The Rot

by Kipp Poe Speicher

  The small bones in my captivatingly beautiful wings start to shatter as I fight against the current of air that spins me in a vortex. At the center of the vortex, I collide with the front grill of the gigantic mustard colored dump truck. My wings and my body instantly turn into nothing more than dust, leaving only a blur of my colors on the grill.

  Steve looks up from the radio, and at the last moment, he sees the toddler bounding into the street in pursuit of the butterfly. He slams on the brakes, but with no hope of missing the little girl. The toddler keeps her focus on the butterfly, when the passenger front side of the truck hits her. The truck devours her the moment it makes contact. Her spine is shattered as she is thrown forward from the force of the impact. The studded tires catch up to her and rip her open as they screech across the pavement in a desperate attempt to stop.

  I strain to see through my dirty windshield covered with bug carcasses. I see the mayhem of the toddler disappearing under the wheels of the truck. I quickly pull my car off to the side of the road in disbelief of this tragedy. The dump truck driver jumps out of his cab, looks at the front of his truck, then at the mangled body lying underneath the center of the chassis.

  I frantically jump out of my car, leave it running, and rush over to see if I can help. The driver looks up at me and dashes in full stride towards his cab. With lightning speed, he hoists himself back up into the cab. I slip on the bloody road as I hear him throw his truck back into gear. The truck flies past me, knocking me back into the ditch as he speeds towards my car. The crash sounds like thunder and twisting metal as his truck bends my car into a pile of rubble. Grinding gears, he throws it in reverse to back up then slams it back into gear in a forward dash to flee the scene.

  Blood is running down my face and oozing from my wounds as I climb out of the roadside ditch. I see cars approaching from the distance as I run toward the toddler’s mangled body. As the cars near me, they veer into the center of the road so as to avoid running over the tiny, mangled body.

  Why won’t anyone stop to help? They just swerve past us and act like their only concern is getting remains of the young girl splattered on their freshly cleaned cars and SUVs. I run over and scoop the little girl up into my arms. Her body is moist in my arms. Her brilliant sky blue eyes flicker with life as she tries to speak, but only gurgles emit from her throat. I search my surroundings and start to run across the field towards the hospital just beyond a group of condos. The morning air is quickly becoming hot and sticky as I struggle to reach my destination.

  As I enter the hospital, the crisp air conditioning washes over my body as I realize how strangely deserted the lower level is. I run across the white linoleum floor, still feeling the little girl gasping for life in my arms. I slam the buttons on the elevator, and watch impatiently as each little light blinks to life as the elevator approaches to open and let me in. The lobby becomes black as the light dims to nothing.

  The elevator doors finally open, spilling light across the room with a welcoming glow. I enter it, and the doors slide shut as I turn to the wall to push the button, but I only find one.

  A heavy metal version of “The Sound of Silence” plays in reverse over the interior speakers I push the single button and the floor begins to vibrate as we start to ascend. I look down at her as she starts to cry. I raise her up and kiss her forehead.

  As her eyes open wide, they burst and become pools of blue liquid. She reaches her tiny mangled hand up and caresses my cheek. As soon as I feel her hand upon my cheek, her skin turns to the liquid blue. Suddenly, her whole arm fills with the blue liquid, filling up like a water balloon, and then bursts.

  The liquid fills the bottom of the elevator soaking my feet up to my ankles. The blue solution continues to take over the rest of her body. As each body part fills, it bursts, empties into the elevator to the point where I swim upwards to keep above it. The liquid takes over holding my breath, I scramble to reach the top, but it seems to move farther and farther away. I look back down and the elevator seems to be nothing but a glimmer of light at the bottom of this watery blue shaft.

  I feel my lungs ready to explode, and they cry out for oxygen as I swim faster trying to find a surface to break through. At the last moment, I feel my hand reaching up and hitting the cool damp air as I pull myself to the surface. As the air fills my lungs and refreshes it with oxygen, my body tingles into almost an orgasm. Dawn breaks with the sun rising just over the mountain.

  I find myself in the center of a round pool of liquid. I swim to the edge. There are seven nude bodies with each of their throats ripped apart. Their heads are floating in the pool, while the blood drains into the pool

  I try to find an exit. I crawl out over a female body that still feels warm to the touch, but life has left its shell I get to my feet and look across the barren landscape, nothing in sight except for a three-story shack of a house off to the west.

  I trudge across the land that is filled with protruding tree roots sticking up out of the ground, but there are no trees for them to belong to. As I get closer to a shack, I see a flash of light coming from the attic, as if a mirror is catching a stream of sunlight as it sways back and forth. In the thirty minutes it takes me to walk to the shack, the sun does not seem to have moved from its location behind the mountain range. I grasp the door handle, and it rattles in my hand as I try to turn it. As I enter the smell of oil-filled dirt fills my nostrils making it hard to catch my breath.

  The entrance is small and narrow with only a hall leading towards a set of spiral stairs the flash of light I witnessed moves in no certain rhythm. It seems to be shining through some source of water, as the light streams quiver and run across the wall. As I climb the staircase, my fingers sink into the handrail, which is moist and course like a sponge. There is an atrocious smell as I get closer to the top, and I start to gag, but the light is beckoning me on. I cannot turn away. I must see what I’m being lead to.

  I enter the top floor to see a figure sitting in a chair facing the opposite side of the room. Do I wait for the flash of light to survey the room, or do I just continue on? I creep towards the hulking figure in fear of what I may find, and I enter the figure’s field of view. He shudders and raises his arm, pointing toward the sky that is visible through a hole in the roof. Then, the flash of light fills the room revealing its face. No skin makes up the hideous face, only mud with crawling insects and worms. I look up to the hole in the roof and the sky is filled with a white glow. Everything blurs out in a white hot flash.

  I awake in bed and sit up, coated in sweat. I reach for my glasses on the nightstand and squint to see the clock. 3:34 a.m. I lay back down with my arm behind my head and recollect my thoughts trying to piece together the night’s visions. The bed starts to shake, and then the whole house and sky become instant daylight spewing white light throughout my room.

  I jump from my bed Fumbling through this blinding light, I run through the hallway finally reaching the front door. I see everyone running around like they have all gone mad, pointing up at the sky. Many are wearing only what they went to bed in, while others are wearing nothing, but that was the least of their concerns. I look up into the sky. The beauty I see brings tears to my eyes it is breathtaking. Our solar system fills the sky with planets and stars so numerous that it feels like we can touch them

  Our universe is collapsing upon itself… it is our end. The end of everything we know, and yet, it is stunning. Then, once more, we all turn to dust.

  Awakening

  I smell nothing but dirt and blood. What have I gotten myself into now? The last thing I remember was buying Kody another shot, then things get a little fuzzy. I told Elissa I’d be home right after work, but Kody really needed a friend tonight.

  Maybe that isn’t blood I smell. It’s more like an oil-drained-over-dirt kind of odor. My eyes have not focused completely but I can tell it’s not morning yet. What the hell did we do tonight? I feel like I was hit by a truck.

  I feel the cold steel of the gate; it sw
ings open with a long creaking sound and brushes over the damp untrimmed grass. From a distance my senses gravitate to the sound of a shotgun blast, along with some screams.

  Being on the force for over five years, your instincts kick in automatically, even when you feel like shit. From the outline of the trees and the gothic steeple of the local church, I finally get my bearings and figure out my location.

  My house is just three streets over. With each and every step my body convulses with pain. My mind becomes fuzzy again, trying to think back. What happened with Kody? Did our tempers flair up? Did we go at each other? Being partners on the job, it almost feels like a marriage where two people don’t always get along.

  The sirens mix with the screams and gunshots. Sounds like the whole town’s civil service departments are being called into action. My hands grope inside my suit pocket, looking for my pager; I come up empty. Shit, I even lost my wallet. My hand instantly goes for my piece, but it’s gone too -- a much more complicated matter.

  From the other side of the street, deep down within the wooded area beyond the neighborhood, I see a flickering light that explodes into a full-blown fire. It seems this night is turning into one hell of a mess. I’m sure my captain is trying to hunt me down to get as many bodies possible on this.

  The air is a bitter chill. How is it so cold for a July early morning, and why are there sounds of crunching and shuffling leaves? My head grows fuzzier with each step. Approaching my street, dread and guilt0 drench my body. What has happened tonight?

  Passing in front of Mr. Garrison’s house, I stumble against his brown rusted-out pickup truck. The cold steel bangs into my hip, sending me into the road in a spinning descent. Darkness invades my mind as the breaking morning illuminates the clouds above with an orange and pink glow.

  Fading Into View

  My eyes will not open all the way. The back of my head is stuck to what feels like bone-chilling pavement. Where is Kody? The last thing I can remember is sitting on a barstool at Third Base; this isn’t how I wanted to start my morning.

  Sounds of screams fill the air as the squeal of tires and the rumble of a diesel engine approach me at a frantic pace. My sight still blurry, I duck and roll away from the sound of the metal monster.

  Pain surges through my body as my tailbone is nicked by the crazed driver’s tire, throwing me underneath the parked truck I must have used as my bed last night. The undercarriage scrapes into my back, slicing deep into my flesh.

  The rumble continues its journey further down the street, as I lay mangled and bruised. Eventually, I recollect my thoughts and my will.

  The sound fades into the distance. I relax my body and wiggle my way out from under the rusted heap.

  Grabbing hold of the cold metal, I pull myself up. My eyes are still barely open, and my vision is caked over with a blurry film. I’m still able to see the light growing brighter, as morning creeps over the horizon.

  Equilibrium is not an easy feat. My ears feel compacted with something, but as I open my mouth the sounds become clearer. Taking in my surroundings, I finally get a sense of familiarity. Even though my vision is still like a muddy water color, I see shapes and colors that indicate I’m just a few yards away from my house.

  The air is still bitter cold for an early July morning. Last night was so sweltering you could hardly breathe, but now frost covers the windshields of the cars in the driveways.

  Faded Blues

  Crossing the street, my eyes are still blurry, but they find familiarity in the gas light at the end of my driveway. Stumbling from the pavement into the soft gravel of my parking spot, I notice it’s not my car. It’s a car I have no remembrance of. Who is at my house this early in the morning?

  I trudge towards my house, the light in my kitchen bay window suddenly drawing me to it like a moth to a flame. I squint my eyes and see a male figure standing in front of our refrigerator. Who the hell is that? Why is there a strange man in my kitchen only wearing boxers?

  My breath quickens; I feel as if someone just kicked me in the face. What is my Elissa doing with this strange man? My one-year-old son is fast asleep in the next room while this man parades around in my kitchen.

  My pain and hurt is snuffed out with an incredible surge of hate and bile. I find myself crashing through the side door of my kitchen. My eyes fill with a white heat as I tackle him and start to rip his flesh with my bare hands. My mind fills with a blood lust.

  The flesh feels wonderful between my teeth as it stretches and snaps back, tempting me to take another bite. From down the hall I hear Elissa screaming as she sprints towards the kitchen. I look over my shoulder towards her advance, waiting to see the look on her face as she enters and sees what I have done.

  What enters is not what I expected to see. It’s Elissa, but she’s much older now. Her long silky red hair has turned almost all white, and her baby-soft skin now looks wrinkled and worn.

  Her eyes look upon me in horror. “Why did you come back? What have you done to our Billy?” Her words turn into sobs, quickly replaced with anger. Standing up, I feel the blood dripping down my chin. Behind her in the window I see my reflection.

  What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with my skin? Why am I dressed in my blues, and why are they so faded? In a moment it all becomes clear to me. I see headlights dance across the kitchen wall as the pickup truck slides through my front lawn.

  I have just a moment to look down and see what I have done. Then I hear the glass shatter, and I feel the red hot bullet shearing through my skull.

  WARNING the next story is extremely Disturbing

  Gas For Grass

  I walk through the door and she is sitting there on a white leather couch her long black hair with small delicate curls on the ends play upon her slender shoulder blades that hold the thin mint green straps on her small naval high shirt.

  The top of the shirt is slightly torn exposing her tan ample cleavage as I walk towards her she looks up with tears in her eyes and a smile forms on her glossy plump lips. She speaks in a calm whisper “So you found your way here. I knew you would find me.” Her long slender hands reach for the straps of her shirt and she pulls one down off her shoulder. “Why don’t you come here and sit with me?”

  I move silently almost floating across the room and ease my way onto the couch. The couch squeezes around my body almost feeling like it’s taking me captive. She leans over in my direction with her sky blue eyes that make you feel like you are on a cloud.

  She reaches up her other hand and pulls the other strap down exposing her firm breast with rock hard succulent nipples. She reaches for my hand and places it on her right nipple and gives me that look to gently squeeze.

  She then straddles me and forces me to take each one into my mouth and throws her head back moaning in ecstasy. She starts grinding on top of me feeling my erection almost bursting through my pants.

  She jumps up her green shirt falls around her feet and she unbuttons her hip hugging shorts and starts to slide them down removing her panties with them. Her freshly shaved mound glistens with moister and she turns around and bends over and slides her finger into dripping pink lips.

  As her hand moves up and down I can see her face tense up with extreme pleasure and her breast swaying with each thrust she opens her mouth and lets out a deafening jet engine hum and the room fills with harsh daylight.

  I wake sitting straight up with the screaming humming coming from right outside my bedroom window. I glance over at the clock 6:30 in the morning “What the FUCK” I reach for my glasses and look out the window.

  There she is my dike neighbor with her gas powered leaf blower cleaning off her porch. I throw off the covers and look for some shorts to throw on as I stumble through the hall to the front door. I throw it open and squint at the morning sun.

  I round the house and look hastily in her direction and scream, “Why do you have to wake up the neighborhood with that thing?” She sees me and mutters something about it being a beautiful morning a
nd smiles.

  I just turn around and recede back into my home slamming the door behind me. The dike next door repeatedly tarnishes the one-day out of the week I get to sleep in. That’s it this ends today this beautiful fucking morning I’m making a stand for the neighborhood.

  I leave my house by the back door and head towards my shed in the corner of my back yard. As I walk barefoot through the long grass my feet become wet from the morning dew. And I curse the fact that it’s that early in the morning.