There was more static and a peal of thunder from outside. This time it was so loud it shook the entire apartment building, the windows rattling in their frames. More sounds of voices, talking, jabbering. Were there really people on the other end of the lines having conversations like that? How could anyone understand anything?
"Mary Ann, is that you?"
"Yes, this is Mary Ann," she said.
This time there was laughter. It was loud, deep, and menacing. Mary Ann felt her blood turn to ice and she nearly dropped the phone.
"Who is this?" She asked.
"Are you home alone?" The voice asked.
Mary Ann had heard enough. She slammed the phone down and backed away from it as if it were a snake that might leap off the wall and bite her at any moment. Outside there was more lightning and then another blast of thunder. It was one of those frustratingly dry storms. No rain. As if nature itself were holding back, avoiding releasing the tension that had built up. She hated when the storms were like that. Why didn't it just rain?
The phone rang again.
Mary Ann looked around the kitchen. There was nothing there. White counter, white floor, white walls, white cabinets and appliances. Everything the same. The only thing that stood out was the yellow phone on the wall. Normally she thought it looked like bright sunlight amid white clouds. Now it was like a menacing yellow eye staring at her.
Should she answer it? What if it were Nathan calling from work? What if something had happened? What if it were her mother?
Mary Ann picked up the phone.
Another blast of static.
More babbling.
"Don't hang up on me," the voice said. "We have things to talk about, you and I, Mary Ann Noble. Or should I call you Mary Ann Hoeffner?"
Hoeffner was her maiden name. The voice was deep, but there was a strangeness to it. At times it slid up in register, as if the person speaking were having a hard time keeping their voice level. There were times when it was as if the person behind the voice were right behind her, and other times when it felt as if the voice were coming from a long dark tunnel.
"Who is this?" Mary Ann asked, her voice pleading. "Why are you doing this?"
"I have someone here who wants me to talk to you," the voice said. "It's your father."
"Mary Ann?"
Mary Ann felt tears spring to her eyes instantly and fall down her cheeks. Her father had died just over a year ago, passing away quietly in his sleep from a heart attack. That was his voice. From just those two words she knew it as she knew that she was standing right there in her kitchen.
"Daddy?" She asked. "Is that you?"
"Help me, Mary Ann!" The voice was now feared with terror, not like the voice of her father that she knew. "Get away! Get away from me and stay away from my daughter!"
"Daddy!" she screamed. Tears were falling down her face and spattering on the floor. "What the hell is going on here?"
"Just making sure you're paying attention, dear," the voice had returned. "Are you paying attention? I've known your father for some time now. He made a bargain with me, Mary Ann. I intend on making him uphold his end."
"What are you talking about?" Mary Ann cried. "Who is this?"
The line went dead. Mary Ann stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. She went back to the phone and hit the receiver several times, clicking fast, until there was a click on the phone and the voice of an operator came on the line.
"Operator, can I help you?"
"Can you tell me where the call that just came into this line came from?"
"One moment."
There was a long pause. Now the shadows all around her seemed like they were encroaching on her. Every sound, every flash of the lightning, made her jump. Was that shadow moving? Was that the sound of a footstep?
"I'm sorry ma'am, but there was no call placed to this number tonight."
Mary Ann felt the receiver get slick in her hand as she began to sweat. There was a rumble of thunder, again shaking the entire building. Still no rain.
"What do you mean?" Mary Ann said. "There were just two calls placed to this number. Creepy, scary calls."
"I'm sorry ma'am, but we don't show any calls having been placed to this number. Would you like me to connect you to the police?"
Mary Ann thought about that for a moment. What would she tell them? That some weirdo had called her twice and made some creepy comments and then hung up? She had no idea how the phone company recorded records. Maybe there was a perfectly logical explanation for why there was no record. It was all too much and there were too many maybes.
"No," she said. "No thank you."
Mary Ann hung up the phone. More thunder. More lightning and then even more thunder.
She knew a few of her neighbors. There was the nice Mrs. Dennison just a floor down. Maybe she should go knock on her door and see if the old woman would like some company for the evening. Mary Ann looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 10, though, and it was likely that Mrs. Dennison was already asleep.
Who else did she know?
She was always the type to keep to herself. Her sister lived in the suburbs, but it was a least forty-five minutes away. Her sister was also likely getting ready for bed. Her mom? Her mom was closer, but she was an older woman now, and then she was back to the same dilemma as with Mrs. Dennison. Her mother would likely be asleep. Besides, did she really want to tell her mother the creepy and awful things the voice had said about her father?
No. No, she did not.
Instead Mary Ann walked around the apartment and made sure the windows and doors were locked. She lived on the third floor, the top floor of the building, in a corner apartment. There was no fire escape, but there was a front and back door, both of which looked out on hallways. Mary Ann peeped through the hole in the door, seeing the fish-eyed view of the hallway. Nothing but carpeting, white painted walls and the doors to more apartments.
She walked back to the kitchen and found a large kitchen knife in the sink. She grabbed that and curled up on the sofa. Outside the world was lit up again and again from the storm and the thunder grew louder and closer together. She watched television through the static.
A loud blast of thunder awoke her.
She was still sitting curled up on the sofa, the television on and the sharp knife still held in her hand. Mary Ann hadn't even been aware that she had fallen asleep. Johnny Carson was on the television, wrapping up the show. Normally she would have been in bed by now.
She uncurled her legs and then stretched. Her neck and shoulders ached and popped as she did so.
There was rain pattering and spattering against the window. The wind was strong, shaking the building like the thunder had before. The storm seemed particularly fierce tonight, as it all of that rage outside was trying very hard to get inside.
Mary Ann got up and shuffled through the kitchen and then into the bedroom. Their comfortable queen-sized bed was waiting. She flopped into it, putting the knife on the bed-side table, wrapped the covers over her, and was soon sound asleep again. She barely noticed the storm as it raged outside.
It was a sound that woke her again that night. It wasn't the thunder this time.
This time it was someone in the room.
Mary Ann was confused. There was no light coming from the window to her left. It was pitch black. The storm had apparently abated. No more thunder and no more lightning. There was still the soft patter of rain, but no more raging storm. She looked at the clock and it was just after three in the morning.
"Who?" Mary Ann said.
"Shhhhh."
Mary Ann felt terror grip her heart.
There was someone in the corner of the room, hidden by shadows.
She reached toward the nightstand for the knife.
It was gone.
"I took that away," the voice said. "I didn't want you stabbing me on accident."
Mary Ann paused. The voice was familiar.
"Nathan?"
The fig
ure stepped out of the shadows. It was Nathan. Still in his shirt from work, wearing his dark rimmed glasses and smiling. Mary Ann was confused. What was he doing home now? He wouldn't be home until later in the morning.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "It's the middle of the night."
"I dunno," Nathan said, stepping toward the bed. "I just got this feeling that something was wrong here. I asked to leave early. Are you OK?"
Mary Ann felt relief wash over her and she opened her arms to him. He came and knelt down beside the bed and embraced her. She smelled his smell, that of shaving cream and Old Spice, and breathed him in. She wept out of relief, the strange phone call already seeming like something out of a dream.
"Yes, I'm OK," she said, her head still full of sleep. "It's been a terrifying night, though."
Nathan stood up and walked toward the closet, removing his work shirt and then his pants. He turned back to her in his underwear and T-shirt. He came back over by her and knelt down again, hugging her.
"What happened?" He asked.
Mary Ann's brain was spinning. What was he doing home? That was so weird and so unlike him. He had gone to work when he was so sick that she was sure he was going to fall over. Him coming home just because he had a feeling that something was wrong was unlike him. Nathan was a wonderful man, but never particularly intuitive in that way.
"These odd phone calls," Mary Ann said. "Oh, they scared me, Nathan."
Nathan turned his head toward her and kissed her. She closed her eyes and felt her head swimming, her consciousness swimming away. It was like being on some kind of drug.
"You're OK now," Nathan said, breaking the kiss. "I'm here. I'm home."
Mary Ann put her hand to her head. It was suddenly so hard to think. Was the room darker?
"Wh-why are you home?" she asked. "I'm confused."
"Shhh," he replied, "just relax. Relax."
Nathan was pushing her softly down on the bed. His hands were wandering over her. It felt fantastic. His strong hands. The smell of his aftershave all over him and now all over her. He kissed her again.
"Wh-wait," Mary Ann said.
Mary Ann was so confused. None of this made sense. Nothing about this was like Nathan. Jesus, why couldn't she think? She had tried marijuana once when she was in high school, and had been a little drunk before, but she had not remembered feeling like this before. It was as if someone was inside her brain, telling her just to relax.
"Shhhh," Nathan whispered. Was there something wrong with his voice? "Just relax. Just lay back. Relax."
She was on her back now. Nathan was so warm, his arms so strong, his lips soft and gentle. That was like him, but not so aggressive. Her nightgown was gone. She felt his skin beneath her fingers, but her fingers were not her own. She felt like a puppet on a string. Her hands in his hair as he pressed against her.
"Nathan," Mary Ann said in a whisper. "Oh, Nathan."
He was on top of her, against her, and then inside her. She moaned.
Was he bigger? Her hands were on his chest, doubts carried away in that moment of pure pleasure.
"No," Mary Ann whispered. "No, wait."
Nathan was moving now. She was rocking. The bed was rocking. She tilted her head back and moaned. She was getting carried away by it. There was someone, or something, inside her brain telling her to relax. This was Nathan. This was happening. Relax. Just relax. Enjoy it.
"No," Mary Ann whispered. She got some control of her hand and she pushed back on his chest. She pushed back and his head pushed away from her neck.
She opened her eyes and stared up at her husband.
Except that his face had changed.
In fact, it was changing rapidly. It was Nathan, and then it was a series of men she had never seen. Mary Ann opened her mouth to scream and the person on top of her, inside of her, looked into her eyes.
There were no eyes. They were black pits. And it smiled at her.
"Relax, Mary Ann," it said, its voice no longer like her husband's. "Relax and enjoy it."
She screamed, but the creature on top of her put its hand on her face. Then there was that thing inside of her head again. No longer gentle, no longer whispering to her. Now it was commanding her to relax, to stop pushing, to stop resisting. She felt her thinking get slow again. The pain was going away. She was slipping away, imagining a place of endless darkness, but the darkness was alive. A world of swirling, twirling, twisting darkness. A planet made of living darkness.
It was the most horrible thing she could imagine.
The darkness spoke to her. The darkness told her that she had been chosen. Her father had made a deal and had promised her to it. She was chosen to allow it access to her world.
It made no sense. In the real world the thing on top of her moved faster, began moaning like a real human male. Then finished inside of her like a real person.
When it finished, it pulled out and she felt the thoughts in her head dim. There was just the thought that she had to sleep. She had to forget this. She had to make love to her husband when he came home and that she would have a child and believe it was her's and her husband's.
Mary Ann nodded. She closed her eyes and was asleep. She had no dreams. She had nothing inside her head until morning came. Sunlight was streaming through the window and she heard movement in the house.
She sat up. She was naked, which was odd, but not entirely unusual. She felt like she was a bit hungover. She remembered the storm from last night, and something about the phone, and something about being very afraid. She had had a dream about Nathan being home and having rough sex with her, but it was all a dream.
Right?
"Nathan?" Mary Ann called.
"I'm home, hun," Nathan called.
He was in the kitchen, probably making coffee and something for breakfast. Mary Ann had never wanted to see him more than she did that morning. She had an overwhelming desire to be with him. It was an intense desire unlike anything she had felt since she was in high school.
Mary Ann put her robe on and got up, padding down the hall and into the kitchen. She smiled.
There he was. Her husband. Real. Not a dream.
Nathan smiled at her, cooking up some eggs on the stove and drinking a cup of coffee.
"You look a little like you had a party here last night," he said. "How ya doin'?"
She didn't respond. The desire was overwhelming. She just came to him and kissed him and kissed him hard and with love and with passion. He was surprised, probably still a little tired from a long night at work, but he eventually kissed her back.
They never made it out of the kitchen.
***
The images changed. Flew past like a film on high-speed. Time zipped past.
It was nine months later. Mary Ann was in the hospital and there were doctors all around her. They were telling her to push. She was pushing with all her might and the doctors were using some kind of vacuum thing to help the baby come out. The pain was intense, but it was almost over. She closed her eyes and pushed for the final time. When she opened them again, for an instant, the doctor's eyes looked like black pits.
Then there was crying and screaming and her son was out. He was bloody and he had a huge head of dark hair and his mouth was open and screaming.
"Noble," Mary Ann whispered. "His name is Noble."
Chapter Fifteen
Noble felt as if his brain were on fire. The images had come so fast. Tears poured from his eyes and he felt like something clutched his heart. Whitten still held his head in his hands, but when the images ended he released him. Noble felt as if his strings had been cut and he collapsed to the floor. Then he vomited what little was left in his stomach onto the lab floor.
"Do you begin to see where you stand in all of this?" Whitten/Void said. "You are the son of the Void, Noble. That's how you can do what you do, and the limits of your abilities have barely been reached."
"Why?" Noble asked. "Why do this if you're just going to absorb the entire
dimension?"
"What living creature doesn't wish for an offspring," Whitten/Void said. "And you are incorrect in your thoughts that we wish to destroy this dimension. Of the entire multiverse this dimension is the one that Void finds the most intriguing. The people here are...unique. He wants to take this dimension over, but he wishes to possess everyone and everything here. From that point he can then take over the rest of the multiverse. From here he can rule the way he was meant to. The darkness was here first. By right it should all be his."
"You're insane," Noble said. "Does Void imagine that now that I know this I am going to simply sit by his side while he turns the world into a nightmare? While he destroys countless other inhabited dimensions?"
Whitten/Void laughed. The floor felt as if it were vibrating from that laughter.
"While he would appreciate it if you would do that, Noble, we do not feel that this is enough of a plan," Whitten/Void said, mixing up its tenses in the constant conflict and confusion going on within Whitten's brain. "No, if need be, we will take you over as well. From there, we can make you impregnate Olivia and provide a grandchild."
"Why?" Noble asked, despair in his heart and mind. "Aren't you immortal? Why do you need progeny?"
Whitten/Void stepped forward, kneeling down in front of Noble. "Because that is what we want."
Noble felt nothing but revulsion and sorrow. Sorrow for his parents. Sorrow for his entire life. He had never stood a chance. Never. His life had been determined before he was born.
He was the son of the Void. He was both human and Void. The Void had raped his mother and produced – him.
"There is more to this tale," Whitten/Void said. "There is more that you need to know to understand how utterly hopeless your attempts to stop us are."
"No more," Noble said, holding up his hand, weakly, feeling as if he had no fight left in him. "Please, no more."
"Yes, Noble," Whitten/Void said. "The world as you know it is ending. You can join us and become part of us, retaining some part of your individuality as we tear down the rest of the walls and absorb the rest of the dimensions, or you can have your mind forcefully taken. The choice is yours, but you need to know. Whatever you choose, we will produce a line, a genealogy that can expand and expand. There are more things in this universe than you can imagine. The light will soon succumb to the dark. With a family, we'll be able to conquer whatever is left. But you need to see."
The Man From Taured Page 27