#26 - Jenny (Part 2)

I clicked the phone's power switch. Nothing happened.

“Dead battery,” I said, again to myself, “I'm going to go use the house phone. I'll be right back.”

I walked over and shrugged a pair of sandals on my feet. Although my back was facing her, I still felt her eyes. The sound coming from her never silenced, as if she didn't need to pause for a breath.

“I'll be right back,” I said once again while forcing myself to look back into those vapid, dead eyes, “I love you.”

I made my way for the exit, pausing only to wretch the door open and close it behind me. I felt my way through the soupy darkness before finding the light switch. I walked through the main hallway quickly as it opened into the living room. I grabbed at the phone placed upon the center table and dialed the number from memory. As the receiver softly hummed with ringing, my eyes fell upon the large wall clock that hung above the television. 3:14 AM; much too early to be calling about anything short of an emergency. I had hoped that this qualified.

“Hello?” came the groggy, sloth-like voice of Jenny's mother.

“Hello? Hi, Trish?” I said in rushed tone as my vision rested at the entrance to the living room, “It's Paul.”

“Is everything all right Paul?” she responded, her voice now tainted with worry.

“I'm not too sure,” I answered after a few moments of intent listening.

Distant footsteps rang from the bedroom.

“I need to take Jenny to the hospital,” I stated while trying to keep my free ear pricked, “She's not acting right.”

“What do you mean?” she replied.

I was going to respond, but a sudden booming sound caused me to jump and drop the phone. It fell to the floor and instantly shot out it's battery pack upon contact with the hardwood ground. I bent down and scooped up the contents of the receiver with trembling hands as another, similar sound tore through the house. I stood and stepped to the entrance of the living room, granting me sight to the closed door leading to the bedroom. A third, deafening boom sounded from the door, as if Jenny was throwing herself at it.

“Jenny, stop!” I called out, my voice uneven and shaky, “You're going to hurt yourself!”

The resulting action sent hairs spiking upward upon my neck. That same guttural noise became extremely clear and loud. I briefly imagined her pressing her lips to the crack of the door's hinge and breathing through it to accomplish such a feat.

“This shit has gone on long enough!” I shouted while slipping the battery back into the phone, “I'm calling 9-1-1.”

A kind of slow scraping began sourcing from the door, followed by the unmistakable noise of splintering wood. I cursed to myself again and again as I struggled to calm my shaking fingers to dial the three numbers.

“9-1-1, what's your emergency?” the droning voice of a woman met my ear.

“I'm not really sure what's going on,” I tried to explain as the sounds of door being peeled away echoed from the hallway, “My fiance isn't acting herself, and I need an ambulance.”

“Can I have your address, sir?” she went on to say.

I paused for a brief moment. The noises had ceased from the bedroom.

“Yeah,” I replied, my voice sounding unnaturally loud in the sudden silence, “1-1-5 Greenway Drive.”

I've sent a dispatch officer out to your residence. Is anyone-”

The rest of her sentence went unheard as a loud, retching scream came from the bedroom. A moment later, a strong force rhythmically slammed at the weakened door. I watched in disbelief and horror as the center of the wood began splintering outward.

#25 - Jenny (part 1)

I awoke just enough to roll to my right side and curl my arm around my love's sleeping body. I half-smiled as my fingertips expected to meet soft skin and gently flowing hair. I blinked a few times at the realization that the bed was empty. I pushed myself up a bit while scanning the side of the room. My eyes fell to the slim hallway of the adjoining bathroom. My body relaxed into the bed a bit at taking note of the closed door. I closed my tired eyes, but was determined to stay awake to give her one last kiss before drifting back into sleep.

Minutes passed. My brow furrowed as my ears strained to hear any noises from the bathroom. The room was completely silent; save for the soft flutter of a ceiling fan that pushed a gentle breeze upon my back. Worry began to tingle at my spine as I lied still and listened. Maybe something wasn't right. Perhaps she wasn't feeling well. I pushed myself from the bed once again while taking another look at the door. I rolled back to my left side to stand from the bed-

“Jesus Christ!” I shouted involuntarily as a figure hovered directly above me from my side of the mattress.

I pushed myself back in retaliation. The figure didn't budge; it merely stood idle as if watching me intently. It was much too dark within the room to make out detail, but the shadowy blob was clearly Human and feminine.

“Baby?” I asked while carefully crawling toward the figure, “You ok?”

It was her. I recognized the shape of the body that stood before me, along with the familiar fragrance of soap and shampoo that she used. I pushed myself from the edge of the bed and made my way toward her. I saw her turn to face me in the darkness, but no sound escaped her.

“Jenny, what the hell?” I said with a hint of playfulness while putting out my arms toward her exposed shoulders, “If you wanted to scare me, you did a good-”

I immediately leapt back and cursed upon touching her skin. I sucked at my fingers as they began to blister.

“Seriously Jenny, what is going on?” I said with more volume as I walked over to the wall switch, “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

I remained there, my good hand upon the switch, the figure again turning itself to face my direction.

“Cover your eyes, all right?” I said before pressing my hand firmly to the switch, “Bright light.”

I snapped the switch on, the resulting brightness causing my eyelids to clamp shut. I stood there for a few blind moments, my blurry vision slowly returning to me.

“Jenny, what-”

Jenny's gaze was focused directly upon me, despite the sudden change in light. A deep, complete redness stained the whites of her eyes, a blackened center staring blankly. Her mouth was open in a round shape, as if singing without sound. She stood rigid, her amber hair falling about her shoulders and face in tangled and ruffled clumps.

“Baby, what's wrong?”

A trickle of fear licked at my toes as she continued to stand and stare from across the room. We stood in complete silence for several moments, my mind scarcely willing to believe what was taking place before me as reality. Suddenly, a noise began from somewhere within Jenny's throat. It sounded akin to a choir vowel, although placed so far back in her vocal chords that it came out as raspy and uneven. Her mouth still didn't move. The wavy sound filled the space.

“This is too weird, Jenny!” I found myself shouting at her, “Cut it out, all right? You got me!”

Still, nothing. Her voice seemed to pierce at my eardrums. Those eyes were still focused intensely upon me, unblinking. I forced myself to move to my nightstand, which was a mere foot away from Jenny. She moved once more to stare at me, but made no additional movement. I snatched at my cell phone upon the wooden surface.

“You're sick,” I said to her, although it was largely stated aloud for my own comfort, “I'm going to call your mom before we go, ok? She can meet us there.”

An announcement

I've decided to take a week off from writing here, due to a lot of personal goings-on that have demanded a lot of my attention.  I will return next Sunday with a brand new story!

#24 - **Excerpt From A Mechanical Heart, a Novel**

My eyes had adjusted to the surrounding darkness somewhat. I was able to see the building we were approaching in clearer detail, it's domed roof lit sharply with a still-working street lamp. Although the darkness still consumed my eyes, something inside the building caught my strained gaze. A light perhaps, or maybe-

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“Shit!” I heard Trish curse loudly over the shrill siren.

Suddenly, an impossibly bright light was flashed in my eyes, bathing the rest of my body in intense whiteness. I looked to the source to see the square metallic shape of a camera pointing directly in our direction. A large mounted light was present upon the end of the shining lens.

“Get down, Antoinette!”

I was just able to duck behind a half-broken crate as the scream of bullets began whizzing past me and penetrating my cover. I gazed across the way to see Trish pulling something from the slung holster upon her back; a kind of brass-clad shotgun. She lifted the weapon over her head and blindly fired over the battered car that served as her shelter. She then cocked the smoking weapon and looked to be quickly.

“Don't just sit there!” she scolded with a raised voice over the chaos of bullets, “Help me!”

I cleared my head of thought and tightly gripped my weapon. When I thought I heard the smooth metal click of weapons reloading, I chanced a glance over the crate, weapon drawn and ready. I could barely make out a few figures in the blackness. I aimed my weapon at one of them and fired with calm precision. I smiled shallowly as my uniquely-crafted bullet hit it's mark with impressive accuracy, the figure falling from sight.

My smile quickly dropped as something else suddenly began taking place. The blasting of weaponry continued, but was now mixed with the clomping of heavy boots upon the broken asphalt.

“They are advancing upon us!” Trish screamed over the quickly growing noises, “We have to move!”

With one, fluid movement I bent my knees and leapt across the way to where Trish was hiding. My back slammed against the chilled metal of the car as I heard something strange emanate from our enemies.

“pro mrechnal sictus srectorus ov krir!”

At least, that's what it sounded akin to. Some strange language, I briefly mused.

“Toni, stay with me!”

I blinked several times and turned to her piercing gaze.

“Move! Now!”

I needed no further convincing for my next action. I gave her one last look before bracing my knees for a sprint.

The world seemed to move in slow motion as I pushed off the car and took a few running steps to my right side. Small chunks of broken concrete and gravel crunched under my boots as I felt the general attention of our enemies draw to me, threatening to throw my balance off. The sharp zoom of bullets began whizzing past me as I dove for the nearest cover I could see. I let out a large breath of air as I gathered myself into a crouch. My back now pressed to a chunk of uprooted asphalt.

“Trish, get over here!” I shouted while peeking out above the cover and firing three warning shots.

Only one seemed to hit it's mark. A smaller figure amongst the dozens fell harshly to the ground. My back fell against the cover once again as I flicked the chamber of my gun open and emptied the smoking cartridges.

Thack!

A pained shout sounded to my left. I turned my gaze to see Trish, her face contorted in extreme pain. She faltered for a moment in mid stride, looking as though she would collapse. The enemies weapons never ceased firing.

“Trish!” I tried calling to shake her from her sudden stupor.

At seeing no movement on her part I dove from hiding and tackled her. We fell to the ground in a tangled heap. As if on cue I felt a wave of bullets scream past us from above. I breathed in a nauseating melange of sulfur, concrete, dust and grime that wafted from the ground my face was pressed to. In that same moment of chaos I gripped at Trish's sides with adrenaline-charged hands and rolled her over me, creating a sort of strange Human wheel. After a few revolutions, we were behind the hunk of debris and out of harm's path.