Twice as Dark: Two Novels of Horror

by Glen Krisch

  What he saw in front of him sharply focused his attention. The sight turned his stomach.

  He took an unconscious step back.

  "I don't think you should leave right now," a gravelly voice came from inside the first enclosure. Mr. Freakshow's enclosure.

  What drew Maury's attention away from the thought of Juliet was the sight of Juliet, her face smashed against the inside of the glass. Fearful, wide-eyed, trembling. Maury took another step back and wondered how any of this was possible. For one, Juliet escaping her enclosure, and two, for her to wander into Mr. Freakshow's clutches.

  Mr. Freakshow left the shadows, joining Juliet near the glass. It was now evident that the beast's claws were buried through Juliet's back and had expelled her insides to the floor.

  "What the… how the hell?" Maury didn't know what to do. It had to be fake, an illusion of some sort. Juliet hung off the ground, suspended by the Freak's impaling claw, but she was still alive. Frothy blood gathered at the lips he had minutes before fumbled his way through kissing passionately. Her mouth sputtered gobbets of blood-streaked spit against the glass as she tried to form words. Her whole body writhed, struggling against the enormity of her pain.

  "I've got an idea. Your friend here, your lover, is in immense pain. You know she can't die at my hand, not truly and forever, and so does she. Look into her eyes," Mr. Freakshow commanded in a grating yet soft voice.

  Maury looked into Juliet's eyes, and the emotion and longing he saw, the connection he felt for her breeched the glass, the boundaries of their varied existences. This was no illusion. Somehow, however improbable, Juliet had unwittingly put herself in the gravest danger possible.

  He must have forgotten to lock her enclosure. Of course. His mind had been so muddled. Still was.

  This is all my fault. I can't do anything right.

  "Maury, please. He won't hurt me, anymore… he won't hurt you. He just wants his freedom," Juliet said, the melodic lilt of her voice melted away. Only cold edges accompanied her pain-addled words.

  "Let me out of here," the Freak said, leaning over Juliet's shoulder, his breath steaming the glass. "I'll let her go, and maybe in time, her pain will go away."

  The other nightmares were howling in their enclosures. Glancing down the walkway, Maury saw oozing flesh pressed against the panes of glass, bloodshot eyes leering. They all wanted to get a better view of the Freak at work.

  Mr. Freakshow turned his wrist and his claws tore deeper. Juliet's legs twitched uncontrollably, her summer dress torn and stain with blood and urine released from her ruined insides. "Time's running out. Choose or lose. She is about to bleed to death. Then, of course, I will have to start this whole process over again."

  The tension seeped from Juliet's body. She slumped, hanging limply on Mr. Freakshow's hand. She was gone. Dead for the moment.

  Mr. Freakshow whipped her lifeless body into the corner of the enclosure. Her head slammed into the wall before she hit the ground. She didn't move.

  "She's going to come back in a few minutes, then I will begin again. I have so many ideas I will try out on her. One worse then the one preceding. I have no mercy. You should know this, Doctor. You can insure that I would never hurt her again. Open the fucking cage!"

  Maury gave in and pulled out his fistful of keys. His shaky fingers couldn't find the right key, and Mr. Freakshow quickly became impatient.

  "Come on, come on!" Mr. Freakshow growled, his face up against the glass.

  "Just give me a second." Maury fumbled with the keys. The other nightmares slammed their dream-fists against the glass of their enclosures.

  "Fuck your second."

  Maury found the key and unlocked the door, stepping as far away as possible from the opening. The monster emerged from his confinement, shoving Maury into the tiny room.

  When Maury steadied his eyes on the interior of the enclosure, Juliet was gone. She was never there. Mr. Freakshow had tricked Maury.

  As soon as this realization sunk in, Maury's brain shifted to figure out how to fix this mother of all fuck-ups. But by then, of course, it was too late. If he hadn't come back to see Juliet… and if he hadn't gone into her enclosure in the first place… his mind wouldn't have been so messed up. There was no other explanation. I should have known. Juliet would never be so foolish…

  He took a hesitant step toward the door. The last thing Maury saw was the furrowed scars cross-hatching the back of Mr. Freakshow's forearm. The blow connected with Maury's temple, lifted him off the ground, sending him flying into the nearest marble wall. He slumped down in a disheveled pile, and as his mind receded, he didn't even dream.

  His ploy had been so easy to execute--so much so, that Mr. Freakshow was surprised it had even worked. Why didn't Bennett realize he would have done a lot worse to that little dream-nymph if she had really entered his enclosure? Gut her and wait for someone to show up? Come on.

  The repulsive stench of humans was overwhelming as he strutted down the stairs. He lifted his nostrils and breathed a lungful of soupy human misery. If his senses were accurate, there were currently four humans in the building. The largest concentration was below ground. How typical. Damn sniveling vermin--they would cower underground. Blood coursed through his veins, and when he glanced at his swaying wings, he could see the purple rushing fluid filling their thin skin.

  He quickly descended the steps, and when he reached the basement, he paused, sniffing at the air. He followed his senses down a hallway, through a couple of twists in the underground tunnel. When he reached a dead end with three doors, he kicked the first one. A human let out a surprised cry.

  The room held two humans and a horde of dreams. The dreams scattered like shot marbles as he pushed through the battered remains of the door. He was enraged and wanted to tear apart every dream he came across, every dream willfully coming in contact with a human.

  All in due time.

  The old man with the graying red beard threw himself atop the unmoving body covered by a drab pink blanket. Nolan Gage, the man who had earlier sized up Mr. Freakshow like he was some piece of meat and had run away, gagging. The dream creatures hid in cubbies and shadows, but the Freak could sense beady little dream-eyes still trained on him, frightened little dream-eyes that he would gladly pluck from their pathetic little heads if he had any say in the matter. And did he have a say in the matter? He chuckled to himself.

  Mr. Freakshow closed on Nolan Gage, a malicious smile parting his lips.

  "Please don't. I'll give you anything you want… just… just, please don't." Gage's face flushed crimson. He was trying to cover the girl's face with the blanket, but it was useless; the Freak had already seen her, and had known she was in the room even before he charged through the door.

  "Who is this senseless mass of human decay?" Mr. Freakshow kicked the frame of the bed.

  "Don't you touch her!" Gage stood up, trying to meet his gaze. The Freak snatched him off the floor by the back of his neck and held him with his curled claw mere inches away from tearing apart his spine.

  "How adorable." Mr. Freakshow caressed the girl's cheek with the back of an extended talon. "What's wrong with her? Why does she not stir? What are these machines?"

  "She was in an accident. She's in a coma. Harmless," Gage said, trying to rationalize with the Freak.

  "Ah, you simple twit. She's gone, dead. Can't you sense that; smell the death on her skin? Can't you just let her finish moldering away to dust and bones?" He waved his free hand over her prone body as if vacuuming up details of her condition with his palm.

  Gage groped at Mr. Freakshow's wrist, trying to pull himself free. "She's… alive. She still dreams. These dreams all around you, they are my daughter's dreams."

  "In that case, I shall take pleasure in ending their lives as well." Mr. Freakshow glared at the wooden headboard, and two elfin creatures skittered out of hiding, skimmed down the side of the bed and then squeezed under an equipment cart.

  "No, you can't! She did nothing wrong.
You don't even know her. She may seem dead to you, but my Nika is still somewhere inside. Tonight, she even squeezed my hand." He was crying, struggling in Mr. Freakshow's grasp.

  "She's not alive. If she were alive, she would fight for her life." Mr. Freakshow went to a bank of machines and smashed Gage's face through one of the monitors. He was conscious, but deeply cut. His scalp spread in a wide smile across his forehead.

  Mr. Freakshow threw him into the chair where he had spent countless hours watching his daughter. The chair pushed back a couple of feet, and Gage's head was tilting from side to side, spilling blood into his eyes.

  "Oh, I'm sorry. I almost knocked you out. What a shame that would have been and you wouldn't have seen the grand finale!" Mr. Freakshow went to the first cart of machines and tipped it over. He watched Gage's blood-filled eyes widen with his every move. A monitor shattered and broken glass slipped along the floor like thrown ice cubes, making a mound of dream-puppies dart away, whining. The Freak laughed. He destroyed the other machines just as easily, one actually shooting sparks as he yanked the cord from the wall.

  He then grabbed the back of Gage's head and forced him nose to nose with Nika. "See how she has failed to struggle for her life. She doesn't even convulse. Those damn machines offered more of a protest when faced with their own destruction."

  With an almost gentle hand, Mr. Freakshow took hold of Nika's neck. He pressed his fingers into her flesh, and still she didn't move. The monster locked eyes with Gage while he tightened his grip, strangling his daughter.

  Nika continued to breathe, but it was shallow and getting weaker. From his hiding place under the bed, Rupert lunged at Mr. Freakshow and gouged at his eyes with his sock-puppet hands. He had no fingernails and no bones in his hands. His attack was a minor irritant.

  "You useless rag of shit." Mr. Freakshow grabbed the sock monkey and threw him across the room. Rupert cried out when he hit the wall, but was soon back on his feet and charging the bed. Anger creased the permanent smile from his fabric lips.

  "You're a feisty little fuck, aren't you? Killing you will almost be as gratifying as killing Mr. Nolan Gage," Mr. Freakshow said, still looking into Gage's eyes. Rupert closed on the beast, and for every step, his body seemed to fade, becoming less substantial. In one last surge of energy, Rupert leapt into the air, but there was nothing left of him. Mr. Freakshow stood facing Rupert's attack, but he had disappeared. All the dreams had disappeared. Quietly, and without fuss, Nika was gone, taking her mind's creations with her.

  Mr. Freakshow turned his attention back to Gage.

  He succumbed to the beast without even blinking, waiting for the moment of serenity when he would once again see his daughter, but this time awake, alive and able to love him as he loved her. The old man held Mr. Freakshow's gaze even as his heart beat for the last time.

  Mr. Freakshow had spilled all the blood he could within the halls of the basement. He ventured through the ground floor of Lucidity. One by one, he opened the enclosures. Some of the dreams came out hesitantly, wary of such an easy exit. Some didn't leave the security of their enclosure at all. They were either too weak a dream to realize their own existence, or they didn't want to walk a single step closer to Mr. Freakshow.

  His anger deepened when an entire hall was free to leave and few dreams appreciated his kindness. At first he thought he could possibly find common ground with these miscreants, but now he knew how entirely wrong he had been. These timid shells of human thought and emotion could never be his peers. He would have to rid this world of them as well as the human detritus that lingered like caked blood under his claws. He would deal with the humans first, then in time, he would turn his sights on eliminating the dreams unworthy of existing at his side. He kicked over a dream the size of a child. His fluffy orange lion's mane fluttered as he fell to his soft suede-skin knees. Mr. Freakshow snatched a handful of his orange locks and dragged the deplorable mound of dream-stuff to his feet. The dream gave off a blubbering moan from his red licorice lips.

  "You make me sick. What exactly are you supposed to be?"

  The lion-child shook his head and a flow of tears accompanied his moaning.

  Mr. Freakshow tossed the dream aside and stood at the end of the hall. He was a star and carried himself like one. There was a moment of silence as the Freak waited for full attention. He broke the brittle tension with his gravel voice. "Be free my pitiable brethren. Your time upon this earth will end soon enough. Join the horde of human vermin if you must; seek out a life and soul of your own if you have it in you. It will not last. I will bring an end to you all soon enough. But for now, live with and live like the animals that you are."

  It was like an order given by a holy man. Mr. Freakshow could have flipped a switch and not seen such an instant change in the malingering dreams. His brethren rose from the sanctuary of their confinement, and as one big wave they fell upon the ground with hungered hearts and empty minds to fill. The dreams left Lucidity to encounter the human world--a world still asleep to too many things once thought incomprehensible. Mr. Freakshow was the mirror revealing and releasing the reflection of a society's conscience.

  Mr. Freakshow bowed deeply to the departing dreams and then turned on his bare heel. He headed to the upstairs enclosures, an area where he would find more sentient and aggressive creatures--creatures he hoped more akin to himself.

  No one offered to help the helpless dream woman--she was The Object and was created for exploit, and all the other dreams knew it. Viktor's initiative started the whole spectacle once Mr. Freakshow let the dreams of the Erotica Wing free. Viktor was all Id, and once free, he shoved his way through the milling crowd of newly freed erotic dreams and waited outside The Object's enclosure for her release. Then he had claimed her as His Object; he grabbed her by her pale blonde hair. He had bronze flawless skin, a long blond ponytail and was hung as only a dream-man could be. They were freakishly different sizes and forcing her flat to the floor was no problem. Getting his cock into her was another story. After a momentary struggle, Viktor was inside her, ramming her with all his built up aggression.

  She was fighting, pushing Viktor, trying to cover her small breasts, but she was not nearly strong enough. The other dreams were pushing their gapers-circle closer. His Object's smooth, featureless face jerked from side to side. As the other dreams pushed in closer, it was obvious that His Object had feigned innocence through her struggles. In truth, she was enjoying her fucking. All the other dreams could see of her now were her dainty hands grabbing hold of Viktor's shoulders. Her razor-sharp nails deeply tore into his flesh. He pummeled her harder, enraptured, even as in her pleasure, she dug her nails deeper, past the knuckle.

  The shit hit the fan when a greedy dream-man with a spiked silver collar and black leather pants grabbed His Object's foot. He was trying to take her for his own. Viktor pulled himself free from his conquest, and struck the other dream with his brick-like fist. The arousal of the other dreams had been growing with every fevered thrust of Viktor's hips, and now that he had taken on the task of brutalizing the spike-collar dream, they fell in, enveloping His Object, making her their own, making her a part of their collective engorged lust. They grabbed and spread limbs. Heat poured off the orgy like a sauna, and screams and grunts filled the room.

  Mr. Freakshow watched the performance from a distance, an enervated smirk pulling at his cheeks. He knew he would get a more lively reaction from the erotic dreams if he presented them with their freedom. Freedom to an erotic dream meant unabashed sensuality, voyeuristic consumption, and sexual release. Oh, and the occasional dream-orgy. But Viktor's initial penetration was only the prelude to the overall mischief that ensued, the proverbial firing of the starter's pistol.

  The Freak let the twenty or so dreams fuck and share partners and fuck and switch again before interrupting. He wanted them to get a taste of the freedom he had given them. Once they knew who had given them their freedom, he would be free to twist them to his will.

  "Be free
to consume," he said, focusing their attentions. "Do not limit yourselves to your current excesses, your current partners or desires. There are bountiful treasures just outside this building to fill your incredible need. So, seek your release among the humans. They are lower forms than you and I, and I have no doubt they would consent to any of your wishes. If at first they resist, simply remember that these creatures are coy by nature."

  Mr. Freakshow left the Erotica Wing, knowing they were his servants. He could call upon them if he needed, but for now, he would slink out on his own. Tracking down the boy would be easier alone.

  Kevin jumped awake as if an alarm clock blared next to his ear. There was no noise in his room, and judging the darkness from his window, no one would be awake yet. He had the sudden feeling that something was wrong. He looked about the room, but he didn't see anything unusual, and he didn't get the sense that Mr. Freakshow was here. But the unsettling feeling had something to do with the Freak, that much was certain. He thought back to when Mr. Freakshow breathed his hot rancid breath against his sleep-paralyzed face. He hadn't been able to move a muscle. Then he remembered. Mr. Freakshow said he would soon escape. He said he was coming for him.

  Coming to drink the blood beating through his heart.

  He grabbed his clothes from the closet, shrugged them on and then leaned over to slide on his shoes. His mind was going in a thousand directions, and he didn't know how much time he had. If Mr. Freakshow was loose, the first thing he was going to do was come for him.

  Why can't he just leave me alone?

  He wanted to wake his mom and grandma, but knew he shouldn't. No one could know what he was doing. The Freak said he would kill his family if he told them of his intended escape. Kevin couldn't risk their lives after already losing his dad. He finished double-tying his shoelaces, grabbed his backpack, and was about to run out the door when he saw his windbreaker. His mom would have a cow if he didn't have it with him, even if the weather was clear and warm. If she noticed his windbreaker was gone, she might realize he was okay, that no one had taken him in the middle of the night and that leaving was his own doing. She would still be a wreck when she discovered he was gone, but he couldn't help that now. Right now, he had to get out of the house, get as far away from his family as possible. Before the Freak found him.