Duplicity (10 page)

Henry closed his eyes, grinning and moaning at the sight of him smashing that man’s face against the brick wall. His fantasy didn’t stop when the taxi driver slumped to the ground. Henry saw the other him diving on the broken body and pushing his fingers through the man’s fractured skull, desperate to scoop out his dying muscle.

He snapped open his eyes. “What the fuck is happening to me?” He moaned. The man had gone. “And so has my sanity.”

Why were strangers mistaking him for somebody else?”

“You’re not unique. You’re not really Henry.” He clamped his hand over his mouth, shocked at the words coming out. That was bollocks, of course he was Henry, who the hell could he be?

Henry took out his phone, intending to give William another ring. All he needed right now was to hear a friendly voice, someone to calm him down and tell Henry to stop being such a bloody paranoid idiot.

He found himself scrolling past William’s name and stopping on his wife’s mobile number. The phone rang twice.

“Henry, where are you?”

He heard the woman sigh. “Baby, something really strange is happening to me. I don’t know what to do.” The woman sighed again.

“Henry, what you are going to do is come home right now and fuck me.”

The phone fell from his sweaty hands and between two bags. Henry moaned and pushed his hand between to two plastic bags, shouting in triumph when he found the handset.

“Are you still there?” asked a tiny voice.

“Yes I’m here, sweetheart. I’m sorry, I dropped the phone.” Did he hear her correctly, is his wife demanding sex? “Honey, is there something the matter?”

“Don’t you honey me. Why are we still taking? I’m waiting for you, Henry; I’m naked, in bed and wet. Hurry home!”

The phone went dead.

He gazed at his black plastic phone in utter shock. That was the last thing he expected to happen. Then again, considering his day had been weirder than shite, why was he even surprised to hear his wife demand sex?

She hadn’t been near his body since before their caving holiday. He jumped up and ran to the end of the alley and into the street. His wife insisted that he returned home, he wasn’t going to say no to that. Henry hurried along the pavement; towards the nearest bus stop grinning.

Chapter Twelve

She dropped the fake smile as soon as Lynn had disappeared around the corner. Harriett was her friend so she listened and offered encouraging words of sympathy, but Lynn’s caustic words of bitterness had rubbed away any compassion by mid morning and yet the woman still would not stop going on about that damned daughter of hers.

Harriett reached into her handbag and fished out her door keys. Just what event had caused her friend to go postal over her daughter? She had noticed that Lynne had failed to mention that little nugget of info. That Joanie was a right little madam and a Gobshite to boot. Everyone in town knew what a cow she could be and that included her own mother. The little bitch was just acting like Lynne did at that age, not that Harriett would mention that. She’d conveniently forgotten about her own unsavoury past.

“Whatever.” She muttered. “It matters not to me.” Harriett pushed open the front door. In a way, she’d been grateful for the distraction. Her friend’s constant whining had helped her not to dwell upon her husband’s bizarre behaviour. Not that she was complaining, mind.

She stooped to pick up today’s post and threw the letters on the first step. Harriett had honestly thought he’d given up on doing the naughty business with his darling wife years ago. It had taken her a while, but she had come to accept the fact that John’s sex drive had come to a virtual stop.

“Not anymore.” She murmured, walking into the kitchen. She flicked the kettle switch down and stood by the window, staring at the passing traffic. He had to be going through his mid-life crisis. It sounded about right he was the correct age. She’d listened to enough conversations over the years at the mill to know that there was bugger all she could do about it. Still, it could be a lot bloody worse. He could be wasting all their money on gambling or buying a flash car or collecting Legos or stamps.

“Don’t forget other women.” She nodded to herself; there were a couple of husbands that had gone that particular route. Harriett smiled. It looked as though she’d been given the best of both worlds.

Apparently, this switch in their brains wouldn’t stay triggered for long and he’d be back to his normal self in a few months. She slipped her hand down her panties and sighed, she hoped to fuckery that John would prove to be the exception to the rule.

He’d be back from work in less than an hour that was just enough time for Harriett to prepare herself to give that husband of hers a very pleasant surprise.

“Oh god,” she said, smiling. The woman’s mind went into erotic overdrive, mentally going through her wardrobe, trying to choose her sexiest and most revealing clothes. The painful truth was she didn’t really have anything designed just for bedroom wear.

“Fuck it; I’ll just not wear anything for him.”

She gazed out of the window and smiled at the sight of the chip shop just about to open across the road from her. That brought back many pleasant memories. After John had given her a good seeing to and sorted out her needs, the man would then go buy them both fish and chips.

Harriett slowly poured boiling water into her cup, left the teabag to brew and padded into the hallway to pick up her handbag. Back in the distant past when they were both young teenage lovers, long before his sex drive dried up, they always ate fish and chips right after they had made love.

Looking back, Harriett had no idea just how their habit started. Although, living opposite the chip shop may have had something to do with it. Back then, there were no other fast food shops, apart from a Chinese and an Indian. She grinned, remembering how she used to crave the feel of hot greasy chips sliding down her throat while John was busy filling her hole with his hard penis.

“Bloody hell, woman!” she snapped open her handbag and took out a tiny cardboard box. “This will help get him even more in the mood for sex and chips.” She said, giggling. Harriett had slipped out of the mill on her lunchtime break and nipped into Boots to buy this. She took the bottle out of its box and sprayed both her wrists and her forearms. She’s never been a huge fan of Obsession but if the stuff turned her husband into a raging sex machine then she’d even bathe in the bloody stuff.

She wandered back into the kitchen, her mind going through one more time just what she had in the way of sexy clothes. There must be something up in those drawers and wardrobe that she’d be able to wear.

“You’ll find something appropriate.” She murmured, squeezing out the teabag and dropping it in the pedal bin under the sink. “Oh hang on.” Harriett giggled, remembering that packet of unopened hold-ups thrown at the back of the cupboard. “He’d like those.”

Harriett picked up her tea and grabbed the perfume as she passed on her way to the stairs. She couldn’t wait to see his face light up as John walked into the bedroom and saw his beautiful wife clad only in the hold-ups and her very thin almost translucent nightie. She sprayed some more perfume in the air then rushed up the steps.

The promise of wild sex was turning her back into a hormonal teenager. “Are you complaining?” she chortled. “Like fuck I am.” Harriett dropped the bottle into her pocket and placed her hand against her chest. “Calm yourself down, heart.”

She took a sip of her tea before placing it on the windowsill at the top of the stairs. “Twenty five minutes to go, lady.” That was plenty of time to get ready. She pushed open her bedroom door and stopped dead at the sight of a diminutive middle-aged man bent over next to her wardrobe throwing her clothes over his back. Being unable to see the man’s face wasn’t a problem, Harriett would know that scrawny frame anywhere. The shock and terror immediately switched to indignation and anger. How dare that bastard go through all her clothes!

“Henry Collins, just what the fuck are you doing in my house?” She screamed.

The man spun around, he glared at her and paused, sniffing the air, his head jerking from side to side in bird-like movements. The man’s eyes finally found her eyes. Harriett’s bladder loosened under his intense gaze. Deep down, she knew that this creature was not the mild mannered man that she’s abused over the years whilst at work.

She took one step back, keeping her gaze fixed on the man. She heard a deep rumbling emanating from him. Oh Jesus, he was growling at her! Harriett tore her eyes from him and glanced behind her before turning and running out into the hallway. She shrieked out when she felt his arms reaching out and grasping her blouse. The man pulled her back and wrapped his arms around her torso; the woman screamed out and tried to beat him off. He responded by squeezing her stomach, forcing the air out of her body.

Harriet managed to snag her tea cup, swing it forward and smash it against the side of the man’s head. His grip on her slackened. She crawled out of the groaning hold and as soon as she got her legs free, Harriett kicked back, feeling the satisfying crunch as one of her shoes smashed into his nose.

“You bastard.” She cried. “You fucking bastard.”             

She had to get help. Harriett scrambled to the top of the stairs keeping her eyes on the man. His movements were irregular. Was he dying? Oh god, she fucking hoped so.

“Where’s my phone? Where the hell did I…” The words dried on her lips when the door to the spare room opened and two more men rushed out. They were both identical to the man lying in front of her.

“No way.” she mumbled. “This can’t be happening.”

They both rushed towards her, jumping over their fallen comrade. She staggered back and cried out as each one grabbed an arm and dragged the woman backwards down the stairs. Harriett struggled and screamed, pleading with them to release her. They bundled her through the kitchen towards the back door.

This was a dream, a nightmare, it can’t be happening. The two men took her outside; she carried on shouting, hoping somebody would come to her aid.

Suddenly, they stopped. She saw something move out of the corner of her eye before feeling as though she had just slammed her head into a brick wall. One of the bastards had just punched her. Dizzy and nauseous, she felt them drag her through their garden. Her befuddled brain told her that they were heading towards the rear of the high streets shops.

The light went out; Harriett slowly raised her head and found that the pair had brought her into the dark interior of one of the shops. Despite her drowsiness, she recognised the room. This was the back of the sandwich shop. Where was her friend, Debra?

The two men still held Harriett tight but were no longer moving.

“Let me go. Please? I’ve done nothing wrong.” She looked at the pair of them; they were like statues, not even blinking. Harriett forced down the hysterical screaming, trying to calm down, she hadn‘t given up hope just yet, the situation wasn’t impossible.

Harriett listened to the ticking of the clock and looked for anything she could use as a
weapon. Then her ears caught the sound of something else. It reminded her of chattering rats. The noise originated from the open door directly in front of her, the door that led to the cellar. She tried to take a step back when the rat noises grew louder. They weren’t rats, Harriett knew of no animal that made a noise like that.

She whimpered as a tiny-clawed hand appeared around the side of the cellar door. The impossible situation bordered on the unreal when a grotesque figure, the size of a doll stepped out into the light.

It looked similar to the two men holding her, only a foot tall. It crouched and spat at her like an enraged cat.

“Get the fuck away from me!” she screamed.

Three more of the things then joined the tiny man.

I’m losing my mind.

The creatures jumped up and down and hugged each other. She then noticed a mutilated leg lying at the bottom of the stairs. Those things were meat eaters! All their claws were clogged with drying blood and pieces of flesh. Their intention was clear, she was about to become their next meal.

Harriett yelled and kicked out; somehow, her foot caught the nearest creature in the head. It tumbled back, falling down the stairs. The remaining creatures all cried out in anger before diving onto the immobilized woman, biting and scratching.

She tugged and finding, in astonishment that the men had released her. Harriett prised the one hanging off her cheek and slammed it into the wall, laughing at the sound of its bones shattering. She then stamped down hard on the one by her foot, the things head splattered like a dropped egg.

Harriett then saw that her captors were on the floor, not moving.

“Are you okay?”

She spun around and gazed into the anxious eyes of her husband. “John? Oh my god!” the woman flew into his open arms, sobbing. “What the fuck is happening?”

He prised her off and took hold of Harriett’s hand. He wiped her tears away. “Come on, we need to get out of here, there’ll be more of them racing up those stairs any moment.”

He pulled her out of the back of the shop and away from their house.

“John, where are we going?”

He gently squeezed her hand. “Our home is full of the things. We have to find somewhere else, somewhere safe. The whole town is infested with the things.” John smiled. “Don’t look so scared, my darling. I’m here now. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

He led Harriett into the quiet high street, she saw a couple of people wandering along the pavement, acting as if nothing unusual was happening. John’s hand abruptly clammed over her mouth.

“Don’t yell out.” He whispered. “They won’t come to our aid; they’ll just think you’re a mad woman.”

She nodded, thinking of his previous words. If the town was full of those things, shouldn’t they at least warn anybody they see?

John dropped her at the end of an over grown short cut. She’d been through here a few times; they’d used it as a shortcut to get back to work a few years ago. She stopped and pulled his hand off her wrist. “John, what’s going on, Where are you taking me?”