The Warrior and the Demon

The Warrior and the Demon

By Jay Noble

I.

I have contemplated for some time whether to share the following story with the rest of the world, and after much thought and careful deliberation with those who know me, I have decided to describe what happened to me some two years ago now. I cannot know whether I will fully remember every detail, but the memory is poignant and disturbing to this day.

There are times in one’s life when something happens to you and you know it was not of this world. There are things people see and feel that come from someplace else, they happen, and one knows they have witnessed and been a part of something supernatural. Sometimes when these events occur, we often call them miracles, other times we call them hauntings, this event that occurred in my own life, I would describe as both.

As one might come to suspect from previous writings of mine, I travel extensively around the country from time to time, although as of late, and as I age, I travel less and less it seems. Travel in today’s world can be extremely expensive and cumbersome. My life now is more isolated and solitary, and perhaps this encounter, might very well have something to do with that.

I can go back to those days two years ago when a man named Justin showed up at my door. I was living in a trailer on a lot, on the lot I had a nice garage where I would work on cars and different projects. I am somewhat mechanical, so I enjoy working on machines and engines as a hobby. The day Justin showed up at my door, I opened it to a guy with facial tattoos, tattoos up and down his arms, he was wearing shorts and had tattoos all down his legs; he had piercings and one of the first things I noticed about him were the swastika tattoos. I was a little taken aback because I did not really know anybody in the neighborhood, as I was often gone traveling.

He says to me, “I was talking to your neighbor there, and he said that you needed your swamp cooler fixed,” which I did, it was inoperable at that time. He says, “I can fix that if you let me park my trailer in your driveway, its broke down right now. “He had a little travel trailer I had seen parked next door, “If I can park that in your yard for a few days to get my trailer up and running,” he said, “I’ll fix your swamp cooler.”

It seemed ok to me. I am non-judgmental, so I said, “Ok let’s give it whirl, yeah, no problem.” I had plenty of space, so it was not going to affect me one way or another, he knew my neighbors, I had seen him over there a few days prior to him standing in my doorway. We went up on the roof, we looked at the swamp cooler and he did in fact get it going; he put new filters in it and away we went.

So, Justin and girlfriend, Shawna, parked their trailer in my driveway and the next day I told them, “Well shoot - why don’t you guys just move the trailer into the yard, behind the gate, that way nobody messes with it, or asks questions.“ I said, “It’s no problem, it’s simply fine. You can come in and use the water, shoot - you can do laundry if you need to.” I started to offer up the farm in a sense, I wanted to help.

They were a couple who had both recently been released from prison for drug offenses, and theft, and were now on parole and had been released back into society. They had to have regular parole meetings with a parole officer, they had to find jobs, they had to have a place to live. They were against the ropes and needed a helping hand, I was in a position where I could be that helping hand, and that is what I did. I did not expect anything in return. I let them come in and use the home, at that time I was not out traveling, I was at home doing some writing and working on things in the garage. In fact, I was getting ready to move and go on another adventure and put all my things in storage. For me, there was no imposition, I was leaving, they were getting ready to leave, it seemed to fit.

As time went by, I got to know Justin and Shawna, they seemed nice and friendly enough. I let them use my garage. They were really into BMX bicycles, so I let them use my tools to work on their bikes and the trailer. As the days went by, I started to notice different people showing up to the garage, people that I did not know, I was introduced from time to time, but they were in my garage, Justin and his group of unknown friends. He told me that some of them were on methamphetamine, some were off methamphetamine, he told me he had been on methamphetamine in the past and had gone to prison for methamphetamine possession, violence, and burglary.

I told him about my prior military service in hopes that would deter any criminal behavior while he was staying at my place and using my garage. Justin and I became somewhat friendly, we were not friends, but we were friendly towards each other, his lady Shawna as well, we were all friendly. He said he needed some tools, so I put together a toolbox and let him have some of my tools, and other different things out of the garage that I thought might be useful. This went on for about two weeks.

Late June of that year, 2019, there we all were, at my place. The trailer was in my yard, they were able to shower and do laundry in the house as they worked on their trailer, I bought food as they did not have much money or jobs. As all of this unfolded, I told them that I would be moving out as I was coming to the end of my lease agreement and was going on a summer fall fishing trip. I explained that when I left, they would have to leave too, and this caught Shawna by surprise as she was not expecting to leave on such short notice, but eventually they came to terms and all was well again.

I soon found out that Justin and Shawna had an entire household put away in storage and it needed to be moved out to avoid losing it to a storage auction as they did not have the money to pay the storage fees. I suggested that they move their things into the yard, and we could have a garage sale right there at my place. The sale yielded them some money for their upcoming move, I sold a few a things, and they sold most of theirs, whatever was left we hauled away to the dump.

I became concerned because I noticed that Justin began to act differently than when I had met him. I noticed he was more “amped up” and more animated, his pupils were dilated and so I suspected that he was again using methamphetamine. I approached Shawna and asked her, and she confirmed my suspicion. He was indeed using methamphetamine again, probably stealing things, bringing them back to my garage, working on them there to sell later. Bikes multiplied, and a generator showed up out of nowhere that was practically, if not brand new. I told Justin, “We can’t do this, we have to change ways. You have to figure this out. You cannot be using methamphetamine on my property. You and your friends can’t do this.”

Justin then told me that he would stop, he told me that he was sorry, he apologized.

I said, “Ok yeah, no problem.” So, we moved on.

The day came closer to when we would all be leaving my place. The first stop on my new adventure was to be the Gunnison River in Colorado there at the Black Canyon. I had planned to stay there for two weeks. I hoped to fish and camp and decompress from things I had been experiencing in my own personal walk, reconnect with God, and find my bearings again.

I offered Justin and Shawna the opportunity to come with me, and because they did not really have anywhere to go, they did not have anything to do, except report back to their parole officers, we all packed up one day and left. After turning in my keys to my landlord, we jumped in our vehicles and headed towards the Gunnison River. We found Cottonwood campground and there we were, we set up camp, I had my dog Luna with me, and as soon as I could, I began to fish.

The day after our arrival at Cottonwood campground, Shawna left camp to go back to town for various reasons, and Justin and I were alone. To put all of this into some perspective, I had been upset that he would use methamphetamine at my place. I had gone through my garage before packing it all up and noticed there were many tools missing that I had not given him. I am not saying outright that he stole them, but the chances are in my favor that he did. All those things were gone, things in my home were gone, an external hard drive for my computer had gone missing, along with paperwork with personal information.

By this time, after all that had happened thus far, I was feeling uneasy about this relationship I had inadvertently entered and now regretted. Now, here I was alone in the wilderness with this violent man, fresh out of prison, thievery on his mind, thievery in his heart, and pretending that everything was fine. In my heart and in my soul, I knew things were far from fine.

Justin and I fished for the next two days on the Gunnison River. The current of the river was moving strong and fast; to get across the river without a boat or raft would be nearly impossible and not an option. I was content with fishing from one side of the bank. Justin on the other hand was determined to cross the river to the other side and fish from there. I told him I did not think it was a good idea, I thought the current was too fast. I told him I did not want to be one of those guys you see on the evening news, who stupidly drowned in the river because he took an unnecessary risk. Justin then began teasing and taunting me, mocking me for fearing the river. It was then that a wave of anger and pride washed over me, and I agreed and said, “Ok let’s go!”

I put a harness on Luna, gathered up my gear, my fishing pole and tackle - as did Justin - then we struck out across the mighty Gunnison River.

II.

I remember that day, the day we struck out across the Gunnison, it was a beautiful day. The sun was very bright and high in the sky. I wanted to get an early start on the fishing that day. As we fished that early morning, I remember Justin looking at me, turning to me as he slowly reeled in his lure he said, “Damn Jay – Can you imagine? Here we are alone just you and me, can you imagine that a guy like you and a guy like me could ever be fishing together like friends?”

I answered honestly, “No. Never thought it could happen but here we are.”

As we continued to fish Justin wanted to go across the river, he was bound and determined to fish the other side. As he mocked and taunted me to go to the other side with him, and as I resisted, the taunting and teasing became worse. That is when I relented and agreed to go to the other side. As I prepared to go and was getting Luna ready to cross, something deep inside my soul told me not to go. It told me to stay on the safe side of river, but I could not get over the mockery of this man who had bumbled into my life, stolen my property, done drugs on my property and was now making fun of me. I could not stand it, so I had to go.

As Luna and I began to cross the river, Justin was already in the water making his way slowly across, I could feel the current pushing against my legs. It was strong, the rocks underneath the water were moss covered and very slick, so much so, more than several times I almost lost my footing, and was almost swept away by the river. Luna was doing everything she could to stay upright, she was trying to walk and swim across all at the same time, doing her best to keep her head above water as we slowly made our way across the river. The water was cold and blue, but so swift that if I lost my footing or she lost hers, either one of us could have been swept away in a moment.

My legs began to burn and ache with muscle failure and I imagined that Luna was much the same. By this time, we were three quarters of the way across the river, and Justin was already standing on the other bank waiting for us to get across. With my fishing pole in one hand and Luna’s leash in the other, a small backpack on my back with my tackle, we finally, at long last came to the other side, and there was Justin with a big wide grin on his face as if to say “Hmmm…you didn’t fall down. But you almost did.” He seemed to be amused at how tired I was, gasping for breath. It had been Luna’s first major river crossing, so she was somewhat scared and confused about what had just happened. I was simply happy that we had made it across safely.

With an air of defiance, I prepared my pole to fish and I separated myself from Justin and said, “I’m going to go over here and fish for a while, you go over there, and I’ll meet up with you later.” So, I spent the next two hours on the other side fishing with Luna, no bites, no hint of any fish anywhere. I had not had very much luck on this trip in the first place, only pulling out one small Brown trout. Now, here I was fishing on the other side of the river thinking, “What have I gotten myself into? The trip across the first time just about swept me and Luna away. How in the world am I going to get back across? My legs are worn out completely, the day has been long, now I have to get her and myself back across the river safely.”

I finally made my way over to Justin and told him that I was going to go ahead and make the trip back across the river. He said “Already? We just got over here. Your gonna go back already?”

I said, “Yeah I’m not having any luck over here, I’m gonna go ahead and head back. My legs are tired,” I said, “Could you keep an eye on us just in case anything happens?”

He said, “Yeah, yeah – sure, sure - I’ll keep an eye on you alright.” I could hear the sarcasm in his voice, as if to say, “Something is going to happen.”

In my life I have always been a spiritual man. I have tried to do the best I could when it comes to following the commandments. I try to help people out when I can. I do my best to do the right thing when given the opportunity. In those moments that Justin and I were standing there across from each other as I told him I was getting ready to go back across the river, something fell over me, some sort of impending doom. When I looked into his eyes, I did not see a man anymore, I saw something else, something more sinister and evil…a demon.

To this day I think that is what I was dealing with the entire time from the moment I met Justin, to the moment I left his life, or he left mine, I believe I was dealing with a demon. It was as if he had lured me across the river, convinced me that he was fine and okay, and that he would not hurt me or try to steal my things, or deceive me in any way. In that moment, I realized that is exactly what had happened. He had deceived me from the first moment I met him, and now here we were standing face to face, toe to toe, in the waters of the Gunnison, and I was getting ready to go on the walk of a lifetime with my dog.

He was daring me to cross the river, daring me to try and make it across its mighty current, and hoping that I would not make it, and that one more soul would be lost, one more decent soul on the planet would be lost. That is what I felt then, and I still feel that way today.

As I turned away from Justin and headed towards the bank where I would cross, I said a prayer. I said the Our Father. As I started walking away, I said it under my breath and remember Justin saying “That’s right, that’s right Army - say your prayers. You’re gonna need em!” When I looked back, he was standing there with his arms crossed and a wide grin across his face, shivers went up and down my spine.

When I got to the bank, I got down on my knee and I told Luna, “This is it Luna, we gotta get across. You gotta stay with me, stay near me and I’ll do the best I can to keep you near me. I don’t want to lose you.” She looked at me, with her deep brown eyes as if she knew what I was saying. I tightened up her harness, said another Our Father, and did not look back at Justin, who I knew was standing there waiting, watching. I took my first step into the Gunnison for the second time that day.

Even if the current was not stronger this time around it sure felt like it. Within two or three steps my legs were like jelly all over again. They were shaking, more than once I could feel the traction of my boots slipping and sliding on the moss-covered rocks. Each rock was like a mini-ice-skating rink, and I was slipping and sliding as the current pushed against my wobbly legs, they wanted to fail. I cried out to God, “God help me, God help me! Please Lord!” Then another step would come and then another, slow but sure; and then another cry out to the Lord. “God please, help us please!” When I cried out the second time, I could hear laughter from behind. It was not human laughter it was demonic laughter and I looked back, there was not a man standing where Justin had been, it was a demon, eyes ablaze with fire and fury, he was twice the size of a normal man now.

III.

So now here we are in the middle of the Gunnison River, my legs like jelly, a demon behind me, and the only way to safety is straight ahead in the roaring Gunnison River. I knew there was a demon behind me. I knew I had to keep pushing so again I cried out to God, “God, please please!” and again another step, still fearful of losing my footing. Luna began to get scared; I do not know if it was because of the river or the demon behind us or both, but she started to jump up on me. I had my pole in my left hand, Luna’s leash in the right, and as before the backpack on my back, Luna was desperately trying to crawl into my arms, away from what was happening all around us. She was whining and crying, the demon was laughing and baiting us on, “C’mon Army, c’mon! Give up Army give up! You’ll never make it! C’mon Jay give up!”

I wasn’t about to give up, I cried out again to the Lord, “Please dear Lord in Heaven, help us this day! I know you can hear my prayer oh Lord!” and then another step. As I made the next step suddenly Luna slipped from her harness and went down the river; for a split second I thought she was gone. She did not go far before acting on instinct, I threw my fishing pole down the river and lunged with all my might and reached as far as I could and grabbed Luna by the scruff of her neck and pulled her towards me with everything I had, screaming in pain as the muscles in my body used the last of their strength. “Ahhh, no Lord, no Luna!” I screamed.

As I grabbed her and pulled her in, I still had her by the scruff of the neck. Luna regained her footing as the water was getting shallower the closer we got to the bank. We were now about three quarters of the way across the river. I could still hear the demon laughing on the other side. Me crying out in pain and Luna terrified, scrambling towards the riverbank, I held on to her neck and she pulled me the last ten feet through the water and onto the riverbank. At last, we had made it.

As I looked back, there was Justin, his arms folded in anger, a cross look on his face, no longer the wide grin as before. I sat on the bank and stared at him from across the river, I did not say a word. Our camp was just up the hillside about a hundred and fifty yards, as I caught my breath, I made sure Luna was okay; she was trying to snuggle me as if urging me to get up, so that is what I did, I slowly got to my feet and walked slowly up the bank. I walked as quickly as I could, but it was still slow, my legs were shot, my arms were shot. I had almost no strength in my entire body.

As I made my way up the bank, I was afraid that Justin would come after us so I tried to hustle and pack up our gear and get into the truck as quickly as I could. I left most of it behind and grabbed a few essentials, jumped in the truck, and Luna and I left, and I never looked back.

That night we stayed at a hotel in town and we just layed there in bed together. I was trying to understand what had just happened to us, and Luna would not leave my side. We stayed there like that for the next three days of our lives, me contemplating, and her making sure that I was not going anywhere. We had saved each other’s lives. I believe that the Lord saved us that day in the Gunnison River. I believe that a demon tried to drown us both that day in the Gunnison River, but the good Lord thwarted his efforts and said “NO! These are ours; they belong to me!” At least that is my hope, and my prayer.

This event in my life has made me realize that there are things out there that we as humans do not understand, that we will never understand, and if you seek answers you just might find something you are not looking for, and even if you are not searching you might find something that you thought never existed or even genuinely believed in. Just remember - just because you do not believe, does not mean it does not exist. Take my word for it.