Dead in the Trunk: A Short Story Collection

by Craig Saunders

  The timer on the microwave reached zero and the door pinged open. Before David reached in to grab the plate, he paused for a moment to savour the aroma drifting from the hot food. The smell of hot pie was David’s second favourite odours.

  He put his hands inside and picked the hot plate up. Someone knocked on the side door besides the microwave. He screamed and dropped the plate back on the glass turntable.

  Oh bloody bollocks, he had forgotten that it was Wednesday. Dad’s friend, Derek always came round after nine. They would sit around for a few hours either talking and drinking beer or playing games on Dad’s ancient Playstation. A few months ago, David had sneaked into his parent’s bedroom and had a quick play, the satisfaction of beating his Dad’s all time high scores had given him a high for at least a week.

  He left the food where it was and opened the door. David liked Derek; he was his second favourite person. Derek always had a plentiful amount of dirty jokes and he never dismissed David like his parents did. Derek spoke to him as if he was an adult.

  The only thing about the man that he found uncomfortable was those lingering looks that Derek had been giving his sister recently. Of course he only did it when Derek thought nobody was looking but David saw them.

  Although he thought it was hilarious that anyone would want to look at Wendy for longer than a micro-second, he still found it a bit creepy. Besides, Derek was approaching forty and David just assumed that you didn’t think about stuff like that when you got so old.

  He unlocked the door and opened it, allowing his Dad’s friend to come in from the cold.

  “Its brass monkey’s out there, lad.” He said while pretending to shiver. “So how are you doing anyway, David? I swear that you must have grown another full inch since I saw you last week.”

  David smiled. He’d already explained to him that it was impossible for any child to gain so much height in only seven days and yet he still continued to say it. Derek was a very strange man. “I’m fine thank you.”

  He removed his coat and threw it over a chair. “That food smells good, are we sharing?”

  “No,” replied David. “It’s all mine.” Sometimes he could be rude to Derek as long as the man was grinning or smirking.

  “That’s okay lad, I was only pulling your leg.” He patted his stomach. “Besides, I ate a Chinese earlier. Is your dad in the room?”

  He nodded and turned towards his food. Derek wasn’t going to recite a joke so as far as David was concerned, he no longer existed. He might as well take his food up to his bedroom while he plotted his revenge on his horrible sister.

  “David?”

  He spun around; Derek was still there, wearing a solemn expression. Was he going to tell him a funny joke now?

  “I’ve got something to ask you David. I was going to ask you this last week but you didn’t seem to be in a good mood.”

  He certainly wasn’t in a good mood this time last week. Wendy had told her best friend that she was going to sell her brother on EBay and the bitch had used it as her Facebook status.

  “I’ve noticed just how distant you have been.” He shook his head. “No, not distant, distracted. I’m having a conversation with you and all of a sudden, your eyes dart away in a different direction, as if there’s something behind me.”

  David tried not to sigh; he hadn’t told Derek about the lumps. He didn’t want him to side with his family; he didn’t want Derek to start treating him like a child.

  “Now I haven’t said anything to your Dad but I’ve seen the signs, your Ma and Pa are been acting a little odd around you as well. Now, are you going to tell your uncle Derek what’s going on?”

  David paused for a moment then nodded. Although the man wasn’t really his relation, he knew that he was the only person on the planet who really listened to him. He came to the decision to tell Derek everything and hoped that he wouldn’t burst out laughing. If he did, if he saw so much of a hint of a smirk on his face then Daddy was going to find out exactly what Derek wanted to do to his darling little daughter.

  Getting people into trouble was David’s second favourite hobby.

  “So David, are you going to spill the beans?”

  David swallowed and counted to three. “I’ve been seeing these lumps moving about on the walls.”

  “But only you can see them?”

  He nodded and waited for the man to start taking the piss. He had already worked out how his Dad would find out about what Derek had been up to.

  “Are there any in here?”

  Dad’s friend was serious; he would not leave him alone until he got what he wanted. Derek’s behaviour confused and upset him; he wasn’t used to anyone taking him seriously.

  He closed his eyes and breathed in his second favourite odour before opening his eyes; it calmed him down and allowed David to have a clear thought.

  It could go only one of two ways, Derek would see nothing or he would pretend. Either way, it would be quick and he would be able to get on with eating his food.

  David gazed around the kitchen walls, in the early days, he only saw them in the living room but recently, they started to appear in nearly every room. He had yet to discover any in is bedroom, for which he was thankful. He had started to do a private thing in there and even the lumps weren’t allowed to watch him do that.

  There were a couple of little ones on the cupboard just above the kettle. One was stationary while the other was moving slowly in a small circle.

  “Yes Derek, there are two over there.” He pointed to the cupboard.

  He stood put his hand on his jacket and leaned closer, after a few seconds, he shook his head. “I’m sorry David but I can’t see anything different.”

  There, thank goodness that was over and done with. Now perhaps, he would leave him alone.

  “Well it’s obvious that you can see them David so why can’t I? I’ve never known you to lie to anybody lad so what does that leave?”

  David looked at the man in a new light. He really, actually and truly believed him.

  “Maybe it’s something to do with your age. Maybe only the young can see them, something to do with the light spectrum or something.” He walked over and brushed his hand along the mahogany cupboard door.

  David didn’t have the heart to inform him that they were now crawling up the wall parallel to the window.

  “No, that’s a bollocks theory. If only the young can see them then your Wendy would have told everyone on the planet by now.”

  Derek looked at David. “Can you see them straight away? I mean, do you need to do something special first?”

  He did think about shaking his head or maybe shrugging but that would be lying and everybody knew that you went to hell for lying and there was no way that he wanted to live down there. He’d seen the pictures on the internet, it looked awful. Besides, it would be kinda cool to have someone else to talk to about the lumps.

  “I can see them straight away now but first I had to look at them funny.”

  “You mean that you had to squint?”

  David nodded.

  He clicked his fingers. “Of course. Just like those magic eyes pictures.”

  David didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.

  Derek smiled. “You wouldn’t remember of course. They were all the rage a couple of decades ago. My Dad had one of them hung up over his fireplace. From a distance, it just looked like a picture of multicoloured vomit. You needed to get right up close, squint your eyes and the image turned into a tyrannosaurus. It was pretty cool.”

  It sounded like a lot of hard work to David; old people must have had simple pleasures in those times before the digital revolution.

  Derek took a deep breath. “Ok, I’m ready. Are they still on the cupboard?”

  He shook his head; they both seemed to be taking an interest in his food.

  “No, they are close to the microwave.”

  Derek held his arm out in front of him with his forefinger pointing to the ceiling. “The
trick is,” he said, while moving his hand towards his eyes. “Is to never lose contact with the finger.”

  David wanted to snigger, Derek’s eyes were almost crossed, it looked really funny until his face abruptly changed to abject terror. Well that was a surprise; it looked like his Dad’s friend could actually see them.

  Derek staggered back. “Oh my Jesus fucking Christ, I can see them, they’re fucking real.”

  The man’s eyes were rolling about like ball bearings. Did David look like that when he was watching the lumps? No wonder his parents shouted at him. He had to admit though, it did look pretty weird.

  “Derek? Are you alright?”

  The man didn’t respond, his eye movements were getting worse. There were only two lumps on the wall, he shouldn’t be doing that with his eyes.

  David turned and staggered back himself. The wall was now covered in lumps; there wasn’t an inch of the wall that was visible. He hadn’t seen this many ever since his first encounter. The lumps were all different shapes and sizes but something was different this time, none were camouflaged. They were all one uniform colour of dark green.

  David began to get a little uneasy, several lines of lumps disengaged from the mass and spread along the other walls. They reminded David of huge marching ants. This determined purpose scared him; there was no playful movement this time.

  He reversed past Derek and tapped him on the shoulder whilst keeping an eye on those rapidly advancing lumps. They had reached the back wall now and showed no sign of stopping.

  Derek didn’t move, he was too busy muttering, he couldn’t make out all the words but it did sound like he was swearing again. He tapped him again, this time he used his shoe.

  As Derek’s weight shifted, the lumps stopped moving in unison. The man slowly moved his head and locked his gaze on David. “This isn’t normal is it.”

  David stared back into his scared bunny eyes. He wanted to lie, to calmly inform him that this sort of behaviour happened every day, but he wasn’t going to hell for anyone, even Derek. He grinned instead, hoping that it would be translated into a reassuring smile.

  The hallway behind him were now covered in lumps as well, all immobile, all one uniform colour, thankfully, Derek had yet to notice this batch.

  Derek licked his lips. “What are we going to do?”

  So his smile didn’t work. “We stay calm,” he replied. “They seem to respond to intense emotion; in fact the best solution would be to just ignore them.”

  His food was going cold; David hoped that he would be able to eat it soon. You weren’t supposed to re-heat food in a microwave. It was very bad for you.

  “Ignore them?” Derek repeated. “How the bloody hell can I ignore them? They are everywhere.”

  The lumps were definitely feeding off Derek’s agitation; a few on the wall began to vibrate. Derek then noticed the assembled armada gathered in the hallway, he opened his mouth and David whipped up his arm and clamped his hand over the man’s mouth.

  The rank smell of ozone started to fill the air, the hairs on David’s neck stood up; it felt like the prelude to a thunderstorm.

  David removed his hand then backed away from Derek; it seemed like the right thing to do. Derek didn’t scream but he was shaking very badly, his eyes were fixed on something just above the window.

  “Oh God.” He whispered.

  David followed his gaze. The skin on one of the lumps was peeling back like uncooked pie crust. David’s eye darted from one lump to another, they were all doing it.

  Beneath was a seething dense clump of light blue vine. He tore his gaze off the unravelling vine to watch a dark, wet patch spreading down from Derek’s crotch; he didn’t think the man had even noticed.

  Derek then jerked forward, another wet patch appeared except this one was spreading across his chest and it was claret red. The man’s eye glazed over just before he jerked again.

  He saw why this time, a vine from one of the open lumps on the side wall had shot out like a harpoon, straight into the man’s neck, Derek opened his mouth. It must have been a gag reflex as he must surely be dead. His movement acted like a trigger. Lumps from three walls and from the hallway unleashed their deadly cargo, each one punching into Derek’s flesh.

  David turned away; he had no wish to watch anymore. The lumps that had been behind him had not revealed their insides; in fact their vivid green colour had even begun to fade. He knew he shouldn’t but David just had to turn back. The vines pushed further and further into his Dad’s best friend, they were like eager worms in search of the softest parts.

  It was pretty gruesome but fascinating, the vines changed colour to dark red; the lumps were sucking all the moisture out of him as if he was a slush puppy. He couldn’t take his eyes off them, David felt along the kitchen top until he found the microwave door. He tapped the pie three times, good, his food was still hot.

  Within seconds, the lumps had skeletonised Derek. The lumps in the hallway had all but dispersed but some of the lumps in the kitchen still had vines wrapped around some of the thicker, crimson wet bones. They were trying to get inside them.

  David heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. Oh bloody bollocks! Mum was back with Wendy! If she saw the remains of Derek, he would be in so much trouble; he’d be grounded for at least a week.

  He hurried over to the bones. The remaining vines let go of their prize and retreated into their bodies. David pushed the mess behind the kitchen door with his foot but it was still not good enough. The floor tiles were still streaked with dark red blood and tiny chunks of Derek; there just wasn’t enough time to mop it up.

  The front room door and the outside door opened together.

  “Hiya hunny.” His dad said.

  His Mother’s smile slid off her face when she saw what David was standing in.

  “Oh my God!” She said. What the bloody hell is that on my floor? Please don’t tell me that you’ve dropped your tea on my clean tiles.”

  David retreated back into the kitchen, eager to show her that his food was still in the microwave. Of course he hadn’t dropped his plate; David loved his Mum’s cooking.

  His parents followed him into the kitchen with Wendy just behind them, she was wearing her trademark ‘oh you are in so much trouble’ smirk. His Dad was the first to recognise what was really on the floor.

  “Oh shit. That’s blood isn’t it David. Please don’t tell me that you’ve been feeding them.”

  David flew through a rollercoaster of conflicting emotions. He watched Dad’s eye as a pair of lumps yo-yoed along the skirting board.

  “Have you fed them raw meat?”

  “You mean that you can really see them?” he gasped.

  “We thought we had got rid of the bloody things years ago. Yet somehow you’ve managed to bring them back” Replied his Mother.

  He shook his head, this could not be true. His own parents had been lying to him. “But why didn’t you say anything?”

  “Because we all know what you are like.” Said his Dad.

  “You get obsessed.” His Mum continued, “You’re like a bloody terrier David. Once you get hold of something, you never let go and that’s a very bad thing concerning these things. If you ignored them then they go away. If you knew that we could see them as well, Christ David, it would be bloody years before they all buggered off.”

  Wendy and his Mother noticed the bones at about the same time as his Dad saw Derek’s jacket lying over the back of the chair.

  The air charged up again, the skins on the remaining lumps had already begun to peel back. Judging by the way their faces swapped from annoyance to terror, he didn’t believe his family had seen the lumps go through this transformation.

  That was a shame.

  His family were as still as statues. No doubt frozen to the spot with fear. Just like Derek. It was most unfortunate about Derek, he was the closest thing he had to a real friend but Mum and Dad and especially Wendy deserved their fate. They had lied to him.
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br />   David had to get out of the kitchen before it got really messy. He grabbed his plate and pushed past them then ran up the stairs. He just had to get his green exercise book. There was so much he had to write down.