Everything Gets Out Eventually

Kevin Augustine gives a disturbing account of his life, bound by a cursed family whose only surviving ambition is to safeguard “the box”. If the demon inside is ever released, every Augustine past and present will be dragged down into Hell.

This story takes place in the period between the 1930s and the 1970s. A time of profound awakenings, not to mention conflicts between the old world and the new. “Everything Gets Out Eventually” is very much a product of those times, I think. Of religion confronting the space age, of dogma vs enlightenment. It’s worth noting that this book isn’t meant as an attack on religion, exactly. It’s more an attack on blind ignorance, that leads people to do horrible things without ever asking themselves why. That said, you shouldn’t make assumptions about what is or isn’t true in this story. As in real life, it’s best to keep an open mind.

The idea for this came to me while watching one of those paranormal documentaries. This particular one concerned something called a “dybbuk box”, a small cabinet inhabited by a demon of sorts from Jewish mythology. Naturally, the dybbuk didn’t come out to give interviews, because these things never do. We believe in them all the same, and that’s where human nature takes over. I pretty much immediately got to wondering, based on tales of real life religious fanaticism, how far a group of people might go to safeguard a simple wooden box if they thought it contained something akin to the Devil. What happens to morality under those circumstances? What acts can be justified?

From there, the story practically wrote itself. Mine has nothing in common with the Jewish one, except for the basic premise of a demon in a box. Kevin begins his life in a state of innocence, completely unaware of his heritage, but it asserts itself in traumatic fashion very quickly. His family are maniacal, abusive, murderous, and utterly devoted to what they consider a righteous cause. As much as he tries to reject them and embrace the 20th century, he never truly loses his latent fear of the unknown. That oh so human sense of doubt that begs belief in whatever boogeyman is out to get you. The results are colourful to say the least, and the story is almost as humorous as it is horrific. Kevin’s journey through America’s golden age touches on themes and events dear to our hearts, entwined with a thread of the macabre that is sure to intrigue. And the ending is not to be missed.

Enjoy!