Love ever after - Chpt 5

 

Chapter 5

      

       "Welcome back," Letty said with disdain. She floated in the air as if she were sitting in an invisible chair.

       Again... I was back at the bottom of the stairs, standing on the exact spot I did when I arrived the first time.

       "Wow, I feel like s**t... almost like I was hung over," I complained, stretching.

       "You're an inconsiderate a*s, did you know that?" she barked, punching my shoulder.

       "What did I do?"

       "I told you not to do it but you did it anyway. You weren't ready... You could have damaged yourself," she complained, punching me a second time.

       "What are you talking about? I'm fine," I rebuffed, unhappy with her tone.

       "This time maybe, but do you know how long you've been gone?" She pressed, trying to slug me again.

       "Stop that and I have no idea... over night?" I said trying to put a little distance between us.

       "Eleven days... you've been gone eleven days," she shouted, her voice cracking, tears soaking into her words.

       "You're kidding. Where the hell have I been?"

       "There's more to dyeing than being dead," she scolded pointing a finger in my face.

       "What does that mean?"

       "It means you don't always get to come back. If you fool around one time to many, you're gone, that's it, gone, never to continue on any plain of existence and I don't want to lose you again," she shouted, wiping her face roughly.

       "Again? When did you lose me before?"

       "You know what I mean," she sniveled, rocking back and forth.

       "Sorry. I didn't mean for you to worry. I didn't know I would disappear like that... that anything would happen at all."

       "Well, now you do," she said, punching me again.

       "Sorry. It won't happen again," I returned wrapping my arms around her, hugging her.

       She hugged me back, squeezing me tightly.

       "What do we have to eat?" I asked, pulling free at last.

       "Your such an a*s," she said, punching me again.

       It wasn't that I was hungry as much as I wanted to ease Letty's mind and to change the subject.

       I followed her through the wall, sitting at my favorite table as she went through all the steps needed for an outstanding grill cheese sandwich.

       No sooner than the moment I got comfortable, Bob and his stinky little cookie appeared. I slipped it over the side of the table, breaking it in half, giving him the first piece, pretending to eat the second. He darted about in little circles, filled with a panicky kind of excitement.

       "Don't be mean," Letty admonished lightly, setting the plate down in front of me.

       I tossed the tidbit as Bob jumped up to greet it mid way.

       "Did they come back?" I asked after a long silence without looking at her.

       "Yes," she answered turning away. "I gave them nothing. Bob and I left the house."

       "Letty," I began

       "Come on, Bob, it's bed time," she ordered and Bob did as she asked, the jingle of his collar trailing off after her.

       "Letty, please, don't be like that," I pleaded.

       "Make sure the windows are closed it will rain tonight," she said with out turning.

       "Come on, Letty."

       One by one, every component that made up the kitchen, right down to the light that filled the room, disappeared with the lone exception of the table, chairs and me.

       "God damn it," I cursed.

       I made my way around the bottom floor closing the windows just as she asked.

When I got to the front door the air from outside was cool, inviting. I stepped out onto the porch, drawing a deep breath.

       The yard was green, the air heavy with the smell of fresh mown grass. Abundant flowers of every variety filled the beds, lining the walkways and borders. I made my way down the sidewalk just to take in the smells and to try to clear my head.

       I stood at the gate, resting my hands on its cool surface, looking down the driveway to the street.

       Nothing... not a car, not a person, nothing moved.

       The sky was flooded with deep reds, oranges and yellows, bouncing off the underside of the gathering clouds.

        Shortly, as the light from the setting sun grew weaker, they grew thicker, darker, roiling angrily.

        The smell of ozone filled the air as soft flashes of lightening illuminated their interiors. They pressed relentlessly against one another, making the lightening seem brighter, more intense, coming with greater frequency.

        It now appeared as though it would rain all night just as Letty had predicted.

        I waited, half expecting to find myself at the bottom of the stairs with the advent of each new rumble of thunder.

        I watched their fierce ballet for a moment... just a second or so and then the unthinkable.

        As I turned back to the driveway, standing in front of me no more than five or ten feet away, a huge woman, nearly as big as Benson himself.

       Perfectly proportioned, dressed in a well tailored, short, dark dress with a deep v neck exposing the better part of her breast, she just stood there, her arms folded, looking at me.

       "Good God, you startled me," I blurted nervously.

       "Did I? It was not my intention at all Mr. Sullivan," she said smoothly, coming closer.

       My body tingled and I shuttered a little.

       "I'm sorry... do I know you? I can't seem to place the face," I returned, stepping back a foot or two.

       "Ah, I know you Mr. Sullivan... all of you... right down to the last of you," she said, as she rested her hands on the gate.

       I felt as if her eyes were piercing my very soul as they narrowed, almost squinting at me.

       All she had to do was lift the latch and she would be on my side of the portal, for reasons I could not fathom, I was terrified she would do just that.

       "What do you want here Grace?" Benson asked, suddenly appearing on the path behind me.

       I don't know what frightened me more, his sudden, unexpected arrival or the tone in his voice.

       "It's him," she said, her voice oily, filled with a hunger I didn't like or understand. "Can you smell it? How often does this happen? He's the last... the middle man and he wants me... oh yes, Benson you've lost this one. He's as good as mine."

       In the instant I looked to Benson and back to her, others were advancing up the driveway...

       Misshapen, dark, featureless beings... hundreds of them at first and then thousands, given birth from every shadow, every dark corner, every nook or cranny void of light and from the ground itself. Slowly they advanced toward the house, surrounding the whole of the property as far as the eye could see.

       Thunder boomed loudly over head, shaking me to the core.

       "He doesn't have his memory yet... he doesn't know... he can't choose if he doesn't know. If it is what he wants, Grace, he can go with you... I won't stop him, but I won't tolerate this intimidation," Benson growled.

       The massive horde of shadow people pressed against the fence, undulating tirelessly like waves on the beach in their efforts to breach it's confines.

       "Intimidation? Nothing could be further from the truth. These are simply the fragments of his sole, each filled with the desire for unification... to be whole at last... to move on," she said, her voice saccharin in tone.

       "Fragments of my sole? Middle man? Benson, I don't..." I stammered, dividing my attention to those beyond the fence, Grace and the fear that now possessed every fiber of me.

       "It could be years Grace, centuries," Benson snapped impatiently.

       "Perhaps. With the exception of one little thing... one little piece of information I have, he does not... then perhaps," she said coyly.

       "Leave it alone Grace. He'll discover it on his own, in time," Benson said. His voice held an edge, a hint of anger and the way he looked at her made me shudder again.

       "Discover what? What do you know that I don't?" I asked firmly, stepping forward for the first time.

       "Grace, I'm warning you," Benson growled.

       "Do you know how you got here Mr. Sullivan? Why you're here and not still in the living world?" She asked. Her lips curled with a wicked little smile of self-satisfaction.

       "No. Not really... I fell down the stairs, I think. Why?" I pressed, moving to stand closer to the gate.

       "Grace," Benson snapped angrily.

       She shot a quick glance to him before turning to me. Her eyes gleamed with avarice. The corners of her mouth twitched excitedly.

       "You were murdered, Mr. Sullivan... cold, calculated, murder, right here in this very house," she mouthed slowly, ignoring Benson's warning, looking like the cat that ate the canary.

       A storm of unfocused shock and anger swept over me, taking hold of every fiber of me. The instant it filled me, the other accumulated parts of my sole roared with a new level of satisfaction. The gratifying sound of their cheers stoked the fire that now burned in me all the more.

       I wasn't sure if I were feeling the full depth of that anger on my own or if the other parts of myself were feeding it as well.

       "Enough," Benson shouted, reaching out for me.

       At the instant he touched me, thunder exploded over head, my mind reeled and I was suddenly filled with nausea as everything went black.

 

 

 

Reviews

[Avanthika]

oh with the murder thing as a twist , the story's more exciting