Cold Fear

by Timothy Friesenhahn

  The gun called to old Arthur. He lit another cigarette. The world was a fucked place and he was sick of looking at it. The reflection of his own face made him even more infuriated. The small mirror that hung in his camper’s bathroom was a reminder. Every morning when he looked at himself, he was reminded of the scum that he’d become. The boy’s that lost their lives because he had made it so. The only thought that ever brought him any kind of relief was the sobering understanding that if he had refused the smiling man’s demand, he would have been killed and Mathelda would have been forced to do it herself. If she had refused, the demon probably would have killed her as well.

  The gun called to him. He swore he could hear it speaking.

  It just repeated day in and day out, “do it, old man. Do it.”

  He would pick the gun up and hold it in his mouth, some nights he would hold it so long that his hand would tremble. The one bullet remained. The world didn’t need him anymore. Only his sweet lover needed him. Some nights he caught himself wondering if she had picked him up that day, all those years ago, just to use him. He always shook it off because he knew she had loved him as he did her.

  The thought was a reminder though, that he was, even though she loved him and he loved her, just her servant and protector as she wished it.

  Even after fifty years, why had she chosen him? What reason was there for choosing him? Never having the balls to ask her, he just kept on living; making love to her and feeding the smiling man the bad teenage boys.

  His stomach was twisted and, for the first time he could remember, he thought he might get sick. His eyes clenched and his head began to throb; his heart pounded as hard as he had ever felt it. The left side of his face tingled like ants running all over his flesh. Tears filled his eyes as he welcomed death, this was the day he was waiting for. Heart attack seemed a better option than suicide. The feeling passed and sweat poured from his pores. His breathing was shallow, but was now returning to the normal, heavy breathing of a chain-smoker. Life was reasserting itself into him once more. Death teased him.

  The gun sat before him, and after the moment he believed was his glorious salvation, he lit another cigarette. He hoped Mathelda would be waiting for him. He was sure she wouldn’t be, though. The place he was going when he died was far worse than where his sweet lover went. After he smoked the cigarette in three hard hits, he picked the gun up off the table and placed it into his mouth.

  This time he didn’t set it back down. The trigger was pulled, and death was invited in. When his finger squeezed the trigger, there was a nano second of bliss. His spirit was almost freed. Death would be pure ecstasy for the old man, he wanted it so badly. The bullet blowing through the back of his head would be welcome of the ages. His regrets and sorrow all washed away in pull of the trigger.

  The bullet never had to leave the chamber, the man’s heart stopped and if he could have smiled as he died, he would have.

  Chapter 2

  After success of dying her hair a light green. She left her small apartment in Staple, Texas. The world was as beautiful as she could ever remember. Her memory seemed flourished with the orgasmic remains of her encounter with the smiling man and his tentacle. No man would ever do to her what that tentacle had done. When Hannah had left Tanner and the Hispanic bitch behind, she knew a new life had awakened within her.

  Something in her mind drove her every move and she let it willingly. The smiling man would come from inside her, talking to coax her into letting him have her body. The reward he offered her seemed more then fair. The smiling man, who called himself Moloch, told her that he needed her body to finish something he had no time for three years earlier. When Moloch first came to her she was on the hunt for a man. Now that she was separated from Tanner she let loose, she let herself become a free spirit. Sleeping with multiple partners, sometimes several in a night, sometimes two or three at once; she needed what the smiling man had placed inside her. Night in and night out she was left feeling empty and disappointed. On the night Moloch came to her in her mind, she was fully awake and was aware that he was indeed there, inside her head.

  She sat at a small table in a shabby coffee shop that was in the only plaza of the rundown town. Sipping her coffee slowly, looking for a single man to give it to her as hard as he could, she heard Moloch’s whispers.

  Shhh, don’t say anything, you remember the night I came to you? The night I touched you?

  At first, she was frightened and looked around the small dining room frantically, but no one was close enough to her to have whispered in her ear. Knowing the only night she thought about was the night the figure touched her, she closed her eyes to further listen. As her eyes closed a face appeared. The charming patron smiled in her mind. Her soul immediately taken.

  He continued to whisper inside her mind, I have come to you, my precious Hannah. It’s me Moloch, though, I know you never knew my name. I know you have longed for me, as I have for you. I would have come in the form which I visited you before, but that little bitch destroyed that part of me. You know the bitch of whom I speak? The one that bares Tanner’s child? I need you now, Hannah, more than you could ever know. I need your help with a few things so I can fulfill what I need to, so I can leave this wretched place, but don’t fret. No, my princess, don’t worry, I will take you with me. Together we can do things you could never imagine. Before I leave, though, there’s something I must do. I need your body to do it. It will take me some time to build up enough strength to use your body as I need it, but when the time comes, I will tell you. Until then, find a man, take him home let him have you and here from inside I’ll help you have a glimpse of the feeling you yearn for. When the time comes, I will beckon you from within your mind. Oh, and there’s something else, something that could help speed things up for me, if you’re up for it, my princess? When you find the mate that you desire each night, only have one. You mustn’t be greedy. Just take one, let him do anything he wants to you and when its finished and he’s sleeping like the man-child he is, kill him. I want you to slit his throat. I want you to bathe in his blood. I will protect you from within, and when I am strong enough, I will need your body to fulfill what I need to do.

  Hannah, silently, sat and listened as the entity spoke. The feeling that coursed through her body was making her tremble from her head to her toes. She could feel moisture building in between her legs. She was wet with the excitement of the nights to come. Whatever the smiling man asked of her she would deliver. To have the orgasm of her life again; she was willing to do anything. The vegan with the man-bun would be her first victim.

  She noticed him staring at her as he ate his small salad, and she waved him toward her. It was so easy; men were so pathetic. They were so quick to approach a pretty girl. The vegan had a name, but she ignored it as he spoke.

  The conversating would be minimum, she demanded, “take me home and fuck the shit out of me.”

  The man-bun wearing vegan obliged delightfully. Even the pathetic man-child had to realize that she didn’t care what he was saying, he was either to dense to comprehend or simply didn’t care. It didn’t matter if she let him speak, she knew what the night would bring. The plan was simple, she would wear him out physically then literally wear him. Something sinister was breathing inside her, and she knew she would bathe in his blood for Moloch. Hannah smiled as the fuckboy spoke and, in her mind, she had become twisted and evil. She would do more than bathe in the fool’s blood; she was going to cut off his face and wear it. The idea was unoriginal, and she knew it. It didn’t matter, though, she wanted to please the smiling man.

  They had ferocious sex for hours. By the time she had finished riding the man-child he had begged for completion. His poor little maggot of a penis couldn’t hold up for the night she had given him. It took no time for him to fall asleep. The knife set, the rich little fuckboy had, was more than sharp enough for her to do what needed to be done. Moloch had delivered while she was having beastly sex with the vegan, she orgasmed more than
she had since the night the tentacle was inside her. No, it wasn’t anywhere near the orgasm she felt that night, but it was enough to prove to her that the smiling man was indeed inside her.

  The little man-child slept so peacefully and, as with anything, to be good at it you needed practice. Well, she had no practice in slicing someone’s throat, so when she ran the blade across his neck, she knew she had done something wrong. The man-bun vegan woke screaming with blood running through the hand he cupped his neck with. The fear that rose in his eyes excited Hannah. Her thought process was distracted by the frantic screams of the man-child. It wouldn’t disturb his neighbors, for they had been making unnatural sounds the whole night with the dirty sex they were having. He stumbled around his lightly furnished studio apartment, wildly searching for something to press to his neck. Before he could reach the door, she stepped in front of him, knocking over his shelf of neatly stacked books and plants. The apartment was so modern and hippie like at the same time that it made her sick. She began smiling as the vegan wanted to speak, but fear suppressed his voice. Her smile widened and she stuck the knife into his flat stomach, again and again. The fuckboy let go of his neck to hold his stomach, tears were streaming down his face as he weakened further. As she stepped up to him, he tried to fight her off by standing, losing his bloody grip on his nicely polished cedar countertop. She stabbed him in the chest seven times and, finally, he died. He laid naked on his tile floor. His body gave out one last twitch before she sat the knife down to catch her breath. She stood over his naked body and masturbated. The smiling man appeared within her mind and her orgasm was near the one she had felt the night the tentacle was inside of her. Before she left, she cut his face off and wore it as she left the apartment complex.

  The day was young, and her green hair fluttered in the wind. Her smile returned as she remembered her first night of murder for Moloch. It was everything she had expected and, as she killed each victim, the smiling man told her he was growing in strength from within her. The smile never left her face as she only killed a man every few weeks; whenever the smiling man would ask her to do so. After the first ten kills, she began cutting the penises and testicles off her victims and using them in her meals. Happiness had filled her life more than she had ever felt the emotion. The world was a beautiful place and every man was a possible victim. Knowing she was growing more malevolent with each kill; she didn’t let it bother her. She adored it, she wanted to be as evil as the entity that live within her. Anyone could fall at the flick of her hand. Killing had become as much of a sport to her as a trophy hunter; and just like most of those hunters she too, ate her kill; well, two parts of it, anyway.

  Moloch had spoken to her often, telling her how wonderful of a job she was doing, how she had surpassed all his expectations. The time had come when he would soon be taking over her body, and she was ready to let him. The smiling man explained to her that his plan he needed to fulfill was kidnapping the child Tanner had had with the Hispanic bitch Cici. Well, that wasn’t really the plan. Taking the child as his protégé was what he wanted. The child would learn from him for a hundred years. Hannah herself would learn from him and love him, too. That was what she had grown to want, so letting him take over her body to achieve taking the child and opening the portal back up. Whatever he meant by that; it didn’t matter much to her. She was willing to sleep inside herself for a while. Moloch was ready, the time had come.

  Chapter 3

  Tanner and Cici had fallen in love in an instant. Their time together meant more to them than words could ever describe. Their baby girl, Sophia, was all they cared about. The child got their full attention day in and day out. Devotion and unconditional love were what she’d received. Sophia was only three years old, but Tanner could feel there was something unique about her. It also was occurring to him that he too was changing or discovering things about himself. Things he hadn’t known about before.

  Three years earlier, when he first laid eyes on his immaculate wife, Cici, he knew that a spark was lit within him. When they made love in the night, the connection they felt was cosmic. They could have been on opposite sides of the universe and the connection would have been felt. After three years, he firmly believed destiny had drawn them together. He remembered Hannah driving away that day not caring at all that he and Cici had made passionate love while she slept in the room down the hall. She left once they’ve said their goodbyes and wished them good luck. When he had returned to his house that he lived in with Hannah, she had already been there and gone.

  He knew that time would heal all wounds, and his had been. His lover, the beautiful Hispanic girl, had given him feelings and emotions he long forgotten about. Problems had come and gone, sure, but they let nothing deter their happiness. Cici had told Tanner that Arthur was his grandfather, but their visit to the old man was short lived. The old man slammed the door in Cici’s face. They left disappointed, but it didn’t matter. She was in the end of her pregnancy, at that time, and that’s all that was on their minds.

  When Sophia was born, Tanner should have realized that the girl was special. A storm hovered over Atkinson for several days. The small city was flooded more than it had ever been in its history. They barely made it to the hospital when Cici’s water broke. The delivery was quick and precise. Baby Sophia was born and out of the womb in less than three hours. Nobody noticed then, not even Tanner, but as the newborn baby girl let out her first cry the storm abated. Rain fell no longer, and the thunder grew more and more distant. The clouds peeled open and the sun shined through. The sun peeked through the curtains of the hospital room, and when it shined on the baby’s face, the crying stopped, and the baby laid silently in his lovely wife’s arms. He had agreed to marry her without a second thought. They had only known each other for less than two weeks when they married. Several months later she was pregnant. So many thoughts flooded his mind the day Sophia was born. He wished either he or Cici had any kind of family, but they didn’t. Everyone they knew was dead.

  Life went on. Tanner gave both his wife and the baby girl everything he could. Selflessness had become a way of his life and he made sure he did everything he could to provide for his new family. A job seemed easy for him to find. He overlooked a house demolition crew. His heart prevented him from getting his hands dirty with the crew, but he did what he could.

  A few months after Sophia was born was when he realized something new about himself, something strange. His crew was demoing a two story Victorian modeled house that had been condemned by the city. The house was decrypted from old age and lack of upkeep. His crew was on the other side of the house when he was making his way around to them. He was standing under a rotting awning when he heard the crack. It should have landed right on his head, but somehow, he had moved from underneath it without even noticing. Somehow, he had moved ten feet from where he stood so fast that he hadn’t even known it. None of his crew was around, so they couldn’t help him conclude what happened. He looked around him dubiously. He knew that, if the awning had landed on him, his head would have been smashed badly. There was a good chance it would have killed him.

  How did he get away from it so fast? The question stuck with him.

  That was the first encounter he had. The second time was the prior winter, he was Hanging Christmas lights around his house. The ladder slid to the right and he was going to spill over, and though the fall would have not been fatal in the least, it would hurt, nonetheless. Before he fell to the ground and hit his side, he was back in the air. The ladder stood upright against the roof of the house. The ground had been less than an inch away from him and somehow, he had not hit the ground and stood the ladder back up and climbed his way up it again. There were no one witnessed to what had happened, but the memory remained with him.

  Springtime had come and with it, fresh air surrounded them. Their beautiful baby girl played happily in the green grass of their regularly upkept yard. Life had been easy for them and besides Tanners two little almost injuries, everyth
ing was plain as parchment paper. The lady named Em came that spring day. Cici said the lady was the spitting image of his grandmother in her younger days. The lady was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen in his life. As she walked, her hair bounced gracefully behind her. They weren’t aware of it, but what the lady was going to tell them was going to change their lives. Peace and wellbeing were going to have to be put aside. If this lady’s delusions were truth, then he and Cici had a big problem. Tanner himself thought the lady was a drug addict or a looney tune, but Cici believed every word she had to say.

  Cici told him the Goddess-like lady who resembled his grandmother was speaking the truth. Her eyes burned through him when he tried to state his opinion about the lady’s twisted story. Cici waved his words away and told him to wake up. She told him she knew of the demon the woman spoke of. Tanner loved his wife, so he obliged. When the lady spoke of the baby being special, he knew that was true. Of course, he had never witnessed the baby do anything out of the ordinary; he just had an intuition. He knew the baby girl was special. What the lady spoke of was frightening, though. He didn’t want to believe it, but his love for Cici forced him to believe.

  Chapter 4

  Tanner was her world. The child was everything and more. In her heart, though, she lived in constant fear.

  She had destroyed the crystal ball, but what had happened to the smiling man? When would he return and come for Sophia?

  A fake smile was what she wore on her face every day. The smile was a mask of the fear that dwell within her. Sophia was her child, and Moloch had no right to her. If she and Tanner could resist the smiling man, that she was uncertain.