Figments of Fear (A Dark Fantasy Horror): The Edge of Reflection 2

by Carver Pike

  He spent his days driving a tow truck, his afternoons mowing his lawn, his evenings downing beer after beer at the local bar, and then his late nights stumbling through the front door to make love to his wife.

  Their relationship had started out great, with Becky hanging out at the bowling alley with him and heading to the bar afterwards. Once they had a kid, though, it all changed. Becky started ragging on him all the time. It never seemed to end.

  She talked so much about the man she’d married and how he’d changed, when the truth was that he hadn’t changed at all. He was still the alcoholic redneck from their youth. She was the one who’d gone and got all uptight on him. The more she complained, the less time he spent at home.

  Drinking always made him hungry, and when you can barely walk, the best place to eat is right next door. The sandwich shop was two doors down from the bar. It was one of those foot-long sub places.

  There was a girl there, a girl named Vivi, and damn she was a flirt. Every time he went in for a sandwich, she’d bat her eyes at him and throw winks around like they were freebies. He’d never considered cheating on his wife before, but he started to when he met Vivi.

  The problem was he was sure that she was a young’un. She had a body like a Playboy centerfold, but he thought she must only be about seventeen.

  He was stupid for taking her down to the lake on that birthday ride in his tow truck. It was stupid to never ask how old she was. He convinced himself that if she’d been seventeen before, which she’d never said she was, then she must be eighteen now.

  After necking with her in the cab of his truck for a while, she finally mentioned something about it being her sixteenth birthday, and that’s when all hell broke loose.

  Dozier was a proud man, proud of being a good daddy to his little girl. He would kill a man for necking with his daughter at fifteen, sixteen years old. That was sick. Why hadn’t she said something to him?

  She apparently didn’t understand what all the fuss was about because when he got out of the truck and went down to the lake, she followed him.

  The last thing he remembered was standing over the water, looking down at his reflection, and saying something along the line of, “What was I thinking? How could I do this? Why did Becky do this to me? I can’t take it anymore.” Then BAM. He was yanked through the lake by his image and wound up on the dark side.

  He’d been drunk the night he decided to finally take the young girl out. He knew his image had done something bad to her, and he’d had a hard time living with himself ever since. That’s why he never went back. How could he face his daughter again? How could he face Becky? If they were even still alive.

  As he looked around at all the whores, Dozier put one arm around Language and the other around Conductor.

  “You ever seen such a sight?” he asked them.

  Language nodded.

  “I didn’t think I’d ever be able to walk into a bar again, but hell, if you’re gonna walk on the wild side, you better walk with the best of ‘em. Come on. Let me buy my two image friends a drink!” Dozier announced.

  He led them to the bar where they plopped down onto bar stools. The male bartender approached them and Dozier shook his head and pointed to the female.

  “Sorry, Bud, but I want the big tittied girl to serve us tonight.”

  The female bartender looked over at him and laughed as she headed their way.

  “Name your poison,” she said.

  “Three Alabama Slammers,” Dozier replied.

  The bartender looked at him quizzically.

  “Ala…whata?” she asked.

  “Alabama Slammer? You ain’t ever heard of it? It’s a great fuckin’ drink,” Dozier said, bewildered by the fact that a bartender didn’t know the popular drink.

  Conductor saved him by leaning over and placing the order for him.

  “We’s a be havin’ a tree tea baggin’ tramps!” Conductor said.

  The bartender understood his order easily and walked away.

  “I can’t believe she’s never heard of it. And what the hell’s a tea baggin’ tramp?” Dozier asked.

  ***

  Gabe stood with Haylay, Lisa, and Sergio near the front door of the bar. He ignored the small talk between his friends and scanned the crowd, not knowing exactly what he was looking for, but thinking that he might possibly see Allie’s image. If he could find her image, he might be able to find the mirror that Cutter would be standing in front of at some time in the near future.

  “So what exactly is it that you’re looking for?” Haylay asked him.

  “My girl…” Gabe caught a glimpse of Lisa and stopped himself. “Well, my ex-girlfriend, Allison. Allie.”

  “What does she look like?” Haylay asked.

  “Like…”

  Gabe continued to scan the crowd, barely paying attention to Haylay’s questions when he looked up at the second floor landing and saw Allie’s image leaning over the railing, watching the crowd below.

  She wore a burgundy cape draped over her shoulders and a tight black dress. She looked incredible. She was the sex kitten Gabe remembered from the past, but multiplied by ten. Every curve of her body screamed sensuality. She was the darker, more mysterious version of the Allie he’d shared his life with not so long ago.

  “Like her,” Gabe said, pointing at Allie.

  “Her?” Haylay asked.

  Haylay had a disgusted look on his face as he pointed at a trashy looking redhead wearing purple lingerie.

  “No,” Gabe said as he moved Haylay’s arm so he was pointing directly at Allie’s image. “Her.”

  “Don’t go losing your mind or anything,” Lisa said sarcastically.

  “Oh no. No, honey. You musta done lost your mind. That’s Mrs. Alleycat and she’s Belgrave’s woman,” Haylay said as he backed away and fanned his face with an open hand.

  He looked as if he was about to faint.

  “She’s the key to saving Allie’s life on the other side. If we follow her…” Gabe began, but was interrupted by Haylay.

  “Wait a minute. Y’all are from the other side? I thought y‘all were just from out of town. Oh, hell no. Y’all are tryin’ to get me killed. Y’all’s tryin’ to get Haylay murdered up in this bitch.”

  “Shh,” Sergio reminded him. “Keep it down.”

  “Child, you keep it down. I knew y’all were too damned nice and generous…all flashin’ your royce around, but nooo. I can’t listen to my damned instincts. I never do.”

  Gabe shrugged and made his way towards the stairs. Haylay ran over to him.

  “Wait!” he said as he placed a hand on Gabe’s arm. “Wait a minute, baby. You can’t just go marching up there. That’s Mrs. Alleycat you’re talkin’ ‘bout.”

  Gabe stopped and turned to face Haylay.

  “How much money you got?” Haylay asked.

  Before he had the chance to answer, a young prostitute, her hair pulled back into a long braid, snuck up behind him and whispered into his ear.

  “Hey, lover. Alleycat says that you’re crazy coming here. Belgrave’s got everyone watching out for you.” Her tongue nipped at his earlobe.

  Lisa watched jealously until Sergio pulled her away. Haylay stepped back with his hands up in front of him.

  “Hey, I guess you don’t need my help,” Haylay said.

  “I need to see her,” Gabe said.

  The young prostitute rolled her eyes and looked disappointed.

  “Cutter, I thought you were here to see me,” she whined.

  Gabe did his best to play along.

  “I am. I just need to talk to her about something important,” he said.

  “Fine, put this on.” She placed a black leather mask over his head. Haylay unzipped the zipper on his mouth and then did the same with his eyes.

  “That’s some freaky shit,” Haylay said. “And I’m the queen of freaky shit.”

  “It’s what I do with my men,” the young prostitute said as she led Gabe towards the stairs.


  Gabe looked back at Lisa and was worried about her. He knew how sensitive she was. This must be eating her up inside. Sergio didn’t miss a beat. He grabbed Lisa by the hand.

  “Come on, baby,” he said as he led her towards the bar. “I think we need us a drink.”

  Alleycat, who watched from the landing, quickly disappeared down the hall.

  The young prostitute rattled off a speech she’d obviously had prepared for some time.

  “Okay, I didn’t want to do this going up the stairs like this, but let’s face it. We both know that when you go in there with Alleycat, you won’t be coming to see me after. I know you still have a thing for her. Everyone does. It’s like her pussy’s made of gold or something.”

  She began to cry a little as she spoke. She wiped at her tears with the back of her hand.

  “I let you cut me,” she said as she lifted up her hair to reveal a long scar that ran from the bottom of her neck down over her shoulder. “I let you bite me and burn me and beat me, and if you do what you promised to do and take me away from here I’ll keep letting you do those things forever.”

  Gabe was disgusted. How could Cutter be so cruel? And how could this young, stunning girl allow it? Or even worse, enjoy it? The girl had completely broken down. She had been waiting for Cutter to keep some promise that he’d made to her in the past, a promise that Gabe was sure wasn’t one that he’d been planning to keep. From what he’d learned about Cutter in the short time he’d been on the dark side, the image was only looking after number one, himself.

  “I don’t want to hide our love from Alleycat anymore. Let’s go away together tonight,” the girl added.

  Again, she wiped at her tears. They were flowing more freely now.

  When they reached the top of the stairs, the girl pulled him into the shadows of the hallway and removed the ridiculous mask from his face. She tucked it under her arm and hugged him.

  “You know where she is. Third door on the left,” she told him. “Think of what I said. Choose me.”

  Right then Gabe made a decision that he hoped would save this young girl’s life. If he succeeded and Cutter did return to the dark side, this girl needed to stay far away from him.

  Gabe flashed the young prostitute his best sneer. He wasn’t sure what Cutter’s evil face looked like, but he apparently looked enough like him to fool everyone on the dark side, so all he needed to do was toughen up his act a bit to pull it off.

  “It ain’t gonna happen,” Gabe did his best to use a tough guy voice. He needed to sound as mean as Cutter would. “All the things I said to you were lies. I like cuttin’ you, but that’s about it. Now piss off and let me see my girl.”

  The girl’s face went completely white. Her eyes welled up with tears.

  “What did I do wrong?” she asked.

  “You were born,” Gabe said as he yanked his arm away from her and walked down the hallway.

  “If I can’t have you, neither can she,” she muttered.

  Gabe ignored her and continued walking down the dark hallway. The girl’s sobs made him feel horrible. The look on her face when he’d said the things he did was like she’d been punched in the gut. She honestly didn’t understand but it was for the best. He only hoped that it would work and she would forget about Cutter.

  Gabe counted the doors on the left side as he quietly made his way to see Alleycat. He was more nervous that he thought he’d be. What was he going to say to her? Did she have a mirror in her room? If she did, would Cutter be waiting on the other side?

  Then his nervousness turned to a bit of fear as he imagined Cutter standing in the mirror with a large knife in his hand, glaring back at him, ready to cut his heart out. There was no brotherly connection between Gabe and his image and he was sure Cutter despised him as much as he did Cutter.

  As Gabe passed the first door, he heard a man crying out in pain after each crack of a whip. Behind the second door came a lot of voices, a lot of moaning. There were more than a few people participating in that party. Finally, he came to the third door.

  He closed his eyes for a moment, then grasped the doorknob, took a deep breath to calm his nerves and wished he’d brought someone with him for back up. He opened the door enough to slide inside. The room was filled with red candlelight. A king-size bed was covered in some type of black plastic tarp. He imagined it was for easy clean up.

  The large bottle of coconut oil sitting on the floor next to the bed backed up his suspicion. The only mirror in the room belonged to a small vanity table in the corner, and no amount of trying would allow Gabe or Cutter to squeeze through it.

  Gabe’s survey of the room was intentional. He knew that Alleycat was standing in front of him, but he wanted her to wait. Cutter wouldn’t have raced over to her for her affections. Cutter was always in control.

  When Gabe finally turned his attention towards her, he was blown away. Alleycat was the spitting image of Allie, but much more alluring. She stood in the perfect pose for the art of seduction.

  Her face was turned to the side so that she was looking slightly away from him. Her lips were full and pouty, her eyes slightly closed.

  Her neck was stretched out so that the smooth skin was succulent and begged to be bitten.

  Without the cape draped over her, the swell of her breasts could be seen at the top of her blouse. He wanted to put his hand in the gap between her breasts and rip her top off. The thought of it almost made him shiver. He allowed his eyes to trace her body, down her stomach to the hiked up dress, which put her long, toned legs on display.

  Her hand held the dress up to the top of her thigh, right where her panty line began, but left some room for imagination. Gabe swallowed and drew in a deep breath.

  “Hey, sweet thing,” Gabe said as dryly as Cutter might.

  Alleycat whipped her head around and stalked towards him. For a second, Gabe thought that she’d sensed he wasn’t Cutter, but that thought was put to ease when she reached him, wrapped her arms around his head, dug her fingernails into the back of his scalp and yanked his face into hers. She kissed him harder than he’d ever been kissed in his life.

  It was a kiss of longing and desperation. Apparently, she’d missed him and wanted him badly. She moaned as she groped him. Just as quickly as she’d attacked him, she pulled away and slapped him hard across his face.

  “You motherfucker! Where have you been?” she yelled, quieting down towards the end, realizing that she could give them away.

  Gabe started to dig up an answer when she grabbed him once more and wildly kissed him. She pulled away again and slapped him a second time.

  “Am I just a whore to you?”

  “I…”

  Wham. She slapped his face a third time. Gabe raised his hands up in defense.

  “Two fucking months I’ve been waiting for you. Singing these opera songs every night and then coming back here and running this whorehouse. If I’m just a fucking whore to you then fuck me like one.”

  “What?” Gabe asked.

  He remembered he was Cutter.

  “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

  She bent over, lifted up her dress, and leaned forward, resting both hands on the bed. Her pussy was propped up in plain sight. No panties. Just the slight bulge of her swollen, beautiful pussy.

  “I said fuck me like one. If you don’t love me. Then make this our final fuck cause I can’t wait for you anymore.”

  She reached back and spread her ass open, spreading her lips in the process.

  Gabe felt his dick stir. His eyes were glued to her perfect ass bent over. She looked so ripe and juicy and for a second he considered dropping to his knees and taking her in his mouth. He reached down to adjust himself.

  Flashbacks of his face between Allie’s thighs came flooding back to him. Things had been great with her at one point.

  The bitch.

  Remembering how she’d fucked him over and caused this whole mess brought him back to reality.

  “I tho
ught you and Charlie were…” Gabe started and realized that he was thinking of Allie.

  This wasn’t Allie. Not even close. This was Alleycat and it was a whole new ballgame. If he slipped up again he could ruin everything.

  “Charlie? Who the hell’s Charlie?” Alleycat asked.

  She yanked her dress back down and turned to look at him.