Midnight Series pt. I: The Midnight Gift

A woman afraid of getting old might have a way to get out of it, if she can pay the price.

Birthdays, when your young can mean the world, but when you get older all that changes. It can be subtle as well, not just one birthday you hate them, but slowly over time. They go from love, to not mattering, and then being something close to an enemy. To 27 now turning 28 year old Kendra Donnelly, it was now becoming an enemy.

 

“The Midnight Gift”

idea and story by: Richard McLin

 

I

 

        Kendra awoke early on what was her twenty-eighth birthday. She was practicing her act over and over again in her head. She would have to fool her friends and loved ones that this was nothing but another birthday, but she knew exactly what it really was and that was a countdown.

        Kendra was a beautiful woman, long red hair, great skin and complexion, and she had received numerous complements on her breasts and a*s. Now all she knew was that it was all slipping away. She pictured her tits sagging and her a*s resembling cottage cheese. She had a feeling that she was only a few years from completely hating herself.

        Slipping out of bed she walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Although she looked great for just getting out of bed, what she saw in the mirror was the freaky old lady from “Titanic”.

        “You're getting f*****g old.” she thought to herself as she turned around and started the shower.

        The hot water poured on her naked body. She could feel every drop. It was helping somewhat. It was as if she sensed every drop penetrating her body and revitalizing her spirit. She still was unhappy about it being her birthday, but she was feeling somewhat better. Now she just hoped that the feeling would last through the day.

        She brought her hands down to begin washing her face, but then she found her fingertips were pruney, but she saw it was wrinkles, and screamed. She screamed so loud she feared the glass shower door would burst.

        “What's going on?” came a voice from the other side of the door.

        She started to breath again, and slowly began to calm down.

        “Nothing Hugo, sorry, I just sort of scared myself is all.”

        Hugo Pooley, was her boyfriend of the last six and a half years, and even he has not been told how she felt of the coming age change. She closed her eyes and began to wash her face. Two minutes, that great feeling lasted two whole minutes.

 

II

 

        The party was much bigger than she had imagined it would be. All around her were the people that had loved and cared with and for her through the years. Friends and family all that had been with her for the good and the bad.

        She watched Hugo for about twenty minutes. He was socializing with most of her friends, but with one friend mostly. Her name was Cynthia Yi. Cynthia was about three years younger, and tighter in all the right areas.

        “There he goes, franternizing with the office s**t. She'd f**k anything that walks, and he looks about ready to do the f*****g walk for life marathon. Why don't they just f**k right in front of me and get it over and done with.”

        He then walked over and kissed Kendra on the cheek and sat down next to her.

        “Time for you to open your presents dear.” He said.

        She grabbed the first one and opened the card on top.

 

        Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

at least your not dead,

Though I guess you'll be soon.

 

        The card was meant to be funny, it was not funny. It did not even rhyme very well. She could see from the name that it was from Gary from reception. She smiled at him and then imagined slitting his throat, and draining his f**k-nut blood all over the card. Then she was wondering where all these morbid thoughts were coming from lately?

        “Thanks Gary, great card, it's classic right?” she faked.

        Opening the present it was a heating pad for a chair to ease back muscles after a long day. She was twenty-eight, and getting forty year old s**t. The thoughts were holding themselves back, but they wanted free.

        The rest of the presents and cards were about the same. She could not help but notice that there was nothing from Hugo.

        “Baby, I wanted mine to be the last present you opened.”

        He got up, walked in front of her, and keeled down on one knee. He moved his right hand to his pants pocket and from there brought out a small box that was obviously from a jewelry store.

        “You are the love of my life Kendra. Sometimes I wake up and see you next to me sleeping, and I watch you. Not in a creepy stalker way, but in a man how did I get so lucky to be with her, way. I'm not a poet, I don't have the beautiful words to just simply say, I love you and if I could get the chance to be your husband, I don't see how anything else I accomplish would even come close to being able to call myself yours.”

        He opened the box and in there was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. She could feel the tears come down her cheeks before she even knew she started crying.

        “Of course Hugo, of course I'll marry you.”

        He leaped up and embraced her and gave her a passionate kiss. She could feel some tongue, but it was not inappropriate tongue. She did hope that c**t Cynthia was watching.

        He slipped the ring on her and it was a perfect fit.

        “Drink up everyone, tonight, we are engaged!” Hugo cried out, tearing up himself.

 

        That night she had the best sex of her and Hugo's entire relationship. She seemed feel more of him inside of her than ever before. He looked deep into her eyes with every thrust, and it made her want him more. They climaxed at the same time, him, quiet with a soft moan, and her a bit louder, and saying his name. Then the fell asleep. The day ended well, but that nagging thought of her getting old was still there.

 

III

 

        “Sorry I missed your birthday b***h, but I got you something you are gonna dig the most.” said her friend Tammie from work.

        “Oh, you don't have to get me anything, I know you've been busy. I do appriciate the phone call.”

        “Bullshit I don't have to get you anything, come pick me up, I will take you to this place that will change you forever. It did me.”

        She knew once Tammie had her mind set on something it was extremely complicated to change it.

        “Okay, I'll see you in a half hour.”

 

 

        They were not even in the same town anymore. In fact they were very close to entering a new county.

        “Where the hell is this place Tam?”

        “Patience. It's in a small town called Darksward, I found while me and Frank were antiquing. It has this great little shop called “Midnight”. It has these exotic gifts, and the store owner says that they are more special than you'll realize.”

        “Okay, but it better be worth the trip, Hugo and I are suppose to meet with another wedding planner tomorrow, and I don't want to be all wonky when we go to meet them cause I was driving to f**k knows where with you.”

        Tammie flipped her off, and then pointed right in front of her. Kendra looked to the right of the road to see a sign “WELCOME TO DARKSWARD, YOU WON'T WANT TO LEAVE.”

        “We are here.” Tammie said.

 

 

        It did not take long to find the store Midnight. It looked like it used to be a hobo's urinal, and Kendra was starting to not like the prospect of finding a great present here. As she opened the door a little bell signaled their entry. The inside looked a lot better than the outside, but still not great. It looked like a knick knack shop you would find in a coastal town in the pacific northwest.

        “Welcome to Midnight.” came a voice.

        She expected some old guy that would actually turn out to be the devil like that old guy from that Stephen King movie, but it was just some teenager with bad skin. Probably a summer job.

        “Hey, we are here to look around.” Tammie said.

        “Sure whatever, come find me when your done.” he said and wandered off.

        “Look around, whatever you want to buy, it's on me.” Tammie said.

        “Gee, I don't know what to say.” Kendra replied, and began looking.

        The store seemed to mostly have old jewelry and photo's and such. This was not the way she wanted to spend her afternoon. Digging through old crap whose owners were probably six feet under now feeding the worms.

        Then she heard it. A small faint humming sound, but not an annoying humming. It almost sounded like some faint voice singing her name. She looked around and found it was coming from near the door. She could not stop her legs from walking towards it. “Curiosity killed the cat.” she told herself.

        “But satisfaction brought it back.” came the faint voices reply.

        She spotted Tammie outside having a cigarette, so she knew that Tammie was not f*****g with her. Then she saw it, and was shocked.

        It was a little wooden man with a horn. It was about the size of an average persons thumb, and she could tell it used to be brightly colored.

        “So, your it huh.” she said while picking it up.

        She smiled cause she actually expected it to answer her. She turned it over and discovered that it cost seventy-five dollars. She thought her eyes were gonna pop out of her head.

        “Damn, your an expensive little man.”

        “No price on what I bring. Tell me what you want, and hear me sing.”

        She nearly dropped it. It DID answer her.

        “Tammie, I found it.” she called out.

 

 

IV

 

        Two years had gone by since the day she bought the little man with the horn. He had not talked since, and back then she knocked it back to stress, put him in her jewelry box, and forgot about him. Since then she had married Hugo, and even produced a child, Timothy.

        She woke up in a cold sweat, and the day she had feared was arriving in two days. It was now the countdown to her thirtieth birthday, and she wanted to kill herself. It was now six in the morning, she got Timothy and put him in his playpen in the living room, and was watching some TV.

        “It's coming. Nearly here is it not?” came a familiar voice.

        She nearly did not recognize it for it had been years since hearing it.

        “You need not grow old. Give me what I need, what I crave, and I can make you young forever.”

        She picked up Timothy and walked up the stairs to her room. With one hand dug through her jewelry and found him lying there, the little man with the horn.

        “What would you need?”

        “I'll tell you when I feel you'll do what is necessary. Await my voice for it will return.”

        Then silence, all except for Timothy who appeared to be pissed that he was no longer playing.

 

 

        That night there was a party, much like the one she had two year prior. Only this time she was more positive that Hugo was f*****g Cynthia. They were not even trying to hide it anymore. Their marriage had been falling apart since she had their son. Her body did not lose the baby weight right away, and Hugo grew so distant that by the time she was her normal size again, it seemed to late.

        This party was a tad quieter for everyone their knew of the tension in the relationship. Tammie had not talked to her in months, she said the strain was to much to handle. Tammie always was sort of a flake though. She watched him, he talked to Cynthia right in front of her.

        “That m**********r does not even care that this is my party, he is chatting her up right in front of me. I could kill him, and it would be so easy..” she thought to herself, and that's when she heard the humming. It was the man with the horn, he was calling for her. Timothy would be at her mothers till the day after tomorrow, so she would be the only one upstairs.

        “Come to me, for it is time.”

        She slid past the party and up the stairs. She was not surprised to see that no one really noticed she had gone. They came to her party cause they were invited, but they were busy conducting their own lives. She did not care about any of them, except Hugo, how could have fucked her like this?

        She made it to the box and she removed the little man quickly.

        “What do you need?”

        “I need you to take those that you love. Only through such a sacrifice can you be young FOREVER.”

        “The ones I love, you mean Hugo and Timothy?”

        “I do.”

        She put the man back in the box and shut it.

 

        

V

 

        It was time for Timothy to come home. She was waiting outside the front door for her mothers car to pull up. She felt she was finally calming down after her party, and that soon her life would slowly get back on track. She was excited to get Timothy back.

        Her mother pulled up, and Kendra walked up to greet her mother and son.

        “Hey mom, how was?”

        “Oh, he was so good. We loved having him over. Where is Hugo?”

        Kendra looked at her mother and smiled.

        “Oh, he's out.”

        She just smiled back and handed Timothy over to Kendra. They kissed, planned another visit, and Kendra watched her mother drive off.

 

        Kendra fed him, and they played for a bit. He was so cute in the little sailor outfit his grandmother bought him. The day was growing late and Timothy was getting sleepy. She could see the toddler was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

        “Time for bed buddy, lets go.”

        She picked him up, and it appeared he was already asleep. She laid him down to sleep, as he got all comfortable she picked up his favorite pillow, the one with the cartoon monkey on it. She took one more look at him, and then placed it firmly over his face. She could feel his tiny little body squirm and twitch, but she knew deep down that it wouldn't for long.

        “Just f*****g die.” She cried out, knowing it was to late to take any of it back.

        His little body went limp, and his arms and legs stopped moving in a fight to save himself, and she knew that he had lost.

        She picked up her dead child and took him down to the basement. The ground down there was dirt, Hugo never got around to putting in the cement. She thought Timothy would like to be buried near his fathers body. She still smiled when she thought of the knife going into his throat, and the look on his face when he realized not only that he was dying, but who had caused it.

        “Very nice, come to me once more.”

        She walked up stairs and grabbed the little man with the horn.

        “I did what you said. Now keep your end of the bargain.”

        “Indeed I shall, when you wake up tomorrow, you shall look as you did when you bought me, and you will never age.”

        She put him away and went to bed.

 

VI

 

        She woke up excited, but the excitement was short lived. As she went to get out of bed, she discovered that she could not move her arms or legs. Her eyes could open and close, but that was about it.

 

        It took two days for anyone to find her. It was her mother who did at last. Taking her to the hospital, she was diagnosed with being in some sort of paralysis. None of the doctors could explain it. Her family hated seeing her hooked up to tubes and machines, and after three months, pulled the plug. Without the machines for help, Kendra died four days later. Her house was sold soon after, but since she did such a fine job burying the bodies, no one ever found them, and they simply vanished. The little man was sold in an auction.

 

Her funeral was filled with people that loved her, and Tammie was there. During the ceremony the man proceeding over the service mentioned how young Kendra was, how she would be remembered that way forever. THE END.

 

Richard McLin 2009

 

Author's Note

This is my first COMPLETE short story in some time. So be honest.

Reviews

[Nicole]

Woooaaah! That's crazy.. I'm sixteen turning seventeen and I worry about getting old all the time.
But that little guy.. oh my gawd.
I really enjoyed this story.. it was sad because the husband and son had to die.
But she got what she wanted.. she would be young forever. xD
Props to you, rating 100%.

[Paulinette]

Was not expecting that ending!!! In the end she got what she wanted...I knew that litte man was not to be trusted, my grandma always told me never to struck a bargain with things and people from the otherworld.

[Richard McLin]

Your grandma's very wise. Thank you for the review.

[Amanda]

Wooow! Trippy! Totally caught me off guard with the ending, but it was a complete delight from start to finish. Love your work!

[cest la vie]

Very good Richard!
Excellent plot, dialogue and the ending was a "Pow"..

Yes, you wrote a great thriller here. More..More..

[deeps]

I like this alot and can not wait to read more.
I like the card, I found it shocking.
Everything seems to read well and it set up well.
I found it to be an enjoyable read. I like all
the drama in this. Like it alot.

[SM Davis]

This is a good story. There are a lot of typos and the beginning paragraph can use some restructuring, but all in all this is a good story. It could probably even be a bit longer. Adding a little more detail into the killings of her husband. I imagine she would have taken pleasure in it...(GAWD DO I SOUND MANIACAL OR WHAT?) however, considering the story line, I don't think it would hurt to put some more detail into it.

Nicely done.

[V. Lucien Maier]

very nice ending. I felt the flow was good. the language although harsh matched this piece.
the plot line was built nicely. nicely done.