The next day at work she was back to her old self, only better. She didn’t even have to write the orders down. She just remembered them. In the back of her mind she thought that this was just all too weird. But she liked it.
***
Toby lay in bed Wednesday night. He was a little frustrated. With this week, there had come an urge for meat. That urge had something to do with the heat inside him. It burned all over his body, especially in his stomach, and begged him to eat.
He did eat, and he only ate meat. His mother said that was fine for now, that it would change as soon as the novelty wore off. Soon, he would crave other foods again and could balance his diet. Toby suspected that was wrong. It was more than the novelty. With the meat, came new sensations. While he chewed the food and put it in his stomach the heat would kind of localize, all of it going to his stomach. Then he would feel it dwindle as if it was being absorbed by the food. The heat would return, but in a new way. Instead of hunger, it came as energy. He felt more alive, more quick, and stronger than he ever had.
But he still felt small. The problem was that he couldn’t eat that much. His food intake still paled in comparison to what his brother and his father took in. Even his mother outdid him. With just a little bit of meat in his stomach, a few slices of bacon or one hamburger patty, the repulsion would return and he had to stop eating immediately.
Toby knew there was more to be had, so much more. He just had to wait until Saturday.
***
The nights were bad. James found it hard to sleep with all the anxious thoughts in his head. He was a murderer now, and he hadn’t even had his freedom for two weeks. In his mind, he saw scenarios of police tracing his steps from the victims’ home to his basement. Then they would put him in a cell. Trapped inside he’d be, just as he’d already been for so many years.
During the day he found escape. On his hill, all the anxiety went away as he sat there and waited, hoping for another spirit. He dreaded the thought of a rainy day, when he would have worry during the day and night, without solace. It was Thursday afternoon when he felt the next spirit enter him. He took that spirit home.
In his basement, there wasn’t anxiety now. As he sat alone, he wasn’t really alone. He focused on the spirit inside him, which, like the one before, wasn’t immediately ready to move. He wondered if the spirit knew he felt it. Did it really think it was hiding from him?
James went out to dinner with his parents that night. He enjoyed it, his mood festive, making small talk with his parents as they ate in a public restaurant. He felt neither the fear of being captured, nor the containment of being inside for a while, because, though he talked with his parents, a bigger part of him focused inside, on the spirit he would soon meet.
At home, James waited for his parents to go to bed. Then he waited another hour. Then he communicated with the new spirit. “What would you like to do?” he asked.
***
One of the servers had called in sick. Tiffany wasn’t able to find a replacement, and Celeste was glad. She was able to pick up the slack with ease. She had gone out alone after work last night. She got out of the downtown area and went to a meat-market of a dance club on the main stretch. There she met some younger guy who was glad to take her back to his place. There was little foreplay. He had turned her around and lifted her skirt. She hadn’t worn panties. A little concern arose when she felt him pressing into the wrong hole. She didn’t try to stop him, though. It hurt but felt good at the same time. The end result was more energy, and she wasn’t sore today.
Celeste cleared two-hundred dollars on Friday night, but she wasn’t real concerned about the money. She was just amazed about what she could do now. She loved sex and what it did for her.
After close, Kendra came to her section. “Wow!” she said. “Somebody’s in high spirits this evening.”
“Well, somebody got some last night.”
“Again?”
“Again.”
“My God, girl, you’re becoming a first class ho!”
Celeste laughed at the comment. Yes, she was a little loose now, but she thought the novelty would wear off soon and she’d calm down.
“Anybody we know?” Kendra asked.
“Nope, just some kid who picked me up.”
A look of concern came over Kendra’s face. “You did use protection, right?”
“Yeah,” Celeste lied. She, somehow, wasn’t too worried about that. There was no getting pregnant through the place he put it in. She knew disease was something she would have to start worrying about, though. It was just that, in the moment, when she wanted that heat so bad, she just couldn’t bother herself with protection.
“I just love the heat,” Celeste said.
“Yeah, it’s great,” Kendra agreed.
“And I love the energy it leaves you with. I feel like I can do anything afterward.”
Kendra looked confused. “Wow! I guess I never really got that. I mean, after an orgasm I feel real relaxed and all, and I might be in a good mood the next day, but I don’t feel like I could conquer the world or anything.”
Orgasm, Kendra had said. That was something Celeste had heard her friends describe. She had yet to have one of those, but she didn’t really care. How could an orgasm match the heat?
Kendra went to cleaning up. Celeste finished cleaning early. She went to the bar to get a drink. Paul came out of the kitchen.
“You scored again, didn’t you,” Paul said.
Celeste was shocked and looked hard at him. It wasn’t that she would mind discussing her sex life. But Paul’s tone was accusatory.
“Well, since you asked, I did score again.”
Paul’s face turned beet red. Celeste had never seen him like this. It was kind of scary.
“Did you zap him?”
Celeste laughed. “What?”
Paul studied her for a few seconds and then said, “Parker Swinson has not been to his office the last three days. I called his house earlier today, pretending to be a tele-marketer. He answered, but he sounded real tired.”
“Okay,” Celeste said. “What does that have to do with me?”
“You did it to him, Celeste. I don’t know if you know it or not, but when you have sex with someone, it does something to him.”
Celeste could only stare in response to the accusation.
Paul calmed down a bit, his face turning a lighter shade of red. “Listen. The guy you had last night. Did he fall asleep when you were done?”
Celeste hesitated. Then she feigned a look of incredulity. “No,” she lied.
At that, Paul nodded. He took a few seconds, then he said, “I’m sorry. I guess I shouldn’t assume anything. It’s just that last week it was as if my energy was just taken from me. And it seemed to happen right after having sex with you.”
Celeste tried to hide what was going on in her. The kid last night had been like Parker. He had basically passed out. “It’s all right,” Celeste said. She hugged Paul. She wondered what was going on. She thought she might discuss it with Dr. Porter. But she wasn’t sure.
***
They sat in the darkness of a utility room. Even this room, with its high tech laundry machines, reflected the wealth of its owner. It was the only room, right now, that was safe to wait in.
“I’m amazed at how prepared you are,” James commented and then relinquished control for a response.
“In this state, there’s not much else to do. You look at scenarios for revenge.”
This spirit had known what to do. They’d not had to travel far from James’s basement this time. The big house was in Arabuke. James was a little familiar with the owner of this house. He had been a big wig in the administration at Arabuke University for a few years. He was also a prosperous businessman, owning a few different businesses in Arabuke and Green Pastures.
The spirit had gotten them inside the house using a keyboard outside that disengaged the security system and opened the front door. Once inside, they gathered needed
supplies, stored them in the master bedroom, and then went to the back of the house, where there was another keyboard. With a series of strokes, they had reengaged the alarm system everywhere except for the utility room.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” James said. “But I’m curious as to why you want to kill this guy.”
“Not just this guy,” the spirit said. “I want to kill his wife too.”
James didn’t respond. He just waited for elaboration, which the spirit eventually provided.
“Well, you’ve taken me this far, so I guess it’s safe to let you in on a few things. Mark Bremmer was my brother. We were business partners. Ten years ago I was engaged to be married when I had a car accident. Mark had known that I loved my fiancée. He’d known I’d at least want her taken care of, if not to take over my share of our business endeavors. But instead, he gave her nothing and made sure she was ostracized from our family. Within six months of my death, she left town in complete squalor and depression. I know because I watched the whole thing. I had suspected my brother might pull such a stunt. I guess that’s why I stuck around.”
James could feel a part of the emotion there, the sadness and hate the spirit felt in telling the story, and those emotions made James want for the spirit. He was all the more excited about what was to come. James had seen the supplies the spirit had gathered. He had some idea about the plan, but didn’t know exactly. He didn’t want to know. It was like a movie in a way, except with way more feeling. He had put a few pieces together but had to wait for the exact ending to reveal itself.
They must have been there an hour longer before the occupants of the house arrived. They entered through the front door and the sounds of their drunken laughter echoed through the large house.
“We wait just a little while longer,” the spirit whispered.
“What if they come back here?” James whispered.
“Don’t worry. I’ve been watching their Friday nights for years. They never do.”
A few minutes later, the sound of water running echoed through the pipes.
“Like clockwork,” the spirit said. “This is the only night they go out together. They always drink. My brother takes a shower, and then they may or may not have sex, depending on how tired they are.”
James hadn’t realized how predictable people were. In a way, they were like he had always been, trapped in a routine.
“It’s time to go,” the spirit said, and they were quickly up. They went to just outside the back door and made one last entry on that keyboard. “That will keep us dry,” the spirit commented.
They moved through the house with urgency, but with quiet steps. They went up the stairs, where, someone, Mark Bremmer, if the spirit was right, was taking a shower in a hallway bathroom. They went into a master bedroom, which James was surprised to see empty. Then he noticed a closed door off to the side and heard a facet come on from inside that door. Mrs. Bremmer was in the master bathroom.
They gathered a few of the items they had stored underneath the king-sized bed. Then they waited at the side of the bathroom door. James was very aware of the sound of the shower from the other room. He wasn’t sure of the spirit’s exact plan, but he knew timing was of the essence. About a minute later, the shower still running in the hall bathroom, Mrs. Bremmer came out of the master bathroom. James never got a good look at the naked woman’s face. Before she had time to look their way, the spirit was on her. The woman was slender and not very strong. She put up little fight as a thin rope was wrapped tightly around her head. The spirit left a gap only around her nose. Then he tossed her on the bed and turned her on her stomach. He used another rope to tie her hands behind her back and then the last rope to tie her feet together. James doubted, with the way the rope was tied around her face, that the woman could make much of a sound. But the spirit warned her anyway.
“Make a noise, and I’ll kill you both!”
They grabbed a claw hammer and a sharp knife from beside the bed and then moved to the wall, beside the bedroom door, where they waited.
James looked at the naked woman. Her buttocks were clenched, like she was trying to hide part of herself or was just that tense. He was guessing she was a little older than him, but way more fit. But he couldn’t feel lust for her. He suspected that was because he could feel what the spirit wanted. This woman was a pawn in a game of vengeance.
The shower finally stopped in the hall bathroom. A couple of minutes later, there was the sound of the door opening, and then Mark Bremmer made his way down the hall, drunkenly humming some unfamiliar tune. He walked into the room, wearing only a towel. He had just a second to take in the picture of what was on the bed. He shook his head in confusion and then seemed to notice something in his peripheral vision. He turned to them, and that was when they brought the blunt end of the hammer against his jaw.
Mark didn’t have time to scream. The blow, which by the audible snap had broken his jaw, sent him spinning to the floor. They jumped on his back. They brought the knife down into his spine. The spirit must have had some knowledge of human physiology, because after that, Mark Bremmer was paralyzed. They lugged him around at will, positioning him in a wooden chair, where he had a clear view of his wife.
“Hey, Mark,” James’s voice said. “It’s me, your brother.”
Mark, with his jaw hanging slack and the rest of his body rendered useless, could only respond with his eyes, which grew large.
“You shouldn’t have done that to my Tammy. I watched on while you made her suffering worse. Now you can watch on as the love of your life suffers.”
They went to the side of the bed to get the last of the items they had gathered. They doused Mrs. Bremmer with lighter fluid. They took a pack of matches from James’s pocket and then turned to Mark, who had tears flowing down his pale face.
“I could stop her suffering, Mark. I could ease her pain right now.”
They lit a match. “But I’m not going to.” They threw the match at the woman.
Mrs. Bremmer lit up, and her body jerked under the intense heat. Mark Bremmer found enough momentum to lift an arm up a few inches, and then he fell from the chair.
The fire ignited the bed below Mrs. Bremmer. James realized that the last set of keystrokes the spirit had used had been to turn off the fire alarm and sprinkler system. Before they left, they hefted Mark Bremmer into the blaze with his wife.
Less than a minute later, they were on a trail behind the house. The spirit had said this would make for a clean escape, and he hadn’t lied. James easily made it home, before the second spirit left him.
Chapter 12
Something was amiss. At least two of his clients were keeping something from him. Dr. Porter had first suspected it this morning, when he had talked to a tired James on the phone.
“Everything is just fine, Doctor. I’ve just been hanging out, leading a relatively ordinary life.”
But it was clear that James didn’t really want to speak with him. His answers had been simple and rushed. There was a shake in his tone. James was anxious, and he didn’t want to share with Dr. Porter what he was anxious about. Dr. Porter would have expected that now, after he’d had time to settle in, James would have been more loquacious with him. Of the three, James should have been the most fascinated with the process. It shouldn’t have been enough for the process to work. James, with his intellectual proclivity, should have wanted to discuss the ins and outs. But instead, he just wanted to get off the phone.
“I’m eating meat,” Toby had said. “But I can’t eat much before it grosses me out.”
Toby had been blunt enough. He had not wanted to talk much about his situation either. But Dr. Porter didn’t sense anything strange about that. Toby wasn’t avoiding anything. Toby was just in a hurry to move on.
Celeste was avoiding something. By the way her speech didn’t match the slight changes of expression in her face, she was having an argument with herself. There was something she both wanted to and didn�
�t want to tell him. Overall, she just wanted to move on, to end her inner dilemma. What was that dilemma? There had to be some side effect. Something was happening as a result of her getting better, but at the same time, she loved getting better. She didn’t want to halt her progress for anything. She didn’t want to slow down long enough to explore the problem.
Dr. Porter was left with a decision. Once again, he would fall on the side of progress. He put the two of them under. Toby was done after about ten minutes. Celeste wasn’t finished. She continued, and Dr. Porter knew what was going on. This had been how it was with James, in the last session he’d attended. When Celeste finally signaled that she was finished, Dr. Porter brought them up. Toby came up pretty quietly. He nodded and kind of looked around. No big deal. A little progress on the barrier maybe.
Celeste was elated. “I’m finished!” she said.
A little while later, Dr. Porter ended the session.
***
Celeste was always a little tired after the sessions. The improvements never began until the next day. She thought that was because her mind had to go through something while she slept, reroute the circuitry of her brain so her personality could change. She had been going straight home after work ever since she made the first crack in her barrier, forgoing the usual post-work Saturday night partying. She would rather not have worked Saturday nights while going through treatment. But she couldn’t turn down the tip money Saturday nights always brought. But now, with the barrier broken completely, she couldn’t possibly work. So she called in sick.
Tiffany wasn’t happy. Calling in on weekend nights was usually unacceptable. With everybody available already scheduled to work, there was no one who could be called in to replace her. But Celeste had never called in on a weekend before, so Tiffany let it go. Celeste went to bed at 6PM, tired, but excited, curious as to what she would wake up to. She woke up around 2AM, knowing exactly what she wanted. She took time to clean up. That was when she got a pleasant surprise. Celeste had started her period yesterday. She had gone to bed with a fresh tampon inside her. That tampon was clean, and she didn’t feel the cramps or slight melancholy she was supposed to feel. It was a part of the new change, she thought. It wasn’t natural. She didn’t care.
Scribner Horror Bundle: Four Horror Novels by Joshua Scribner Page 38
