Eye Contact, page 3
He stepped cautiously toward the unbelievable barrier, and when he got within a foot of the partition, he reached out his hand and placed it flat against the surface of the glassy, semitransparent wall, which seemed to give way with a slight forward stretching motion. It felt more like some sort of micro-thin flexible membrane than any type of solid partition. He could also feel a strange pulsing sensation just beneath his palm, as if hundreds of slime-covered worms were slithering against his flesh. In fact, the very surface of the wall itself had an almost fleshy texture to it, which sent more chills throughout David’s body. He imagined this was what it might feel like to place his hand against the icy cold chest of a dead man, but in this case it would be a cadaver with thousands of squirming maggots writhing just below the surface of its decomposing skin.
Though the transparent wall David could see the dense fog from the road on which he had just traveled spinning manically right on the other side against its inner surface. The density of the churning fog reminded David of the ever swirling contents of a cotton candy machine he had seen when he was a kid at an amusement park; he remembered how the ghostly filaments of spun sugar would fly through the air in an almost ethereal fashion, never ceasing to cause him to stare spellbound as he awaited his sugary treat.
David stood awestruck not only by the strange twisted ballet performed by the mysterious fog or the appearance of the huge wall itself but also by the almost living heartbeat the barrier seemed to radiate. He could sense an odd feeling almost like that of some sort of thought transference, as if someone or something were attempting to communicate with him, its message coming in the form of the unintelligible rhythms emanating from the translucent fleshy obstruction. The unearthly experience gave him a sensation of extreme unease and worrisome discomfort.
Once again, for a brief moment he thought he heard his name called from somewhere far off in the distance: “David? Can you hear me David?” the voice similar to Gina’s seemed to ask. He looked around, trying once again to determine from what direction the distant echoing sound was originating, but he could not. He concentrated with as much effort as possible, trying to focus on locating the sound of her voice.
Suddenly his thoughts were shattered as something large slammed against the opposite side of the barrier, pushing it slowly outward before allowing it to recede once again. The thing—whatever it was—hung in the air against the rubbery wall for a second before it began to slowly slide downward, leaving in its wake, a disgusting trail of blood and bits of hair and flesh in its wake. Soon another followed, thudding against the barricade just a few feet to his left. The unidentifiable creature’s entrails, which looked like the tentacles of a slime-covered, bloody pink squid, slid down the foggy surface. Then another flew against the wall to his right, and then another as David stepped further away from the barrier with each violent slam. He was both shocked with fright and so extremely disgusted that he completely forgot about having heard his wife’s voice calling his name.
He knew the unfortunate creatures had not flown into the barrier, as they had no apparent wings and looked to be small mammals, albeit mammals of some bizarre variety he had never seen before. He tried to determine the creatures’ species or at least what species they might have resembled, but due to their shattered condition he could not.
He assumed something else: some other quite large creature must have been on the other side of the barrier that had thrown the animals with tremendous force. When the barrage of smashing creatures had stopped, David’s eyes followed the slick trails of dripping blood down along the wall to where the carcasses lay on the ground. They appeared to be some type of wild forest creatures and, although they were somewhat similar in appearance to raccoons or possums, he could not tell for certain, as their original physical form had been obliterated beyond recognition by the sheer force of the impact.
Suddenly David was once again startled when he saw a colossal leathery hand, slick with blood and perspiration, erupt through the fog. And with long, razor-sharp claws, the thing—whatever it was—slashed down along the other side of the barrier to skewer the pulverized remains of the creatures, dragging them back into the fog, where David assumed they would be eaten. One of the smallest of the animals still appeared to be alive, its hind leg twitching spasmodically in its final dance of death. David could hear low grunting, slurping and chewing sounds coming from deep within the bank of fog, followed immediately by an ear-splitting roar from some obviously gargantuan beast.
He stood stock-still for a moment, unable to move or act when suddenly, with a tremendous boom, a giant leathery fist smashed against the surface of the wall hard enough to significantly extend the barrier, almost to the point of reaching David’s face, before it pulled backward once again, leaving the barrier vibrating wildly with violent quaking motions. David watched as a series of almost liquid-like rings radiated outward from within the wall at the point of impact, resembling the increasing ripples made in a pond after a large rock has been dropped into it.
Then David felt ripples of a liquid-like air current flowing outward from the wall toward him as well, radiating throughout his body and seeming to rattle the very fillings in his teeth. He remembered his high school science classes and recalled learning about the effects of sound waves. He guessed that in such a place as this, with its thick, wet atmosphere, such ripples might move in a similar fashion after such a tremendous blow. Without taking another moment to analyze the matter further, David stumbled backward and then turned away from the wall. He fled as quickly as the heavy, watery atmosphere would permit, heading toward the U-shaped cornfield waiting in front of him. He did not know what lay in store for him ahead, but he knew what horror lay behind him, and he wanted no part of that particular scenario.
David approached the field of tall corn slowly and cautiously. As he got within a few feet of the first row of cornstalks, a section of the field about ten feet wide began to bend downward away from David as if of its own accord, forming some sort of pathway, which he assumed he was apparently supposed to follow. As if to accentuate this fact, he heard more savage banging against the membrane barrier far behind him, reminding him once again he had little choice but to move onward.
Slowly and carefully, David stepped up about two feet onto the first smashed row of cornstalks, surprised he had no difficulty walking on what he presumed would be a very irregular surface formed from the fallen vegetation. It was then he noticed a thin film of fog rising up from between the multitude of holes and crevices formed by the collapsed stalks. The film appeared to be filling in all of the openings and instantly solidifying, forming a glassy, translucent gray surface on which he could safely travel. David found the phenomenon most confounding and beyond his comprehension, yet once again he accepted this strange reality as if it were perfectly normal and continued moving foreword as he somehow understood he must do.
Looking ahead, he saw many more stalks falling down one row at a time as the fog simultaneously filled in the gaps, forming a road ahead of him, which permitted him to walk onward toward some unknown, preordained destination. When he had traveled perhaps a quarter of a mile or more, he turned around to check on the status of the gateway far behind him, which had led him from one strange roadway to the current even more bizarre trail. To his surprise, he discovered that the path had completely disappeared into the original cornfield from about fifty feet behind him. As if this were not strange enough, he could see more of the cornstalks in the distance begin to rise upward and quake violently as if alive, shaking off the remnants of the fog-like substance, which fell from the stalks. It reminded David of broken spider webs as the silky fragments floated gently to the ground below.
He once again began to move warily forward, and after traveling another several hundred feet, he discovered the corn was no longer laying down for him, no longer forming a road, but was instead standing tall and erect, as if indicating he had reached the end of his journey. David walked up toward the stalks, where they stood as straight as sentries, wondering what he should do next.
That was when he noticed one of the strange stalks at the front of the line slowly raise what appeared to be a leafy, arm-like appendage and point in the direction David was apparently supposed to travel. He turned to his right to follow the lead of the strange, lifelike stalk of corn and saw a narrow dirt road leading down a long, uneven slope toward an old ramshackle farmhouse about two hundred yards away.
He took a few watchful steps onto the road, unsure of what was to come next. Hearing a noise behind him, he turned and watched in awe as the remaining cornstalks returned to their original straight and tall forms, blocking any chance David had of returning the way he had come. He supposed he could attempt to walk in the very narrow spaces between the stalks, but their lifelike behavior made him reconsider his decision. He felt another cold chill race down his spine as the last few stalks shook off the solidified fog threads like a dog shaking water from its fur. It was as if they were actually living entities; perhaps they were.
David turned and started walking slowly down the long, rocky driveway, moving his eyes back and forth between the irregular road surface and the ominous farmhouse off in the distance, which came closer with each of his apprehensive footsteps. He knew he had no choice but to approach the house in order to find the answers promised by the strange sign he had seen hanging on the sycamore tree at the passageway. However, he was uncertain if he actually wanted to have his questions about this strange place answered. “Perhaps,” he thought, “sometimes ignorance might truly be more blissful then knowing the truth.”
He looked down at the roadway and saw a life-size child’s doll lying in the middle of the path. The doll was that of a little girl wearing a white and pink dress, now filthy, tattered and shredded, revealing yellowed lacy underclothing, also unkempt. Its left eye was missing, leaving a coal-black hole, while its right eye stared up at him intently, a faded film-covered orb.
David knelt down to pick up the broken toy, and as he lifted it carefully, he was sickened to the very core of his soul to feel its weight and fleshiness. Horrified, he dropped the revolting thing to the roadway in disgust as its curly blond wig fell from its skull, revealing a smooth head covered with mottled grey flesh. From its empty black eye socket, dozens of maggots spilled onto the ground and began to crawl about while several black and greenish flies flew upward toward David’s face.
David tried desperately to swat the filthy insects away, but in the thick liquid air his motions were as slow and futile as a man trying to wave his arms underwater. It was then when David finally realized with certainty that the sickening doll/thing was not a toy at all but actually the decomposing remains of a long-dead tiny child.
David wanted to cry out in anger and frustration or to vomit with repugnance, but he could not seem to do either. All he could do was stare helplessly down at the rotting infant corpse as if paralyzed, incapable of movement. Slowly he began to regain his composure to a small degree and was able to once again stand upright on unsteady legs, trying desperately to avoid looking down at the horrid child/doll abomination.
Venturing one last glance downward, he saw the creature was now lying on its back with one tiny arm down along its left side and the other chubby limb lying back alongside its hairless head. David saw its tiny hand move ever so slightly to form a pointing gesture, its small index finger aiming directly at the old farmhouse. David did not know how much more of this insanity he could take. This was by far worse than any nightmare he had ever experienced. Then before he had a chance to turn away, the mouth of the tiny corpse appeared to curl up slightly on its corners, forming a devious smile as if to indicate it understood more than David could realize and it was time for him to move on and continue this bizarre journey. He no longer thought he might be dreaming; he was fairly certain he might be going completely insane.
David reluctantly walked slowly on wobbly legs toward the house, a dilapidated structure standing as if in direct defiance of its deteriorated appearance. It was a two-story wooden structure that sat atop a stone foundation extending about five feet above the ground. Its wood was rotten and hanging haphazardly in many places. Every one of the windows of the structure was broken, leaving only jagged remnants of glass protruding from the frames, behind which was total blackness. David thought the glass fragments resembled the teeth of some savage demonic predator or perhaps the fangs of a vampire. Trees grew all around the building, and many of their branches had actually grown in through the broken glass windows, giving the appearance of the trees actually caressing the house. Perhaps they were the only thing supporting it, preventing it from collapsing in on itself in a heap of debris. A wretched flight of rotten wooden stairs led from the dirt roadway to a battered front door, which hung open, askew, dangling from one remaining rusted center hinge.
He slowly walked to the bottom of the ominous stairway and looked up into the pitch-black opening, not sure what his next move should be. He did not want to risk breaking his neck trying to climb the obviously decaying stairs; he did not really have any indention of entering the structure and perhaps encountering some unknown wild animal taking refuge inside, either. A moment later, his indecision became a moot point when he heard a menacing dragging, scraping sound coming from just inside the darkness behind the open front door.
David did not know what he should do upon hearing the frightening scratching noise, which seemed to echo hauntingly from the top of the stairs, so he reacted by taking a few cautious steps backward. The scraping sound continued, getting louder and closer by the second. After a moment, which seemed like an eternity to David, he saw several gnarled fingers appear at the edge of the top step. The fingers were filthy; it was coated with grime and had extremely long fingernails, which were yellowed and split. These unsightly fingers grasped the edge of the top landing board tightly and appeared to pull, dragging whatever existed behind them further forward, making the horrible macabre scraping sound. Soon, enough of the hand and forearm were exposed to allow the strange appendage to reach downward and grasp the edge of the next stair, which it used to drag itself ever closer.
Within a few interminable seconds, he saw exactly what the frightening hand was dragging behind it and had to struggle to keep from screaming as the incredibly horrible form clumsily slid its way down the stairs one grueling step at a time.
David found it difficult if not impossible for his mind to comprehend what he was seeing, as nothing in his reality had ever prepared him for such an unearthly image. The thing’s fingers led to a hand, and the hand, in turn, led to a human-like forearm, glistening with sweat and thick with hair and filth. The forearm led to a muscular upper arm, but that was where any similarity to human anatomy ended. What remained behind the forearm was what could only be described as a large, horribly flattened puddle of writhing flesh, which was being dragged forward by the muscular arm yet still appeared to have some form of propulsion of its own. This allowed it to squirm forward, driven like a worm or snake, its rippling flesh undulating as its blob-like form made its way down the rotting stairway.
To David, it appeared that what made up the appalling creature’s physical arrangement might have been the result of what a human body would look like after being dropped to the ground from an incredible height, like from an airplane. He imagined a bag made of human flesh filled with crushed bones, pools of blood and pulverized internal organs. As the thing moved impossibly forward, it made a revolting sloshing sound, which made David wish he were deaf, as he feared he would hear that ghastly sound in his nightmares for the rest of his life.
By now David was certain he must have lost his mind somewhere along the line, since even his worst nightmares could not compare to the horror he now saw before him. The arm/blob creature slowly made its way down the final stair and onto the roadway, stopping just a few feet in front of him. The grimy hand lifted upward, hooking its index finger in a beckoning gesture to David. He was terrified to do so; he felt that if the hand were to reach out and touch his leg, he might start screaming and never stop. But he reluctantly took a step closer.
At the base of the arm, where it met the approximate center of the undulating pinkish puddle of dirty flesh, an eye suddenly appeared, opening widely and staring up directly at David, causing him to jerk back in shock and terror. The eye rolled around, almost without intent before finally focusing and coming to rest its gaze on David’s own horrified eyes. Then just off to the right and slightly down from the atrocious single bulging eye, a cavernous black hole opened. A second later a long slimy red fleshy thing vaguely resembling a tongue protruded from the opening, moving in circles about the rim of the hole, as if attempting to lick lips that no longer existed. The sight made David’s stomach turn in revulsion. Then the unthinkable happened: the ghastly thing spoke.
“I see you have come to me for answers,” the thing said in a surprisingly intelligent yet watery, phlegm-filled voice. The voice sounded very old, perhaps ancient. Fowl breath smelling of decay wafted upward from the horrid mouth-like opening, assaulting David’s senses. He involuntarily moved back slightly to protect himself from the vile stench. The creature seemed to pay his reaction no mind.
“Answers?” David found himself asking aloud, surprised he could now not only form words but also somehow actually bring himself to speak to such an unbelievably nauseating creature. He continued to speak cautiously. “Answers…to what?”
The thing spoke again in its watery, raspy voice. “I am here to provide you with solutions for a problem of which you are not yet aware. There is a situation you have somehow unfortunately stumbled into.”
“What…situation?” David asked. “I want…I want to go home…to return to my wife....What is going on?....Am I asleep?....I must be asleep….Am I dreaming?”
