Infested

by Lily Taffel

  "Faith!" he called out as he hurriedly approached. "Honey, stop watching!"

  He looked at his daughter who turned to face him as he approached, a questioning look painted on her innocent face.

  "Dad, I want to watch," pleaded the little girl.

  "Honey, it's not appro-" Jim stopped mid-sentence. He was looking at the TV screen again.

  And there was no porn.

  There were no depictions of sexual acts or blood or anything remotely inappropriate. It was the same cartoons she had been watching a while back.

  Jim felt stupid. It was the second time that day he had acted on something he thought he saw and found it was not what he thought it was.

  "Alright, baby... but we'll go outside to take care of the flowers later, okay?"

  "Yes, Daddy," agreed the little girl, grateful that she had been allowed to continue watching.

  Jim dwelt on the curious events. He was a truck driver. He sometimes drove half-asleep cross-country and those few events were the scariest events of his life as he came up with horrors of what could have happened if he had fallen asleep on the road. But he wasn't even sleepy today. He could not accept that he would, on the same day, commit the mistake of seeing things that weren't there, not in that level of detail.

  Unable to find an explanation but very bothered, Jim managed to finish his tasks before cartoons were replaced by a late afternoon sitcom.

  Father and daughter then went outside to tend to the plants.

  9

  JIM WATERED THE ORNAMENTAL PLANTS on the pots and flower boxes to the left side of the house first with the child tagging along. Faith enjoyed pulling wilted leaves off the otherwise healthy plants. Jim was amused with how his daughter made use of the said leaves, sticking the dried stems into the forehead of her favorite rag doll to make a 'golden crown'.

  "So what will you call Jessica when her crown is complete?" he asked, keeping with the child's enthusiasm.

  "Princess Jessica, of course!" exclaimed Faith, raising the doll in the air and spinning several times.

  "Yeah? Where is her castle?"

  "She lives in a tree."

  "A tree? That's not a castle."

  "No, no," the girl corrected. "The trees are their doors. That's how they get in."

  "They?"

  "Princess Jessica's people. Her servants," the girl explained.

  "Oh!" Jim responded, pretending to be surprised. "What's it like, you know, inside the trees?"

  "It's beautiful! They have these very wide stone roads that are paved with many gems, and the gems have different colors and they shine in the sun and it's very smooth. And then there are rivers everywhere that goes under their bridges that are also made of gems and stones and the rivers have beautiful boats with many colors that bring you anywhere you like!" Faith described with almost no pause to even breathe.

  Jim laughed. "That sounds like a wonderful place! But you can't live there if they only have bridges and boats and rivers."

  "They have big houses, too! Like really big. But they only have one floor, not like our house."

  "Why is that?"

  "Because only Princess Jessica's castle can have many floors. The people there can build houses as big as they like, but it can only be one floor."

  "That sucks," Jim said. "If I go to live there, I want to have a house that's five stories!"

  "Princess Jessica will not let you live there. She said it's only for good children, children that follow what she says."

  "But I'm good, right?"

  "Yeah, maybe. I don't know."

  "What do you mean you don't know? I'm your dad! I'll always be good."

  "But you're not a child," the girl said in a way that she thought this was plain out obvious. And they both laughed.

  Jim was amused with his daughter's story. He took pride in her ability to stitch things together and stand her ground. "Too bad," he said after a pause. "How do you know these things?"

  "Princess Jessica is my friend, you know."

  "Oh, I know that. What I mean is, you have not been there. She only told you. How do you know it's true?"

  "Because!" exclaimed the little girl. "Princess Jessica showed me!"

  10

  SUE SAT BY HER DAUGHTER'S BED all day, tending to her every need. She read a book to pass the time, something about a billionaire and his slave. Each time Jenna stirred, each time she moaned, Sue was immediately by the bed. She was worried. Her fever ran high all day and the only way she kept it in check was by applying cold face towels on her forehead and giving her a sponge bath whenever Jenna's temperature spiked.

  Her daughter had neither eaten nor drank anything since morning, not even when she asked her to take an analgesic. After noon, Jenna's fever had gone down, and Susan was finally left alone to read her book on the chair by her daughter's bed. Susan should have felt at ease by that time, but she did not.

  She was reading a romance novel but from time to time, Sue felt afraid for no reason. She would pace the floor to try and calm herself down, for she was certain there was something to be afraid of even though try as she might, she could not pinpoint what it was.

  It was just a feeling, a strong feeling of something terrible-a strong feeling that there was someone with them in the room. Then the feeling would go away and she'd dismiss it as just her imagination... until it came again.

  Jim asked Faith to go ahead and remove the withered stems and leaves on the other side of the house while he went ahead and took care of the plants in the back. Faith was happy to do so. She continued playing pretend as she harvested the dead leaves from the flower boxes-pretending that she was with her friend, Princess Jessica. Pretending that there was a kingdom inside the trees.

  Jim was bothered with what his daughter had said when he asked how she knew about those things. Something in him wanted to chalk it up to childhood imagination and make-believe friends. Jim actually even leaned towards that explanation. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to believe it.

  Although he dismissed the likelihood, although he knew that it was close to impossible, a thought did plant itself in his mind. A thought that made him uncomfortable-there was more to the Princess Jessica business than he cared to believe. For his daughter to talk about fantastical things was one thing, to hear her say that someone, or something, showed her this incredible world, was another thing entirely.

  An involuntary shiver passed his spine.

  "There was no one there," Jim overheard Faith talking to herself, apparently still playing. He smiled. With all the things that had happened so far, he was pleased to find that his youngest daughter was not that affected by the events. Shaking his head, he continued to spray the plants.

  "Yeah, you told me. But how did you know she would be sick?"

  That got Jim's attention. Usually when his daughter played, she voiced both sides of the conversation. This time, she was just voicing one. Even more curious, it sounded like she was voicing her side, like she was talking to someone.

  Jim decided to listen in.

  It was harder than he had expected. Faith was still talking but she talked in both low and high tones, which only made him strain some more. The apparent conversation that Faith was involved in talked about a sickness, something about events in the night, and something that needs to be kept. Jim's curiosity was piqued. He decided to sneak a peek so as not to disturb his daughter's attention. But Susan suddenly appeared from the back door.

  "Jim? Honey what are you doing?"

  "Nothing. I... I was just removing some webs," he lied.

  "You need to finish up. Jenna might wake up hungry. Prepare something light, maybe soup again?" she said.

  "Sure, Babe. Be done in a minute," he said, then adding. "Babe, could you, uhh, take Faith with you?"

  "I'm tending to Jenna. At least she's enjoying your company."

  "Just take her with you, comb her hair or something," he insisted.

  Susan stared at her husband. He had gotten her attenti
on. "Why?"

  "Because..." he said, fumbling for a believable answer that would not scare her again. "I need to smoke," he added in a low voice.

  Susan sighed and pointed at her husband. "Not anywhere near the house, you get me?"

  "Sure."

  "Faith? Where are you? Come with Mommy. We're going to play princess!"

  Jim mouthed the words 'Thank You' to his wife as Faith came and followed her mother inside the house.

  Finally. Alone time. Jim was relieved. He didn't lie about the smoking. His mind wasn't having luck finding an explanation to the events of that day. He did need to smoke. He turned off the water in the hose and tossed it to the ground and he walked towards the river.

  11

  IT WAS JUST eight in the evening that night but the house was already silent. After Faith fell asleep on the couch, Jim took her to her room. He decided to retire early as well. He had offered to look after Jenna who still had a bit of her fever and was weak, but Susan insisted on staying with her for the evening. He thought that if he had taken a good rest, Sue would be persuaded to retire to their bed while he tended to Jenna.

  Jenna had woken up weak and hungry at close to six earlier in the evening. She was only able to eat a quarter of a bowl of chicken noodle soup but when she was done, she seemed visibly well. Jenna fell asleep again but for the first time the entire day, she didn't have the chills anymore.

  Susan was once again sitting on the chair by the bed, only this time, she was not reading anymore. The last few minutes went on without incident-no whines, no stirring, and no cries. As she stared into space, her thoughts drifted to the story they previously read.

  Her imagination took over and she found herself a spectator to the lives of the characters in the book she had just put down. In that dreamy half-state, she watched avidly as if she were watching a movie as the two leads went on dates, had conversations, took vacations, and made love.

  The man, this billionaire in the book, was exactly as she imagined-tall, with an air of authority, debonair, and a touch of a rebel... not to mention a face you could not say no to. The woman on the other hand looked like a more glamorous version of herself.

  Everything was fine until it shifted to a scene that was not in the book. She found it alarming but curiosity won and she wanted to see where the story would take her. They were in a kitchen, the woman was at the counter, cutting away at some vegetables. The man just stood casually by, watching her prepare the ingredients. While everything seemed normal, what struck Sue as odd was the fact that they weren't talking. As each moment passed, the scene seemed to change into something else.

  They weren't in the kitchen anymore, but in her daughter's bedroom.

  But the woman was still chopping! Immediately Sue's eyes flew to the direction of the knife that the woman used to cut something. To her absolute terror, instead of the kitchen counter, the woman was chopping something on her daughter's bed. Instead of vegetables, she found her daughter's body underneath the knife's assault!

  The woman sliced Jenna's abdomen repeatedly, blood was splattering and spurting all over the bed, the walls, and the woman with each chop. Jenna screamed but blood bubbled up her throat and blood gushed out of her mouth. Her hand was reaching out to her in a desperate plea for help.

  Susan started towards her daughter's body but couldn't move! She screamed her lungs out, but no sound came out of her throat!

  Her terror was instant and overwhelming. Her daughter's body rocked with every assault. The woman's face, which was really Sue's face, became darker and darker until Sue could not make out any detail anymore. She could only see her red, shining eyes. They glowed like neon lights were underneath the surface that blood-red fine veins stood out, and the faint whiteness of the woman's crooked teeth showed when it smiled.

  She screamed her daughter's name over and over in her head as tears race down her cheeks. She could see Jenna's eyes rolling over, slowly, the life draining out of her every minute. Her innards were now messily strewn about the bed, dark blood streamed from her mouth, soaked the sheets, flowed to the carpet on the floor. An acrid stench of something rotten filled the air. If she could have coughed she would have done so. But she couldn't! No matter how hard she tried to will herself to save her daughter's life or fight it off of her, she couldn't!

  When she saw Jenna's hand finally go limp, she felt a terrible despair. She was trapped within her own mind. Her anger, terror, angst, helplessness, and grief were all mixed together, torturing her within the confines of her own nightmare.

  She wished she would just die.

  The man who had been watching the whole dismemberment and whom she had forgotten until then slowly turned his head in Sue's direction. His face was blank. There were no eyes, nostrils or mouth. It was just a shade clothed in an expensive suit. As the shade turned, it fuzzed in and out of her vision like an old movie on broadcast television.

  The entire room smelled horrible. While the shadow in the suit slowly approached her as if making her die with terrible anticipation, the woman with the dark face pulled on her daughter's entrails and began scattering fecal matter all over the room.

  She picked up her daughter's head and sliced it by the neck.

  Susan heard the crackling of bones and the final snap as Jenna's head came off of her body.

  The intensity of it all was enough to send Sue into a state of crazed panic. She watched in horror as the two malevolent creatures made their way towards her. The shade in the suit was leaning forward, its empty face leading; while the woman leered at her as she held Jenna's bloody head. Sweat poured down Sue's forehead, mixing with her tears as it reached her cheeks and chin. The lights began to flicker violently as the two malevolent beings came closer and closer.

  Susan screamed again, but only managed to open her mouth and expel air from her lungs.

  Then the two beings stopped. The shadow zoomed in with its face just inches away from Sue's -- and she could see no detail whatsoever. It was just a shadow shaped like a human head. It tilted its head from side to side in an erratic manner, as if there was a broken cog in the gears that ran inside it. Then it suddenly pulled away.

  If Susan could look away she would have done so because as soon as the shadow pulled its opaque head away, the maniacal woman shoved the decapitated head of her daughter in front of her face. She was horrified with the blank expression there, lips pulled down by the sides, eyes half-closed, and blood still pouring in small streaks in the corners of the mouth.

  Susan's soul almost left her body when she heard the severed head screamed a haunting scream that seemed to echo endlessly...

  "AVENGE ME!"

  Then Susan roused from her nightmare and sprung into complete wakefulness, her heart pumping furiously, catching her breath as if she hadn't been breathing for a very long time. She ended up with coughing fits interspersed with sobs, but she was already moving towards her daughter's bed, patting her, checking her for wounds as she trembled and tried very hard not to scream her sobs. She almost laughed when she felt the heat of her daughter's skin.

  Then Jenna woke up. "Mommy? I'm cold," she complained, snuggling close to her mother.

  Sue closed her eyes, stifled a great sob, and just hugged her daughter as tightly as she could until Jenna went back to sleep.

  12

  THE DIGITAL CLOCK showed the time in neon pink-eleven-thirteen. It was almost midnight. Susan sat on the bed while Jenna slept, her daughter's arm draped on her thighs as her head rested on a plump pillow. Susan's back rested against the headboard and, though her body needed to sleep, she could not.

  Susan still shivered when she remembered her nightmare. The macabre depiction of her daughter's slaughter was deeply etched in her mind, still in full, vivid colors. She stared blankly outside the window opposite her daughter's bed. There was a slight drizzle outside, accented by distant lightning and thunder. The temporary shadows and figures that were formed with each flash only reminded her of the horror.

  So Su
san decided to approach the incident from a logical perspective. She pored over the possible explanations. Like a desperate gambler, she strived to find meaning to each and every horrific detail. While she found some meanings and interpretations for a few of the things she had witnessed, she couldn't, for the life of her, try to get a meaning from the severing of the head. Besides that, every time she saw it in her head her throat would choke with tears. Stroking her daughter's hair, she accepted that there was nothing she could think of that connected her nightmare to their current situation. Yes, they just moved to another place, but she felt the nightmare too much for such a translation.

  Then she realized that the room had gotten cold. She looked to her left, to where the other window was close to the bed. The slight drizzle was picking up. With each flash of lightning, she could see the drizzle moving at a fast pace, the branches of the trees straining to one side.

  The lightning was becoming more frequent, the drizzle starting to become rain. With every flash she saw the trees outside, their branches straining against the might of the wind that was picking up. She also noticed a creeping blurriness in the periphery of her vision to the left.

  She ignored it. When it rained, it was not uncommon for glass to fog up, especially if it had been a humid day.

  A strong streak of lightning made Susan finally look out the window to her left. She thought she saw something again, but this time, it was farther out and she took a second to adjust. When she saw, she froze in absolute terror.

  It was the image of her dismembered, headless daughter! Her reflexes made her look away, but now her eyes were drawn to the image of the maniacal woman on the window opposite the foot of the bed.

  The nightmare was back. She couldn't believe it. Had she fallen asleep without knowing it? Then the lights inside the room started flickering until they went out for seconds at a time.

  Terrified again, she looked away from the windows as she willed the horrible images away. The temporary darkness seemingly preferable to the hideous faces hanging outside the windows. The lightning did not make that easy. The shadow in a suit appeared from the darker, farther corner of the room and began to approach in the awkward way she had seen in her earlier nightmare. He looked so menacing that Susan shook with terror, but when it reached one of its hands for her daughter, she dove atop Jenna and shielded her from him.