GREED, page 9
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Penny asked, coming to stand beside her.
She shook her head. “Nothing, I’m just losing it. Come on. I’m starving.”
Minetta stared at the ceiling and recounted the little stars still present from the little girl who used to live here. She hadn’t bothered to remove them even though James did nothing but complain about how they kept him awake at night. It was an idiotic statement. They barely gave off enough light to light up the ceiling around them, let alone shine in his eyes. It was just another way to put her down. She’d always found the star stickers had this odd, soothing ability when she was trying to sleep, but they were not helping tonight.
Giving up, she tossed the cover off and left Toby sleeping soundly. She stared at her dog, who was softly snoring on the other side of the bed like he didn’t have a care in the world. If only she could say the same. The only thing aside from actual sleeping meds that might help was a hot cup of camomile tea.
Her mind kept racing as she replayed the day over and over again. Why was she still thinking about the insolent, amber-eyed man? She must really have a thing for the worst possible members of the male species. Not that she’d dated much, but if James was any indication and now her fascination with the jerk from earlier…it didn’t really say much for her state of mind.
The bedroom door did its usual squeak that reminded her of every horror movie with a scene where the character is mysteriously woken in the night by the sound, the eeriness of the old hinge always making her shiver. As much as she didn’t want James around, she couldn’t deny she missed having a man in the house when he wasn’t there. Maybe she should get like ten more dogs. Toby would like the company, and not many would feel confident breaking into a house with an entire pack waiting for them.
The board that always groaned in the hall did so as she stepped on it, and she sucked in a shaky breath as her mind began to play tricks on her. The stairs were not much better, each one announcing the age of the house in its own unique manner.
“You are totally fine. You’re being silly,” she said out loud. Resolving herself to her task, she marched onward. As she reached the ground floor, she shivered. The house felt cold, like really cold, which was odd considering how hot it was outside, and she didn’t have any air conditioning. She wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed at the goosebumps that were rising all over her body. Chalking it up to the fact that she was scantily clad and was overtired, she headed toward the light switch in the kitchen. She really wished that the person who’d built this house had put a switch at the bottom of the stairs.
Her teeth were practically chattering by the time she reached the opposite side of the kitchen and smacked at the light switch. It clicked, but the thing wouldn’t turn on.
“What the heck is going on?” No matter how many times she hit the little switch, nothing happened. “Great, just great.”
This was an old house, but she doubted that the two long fluorescent bulbs both decided to blow at the same time. She wandered over to the lamp in the living room and hit the switch, hoping that it wasn’t what she thought it was. It as well stayed dark.
“Okay, this is not funny,” she mumbled.
She could try the hallway one, but at this point, either the power was out in the area, or she had a bigger issue with her electricity, like a flipped breaker which meant a trip to the basement in the dark. That was so not happening, and her mind was conjuring up the worst. God, she was cold, she thought as she stumbled her way over to her reading chair and banged her knee on the coffee table.
“Ouch!” She groaned as the pain lanced down her leg. Finally making it across to the chair, she grabbed the throw off the back and pulled the pretty piece her mother had made around her shoulders. It was the last thing her mother had made before her hands had become too riddled with arthritis, and her memory of how to make one of the beautiful blankets was lost in the far reaches of her mind.
Minetta leaned against the large bay window and looked up and down the street. The light right in front of her house was out, but the rest were on. She didn’t know much about how the grid worked, but she was pretty certain that if the rest of the street was on, then the one was simply burnt out. Her street was usually quiet this time of night, she lived on the outskirts of the city, and the area was full of families with small children. They would all be tucked away sound asleep by now.
A hiss-like noise caught her attention. She stood straighter, listening for the odd sound again. She gave a start and jumped around as a shadow moved in the reflection of the glass. Her pulse pounded loudly in her ears as her eyes searched the darkness. Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw movement by the front door and stared hard at the spot over the little half wall. Her heart picked up pace and pounded hard in her chest until it was all she could hear. There was a golf ball-sized lump in her dry throat, and as she swallowed hard, the movement was almost as loud as her heart.
Why was the darn house so cold? She shook again, and a small puff of steam rose from her mouth into the air. She laid her hand on the glass, and it too was freezing. Had it turned that cold outside overnight? Somewhere in her mind, she knew that unless it was winter and she had no electricity, there was no possible way this could be happening.
This had to be just her imagination playing tricks on her. Her own fear was creating the impossible. That was the only logical explanation. Nothing else moved, and annoyed with herself now, she rubbed at her eyes and headed for the door that led to the basement. It had to be a breaker, that’s why the house was cold, and if that was the case, she had no choice but to go down there.
Dammit, she really didn’t want to do this, but she was being silly over nothing. As her hand reached for the basement door handle, the house took that moment to shake as the pipes forced air through them. It sounded like a miniature earthquake ripping through the home as the floor and walls shook. She jumped back from the door as the handle rattled back and forth like something was trying to get out. All she could picture was a serial killer on the other side.
She bit her lip as she stared at the handle that settled after the pipes quieted, but her nerves were frayed. Her body trembled all over, and no matter how much she told herself she was being ridiculous, she couldn’t stop the freaked-out sensation from traveling from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
She looked around the darkened space, the once small rooms feeling huge and the front door very far away.
Something moved again, and this time she did jump back and stare at the living room. Someone was watching her. She could feel it, and her senses went from denial to overload with a single breath.
A sweat broke out all over her body, the moisture forming beads on her forehead and down her back. She couldn’t see what it was and turned her head to the left to allow her peripheral vision to help her out. It was telling her something was there, the slow rise and fall like something was breathing. It looked like nothing more than part of the shadows, but shadows didn’t move like that, and they didn’t look like a large lump in the middle of her floor. If this was James home early trying to scare her, she might actually kill him.
“Who's there?” she called out, but the only sound was the same soft hiss as earlier. Her adrenaline spiked, and her mind screamed to run.
Hands shaking violently, she reached out, never taking her eyes off the spot, and fumbled for the knife she always left laying on the cutting board. Her eyes tried to make sense of the dark shape that seemed to be moving or growing. She blinked a number of times as if that would clear her vision.
She watched in horror as the thing shifted again, and this time it wasn’t her mind playing tricks on her. There was a glint, a quick flash in the dark, and she realized she was staring into a set of eyes, and it most certainly wasn’t James.
A blood-curling scream bubbled in her throat but was lodged there as she stared, keeping her feet rooted to the floor. She couldn’t tell what the hell it was, but whatever it was began to rise from the middle of her living room like a great black blob slowly taking shape.
“This is not real. This is not real. Your mind is playing tricks. Tell it to go away,” she mumbled. “Go away!” she yelled. The words had sounded fiercer in her head. But, saying it out loud didn’t help. In fact, it only enforced the fact she was indeed awake, and the thing was still there.
It was in that moment, as it stretched to its full height, she realized it had been on all fours. Had it been following her? Had it been hiding in her house this whole time? Oh my god, had it been in the living room with her? Panic clawed at her throat, her pulse pounding frantically.
The animal or large man had something sticking out of the top of its head. She closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head back and forth. But, as she opened her eyes, they went wide as she stared at what looked like twisted antlers and glowing eyes.
“Go away, I’m warning you, I have a weapon,” she said, her voice shaking. She pulled the stupidly small knife up in front of her, the blade waving back and forth as her arm shook violently. The lanky creature moved toward her, the sound of something scraping scratched along her floor. She’d never been angrier that James hadn’t fixed her back door because it would be nice to have a backdoor that could open right about now. She was going to call someone, but no, James insisted it was a waste of money, and he could take care of it. That was months ago.
Her mind picked that moment to remember the call from Sam. The terror had been so evident in his voice and how he’d claimed she would think he was crazy if he told her what was after him. He’d been there, and then suddenly Sam simply vanished into the night.
Is this what happened to him?
“I said stay back,” she said. Yet, it was herself that backed up. She at least managed to sound a little firmer as she stared up at the massive thing in her home. She suddenly wished she still had a landline and not just a cell phone that she stupidly left beside her bed. A deep growl came from the thing that was closing the distance in the small space.
It took another lumbering step, and as it did, the soft bit of light shining in from her neighbor’s backyard filtered through the window to give her a better view of what she was facing.
The scream lodged in her throat, ripped from her mouth as the knife clattered to the floor. The creature before her was no human or animal from Earth. The black pupilless eyes glowed an unearthly silver in the darkness, and the too-pale skin pulled tight over excessively lengthy limbs that matched the lanky body. Pitch black claws flexed terrifyingly at the end of each pale finger, each hand the size of her head. The creature had a face that was shaped like a human, but the nose was twisted and flat. The sound she’d heard earlier was more pronounced now as she watched the air vibrating out the side of its nostrils. The mouth spread almost from one sheep-like ear to the next, and as it gapped open, she could easily see a limitless number of sharp jagged teeth.
She screamed again then something rose from behind the hideous beast and flew toward her face. The movement got her once paralyzed feet moving, and she barely made it out of the way as what looked like an octopus tentacle collided with the wall. Drywall went flying, little bits sprinkling onto her head as she ducked and dove to the ground. She crawled around the island, but her pans that hung above the island banged together. The thump and vibration behind her back told her not to look up, that she didn’t want to know. Terror turned into a wild animal in her chest, as real as the creature above her.
She panted hard, and going against her inner hysterical self instincts—she looked up into the eyes of the creature on her island. The thing twisted its head from side to side like it was inspecting her as it stared down at her. That strange tail came for her again, and she rolled over onto her side just as that sharp blade-like tail dug into the cheap linoleum. She stared at the lodged spike-like barb that was so close to her face before she flipped onto her hands and knees and scampered away as fast as possible. Reaching the end of the island, she made a break for the front door. Adrenaline and panic seized her heart, making it hard to think about anything other than escape.
The same vicious growl that sounded more like a deep rumbling avalanche sent a streak of horror down her spine as she dashed around the hallway corner for her only escape route.
She screamed wildly as that tail snaked its way around her waist and yanked her back from her destination. It lifted her clean off the floor and squeezed her hard, reminding her of a python as she gasped to breathe.
“No! Let me go!” She beat her closed fists down on the strange appendage and kicked her legs wildly, not hitting anything. The tail swung one way, then slamming her up against the wall. She bit her lip hard, tasting the metallic flavor of blood in her mouth. The thing pulled her away from the wall again, and she got ready for a second impact when it hollered in a strange, pain-filled growl.
The thing dropped her, and she landed hard on her ass, the little bit of air in her lungs was forced out on impact. Spinning around, she stared at the creature as Toby gripped the creature’s leg in his mouth. The normally gentle giant was snarling like a rabid beast. His massive mouth and sharp canines were embedded in the creature as he pulled and shook his head from side-to-side like he was trying to snap the thing like a twig. If this had been a human, the person would be down and possibly dead as the two hundred pound animal savagely yanked on like a beast as he defended her.
The creature let out a howl of pain again, and strange blackish blood seeped from the wound, traveling down its leg to pool on the floor. It clenched its fist, and she knew it was going to hurt her dog, her savior.
“No,” Minetta screamed at the top of her lungs, just as her front door busted inward with an ear-splitting crack. Small bits of the door flew in her direction, and Minetta covered her head.
She slowly looked up to see what turned her door into kindling and saw Penny standing in her doorway. Her friend’s eyes were glowing a bright orange, the color reminding her of fire, and her normally perfectly tame hair floated around her in a weightless dance that moved like it was alive.
“What the hell is going on here,” Minetta asked aloud but not expecting an answer. She was losing her ever-loving mind. That was the only rational explanation for this insanity. If it wasn’t bad enough that her mother’s Alzheimers was genetic and she’d likely end up with it too, but now she had some sort of hallucination attacking her mind. What kind of disease was this?
The creature roared, the sound shaking the walls as Penny stepped into the house. How were her neighbors not hearing any of this? She peered out the open door, and all was still and quiet. Minetta scooted back on the floor as Penny stepped closer, but her eyes were focused on the creature that still had Toby swinging from its leg. A loud tearing sound echoed through her ears as Toby tore a large hole in the flesh of the beast. She turned her head and covered her mouth, trying hard not to be sick, as the blood poured out onto the floor.
Toby attacked again, but the creature swatted at him with its tail and sent him sailing across the room, where he crashed into the couch and flipped it over on top of himself. Penny made a hissing sound, her tongue literally snaking out and flicking in the air like a serpent.
Minetta felt light-headed, but she fought off the sensation of passing out. She needed to get out of there. As Penny and the creature squared off, she crawled for the couch toward Toby, her trapped protector.
“Hey buddy, you okay,” she asked, only to comfort him and let him know that she was there to help. Then again Toby answering would be the least surprising thing tonight, considering the shit going down in her living room.
Toby whimpered slightly, but he licked her hand as she reached in to pet his head. She stood and grabbed the back of the couch, lifting hard to flip it into the upright position. Toby slowly stood but growled a deep sound, his lips pulling up, showing his large teeth at the creature.
She didn’t want him to engage again and opted to get the heck out of there. She grabbed Toby’s collar and ran like a little rabbit behind Penny or the thing that looked like Penny that suddenly pulled a flaming sword out of nowhere. Minetta shook her head.
This couldn’t be real, this couldn’t be real, but if it wasn’t real, it sure as hell felt real.
She stopped long enough to grab her purse, a leash, and running shoes. Penny looked over at her as she was about to dash out the doorway. At that moment, she felt like it was still Penny and not some alien-like monster. Not wasting another second to find out what was going to transpire between crazy creature number one and the friend she wasn’t sure was a friend any longer, she ran out the door.
She could hear screeching and loud banging as she ran, but she didn’t look back.
Toby limped slightly, but he kept up with her as she sprinted down the road. This was the first time in her life she really wished she had splurged and purchased a car. Hell, even a shit box right now would do, and she vowed that it was the first thing she was going to do if she lived.
The neighborhood was still quiet, but the further she ran, the busier the street became. A few people stared at her as she ran past. Not surprising, considering she had nothing more on her body than her tank top and underwear, and the purse crossed over her body whacked her like a crop on the ass with every stride. Modesty would have to wait. She needed to get as far away as fast as she could from her house.
Toby began to pant hard and labored beside her. She looked down at her brave sidekick.“Do you need a rest, bud?” She spun in a circle, not really knowing where she was, and spotted an elementary school not far off. She slowed her pace but headed in that direction, and once she was out of sight from the street, she leaned against the wall to catch her breath while Toby flopped to the ground.
She was not much of a runner. The only time she purposely set out to do more than walk or her peaceful yoga was to complete her activity pin at work.
