by Ju Ephraime
He should withdraw his presence from the home because it was just causing him unnecessary pain, but he couldn’t. He had been so focused on the woman that, somehow, at some point, he’d found himself inside of the home and standing next to her. His powers also granted him the ability to conceal himself within the shroud of the dark side. When performed by a powerful sorcerer, the spell masked a person's strength in the dark side, preventing their presence, or those of whomever they chose, from being sensed.
Lange was not able to sense him if her reaction was any indication. Not satisfied, he blew against her nipple, and he watched as she stopped drying her hair, reached in her drawer for a bra and underwear, and covered her body from him. This angered him. She had no business hiding her body from him. He’d make her pay for this when his powers returned in full force. Although he had a feeling, when his powers returned, it would be like nothing he’d ever experienced before. The mere fact he was able to enter her home without following her in, and in the middle of the day, was an indication of better things to come.
He was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe his powers had increased while he’d not been using them. Once upon a time, he had used them every night, but he had always been invited in. Most of his victims did it without realizing they were doing it. If a woman entered her home at night and did not turn around to stop whomever or whatever was following her home, by facing the door to close it, he took this as an invitation and simply followed her through the door.
This had not been the case with Lange. Not only did Lange not go out at night, she was nowhere near her door, yet he had been able to enter her home in the middle of the day. That had never happened before. Now that he was in the home, he didn’t know what to do with the opportunity. He did not think he could take her unless it was night. He was treading in unfamiliar territory here. He didn’t want to take a chance and have her become aware of him while he was having his way with her. So, for now, he would content himself with just being near her. Maybe that would be enough for now. He stood there staring at Lange as she went about her daily life, and he had to ask himself, what was he to do next?
He did little things, moved things around, but he got no reaction. Sometimes, he would see her stop suddenly as if she sensed his presence in her home, but she did not go running hysterically from the house. So he stayed put until after she had her lunch. He was surprised to see her getting dressed in a suit. He purposely hid a pair of pantyhose she had laid out with the outfit. He did everything to delay her, but in the end, she picked another suit out of her closet and got dressed and was out of the house before he could react. He did not know she could drive because he’d always seen her walking, but she got behind the wheel of the vehicle and was gone with tires screeching.
He was not able to follow her, and that was when he realized he could only do so much with his new ability, which apparently extended only within the walls of her home. He remained in the window watching until she had rounded the bend and disappeared from sight.
After she had driven off, he went to walk out of the house. That was when he felt the change come over him. He had not felt it when he became invisible, but when he tried to return to his normal state, the change was so painful he was knocked off his feet. And it was while trying to pick himself off the floor that he noticed his hand where he was holding the door handle was slowly becoming visible. It was such a shock to him that he immediately retreated back into the house.
It took him a while to come to grips with what was happening to him. He’d never known another magician who could become visible in the daytime. He wasn’t sure he wanted this ability. If it had been given to him by his Master, he knew he would have to pay the piper. His Master did not do anything for nothing. Any favors had to be paid for and paid for dearly.
He had to leave the house, but he couldn’t resist moving some things around, just to leave his mark, and then, bracing himself for the pain, he accepted the transformation. When it came, it happened so quickly he was rendered speechless. One minute he was standing in her bedroom moving things around, and the next he was in his house standing in the middle of the main room. There were only two rooms… nothing fancy, only the bare necessities, a bedroom, and a living room. He had a crudely constructed bathroom at the back of the house, and that was it. If he wanted to prepare a meal, he had a big stove in a corner of the living room that he used, but he almost never had a need to use the stove.
When he was at full strength, he had very little need for food. He’d sleep during the day and roam the sky at night. But this all changed ten years ago. Since then, the need for an occasional meal had become a necessity, which is why he’d been in town when he’d first seen Lange. Had he not had the need for food, he would have been asleep. That was what he found himself doing now, day and night. That was until he’d seen Lange. Now his life suddenly had purpose. He had something to occupy his time, so he was alive once again. He’d not realized how much he’d missed his old life, but, man, it was good to be back and apparently stronger than ever.
****
Lange was burning rubber. She did not want to arrive late for her interview, but somehow she could not get out of her house. Every time she put something down, it was not where she’d placed it. She knew she was nervous about the interview because she wanted to make a good impression, but she even had to change her outfit at the last minute because she couldn’t find the stockings she knew she had set aside to wear with her navy suit. So she had to wear grey with off-black stockings in order to leave the house on time.
She was shaken by the events going on at her house, but she would deal with them when she got back home with Rupert. She wouldn’t say anything to him. She would wait until he said he noticed something strange. He treated her idea of a ghost in the house like a joke, so she was going to wait until the ghost did something to him. Thinking of that, she could have sworn she saw a face in her window staring back at her when she’d glanced in her rear-view mirror while driving away from the house. She’d also heard the whistling all the while she was getting dressed. She was humming the tune now. It was as if she was hypnotized because she couldn’t stop humming the tune. To take the tune out of her head, she popped a CD of Beethoven's Coriolan Overture into the car stereo and let the sound fill the vehicle until it drowned out the sound of the Phantom of the Opera. It worked for a bit until she was sitting in the receptionist area waiting to be called in for her interview, and then it was back with a vengeance.
Lange was so stressed out by her constant humming of the tune that when she was called for her interview she was sweating up a storm. She had to repeat her mantra, “I don’t need this job. I’m just looking for this job because I want to, not because I need to.” Before she knew it, the interview was over, and she was walking out. She felt she did really well in the interview and was told she would be hearing from them soon, one way or the other. Given the fact she did not need this job that badly, she drove to Rupert’s job, humming her now favorite tune and feeling on cloud nine.
After parking her vehicle in the garage, she went up to his office. She purposely tried not to go to his place of work too frequently, so every time she went it was a cause for a small celebration, and today was no exception.
“Hi, darling, how did it go?” he greeted her as soon as she entered his office.
“I don’t know yet, but I have a feeling I nailed it.”
“You did? That’s great. How soon will you know for certain?”
“Well, from what I was told, I should expect an offer in the mail any day.”
“An offer? Then you got the job.”
“No, I’m kidding, but I’m owning it. I like the company and what they do, and I told them that. I also pointed out that my background and experience would be an asset to the firm, and several of them agreed.”
“Several of them? How many people interviewed you?”
“Seven. You should have seen me turning this way and that way in response to a questi
on. I felt like a rubber-necked doll.”
“How did you get through that? It must have been grueling.”
“As a matter of fact, I enjoyed it immensely. Every time I was asked a question and I didn’t know the answer off the top of my head, I broke out with a wide smile, which gave me some time to collect my thoughts. When I answered, they evidently loved my answers because everyone laughed along with me.”
“You are a genius.”
“I learned one thing; never let them see you sweat. If they see you are confident, they automatically assume you know what you are talking about and go along with you. It’s a silly thing, but it works.”
“I’m scared of you, darling. You’ll make a great marketing executive. Were there any other applicants for the job?”
“Don’t know… didn’t see any. I was alone in the large reception area while I waited. It was so nerve-racking I almost got up and left.”
“You poor baby, I’ll make it up to you when we get home. Were you able to prepare any dinner? We could go out and celebrate.”
“You know me. I threw a stew together in the slow cooker, and I don’t want to celebrate until I have the job offer letter in my hand. You know I’m suspicious like that.”
“Yeah, we know all about that. Speaking about that, did you hear your whistler again?”
“I don’t want to talk about that right now. I’m beginning to agree with you. Maybe it was just my overactive imagination.”
“You poor darling,” he said, giving her a wide grin as he leaned down to give her a kiss. It started off as a simple kiss, but soon they were both breathing hard. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Yes, let’s.”
CHAPTER TEN
Just as she had predicted, two days later, she received the job offer letter. It came with an offer of a much higher salary than she had been expecting. That night her husband took her to celebrate, and they were out until 2:00 A.M. That same night or morning was when her nightmare began.
Usually, she and Rupert took a bath or shower before retiring for the night, but when they arrived home from their night of celebrating, Rupert walked in ahead of her and went to disarm the house. She followed him in, not turning to face the door, as she’d been taught all her life. After closing the door behind her, she walked into the bedroom, leaving them vulnerable for any evil that may have followed them home. The Black Magic Man wasted no time walking in behind her.
Lange did not know what hit her. One minute she was undressing, and the next, she was asleep. She didn’t even hear when her husband came to bed. She had planned on making love to him slowly to show her appreciation for the wonderful time he gave her. But she was asleep before she could even brush her teeth. It was the first time they had gone to bed without making love, in some form or other. The nightmarish dream began immediately.
Someone was touching her body very intimately. She felt a hand rubbing her. At first, she’d thought it was her husband, but when she tried to reach for him, she realized she couldn’t move. She was held in place and not allowed to move. She kept struggling to wake up from the dream, but she was not able to move until her husband had gotten out of the bed to go use the bathroom before going to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.
She had finally fallen into a deep, troubled sleep when she felt someone touching her breasts. She grabbed the hand and proceeded to try to break it in two when she heard Rupert’s voice saying, “What are you trying to do, darling, maim me?”
She opened her eyes, and that was when she saw she was holding onto Rupert’s hand for dear life.
“I’m sorry, darling. I was having a terrible dream.”
“It must have indeed been terrible because you were determined to cause me harm.”
“I said I’m sorry, darling. I was in the grips of a nightmare the whole time. I didn’t have a full hour sleep. I’m sorry. I’ll spend the rest of the morning in bed. I’ll call to let you know if I’ll be coming to walk with you. Right now, I need sleep.”
“Okay, sweetheart. I’ll call you at lunch time to see how you are feeling.”
“Good.” She turned over, and he pulled the spread over her. After giving her a kiss on the forehead, he walked out of the room.
Lange slept the sleep of the dead. She was exhausted from a night of rum and fun and lack of sleep. At exactly noon, she was awoken by someone rubbing her feet. She sat up and looked around, thinking Rupert had returned home, but there was no one there. She knew she distinctly felt someone rubbing her feet, as he would sometimes do to wake her. He knew she hated being wakened abruptly. Not seeing anyone, she lay in the bed trying to comprehend what was happening to her. She soon found she was not able to make any sense of anything until she took a couple aspirins for her headache. She also had a slight hangover, which would require a concoction of raw eggs and tomato juice.
Getting out of bed, she found herself unable to stand. She was sore in a strange way; maybe it was all the dancing she and Rupert had done. She had not done any dancing in a while, and those dances could take a toll on her body. Some of the movements were very physical.
She felt the need for a bath. As she let the tub fill up, she went in search of the concoction and a couple of aspirins. She walked back into the bathroom and sprinkled a liberal amount of bath salts and gel into the water. She was so anxious for the bath she stepped into the tub before it was filled all the way. She leaned back on her bath pillow and closed her eyes, trying to recall the dream she’d had. But she could only remember bits and pieces, nothing that made any sense. Why couldn’t she recall the dream? It was making her head hurt even more every time she tried to recall the dream. So, she gave up and must have dosed off because the next thing she knew the house alarm was going off like crazy.
She scrambled out of the water as the telephone began ringing at the same time from the alarm company calling the house. She was standing, naked, dripping all over the place, talking with the alarm company. They wanted to know if they should dispatch the police. Not knowing what had triggered the alarm, she gave them permission to send the police.
She hurriedly wrapped herself up in a towel sheet and went in search of some clothes. If the police was being dispatched, they would be there soon, and she couldn’t greet them wearing only a towel. Although she’d no doubt they’d seen stranger things.
Who armed the house? She didn’t. Could it have been Rupert, knowing she was asleep? They never armed the house when either one was at home, during the day. It was not practical, given the fact that they would be opening and closing the door several times during the course of the day. She picked up her cell and called his job.
“Darling, did you set the alarm when you left?”
“Yes, I did. I set it to stay. What happened?”
“It tripped while I was in the tub. I’m now waiting for the police. I’m not walking through the house looking for an intruder. I’m in the bedroom with the door locked.”
“Do you need me to come home? I can take a cab and be there in fifteen minutes.”
“No, I’ll ring you back in a bit. I believe the police men are here. They are ringing the doorbell. I’ll call you back.”
The police came in with a huge dog and began running all over the house. They found no one, but more than that, all the doors and windows were locked with no sign of entry. They finally told her it was a faulty alarm and that she should report it to her alarm company. Faulty alarm? She called the alarm company and told them what the police said. They promised to send a tech later that day. She was still thinking about the faulty alarm bit. So she asked them where the disturbance had appeared on the monitor. They told her the front door. The front door? she thought. The front door was locked from inside. She had to unlock both locks to let the police in. How could it have been the front door? She couldn’t wait for the technician to get there.
She didn’t bother drying her hair but allowed it to air dry. Walking into the kitchen, she saw that Rupert had set the coffee for her to have a
fresh cup. She turned it on and went about planning the dinner menu. She was not feeling too ambitious today, and she planned on preparing a meal that would not require any heavy preparation. After rummaging through the refrigerator, she settled on a potluck stew. She had seafood, chicken, and beef. She would throw in some vegetables and let it simmer on the stove. It would be done by the time Rupert got home.
The thing with the alarm kept troubling her and had her jumping at the slightest sound, and then, when she heard the whistling again, she began getting upset. She knew someone was in her house. The idea that a neighbor’s whistling could be heard in her house was ludicrous because they did not have such close neighbors. She went about her business about the house, doing a load of laundry and some furious cleaning that wasn’t needed, but she had to do something to occupy her time. She was determined not to let whoever was in her home scare her, but she was convinced someone was watching everything she did. She did not feel comfortable in her own home. It was annoying her to no end.
Just as she knew he would, the tech came and checked every sensor in the house and couldn’t find any faulty connection. After spending an hour going over the entire house, he left her with the work order, telling her he’d found nothing wrong.
She had decided against going to meet Rupert, but after the technician left, she felt as if she was going insane in the house. She needed to get out, so she called Rupert to tell him they’d found nothing wrong and she would be leaving in an hour to meet him.
“I thought you needed to rest, darling. Are you sure you are up to it?”
“I’m not sick, Rupert. I’ll be there. See you then.”
She knew he thought she was blowing things out of proportion and a lot of the incidents could be explained away. It was beginning to be too many to explain away, but she wasn’t going to tell him so again.