Cold Fear

by Timothy Friesenhahn

  His grandmother smiled as she handed him the crystal ball and, being a nine or ten-year-old boy, he found himself quite amused with it. He knew what it was, but he never seen one in real life. Knowing it was just a decoration or a toy he was baffled when she asked him the small favor. The whole time she held eye contact tracing her fingers across his flesh, once she even ran her hand up his shirt.

  “It’s just a small favor, a little bitty one, but its real important you never forget, even if you never see me again. Are you paying attention to what I am saying Tanner?”

  The boy shook his head in acknowledgment as he realized that was the only time she had stopped tracing her fingers across his flesh. She was using that same hand to point in his face. She wanted to make sure he knew that what she was about to say meant something at that time; still while reminiscing, he had no idea what she was talking about. Returning her smooth fingers to trace across his flesh, she continued holding the crystal ball with her free hand, before passing it to him.

  “This crystal ball is not an ordinary one; you'll find no fortunes or future predictions within it. Actually, you’d better hope that you never see anything within this ball. If you were to ever see an image within it the impending doom is soon to follow,” she’d explained as she softly tugged on his hair to get his attention. “Are listening to me sweetie?”

  Rubbing his head, even though she didn't pull his hair hard, and then shook it to affirm that he was listening. Returning her hand to trace her fingers across his face as she continued, “this ball possesses a magic unlike anything you could ever imagine. I truly hope the day never comes when you must use it, but if it does arrive please be aware that this ball, as fragile as it seems, will help save you. Keep this ball safe and please never let it go, but sweetie, don't ever ask it any favors. Can you do this for me hun, this one little thing?

  Tanner held the crystal ball looking in his grandmother’s eyes and said, “yes, ma'am, I think so. But what you say about it having magic powers, you're just messin' right? That's just kid stuff isn't it?”

  Pulling her long brown, gray hair back into a ponytail she bent forward and kissed him smack dab on the lips. Sitting behind his steering wheel he shivered in disgust, because he remembered that for sure. He was also sure that he recalled feeling the tip of her tongue graze his lips.

  His striking, yet strange, grandmother leaned toward his ear and whispered, “you believe in whatever you want hun. But don't forget what I said.”

  She slowly moved her face just an inch away from his and tilted his head up toward her. She whispered again, “keep this a secret between us; don’t ever tell anyone about the crystal ball. Can you make an old lady a promise sweetie? Can I trust you?”

  Tanner looked at her as she finally released him from her touch and she backed off, he looked at her confused, but captivated. He felt strange, but amused.

  Looking at his grandmother he answered, “yes, ma'am. I'll never tell anyone, not even mom. I'll go hide the ball in my closet right away.”

  He was a kind boy so, even though the last ten minutes of conversation – felt like an eternity – were unusual, he still thanked his grandmother, gave her a hug, and hid the ball in his closet, never speaking a word about it again. Soon, in fact he, too, forgot about it all together.

  Driving in silence down the boring farm covered land, Tanner shivered with the weird memory of his grandmother. The memory coming back to him so vividly, left him feeling perplexed.

  All he could think was, “What the hell was that all about?'

  He shivered at the memory again.

  He could feel Hannah looking toward him as she asked, “are you okay? You look a little pale.”

  “I'm fine. I’m just remembering my grandmother from the one time I met her. Do you remember that crystal ball you wanted me to throw out?”

  “Yes, it’s still in the trunk with the rest of the junk. Why?'

  “She gave me that as a gift the day I met her. She was a very strange lady.”

  He glanced toward her quickly, but then turned his attention back to the road. They drove several miles, before she tried to reach for his hand to hold. He tenderly pulled his hand away. She sat staring out the window trying to hold back tears. Tears that would be pointless to cry, she brought it upon herself. She knew that soon their relationship would be over.

  Chapter 7

  The storm must have picked up outside because the small camper rocked. Lighting another cigarette, Arthur Kupp sat alone thinking of all the horror he was a part of over the past fifty years. After he lit the cigarette, he set the lighter down on the small table connected to one of the walls and stared at his withered hand. He thought about Mathelda, how beautiful she was, even on her death bed. Though she had seduced him into being hers forever, over time he began to love her. She was the only person he had been around for fifty years.

  The woman was incredible, he thought to himself, trying to smile.

  As incredible as she was, however, she had dark secrets. Her secrets were probably darker than most people could understand. The power she had mistakenly brought forth was an evil, whose name had gone unspoken since biblical times. Arthur was not a religious man, but he knew powers beyond comprehension existed. He had seen with his own eyes; he had fed it many times. Mathelda was stricken with fear and regret for what she had spawned. He remembered it all too well, the day she called forth Moloch. Neither of them knew, however, that that was what the price was going to be when she made her wish into the crystal ball. If it wouldn’t have been for his own foolish wish, she would have never made her own selfish one.

  A few days had passed since she had seductively captivated him; when he was twenty years old. He was homesick already, he wanted to be away from the strikingly beautiful lady that had offered him a ride that hot day on the dirt road. They had been driving around for days before she finally stopped. They were far into east Texas, he figured, lost somewhere in the woods. The tall pine trees surrounded them on all four sides. He couldn’t even discern how she had found her way that far to begin with.

  Sure, she was using a map, but how much of the woods had been mapped? He thought to himself as he realized that they haven’t been on a dirt road for the last hour in a half hours.

  She stopped the car and made them walk. He’d asked her several times what they were doing; he was so dimwitted he never even thought about escaping. Besides, she had him toting a bag with what felt like a small bowling ball, but far lighter. He’d went bowling just once in his life when he was younger.

  It seemed as if she could sense his nervousness, because every few minutes she would stroke his face with her fingertips just like she had done before. The touch of her cold fingers would send a chill down his spine. The hairs on his arms and the back of his neck would stand. He couldn’t help but get that feeling in his stomach; she touched him, and he liked it.

  Finally, she stopped over a hole in the ground that had already been dug. The shovel laid next to it. Extending her hand toward him, she asked for the bag he had been toting. A crystal ball was what she revealed from inside it. It looked like the ones fortune tellers used at carnivals and county fairs. He knew they were all scam artists; everyone knew that.

  He almost began to laugh when she said, “before I hide this magical sphere here to lay in rest, until I am beckoned toward it again, I wanted to tell you that this crystal ball is special. Have you ever heard of a genie, sweetie?”

  Looking at her, he felt a bit amused, but at the same time, he was hungry and homesick. He wanted to be away from this crazy lady.

  She may be beautiful, but she is damn looney, he thought to himself before he spoke aloud. “Sure, I’ve heard of a genie. They grant you three wishes and whatever else that hoopla is. I’m not sure. I never really paid attention to kid stuff like that.”

  Hearing himself speak was strange because he couldn’t recall a time in his life where his tone had sounded so rude. Wiping the sweat of his forehead he looked her in the
eyes and simply asked, “why?”

  “Let me tell you, sweetie,” she said, holding the crystal ball up in front of his face so he could see his reflection in it. “This ball is no ordinary crystal ball; it doesn’t tell your future or what you ate for dinner last night. It doesn’t speak to the dead for you, none of that scam artist junk. This ball is magical, pure ecstasy, power.”

  She was smiling now; her eyes seemed to be staring into young Arthur’s soul.

  “Hold your hands out, sweetie,” She instructed as he looked at her once again, caught between homesick and awestruck.

  What was it about this lady that transfixed him so much? He thought to himself.

  There those fish were again, swimming around inside his stomach. Thinking about what she had made him do. He was passed out or dazed, he wasn’t sure; he almost wanted to do it again, though. No, he wanted more from her. Something was tugging on his insides. Something wanted him to want her.

  Taking the ball willingly from her smooth hands he asked, “what am I supposed to do with it?”

  “This crystal ball has a power unknown to people, especially those like us. It will grant you three wishes, anything you want, and it will come true.”

  Still smiling as she spoke, she never blinked and again caressed his face with her fingertips.

  “How do you know it works?” He asked.

  She moved from in front of him to beside him, took her hand, and ran it under his shirt and up his back as she spoke, “I just do. Go ahead make three wishes, make it quick, though, I’m getting kind of hungry and it’s a long way to the car and to a town that has a diner.”

  Being twenty years old and not really knowing what he wanted to do with his life, or which direction to go, he simply spit out three wishes that came to his mind. “I wish that I could grow old and never be ill, living a long life.”

  She began to stroke his hair and whispered in his ear, “Good, that’s very good.”

  “Next, I wish that when we get back to the car there will be two juicy burgers and large pops to go with them.”

  Chuckling under her breath, she stepped away from him as she asked, “that was kind of a wasteful wish, don’t you think?”

  “I don’t know what I’m doing ma’am; besides this is horse phooey, anyway.”

  Looking into her eyes as he denied the power of the crystal ball, he noticed that the woman’s striking demeanor nor smile ever diminished. “Come on, sweetie, make your last wish count.”

  He thought about it for a few minutes just to amuse her, even though he was certain that she was playing some sort of game with him. Homesick, Terry popped into his mind, her father’s ranch flashed before his eyes. The wish came to him like a vision before a prophet. Holding the crystal ball before his face he said, “my last wish is that you let me be and take me home.”

  Yanking the crystal ball from him she laughed in his face. Her hot breath brushed against his.

  “I knew you would pull such a stunt, so I used my second wish when you weren’t paying attention,” she gave a evil laugh.

  She leaned toward him, her face was less than an inch from his, her perfume flooded his nostrils. She smelled like a crisp fall evening and it intrigued him so much. Trying to shake the feeling off, he stood his ground and stared right into her eyes.

  “My second wish was one that would counter your wish of being rid of me. I wished that you would protect and serve me as I would you, too.”

  When she finished speaking, she seductively licked his face; from his chin, over his lips, and up to his forehead. Stepping back, he lifted his shirt to wipe his face.

  “None of this matters. There is no such thing as an actual crystal ball, especially ones that grant wishes. So, it doesn’t matter what we wished for,” he responded, frantically; his voice rising with his panic as his face flushed with anger.

  Looking toward the ground he fought the urge to cry as a strange feeling filled his body. There those fish were again, swimming in his stomach. When he looked back up at the beautiful lady, she was laying on a sheet which must have been in the bag with the crystal ball. She was completely nude, and he couldn’t help but fall to his knees and crawl toward her. He wanted her. Every other thought left his mind, all he saw was her naked and glowing body. With a gesture of her finger, she called him over and he laid next to her.

  It was an explosion of dynamite, it was two heavens colliding, it was a feeling he had never felt before and he cherished it. As he lay with her, she did things to him and made him do things he would have never imagined.

  When she finished, she spoke, “my name, sweetie, is Mathelda. You’re going to love me. I will love you, too, for the crystal ball granted my wish.”

  His mind was made up, she didn’t need to speak anymore, he belonged to her and that’s how he wanted it. There was no explanation for his sudden change of heart and, after the last hour or however long it had been, no explanation was needed. As fast as he wanted to be free of her, he had fallen madly in love with her. After they got dressed, they buried the crystal ball.

  As they walked back to her big black car, he couldn’t help but think of all the things she did to him. The way she made him feel, he could barely describe it. It felt as if he wasn’t even in his own body, like he was floating above himself, watching happily sulking in every moment. Curiosity eventually got to him on their long silent walk. He couldn’t help but recall, she had said her second wish was for him to serve and protect her. He reached out and gently grabbed her arm in his hand and she willingly turned around and embraced him.

  “We can’t do it again so soon, sweetie, I’m starved, and I know you must be, too,” her smile had a grip on his soul that would never let go.

  “No that’s not it, even though that was great, I mean it was more than great it was, it was…”

  She stopped him in mid-sentence by placing her finger over his lips, “It’s okay, sweetie, I felt it too, you were great. Me and you? We were meant to be.”

  As they returned to their walk, he had almost forgotten what he was going to ask, “I was just wondering what your first wish was?”

  She was ahead of him just a little and never slowed her pace. They could see the big black car in the distance, surrounded by the tall trees.

  Turning her head just slightly so she could peak over her shoulder at him, she replied, “Oh, my first wish was nothing, it was a mere waste. I thought you didn’t believe in any of that horse phooey?”

  Not realizing she had blown his question off, he looked at her body from head to toe as he spoke, “after what you did to me back there? I’m not sure what I believe, to be honest. I mean, yeah I don’t really believe in magical spheres and genies, but whatever you did to me sure seemed magical.”

  At that she turned around, stopped him, and gave him a huge kiss. He had never felt so happy, so good.

  They reached the black car a few moments later. When he opened the passenger door, sitting in the front seat, smelling better than anything he had ever sniffed before, sat two big freshly cooked hamburgers and on the floorboard were two big fountain drinks. His mouth gaped open as he looked across the roof of the car at Mathelda. She only smiled as she got in the car.

  Now fifty years later, he wished he would have pressed her more about that first wish sooner than later.

  It wouldn’t have really mattered, though, he thought to himself as he put out a cigarette and immediately lighting another one.

  He’d quickly found out what her first wish had been. They both would suffer for many years after she made that wish. The one thing she didn’t know, he for sure didn’t know, was that some wishes come with dire consequences.

  As he smoked his cigarette down to the butt. He knew, all these years later, that when she had said protect and serve, his protection was more a less a shield as he served her. The young man, Tanner, and his wife would probably be heading to her house which she had left him in the will.

  He shook his head as he thought, No, no way. I have seen
enough in my time.

  Then he thought of Cici, poor little Cici. The old lady should have left her the house, but that wouldn’t have been right, either. There was no way that young little Mexican girl could have known about what lurked beneath. Tanner and his wife would surely venture down there. The young man would discover secrets he wished he hadn’t.

  I just can’t, I have to stay here in my shitty home. Those kids are on their own. I’ve been through enough, besides, if her grandson finds out who I really am no telling how he will act. Thinking to himself as he smoked cigarette after cigarette, feeling guiltier by the minute. If he wasn’t going to help the kids, he could at least go be by Cici’s side. It would be nice of him to be there as a friend while she dealt with Mathelda’s grandson and wife. Even though the old lady had only seen her grandson once, she had spoken very highly of him. Surely, he was a nice guy. But Mathelda always said that if he ever laid eyes on Cici he would surely drop the harlot he was with.

  Arthur sat lighting up another cigarette as he thought about Mathelda and Cici, the more he considered how low the old lady had spoken of the boy’s wife, the more he thought, Mathelda you were pretty erotic yourself.

  Although, she was extremely loyal. Arthur was her only lover and she was his.

  After smoking an entire pack in less than an hour, guilt finally ran its course. The old man stood up and picked a picture off the worn brown countertop. He looked at it thoroughly as he rubbed his thumb across the frame. His lover of fifty years, the lady that showed him more then he could have ever known, was so beautiful, but now she was gone. She spent many years contemplating her third wish. The day they went back for the crystal ball to pass it onto the boy was the day she made the wish. The only reason she had to continue as long as she did was for Arthur. He did her biddings; it was his hands that were dirty. He did it because he loved her, and he would do it another hundred years, if he could see her again. He knew he never would, he knew where he was going when he died.