The Four Before Me

by E H Night

  She finally emerged from her hot car, glistening with sweat and smelling salty like summertime. The sun was about to go down, but she didn’t want her mood to sink along with it. To combat her emotions, she hummed the chorus of a popular love song as she stepped onto the porch. She paused to sigh heavily as she went through each of her keys to find the one for the front door, and then resumed the pleasant humming. This task should have been easy by now, but nothing really was so simple anymore. She managed to unlock the door, and stepped inside her home, and then into her living room.

  The air smelled different. Her nose picked up on the change when she had turned to close the door. Her hand felt around on the wall for the light switch, and in a single click, the room was suddenly brightened.

  Alice looked around, slowly adjusting to the change from natural to artificial light, and she saw someone sitting on the couch right next to her. A chill went down her neck and back, making the small specks of sweat that clung to her peach fuzz freeze like small rounded icicles. Her heart felt as if someone had stunned it, or as if and imaginary switch had been flipped to stop it from beating. The switch must have been turned back on just as quickly though, because her heart started to race with more force than it ever had before. Her knees grew weak and shaky from all of the adrenaline, and they were practically begging for her to start running. The rest of her body had made the decision to focus on fighting instead of fleeing though.

  “Benji,” she thought. The name itself might as well have been a complete story of its own. She mustered up the courage to speak. “W — what are you doing in my house?” she asked with a shaking and stammering voice.

  Benji put his hands on his knees and leaned forward, bringing himself up to his feet. He took a single step toward her and grinned largely. His hair was an absolute mess, as if he had been sitting in front of an industrial fan, and his face was covered in stubble. The bags under his eyes made him appear as if he hadn’t slept for days. His sour decay-laced breath confirmed that he probably hadn’t washed himself for a while either.

  “I’ve been waiting for you,” he said, with his voice raspier than usual. He cleared his throat and softened his tone. “I waited here all day, actually.”

  Alice’s eyes went wild as she watched him take another step forward. The only thing separating her from him was a space that was only about the size of a grave. She tried to be brave. “How’d you get in here, Benji? What do you want?”

  His eyes lit up with amusement, and his eyebrows raised so much that he looked like a caricature of himself. Nothing about him seemed to be real at that moment, but he was still there in the flesh. His arms raised out toward her, and he flapped his fingers into his palms as if he were telling Alice to approach him.

  “Oh, steady now...” he began, tauntingly. “We’ve got ourselves a tough girl today, huh? I saw that you fixed the lock on the back door, so I checked all of the windows. You forgot to lock the one in your bedroom. You really didn’t think that I’d notice if you stayed out all day? Who do you think I am, Sarah? I care about you more than anyone else does.”

  “Sarah?” Alice thought, very confused.

  “Come here, baby,” he continued, taking a couple more steps toward her, until he was only inches away from her. “I was so upset when I saw you sucking face with that cop. I almost couldn’t stop myself from interfering.”

  “You were spying on me? What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “I saw you leave the bar with that redhead and wanted to see where you two were going. I didn’t expect you to take a walk to the grocery so late. What was the whipped cream for?”

  “That’s none of your —”

  “You don’t need to tell me,” he interrupted. “I got to see it all for myself. You’re lucky I was too hurt to bust the windows out. Imagine how it felt to see my girl licking slop from some pig’s face? It was like someone kicked me right in the gut. I mean, I could barely breathe. I have to admit something though. After I calmed down, it turned me on a little.”

  Benji breathed his foul breath into her face.

  When Alice stumbled backwards, he caught her by the loose fabric at her waist, and yanked her back toward him, pulling her in close to his own body. She lifted a hand to push away at his chest, but he cupped her face with his palms. Her skull was squeezed tightly between his dry mitts, and no matter how hard she clawed away at his fingers, his grip never loosened from her cheekbones or jaw. The tips of his pinkies dug themselves deeper and deeper into the pressure points behind her ears.

  “Why have you been ignoring me, Sarah?” he asked. “I’ve been calling you every day. I’ve been stopping by so much too. Where have you been? Why don’t you kiss me like that anymore?”

  “I’m not Sarah!” Alice yelled with terror. “I’m Alice, you fucking idiot!” She clawed at his hands and fingers even more, desperately trying to pull them away from her head.

  Tears of fright escaped from her eyes, and they dripped down her cheeks and onto Benji’s wrists. Their warmth seemed to satisfy some of his aggressive urges.

  “Baby,” his voice cooed out with a sudden softness, as if he were trying to comfort an injured pet. “Don’t say these things. You know it hurts my feelings when you call me names.”

  Alice stopped fighting his grip and realized that more drastic measures were necessary. Clearly, Benji was completely out of his mind, and she had no idea what he could be capable of doing in such a state. He was obsessed with a ghost, and Alice was just her apparition. To him, Alice was his orb to hold and coddle.

  She lifted her leg, and the heel of her favorite pink high heel slammed down onto the tongue of his gym shoe, and buried itself into the top of his foot. He immediately let go of her and reached down to grab the wound.

  Alice turned to run toward the door, taking the opportunity to escape the situation, but Benji lunged forward, with his long arms catching her by the back of her blouse this time. Using his other hand, he grabbed her brunette ponytail, and yanked her head down toward her shoulder blades.

  Immediately, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck.

  Benji pulled her over toward him again, and brought her down to the ground. He climbed on top of her, pinning her beneath his lap. Using his weight, he held her arms underneath him to keep her from fighting back again.

  “You really shouldn’t have done that, baby girl,” he taunted, his voice sickly sweet. “Now I’m going to have to punish you.” He covered her mouth with one hand, and wrapped the other loosely across her throat, hovering above her most important veins. His eyes were large and stared at her like two black holes that were trying to suck every atom of her body into their depths. “Did it mean nothing to you? I know we really had something, and I’m not just going to sit back and let it become some pathetic memory. You can’t make a man feel things like that, and then just throw him away like he’s just a toy you no longer want. I’m not that easy to replace. I won’t be.”

  Alice wiggled her head, trying to scream, but all of her sounds were muffled. “I’m not Sarah! I’m not Sarah! I’m Alice!” she tried to yell, over and over.

  “I’m going to give you some options,” he said while leaning in closely. Sweat dripped from his forehead and landed inside of Alice’s eyes. “You can either apologize and be with me again, and we can forget all about this little scuffle, or you can keep resisting and I’ll have to break you like a horse. What’ll it be, Sarah? Will you give me another chance, or are you going to make me change your mind myself? I’m not afraid to be convincing, if I have to be.”

  He tightened his grip and Alice immediately felt herself losing oxygen. But as soon as her vision darkened, Benji let go, and uncovered her mouth for an answer.

  “I’m not Alice! My name is —” she said quickly.

  He quickly brought his hand back down into her face, bloodying her nose from the impact. She squirmed and cried through the spaces between his fingers.

  He grasped her throat once more, and made an exaggerat
edly sad expression, mocking her pain. “It really is a shame. I just can’t bear the thought of having anyone else touch you though. I’m so sorry it had to be this way.” he said, tightening his hand again. “Sleep well, Sarah. Wait for me by the gates. I’ll only be a few minutes behind you.”

  ◆

  Detective Darrow drove past Alice’s house in his cruiser. A hot pizza sat in his passenger’s seat, along with a 2-liter of soda. Even though he was still on duty, he figured that no one would notice if he took a few minutes out of his day to comfort Alice. After all, she’d gone through a lot, and it seemed like a responsible thing to go and check on her. He saw her car in the driveway, and he parked on the side of the street, leaving his keys in the ignition and the engine still running.

  “I’ll just be a second,” he reminded himself as he approached the front door, holding the food. He lifted his fist to knock, but paused when he heard loud thudding sounds inside, as well as a male’s voice. He put his ear to the door, and listened more closely.

  “It won’t hurt for long. I promise,” the male voice said, followed by Alice’s muffled shrieks. “Just stop fighting it.”

  Detective Darrow dropped the pizza box, and turned the door knob. It was unlocked. He leaped inside and didn’t even pause to analyze the situation before reacting. Instinct took over his entire body, and he wrestled Benji away from Alice like a hyena fighting for scraps. Benji fought back, and reached into his pocket as soon as Detective Darrow had him held down to the floor.

  He lifted a straight razor — the one that he had used to shave many necks before, and swiped it across Detective Darrow’s bicep, cutting him deeply. Blood immediately poured out all over the both of them, but the fight still continued.

  Alice scooted herself backwards toward the kitchen, holding her swollen throat in shock. She managed to reach for the phone, and lifted herself up to dial 9-1-1. With what little voice she could muster up, she said her address, and then let go. The phone dangled from the cord, bobbing around like a giant fishing lure.

  She fell back down to the floor.

  Chapter 17

  “No Way Out”

  Tuesday, November 15th, 1988

  The summer felt like a distant memory, and autumn would soon feel like the same. Alice sat in front of her TV, dressed and ready for work. The women at the salon had finally stopped talking about Benji getting arrested, and how the town was safe again. They’d moved onto other annoying topics.

  Alice flipped absentmindedly through the channels, waiting a while until it was time to face the day again. She’d been forcing herself to get ready early so she could have enough time to collect her thoughts before each shift. Socializing was more difficult than it had ever been, but she wore her mask of confidence just as well as she had worn it before. No one knew that the person who hid behind it was still injured and afraid. Deep down inside, she was still the eleven-year-old version of herself who had feared scrutiny.

  She recalled the summer that she had been invited to her friend’s twelfth birthday party. Her friend, Laura, lived outside of the city, in a house that was surrounded by woods and farm land. The girl’s parents had grown crops, and were well-off enough to not have to worry about the expense of driving Laura back and forth to her 7th grade classes each day. Even so, they still weren’t interested in sending her off to study in a private school. They had wanted Laura to grow up exposed to other kids who didn’t have as much. They wanted her to see the brown bagged lunches and the hand-me-down clothes, so she could be more aware and appreciative of the things she had at home. The exposure didn’t exactly work, and it just made Laura act as if she were better than everyone else instead.

  Alice had shown up to the girl’s party with her hair still damp, and with a small doll wrapped in modest wrapping paper held tightly in her hands. There were no bows or frills attached to the gift, but it was still fairly presentable. When Laura had opened it, she laughed in front of everyone, putting Alice down for thinking that a girl her age would still play with dolls. The other girls joined in on the laughter, and Alice eventually walked off toward the group of boys who had been tossing balls back and forth in the yard. She needed a break from the taunting.

  She had recognized one of the guys from her lunch table. His name was George, and he was a strange creature. He always knew the latest foul phrases and bad words, and could often be found smoking in the locker room at school. Despite his bad boy image, he’d always been nice to Alice.

  When he had suggested that they should go into the woods to explore alone, she hadn’t thought much of it. She followed him for several minutes, until they’d lost sight of the path that they’d initially taken. Alice had gotten nervous and suggested that they should turn around, so no one would worry, and the boy agreed with her. But, instead of leading her the correct way, he led her deeper and deeper into the woods, even farther away from civilization. The twigs and thorns scraped against Alice’s legs as she obeyed his navigation, and he eventually left her there after saying that he would be right back. They had already been gone for a couple of hours, and the sky had darkened during that time. She had felt more and more afraid as the sun disappeared into the darkness.

  Finally, in the distance, she heard her name being called, and she cried out for help.

  George stood in the back of the group with the rest of the boys, beaming, and they all giggled at the sight of her. The girls started to scold her for being a slut, and she didn’t understand what was going on or what they were talking about at first. She followed the group back to the house, something that took nearly thirty minutes, and then she walked inside.

  Laura’s dad poured a cold glass of water for George and patted him on the back, approving of something. No one gave Alice anything to drink though, despite her mentioning that she was very thirsty. They only told her to go and wait outside while they called her grandmother to come and pick her up. As time went on, she heard the rumors about herself in the school hallways, and both the girls and the guys avoided her for the remainder of the year.

  Alice shook the intrusive thoughts from her head and turned the TV off. She needed to focus on happier things.

  ◆

  It was around the time that Alice’s shift at the salon had ended that she felt a wave of dread pour over her. The doctors had told her that these feelings would be common while she was still emotionally healing from the encounter with Benji, but this feeling was different than the others. It felt more immediate. Whatever it was, she pushed it off to the side anyway, and drove over to Betty’s house. She had promised her that she would do her hair that day, and she didn’t want to let her down. Alice’s car turned into Betty’s winding gravel driveway, and she followed it all the way behind the house, in view of the lake. The breeze felt nice across her face as she exited her vehicle. She stood there, quietly, and let it pass across her cheeks like cold silk before she walked up to the back door.

  She knocked a few times, but there was no answer. Betty’s car was in the driveway, so she knew that she was home.

  “Oh boy, I hope she’s not drunk this time,” Alice thought to herself.

  She made the decision to walk down to the lake. Due to all of the negativity surrounding the once-loved body of water, she had avoided it much like the other people in town. She passed a large shed as she made her way to the mud and rocks, wondering what sort of weird things might be inside of it. If the shed was anything like Betty’s living room, it was probably full of bags of garbage, and empty wine bottles. The scent in the air confirmed that she could have been correct, but it was most likely just the stench of dead animals. After all, Betty and Will had to butcher their pigs somewhere. It only made sense that they had a shed for such things.

  She racked her brain, trying to think of what Betty could have possibly been doing at that moment. They’d talked on the phone during Alice’s lunch break and had confirmed that she was going to stop by afterward, just as usual.

  A small flat stones caught her eye, and
she decided to toss a few into the water to see if she could get any of them to skip across. She hadn’t tried doing that since she was just a child, but she felt confident in her ability to succeed. After a few flops and failures, she was able to get one to hop across the water like a frog skipping lily pads. Alice closed her eyes and felt the cloud-darkened sun on her cheeks. Even though winter was close by again, there was just enough warmth and hope remaining in the lake and air. She felt completely relaxed for the first time in quite a while.

  She opened her eyes once more, and reached down for another stone. The one that she grabbed was much less flat than the others that surrounded her. Its edges were rounded, and it seemed to hook around her entire hand like a light-weight horseshoe. She looked down to see what she was holding onto.

  In her hand, she held onto a partially broken jawbone. It was unmistakably human, and had a few molars still in tact. Alice stumbled backward, but caught her balance before she could fall. She dropped the bone to the ground, and it made a light tapping sound as it hit the rocks.