Scribner Horror Bundle: Four Horror Novels by Joshua Scribner (14 page)

Monday night, still fully
energized after the long day’s work, he finished reading the book
he had started on Sunday. Tuesday, he was up early, not because he
couldn’t sleep, but because he felt like he couldn’t resist life.
Reading was his passion for the time, not because he was so in love
with it, though, so much as it was all he could really think of to
do. So Tuesday morning he read the paper until he could see his
first client. Reading was enough for now. It was novel now. He was
able to focus on what he read, no obsessions pulling his focus
away. He got into anything that might draw the mildest of interest
from him. He wondered about going back to school, just for the fun
of it. He could do it in his spare time, on top of running his
clinic, and probably, if he could keep up this energy and this
focus, do extremely well at both.

Tuesday’s clients were even
better. He actually broke below the thirty-minute mark. On Tuesday
night, he went straight from his office to the public library. That
night, he started reading a physics book and kept on reading it
until 1AM, when he forced himself to go to bed.

By Wednesday night, Jonah
was starting to think about the weekend. He had to, because this
weekend was going to be three full days, and, with no back-reports
to do, he would own those three days. He called Tate to see about
the two of them taking off somewhere. Tate said he couldn’t do it,
because he was leaving for Florida Friday morning and wouldn’t be
back until the next weekend. Mildly disappointed, but undaunted,
Jonah was sure he’d figure out something else to do.

Everything so new,
increased ability, increased time, a zest for life, Jonah felt like
he was being introduced to this incredible new person, and this
person lived in his body and kept him happy. Yes, everything was
novel and exciting. But it wasn’t until Thursday that Jonah totally
shocked the hell out of himself.

#

Everything seemed fairly
normal up to the point when the last client left on Thursday night.
Jonah picked up the phone and called the number to speak to the
tape recorder. He was about five minutes into the report when Steph
came into the office. Jonah had never called in the reports from
the office before this week. Steph had quickly accommodated,
entering his office while he was on the phone, but carrying out her
duties quietly. From the looks she had given him, Jonah knew she
had noticed the change. He imagined he would probably explain it to
her sometime. Steph, aside from Tate, even if their relationship
was purely professional, was the person most integral in his
current life.

Now, knowing that Steph
wanted to restock the desk with the files for next week, Jonah got
up from behind the desk and out of her way. He carried the portable
phone around the office as he read the report in. Steph was on her
second trip into the office when Jonah finished up.

“Done,” Jonah said, turning off the
phone and placing it in its unit.

“I’m just about done too,”
Steph said. She had three piles spread out on the desk. Two were
test forms that Jonah would use next week. The other was Jonah’s
client files for next week in the order that he would see
them.

Steph’s hours had changed
since Jonah took over. She was now in the office for as long as
clients were there. That put her well over forty hours a week, but
Jonah paid her well for it, and she got a three-day weekend every
week, so he didn’t feel too bad. Steph hadn’t complained at
all.

“Why don’t you let me take care of
that, Steph.”

Steph looked up at him.
“Well, I’m almost done. I just have to put them in the
drawer.”

“Fine,” Jonah said, as he leaned up
against the wall and stared off at nothing, content for a little
while just to relish the end of what had to have been the most
efficient week of his life.

Steph continued her work on
the opposite side of the desk, where Jonah usually sat as he
interviewed or tested his clients. With his newfound mental energy
and fascination with his ability in intellectual endeavors, most of
Jonah’s thoughts were of a platonic quality. That was why, when
Steph bent over to place the files in his desk, Jonah barely even
attended to it. At least, he thought he was barely attending to it.
Then something changed inside him. It was like a sudden drunkenness
swept over his entire being. Only he didn’t feel stupid. He just
felt like his inhibitions were completely swept away, as if some
shield had formed around him that would magically protect him from
the consequences of his actions. And he was as horny as he had ever
been.

His body felt like it was
boiling with excitement. He was a kid in a candy store with carte
blanche to take whatever he wanted, and he felt like this total
freedom was some kind of ultimate truth, a realization that would
change things from now on. He could have it all. He could take all
he wanted. He could take.

Jonah moved from his
position against the wall to the other side of the desk. He stood a
few feet from Steph, who smiled casually at him and continued about
her work. She picked a handful of files from the desk. She bent
over to place them in the drawer. From his perspective, Jonah saw
her skirt, which had been down to her knees, creep up and reveal
just a little bit of the upper part of her leg. Not much to see
there, he just focused in on her ass and its firm shape.

He wasted no more time. He
didn’t feel like he could wait. He didn’t feel like he wanted to
wait. Before Steph could lean back up, Jonah walked up behind
her.

He felt nothing but his
want, and he knew he was going to take. There were no
ramifications. There were no concerns for what Steph might desire.
There was only take, and Jonah took. He reached forward and grabbed
Steph’s hips. She jolted a little, but didn’t have time to
otherwise respond, before Jonah pulled her back into him. Steph
gasped, but Jonah held his position, feeling her firm ass against
his throbbing cock. Jonah reached forward and cupped a breast in
his hand.

The sound of the phone
ringing took whatever had come over him away and brought him back
to a reality with consequences. He backed away from his bent-over
office manager.

The next second seemed to
last a minute, as Jonah fretted about how Steph would react. He
expected she would storm out. Or maybe she would start yelling at
him and threaten a sexual harassment suit. Or maybe she would come
at him swinging her arms and yelling about what a pervert he
was.

Steph did none of these.
She leaned up and answered the phone. “Singer Center,” Steph said
in the same voice he had heard her say it in a hundred times. A few
seconds later, she said, “Oh. That’s okay.” She sat the phone in
its unit. She looked over at Jonah, blushing. “Wrong number,” she
said, then laughed.

Steph wasn’t angry. She was
embarrassed and probably shocked. But she wasn’t angry. Relief
washed over Jonah.

“I can’t believe you did that!” Steph
said.

“I’m sorry,” Jonah said. “I
don’t have any idea what came over me.”

Steph shook her head as she
laughed some more. “I just never would have expected you to do
that.”

“I know. I wouldn’t have
expected me to do that either.”

They both just stood there
for a few seconds. Steph was still blushing. Jonah had no idea what
to say. Steph finally said, “So what do you got going on this
weekend?”

Jonah was even more
shocked. Steph had asked him that a few times back when they both
worked for David. But she had eventually stopped.

Jonah shrugged. “Well, my
reports are all done. But I haven’t made any alternative
plans.”

Steph gave a phony sigh.
“Me neither. I’ll probably just be hanging around home with nothing
to do.”

Again, Jonah had no idea
what to say. But now, the way Steph was looking at him, he knew
that he had to say something. He said, “Well, all right then. I
guess I’ll see you on Monday.”

Steph shrugged. She walked
up to him and gripped his arm, then laughed again. “Okay, boss.
I’ll see you Monday.”

That night, Jonah and Tate
got high. Jonah told him how his week went, and it seemed to
satisfy Tate. In fact, he gave Jonah shit about how much he owed
him for helping him through this. Jonah agreed. He was grateful for
what Tate had done, and he intended to do Tate a major favor
sometime in the near future. But, on this night, Tate’s work with
him done, Tate wanted to play, and tonight’s game was “remind Jonah
how much he is indebted to me.” Tate hinted around or bluntly
stated this about twenty times.

Maybe it was Tate’s mood,
and Jonah’s weariness to give him any more ammo, but Jonah didn’t
tell Tate about what had happened with Steph.

Chapter
Six

Jonah had taken a physics
class in college. He had made an A but struggled, having to read
the complex material several times before he could comprehend it.
But now, even with his pot hangover, the physics book was light
reading. Jonah had started at 9AM, planning on reading for an hour.
But now it was 1PM, and he still lay on his bed, looking up at the
book, whipping through the pages.

The
thoughts were his now, and he did what he wanted with them. Jonah
had had the thought,
Look at how many
years I wasted getting to this point.
But
he hadn’t dwelled on that thought. It was treated like any other
useless thought. It came in, was observed indifferently and allowed
to pass through his mind without any consequences, and because he
didn’t exert energy on the useless thoughts, his mind was able to
take in and observe the information he wanted. He was smarter
now.

With another chapter
finished, Jonah laid the open book beside him on the bed, just to
take a mental breather.

He got up. He quickly
slipped off the pajama pants and T-shirt he was wearing, then went
into the closet, where he put on a pair of jeans, a fresh shirt,
and a cap. He went into his room and grabbed a pair of socks from
the dresser and put them on.

This is
going to be so fun
, he thought as he made
his way to the living room. He slipped on a pair of shoes right by
the front door. He reached for the door handle.

He stopped. For a few
seconds, Jonah had a sense of disorientation. What had he just been
thinking? Why had he gotten dressed? Where was he going?

#

That evening, Jonah was in
the shower. He had finished the physics book and decided to get up
early the next day and drive down to Michigan State so he could use
a better library than what Stanton had to offer. Letting the hot
water relax him even more as it bombarded his skin, Jonah thought
of what he would study next. He could continue with physics,
delving into a more specific area than had been offered by the
general physics book. He’d found Relativity Theory fascinating.
Maybe he could go there. But then again, Quantum Physics and String
Theory had been cool too. Or maybe he would drop physics and come
back to it later. He could even get away from science. Maybe
history would be fun. If nothing else, it would make him better at
trivia games. But, thinking about it, history didn’t feel right.
There was too much opinion there. Not enough fact. The curricular
history books would be too conformist, and the alternative ones
would be too defiant, making each too focused on its agenda to be
objective.

More science. Yeah, that
would be fun.

Sooner or later, he
suspected, he was going to want to increase his social contact. But
that could wait a little while. It wasn’t that he feared it in any
way. It was just that now, with everything else feeling so new, he
didn’t really desire contact with other people too much. Except
Tate, of course. Tate was as fascinating as science.

Jonah got out of the shower
and dried off. He brushed his teeth, and then brushed his hair. He
went into the bedroom and put on a fresh pair of underwear and a
fresh pair of pajama pants.

He took them off, and put
on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He couldn’t wait to kick some
ass, and he was getting laid, one way or another.

Jonah got the rest of the
way dressed, grabbed his keys and wallet and rushed out the door.
He could see the blood splattering already, and he could smell the
pussy. He got into his car.

“What the fuck!” he said.

A few seconds of
disorientation passed. Then he laughed. “I’ve got to slow down. I’m
using my brain too much.”

Jonah got out of his car.
He could not remember why he’d gotten into it in the first
place.

He decided he would just
stick around Stanton tomorrow, and maybe he would just do some
light reading, maybe a paperback horror novel or something else
that wouldn't require so much thought.

#

The jumbled thoughts are spinning,
trying to sort themselves out.

He drives past the gas
station, the houses, and the church. He glances at the tower, which
has fewer letters this time: mpmoowerrmeaytotn, oikltahommae. But
again, the letters start jumping around and more fall
away.