Aberrations

by ed. Jeremy C. Shipp

  “Now that I’m here,” Ellen said, getting eggs and butter out of the refrigerator, “you don’t have to worry about my aunt. I can run errands for her.”

  “I’ll have two fried eggs,” he said. “I like the yolks runny.”

  Ellen glared at him, but realized he wasn’t likely to leave just because she refused to cook his eggs—he’d probably cook them himself. And he had bought the food.

  But—her small revenge—she overcooked the eggs and gave him the slightly scorched piece of toast.

  When she sat down she looked at him challengingly. “I’m Ellen Morrow,” she said.

  He hesitated, then drawled, “You can call me Peter.”

  “Thanks a lot,” she said sarcastically. He smiled his unpleasant smile again, and Ellen felt him watching her eat. As soon as she could she excused herself, telling her aunt she was going to call her father.

  That drew the first response of the morning from May. She put out a hand, drawing it back just shy of touching Ellen. “Please don’t. There’s nothing he can do for me and I don’t want him charging down here for no good reason.”

  “But, Aunt May, you’re his only sister—I have to tell him, and of course he’ll want to do something for you.”

  “The only thing he can do for me now is to leave me alone.”

  Unhappily, Ellen thought that her aunt was right—still, her father must be told. In order to be able to speak freely, she left the kitchen and went back to her aunt’s bedroom where she felt certain there would be an extension.

  There was, and she dialed her parents’ number. The ringing went on and on. She gave up, finally, and phoned her father’s office. The secretary told her he’d gone fishing, and would be unreachable for at least two days. She promised to give him a message if he called, or when he returned.

  So it had to wait. Ellen walked back toward the kitchen, her crêpe-soled shoes making almost no sound on the floor.

  She heard her aunt’s voice, “You didn’t come to me last night. I waited and waited. Why didn’t you come?”

  Ellen froze.

  “You said you would stay with me,” May continued. Her voice had a whining note that made Ellen uncomfortable. “You promised you would stay and look after me.”

  “The girl was in the house,” Peter said. “I didn’t know if I should.”

  “What does she matter? She doesn’t matter. Not while I’m here, she doesn’t. This is still my house and I…I belong to you, don’t I? Don’t I, dearest?”

  Then there was a silence. As quietly as she could, Ellen hurried away and left the house.

  The sea air, damp and warm though it was, was a relief after the smoldering closeness of the house. But Ellen, taking in deep breaths, still felt sick.

  They were lovers, her dying aunt and that awful young man.

  That muscular, hard-eyed, insolent stranger was sleeping with her frail, elderly aunt. The idea shocked and revolted her, but she had no doubt of it—the brief conversation, her aunt’s voice, could not have been more plain.

  Ellen ran down the sandy, weedy incline toward the narrow beach, wanting to lose her knowledge. She didn’t know how she could face her aunt now, how she could stay in a house where—

  She heard Danny’s voice, tired, contemptuous, yet still caring, “You’re so naïve about sex, Ellen. You think everything’s black and white. You’re such a child.”

  Ellen started to cry, thinking of Danny, wishing she had not run away from him. What would he say to her about this? That her aunt had a right to pleasure, too, and age was just another prejudice.

  But what about him? Ellen wondered. What about Peter—what did he get out of it? He was using her aunt in some way, she was certain of it. Perhaps he was stealing from her—she thought of all the empty rooms upstairs and wondered.

  She found a piece of Kleenex in a pocket of her jeans and wiped away the tears. So much was explained by this, she thought. Now she knew why her aunt was so desperate not to leave this rotting hulk of a house, why she didn’t want her brother to come.

  “Hello, Ellen Morrow.”

  She raised her head, startled, and found him standing directly in her path, smiling his hard smile. She briefly met, then glanced away from, his dark, ungiving eyes.

  “You’re not very friendly,” he said. “You left us so quickly. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you.”

  She glared at him and tried to walk away, but he fell into step with her. “You shouldn’t be so unfriendly,” he said. “You should try to get to know me.”

  She stopped walking and faced him. “Why? I don’t know who you are or what you’re doing in my aunt’s house.”

  “I think you have some idea. I look after your aunt. She was all alone out here before I came, with no family or friends. She was completely unprotected. You may find it shocking, but she’s grateful to me now. She wouldn’t approve of you trying to send me away.”

  “I’m here now,” Ellen said. “I’m a part of her family. And her brother will come…she won’t be left alone, at the mercy of strangers.”

  “But I’m not a stranger anymore. And she doesn’t want me to leave.”

  Ellen was silent for a moment. Then she said, “She’s a sick, lonely old woman—she needs someone. But what do you get out of it? Do you think she’s going to leave you her money when she dies?”

  He smiled contemptuously. “Your aunt doesn’t have any money. All she has is that wreck of a house—which she plans to leave to you. I give her what she needs, and she gives me what I need—which is something a lot more basic and important than money.”

  Afraid she was blushing, Ellen turned and began striding across the sand, back toward the house. She could feel him keeping pace with her, but she did not acknowledge his presence.

  Until he grabbed her arm—and she let out a gasp that embarrassed her as soon as she heard it. But Peter gave no sign that he had noticed. Having halted her, he directed her attention to something on the ground.

  Feeling foolish but still a little frightened she let him draw her down to a crouching position. A battle had drawn his attention, a fight for survival in a small, sandy arena. A spider, pale as the sand, danced warily on pipe-cleaner legs. Circling it, chitinous body gleaming darkly in the sunlight, was a deadly black dart of a wasp.

  There was something eerily fascinating in the way the tiny antagonists circled each other, feinting, freezing, drawing back, and darting forward. The spider on its delicate legs seemed nervous to Ellen, while the wasp was steady and single-minded. Although she liked neither spiders nor wasps, Ellen hoped that the spider would win.

  Suddenly the wasp shot forward; the spider rolled over, legs clenching and kicking like fingers from a fist, and the two seemed to wrestle for a moment.

  “Ah, now she’s got him,” murmured Ellen’s companion. Ellen saw that his face was intent, and he was absorbed by the deadly battle.

  Glancing down again, she saw that the spider was lying perfectly still, while the wasp circled it warily.

  “He killed him,” Ellen said.

  “Not he, she.” Peter corrected. “And the spider isn’t dead. Just paralyzed. The wasp is making sure that her sting has him completely under control before going on. She’ll dig a hole and pull the spider into it, then lay her egg on his body. The spider won’t be able to do a thing but lie in the home of his enemy and wait for the egg to hatch and start eating him.” He smiled his unpleasant smile.

  Ellen stood up.

  “Of course, he can’t feel a thing,” Peter continued. “He’s alive, but only in the most superficial sense. That paralyzing poison the wasp filled him with has effectively deadened him. A more advanced creature might torment himself with fears about the future, the inevitability of his approaching death—but this is just a spider. And what does a spider know?”

  Ellen walked away, saying nothing. She expected him to follow her, but when she looked back she saw that he was still on his hands and knees, watching the wasp at her deadly work.
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br />   Once inside the house, Ellen locked the front door behind her, then went around locking the other doors and checking the windows. Although she knew it was likely that her aunt had given Peter a key to the house, she didn’t want to be surprised by him again. She was locking the side door, close by her aunt’s room, when the feeble voice called, “Is that you, dear?”

  “It’s me, Aunt May,” Ellen said, wondering who that “dear” was meant for. Pity warred briefly with disgust, and then she entered the bedroom.

  From the bed, her aunt gave a weak smile. “I tire so easily now,” she said. “I think I may just spend the rest of the day in bed. What else is there for me to do, except wait?”

  “Aunt May, I could rent a car and take you to a doctor—or maybe we could find a doctor willing to come out here.”

  May turned her gray head back and forth on the pillow. “No. No. There’s nothing a doctor can do, no medicine in the world that can help me now.”

  “Something to make you feel better…”

  “My dear, I feel very little. No pain at all. Don’t worry about me. Please.”

  She looked so exhausted, Ellen thought. Almost all used up. And looking down at the small figure surrounded by bedclothes, Ellen felt her eyes fill with tears. Suddenly, she flung herself down beside the bed. “Aunt May, I don’t want you to die!”

  “Now, now,” the old woman said softly, making no other movement. “Now, don’t you fret. I felt the same way myself, once, but I’ve got over that. I’ve accepted what has happened, and so must you. So must you.”

  “No,” Ellen whispered, her face pressed against the bed. She wanted to hold her aunt, but she didn’t dare—the old woman’s stillness seemed to forbid it. Ellen wished her aunt would put out her hand or turn her face to be kissed: she could not make the first move herself.

  At last Ellen stopped crying and raised her head. She saw that her aunt had closed her eyes and was breathing slowly and peacefully, obviously asleep. Ellen stood up and backed out of the room. She longed for her father, for someone to share this sorrow with her.

  She spent the rest of the day reading and wandering aimlessly through the house, thinking now of Danny and then of her aunt and the unpleasant stranger called Peter, feeling frustrated because she could do nothing. The wind began to blow again, and the old house creaked, setting her nerves on edge. Feeling trapped in the moldering carcass of the house, Ellen walked out onto the front porch. There she leaned against the railing and stared out at the gray and white ocean. Out here she enjoyed the bite of the wind, and the creaking of the balcony above her head did not bother her.

  Idly, her attention turned to the wooden railing beneath her hands, and she picked at a projecting splinter with one of her fingernails. To her surprise, more than just a splinter came away beneath her fingers: some square inches of the badly painted wood fell away, revealing an interior as soft and full of holes as a sponge. The wood seemed to be trembling, and after a moment of blankness, Ellen suddenly realized that the wood was infested with termites. With a small cry of disgust, Ellen backed away, staring at the interior world she had uncovered. Then she went back into the house, locking the door behind her.

  * * * * *

  It grew dark, and Ellen began to think longingly of food and companionship. She realized she had heard nothing from her aunt’s room since she had left her sleeping there that morning. After checking the kitchen to see what sort of dinner could be made, Ellen went to wake her aunt.

  The room was dark and much too quiet. An apprehension stopped Ellen in the doorway where, listening, straining her ears for some sound, she suddenly realized the meaning of the silence: May was not breathing.

  Ellen turned on the light and hurried to the bed. “Aunt May, Aunt May,” she said, already hopeless. She grabbed hold of one cool hand, hoping for a pulse, and laid her head against her aunt’s chest, holding her own breath to listen for the heart.

  There was nothing. May was dead. Ellen drew back, crouching on her knees beside the bed, her aunt’s hand still held within her own. She stared at the empty face—the eyes were closed, but the mouth hung slightly open—and felt the sorrow building slowly inside her.

  At first she took it for a drop of blood. Dark and shining, it appeared on May’s lower lip and slipped slowly out of the corner of her mouth. Ellen stared, stupefied, as the droplet detached itself from May’s lip and moved, without leaving a trace behind, down her chin.

  Then Ellen saw what it was.

  It was a small, shiny black bug, no larger than the nail on her little finger. And, as Ellen watched, a second tiny insect crawled slowly out onto the shelf of May’s dead lip.

  Ellen scrambled away from the bed, backward, on her hands and knees. Her skin was crawling, her stomach churning, and there seemed to be a horrible smell in her nostrils. Somehow, she managed to get to her feet and out of the room without either vomiting or fainting.

  In the hallway she leaned against the wall and tried to gather her thoughts.

  May was dead.

  Into her mind came the vision of a stream of black insects bubbling out of the dead woman’s mouth.

  Ellen moaned and clamped her teeth together, and tried to think of something else. It hadn’t happened. She wouldn’t think about it.

  But May was dead, and that had to be dealt with. Ellen’s eyes filled with tears—then, suddenly impatient, she blinked them away. No time for that. Tears wouldn’t do any good. She had to think. Should she call a funeral home? No, a doctor first, surely, even if she was truly past saving. A doctor would tell her what had to be done, who had to be notified.

  She went into the kitchen and turned on the light, noticing as she did so how the darkness outside seemed to drop like a curtain against the window. In the cabinet near the phone she found the thin local phone book and looked up the listing for physicians. There were only a few of them. Ellen chose the first number and—hoping that a town this size had an answering service for its doctors—lifted the receiver.

  There was no dialing tone. Puzzled, she pressed the button and released it. Still nothing. Yet she didn’t think the line was dead, because it wasn’t completely silent. She could hear what might have been a gentle breathing on the other end of the line, as if someone somewhere else in the house had picked up the phone and was listening to her.

  Jarred by the thought, Ellen slammed the receiver back into the cradle. There could be no one else in the house. But one of the other phones might be off the hook. She tried to remember if there was another phone upstairs, because she shrank at the thought of returning to her aunt’s room without a doctor, someone in authority, to go with her.

  But even if there were another phone upstairs, Ellen realized, she had not seen it or used it, and it was not likely to be causing the trouble. But the phone in her aunt’s room could have been left off the hook by either her aunt or herself. She would have to go and check.

  He was waiting for her in the hall.

  The breath backed up in her throat to choke her, and she couldn’t make a sound. She stepped back.

  He stepped forward, closing the space between them.

  Ellen managed to find her voice and, conquering for the moment her nearly instinctive fear of this man, said, “Peter, you must go get a doctor for my aunt.”

  “Your aunt has said she doesn’t want a doctor,” he said. His voice came almost as a relief after the ominous silence.

  “It’s not a matter of what my aunt wants anymore,” Ellen said. “She’s dead.”

  The silence buzzed around them. In the darkness of the hall Ellen could not be sure, but she thought that he smiled.

  “Will you go and get a doctor?”

  “No,” he said.

  Ellen backed away, and again he followed her.

  “Go and see her for yourself,” Ellen said.

  “If she’s dead,” he said, “she doesn’t need a doctor. And the morning will be soon enough to have her body disposed of.”

  Ellen kept backing aw
ay, afraid to turn her back on him. Once in the kitchen, she could try the phone again.

  But he didn’t let her. Before she could reach for the receiver, his hand shot out, and he wrenched the cord out of the wall. He had a peculiar smile on his face. Then he lifted the telephone, long cord dangling, into the air above his head, and as Ellen pulled nervously away, he threw the whole thing, with great force, at the floor. It crashed jarringly against the linoleum, inches from Ellen’s feet.

  Ellen stared at him in horror, unable to move or speak, trying frantically to think how to escape him. She thought of the darkness outside, and of the long, unpaved road with no one near, and the deserted beach. Then she thought of her aunt’s room, which had a heavy wooden door and a telephone which might still work.

  He watched her all this time, making no move. Ellen had the odd idea that he was trying to hypnotize her, to keep her from running, or perhaps he was simply waiting for her to make the first move, watching for the tell-tale tension in her muscles that would signal her intentions.

  Finally, Ellen knew she had to do something—she could not keep waiting for him to act forever. Because he was so close to her, she didn’t dare to try to run past him. Instead, she feinted to the left, as if she would run around him and toward the front door, but instead she ran to the right.

  He caught her in his powerful arms before she had taken three steps. She screamed, and his mouth came down on hers, swallowing the scream.

  The feel of his mouth on hers terrified her more than anything else. Somehow, she had not thought of that—for all her fear of him, it had not occurred to her until now that he meant to rape her.

  She struggled frantically, feeling his arms crush her more tightly, pinning her arms to her sides and pressing the breath out of her. She tried to kick him or to bring a knee up into his crotch, but she could not raise her leg far enough, and her kicks were feeble little blows against his legs.

  He pulled his mouth away from hers and dragged her back into the darkness of the hall and pressed her to the floor, immobilizing her with the weight of his body. Ellen was grateful for her jeans, which were tight fitting. To get them off—but she wouldn’t let him take them off. As soon as he released her, even for a moment, she would go for his eyes, she decided.