Just as I leaned back against the door, the knob rattled. I rushed toward the bed, throwing the sheet over me so I could pretend to sleep. Seconds later, something crashed right through the wooden frame of the door. The tip of an ax glinted dimly in the light. I held my breath in case the ax-wielder was Keith, Regina, or Sissy. The edge of the blade disappeared for a moment. Then the door shattered into pieces with another strike.
My one bedsheet cover provided no actual defense against the ax, I realized. I slid off the bed and hid as far underneath the bed as possible.
“Sir, are you in here?” Mrs. Eckerty called out to me.
Part of me resisted the urge to answer her. If Keith found out I was talking to her, or worse, had somehow taken her as a hostage to trick me, it wouldn’t end well.
“I don’t think anyone’s here,” said a man who, thankfully, didn’t sound at all like Keith.
“I’m really worried about Tyler,” said Mrs. Eckerty. “I saw him here the other day, but I never saw him come out of the apartment. Something’s just not right here.”
“Maybe he left the apartment while your back was turned,” said the man, who came across as possibly the complex’s landlord. “Have you seen anyone else come or go from this apartment?”
“Yes. Three women and Keith. The last time I saw Tyler, he was standing at the front door window. I should have checked on him then.”
“Maybe Tyler fell ill and they took him to the hospital.”
“Perhaps.”
A second later, I heard their voices and footsteps grow softer. Panic set in and I squirmed to get out from my hiding spot.
“Wait! I’m down here,” I told them, shouting. I slid out from my hiding spot but couldn’t bring myself to stand, my body still weak from Keith’s loving ways.
I heard shoes clomping against the floor. Evidently someone had still heard me.
“Oh, my God!” the man gasped, a bald fellow of about thirty-five to forty years old. He had dark skin and a mustache, and he wore a Broncos sweater and matching beanie. “You were right to fear for this guy’s safety, Juanita. We need to get him to a hospital.”
Mrs. Eckerty tried to assist me onto the bed, but the guy moved his arm in front of her to block her effort.
“We’d better not move him until the paramedics get here, just in case,” he told her as he went to call 911.
I grumbled but didn’t complain any further. My health was at risk, and I didn’t want to suffer any more trauma than what I’d been through already.
“Mrs. Eckerty, thank you,” I said with a rasp. “I should have come right over to your house the moment we met.”
She smiled at me from where she stood. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t do more to help you. Your boyfriend is quite controlling. I can’t even let my children play in the playground in the back because I’m afraid he might do something. You should get away from him.”
“Believe me, I’ve tried. He’s got a whole bunch of people hanging on his every word. He’s a snake charmer, that’s for sure.”
“Well, I’ve never believed him,” said Mrs. Eckerty. “Maybe that’s why he hates me so much.”
“Okay, help is on the way,” the man said a second later. “I’m still on the phone, though. Can you tell me what happened here?”
“Well, my ankles and wrists were bound to the bed to keep me from leaving this room after Keith and his friends beat the hell out of me. Keith keeps insisting I’m Tyler Jonson, but my name’s Austin Teph. I don’t even live in this state. I’m from Washington State, for crying out loud.”
“How did you even get here?” the man asked. “The dispatcher wants to know.”
“I’m not sure, but I think Keith had something to do with it. Maybe he went all the way to Seattle and dragged me back here.”
“I must say, you do resemble Tyler,” the man said. “I mean, I hardly ever hang out with my tenants. But Tyler had to sign the lease and make rent payments, so I’ve had a couple of run-ins with you, uh, I mean, him.”
“Tyler Jonson was your tenant, not me. He apparently just died after being in that car crash two weeks ago,” I pointed out.
The landlord relayed this information to the dispatcher on the other end of the call. I lay there waiting, hoping to leave this place of my imprisonment. Even with Mrs. Eckerty and the landlord there to protect me, there remained a chance that Keith would storm into the room, blast their brains into gunfire puree, and beat the living snot out of me for defying him yet again.
How was it that Keith held so much power here in Monument? What made other people bend over backwards to keep him happy?
“What made him think you were Tyler?” the landlord asked.
“You said it yourself. I apparently look like the guy. Keith must be suffering from an extreme case of denial.”
“Makes sense,” he said, and then went back to his conversation with the dispatcher.
Mrs. Eckerty looked as though she wanted to hold my hand.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t have done more to help you,” she said.
I shook my head at her. “This isn’t your fault. Keith is an extraordinary man who can charm the pants off just about anybody.”
“Anybody except you, it seems,” she said. “He’s not going to get away with this.”
I smiled at her. “All I want is to go back to Washington, nothing more.”
She simply nodded at me and crossed the room, out of my field of vision.
“There’s no sign of him still,” she reported. It sounded like she had wandered out of the room and over to the living room window.
I lay my head back and went to shut my eyes for a minute. It didn’t take long for me to reach full-on sleep again just as the sound of the ambulance siren reached my ears.
CHAPTER 13
WHISPERS OF KEITH
Austin’s Hospital Room
Time Unknown Yet Again
When I awoke, I found myself in a hospital bed. A security guard stood in the corner by the door, unflinching. He stared off into space rather than at me. I decided it best not to strike up a conversation with him, just in case he worked for Keith.
How awful was it that I couldn’t even trust a hospital guard now? Keith had succeeded in stripping away my confidence in others. I wanted to ask the guard for protection. But how likely was it that Keith had paid the officer to keep an eye on me?
Then I looked around for Mrs. Eckerty, finding no sign of her. Was it because visiting hours were over, or because the guard had specific orders that no one was allowed in aside from Keith?
A nurse came in and checked my vitals. She didn’t say a word to me either, only exchanged a glance with the guard, who simply nodded at her. Bafflement painted my mind in fine strokes. What were they telling each other that they didn’t want me to hear?
They can’t help you, Tyler. They don’t even know you’re awake.
Despair rammed into my heart.
Did you really think I’d let you go without putting up a much greater fight? You’re so easily fooled.
So now Keith could talk to me inside my head here in Seattle? Just how the hell was he able to reach me so easily?
The police can’t get me. The doctors can’t help you. You’re mine now and forever. And Mrs. Eckerty? She’s mine, too, now. They’re all mine. Everyone in Monument, Colorado, belongs to me. You are the exception for now, but as I have broken them so too shall I break you.
I needed to stop him somehow. But how could I stop an enemy I couldn’t even see half the time?
“Go to hell, Keith,” I said aloud, rousing the suspicions of his alleged puppets. The nurse and guard both gawked at me, the glint in their eyes dangerous.
I’m not the one descending towards Hell, Tyler. Your defiance has paid for your one-way trip there.
“Dream on.”
Oh, I shall. I dream of you opening your heart and soul to me, of you laying your moist tongue on my chest and licking sweet whipped cream off my hairy follicles, of you bec
oming one with me in a symphony of bodily noises. You will belong to me, Tyler. I had you once before. I shall have you again. And the very next time I’m with you, I will have my way with you physically. You will bend and break until you submit to me on every level.
“I am not yours!” my voice boomed. A slight shame overtook me for a second as I reminded myself not to lose my cool. But remaining calm proved to be a move I could no longer afford.
You and your big, bad voice, Tyler. What are you going to do, huff and puff and blow my door in? What a crock. You’re just the runt of the litter. I shouldn’t even be wasting my time with you.
“Then just go away and leave me be, Keith,” I told him. “I don’t know how you’re able to talk to me from inside my own head, but I’m not going to be your puppet. You’re going to have to find someone else to fill that role.”
Oh, Tyler, Tyler, Tyler. You’re the only one who fits that role. Ever since you came into my life, you’ve been the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted. And I’ve had chocolate-covered strawberries.
I couldn’t help but cringe at the thought. Was he about to slather me in whipped cream and chocolate sauce?
Well, at least we wouldn’t have to worry about sprinkling you with nuts, since you already come with those.
I howled, and tried to roll out of bed. My body refused to budge, as though someone had siphoned off my energy with a hose. I barely had the strength to even lift my arms. A nip in the room’s air made me chafe my arms under my bedsheet. As I did this, my hand bumped against a lump in the pit underneath my arm.
Now what the hell is that? I wondered.
A dark laugh clamored in the back of my head.
“What’s so funny, Keith?”
You are. You underestimate me. But should you ever figure things out, you’ll be powerless to do anything. You belong to me now, Tyler Jonson.
“I’m not Tyler,” I insisted yet again, rasping my words.
At that moment, a flash of light filled the air. When it faded, I heard someone knock on the door of my hospital room. The room looked much different than what I’d seen moments ago, telling me I’d probably made it back to Washington again. I rolled my head towards the door.
“Come in,” I said, my voice sounding weaker.
Tony stepped into the room, a somber glimmer in his eyes. His stroll into my room filled me with relief for a moment. I was back in Seattle. My celebration was short-lived, however, as I noticed him holding up a balloon that read “Get Well Soon.” His blotchy face suggested he’d been out partying the night before. At least, until he sniffled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, worry pouring into my tone.
“I’m sorry, man. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry,” he said, his upper lip trembling like mad.
“Why, Tony? What aren’t you telling me?”
He couldn’t even look me in the eye. He put the balloon by my bedside and went toward the door again.
“Tony, wait,” I said. “Don’t go.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just not good at this sort of thing,” he mumbled, most of his words barely audible.
“Come on. Talk to me.”
He held his head up high suddenly, looking at the ceiling as though he wanted to send a prayer Heaven-bound.
“You mean you haven’t spoken to your mom yet? Damn it. The doctors told her what’s going on with you, and she told me, but I gave my word I’d let her tell you.”
“Tell me what?” My heart skipped a beat as dread set in. “Come on, dude. You’re scaring me. Why are you upset?”
“I said I wouldn’t say!”
“Tony, just tell me. I’m gonna freak out if you don’t.”
“You fucking have cancer, Austin,” he told me. All the effort of blurting out the answer he’d fought to conceal from me made him collapse into a chair.
I had no words. He could have said just about anything else and I would have had an answer for him. This, however, stumped me.
“You’re joking.”
“Dude, I saw your mom bawling her eyes out in the lobby hours ago. She tried to not tell me about it, but I coerced it out of her. She let it all out. She said she saw the results and the reports. The way she was, I could tell she was telling the truth. You have no idea, Austin.”
Part of me wanted to believe him. But after everything I’d been through in the past week, I couldn’t take even Tony at his word anymore.
I hate not being able to trust anyone, I thought.
“I really need to talk to my doctor. Could you go get her?”
He nodded, and vanished through the open door. I listened as his footsteps faded in the distance. Twenty to thirty minutes passed before I heard anything else coming from the hallway. A different physician, a man this time, entered the room.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Calrey,” he said. “Dr. Wilheier has kept me up to date on your condition. She called me in because I’m an oncologist. When we drew a blood sample from you, we found an excess amount of white blood cells. I highly suggest we get a bone marrow sample from your hipbone to find out for sure, but there’s an excellent chance you’ve developed an aggressive form of leukemia already.”
His words came in a steady stream, his tone free of emotion.
“What?” I honestly hadn’t heard him the first time. Shock filled my mind, as it appeared Tony had told me the truth earlier.
Poor Tyler. Your body just can’t handle life’s duress. You should just close your eyes and try not to think about it anymore.
I did everything I could to ignore that voice. Keith was back in Colorado, and not here. I was safe from him, at least for the time being. My stare bore into the doctor giving me his prognosis.
I’m right here with you, Tyler. I’m always right here with you. You see the way the doctor’s moving his lips and you can’t hear a single word he says? Yeah, I control that. I’ll turn it back on for now, but know that I’m your sweet, succulent death. I am here to make you suffer. You can’t escape me.
“Can we get this under control?” I asked the doctor, ignoring Keith.
Dr. Calrey shook his head. “We’ll do everything in our power to make sure you get the best medical care possible. But if the preliminary results are accurate, the most we’ll be able to do is offer you some comfort in your final days.”
“Final days?”
You should have stayed with me here in Colorado, Tyler. I could have made your life so much sweeter if you had only obeyed my every whim. Now you’ll never live to see your thirties, and it’s all your fault.
“Like I said a minute ago,” Dr. Calrey said, apparently oblivious to my short attention span. “You may have, at most, a month left. I don’t think even the most aggressive chemotherapy will be able to save you. The disease has done its damage. You may want to consider entering a hospice.”
I have a room you can stay in back in Colorado, Tyler. Just say the word, and it’s all yours.
“Thank you, Doctor. I’ll let you know my decision soon.”
Dr. Calrey nodded, and left the room at once. I waited to see if anyone would rush in to chat with me about whatever the hell was on their mind. No one came.
Looks like we’re alone again, lover. No matter how much you run, I’ll always find you. We’ll make the most passionate love, you and me. It’ll be magic.
“No,” I whispered. “I’m not yours, Keith. I don’t know how you found me, or even how you’re talking to me right now. But I’m not yours. You can’t break me.”
I already broke you, Tyler. The more you try to resist me, the stronger I become. Your body has already succumbed to me. It won’t be long until I have your soul.
“Fuck you.”
I closed my eyes and tried to throw up mental shields against Keith. Even still, I sensed his presence inside me. Maybe he was telling me the truth. Maybe he could reach me no matter what I threw at him.
You’re a dead man. Didn’t you hear the good doctor? He says there’s nothing you can do to fight your infection. You mig
ht as well accept your fate and let me do the rest.
“No. I can try chemo, even if no one thinks it’s going to work. What’s the harm in trying?”
What’s the harm? Keith laughed. Your death is fast approaching. Your only salvation is through me. Love me as I love you, Tyler. I can love you like no other. Isn’t that what you want?
“I want to keep on living.”
Not a choice.
“The devil you say.”
Maybe I am the devil.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if you were. But I’m stronger than you give me credit for. Keith. I will survive this. I’ve survived everything you’ve thrown at me back in Colorado.”
I’ve only let you believe you survived. The truth of the matter is that you are on the cusp of death, and you don’t even realize it. Your ego has tripped you up. Maybe if you’d gotten a physical earlier this year, you might have caught me early on.
“So, you’re saying this is my fault?”
Your ignorance of your own condition made it easier for me to make you sick.
“Go to hell.”
Keith cackled inside my head again.
You’ll suffer for all eternity.
I slammed the back of my head into the pillow behind me. The cushioning wasn’t enough to shield me from some of the metal frame.
It’s going to take a lot more than a blow to your head to stop me, Tyler.
“Whatever,” I muttered, another wheeze claiming my breath. The very act of speaking sapped my strength. How much longer could I keep going like this?
I will never give up, Tyler. That’s how I’ve made a life for myself. It’s a shame you’ve never come to understand this.
“I understand that. I also don’t care.”
At once, a sharp pain coursed through me. I tried to ignore it, but the inflammation grew. Everything around me became a sterile-green blur. I closed my eyes, but still felt the agony gnawing away at me. I clenched my teeth, or at least I tried to. For some reason, I couldn’t feel the enamel at all. I attempted swallowing, only to find I couldn’t breathe.
Life Flashes Page 9
