Twilight Nightmares (Twisted Tales Special Edition Book 1) (15 page)

Drowning in the Past

 

 

 

 

"What's the last thing you remember?"

I fidgeted for a moment, bit my lips, and furrowed my brow. "I remember Kellen pushing me through the door, and him telling me not to forget the parachute. When I was in the street, I felt a vacuum drawing me up into the sky, like reverse gravity."

"Then what happened?"

"I felt like I couldn't breathe, like I was running out of air." I said, and ran my hands through my greasy hair.

"Okay." The man said, and lead back against the chair, which emitted the soft groan of stressed metal. "What happened next?"

"I—I really don't know."

 

6 Hours Earlier

 

Loud hip-hop music boomed in the background of the small dive bar. Even though years had passed since anyone was able to smoke in a building, the stench of stale cigarettes remained strong. Some people sat at the dimly lit bar while others played pool at the cheap tables spread throughout the place. Kellen and his friends were among them.

Burke left the bathroom, feeling a bit fuzzy from the three drinks he had. L.A. Water, as they called it, was a hell of a strong cocktail. When his lips felt numb and he had a noticeable slur, he knew he should've stopped drinking. Instead, he ordered one more on his way back to the pool table.

When he rejoined Kellen, Marco, and Sal, they raised their glasses and howled. Burke was, after all, the man of the hour. Having just passed the bar exam and ready to make his mark on the legal world, he needed one good romp before hitting the straight and narrow path to success.

After about an hour of pool and bit more booze, the boys decided to call it a night. Kellen climbed into the back of a cab, which wasn't his but the people that ordered it realized he needed it more than they did and let him leave with it. Marco had his arm around Burke’s neck, and Sal walked backward toward the parking lot with his arms waving in the cool night air.

Marco said, "Dude, I can't believe you're
gonna
be
a goodie
-two-shoes now."

"I'm... I'm not going to be
doogie
... goodie-two-feet!"

"Shoes!" Marco slurred, and laughed. He dug his hand into his pocket and fished out a small square of folded aluminum. "Here, unwrap this shit, and suck on it."

"Dude, I
ain't
gay!" Burke said, and pushed him off. Marco laughed hard, and Sal did, too, falling against a black Chevrolet in the process.

"Nah, man, get your mind
out'tha
gutter. This!" He said, and placed it in Burke’s hand.

"What it is?"

"You'll see."

Burke stood for a moment, leaning
left and right and forward
and backward as if he was holding steady on a boat weathering a heavy storm. He looked up, both eyes alert yet about as focused as the heavy Gaussian blur of thick circular glass. Then, he put the aluminum in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed it.

 

4 Hours Earlier

 

The room was unfamiliar to Burke, and so were the people. Sitting on the couch was a teenage girl with her hands tied together on her lap. She wore a pair of small shorts and a yellow top. Her blonde hair hung over her shoulders, and a thick strip of duct tape gagged her. Next to her was a little boy, bound just the same, wearing a superman jumpsuit with padded
feet.
Then there was a man wearing a pair of boxers and a stained white t-shirt with his wife next to him wearing a light-blue Chantilly lace nighty.

The boy whimpered, and Marco paced back and forth while scratching his temple with a gun. He pointed the barrel at the father and screamed, "I want the fucking money!"

The man shook his head, and Sal appeared from the right. He planted his fist in the father's cheek, and the man sneezed up some blood. The man's wife began to cry, and Sal grabbed a handful of her hair. He pulled her head back and kissed the tape covering her lips.

Sal slurred, "If you don't give it to us, we might just take something
else
from you."

Burke could barely stand, and the excitement caused a slithering sickness in his stomach. He threw his hand against the wall, supported himself, and vomited on the small table next to the couch. The man's daughter leaned away from Burke and whined as specks of his ejection spackled her skin. The room wobbled and warped, and he dropped the gun he had no idea he was holding.

 

2 Hours Earlier

 

Kellen slammed on the brakes and the car skidded to a stop in the dirt. Rocks ticked against the undercarriage, and Sal rolled out of the front passenger seat. Burke remained in the back seat staring up at the soft glow of the map light until Kellen threw the door open and pulled him from his comforting rest. They moved to the back of the car as Marco opened the trunk.

Sal first pulled the girl out, who was limp and bled from a wound on her head. Marco fished the young boy out, who didn't put up much of a fight and whose jumpsuit
was now soiled
with piss. Sal threw the girl to the ground, and used the gun to force the mother and father to get themselves out of the trunk.

"Come on, come on. We don't have all night." He slurred, though it was much less prevalent than before.

Burke rolled his eyes, nearly lost his balance, and Kellen caught him. "
Woah
, dude. You don't want to miss this."

A sharp pain traveled from between his eyes to the back of his head as Kellen flashed a light in his face. Kellen said, “You alright?”

Burke was about to answer him, but immediately jumped when he heard a loud sound boom from behind him. He rolled his head back, and glanced over just in time to see the man's wife drop to the ground dead and a gun in Sal's hand. Three more shots disturbed the night. Burke felt the fuzzy loss of time approach again, and when it arrived, he rode the waves of darkness to a not-so-distant future.

 

2 Hours Later

 

My head pounded hard, and I pressed my palms to my temples with the hope it might abate the pain. It didn't. I felt every swell and
pulse
as my brain seemed to make every effort to break free from my skull.

I took a deep breath, and looked down at my shoeless feet. I wasn't wearing my socks. I wasn't wearing my pants nor my shirt but rather grey and blue sweats. They'd taken everything away for evidence. The cot I sat on was incredibly uncomfortable, and there was an odd rubbery smell accenting the stink of aged sweat. I heard a buzzer sound and a heavy metal door open. I stood, and shuffled toward the pale green painted iron bars that locked me in.

Footsteps grew closer and closer, and finally Kellen appeared with a chubby officer at his side. Kellen wore a nice suit, and held a black leather briefcase. I recognized it as one of mine. Confusion swallowed me whole as the officer looked at Kellen and said, "You got five minutes. Don't try
nothin
' funny."

Kellen nodded, and the officer waddled back down the corridor. I said, "What the hell is going on? They’ve been questioning me for a couple hours, but they won't tell me why."

"You don't remember?"

"God, I barely remember my own name. What the hell did we do last night?"

"
We
?" He said, and laughed. "You mean
you
. What the hell did
you
do last
night.
"

"What?" I said, and walked looked down. "Why are you wearing my clothes? And that's mine too."

"Not anymore." He said.

"Stop fucking around, what the hell is going on?"

Kellen leaned close, and I could smell the sour stink of gum that had long ago lost its flavor. He said, "
You
killed a whole family last night.
You
took their money. Well, at least that's what it looks like."

I didn't remember any of that, let alone anything from that night. My head began to pound again, and I slammed my eyes shut.

I said, "I don't understand."

Kellen took a deep breath and said, "It's been a good ten years, but I thought you'd remember me. Remember what you did to my sister. You know, she was only 13, you
sonofabitch
."

My legs immediately felt weak, and I grabbed onto the bars to steady myself. As shock raised my hairs and turned my skin ashen white, I said, "Lincoln? Kellen Lincoln? Your sister? All I did was break up with her."

“Yeah, and then she killed herself.”

I placed my hands on my head in disbelief and said, “But that’s not my fault.”

“Sure it is. You just never cared enough to notice the kind of damage you did to her.”

“She couldn’t—no, that couldn’t have been my fault.”

"It was
all your
goddamn fault." He said, and leaned closer, "And guess what? Payback's a bitch. Enjoy spending the rest of your life in this icy hell."

The Nightmare on Christmas Eve

 

 

 

 

Jimmy had always been a curious boy. Since he could remember, which wasn’t that far back because he was only ten, he always needed to answer questions. Discovery through adventure was his game, and he loved it.

That Christmas eve, he walked down the stairs toward the living room. The strong scent of pine and peppermint elated him, reminding him that Christmas was only fifteen minutes away. Each step he took down that wooden staircase drew him closer to his destination. Presents.

Last Christmas, he’d gotten in trouble for opening the presents early. He didn’t know any better, but that didn’t stop his parents from returning all his gifts. They even took away the prank lump of coal his father put into his stocking. This year, however, he would be more careful. He needed to satiate his desire to find out what lied within those green, gold, and silver wrapped packages.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, his eyes looked at the real pine tree nestled in the corner of the room. The multi-colored lights blinked in and out, casting a menagerie of colorful stains on the white wall. The light glistened from various ornaments, one of which was a small snow-globe he made in arts and crafts that summer.

As he approached the tree, his eyes fixed on a large present centered before all the others. Its silver wrapping was especially reflective, which made it that much more alluring when the lights twinkled from it. A forest-green bow trimmed with gold topped it at the upper left corner, and wedged below it was a small folded card.

He bit his thumbnail, trying hard to keep himself from ripping it open and finding out what his parents got him. After all, a present that big must be good, and he didn’t want them to return it because he took just a small peak ahead of time. Nevertheless, he
had
to know.

Maybe just look at the card, he thought, and then reached out and poked the edge of the card until it opened. It verified the present was to “Little Jimmy”, but it was strange that it was not from his parents. They had put Santa in place of their names, which was
incredibly
odd. They didn’t want him believing in Santa, and so they made sure to tell him that the man didn’t exist. He rolled his eyes at their silly inability to remain consistent.

Jimmy looked at the tape that held the folded wrapping to the side, and began to pick softly at it with his nail. After much restraint to tear it open, he finally managed to pull the edge free and removed the tape. As he did so, the box moved.

He jumped back, and his eyes widened. He whispered, “What the heck did they get me? I bet it’s that robot I always wanted!”

He began to pick at the piece of tape holding the other fold of wrapping paper, and when it finally loosed, he pealed the paper back. The box thumped from within, and moved slightly.

Jimmy stood and took a step back as it thumped again.
And again
.
Whatever was inside thumped harder and harder, and finally a black claw tore through the top of it.

Jimmy wanted to scream, but he couldn’t. Terror had all but ripped out his tongue, silencing him with its unequivocal power. He froze, too, unable to run and find his parents. He could only watch as a creature tore open the top of the box and clawed its way out.

It stood just a bit taller than he did, and had tight leather skin. It hunched over,
sharp clawed
hands drooping near its knees. It had a thin white beard, and looked at him with emerald-green eyes adorned with ruby-red irises. It chuffed, and moved closer to sniff him. It brought a single claw to his face, and before it could cut or kill him, Jimmy finally managed a pathetic scream.

The creature reared back and ululated at him. Spit shot from its jagged jaws, and it disappeared into the dark house.

“Mom! Dad!” he called, still frozen with fear.

The thunderous boom of his father’s feet thumped across the ceiling. A door opened, and the hall light switched on. His father appeared at the head of the stairs, wide-eyed and out of breath.

“What?” He said curtly, but more alarmed than angry.

“Dad!” The boy screamed again, and pointed at the present.

“Goddamn you, Jimmy.” His father said as he began to walk down the stairs. As he reached the midway point, Jimmy saw the shadows move and suddenly the creature was moving toward his father.

“No!” He said, but he was too late. The creature latched onto the man’s foot, and he fell forward down the stairs. Jimmy heard every thump, snap, and crack until the man landed in his final resting place.

Jimmy ran to his father and looked down. The man’s neck was broken, some teeth shattered, and a bone protruded from his leg. Jimmy felt sick, sad, and scared. He fell to his knees and listened to his father wheeze his final breath.

A much softer thump came from the master bedroom, and Jimmy soon heard his mother scream. She took the steps two at a time, and pushed Jimmy out of the way. She put her hands on her husband’s chest, and wept for she knew the man, in his state, was no longer alive.

She turned, “What did you do!”

“I didn’t do nothing! It was a monster!”

The dark call of the beast echoed from the shadows, and it suddenly appeared next to his mother.

“Mom, look out!”

The creature reached up, and slashed at the woman’s neck. The claw parted the skin as if sliced by a scalpel. His mother reached up and grabbed her throat as her eyes rolled back.

“No!” he called, and ran to his mother’s side.

After a while, the creature finally returned from the shadows. Both adults lay dead at the foot of the stairs, and it stared at the boy.

It uttered dark words as if spoken through a throat coated with a thick ichor, “You may be naughty and you may be nice… but
never
believe he doesn’t exist.”

With that, it crawled through the room toward the chimney. It stopped and looked back at Jimmy, who
was covered
in his mother’s blood. It wiggled its snout, bared a sharp grin, and disappeared up the chimney.