by C. C. Wall
Lukas fell back on the bed. He was even more angry that the figure still smiled, even though he had just broken a bottle over his head. The tears finally stopped and his eyes began to roll back into his head as he kept repeating, “I’m happy… I’m happy…”
The rain was still loud outside the window. It almost seemed to be getting louder. As it did, Lukas snored louder as if he was in a subconscious competition with the rain. That competition ended when the thunder woke him up, but his eyes didn’t open right away. He ran his tongue over the roof of his mouth and didn’t like the taste. Then his eyes started to open. Nothing was quite clear. Lukas was still drunk, but he saw something strange. Lukas scrunched his face and squinted his eyes to try to make it out. It started to come into focus. It was a man hovering above his bed, a few inches from his face. Lukas froze because he wasn’t sure if that was what he was seeing. That was until the lightning struck outside and lit up the figure.
The man had shoulder length white hair. No shirt. His face, that horrific face, was what kept Lukas frozen with fear. He had red hand-prints that looked as if they were dipped in blood or paint, on his face. Two hands were clasped together, covered his mouth, and two more hands covered his eyes but the fingers would spread apart when the man opened his eyes.
The man spoke, his voice was high, grating and sinister, “I speak no evil, I peek at some,” he smiled a freakishly large smile and said, “but, I hear it all.” His laughter filled the apartment and Lukas could feel it inside his chest as if the vibration from the laughter was squeezing his heart.
Lukas gasped, he was having a hard time taking in a breath.
The man continued, “Come with me.”
Lukas didn’t move. He was still frozen.
The man didn’t seem pleased. “Fine. Just take my head. It will be easier.” The man ripped his head off his shoulders and outstretched his arm, trying to hand it to Lukas. Blood dripped from the bottom of the head, pouring all over Lukas’s bed and clothes. The body stood there, spurting more and more blood out, every second coating the walls and ceiling.
Lukas screamed. He was beyond mortified.
The Head was very upset. “Take it!”
Lukas slowly put his hand out. But wouldn’t take it.
“Now!” The Head screamed.
Lukas grabbed it by the scalp and turned his face away so he wouldn’t have to gaze upon its freakishness.
27 - The Red Door
Sue entered her apartment with a loud thud as the door swung open with the weight of her leaning on it. Her hands were full with her purse and a file box from the office. The thud from the door hitting the wall made Eric and Jen jump up from cuddling on the couch. Michelle was slightly startled, but had seen Sue come in, whereas Eric and Jen had their backs to the door.
“Mom, you scared the crap out of us.”
“You know I don’t like you talking like that,” Sue said in a disapproving tone.
“Hi, Mrs. Callahan,” Jen said.
“Hi, girls.”
“Hey,” Michelle added.
Sue was having a hard time maneuvering herself and her stuff through the door to the kitchen table. “No need to help guys, I’m good.”
Eric laughed, “Sorry Mom, I’ll move the pizza box off the table.” Eric ran over and picked it up so she could put her box down.
“I’m expecting at least two pieces in there,” Sue said, while wagging her finger at Eric.
“Actually, there are three pieces in there,” Eric said with a proud smile.
“Really? That’s so sweet,” Sue kissed him on the cheek.
Jen spoke up. “It wasn’t him being nice. We had to force him to stop eating, then Michelle was going to hide the box. But he gave up.”
“You little jerk,” Sue said laughing and playfully pulled his hair.
The laughter was interrupted by a ring tone from a cell phone that was quickly muted. They all looked around and shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders as it was none of theirs. Sue noticed that the door was still open so she looked out into the hallway and saw Bekka leaning against the wall.
“Bekka? What are you doing out here?”
“My mom wanted me to pick Jen up in an hour so I thought I would just come here and wait.”
“Come in. I actually have an extra slice of pizza if you’re hungry.”
“No. It’s okay.”
Jen ran out and grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into the apartment. “Quit being such a victim.”
Bekka winched in pain. Jen stopped pulling. “What’s wrong?”
“I fell down the stairs at the Sheriff’s… on some stairs outside,” Bekka answered, almost forgetting to keep quiet about where she had been.
Her phone rang again. She silenced it.
Sue asked, “Are you going to get that?”
“No.” Bekka quickly tried to find a believable lie, “It’s just work. If I answer, they will want me to cover for someone, I’m sure.”
“Okay.” The answer was good enough for Sue. “Here’s your pizza.” Sue handed Bekka a slice.
“Thank you, but Jen, we should probably go.”
Jen looked disappointed, “The movie has like a half hour left, could we stay and finish it please?”
“No, I would really like to go,” Bekka said sternly.
But then Bekka heard something. Something out in the rain. Her face turned white. The sound she heard was a motorcycle. But it wasn’t a motorcycle passing by, it was a motorcycle pulling up and turning off its engine. Her phone rang again. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw that it said COLT on the phone’s screen.
“Please, Bekka?” Jen pleaded, “You should sit and watch it with us. Its hysterical.”
“Well,” Bekka said to buy time as she walked over to the window and looked at the street below. There she saw a motorcycle parked on the curb with someone sitting on it. She couldn’t make out who was on it but had a pretty good idea. Her phone rang again. It was Colt. She turned her phone off and put it back in her pocket. “Yeah, let’s stay and watch the rest.”
“You rock, big sis!” Jen said, “Come sit next to me!”
Bekka limped across the room and carefully sat on the couch.
Sue sat happily, eating her pizza. She liked having a bunch of kids in her apartment. It made the place feel alive. She and Eric had lived there Eric’s whole life and it very rarely had more than her and Eric in it. She smiled while she chewed her food.
Bekka got up to use the bathroom and walked past Sue toward a red door. She assumed that this was the bathroom and put her hand on the doorknob.
“Don’t!” Sue yelled.
Bekka looked scared. “I’m sorry, Sue. I just needed to go to the bathroom.”
Sue swallowed and sighed, “I’m sorry, sweetie. It’s down the hall.” She pointed to the other side of the apartment.
Bekka slowly headed in the right direction.
Eric spoke up, “Don’t worry Bekka, that’s my mom’s so-called office. She’s never in there though,” he laughed.
“I work at work, Eric and you know it,” Sue said trying to play off her explosive outburst.
“I know, Mom. I’m just playing with you,” Eric still was laughing.
“You better be,” Sue said as she gave Eric a playfully, mean glare.
In the bathroom, Bekka turned her phone back on and called someone. “Hey… Sorry, I’m picking up my sister from her boyfriend’s place and they offered me pizza… No… Its not all right… Can I call you when I get home?…”
28 - This Looks Familiar
It was late in Black Star Canyon. The weather kept most people inside that night. The storm was on it’s way out. The showers had turned to more of a drizzle then to a thick mist. The fog slowly started creeping in as it did most late nights / early mornings through the canyon.
Lukas had been walking for miles with his new friend in his hand. He felt better that no one was out that could have witnessed the spectacle. He didn’t know ho
w the good citizens of Black Star Canyon would take to him, if they saw him walking down the street with a bloody, talking, severed head. That was one thing that Lukas knew he could not predict.
It was getting foggier by the minute and Lukas reached the point where he had no idea where he was. The Head took him through the woods, staying off of main roads. He thought for sure that if the Head wanted to kill him, he could do it now and no one would find his body till summer, easy.
The Head finally said more than “right” and “left”. He said, “We are almost there.”
“What are we doing out here?” Lukas said, “I don’t even know where “here” is.”
“You will,” The Head said. “Its just up over there.”
Lukas stopped. He finally knew where he was. “What the hell are we doing here?”
“Sit.”
Lukas was confused. “This is where we found that body.”
The Head raised his voice, “Now sit!”
Lukas sat on the large rock that Jane Doe had been slung over. “Now what?”
“Shh.” Said The Head.
Lukas was terrified. Lukas didn’t know if The Head was going to somehow kill him the same way the killer had killed Jane Doe or if maybe he was even being set up as her killer. His heart began to race. His breathing became shallow.
Lukas heard something in the bushes. His heart raced even faster. He could tell that someone was coming towards them. Lukas started feeling for his gun without taking his eyes off of where he thought the noise was coming from. Something was off, he thought. He looked down and The Head was gone!
Lukas gasped out loud. He drew his weapon just as the figure’s silhouette started to emerge from the fog.
“Freeze!” Lukas said. The figure didn’t stop coming towards him. “I said freeze! Hold it there or I’ll shoot!” The figure was now just a couple of yards from Lukas and he could start making out who it was.
“Wait a minute.” Lukas was in disbelief. “You?” Lukas’s eyes rolled back in his head and his face came quickly down to violently meet the earth as he fainted. Beautiful bare feet, softly stopped walking a few inches from where his face met the cold, wet dirt.
29 - Coyote Ugly
The birds were chirping, the sun was shining bright and the wind was gently gracing Lukas’s face as he began to open his eyes. Some of the mud he was lying in was already hardening. The sun was much too bright for Lukas this morning with his hangover that was turning his brain into a bass drum. The absence from his left arm being asleep caused mild concern but on the pain level, it was the least of his worries. He lifted his head up for a second, but the pounding got stronger so he gently laid his head back down, keeping his eyes closed as well and felt that his phone was vibrating steadily in his coat pocket. Lukas knew that is was probably Chaney yelling at him for not being at the station. Hearing Chaney yell at him with the headache he already had, was something that he was not about to let happen. If it wasn’t for his need to urinate, Lukas would have stayed right there on the ground for another hour, easy.
Lukas put his right hand up in the air, where he thought the sun was and slowly opened his eyes. He went through the events that he thought he could remember from the night before. He remembered talking to Eric and he remembered getting to his building. Nothing after that seemed to be clear for him except a wild dream that he had about a strange man, a head, a long walk, a lot of blood and a meeting of some kind. Lukas’s eyes got wider. It was starting to come back to him. This was when the concern about his arm began to increase. Not only was it totally numb, he could not move it. He turned his head to try to get his bearings of his location and to work out why he couldn’t move his arm. That’s when he made eye contact with Henry Goodman of Henry’s Handy Shop.
If Lukas puckered his lips he could have planted one right on Henry’s mouth. Lukas was slightly startled, but he had woken up in weird places before. “Hey man.” Lukas said. Henry did not respond. That’s when Lukas noticed that his eyes were quite pale. Something might have been a little off about the situation, Lukas thought. The sun was still blinding but Lukas tried, nonetheless, to get a larger scope of the situation. “You’re naked man, and you’re on my arm,” Lukas said to Henry. He reached over and placed his hand on Henry’s chest to try to shake him. That’s when he realized that Henry’s skin was cold as ice and as stiff as a corpse.
“Holy shit!” Lukas yelled as he shoved the massive body off his arm and shuffled backwards through the dirt to get away from the body. He slammed up against a large rock and looked behind himself. “Wait.” Lukas thought really hard about this situation, “It wasn’t a dream.” He found himself at the scene of the crime where they found their Jane Doe. The woman who was with him last night, wasn’t there. The Head he had been carrying around was gone too. The only thing that was there with him was a nude, 400 pound body of a man he didn’t know.
Lukas thought that it would be a good time to give Chaney a call back. He tried to grab his phone with his left hand that was still numb, and he couldn’t get his hand into the pocket to get the phone out. He shook his arm around violently to try to get the feeling back. The pins and needles came in, which Lukas found very uncomfortable but was happy that he was feeling anything at all. He reached over with his right hand to get the phone out of his left coat pocket, which he pulled out eventually, and dialed. He pulled the phone away from his head once Chaney started screaming, which happened as soon as he answered.
“Jesus, Lukas? Where the hell are you?” Chaney screamed, “The test results from Gus’s shirt will be back here in less than an hour! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all morning! You can’t keep doing this to me!” Chaney settled down a bit. “Sorry. Just needed to vent.”
When Lukas heard it was safe to put his ear back on the phone he said, “We got another body.”
“What?” Chaney asked. “Where are you?”
“Back at the canyon. Our little meeting spot from yesterday,” Lukas said and could not believe those words came out of his mouth. “Just get everyone down here.”
Lukas hung up while Chaney was still asking questions, but he figured he would still have those questions when he got there. The more pressing matter concerning Lukas at the moment, was trying to figure out a place to take a piss that would not end up contaminating evidence. Getting up was tricky. He felt like he had been hit by a truck. That made him think hard about the night before and if there was a possibility that he in fact did get hit by truck. It didn’t seem like anything that happened, Lukas thought, so he just tip toed away from the new crime scene and hoped he could find a place that was down hill from the new body.
30 - Wakey, Wakey! Eggs And Bakey!
Jonathan Kensington slept longer than usual. He woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking. This was one of his favorite ways to wake up. The mouth watering scent of eggs and bacon traveled up the stairs, down the hall and right into his room. The smell wafted up his nostrils and right into his brain, which triggered saliva production inside his mouth. He sucked it off his tongue and smiled. After a deep breath, to take it all in, he placed his feet down off his bed where they fell perfectly into his slippers that had been waiting there for him patiently, all night while he slept. After a quick trip to the bathroom, where he also grabbed his robe, he headed down the hallway. He needed to make one stop before he hit the stairs. He wanted to make sure that Elizabeth was up. She also loved mornings with bacon.
Jonathan opened Elizabeth’s door, “Wakey, wakey! Eggs and Bakey!” Jonathan said, which was a standard for the Kensington household. To Jonathan’s surprise, Elizabeth was apparently already up and had even made her bed; something that he and Francine had to nag Elizabeth to do on a daily basis. “She must want something,” Jonathan said under his breath.
Jonathan skipped down the stairs, with a smile. The smell in the kitchen was so much stronger than it was upstairs. He was almost drooling all over himself. “Good morning, sweetheart,” Jonathan said, right before he k
issed Francine.
“Good morning, dear, I’ll make your plate,” Francine said.
Jonathan was confused. He thought for sure that Elizabeth would have eaten most of the bacon by now. Then he realized what must be going on. “So nice of Elizabeth to walk Prince Harry.”
Francine looked confused. “Prince Harry is right here.” And Prince Harry was. He sat there, licking his chops, right at Francine’s ankles on the off chance that she might drop a piece of bacon on the floor.
Jonathan did not understand. “Is she in the shower then?”
“I don’t think so. I thought she was in bed.”
“No. Her bed is made.” The horror of what might have happened to her struck his face. He ran out of the room. “Elizabeth!”
Francine screamed and dropped the hot skillet on the floor, shooting bacon and grease all over the place. “No!” Francine screamed.
Prince Harry yelped when he licked the hot grease on the floor, but decided to eat the bacon off the floor anyway.
Jonathan ran upstairs and checked the bathroom. “Elizabeth!” But the bathroom was empty as well. Jonathan could barely hear himself screaming Elizabeth’s name over the loud mournful sobs of Francine.
Francine finally cried out something intelligible. “Call the police! Call the police, Jonathan!”
31 - Crime Scene: Take 2
It was particularly quiet in the canyon considering that there was a small forensics team checking out the body of Henry Goodman and the immediate surroundings. Stretching out his back, was Lukas, who was trying not to look at the body any more. Chaney walked up quickly to him.
