The Nightmare Game

by Martin, S. Suzanne

  “But it’s all just a moot point, now, Ashley, because it’s just a matter of time before I kill you. In all honesty, Ashley, I don’t really want to kill you. I just want that amulet, that necklace you wear.

  “Now, Ashley, I’ve shown you exactly who I am and why I lay claim to that talisman. It rightfully belongs to Illeaocea and I am all that is left of Illeaocea. My children who adored me, who built me this beautiful temple,” she looked around and gestured to the room, “made it so many eons ago.

  “It’s just a matter of time before someone gives me that amulet, Ashley. It might as well be you. I have all the time in the world, you see. I’m immortal. I can wait forever, but as I’ve already explained, I don’t want to. Your time, however, is limited, Ashley. Very, very limited. You’ll be dead soon if you don’t give it to me and it won’t be a pretty death, either. And there’ll be no afterlife in a paradise waiting for you on the other side of that death. You’ll get stuck in the same dimensional trap as Marcus, Virginia and Zachary, forever forced to stay half in this world, half in the next, not belonging to either, caught in this game eternally as its servant. Does that sound good to you? Is it appealing?

  “Of course, if you just take off the necklace, willingly, well, let’s just say that I remember my friends and I’m very, very generous to them. And I could do so much for you, for by handing it over, you would be helping me as no other person has ever helped me. Not only will I let you live, but I’ll restore your friends as well. They’re crying out for death now, even as we speak. At least they would be, if they could say anything besides ‘help me’. Plus, I’ll make sure that you never have to go back to the living death which that grind of a job of yours back home has become.”

  She began circling me again. “And that’s just the beginning. After all, what kind of a reward would that be for such an enormous favor? Not much of one, surely. No, indeed, Ashley, I’ve always done right by my friends. I’ve conquered lands for them, given them kingdoms, made them rulers. How would you like to be a queen, Ashley, rule your own country? Have absolute power over it? But no, no. That’s not you, is it? You’re not that ambitious are you? You’ve never been ambitious at all, have you? That’s why you’ve been stuck in that little coffin of an office for so long, isn’t it? Well, no matter. I know what you would like. Enough money to be free, so you could do your art and work on your pet projects on your own terms. That’s really all you want, isn’t it? But I don’t think that’s enough of a reward for you. It’s far too modest, far too small for me. How about wealth, Ashley, real wealth and privilege? How does that sound? Hobnobbing with celebrities and the moneyed crowd, the rich and the famous. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Partying with socialites, being one of the beautiful people? You’d be close enough to them to be invited to their celebrity weddings and closer still to console them during their celebrity divorces. You’d live a life of luxury and ease, be the darling of the leisure set, have chauffeurs drive you around in limousines, sipping champagne and eating caviar while you ride. And I’ll make you forever young and beautiful as well. You’ll be thin, too, with a metabolism that will let you eat anything you want and never gain a pound. I can do that, you know. You can see already how much younger, thinner and prettier you are from partaking just once of the essence.”

  “I’ll never take the essence again. Never! Not now that I know what it is.” The nausea that came with my guilt and shame resurfaced again.

  “Fair enough. It doesn’t matter, because you won’t have to. Once you have that necklace off of you, I can do it easily without the essence. Think about it, Ashley. A life only a chosen few can ever have. You’ll be young forever, beautiful, wealthy beyond your imagination. Men will be at your heels, dying to do your every bidding. Your lovers will be famous, handsome, intelligent, accomplished, anyone and anything you want them to be. Any man can be yours anytime you want him. You see, I can also give you power over men and I will.

  “Before you answer, I have to tell you that this is more than just a simple bribe. The amulet won’t stand for that, so let me add this one thing into the mix. If you help me, you can be there with me to ensure that I treat the people of this world well. Just think of all the good you could do at my right hand. You could stamp out hunger and disease, eliminate poverty and suffering. I’m impressed with your sense of compassion and your principals. I need you with me, Ashley. I need you with me as my conscience.

  “All you have to do in return is one tiny, easy thing. Give me the necklace, now, and collect your reward for returning that which is rightfully mine.”

  Again, I asked her, “And how exactly would you get it, seeing that you can’t even come close to it?”

  Now finished with her diatribe, she now answered me. “Simple, my dear.” She waved her hand and next to her, out of nowhere, a figure emerged. It was Geoffrey.

  He fell to his knees before her. “Arrosha, my precious Goddess. What may I do for you?”

  “Get up, Geoffrey.” She said, slightly irritated. “Groveling doesn’t suit you.”

  “Yes, Arrosha,” he said, rising to his feet.

  “Geoffrey, you remember your little friend Ashley here, don’t you?”

  Geoffrey smiled at me snidely, not bothering to conceal his contempt for me. “Oh, indeed I do, my Queen,” he said in his oiliest voice.

  “You see, Ashley,” Arrosha continued, “All you have to do is take off the amulet necklace and hand it to Geoffrey. It’s that simple and I will keep my promise of a life of luxury for you and the power to ensure fairness in my treatment of the world.”

  “Yeah, right. Look, it’s like I said before, if it was really yours, you could just take it. If it really belonged to you, you wouldn’t need your goon. You could just come over here and get it yourself.” My anger at Geoffrey was making me braver.

  “Of course, if you don’t, well, I’ve already told you what will happen then as well. I always keep my promises, Ashley. It’s up to you as to which promise I will keep.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  “I know which choice I’d like her to make, Arrosha. I think we’d have so much fun ‘playing’ with her, wouldn’t we, my Goddess?”

  “Shut up, you fool!” her voice made the floor shake again as her anger swelled at him. “Do you think this is some kind of a joke? You have no idea how serious this matter is!”

  Geoffrey seemed to shrink before my very eyes, becoming submissive and fearful. “No, I didn’t know. I’m sorry, my Goddess Queen. Forgive me, please forgive me!”

  Arrosha’s manner was now one of extreme irritation at him. “Oh, be quiet, Geoffrey! You annoy me.” To me she said, “So Ashley, make up your mind. Give me the necklace.”

  “No.” I said meekly, my adrenaline bravery now gone again, inwardly cringing at the thought of what constituted my future with that answer. If it hadn’t been for the power which I knew was coming from the amulet, I might not have had the strength to stand up to her at all.

  “No?” she said, coldly, icily, emotionlessly. “Maybe I didn’t make myself clear enough. I thought this choice was pretty much of a, what do they call it these days, Geoffrey?”

  “A no-brainer, my Queen.” His confidence and cockiness were returning quickly.

  “Yes.” she said, pacing in front of me coolly, the same icy tone in her voice. “A no-brainer. So tell me Ashley, does your answer prove once and for all that you have no brain?”

  “I, I made a promise not to give you the necklace.” Despite my best efforts, my voice was cracking. I was terrified.

  “A promise? To whom?” she said, toying with me.

  “You know to whom,” I managed to squeeze out.

  “Ah, yes. Edmond and his merry little band of thieves. You made a promise to the very group of people that pulled you out of your comfortable little rut and put your life into such jeopardy. Why should you chose them over me?”

  “I’ve seen your work.” I said, my voice once again lacking the bravado of my words.

  �
�So your answer is no?”

  I stood silent, afraid she might twist whatever answer I gave to suit her.

  “I see.” she said. “Perhaps the reward I offered you wasn’t sweet enough. A life of wealth alone does have its drawbacks. You need someone who knew you before all the wealth and fame, someone who’s been though the trenches with you and understands how special your circumstances are, who likes you for who you are and not just your money, a real friend. And I happen to know just that person.” She waved her hand again. Once again, a figure appeared. It was Ben. However, instead of materializing him firmly on the floor, as she had Geoffrey, she had materialized him about a foot above the ground, causing him to fall as soon as she had released her hold.

  “Oops!” said Geoffrey, snidely as he and Arrosha exchanged a reptilian grins.

  Ben gathered himself up off the ground, unhurt. He’d materialized midway between us, his back facing Arrosha.

  “Geoffrey, Ashley!” he cried with relief and happiness in his voice and ran up to us. I had feared the worst for him and was so thankful that he was still alive. As I was nearest him, he hugged me quickly first and then ran over to Geoffrey, hugging him much longer, planting quick kisses all over his face and neck. Geoffrey neither hugged nor kissed him back; instead he stood coldly stiff.

  “Uuhm,” Geoffrey cleared his throat. Ben let go of him and Geoff pointed to Arrosha. As soon as Ben saw her, he ran over to her, kneeling before her. While Geoffrey had knelt before her in the overblown style of a bad actor in a costume drama, Ben did so reverently.

  “Arrosha, my Goddess, thank you for saving me from the most horrible fate imaginable.”

  “She didn’t save you, Ben,” Geoffrey said, mock wearily. “I mean, really, when I met you, I thought you were the most gullible person I’d ever met and here you are, so many years later, still the same. I mean, have you learned nothing in all that time?”

  Ben stood up slowly, a hurt and confused look on his face. “I’m sorry,” he said, his eyes traveling from Arrosha’s to Geoffrey’s and finally to mine. I could say nothing, only shake my head slowly. “Am I missing something? I don’t understand. What do you mean, Geoff? What are you talking about?”

  Geoffrey walked up to Arrosha and asked, “Can I, Arrosha? Can I be the one to tell him? It would mean so much to me.”

  “Go ahead,” she said emotionlessly.

  “Tell me what?” Ben asked, his confusion growing.

  Geoffrey walked up to Ben and put one arm around Ben’s shoulder. “Ben, dearest, what’s the last thing you remember?”

  “Being in that horrible old shack. You remember, you were there. Those of us that hadn’t been turned into, I don’t know, whatever those grotesque things were, those of us that were – intact, ran into that foggy tunnel or whatever it was, and then I just wound up here.”

  “So you missed the freak show altogether, then, huh.” It was more a statement than a question, for Geoffrey already knew the answer. “You missed the best part.”

  “Freak show? What freak show? What’s going on? Ashley, do you know what he’s talking about?”

  I nodded. “I wish I didn’t,” I said sadly, “but I do.”

  “Will somebody please tell me?” Ben’s voice was becoming anxious.

  “Oh, Ben, I’m so sorry you missed it!” Geoff explained with far too much relish. “It was great, man. Everybody wound up in exhibition pens, displaying their new physiques. You know that thing that the Sisters turned into? Well, it’s now impaled on a hatpin and swimming pickled in a jar of formaldehyde.”

  “They’re dead? The Sisters are dead?”

  “It was a mercy killing, Ben. They were biters. They had to go. Trust me, it was for the best.”

  “Illea! Where’s Illea? Has anything happened to her?”

  “Oh, yeah, quite a lot I’d say. She’s all eyes these days, isn’t she, Arrosha?” he giggled as he said this.

  “What do you mean? Is she okay, Geoffrey?”

  “Okay is such a relative term, isn’t it Ben?”

  “Dammit, Geoffrey, tell me!”

  “Hey, hold on, hold on. Let me tell my story here, Ben. Anyway, there was this great old run-down carnival and I got to be the Master of Ceremonies and…”

  “Get to the point Geoffrey! Now!” Arrosha interrupted him in the scolding tone she had used with me at her office as Rochere.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Geoffrey straightened up and took his hand off of Ben’s shoulder. Ben looked at them both with the worried and confused look of a man expecting the worst.

  “Okay, Ben, it’s like this. Arrosha got pissed off at the group and destroyed it.”

  “Are you serious, Geoffrey?”

  “As an aneurysm, man. Yep, the group pissed her off bad and the ones that aren’t dead sure wish they were.”

  “Arrosha,” Ben pleaded, “Is this true?”

  Arrosha said nothing, had no reaction. She just stood there, silent and immobile.

  “Illea? Even Illea?”

  “Now, I didn’t actually see Illea die.” Geoffrey giggled again. “But if she didn’t, I’m sure that right about now she was wishin’ that she had.”

  “What do you mean? Why?” he turned again to his unforgiving goddess. “Why Arrosha, what did we do?”

  Again, there was no response from her.

  “You see, Ben ol’ boy,” Geoffrey continued, “the group betrayed her. Took in and to their bosoms, so to speak, this nasty little piece of trash, Ashley.”

  “You have to be kidding, Geoff. What’s wrong with Ashley?”

  “Well, looks like our little trailer monkey here stole an amulet from Arrosha. Ashley then disguised it, hiding it from us by turning it into that elaborate tattoo you liked so much. We screwed up by not taking it from her, but Arrosha needs her necklace back now and Ben, you’re the one that’s going to talk her into returning it. You see, our fatal mistake was that we helped her, nursed her back to health, gave her sanctuary at the mansion, let her have our water, let her partake of the essence. All without bothering to retrieve Arrosha’s necklace. Oh, and Ben, by the way, speaking of the essence, seems that all these years, we’ve all been feeding off of other people’s life forces.”

  “What?” Ben exclaimed. Shock had been added to his confusion.

  “Yep. People, Ben, people. Essence is people.” Geoffrey giggled to himself and then added, far too casually. “You know all those great parties we used to have? Well, there’s a reason that nobody ever showed up twice. It seems we quite literally had them over for dinner! Sorry to break the news to you this way, but you really are a cannibal, old boy. But anyway, back to the point. Because of this little thief here, Arrosha got mad at everybody in the group, except for me, of course. You see, she tipped me off in the beginning.

  “By the way, Bensy, the ghouls you saw at the tomb and at the shack also happened to be at our front door when the day that little tobacco road here fell in. Maybe now you’ll believe me when I tell you that ol’ Ash was the one that led them to us. That’s why Arrosha was so pissed at the group. Except for me, of course, cause I knew from the very beginning that Ash was bad news.

  “At first, Arrosha just wanted me to monitor the situation, but I said to myself, ‘Geoffrey, old man, you are gonna do right by our Queen. You are gonna go that extra step for her, go above and beyond the call of duty. You are gonna expose this little thief to the group for what she is and make sure she gets what’s comin’ to her.’ And I did, too, didn’t I, Arrosha?”

  “Oh, yes, Geoffrey,” she responded flatly. “Indeed, that’s exactly what you did.”

  “So you see, my darling, darling Ben,” Geoffrey continued, “you guys all screwed up. Big Time. Fraternizing with the enemy, giving her aid and comfort.” He clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Bad boy, Ben. Bad, bad boy.”

  “I don’t understand. If that’s true, why am I still alive, Arrosha? I helped her more than anyone else. Why take it out on the others when I’m the most to blame
?”

  “Because,” continued Geoffrey, convinced once again that this was his show, “You are some kind of bargaining chip. It seems, after all, my dear little sweetie, that your absolutely worthless ass has some value after all.”

  “Geoffrey, how can you say something like that? I thought you’d changed, I thought you loved me.”

  Geoffrey said nothing. He just sneered at Ben and shrugged his shoulders carelessly.

  “Arrosha,” said Ben. “I’m sorry that we couldn’t get the necklace off of her. We didn’t even know it was a necklace because it seemed to have grown into her flesh. But you are the almighty Goddess herself. Surely you can just remove it. Why don’t you just take it away from her?”

  “Because she can’t, Blanche, because she can’t.” Geoffrey interjected again. “She wouldn’t need us if she could.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Some big metaphysical reason. Too long to go into here. Don’t even understand it all myself. Now, Benny boy,” Geoffrey added, brushing imaginary dandruff of Ben’s shoulder, “it is your turn to go into action. Go over to Ashley, tell her that you’ll be her faithful sidekick Sparky if she will just make the right choice and play nice and give Arrosha her necklace back. Oh, and since you missed out on Act 1, these are her choices: Door #1 – She hands over the necklace, which gives her, and you alongside her as her trusty steed, big money, love, influence, luxury, a house that makes the mansion look like a storage shed, and a life of fun, fun, fun. On the other hand, if she chooses Door #2 and doesn’t hand over the necklace, then she – and I’m assuming you, too, although Arrosha didn’t go into detail with me on that one – wins the all-expense-paid gruesome death. It’s your job to make sure that she makes the right choice. For both of you.” He bodily turned the stunned Ben toward my direction, then gave him a push. “Go get’er, boy. Make Daddy proud.”

  Ben walked up to me, distressed and confused. “Ashley, is this all true? Is everybody really almost dead?”