Only Women in Hell

by A. R. Braun

  With supernatural speed, the phantom moved right next to her bed, glaring at her. It seemed he had materialized.

  It was Dick.

  Stacey found her voice and screamed.

  Dick screamed back in a high, shrill voice.

  Then he mounted her. He ripped off his green, flannel shirt and pulled down his brown slacks. His full brow furrowed, he smiled lasciviously, he leered at her with dark brown eyes.

  Oh my god, this can’t be happening! If this is a dream, then wake up!

  “Stacey,” he wheezed gutturally, “you narked on me, and I’ve come back for you.”

  “No,” Stacey gasped, “don’t let this be…”

  Dick cocked his head to the side. His emotionless eyes seared a hole into her soul. He inhaled in a wheezing fashion, a sprite from Hades. “You hate my guts, but you took my money, I see. Well, now you’re going to earn it.” He pulled his underwear off. “And when I’m done with you, I’m going to the children’s ward and beat the fuck out of your three oldest daughters.”

  “Oh, Jesus god, please save me from this monster!”

  “I’ll return in another form. I’ll always return. MWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!”

  Thrashing and flailing, Stacey opened her eyes. She forced herself to relax and sucked in a dozen deep breaths. Stacey was slicked with cold sweat and the scent of urine. Oh god, did I wet myself? Her nightgown stuck to her. Her heart performed blastbeats. She spotted the weak institutional lights peeking at her from the hospital’s smoke detector and knew it had been a nightmare.

  “Thank god,” she whispered. “Oh, thank you, sweet Jesus.”

  Breathing heavily, she endeavored to register that it had only been a dream.

  That horrible monster is dead and we’re moving into a hotel tomorrow, then out to the country where everything’s going to be all right.

  It was hours before sleep carried her back to the land of dreams.

  <^^>

  Stacey woke for real because Devon and Therese shook her. “Mom,” they cried. “Wake up.” They’d probably been let into the adult ward because her family was leaving today.

  Sam climbed atop her bed and jumped up and down. “Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”

  The triplets crawled into her bosom. “Mommy’s awake,” Bobbi said. They held her.

  Stacey blinked a few times, opening her eyes. “Good morning, angels.” Grogginess was in her voice. She rubbed her eyelids. “What time is it?”

  Devon stood over her, hands on her hips. “It’s nine, Mom. Get your butt in the bathroom and grab a shower.”

  Sam stepped down from the bed.

  Therese walked over and stood next to her at the foot of the bed, her straight blond hair all combed and brushed, flowing like a waterfall. “Chris is coming at ten, remember?”

  Stacey stroked the hair of the triplets as they held onto her, hugging her neck. Bobbi showered her with kisses before sinking her face into Stacey’s right cheek.

  Sam came around the right side of the bed. “We’re free as birds today. Get up and get ready and let’s get the hell out of here!”

  “God, Mom,” Therese said, putting her palm on her forehead. “We’ve been up since seven, too excited to sleep. Why can’t you wake up?”

  Stacey stroked Bobbi’s soft brown hair as the latter asked, “Did you have a bad dream, Mommy?”

  “Yes, honey. A whopper.”

  Devon cocked her head. “What about?”

  “Never mind, it was stupid. All right, girls, get off so Mommy can take a shower.”

  Sam picked up Bobbi and set her down, Devon did likewise with Kyra, and Therese did the same with Louisa. The triplets squirmed and whined.

  “Get movin, Mom,” Therese said, clapping her hands. “Chop, chop!”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Stacey muttered, dragging herself out of bed and feeling all of her thirty-five years. “Don’t nag your mother.” The grogginess and anxiety of not getting eight hours of sleep scratched at her. Her mind felt heavy and all of her joints ached as she trudged to the bathroom. Someone might as well have hammered a nine-inch nail into her brain.

  She spotted a face looking into the door’s window and her heart skipped a beat.

  Oh, my god, it’s Dick!

  Yet it was only Amanda’s smiling face. She unlocked the door. “Goodness! Just getting up?”

  Weighed down with fatigue, Stacey looked at her.

  “Hurry up and get a shower and go to the cafeteria for breakfast. Like she told you, Chris will be here at ten…” Amanda looked at her watch. “… which is a little less than an hour.”

  Stacey shook her head. “Everyone’s a drill sergeant.”

  Amanda laughed.

  Stacey walked into the bathroom and shut the door. She heard the kids telling Amanda that she had a nightmare last night.

  Is that how it is with kids on the outside? They tell everyone your business? A telemarketer calls and they say Mother’s having sex in the bedroom so she can’t talk to you right now?

  She pulled off her slip and reached into the shower stall, turning the faucet on and feeling the water spurt out until it was hot enough, but not scalding. She stepped inside and shuddered with pleasure at the hot water streaming down on her. She stayed like that for ten minutes before she bothered to lather up.

  <^^>

  After breakfast, Stacey and the kids sat on one of the couches on the ward. She’d just finished signing release papers for herself and the children. The head nurse had given the family bottles of medicine to last them a couple weeks, and the doctor had written them prescriptions for when they ran out. Stacey wouldn’t miss the middle-aged, Indian woman and her questions: Is the medicine working? Good. Then we’ll continue that dose, world without end, amen.

  The other patients had said goodbye and congratulated them on getting out of “jail,” as they’d put it.

  Amanda stood in front of Stacey. “It’ll be about five minutes. When Chris comes, I’ll send her up, and you’re free to leave.” Amanda beamed and smiled ear-to-ear. “I’m so happy for you. I’m going to miss you so.” Amanda hugged her.

  Stacey embraced her tightly, patting her back. “We’re going to miss you, too. But we’ll still be your outpatients, so don’t bawl on me.”

  Amanda pulled back, still smiling. “I looked when I came into work today, and there’s not one reporter waiting outside. The last one finally gave up.” She took Stacey’s hand and shook it. “Good luck.” She hugged all the kids. Amanda waved goodbye to Stacey. With that, she left.

  Stacey walked over to a couch and exhaled loudly as she sat. “One hell of a great lady, that one.”

  Devon put her head on Stacey’s right shoulder, and Therese had dibs on her left. Sam sat with the triplets across from her, giving them plenty of attention. Since they didn’t have suitcases, they’d stuffed their few items of clothing into the big sacks of get-well cards they’d read over and over, the only thing that had helped them keep their sanity from spring until the beginning of autumn, since they couldn’t go outside. They’d huffed and puffed while dragging the bags to the living room area.

  Chris walked up, her heels clicking on the linoleum. She waved. “Good morning. Ready to go?”

  Stacey just stared. “I… guess.” Anxiety gripped her as an assailant. The kids looked at her with fear in their eyes.

  Chris smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” Then she saw the bags of mail and clothes. “Oh my, I’d better get a couple of strapping young orderlies to help us with those.”

  Her heels clicked away as she approached the nurses’ station. She conversed with a nurse, then Wesley and Zander followed her over and grabbed a few sacks each.

  “Congratulations on getting out,” Zander said. “All ten of these bags?”

  “Yes, cutie,” Therese said, smiling.

  “Stop it,” Stacey chided.

  “Boys,” Chris said, “perhaps you can steal some lunch carts to put these on or something?”
/>   “Good idea,” Wesley said. “Congrats, family. We don’t want to see you here again.”

  Stacey and the kids laughed.

  “Come on, bro,” Zander added, “let’s bogard a couple of lunch carts.”

  <^^>

  Stacey and the kids had applied sunblock on thick and, as the doors to freedom slid open, all seven of them wore sunglasses. Stacey held hands with Devon and Therese, the latter holding hands with Bobbi. Sam held Kyra’s and Louisa’s hands.

  Therese turned to look at Stacey, for they’d stopped just inside the door while Chris walked on, along with the orderlies, who pushed lunch carts full of their mail sacks.

  “Well, this is it, Mom,” Therese said. “Let’s take the world by storm.”

  Stacey nodded, scared to death. “Let’s do it.”

  As they walked outside, birdsong rang out, and flies and bees buzzed. The cool autumn breeze made them shiver as they trudged out to the car.

  The children winced from the sun. They covered their eyes with one hand and their faces with the other.

  “Oh, my god,” Stacey said, “that sun stings like hell.”

  “Ouch!” Therese said.

  “Yuck,” Devon added. “Let’s get the hell out to the car!”

  They ran.

  Chris had a dark-blue Durango minivan, just like she’d said. Stacey saw the Dodge logo. There was a bass whoosh as Chris slid the side door open.

  The orderlies had broken a sweat as they climbed into the back and stuffed the rear of the minivan with the clothes and letters.

  “We need to get some luggage today,” Stacey said.

  Chris nodded. “Let’s get you checked into a hotel first and drop off these bags.”

  “I’ll sit up front. Kids? Is there room in the back?”

  “We’ll squish in, Mom,” Devon said.

  “Yeah,” Therese agreed. “We’re girls. We’re not homophobes.”

  The orderlies backed out of the van, their white uniforms drenched with sweat.

  “Whew,” Zander said.

  Stacey climbed in and sat in the shotgun seat, shaking her head at Therese’s comment. God, that kid. Where did she get it from? Oh yeah, Dick, the monster. The thought brought a pickaxe of fear into her mind as she worried that the kids might end up like their father. She chased the thought away; she’d raised them, not him. He’d raised the youngest girls till they were seven, though. She shuddered at the thought.

  The kids crammed into the one remaining seat, Bobbi sitting in Therese’s lap, Kyra in Devon’s, and Louisa in Sam’s.

  Chris pulled her sun visor down. “Sorry about the bright sun. You’re not used to that, are you?”

  Stacey shook her head. She sniffed the new van smell and breathed it in deeply. It was the most wonderful scent she’d ever smelled in her life. Chris fired up the engine and it roared. She pulled out of the parking lot, Stacey eyeballing the cars and the non-reporters.

  If she hadn’t been so petrified, maybe freedom would’ve been sweeter.

  <^^>

  “What are they staring at?” Therese cried.

  In the midst of a panic attack, Stacey jerked her head back and forth. Along with Chris, the family had finished the day’s shopping. People had stared at them all day long, having seen the family on the news because of the cameras that caught them when they’d left the hospital to be checked over by a doctor. No one had bothered them on this outing, but gawked they’d done, all day.

  While stopped at a traffic light, Stacey noticed the eyes of the other drivers and passengers were on her again.

  They’d gone by the lawyer’s office and picked up the check, then went to the bank and deposited half. The other half went on a debit card. The bank had given her a starter checkbook full of checks that businesses wouldn’t take. Chris had told Stacey it was easier to pay with a debit card, and Stacey had wanted one because she’d read a lot of magazines in the hospital and knew millionaires didn’t hang onto their money by paying the high interest rates of credit cards. Then Chris had taken them to buy luggage, a nice black set for Stacey and smaller, pink suitcases for the girls, the luggage on tote rollers.

  Stacey bought a pink Cadillac, plus a Honda Odyssey minivan. She’d written a personal check to Chris, putting her out by asking her to buy the vehicles in the counselor’s name. She’d reluctantly agreed, but stated that Stacey would have to act like she was buying her vehicles from her when she got her driver’s license, plus transfer the title. Chris had said something about Christians risking their necks for other Christians, and this was a prime example. Of course, the license she’d had while living with Dick and Marie was expired. The Caddy sat in the Holiday Inn parking lot, for Stacey had driven it home while Chris chauffeured the kids. Now Chris took her to drive the van home so she could make her exit, probably tired of the family from hell.

  They’d gone house-hunting and hadn’t liked anything they’d seen. They’d rounded out the day at the car lot, after stopping at Chili’s for lunch. Stacey had drunk a good amount of Margaritas after being stressed out by all the gawkers.

  Chris pulled out as the light turned green.

  Stacey said, “What am I going to do about a house? I don’t want to stay in the city and get glared at all day.” She sighed, shivering. “Or am I paranoid?”

  “Are you freezing?” Chris asked.

  Stacey looked straight ahead. “No,” she lied.

  Chris turned on the heater anyway. “Better, hon?”

  “Yes. You didn’t answer my question.” She turned to her right, searching for gawkers, then turned to Chris again. “Am I being paranoid?”

  Chris looked at her, then concentrated on the road again. “I don’t think so. Your family has been front-page news for three seasons.” She shot Stacey a concerned look with serious eyes and a mouth set in a frown. “You know what? I have a summer house in the country. It’s a ranch, actually. The rest of the year, I have an apartment in the city.” She sighed. “My love life has been nonexistent lately.” Chris flashed a quick look at Stacey. “You want it? I could charge you rent, and it would help me moneywise. I’m funded by the government as mental-health worker, but the salary isn’t much.”

  Stacey furrowed her brow and frowned. “I don’t want to put you out.”

  “Didn’t I just say I had money problems, millionaire?”

  They laughed.

  Therese leaned forward between them. “Oh god, take it, Mom! We could run around all we want!”

  “Yeah, take it!” Devon and Sam agreed from the back.

  “Horsies,” Bobbi said in that munchkin voice. Kyra and Louisa echoed that sentiment.

  Devon nudged Therese out of the way, leaning forward. “Oh please, Mom? I want a horse so bad.”

  Stacey placed a finger on her lips. “Hmm.” She glanced at Chris. “How many acres?”

  “Twenty,” Chris answered. “You could have horses.”

  “YEAH, MOM, DO IT, MOM, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, MOM,” the kids cried.

  The sun came out, and Stacey flipped down her sun visor down, wincing. She shook her head. “I don’t know. Are there mountains around here?”

  Chris shook her head. “Just hills.”

  Another light turned green and the engine roared as it took off.

  “God, I love these minivans. I can’t wait to drive mine to the hotel.” Stacey brooded. “I want a place on a hill that’s hard to get to.”

  “Aw Mom,” the kids cried.

  “My ranch house is on a hill, in East Mowquakwa. It’s not hard to get to, though.” Chris pulled into the car lot, then parked by the silver minivan. “Let me know now. This is where we part company until you get a job, unless you want me to walk you into the hotel.”

  Stacey frowned again, drumming on the dashboard with her fingers. “I don’t know. Hmm. Yes, I want you to come with.”

  “If you bought my house, you wouldn’t have to go to the hotel and get gawked at without me to stare ‘em down for ya.”

  Ther
ese leaned in again, as well as Devon.

  “Mom,” Therese said. “If you don’t take this house, Devon and I will beat your butt.”

  Stacey took hold of their foreheads with her palms and moved them back to their seats, then pointed at them. “You’ll do no such thing, children.” She turned to Chris. “God, you’re a great friend. And I really don’t want to go back to the hotel.”

  Chris said, “Tell you what. I’ll need the weekend to clean it up, get it ready to move in. Since your luggage is in the hotel room, why don’t you brave the weekend and just get room service, that way you don’t have to go outside much. Then on Monday, we’ll move you in.”

  “Damn it,” Devon cried. “I wanna move in now.”

  Stacey craned her neck to glare at her. “Shush. We’re lucky to get this offer.” She mused over the situation.

  Devon rolled her eyes, but shut up.

  Stacey turned to Chris. “I guess we’ll survive the weekend.”

  Therese leaned back hard into her seat and sighed. Devon hissed.

  “And we’ll take it,” Stacey added, looking over her shoulder at her children.

  Therese, Devon, and Sam stuck their fists into the air, bonking the minivan’s ceiling. “Y-Yes,” they cried.

  “Horse is a-course,” Kyra said in a little voice, making everyone laugh.

  Filled with love, Stacey looked at Chris for a second, then reached forward and hugged her. “Thank you so much.”

  “Oh.” Chris hesitated, then patted her back. “No problem.” She pulled away. “Told ya we’d be great friends.”

  Stacey wiped a few tears of joy away. She turned and looked at the kids, who wore shit-eating grins. Then she faced straight ahead. “Well, time to get my minivan to the hotel. I hope a cop doesn’t stop me.”

  “Just drive the speed limit and they won’t.”