The Four Before Me

by E H Night

  Her eyes wandered across the room again. There were paintings and posters, none of which were her own. Her vanity and chair were missing, and they had been replaced with a different version of the pair. The white paint chipped from the wood around the mirror.

  In a quick flash, bright orange sunlight suddenly flooded the room from the window behind her. She jumped and gasped, but stayed put. The bed creaked next to her, and she saw the woman switching positions over and over again. She seemed to be waking from an unpleasant dream.

  The woman rolled around uncomfortably in the sheets, just as Alice had done earlier. A loud yawn escaped from her mouth, and she sat upright in the bed. Her arms raised into the air for a big stretch, before falling down lightly to her sides, startling Alice. She lifted the sheets from her body and placed a pair of bare feet on the ground, one by one.

  Alice was able to get a better look at the woman’s face.

  “Wait, that’s not me… That’s — that’s Sarah!” Her heart beat harder and faster until she could feel her pulse throbbing in her forehead. Music burst in, spewing from the boombox in the corner of the room.

  Sarah danced around the room, singing into a hairbrush. The sun played in her long brown hair, and she spun and twirled all around, jumping onto the bed and then back down to the floor. She made exaggerated poses with her makeshift microphone in the reflection of the mirror. After a few minutes that only seemed like seconds, Sarah dug around in a drawer and pulled out a cassette tape. She skipped over to the boombox and switched out an old tape for the new one. She pushed the clunky button down with one of her long fingernails, rewinded the tape to the very beginning, and then pressed Play.

  Before anymore music could come out of the speakers, an uncomfortable crinkling sound filled the air. Sarah pushed Stop as quickly as she could, and opened the cassette player to examine the problem. The stereo kept playing anyway and the rollers continued to turn the tape wheels even though it had been opened. A long winding strip of plastic began to crawl out from the cassette's rectangular shell. The black ribbon seemed to have no end as it twisted and wrapped itself around everything in the room, climbing the table legs and lamp posts like dark and angry vines. Sarah stepped backward and dropped her hairbrush on the ground. The heavy handle thudded next to her, but she didn’t react to the sound. Her face grew very pale as she stared in horror at the boombox, but then she turned to face Alice.

  A cloud must have passed by, because the sunlight dimmed a lot in that moment. Sarah opened her mouth as if she were waiting on words to come out, but not a single one managed to escape from the orifice. She looked into Alice’s eyes and opened her mouth even wider. She was determined. This time, it looked more like she was trying to scream, but still, her voice was silent. A thin dark line streamed down her chin and neck, followed by more and more lines.

  Alice jumped up to help, but froze in her tracks when she realized what was happening.

  Tape curled out of Sarah’s mouth and wrapped itself around her throat. It squeezed her tightly, like some sort of an anorexic python, and caused the color to go back into her cheeks. There was far too much color though — her face had turned a disconcerting shade of purple. She yanked at the tape, trying desperately to slip her fingers in the space between the plastic and her neck, but she had very little success. Had it only circled around once or twice, she could have been able to break it. She reached a hand out to Alice, with her eyes begging for help. They reddened from several bursting blood vessels.

  Alice lunged toward her, pulling and clawing at the tape. Just as she finally began to make progress in freeing Sarah’s throat, the tape completely disappeared. She looked all around, searching for evidence that anything had even happened, but not even a fragment of evidence remained. She panted loudly and placed Sarah’s cold hand between the both of hers.

  “What’s happening right now? Are you okay?” she asked with tangible fear in her voice.

  Silence.

  “Sarah, please tell me what’s going on,” she begged, pausing to inhale sharply. “What are you doing here? We need to tell someone that you’re back!”

  More silence.

  Sarah stood there motionlessly, as if she were nothing more than a plastic store mannequin. After a few seconds of completely vacant eyes and paralyzed lungs, she moved to open her mouth once more. It was much less agape than before. Again, she looked as if she were about to speak, but she just stared off into the distance instead. Finally, from the slight parting of her lips, something else came out — something not quite audible.

  Powdery brown dirt fell out of Sarah’s mouth and onto the floor in puffs from each of her short breaths.

  The brown powder eventually turned into dark damp clumps, filled with broken dandelions and worms. They moved erratically, as if they’d just been injected with epinephrine. A few of the creatures crawled wildly up her cheeks and toward her ears, where they eventually burrowed themselves into her eardrums. An especially large worm wriggled itself up above her lip. It shot up her nose and lifted the flesh under her eyes as it traveled through her sinuses. As a result of its voyage, red liquid dripped from one of Sarah’s tear ducts. The tiny hole ripped wider, into more of a slit, and the large worm appeared from the wound. It glided across her eye and nestled its head beneath the lid. Sarah’s entire eye seemed to completely dissolve beneath its slimy body, and her other eye vanished as well. More worms curled upward out of her mouth and buried themselves into the newly empty sockets.

  Sarah abruptly snapped to life. She blindly darted out of the room and into the hallway, spitting dirt and worms all around. She left a trail of them behind, like Hansel and Gretel, but her intentions of returning were unknown. A foul stench penetrated the air. It was something that could have only been compared to a mixture of roadkill and stagnant swampy water.

  Alice hurried to chase after her, but she accidentally stomped and smeared the large earthworms all around the flooring beneath her soles. She called out while leaving the bedroom, but was ignored. One of the worms was a little more well-fed than the others, and it caused Alice to slip as her heel made contact with its body. Juices rubbed themselves all over her ankles, and she suppressed a gag.

  She realized that she couldn’t see or hear Sarah anymore, so she searched all around the hallway floor. Slowly this time, she crept along the piles of worms and dirt, taking care to avoid the earthy mess, and followed the trail into the bathroom. She hadn’t expected to walk into a scene like this one though. Really, she hadn’t even known what to expect, but it definitely wasn’t this.

  Sarah’s body sat mangled on the floor like a melted Barbie doll. Her neck was bruised and swollen, and her face was pale and drained of color again, aside from the bluish purple smudges beneath her eyes. Her hair had been chopped away carelessly and close to the scalp in some places. Strands and chunks of it were flung all over the place, some held together in clusters by small puddles of bright red blood that littered the floor.

  She didn’t try to move anymore.

  ◆

  Alice screamed and jumped awake. She was still on the floor where she’d accidentally fallen asleep. The wind whipped papers around in her room and sent chills all across her body. She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, and turned around to close the window. Everything looked normal again. There were no signs of broken cassettes, worms, dirt, or even of Sarah. All of the furniture and decorations were her own again. She peeked her head into the hallway, but the floor was as clean as it had been when she’d gotten home that night.

  Nothing had happened.

  She climbed into bed, and wrapped herself back up in the sheets. “It was just a bad dream,” she assured herself. “It was only a dream.”

  Chapter 9

  “Predator”

  Benji stood in front of Medley’s, jingling the change in his pocket. He paced back and forth as he stared at the soda machines, trying to make a choice. His favorite orange drink had been sold out for a while, and he wasn’t exactly
adjusting well to the change. These vending machine trips were a big part of his regular shopping routine. Each fizzy drink seemed to provide him with a bit of a sugary escape during his drives back home. They were his way of zesting up the monotony of grocery shopping.

  He sighed and settled for a cola, cracking it open after sliding his grocery bags up into the bend of his arms. A long swig filled his mouth, and he gulped with obnoxious exaggeration.

  “Ahhhh,” he exhaled, loudly.

  He wiped the fizz from his mouth and turned to face the bulletin board. His eyes instantly focused on the Missing poster, and he stood there grinning in between smaller sips from his frosty can. After a few seconds, he reached one of his hands up to touch the photocopied picture of Sarah. The other women’s photos were ignored by his fingers, but Sarah’s face received all of his affection. Benji slowly licked his lips and closed his eyes as he brought his hand back down to his side once more. The grocery bags slid down his forearm. His mind was shocked back to reality. He caught the bags before they could hit the ground, but ended up dropping his cola instead. The entirety of the contents poured out and foamed against the concrete.

  “Dammit!”

  He kicked the aluminum can and walked over to his ‘84 Rx-7. The car’s white paint reflected the sunlight back toward him, so he looked down at the ground to shield his eyes as he unlocked the door. After placing his grocery bags into the passenger’s seat, he crouched inside and shut the door. The burgundy leather was hot against his skin, but he adjusted to the warmth quickly and lit up a cigarette. He rolled the window down and blew out a gust of smoke. His body relaxed the rest of the way into the seat, and his mind drifted off into a daydream. He imagined Sarah’s face, and within seconds, memories of their past dates came rushing back to him.

  He could see her, with a pouty frown on her face, standing in front of him in a yellow top and a faded jean skirt. Her hair had a yellow bow tucked into her bangs to match the outfit. She looked so precious to him in that moment, which is exactly why he had burned every single detail of the encounter into his brain. Even when she had smacked him across the face, he had smiled back at her, chuckling lightly, squeezing her cheeks between his pointer finger and thumb, and then shaking her skull violently until she cried. He left two bruises on her face in the place of dimples.

  “My God, she looked beautiful that day.”

  He laughed out loud and tossed the last bit of his cigarette out the window.

  ◆

  Alice spent her morning and afternoon off work in the library. It was smaller than the one she usually visited in Parkington, but it felt more unique and special. The air was scented by the baked goods that the librarians had brought in. They had been trying to sell cakes and cookies to fund new reader’s programs. Alice decided that a few sugary treats couldn’t hurt anything, so she bought an enviable assortment.

  “I won’t tell anyone if you decide to eat a few in here,” the elderly woman’s voice creaked out from behind the makeshift booth. “You’re too thin to wait ‘til later anyway. You’ll turn into bones if you don’t get some dough in your stomach soon.” She followed the statement with a wink.

  Alice giggled and returned the wink. “I guess I could use a little fattening, huh? I promise not to leave any crumbs behind,” she said, while handing over a few singles.

  The woman smiled and accepted the bills. “Thanks so much, young lady.”

  Alice nodded warmly and turned to browse for a few more minutes. She ate one of the sugar cookies while walking around, and then decided that it was time to head on home again. From the window, she could tell that it was going to start raining soon, so she gathered her treats, stuffed them all into her purse, and made her way outside. Hoping to beat the rain, she walked faster than usual, but she still had several blocks to go before she could reach her house.

  Not even a minute had passed by before small droplets of rain started to hit her on the head. They grew more abundant and large in size as she continued onward. Thunder roared in the distance, and the sky darkened more and more with each passing second.

  A white car approached her from behind and flashed its lights. It pulled up next to her, and she heard a familiar voice call out from the opened window.

  “Hey, get in! I’ll take ya where you need to go.”

  She saw a hand waving to her, motioning for her to walk in its direction, so she crept toward the car door, slowly and cautiously.

  “Benji? Oh thank God. I’m getting soaked out here.” She hopped in and buckled herself up. “I’m just heading home. Do you think you could drop me off there? It’s over on Fifth,” she asked as she began to rummage around for something in her purse.

  “Not a problem. Edna mentioned that you’re staying in Sarah’s old place. I know exactly where that is.”

  “Oh, yeah, I’m pretty sure the whole town knows where I live by now. Word really travels fast apparently.” She rolled her eyes at the thought of never having any privacy and pulled out a paper tissue. Mascara had smudged under her lashes from the rain, so she had wanted to buff it away. She looked out the window, and then back to Benji. “Hey, you just passed my place,” she said, pointing out the window.

  “Yeah, I know. I was hoping we could get something to eat together first. You never called me after I left you my number, so I figure that we could get to know each other in person instead.” He gripped the steering wheel tightly and smirked with confidence.

  “Oh, sorry about that. I’ve been really busy lately, and need to get back home. Can’t you just drop me off at my house and maybe we can meet up another time or —”

  “You’re so pretty,” he interrupted. He lifted a hand and brushed her hair away from her shoulder. His fingers tickled across her collarbone, sending chills down the back of her neck and spine.

  She smacked his hand away in protest. “Whoa, what do you think you’re doing right now?”

  The car slowed down, and Benji pulled off on the side of the road. The rain poured all around, and tapped angrily against the windshield.

  “Sorry. Just listen to me for a second. I’m not trying to force you to go on a date with me. I’m just really attracted to you. I have been ever since I saw you at Edna’s. Can’t you at least have some cocoa with me? Something?” He pointed to the two cups of cocoa squeezed tightly between his thighs. “The cafe messed up my order and accidentally put whipped cream in the first one, so now I have two.”

  Alice sighed, and reached out her hand. “Fine. We’ll sip some here and talk, but then I’m going home whether you drop me off or if I have to walk back in the rain, okay?”

  Benji nodded and handed her one of the cups.

  “Why’d you even stop for cocoa anyway? It’s May.”

  “Well, I was thirsty after grocery shopping. Cocoa is good no matter what time of year it is. It’s not just for winter.” He took a sip and looked up at her. “See, it even pairs well with the rain.”

  Alice shook her head and sipped from her cup too. She returned his gaze and smiled automatically when the chocolate and whipped cream coated her tongue. It was difficult to stay annoyed when something tasted so good.

  “So, what do you want to talk about so badly?” she asked.

  “There’s nothing specific. I’d just like to get to know you better… to hear what your life was your life was like in Parkington, what brought you out here to Wintersburg — those sort of things.”

  Alice took a long drink and gulped hard. “Well, I was a hairdresser in Parkington too. Really, I did the same things I do here, but just in another place. It was only me and my grandma for a long time.”

  She paused to clear her throat, and Benji motioned for her to take another sip, which she did.

  “My grandma passed a little while before I moved out here. She was originally from this town, so I just thought I’d see what it was like.”

  “Oh, so you’re trying to learn more about her past, or…?”

  “I really don’t know. I think I just wa
nted to be close to her in some way again.”

  Benji nodded. “That makes sense,” he said as he brought his cup back up to his mouth. “I know what it’s like to miss someone. Sometimes it feels good to be near the same things that they used to love.” He sat his cup between his thighs again and rubbed the stubble around his jaw. His lips pursed as if he had thought of something unpleasant, and he started the car back up. “Anyway, let’s get you home, I guess. The cocoa’s almost gone, and I’m a man of my word.”

  Alice smiled and looked out the window again. Her house came into view as they turned back onto Fifth street, and she slung her purse back onto her shoulder. She felt Benji reach toward her and grab the cup from her hand after he had shifted in neutral.