Abra-Cadaver

by Matt Drabble

  He stood that way for a minute or so. One hand stretched out ready to take hold of one future, but one foot pointing the other way ready to run from it.

  The decision was taken out of his hands when the door swung open and a man staggered out reeking of beer and scrambling for car keys. The man was old and withered. His face was creased and lined with a lifetime of hardness and bitter tastes. Thankfully he gave up looking for his keys and shrugged, seemingly deciding that it was a good night for a walk anyway. Tommy was relieved. He had no stomach for confrontations with the would be drink drivers of the world. He also knew that he would have hated himself if he’d had to watch the man swerve his way down Main Street. At least now he could convince himself that he would have stopped the old man if it had been necessary, without actually having to put the theory to the test.

  The salon door swung its merry way back and forth and the inside of the bar got a glimpse at the outside, which included Tommy standing like an idiot. Into the gloom he was spotted by PJ sitting at a table towards the rear and the choice to flee was taken from him completely now. Steeling himself he walked into the bar amidst the aroma of stale beer, tobacco and the wafts of various artery clogging foods frying.

  PJ waved at him frantically from the far side of the room and Tommy’s feet made one small step after the other until he reached the table. The four adults that looked up suddenly seemed a million miles from the children that he’d once known. He could tell immediately that PJ was already most of the way drunk. Several pitchers of beer littered the table in various states of emptiness and Tommy guessed that PJ had attacked most of them. His childhood friends sat with upturned faces and he wondered just what thoughts were racing through their minds.

  Tommy stood there and took in the scene, and for a moment was a child again, surrounded by the friends he’d thought would last forever.

  McEwen was now stick thin where he’d once been broad and strong. His face and features had a delicateness that surprised him. His hair was long and tied back in a pony tail. It was all one shade of brown that spoke of vanity and hair dye. He wore a smart and, even to Tommy’s untrained eye, expensive black suit. He looked up and nodded gently towards Tommy with an almost shy gesture.

  Dixon had swelled into a large man. He had always been tall and broad like McEwen, but now the meat filled his bones where McEwen’s were almost scraped bare. His head was shaved closely and his eyes looked a little puffy and red. He wore a large grin that spread across his face, but he emanated an aura of danger that Tommy could feel just from looking at him. Gold adornments glittered on his fingers and wrist. Poor boy made good they screamed, look at me now, look at me, I’m not the same piss poor boy that I once was. Tommy thought that there were two types of “poor boys done good”; those who hoarded their new found wealth like squirrels in the summer, and those who splashed their spoils across the sky to scream in the faces of the world. Judging by his outfit and accessories Tommy guessed that Dixon was of the latter. He would bet his life that Dixon’s car would be the largest and most ostentatious in the car park at the back of the bar.

  “Hot damn, Tommy Boy!” Dixon practically yelled with no volume control or appreciation for the tables around them. “You look like shit son!” He laughed loudly.

  Tommy smiled graciously as the others looked at the floor and he looked at Ally. She sat between Dixon and McEwen, just like old times Tommy mused. She had grown into an attractive woman of that there was no doubt, but she looked older than she surely was. Her face was tight and her expression likewise. Her hair hung down and loose. She wore traces of makeup but nothing over the top. Her polo shirt was pink and loose as though she was conscious about her figure. It was a figure that Tommy couldn’t help but appreciate. She was slim and toned with healthy brown legs that poked out of white shorts.

  “I guess that we all grew up eh?” Dixon smiled, catching him staring.

  “Don’t be a dick,” Ally muttered to Dixon under her breath, blushing slightly.

  “Sit, sit,” PJ ushered anxiously. “Let’s drink and be merry,” he toasted and drained his glass before motioning the waitress over.

  The next two hours were like being stuck in a time tunnel for Tommy. One minute they were all adults drinking in a bar and the next he could see glimpses of children’s faces peeking out from beyond the past. There was much laughter and drinking, and Tommy couldn’t help but feel like there wouldn’t have been one without the other. The merriment felt forced one minute, but natural the next as stories rolled around the beer strewn table tickling them all in different ways and often for different reasons.

  As the evening grew legs and marched into the night, Tommy found himself wondering just what would have happened to them all if not for his birthday party. Would they all have stayed friends? Would they all have turned out the same way? It was a thought provoking question that he pondered as he looked around the table.

  Dixon often dominated the conversation with tales of his success and acquisitions whilst quite neatly dancing around the subject of just what he was successful in. McEwen seemed to have changed the most from what Tommy remembered. Once he had been the other half of Dixon; a left hand to match the right. They had always been inseparable when they were all young. But now while Dixon seemed to be the very man that Tommy had always feared he’d become, McEwen was now a yin to his former partner’s yang.

  As the night wore on Dixon seemed to grow quieter as though his contribution to the conversation was shallow and of little weight. Tommy noticed that he made several more trips to the bathroom than necessary, and PJ even joined him a couple of times. The pair of them began to tire and slump further into their seats and Tommy managed to draw McEwen out further into the group. He soon learned that his once former protector actually had hidden depths beneath his once brutish exterior.

  “So you’re an artist PJ tells me?” Tommy said.

  “Of sorts,” McEwen bashfully agreed. “Not exactly what you would have expected I’m guessing?” He smiled.

  “Hey we were all just kids right? I wanted to be a cowboy if I remember rightly,” Tommy laughed.

  “Man that’s right,” Ally giggled. “Tommy The Kid!”

  “Yeah, Tommy The kid,” McEwen laughed as he remembered.

  Tommy thought back to his strict adherence to his cowboy frilled leather vest that his parents had bought him one summer. “I practically wore that thing to death,” he laughed.

  “You looked such a dork,” Ally sniggered, snorting beer out of her nose.

  Tommy was the most sober one of the group as he had never developed much of a taste for alcohol. He smiled graciously as the rest of them laughed at the memory. “I also seem to remember that you and the big ape here kept me from getting my ass kicked at school on a daily basis,” he said to McEwen seriously.

  “Ah that was just the job and a hundred lifetimes ago,” McEwen smiled back.

  “I’m betting that you’ve got some leather chaps tucked away somewhere!” Dixon laughed harshly and without a whole lot of humor Tommy noted.

  The jibe sucked most of the previous good energy from the table.

  “Man I remember that we kept all of them alive,” Dixon said towards McEwen. “That was when you were worth a damn.”

  “Russell,” Ally said with a warning tone.

  “You know, before you became some kind of a queer with a paint set,” Dixon spat.

  Tommy felt the mood change and was helpless to stop it; after all he didn’t know these people as adults, only as children in a dim and distant past. But it was easy to imagine that given how tight Dixon and McEwen had once been, the different paths that their lives had taken would no doubt have rankled the bigger man.

  “Dammit Russell you promised,” Ally said quietly.

  Dixon only shrugged with red puffy eyes.

  “Sorry,” Ally apologized towards McEwen, “You know what he’s like after too much.”

  McEwen only shook his head sadly, “Don’t apologies for him Al
ly, he’s not your problem anymore.”

  PJ stirred from his drunken slumber. He lifted his head up off the table and surveyed the empty beer pitchers with regret. “What now?” He slurred.

  “I think that it’s time that we all went home. Some of us have got work in the morning after all,” Ally said standing up and grabbing her purse in one hand and her ex-husband in the other. “Tommy, could you give me a hand?” She asked motioning towards Dixon as he stood unsteadily.

  Tommy took one of Dixon’s arms as she took the other and they made their way towards the exit. PJ staggered behind with McEwen lending him a steadying shoulder. They weaved their way through the tables and patrons. Just as they reached the bar area Tommy heard the large TV behind the bar. The newscaster was finishing the broadcast and repeating the headlines of the day. The TV had been on all evening rumbling away in the background of the night and he had paid it little attention. But now for some reason Tommy stopped dead in his tracks with a feeling of cold dread creeping up his spine. The five of them stood in a tight knit circle for the first time in decades. Squabbling and helping each other at the same time.

  “Repeating our top story tonight,” the handsome anchorman said clearly with a clipped and well practiced non-regional accent. “The secure unit of Blackwater Heights private hospital has been destroyed by fire in the early hours of this morning. Emergency services have been unable to affect entry to the building and there are no confirmations as yet to injuries or fatalities. We can confirm however that several inmates and staff are as yet unaccounted for. One of the most infamous residents at Blackwater Heights was Arnold Trotter. Trotter gained infamy 26 years ago when he brutally murdered his wife in front of a children’s birthday party. Going under the stage name of The Captivating Cosmo X - Master of the Unknown, he placed his then wife Mary into a guillotine illusion and I’m sure that you can guess the rest. At his trial Trotter proclaimed his innocence loudly to all and sundry, claiming that the trick had simply malfunctioned. The investigating officers however uncovered that Mary Trotter had been having an affair with a local businessman and deemed this to be sufficient motive to charge Trotter.”

  Tommy felt his world begin to spin wildly around him and the limited beer that he’d consumed threatened to burst free from his stomach. He felt Ally’s grip take his arm as she released Dixon’s and he was grateful for the contact. The five of them all stared up at the TV as the bar went about its business, seemingly oblivious to the magnitude of what was unfolding.

  The screen flashed up an old publicity photograph of The Captivating Cosmo X in his full stage outfit. Tommy felt the man’s stare blaze through the screen and sear his brain; it was the last thing he saw before he fainted.

  5.

  welcome home

  “But mom, I gotta go,” Sandy Grimes whined with the desperation of a 6 year old. “I gotta go now.”

  Jenny Grimes gripped the steering wheel hard with whitening knuckles. She loved her daughter to death, but she could be a spoilt brat at times. “There’s nowhere to stop around here,” she said as calmly as she could manage. “I told you to go before we left,” she snapped, instantly regretting her harsh tone as Sandy’s face puckered with the onset of tears and no doubt a tantrum. “All right, all right, but you’ll have to go in the woods.”

  “Ok,” Sandy sniffed. “Sorry,” she mumbled in a tiny voice that scorched Jenny’s heart with shame.

  They were on their way to visit her sister June; an open window of calm inside a sea of turmoil at home. She had been separated from James, her worthless cheating husband for over 9 months now, but he was still dragging his feet on signing the divorce papers. She knew his outrage over her temerity to leave him in the first place regardless of his adultery, was the reason for his petty games. She had just needed a break from his constant intrusions into their lives. James had shown little interest in Sandy whilst he had been part of the family, and she doubted that much had changed now. The bitter irony of the situation was that Sandy just about worshipped the ground her father walked on, while she was always the disciplinarian and always the bad guy.

  She pulled the car over to the side of the road and got out. Sandy squirmed impatiently in her seat, eager to be free. Jenny barely unbuckled Sandy’s seatbelt before the 6 year old sprang forth. Her daughter ducked under the fence and ran across the field towards the trees with her little sturdy legs pumping.

  “Sandy wait!” Jenny called after her.

  “I gotta go private,” Sandy called back.

  Just lately Jenny had begun to notice that her daughter was becoming increasing private about her functions. It was a sad time to realise that her daughter was growing up all too quickly.

  She slammed the car door shut and struggled over the fence that her daughter had nimbly ducked under. By the time that her feet landed on the field side, Sandy had already reached the tree line and disappeared inside.

  The landscape was largely deserted, open fields and heavy woods. The road in both directions had been devoid of vehicular company for the past hour or so. But even so her heart raced faster as her 6 year old headed through the undergrowth.

  She ran faster to catch up, not bothering to call out. She reached the trees with a head full of Grim Fairy Tales and thoughts of twisted cackling witches who scooped up little children for cooking pots.

  “Sandy,” she hissed, for some reason not wanting to talk above a whisper, “Sandy!”

  There was a movement off to the side of her in the deep dark shadows. She moved towards the sound and breathed a sigh of relief, trying to calm her temper. Wanting to educate Sandy rather than scare her.

  Suddenly she realised that the rustling undergrowth was moving too much for a small girl, the sound was heavy with footsteps and harsh with breathing.

  Jenny ducked down behind a tree, her mind racing with thoughts and possibilities. She knew that the sound was probably an animal of some kind, and there weren’t supposed to be any of the dangerous variety anywhere near here. It was surely a deer or something similar, but her heart pounded nevertheless.

  The undergrowth parted and a large adult sized shape emerged. Jenny ducked down and sank into herself, praying that whoever it was wouldn’t see her. She reached into her pockets looking for anything to use as weapon, realizing with horror that she’d left her keys in the car. She steeled herself to launch at the man if he was a danger to Sandy. Her whole body trembled with fear and adrenaline as she pushed her back into the tree trunk behind her. She could hear the shape’s panting breath as it paused behind the very tree that she was cowering behind. The presence felt overwhelming and dark. Her instincts roared with danger and dread. Legs paused and feet rustled through the grass, and then it was moving away.

  She moved slowly around the tree trunk making sure that she was always secluded and hidden from sight. She peeked around the tree with a shaking head. Her mind raced with images of Sandy being carried off under the arm of some hulking forest monster. But all she saw was a shadow shuffling out towards the fields. She stared at the back of the shape with eyes that couldn’t turn away. Suddenly it turned back to the forest and eyes bore straight into hers. Their gazes locked and she could not break away.

  The man was tall but something about him seemed to magnify his size. His head was bald and his eyes were deep black pits in a shrunken skull. The man wore a white uniform that was splattered with brown and green stains. He took a step back towards the tree line and Jenny felt her bladder let go. A warm stream trickled down her leg and she barely felt it. The man grinned through a hungry mouth of brown teeth. He tilted his head to the right and seemed to ponder for an eternity. Just as Jenny feared that he was about to walk back to the forest and eat her whole, he turned and headed across the fields towards the road. She stared after him as he walked away, shuffling slowly. The next thing that she heard was the unmistakable sound of her car firing up and pulling away.

  She sat there shivering when Sandy emerged from the trees to her left with a proud lo
ok on her face. As she reached Jenny she wrinkled her nose in displeasure.

  “Mommy needed to go to?” She asked honestly.

  Jenny grabbed her daughter and hugged her fiercely. Whatever had passed within inches of them both had been pure evil and full of hate. She pitied whoever he was going to see, but thanking God at the same time that it wasn’t her.

  ----------

  Tommy woke to the shame of the night before. His head spun from the unusually large amount of alcohol that he had consumed. His system wasn’t used to the intake of even mild beer. His shame, however, came from his fainting in the bar like a 10 year old girl. He shuddered at the thought of his former friends’ conversations about the sight of a grown man slumping to the floor in a crowded bar. Mercifully Ally had helped him up and dusted him off. PJ had been too drunk to really notice, Dixon had found the whole thing hilarious and McEwen had just looked awkward.

  The sun shone through the guest bedroom of his father’s house and the news seemed slightly less terrifying than in the cold dark hours of the night before. In the warm light of day the possibility of Arnold Trotter aka The Captivating Cosmo X, returning to hunt down a bunch of children, now seemed farfetched and the work of a Hollywood studio.

  He thought back to the day of the trial, when Trotter had promised bloody vengeance. The magician surely had no way of knowing that he and the others had been messing around with the equipment prior to his wife’s death. The police had investigated and found enough evidence to charge Trotter, and a jury of his peers had found him guilty. Through his connections at the paper Tommy had kept an unofficial file on Arnold Trotter after his incarceration. He knew that he had been sentenced to life and that he had started to serve his time at Halsom Prison. He also knew that Trotter had been assaulted in such a serious manner as to segregate him for the rest of the population. At some point he had been transferred to the secure unit at Blackwater Heights, but now the hospital was all but destroyed, and Arnold was among the unaccounted for.