Nightmare at 20,000 Feet: Horror Stories (35 page)

  "I've been looking for you all day," he said. "You've got to help me."

  Hal's mouth tightened. "Help you how?" he asked, putting down his fork.

  "They know I'm on to them," said Mr. Morgan. "They're after me."

  "Who, the crickets?" Hal asked, jadedly.

  "I don't know," said Mr. Morgan. "Either them or-"

  Jean held her knife and fork with rigid fingers. For some reason, she felt a chill creeping up her legs.

  "Mr. Morgan." Hal was trying to sound patient.

  "Understand me," Mr. Morgan pleaded. "The crickets are under the command of the dead. The dead send out these messages."

  "Why?"

  "They're compiling a list of all their names," said Mr. Morgan. "They keep sending the names through the crickets to let the others know."

"Why?"
repeated Hal.

  Mr. Morgan's hands trembled. "I don't know, I don't know," he said. "Maybe when there are enough names, when enough of them are ready, they'll-" His throat moved convulsively.
"They'll come back,"
he said.

  After a moment, Hal asked, "What makes you think you're in any danger?"

  "Because while I was writing down more names last night," said Mr. Morgan,
"they spelled out my name."

  Hal broke the heavy silence.

  "What can we do?" he asked in a voice that bordered on uneasiness.

  "Stay with me," said Mr. Morgan, "so they can't get me."

  Jean looked nervously at Hal.

  "I won't bother you," said Mr. Morgan. "I won't even sit here, I'll sit across the room. Just so I can see you."

  He stood up quickly and took out his notebook.

  "Will you watch this?" he asked.

  Before they could say another word, he left their table and walked across the dining room, weaving in and out among the white-clothed tables. About fifty feet from them, he sat down, facing them. They saw him reach forward and turn on the table lamp.

  "What do we do now?" asked Jean.

  "We'll stay here a little while," said Hal. "Nurse the bottle along. When it's empty, we'll go to bed."

  "Do we have to stay?"

  "Honey, who knows what's going on in that mind of his? I don't want to take any chances."

  Jean closed her eyes and exhaled wearily. "What a way to polish off a vacation," she said.

  Hal reached over and picked up the notebook. As he did, he became conscious of the crickets rasping outside. He flipped through the pages. They were arranged in alphabetical order, on each page three letters with their pulse equivalents.

  "He's watching us," said Jean.

  "Forget him."

  Jean leaned over and looked at the notebook with him. Her eyes moved over the arrangements of dots and dashes.

  "You think there's anything to this?" she asked.

  "Let's hope not," said Hal.

  He tried to listen to the crickets' noise and find some point of comparison with the notes. He couldn't. After several minutes, he shut the book.

  When the wine bottle was empty, Hal stood. "Beddy-bye," he said.

  Before Jean was on her feet, Mr. Morgan was halfway to their table. "You're leaving?" he asked.

  "Mr. Morgan, it's almost eleven," Hal said. "We're tired. I'm sorry but we have to go to bed."

  The small man stood wordless, looking from one to the other with pleading, hopeless eyes. He seemed about to speak, then his narrow shoulders slumped and his gaze dropped to the floor. They heard him swallowing.

  "You'll take care of the book?" he asked.

  "Don't you want it?"

  "No." Mr. Morgan turned away. After a few paces, he stopped and glanced back across his shoulder. "Could you leave your door open so I can-call?"

  "All right, Mr. Morgan," he said.

  A faint smile twitched Mr. Morgan's lips.

  "Thank you," he said and walked away.

  It was after four when the screaming woke them. Hal felt Jean's fingers clutching at his arm as they both jolted to a sitting position, staring into the darkness.

"What is it?"
gasped Jean.

  "I don't know." Hal threw off the covers and dropped his feet to the floor.

  "Don't leave me!" said Jean.

  "Come on then!"

  The hall had a dim bulb burning overhead. Hal sprinted over the floorboards towards Mr. Morgan's room. The door to it was closed although it had been left open before. Hal banged his fist on it. "Mr. Morgan!" he called.

  Inside the room, there was a sudden, rustling, crackling sound-like that of a million, wildly shaken tambourines. The noise made Hal's hand jerk back convulsively from the door knob.

  "What's
that?"
Jean asked in a terrified whisper.

  He didn't answer. They stood immobile, not knowing what to do. Then, inside, the noise stopped. Hal took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

  The scream gagged in Jean's throat.

  Lying in a pool of blood splotched moonlight was Mr. Morgan, his skin raked open as if by a thousand tiny razor blades. There was a gaping hole in the window screen.

  Jean stood paralyzed, a fist pressed against her mouth while Hal moved to Mr. Morgan's side. He knelt down beside the motionless man and felt at Mr. Morgan's chest where the pyjama top had been sliced to ribbons. The faintest of heartbeats pulsed beneath his trembling fingers.

  Mr. Morgan opened his eyes. Wide, staring eyes that recognized nothing, that looked right through Hal.

  "P-H-I-L-I-P M-A-X-W-E-L-L." Mr. Morgan spelled out the name in a bubbling voice.

  "M-A-R-Y G-A-B-R-I-E-L," spelled Mr. Morgan, eyes stark and glazed.

  His chest lurched once. His eyes widened.

  "J-O-H-N M-O-R-G-A-N," he spelled.

  Then his eyes began focusing on Hal. There was a terrible rattling in his throat. As though the sounds were wrenched from him one by one by a power beyond his own, he spoke again.

  "H-A-R-O-L-D G-A-L-L-O-W-A-Y," he spelled, "J-E-A-N G-A-L-L-O-W-A-Y"

  Then they were alone with a dead man.

  And outside in the night, a million crickets rubbed their wings together.

18 - FIRST ANNIVERSARY

  Just before he left the house on Thursday morning, Adeline asked him, "Do I still taste sour to you?"

  Norman looked at her reproachfully.

  "Well, do I?"

  He slipped his arms around her waist and nibbled at her throat.

  "Tell me now," said Adeline.

  Norman looked submissive.

  "Aren't you going to let me live it down?" he asked.

  "Well, you
said
it, darling. And on our first anniversary too!"

  He pressed his cheek to hers. "So I said it," he murmured. "Can't I be allowed a faux pas now and then?"

  "You haven't answered me."

  "Do you taste sour? Of course you don't." He held her close and breathed the fragrance of her hair. "Forgiven?"

  She kissed the tip of his nose and smiled and, once more, he could only marvel at the fortune which had bestowed on him such a magnificent wife. Starting their second year of marriage, they were still like honeymooners.

  Norman raised her face and kissed her.

  "Be damned," he said.

  "What's wrong? Am I sour again?"

  "No." He looked confused. "Now I can't taste you at all."

  Now you can't taste her at all," said Dr. Phillips.

  Norman smiled. "I know it sounds ridiculous," he said.

  "Well, it's unique, I'll give it that," said Phillips.

  "More than you think," added Norman, his smile grown a trifle laboured.

  "How so?"

  "I have no trouble tasting anything else."

  Dr. Phillips peered at him awhile before he spoke. "Can you smell her?" he asked then.

  "Yes."

  "You're sure."

"Yes.
What's that got to do with-" Norman stopped. "You mean that the senses of taste and smell go together," he said.

  Phillips nodded. "If you can smell her, you should be able to taste her."

  "I suppose," said Norman, "but I can't."

  Dr. Phillips grunted wryly. "Quite a poser."

  "No ideas?" asked Norman.

  "Not offhand," said Phillips, "though I suspect it's allergy of some kind."

  Norman looked disturbed.

  "I hope I find out soon," he said.

A
deline looked up from her stirring as he came into the kitchen. "What did Dr. Phillips say?" "That I'm allergic to you." "He didn't say that," she scolded.

  "Sure he did."

  "Be serious now."

  "He said I have to take some allergy tests."

  "He doesn't think it's anything to worry about, does he?" asked Adeline.

  "No."

  "Oh, good." She looked relieved.

  "Good, nothing," he grumbled. "The taste of you is one of the few pleasures I have in life."

  "You stop that." She removed his hands and went on stirring. Norman slid his arm around her and rubbed his nose on the back of her neck. "Wish I could taste you," he said. "I like your flavour."

  She reached up and caressed his cheek. "I love you," she said.

  Norman twitched and made a startled noise.

  "What's wrong?" she asked.

  He sniffed. "What's that?" He looked around the kitchen. "Is the garbage out?" he asked.

  She answered quietly. "Yes, Norman."

  "Well, something sure as hell smells awful in here. Maybe-" He broke off, seeing the expression on her face. She pressed her lips together and, suddenly, it dawned on him. "Honey, you don't think I'm saying-"

  "Well,
aren't
you?" Her voice was faint and trembling.

  "Adeline, come on."

  "First, I taste sour. Now-"

  He stopped her with a lingering kiss.

  "I love you," he said, "understand? I
love
you. Do you think I'd try to hurt you?"

  She shivered in his arms. "You
do
hurt me," she whispered.

  He held her close and stroked her hair. He kissed her gently on the lips, the cheeks, the eyes. He told her again and again how much he loved her.

  He tried to ignore the smell.

  Instantly, his eyes were open and he was listening. He stared up sightlessly into the darkness. Why had he woken up? He turned his head and reached across the mattress. As he touched her, Adeline stirred a little in her sleep.

  Norman twisted over on his side and wriggled close to her. He pressed against the yielding warmth of her body, his hand slipping languidly across her hip. He lay his cheek against her back and started drifting downward into sleep again.

  Suddenly, his eyes flared open. Aghast, he put his nostrils to her skin and sniffed. An icy barb of dread hooked at his brain;
my God, what's wrong?
He sniffed again, harder. He lay against her, motionless, trying not to panic.

  If his senses of taste and smell were atrophying, he could understand, accept. They weren't, though. Even as he lay there, he could taste the acrid flavour of the coffee that he'd drunk that night. He could smell the faint odour of mashed-out cigarettes in the ashtray on his bedside table. With the least effort, he could smell the wool of the blanket over them.

  Then
why?
She was the most important thing in his life. It was torture to him that, in bits and pieces, she was fading from his senses.

  It had been a favourite restaurant since their days of courtship.

  They liked the food, the tranquil atmosphere, the small ensemble which played for dining and for dancing. Searching in his mind, Norman had chosen it as the place where they could best discuss this problem. Already, he was sorry that he had. There was no atmosphere that could relieve the tension he was feeling; and expressing.

  "What
else
can it be?" he asked, unhappily. "It's nothing physical." He pushed aside his untouched supper. "It's got to be my mind."

  "But why, Norman?"

"If I only knew,"
he answered.

  She put her hand on his. "Please don't worry," she said.

  "How can I help it?" he asked. "It's a nightmare. I've
lost
part of you, Adeline."