy has been gathering random objects from his world (such as a dead baby bird) into a shoe box he keeps in his closet.

One night, while playing an ominous, nocturnal version of hide-and-seek, the boy’s mind finally yields to the pressures within, with tragic results. During the game, an older boy (CESAR) seizes Willie’s most precious possession (a plastic toy dagger), and proceeds to taunt the boy with it, ultimately insisting that Willie fight his best friend (BOBBY SANTOS) in order to get it back. Cesar is feeling especially sadistic because Willie has revealed that he saw him kissing a bearded stranger one night when Willie was riding his bike through an affluent neighborhood. But Willie did not communicate this knowledge to Cesar with words. He used a special psychic ability, whereby the boy is able to impart his thoughts to another person during moments of great personal distress.

After trying unsuccessfully to deflect Cesar’s sadistic wish (first by struggling to remain cool and aloof, then finally by begging), Willie suffers his break. In a moment of severance and detachment from all the corralling forces of society, Willie finally understands the message within his dreams. He sees himself as an animal, a beast; and he feels the predatory instinct come glaringly alive within him. Suddenly, the need to kill is there, in the face of Cesar’s terrible construct. There is the fifteen-year old Cesar, physically overpowering, and against which the boy’s rage cannot be directed with impunity. There is the precious dagger, still elusive in the teenager’s high, unreachable grasp. And there is his good friend Bobby, obese and harmless, but placed by Cesar as an obstacle to the retrieval of the dagger. So, in a tragic misdirection of all the rage within him, Willie attacks and kills his friend Bobby by slamming his head repeatedly against the sidewalk, while all the other boys look on in horror.

Willie is taken away by the police, and interrogated fruitlessly for 2 hours. When it is abundantly clear that the boy is not at all well within his mind, he is taken to the hospital, where he comes under the care of DR. ANTOINETTE MARELLI. Dr. Marelli is a young psychiatrist, from an affluent Connecticut background, who has taken her first job in an inner-city hospital. In spite of the obvious blessings in her life, Antoinette has been restless and ambivalent for most of her twenty-eight years, even becoming a doctor merely on a whim. She has always felt confined within society’s structured and ordered patterns of “acceptable�? behavior. And she has always over-stepped those boundaries at her leisure, but never with any satisfaction. Ever since she was a little girl, she has thought of herself as Toni (rather than as Antoinette or Dr. Marelli) whenever she found it necessary to cross the lines of strict propriety. Toni is simply a facet of her personality — the wild and adventurous side.

Doctor Marelli is immediately prepossessed by Willie’s tragedy. In the course of her initial examinations, she finds the boy enigmatic and compelling in a way that challenges her professional demeanor. The boy’s few words and his strange reactions when questioned on certain topics convince her that there are hidden causes to his act of unprecedented violence.

These suspicions are confirmed when the Doctor meets the boy’s mother (CARMEN RIVERA). Carmen is an intensely passionate woman who views her son’s tragedy as the failure of her own attempts to avoid life’s troubles. She believes that such troubles are like “cracks in the sidewalk�?, that can be avoided if one is especially careful. Their first meeting is the beginning of a strained relationship between the two women, built first on fear, then later on a strange sort of mutual admiration. The Doctor is fascinated by Carmen’s ethnic “other-worldliness�?. She observes that this mother and son are from a world she can scarcely guess at, a world she is increasingly curious about and eager to explore. Carmen, on the other hand, sees the Doctor as a wielder of bureaucratic power, a figurehead for the indifferent mechanism that has now caught her son (and her also) in its wheels.

During her conversation with the Doctor, Carmen discovers that Willie has given the Doctor a clue to the pressures that drove him to his terrible act — and, to her dismay, that the Doctor has already aimed her clinician’s curiosity in that direction. The Doctor has no idea what the boy is talking about when he describes a tiny being who lives in a small wooden house. But she can tell from the terror it summons in him, that somehow it lies at the heart of the boy’s tragedy. Carmen knows exactly what the boy is talking about. And she wants at all costs to keep the Doctor’s curiosity aimed elsewhere. But she doesn’t panic or try to obfuscate the matter. Carmen knows this would only fuel the Doctor’s zeal to know the truth. Instead, she makes the Doctor an offer she can’t refuse. Assessing correctly that the Doctor will not pass up an opportunity to travel into her world, Carmen invites her to a gathering at her home in Corona that night.

Without any idea what to expect, Antoinette arrives at Carmen’s apartment. Inside, it is lit only by candles and filled with a restless crowd of strange people that quickly begin to murmur and muse at the unexpected presence of a gringa. Antoinette notices that one pair of dark eyes in particular are riveted on her — a young girl of about 20 with a mournful mouth. She doesn’t know why, but the young girl’s stare unsettles her. At the center of attention, is a table covered with bizarre and inscrutable artifacts — saints and candles and weird food offerings, etc. Antoinette realizes with some alarm that she has been invited to a gathering of some sort of religious cult. Still, there is a balance of curiosity and anxiety in her, so that she is happy enough to watch whatever is going to happen, so long as she herself remains on the periphery. She tries to hide in a dark corner, but Carmen has a different idea. When the priestess everyone has been waiting for finally arrives and settles into her decorated wicker throne, Carmen insists that Antoinette take one of the “special�? chairs right beside the priestess. As the priestess begins her bizarre ceremony, and the crowd falls into expectant silence, Carmen whispers something into Antoinette’s ear: “It wasn’t really me that invited you.�?

Several hours later, Antoinette tumbles onto the street, disoriented and terrified by all the implications of what has just happened to her. At night, Corona is steeped in strangeness and peopled by dark figures that huddle in the unlit doorways and porches. With mounting dismay, she discovers that her car has been stolen. Just as she begins to slip into despair, Antoinette hears a voice. It is the young girl from Carmen’s apartment, with the mournful mouth. The young girl (MAGALY) offers her a ride to the hospital where Antoinette works. While they drive, Magaly tries to glean as much information as she can about this mysterious gringa and her apparent surprise at what occurred in Carmen’s apartment. It seems that Antoinette was possessed by a spirit during the ceremony. Magaly reveals that she shares the ability to channel spirits, though not as highly developed. Toni makes an appearance, and senses that the young girl is sexually attracted to Antoinette. Now the roles are somewhat reversed, and Toni uses the girl’s sexual desire to learn what she can about these confusing new developments.

Once at the hospital, Antoinette goes directly to Willie’s room, where she finds him mysteriously awake and sitting up in bed, as if waiting for her. The boy recognizes the smells of incense and Florida Water coming from the Doctor. In his mind, the smells and her addled state connect her to the world of spirits and possession, and he knows exactly what has happened to her. The Doctor can tell from the boy’s reaction that all of this is clearly a part of his trauma. He feels betrayed now, saying to her “Not you! Not you too!�? In the midst of the boy’s despairing at this apparent betrayal by someone who might have been an agent of his salvation he “hits�? her with one of his special communications. Just as he had done with Cesar, Willie plants an experience in the Doctor’s mind, complete with sights and sounds. The Doctor sees Willie in his room, tied with duct tape to a chair in front of a television. The volume is turned up so high that it hurts her ears. On the screen, a pack of hyenas are wildly eviscerating a newborn wildebeest. They eat the poor creature while it’s still alive, its legs twitching. In the vision, the horrified boy is struggling desperately in the chair against his restraints. The Doctor immediately understands that these events actually happened, and that the boy has “told�? it to her in his special way. The Doctor is aghast at such a torture being directed against the sensitive boy. “Why?�? she asks him. And through his tears he tells her it was his father’s way of making him a man.

After the unique disclosure of the boy’s terrible abuse, the Doctor sees only one option. She refuses to follow the standard protocols that would seem appropriate in a more normal case of child abuse. She’s already far too entangled herself for that. She has no faith in a bureaucratic resolution of the boy’s tragedy. Neither could anyone else understand all that the tortured little boy’s situation involves. At last, she has found a passion within herself. And now she must seize it, in spite of the darkness of the territory that she must penetrate. She will deliver the boy from his nightmare, not by the book, but by her own instincts.

The next day, Antoinette takes a subway ride to Corona. She has no clear plan in her mind, but she heads for Carmen’s apartment. Magaly is outside the building, hanging out on a car in the bright sunlight. She informs Antoinette that Carmen has gone shopping, but offers to let her wait in her apartment, which is just below Carmen’s. In the daylight, the young girl and the landscape seem less intimidating. So she accepts Magaly’s offer. Once in the apartment, the sexual tension between the two women blooms again. The seduction is carried out by way of an exotic meal Magaly prepares. But by the end of the meal, Antoinette has fallen under a chemical spell. As reality distorts and Antoinette begins to hallucinate, Magaly consummates her physical desires. When the Doctor awakens many hours later, she is nude in Magaly’s bed and daylight has fled from the sky. Magaly is there, smoking a Camel. And so is the certainty that she has been drugged. Distressed and confused, Antoinette flees Magaly’s apartment.

Antoinette runs into Carmen in the stairwell. Antoinette’s condition is obvious, but Carmen also senses an opportunity to harvest the Doctor’s mind, and if necessary to re-direct her thoughts in more convenient directions. So they go together into Carmen’s apartment. Antoinette tells Carmen she thinks Magaly drugged her. But Carmen is not surprised. Carmen tells her it was probably mescaline. By way of background, Carmen’s tells Antoinette about the beginnings of Willie’s special abilities. It all started when he was about six years old, much younger than normal, she says. The boy would see strange apparitions, people inside the apartment or on the street, such as a long-haired gypsy woman walking around in the freezing cold with only a flimsy nightgown, barefoot in the snow. Antoinette confesses that she herself saw strange visions as a young girl too, but had long since forgotten them. She begins to understand exactly what happened to her that night in Carmen’s apartment. She was possessed by a spirit, after being summoned all the way from her affluent Connecticut life. Carmen brought her that night because the spirits had instructed her to do so. “But why would Magaly give me mescaline?�? Antoinette demands. It seems that the old priestess (the Caballo) is about to retire, and she must select a successor among those few people who have the gift and are so inclined. “It is a coveted honor (and a lucrative one) and Magaly must have panicked�? Carmen explains. “She must have felt threatened by your sudden appearance. Magaly wants to be the next Caballo. She gave you mescaline because it is supposed to destroy the gift.�? But there is another matter, Carmen informs. For all of Magaly’s ambition, it seems she is not the preferred successor. The spirits insist she is too weak to endure the training, Carmen reveals. “What kind of training?�? Antoinette wonders to herself, and begins to suspect that there might be yet another source of horror pressing on the boy. But she says nothing to Carmen. She doesn’t ask her who the spirits are favoring to be the next Caballo. “Does the mescaline work?�? Antoinette asks. “Do you care?�? Carmen answers.

FELO RIVERA is the boy’s father, a handsome, charming and very successful drug dealer. Felo has learned of his son’s tragedy and appears one night at the hospital. And after bribing an orderly into arranging a secret way for him into the hospital in the middle of the night, he abducts the boy.

The next day, Antoinette and two police detectives visit Carmen at work, to deliver news of the boy’s disappearance and to question her. Carmen knows nothing and is enraged that the two detectives (the same two that interrogated Willie on the night of Bobby’s death) might suspect her involvement.

After the detectives leave, Carmen and Antoinette talk privately. Carmen says she is almost certain that Felo is responsible. She says that Felo would see the whole mess as proof that Carmen was an unfit mother. More pieces of the puzzle begin to assemble themselves in Antoinette’s mind. She tells Carmen about Willie’s terrible experience at the hands of his father. Carmen knew about it already, and had been powerless to prevent it. Through her tears, she confirms that it was Felo’s way of “making a man�? of the boy. Carmen declares that they themselves must undertake a search for the boy. They must find Felo before the police do, since Felo’s temper might bring tragic consequences in a confrontation with the police.

The two women take a taxi to one of Felo’s drug supermarkets, a quasi-abandoned building in the Bronx. It is truly a strange place, darkly humming from within with the odd rhythms of the drug business and filled with roaming Pit Bull dogs. They meet with Larry “the manager�?, an enormous black man behind whose eyes seethes at once a capacity for unbridled violence and a compelling sense of loyalty to his employer (and his employer’s wife). During their meeting with Larry, Antoinette feels herself drawing nearer to an ideal form of herself. The strangeness of the worlds she has penetrated seems to be stirring awake parts of her that she had not believed existed. She feels exquisitely alive. Ultimately, Larry is unable to help them locate Felo. During the ride back to Queens, Antoinette makes an extraordinary suggestion. “Why don’t I channel a spirit,�? she says to a shocked Carmen “…so the spirit can see where Willie has been taken.�?

Meanwhile, the boy has been taken to his father’s mansion deep in the jungle of the Dominican Republic. Amid the green splendors and the spectacular weather, the boy has gradually come into a state of unprecedented communion with nature. His father has left the boy in the care of his grandmother and has left the house. After the boy has a transcendental encounter with a badly burned dog, he himself begins to understand the importance of compassion, especially in a hostile world. When he emerges from the jungle, he sees his father having an altercation with a short, muscular man. For the first time, the boy sees the touch of fear on his father’s face. He is enthralled by this. The short, muscular man gives Felo two large boxes of corn flakes in a way that suggests that their contents might be something considerably more valuable. After the short, muscular man leaves, Felo is visibly shaken. The boy is compelled by his new understanding of compassion. He goes to his father, intending to comfort him in his moment of difficulty. But Felo, humiliated that the boy has seen him afraid, slaps the boy so hard it destroys whatever nascent faith in human warmth was growing in him.

Meanwhile, Carmen and Antoinette are preparing to invoke a spirit so as to ascertain the boy’s whereabouts. Carmen decides that they should summon one particular spirit because of his great power and insight. There are a number of colored kerchiefs in a box, which Carmen explains correspond each to particular spirits. Antoinette notices the presence of a small “child-sized�? kerchief. But Carmen, after visible discomfort, explains how that spirit is not appropriate to beginners. After a long wait, the spirit finally appears and Antoinette is taken by him. She falls to the floor and Carmen realizes that it is not the spirit she had tried to summon, but rather the one corresponding to “child-sized�? kerchief Antoinette had asked about. The spirit tells Carmen where the boy has been taken. But he also tells her, in defiance of divine instructions, that Carmen must not go herself to retrieve the boy. For this breach, the spirit is punished.

Back in the jungle mansion, the boy realizes the dark forces have followed him even here. His father’s blow has delivered him back into the grip of terror and despair. The boy suffers another dream (his first since Bobby’s death). He sees the house consumed by the jungle, a black panther vomits boiling water on a dog, and a strange bird-like creature kills her young. When the boy awakens in the middle of the night, he sets himself to an overpowering purpose. He finds the boxes of corn flakes in the kitchen, where his father has placed them. He carries one heavy box out into the night, to the edge of the sea, and heaves it over a rocky cliff to the thundering waves below.

Carmen and Antoinette have traveled to the Dominican Republic and are staying at a beach resort near Felo’s house. During the drive to the resort, they see a terrible accident on the road, which plants a presentiment of death in them. Over breakfast the next day, Antoinette finally sees clearly all the things that had so far remained obscure. She sees how the boy was caught between the two crushing pressures of his parents. A father who would make him a man by forcing him to watch scenes of grizzly predation, and a mother who would turn him into a spirit medium to enrich herself.

Carmen has decided that she will go first alone to the house and try to appeal to Felo’s reason. Before letting her go Antoinette confronts Carmen with her new understanding. “You did it to him!�? Antoinette tells her “…you and your husband.�? The boy was squeezed until something inside him yielded. Carmen is devastated when she is finally made to stare into the face of what she has done to her son, and fully appreciate the consequences of her greed and selfishness. In this state, she goes off to Felo’s house alone as planned.

Meanwhile, the boy has been waiting in terror for the consequences of his desperate act. His father is not in the house, and the boy is re-examining the “bomb�? that he has created by tossing his father’s cocaine into the sea. He is resigned to his own destruction as a result, but embraces even death if it means the end of suffering. There is a commotion in front of the house, but it is not yet the bomb. His mother is there suddenly, like a mirage, but she is a harbinger of all that he hopes to leave behind. He does not want her to violate his precious “green world�? even in the few moments before everything is destroyed. He goes absently into her embrace. Carmen is pleased by the house and entertains a fantasy of things returning to the way that they once were. She sleeps with Felo, but her own sense of ugliness and shame in the wake of their lovemaking is inescapable.

The boy is waiting outside the house, waiting for some sign of the apocalypse that he has unleashed. Suddenly, there is an unprecedented sight. For the first time since he arrived at the house, dark, ominous clouds appear in the sky. Willie believes that this is the end, the apocalypse he has been waiting for. He runs toward the sea, as the storm assails the land. Lightning is lashing and rain is buffeting his face. He is waiting for his own destruction, rejoicing at last because this he has done. It is the first time in his life he has felt his own power. But the rain stops suddenly, and he sees that he has not been destroyed, that that world looks just the same.

So, resigned to the failure of his efforts, he returns to the house. Just as he approaches, a familiar jeep rushes out of the driveway in a roil of dust. It belongs to the short, muscular man. The boy enters the house; it is completely still. Inside, his mother and father have been brutally gunned down. In the face of the gory spectacle, the boy detaches once again from any thread of reality and sits on the couch, in the company of his parents for the last time. After a period of indeterminate length, the Doctor arrives, sees the boy in the middle of that horror and quickly walks him outside where they both wait for the rest of the world to discover what has occurred.

When the Dominican police arrive, they do little more than clean up the mess. Later, Antoinette learns that the short, muscular man was able to wield considerable influence and see to it that the murders were effectively erased.

Almost a year after the slaying of Willie’s parents, a year she has spent tending to the mentally destroyed little boy, Doctor Marelli leaves the Dominican Republic and goes to Corona at Willie’s insistence. Carmen’s young cousin and her husband have moved into Carmen’s old apartment. And at the Doctor’s request have not disturbed the boy’s room. Per the boy’s instructions, Antoinette goes to the closet in Willie’s room and looks for a shoe box underneath a pile of old toys. The boy has asked her to look inside and take careful note of whatever she sees, so that one day she might tell him. But there is absolutely nothing in the box, not the merest speck of dust, nor a piece of lint. Nothing.

Later, drinking coffee with Carmen’s cousin, Antoinette learns of the fate of Magaly. It seems that after months of speculation that she might be losing her mind, during the Winter, she appeared raving mad on a high fire-escape in her underwear and was taken away in an ambulance. “Such things one sees in this country�? the young cousin says “Yes.�? Antoinette says.

Eight years later, after moving to the capital with his grandmother and enrolling in an English-speaking school, the boy has flourished. The darkness that had held him has finally let loose its grip. He writes a letter that has been a long time on his mind. He writes to Doctor Marelli, acknowledging that she was his savior, that he has missed her terribly, that he still has no recollection of the tenth year of his life. He knows only what others have been able to tell him. As a PS, he also tells her that he has been accepted to Oxford University.