After Death

by D. B. Douglas

  Her voice sounded unconvinced of this last possible explanation. He took hold of her hand and found that it was sweaty and clammy. It’s the Moment of truth, he thought. Time for someone else to corroborate what I know to be true. He gave her a tug.

  “Let’s go find out.” He said.

  She resisted but he didn’t let go. He moved his head in front of hers so they were eye-to-eye at a distance of two inches.

  “Listen…” He said. “If you’re right, we have nothing to worry about. And I’ll go see any shrink you want first thing tomorrow. But if I’m right…”

  He let the bait dangle and she took it quickly, face tightening.

  “— You’re not.” She interrupted. Her face was stone — She would not accept this. “Fine — Let’s go.” She said flatly. “Time to face facts.”

  Indeed, he thought. Exactly right. Time for both of us to face facts.

  Her decision had come not a moment too soon. Through the window they saw the Ford Fairlane soundlessly slide into motion like an apparition. Frank hurried her to the front door, snatching her keys off the front table as they went.

  “He’s taking off! You want proof — C’mon! Let’s go get you some proof!”

  ***

  A light fog wafted on the breeze as they leapt into her station wagon in the driveway, Frank taking the wheel. He threw the gear wand into reverse and punched the gas — They flew backwards into the street where Frank thumped it into Drive and they were off in pursuit — the receding round tail lights of the Ford just visible down the street in the murky distance.

  It was late and the streets were virtually deserted. Frank’s hands were locked onto the steering wheel like vices — He was determined to prove himself — She had to see for herself — If he could only show her, it would change everything…

  He spoke to her in an adrenalized voice, eyes never leaving the taillights before them.

  “Don’t let him out of your sight, okay?”

  She gave a short, worried nod, eyes glued forward.

  “Okay.”

  Frank followed the Ford down a long straightaway trying to gain on him. The speedometer climbed to a knocking sixty but the gap between the cars never changed. He pushed to seventy, the station wagon engine really roaring — but the Ford remained the same distance in front of them, always just close enough for them to see its hazy outline and the flare of its red taillights but not more. Frank slowed down, feeling the engine overtaxing. The Ford also slowed — the distance between them remaining exactly the same.

  “He’s fucking with us.” Frank said through grit teeth. “He wants us to follow.”

  Jackie didn’t say anything and he glanced at her to see that she’d heard him. She kept her head rigidly faced forward, her face pale and strained.

  Ahead, the Ford started to make frequent turns — always flashing its turn signals a fair distance in advance as though clearly wanting them to follow. And so they did, Frank oddly aware that they hadn’t hit one single red light — not one, as if this path, this route that they were taking was being manipulated on all levels — impossible levels. As the streets began to slope sharply upward, Jackie looked on the verge of breaking.

  “He’s taking us to the mountains, Frank. I don’t like it…”

  Frank nodded, and mumbled: “Uh huh”, his eyes still glued to the Ford’s taillights.

  There was no stopping now — Proof was right there — Right there a short ways in front of them.

  She glanced warily over at him, then back at the Ford in front. He knew she was looking but would not look back. He would not be deterred, he would not engage her and risk losing him. They continued to move up steeper and steeper streets, little visible on either side except for the faint outline of thick trees and shrubs. The rest was an ever-deepening fog.

  Silence settled over them, Jackie afraid to say more, afraid to disrupt Frank’s rapt concentration. They had driven steeply upwards until the road they now followed was a narrow strip that snaked its way around the mountain, sheer vertical rock rising into darkness on one side, rocky cliff on the other. Bordering the cliff was a gap of misty air where a tiny fragment of land could be seen far away below as if through a dream, the rest obscured by layer over layer of murky undulating fog. Except for that one small view of reality, the drop would have seemed infinite — mythical.

  Frank kept his hands locked on the wheel, knuckles white. The moisture began to layer the windshield in thick droplets, visibility limited by this and the ever-thickening murk that swirled around them.

  The station wagon labored around a blind curve and Frank swerved to avoid a rock slide that covered more half of the thin road. Jackie said nothing, chewing at her lip nervously. And still the dim outline of the Ford and its diffused red tail lights continued ahead, the distance between never changing, pacing them exactly, willing them to follow.

  They made their way along an even thinner ledge, the engine whining louder, smoke puffing up from the rear tail pipe in clouds that quickly merged with the encompassing fog. The Ford in front of them slowed to accommodate — as though wanting to be sure to remain within view — the taillights barely within sight…

  Frank and Jackie squinted after it, all four eyes narrowed in concentration and red-rimmed with effort and strain. Every few seconds Frank wiped the back of his hand across the inside of the windshield to clear the rising beads of moisture — the air in the cab thick and heavy. It became hypnotic; the Ford’s taillights wove, they wove. The Ford’s tail lights straightened for a time, they straightened their course for a time. Higher and higher, and around and around — until finally Jackie had had enough. She exhaled nervously, rubbed her tired eyes, and turned to confront him.

  “How long are we gonna keep this up, Frank?” She asked, her thin voice shrill and strained in the damp and stuffy car. “What if he just keeps on going?”

  He could see out of the corner of his eye she wasn’t watching their quarry and it annoyed him.

  “Keep your eyes on the lights.” He snapped curtly.

  She returned to her former position, again facing forwards with an exasperated sigh.

  “How long, Frank?”

  She suddenly screamed.

  “LOOK OUT!”

  The cliff edge leapt up at them, the chasm dead ahead and he stomped the break to the floor before his mind even had a chance to engage —

  The breaks shrieked and the tires burned as they tried to grip the wet road, the station wagon shimmying and skidding, then careening sideways before finally righting itself and skidding to an abrupt stop — their bodies flung hard against the seat belts.

  The two front tires of the station wagon hung over the edge — and as the nose of the car began to tip forward, they stared down at the partially illuminated patches of rock far below through the wafting fog clouds, breath locked in their throats.

  Then the station wagon settled backwards with a thump and they were back horizontal — flung hard against their seats.

  They watched spellbound as directly ahead of them, over the chasm, two red taillights sped off into the night fog like twinkling evil eyes.

  They receded quickly, winked one last time in the far distance, then disappeared as if they had never been.

  The moment following was long and eerily silent. Jackie said nothing, eyes glazed in shock. Frank swallowed in a dry throat — and found it took several moments before he could finally find his voice.

  “Tell me you didn’t see that…” He said hoarsely. “Tell me it was my imagination…”

  She continued to stare straight ahead without so much as a twitch. He looked at her and stroked her hair. He knew what she was feeling. The heaviness of this revelation was what he had been carrying for weeks. She would recover. But it would take time.

  So now she knows, he thought. I am no longer alone with this horrible truth.

  CHAPTER 27 – Abduction

  She continued that glazed inward stare the entire trip home and he had to guide her ba
ck inside their house as though she were blind.

  He knew she was searching internally for a way around this inconceivable truth — Her upbringing about how things on this planet worked, her guiding road of logic that she had depended on her entire life — it had been all smashed to bits by this one irreconcilable event.

  He understood her well — He had felt the same way —

  We’re raised to think of the world as a logical and fully explainable place, he thought. Rarely do any of us encounter something that we do not understand — There is always a proposed explanation — even if it is impossible to prove or far-fetched — We cling to it to preserve our sanity and maintain comfort in the notion that we are the masters of our universe. We are taught that miracles are simply concepts used for teaching or entertainment — reserved for biblical stories or movies laden with special effects…

  And yet, here they were… confronting something that was not supposed to exist…In uncharted territory where the rules were undefined… According to everything they knew, that car they followed should have obeyed the laws of gravity like everything else on this planet… It should have tumbled off that cliff and fallen to the bottom of the abyss and blown up in a flaming ball of wreckage. But it didn’t. It flew off impossibly through the thin air and thumbed its nose at everything they’d ever known. In one fell swoop, everything they had thought they knew as fact was lost. In this new world, they were children. And just like children, the first feelings they had now were the fear of the unknown.

  He carried Jackie to their bed, set her down, and wrapped her in the comforter like a cocoon. She hadn’t stopped shaking all the way back and had barely said a word. His feelings were divided; now he had a compatriot, he wasn’t alone with the awful knowledge that something outside their limited conception of this realm existed. She had no choice but to believe him now. She had witnessed it herself. There would be no more excuses, no more “logical analysis”. She had asked for proof and he had given it. Now they could be connected again as they were before. No secrets. No feelings of doubt. Just UNITY. Unity that would be sorely needed if they were to fight this thing…

  On the other hand, looking at her blank trembling features, she seemed broken. Her road map to life had been taken away and now she was unable to get a new fix on how the world fit together… Was it wrong to include her? Was he being selfish to not want to face his horrors alone? Should he have continued to shoulder this burden himself? Should he have protected her from this knowledge at all costs?

  No, he had needed to tell her — He needed to show her. And he hadn’t brought her into this, Eli had. If he had kept it from her, she would’ve been that much more vulnerable. Their marriage had been based on truth and communication. He had held out for longer than he should have. In some ways he had breached their vows by not including her sooner… She would recover and it was best that they tackle this thing together. He had been a mess at first too. She was strong, in many ways, stronger than him. All she needed was a little time to absorb this new information. Even as he watched her eyes blinking up at him, it seemed a little color returned to her face. He sat down on the bed next to her.

  “Feeling better?” He asked.

  He felt like a parent with a frightened child. She looked so small and scared. She nodded, sat up, still looking pale and wan but her eyes were starting to clear. She tried to keep the fear and desperation out of her voice, her hand shaking badly as she reached across and took a sip from the water glass at her bedside.

  “What we saw was impossible, Frank…” She began, renewed fear creeping in and making her voice rise… He met her gaze and nodded.

  I need to sound very calm, steady as a rock. He thought. She needs to feel safe… She needs to know that she has me to depend on…

  “I know…” he agreed and then said it again more firmly. “I know.”

  She paused for a long moment, searching his face, reason seeming to be slowly returning.

  “What can we do?’ She finally asked. “If we tell someone, they’d never believe us — just like when you told me…”

  She glanced at him apologetically, resumed —

  “…The missing kids… The story you told me…” She stopped, almost breaking down but quickly forcing it back. “Jesus, Frank, now we know who’s doing this…”

  He nodded again.

  Say something, you idiot! She needs to hear something reassuring from you — She’s on the verge of cracking!

  He slid his hand under the comforter and took her hand. He stroked her fingers with his.

  “It’ll be okay, honey. We’ll figure this out together…”

  Lame! He didn’t sound convincing at all!

  She began again, more desperation seeping in: “We could tell the police there’s a psychopath on the loose —”

  “— But then there’d be a lot of questions…” He interrupted. “None of which we’d be able to answer. Besides… I’ll be honest… I don’t think there’s anything they can do about this… guy…”

  He shouldn’t have said that — Why did he say that? She was having enough trouble as it was without him sowing doubt..!

  She nodded, seeming to wilt before his eyes.

  “So what now, Frank? What do we do?”

  It was the inevitable question — the one he’d asked himself a hundred times over since realizing the truth. She stared at him, counting on him… He was her protector — the man of the house. He had to sound like he had a plan — that he knew of something that would work. Without that, terror would take over and she’d slip over the edge…

  He cleared his throat and spoke in an authoritative tone he did anything but feel.

  “We need to put everything we know about him together and see what comes out. There has to be some point of weakness… Nothing is invulnerable. How did he come back? Was it just the promise or — was there something more? It might not be a logical situation but that doesn’t mean logic can’t help us solve it…”

  He hadn’t sounded strong enough and he could see the results clearly as she clutched his hand.

  “Frank…”

  Her tone was so plaintive — So totally desperate…

  “Frank, you say nothing’s invulnerable but we don’t know that anymore. Maybe it’s the old “We’re fucked” scenario like when I read your vampire story, remember..? How does the hero kill what’s already dead? Answer — he doesn’t — He’s fucked.”

  She turned to the side and buried her face in the pillow. She had seen their doom and now seemed to view it as inevitable. All her strength was gone. All that was left in its place was raw, mind-numbing, fear.

  Tears poured out of her, her body heaving with long, deep sobs that made him feel totally useless.

  He had failed her. He had inflicted all this on his darling wife and it was he who had brought her to this pathetic state. And now what could he really do? Any lies he might tell were transparent. It was clear that Eli was beyond any harm mere mortals could inflict. He had been toying with Frank first and now he had decided to play with both of them.

  He lifted her swaddled form up against him, pulled her close, and cradled her head against his shoulder. He felt as forlorn as she was but he would not give up. There must be something they could do — there must be! This was beyond religion, he no longer hoped for some miraculous rescue from heaven. When he thought about the fact that he had dared to seek this, he was embarrassed. And yet, he somehow still had hope. Was it delusion? A last groping grasp at a buoyant life raft? Or was it that he felt that life always sought its own equilibrium? Nothing in the realm of existence was allowed complete sway for too long — there were always checks and balances that caused the middle ground to once again win out. And if something as powerful as Eli were to be allowed free reign for too long, that equilibrium would no doubt be annihilated. Somehow he knew that could not happen. He didn’t know how, but he knew.

  He squeezed Jackie against him reassuringly and spoke in a voice he now genuinely felt.<
br />
  “Honey, we will be all right. I promise you, we will be all right.”

  And he meant it. With every ounce of his being he meant it and would honor it. He would protect his love from the creature he had unleashed. He would do anything necessary to keep her safe. There was nothing that would get between him and his love — Nothing!

  Her body was pressed so tightly against him, he could feel her chest vibrate when she spoke.

  “You shouldn’t make promises… you can’t keep, Franklin.”

  Something was wrong — Her voice sounded hollow and false! And she never called him Franklin..!

  He pulled away to look into her eyes — to see what was wrong and reassure her again that —

  — but the comforter collapsed in his hands! There was nothing but foul air that billowed from the hollow space and clogged his nostrils making him gag!

  He spun and searched the room — How could this be! She had been there, they had been talking, and then suddenly —

  His eye caught movement on the ceiling — in the large mirror over the bed — Just at the edge, almost gone — a dark pant leg and scuffed dress shoe — walking out of the mirror frame upside down!

  Eli! It could only be Eli!

  As if in answer to this unspoken query, a hat fell upwards to the top corner of the mirror’s reflection and rested there, as if on flat ground — Eli’s hat!

  Frank waited, breath held for what he knew had to follow — It had to. And then —

  A wrinkled and long-fingered hand reached up to retrieve the hat.

  A moment and the fiend’s now horribly rotted and partially transparent face leaned into view from below. He turned and flashed a gummy smile down at Frank and pretended surprise at being seen.

  “Oh! — Excuse me, Franklin — pardon the intrusion — and in my present condition, no less.”

  He placed the hat on his head and flashed a jagged grin — and a black tooth fell upwards from his mouth.

  “Ooops.” He raised a hand to his lips and spoke in a muffled voice through his fingers. “The by-product of being dead, I suppose.”