The whiskered man looked back at Anna. “You need to go home. Silver Lightning is a poison that we used to drain the life out of desperate people who were going to die anyway. We’re dropping crystal on thieves and animals waiting to be eaten by the smokies.”
Anna said, “Tell me what you want for it. I need to try something, Mr. Garret.”
He tilted his head. “Listen, girl, it doesn’t work. Go home.”
“I need to try. Please.”
“I’m not in the custom of playing nice. Get the hell away from my yard before I change my mind and let Dusty trick you into whoring out your daughters for a bottle of rotgut.”
The wind picked up and the netting began to flap above their heads. The poles waved back and forth. The flag cracked and popped as the material strained. The old man jumped up, knocking over his lawn chair. A bell rang to Anna’s right. Men ran for the garages. Other customers scrambled for the gate. Mr. Garret left Anna as he ran into the garage with Dusty and the others.
A scream ripped out through the sky followed by a chorus of other cries.
Dusty stepped forward to the edge of the garage. He closed his hand slowly over the crotch of his camouflaged pants.
“We have a quick fee for safety, Mrs. Sasser. Once your mouth isn’t full, we can negotiate your meds inside the house.”
Anna stared as the shadows circled the property and flew in below the nets between the crosses. Dusty’s expression fell and he stepped back into the garage. Anna felt the creatures soar past her on both sides and then around the houses. A table turned over with a crash. She heard the flag rip behind her.
I don’t care anymore. Let me die too, if there is no hope.
Anna closed her eyes.
One of the men in the garage shouted. “Run, you dumb bimbo.”
She heard another voice rumble darkly in her ear. It whispered wet and shrill.
“Suffer.”
Anna opened her eyes. Two shadowy forms floated on both sides of her. In their profiles she could not see their void eye slants. As they flanked her, their smoky tails twisted around her inches from her skin. The cold began to build until it burned. She struggled to control her shivering so she wouldn’t touch them. Anna wanted to reach for the cross around her neck, but she lacked the room to lift her shaking arms from her sides.
She saw the men staring out from the open garage.
They all shouted some version of the same phrase over the top of one another. “You aren’t invited.”
More shadows soared in to hover with the first two that encased Anna. They turned to stare at her and then the sharp emptiness of their eyes rotated around their forms to face the trapped men.
Mr. Garret whispered. “Take your pets away, you witch.”
One of the shadows screamed and lurched forward. It knocked over the burning barrel and then sparked and sizzled itself at the edge of the garage opening. It broke into cloudy pieces and screeched. The pieces fell back before spiraling up. It bounced off the netting twice before wafting up through the small openings. Anna watched it soar up into the sky. She looked back at the monsters around her and outside the garage.
The two beside her slithered their shadowy tails away from her. The sudden change in temperature made her feel like she had been set on fire. She bent over in pain. One of the shadows lifted the burning barrel with two amebic limbs and hurled it into the garage. It lit the interior as roared through the air. The men squalled and scrambled. The barrel crashed against the far drywall and exploded flaming char into the space. The bent barrel crashed and wobbled on the concrete. The men beat blankets and shirts against the burning spots along the wall.
Anna looked behind her and saw the flag that was hanging ripped on the ground upside down. She faced the garage again. One of the shadows turned its empty slats toward Anna at eye level. It hovered closer and closer as she crouched frozen with fear and burning in pain.
The wet whisper hissed. “Run.”
Anna did.
***
Anna stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She rested her head against the frame, heaving for air. She opened her eyes and walked toward the stairs. She saw the movement at the table in the corner of her vision. She yelped and dropped her bag to the floor.
Jon sat wrapped in a blanket over one empty bowl and one full bowl of soup. “Where have you been?”
Anna bent down and held her knees. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“Do you have an answer?”
“You need to trust me to take care of things, Jon. It is my turn to be the hunter.”
Jon coughed. “Are you saying you were hunting or are you avoiding the question? You should take weapons for hunting next time.”
Anna stood back up and crossed her arms. “I went to check on a medicine that Dr. Gawith mentioned. They don’t make it anymore.”
Jon shrugged. “Chris came by. He mentioned a letter. I told him I knew nothing about it.”
Anna sighed. “Is he coming back?”
“I suppose. Are we going to discuss whether telling the girls is a good idea? What if they try to come out?”
Anna looked at the ceiling. “They will hate us if we don’t tell them.”
Jon choked as he tried to swallow. “I’d be happy for them to live to hate me instead of dying to come show their love.”
Anna closed her eyes. “I came to get you for the same reason.”
“Well, I really wish you hadn’t.”
Anna covered her face and cried. “Don’t say that to me, Jon. I’m trying the best I can.”
Several moments passed in near silence as she cried.
Jon whispered. “I’m sorry, Anna. I’m just afraid. Come sit with me.”
Anna wiped her eyes and nose. She sat down across from the empty bowl. Jon slid the full one in front of her. Steam rose off of it. As Jon drew his hand away, the steam followed with his bony fingers back into the blanket.
She bit her lip. “Did you get your appetite back?”
Jon looked down. “Chris had a bowl. I can’t keep it down. The soup may have cooled, but I think it is still good. Go ahead and eat it so it’s not wasted.”
Anna lifted the spoon and sipped. “I need you to keep trying, Jon.”
He nodded. “I promise, Anna. I’ll eat something in a little while, but not right now.”
Anna nodded and ate her cold soup.
***
She adjusted the IV Dr. Gawith had set up on his last visit. Keith had said Jon’s blood count was too low for another dose, but Anna added it to the glucose mixture anyway. Jon remained unconscious. Anna pulled down the sheets causing him to shiver as she changed his diaper.
She tried to move quickly as she wiped him clean. His skin stretched tight over his bones, but steam still rose off of every inch of him. He groaned as she re-covered his body.
There are no painkillers.
She covered her mouth with her hand and squeezed her eyes shut.
She whispered into her hand. “I’m sorry I made you do this.”
Anna walked down the stairs and leaned against the door. She took two deep breaths and then pulled it open. She stepped outside and walked off the porch without closing the door.
Anna stood in front of her house and lifted up her arms. “We can’t do this anymore. If you are up there, take us home. I can’t live without him, so take us both. Come on.”
The screams filled the sky as darkness descended in black cuts across the blue.
I was still kind of hoping someone else was taking requests, but you are the ones that answer.
Their shadows rumbled as they circled the house. Their cold smoke brushed her clothes as they passed her. They hovered and then circled away. Anna looked in both directions and dropped her arms.
Sting me and then I’ll invite you in to finish the job I interrupted. Put us both out of our misery.
“What are you waiting for?”
Two of the shadows soared by in front of and behind her.
Two voices hissed out of time with one another. “Feed. Feed.”
Anna turned around and shouted. “Well, have at it. What’s wrong? Are you scared or lazy? Take me instead of him, you empty shells.”
She held up her hands and sighed. One of them struck her from behind. She stumbled forward toward the stairs. Anna regained her balance and looked around. She waited for the feel of the sting or the sound of their wet feeding, but there was nothing. Another swooped down and jostled her a few steps closer to the porch.
The wet whisper. “Feed him.”
Anna turned around. “What did you say?”
One of the shadows floated down and glared at her. “We’re not done feeding on him.”
Anna glared back. “You want me to drag him down here for you?”
Two smoky arms grew out of the shadow and formed triangular claws. She waited for the pain of its attack. The shadow closed its hard hand around Anna’s throat. It lifted her off the ground and squeezed. The world spotted and turned black around her as the creature cut off her air supply.
Anna opened her mouth to try to invite the shadow inside before she blacked out completely.
Jon will starve to death alone if I can’t end it.
She could not draw the air to speak. Its hand burned her neck in its frigid grasp.
The monster hurled her backward. She slammed down hard on the boards at the top of the porch stairs. Her head fell back on the welcome mat and she gagged. Anna gasped for air and choked on her own saliva.
Over her coughing and wheezing, she heard the monster growl. “We’re not done with him yet. Keep going.”
The shadows screamed as they soared straight up and out of sight.
Anna whispered. “Keep going where?”
Anna heard the footsteps on the porch, but couldn’t lift her head. The hands closed on her shoulders and pulled her up to sitting. Anna wretched and clutched her stomach. Blisters formed around her neck from the burns.
“Jesus, Mom, where is your armor? Why don’t you have a cross?”
Anna’s eyes dropped as she gurgled for air. “How did you know?”
“I was with Cherry’s family when the letter came. It took me two days to convince them to let me come alone. She’s as stubborn as you and her husband is almost as bad. Let’s get inside before the shadows come back. You could have died.”
She lifted Anna and took her inside to sit at the table between the foyer and the kitchen.
Anna coughed. “You shouldn’t have come, Susan.”
Susan closed the door and started working the locks. “Don’t be stupid, mom. You sent the letter. If it wasn’t me, it would have been Cherry and probably her kids too.”
Anna tried to rub her throat, but she felt a blister burst under her fingers. “I told her not to come.”
Susan unstrapped her helmet and dropped her pack on the floor. “Is Dad still alive?”
“Barely. He is unconscious. I don’t know how much time he has left.”
“I want to see him.”
Anna shook her head. “You may not want to remember him like this, Susan.”
Susan laughed. “You think I risked crossing the country because I wasn’t sure I could handle it. You don’t have to face this alone, Mom.”
Anna bowed her throbbing head and cried. Susan knelt down on the floor at her mother’s feet. She laid her matted head on her mother’s lap and waited.
***
Jon’s eyes fluttered open. He glanced up at Susan and sighed.
“You shouldn’t have come, Susan.”
His daughter smiled and sighed back. “Yeah, you told me that when you woke up the last time.”
He gritted his teeth and moaned. Tears rolled down both sides of his face, but evaporated before they reached his pillow. The vapor drifted slowly up over his skeletal face.
“Is there anything I can get you, Dad?”
He clinched his bony fists and shook. “Morphine.”
Susan nodded. “We’re all out. The whole Earth is out. Anything else?”
He whispered. “Take your mother to Charlotte’s house.”
His breath wafted white over his chapped lips.
“I will, Daddy, but not yet.”
His eyes rolled back in his head. He tried to cough, but failed.
“Send your mother in, Susan.”
“I’m here, Jon.”
Anna leaned forward from the end of the bed.
“It hurts so much, Anna. I’m holding on, but I know it will be over soon. You need to pack for Charlotte’s.”
Susan whispered. “I made her do it. We already have.”
Anna snapped her fingers at Susan. “Don’t worry about that, Jon. That is for later.”
Jon grimaced. “I can feel them still eating me through the stinger. They are feeding and the steam is a side effect. This is what the monsters want. I can feel it inside me. It hurts so bad.”
Anna smoothed down the sheet without touching him. He shivered.
“That’s what they told me.”
Susan looked at her mother. “Who? The wraiths?”
Jon shuddered. “That’s impossible. You’re going crazy, Anna.”
She rubbed at the burned scars around her neck as she stared down at her husband’s body. “Wait outside, Susan, so I can talk to your father.”
Susan touched the back of her father’s hand lightly. He winced.
“Goodbye, Daddy. I love you.”
“I love you too. Tell your sister that for me and the grandbabies, please.”
She walked out of the bedroom and closed the door. Anna heard her younger daughter take in a hitched breath on the other side of the door. Anna took Jon’s hands and held on even as he curled his lips and gritted his teeth.
“It hurts, Anna.”
“Thank you for fighting for me, Jon. Thank you for trying and for being brave. You kept your promise. You can let go now. You can rest from fighting now.”
She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. His lips quivered.
“Thank you, Anna, I love you.”
Anna let go of one of his hands to wipe her eyes. She opened her mouth to answer, but he spoke again.
“I invite you in.”
Anna froze. “What? Jon, what?”
The windows shattered and sprayed glass across the room. A shard sliced through her cheek. Another sliver speared her shoulder. Anna let go of Jon’s hand and shielded her eyes. The door exploded open behind her. The shadows filled the room. Their screams vibrated off the walls and light fixtures.
Anna was pulled off the bed backward.
She screamed. “No, Jon, no.”
The monsters descended on him tearing through the sheets with there smoky claws. The IV stand clattered over and the needle tore out of his arm. Anna tried to pull free, but Susan dragged her backward toward the door.
One of the shadows turned and glared at Anna. “More.”
Susan cursed as she pulled her mother back into the hall. The single shadow left the others feasting. It slithered off the bed and raced across the floor. Its dark body tore a line through the carpet as it flew across. Susan lifted her cross over and around her mother’s head.
Anna kicked the door closed. The creature slammed against the other side. The wood splintered in the center. The frame split. The women turned and ran down the stairs as the triangular claws ripped wood away from the inside of the door.
Susan grabbed up her pack and bundled armor. Anna left hers as they tore open the locks on the front door.
We’re going to die here.
The bedroom door exploded out upstairs. A scream raced down the hall toward the stairs. Susan pulled the door open and they ran out across the porch. The banister shattered on the stairs leading down to the foyer.
The women rounded the corner of the house. The scream closed in behind them. Anna turned around and stood.
“Mom, no.”
The creature raised its claws as it dove for Anna. She heaved the bas
e of the crucifix at it. The shadow pulled up as Anna grazed its shadowy belly. It screamed, but did not dissipate. The monster soared up and through the opening in one of the shattered windows. Other shadows crowded through the windows after it.
I left him at their mercy.
Susan pulled her mother’s arm and they ran. They crossed the field behind the house. They ran past the jogging stroller. They ran past the burned foundation and into the trees.
A crash sounded behind them. They both turned to look and then stopped. The top floor crumbled down into the house. The roof lost its shape and disappeared inside. The shadows continued to dive down into the house. The bottom floor and walls folded into the wreckage.
The shadows crawled up out of the debris and screamed out into the woods shaking the branches and waving the treetops.
Susan pulled her mother’s arm. “We need to go, M-om. We have to find a house for the night heading west. Cherry and the girls are out there.”
Fire burst up from the pieces of the home fueled by the heat left by the shadow creatures’ absence. The flame quickly consumed what had been left behind.
“I love you too, Jon.”
Anna turned and followed Susan back into the shadows of the woods. She did not look back again.
SLIPPERY LOVE
an essay by April Hawks
April Hawks writes from a small Maine town. She lives with her husband and four boys. She enjoys spending time with family and friends. Her youngest son was diagnosed with ALL Leukemia on August 31, 2012. His progress can be followed on his Facebook page Thug Monkeys Unite.
I glance around the sterile room that is going to be our home indefinitely. We are at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland, Maine. Sunlight washes in from a window the size of an area rug. Our room overlooks a helicopter pad on a lower roof and beyond that stretches Hadlock Field, home to the Portland Sea Dogs.
We are in a tank looking out at an unreachable world. Inside the tank, a carefully constructed, though completely artificial, semblance of our home life reminds me that we are not at home. This tank specimen is carefully monitored . . . temperature, food intake, food output and overall health. This impish, joyful, strawberry blond, blue-eyed specimen is three feet tall. This is my three-year-old son.
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