by A. I. Nasser
You know, cupcake, there was probably a time when you actually liked being in charge.
“I was never in charge,” she whispered to herself.
Despite being the only one bringing in some constant income, she had maintained the husband and wife role she had been raised to believe in. John wore the pants in their household, and she had been more than happy with that. Now it seemed like he was taking her good nature for granted.
“He could call his own damn exterminator,” she mumbled.
I think it’s more than just that, cupcake. Don’t you think it’s a little funny he’s been acting up ever since you told him you wanted to stay here?
She hadn’t thought about that before, although the notion deserved some consideration. It was only after she had voiced her intentions did he suddenly shut down and change. Was he causing that smell? Was he doing it all on purpose to drive her away?
Oh no, he’s definitely an ass. But why show that much of it now?
Karen thought about it and could only come up with one conclusion; he wanted her gone. It was the only thing that made sense. He had started to write again only when alone, and yesterday had been the first time she had spent the entire day out since her arrival. She had seen what he had done, a bulk of his writing finished in only eight hours while she was with June.
He wants you gone.
The more she thought about it, the more it made complete sense. Suddenly, her frustration turned into anger, her mind finding it hard to believe that he would stoop so low to get rid of her, especially after she had told him she was going through problems. She couldn’t remember the last time he was this inconsiderate. What the hell was wrong with him?
I think the real question here, cupcake, is why he wants you gone.
Karen frowned and lit another cigarette. She inhaled deeply as a car pulled around a corner and sped by their house, cruising into the Greens’ driveway. She watched it with little interest, her eyes tiredly following the only moving object around her. The wind had started to pick up, and the skies had turned to a deep velvet haze that would slowly envelop the world in darkness.
She watched as the driver climbed out of the car, tall, his hair long and dancing in the wind. She assumed it was Papa Green. The man moved to the trunk of the car, opened it and froze when he looked up at her and saw her staring. They observed each other from across the twenty or so yards separating their houses, and Karen couldn’t stop herself from raising her hand in a small hello.
The man smiled and raised his own in reply, rummaged a bit in the trunk and closed it with an echoing bang. He looked over at Karen again before making his way up the porch stairs of his house, the front door opening as his daughter greeted him. He said something to her, and the blonde immediately turned in Karen’s direction.
She’s frowning again.
“She’s always frowning,” Karen whispered back. “Those are going to put some awful wrinkles on that pretty face.”
Papa Green seemed to notice the tension and said something to his daughter, the girl quickly turning to him and waving her arms about in a tantrum. The man grabbed her by the arm and roughly pushed her inside, the front door slamming behind them.
I wonder why she hates you so much.
Karen shrugged and went back to staring out in space, enjoying her cigarette in the light chill of the evening air. She had no idea what the girl’s problem was. She had never even spoken to her.
John knows.
“Why would John know?”
Well, he’s been awfully vague about the neighbors, a bit dodgy even. Maybe he’s already run into them.
Karen thought about that, but quickly dismissed it. Why would John not tell her about that?
Why does John do anything he does these days? It’s weird how uncomfortable she seems whenever she sees you.
“He would have told me,” Karen muttered as if trying to convince herself.
The girl is gorgeous, though, isn’t she?
“She is,” Karen agreed.
A real treat, wouldn’t you agree?
Karen suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable.
So, cupcake, remind me again why we think John wants you gone.
Goosebumps broke out on her arms as her body gave a sudden shudder.
Karen looked over at the Greens and took a long drag from her cigarette, her features folding into a frown of her own.
Chapter 15
Karen was gone when John woke up the next morning, his entire body in pain, his muscles screaming. His temples throbbed, and his head felt like an entire demolition crew blowing parts of his brain to threads as they worked tirelessly at causing the greatest amount of pain conceivable.
In the darkness, he rolled out of bed and reached out to pull back the drapes, expecting a little bit of sunlight to brighten his mood. All he got were gray skies and the soft trickle of rain. He called out to Karen, and when she didn’t reply, he quietly thanked the Gods for it. He had wanted to be alone, especially after the mutual silent treatment they had given each other the entire day.
Look on the bright side, Johnny-boy. The book’s almost done.
He felt like he had cheated the muses a bit, going back on his promise to push Karen away, his wife relentless in her quest to stay. She hadn’t even bothered with dinner, or anything else for that matter, letting the house sulk in despair as it went unattended.
What the hell was she doing out in this weather anyway?
He trudged downstairs, leaning hard against the walls as he tried his best not to buckle and fall the rest of the way down. His feet felt like lead, and it was hell getting himself to the kitchen to turn on the kettle. He glanced at the basement door as his nose wrinkled at the stench that had now become stronger, and he was half surprised when he found the towels tossed to one side as if someone had opened the door, and then forgotten to put them back in place.
She was down there. Probably trying to figure out what was wrong on her own.
It didn’t really matter anyway. All he could think about was the constant hammering inside his head, and he rummaged through the kitchen drawers in search of anything that might help him fight the pain. He was disappointed, though, suddenly frustrated as he slammed the drawers shut and kicked at the bar stool, stubbing his toe against the cold steel.
John wobbled his way to the living room, forgetting the coffee in favor of the need to attend to his toe. He felt like he had broken it, and as he slumped onto the couch, he wiggled it to make sure. It hurt, but it was definitely not broken.
He let himself drop onto his side, curling up in a fetal position as he squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the pain.
Okay, sissy, you need to get up and get to work. She might not be here now, but she’ll be coming home soon, and then you won’t get anything done.
“Just five more minutes,” John stammered, already feeling his body relax and his mind swim.
The knocking on his front door brought a groan out of him, and he sat up angrily.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you, buddy.
“Karen has a key,” John argued with the empty room as he stood up and rubbed his temples. “That’s someone else.”
Big whoop!
He trudged to the front door and opened it without bothering to see who was outside. He froze when he saw Eva standing on the front porch. She was wearing a jacket two sizes too large, her hair matted to her head and face, wet and dripping as she gazed at him. Even in the cold, she was clad in shorts that could have passed for bikini bottoms, her long legs ending at bare feet that had been muddied from her trek across the yard to his house. Her shirt stuck to her like a second layer of skin, wet and revealing, his eyes immediately finding their way to her chest as he stared at her.
Now would you look at that!
“Eva,” he greeted simply, dumb, unable to think of anything better to say.
“Is she here?” the blonde asked, peeking over his shoulder.
“Who?”
“Your wife,
” she replied, her voice cold, the words coming out like a venomous hiss.
You know what, Johnny-boy? I take it back. Distractions are good.
John shook his head, ignoring the voice.
“Good,” Eva said and pushed her way inside, wrapping her arms around John as she pressed her lips against his, their touch soft and wet and everything he had ever wanted. His hands came up immediately, wrapping around her, kissing hungrily before he realized what he was doing.
He pushed her back. “Wait,” he said, blinking as he tried to clear his mind. “Stop, this isn’t right. We can’t do this.” Eva tried to kiss him again and he pulled away. “I’m serious.”
She stepped back and threw off her jacket, letting it fall in a wet pile next to the door. John could see her footprints across the hardwood, and he immediately began to think of how to clean them before Karen came home.
When Eva started to pull off her shirt, he grabbed both her hands to stop her. “Eva, wait.”
“Is it because you’re married? Really?” she asked, suddenly scowling at him, her face confused as to why he was not taking what she was offering. “It didn’t stop you before.”
She has a point, Johnny-boy. You don’t sound very convincing right now.
“Listen to me,” he said through the voices laughing in his head. “You’re a beautiful girl, and I will never forget what happened between us, but it stops at that. I can’t do this anymore. It was a beautiful mistake, and it should stay at that.”
“Two mistakes,” Eva said, still frowning at him.
“I can’t make a third one,” John explained. “My wife can’t know about this. I love her, Eva, do you understand that?”
You are one of the worst liars on Earth, Johnny-boy. You’re practically staring at her chest.
“I don’t care,” Eva said, surprising him with her boldness. “I want this, and I know you do, too. She doesn’t have to know. She isn’t here.”
John hesitated and shook his head, but he wasn’t convincing. Eva stepped closer to him and pushed her body against him, her wet clothes soaking his own.
“Ten minutes,” she whispered. “She won’t be back in ten minutes.”
I say go for it, buddy. It might just be what the doctor ordered.
“I can’t,” John said, unsure who he was talking to.
Eva pushed up on her toes, her face inches away, her lips grazing his. “Ten minutes, John,” she said. “If we’re never going to do this again, I want ten minutes.”
Are you going to refuse a girl’s request for a goodbye romp?
John decided he wouldn’t.
***
When Karen came home, the entire house was in darkness.
It was quickly turning into a storm outside, and it had taken her longer than usual to drive home through the torrents of rain. She wished she had left June’s earlier, but the story of the founders had been too intriguing, and June definitely had a way with words. She had made a mental note to tell John about that.
She turned on the lights and sighed when nothing happened. It was starting to get frustrating how much money they were spending on bulbs. She would have to call an electrician, worried that the house’s faulty wiring might cause more than a few blackouts.
Forget the lights. Didn’t we agree that the hubby would handle things from now on?
Karen felt her way down the hall, her eyes catching sight of the living room windows open and the rain flying in. One of the panes was broken, obviously from the force of it swinging open, glass barely visible in the moonlight and the occasional flashes of lightning. She wondered how John hadn’t heard it, and decided not to bother with that, either.
Let the hubby deal with it.
She turned the kitchen lights on and immediately closed her eyes against the blinding fluorescents. She put the bags of groceries down next to the refrigerator and started to unpack them, when she suddenly heard a loud crash from upstairs.
Looks like the hubby’s still awake.
Karen frowned, ignoring the groceries as she made her way down the hall and up the stairs. The crash sounded a second time, and suddenly she heard something else. She stood completely still a few steps away from the floor landing, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. When she realized it was coming from above her, she instantly understood what the sounds were.
Rats.
It’s time to actually nag, cupcake. You need that exterminator.
The crash came again, and then again, slowly sounding more like a drumbeat than anything else. Karen walked up the final few steps and opened the door to her bedroom. John was in bed, buried under the covers and snoring, unaware of either the crashing or the sound of rats above his head.
She looked about, and it was only when she turned on the second-floor lights did she notice where the sound was coming from. At the end of the hall, the small trap door leading to the attic was opening and closing, rising a few inches before crashing down again. With every crash, the sound of rats increased, as if they were scurrying away from the sound and finding somewhere safe to hide.
Have you ever seen that before?
She hadn’t, and she made her way down the hall. She walked slowly, hands against the wall as she tried to look through the opening of the trap door, hoping to see why it was doing what should have been impossible.
When she was directly under it, the trap door flew open and the darkness beyond gaped at her. The scurrying of the rats disappeared completely, and a stench as strong as the one coming from the basement floated out of the attic.
Are you going to just stand there?
She wasn’t, and despite her better judgment, Karen grabbed the first rung of the ladder and made her way up. She felt around the opening, making sure there weren’t any furry surprises waiting for her, and then slowly pushed herself all the way up. Moving quickly, she jumped to her feet and tried to make out anything in the darkness, the single window in the far corner barely letting any light in.
A silhouette moved in front of the window, something dark, the shadows around it rising and falling in ripples as the face of a woman seemed to materialize between them. Karen froze as she looked into the eyes staring at her and the smile that appeared beneath them.
We need to talk, cupcake.
Karen listened.
Karen watched.
Karen saw.
***
John woke up with a start, the sound of thunder rattling the window of the bedroom as flashes of lightning illuminated the room and threw shadows against the wall.
Something’s wrong, Johnny-boy. You better get up.
John rolled out of bed, quickly noticing that it was two in the morning and Karen’s side had not been disturbed. He failed to imagine any reason as to why she would still be out at this hour, and reached for his phone to see if he had missed any of her calls. When he found nothing, he dialed her number and pressed the phone against his ear, waiting.
He heard the sound of her cell phone echo up from downstairs, and he instantly relaxed, making his way out of the room to see why she hadn’t come to bed. He froze when he crossed the threshold onto the landing, his eyes registering the open attic door and the familiar stench they had been trying to shut away downstairs.
That door’s never been open before.
John felt his stomach turn and his heart skip a beat.
She’s up there.
“She can’t be up there,” John whispered, his head shaking slowly, his hand suddenly shivering against the cold that seemed to be dispersing throughout the house.
You sure it’s the cold, buddy?
John edged towards the attic, quickly turning on his cell phone’s flashlight and shining it through the dark opening. He tried to make out anything up there, but from where he was standing, it was almost impossible.
She’s up there.
John put his hand on the ladder rungs.
You sure you want to do this, Johnny-boy?
John felt his whole body shiver a
nd nodded to himself. If Karen was up there, he had to get her down. There was no knowing how dangerous the attic was.
He climbed the ladder slowly with the cell phone in his mouth as he angled the light into the darkness. He pulled his body all the way up and sat at the edge of the trap door, shining his light through the entire space. It was bigger than he had expected, but he saw Karen instantly.
She was standing completely still in front of a small window to one side, her back to him, and her breath coming out in fogs. He instantly felt colder up there, and he wondered how she could stand the chill.
“Karen?”
She didn’t answer.
John pushed himself up to his feet, balancing his weight as he stepped over the trap door opening and edged towards his wife.
“Karen, what are you doing up here?”
This doesn’t feel too good, Johnny-boy. I say leave her here and get the hell out.
John frowned, the thought too ridiculous to even consider. He touched his wife’s shoulder and instantly pulled back from the coldness of her skin.
“Karen?”
He reached for her again, moving around her so she could see him.
That was when he felt his entire body go limp, his knees buckling beneath him. Karen was staring right out the window, not even registering his presence, her face static and emotionless. But, it was her eyes that brought the fear of God into him. Her beautiful auburn eyes were gone, replaced by only whites, the milky film a reflection of everything that seemed empty in the world.
He stepped away from her, his body shaking uncontrollably as he tried not to scream out in horror.
I warned you! Why the hell won’t you listen?
Karen’s head slowly turned towards him, the whites staring at him as her brow furrowed.
“She told me everything,” she said, her voice soft, as if coming from far away. “She showed me everything.”
John tried to answer, but his mouth was frozen shut. Slowly, Karen’s eyes rolled back into place, the whites gone as she blinked her vision back into focus.
“I know,” she said, staring accusingly at him.