Tandem of Terror (35 page)

Thunder rocks my dark bedroom and I bolt
upright from another nightmare; my body bathed in cold sweat,
breathing fast and heavy. It's morning already and I feel like
shit. I turn to look out my bedroom window to see the sky a sickly
gray but alive with electrical energy. I can smell the charge in
the air of my room.

Christ, it's going to rain today and I'm
terrified.

Standing at the window, watching the rainfall
I sip coffee to calm my nerves. My car sits dormant, soaked and
streaked, the water beading all over it.
How am I supposed to
get to work?
I know that I have to go, just keep my chin up, my
gaze away from the ground.
I can do this...I know I can.

The sky lights up in a brilliant flash. More
thunder cracks and I feel the floor vibrate beneath me. It's one
hell of a storm. The tempestuous gray clouds stir like boiling soup
ready to pour over the Earth and smother it.

I can delay no more. They will begin to
suspect. I am always late on the days that it rains. Takes me so
damn long to get up the courage because they are always out there,
waiting for me, hoping I'll slip up, always forming just in the
right places. Goddamn puddles.

Trench coat is wrapped tight, umbrella is
ready, briefcase is secured but still I hesitate. Ah hell, I inhale
a deep breath mustering all the courage shoved deep down inside and
grab hold of the front door throwing it open with renewed vigor. A
gust of foul wind blasts me head on, stirring my dark locks,
lashing at my recently shaven face, I can actually feel it
burn.

Stepping out into the elements is like the
Armageddon for me, with each step I take my life in my hands but I
am brave, I must push on, I must take control of my life and be a
man. The trees around the neighborhood sway like cowering children,
the rain beats me like the lash of a hundred bullwhips. With the
umbrella wide open and acting as my shield I make a valiant dash to
my car, keeping my eyes fixed on the door, away from the ground,
away from them.

I don't even know if any were around me,
snaking into my yard, pooling beneath my front step in the hopes
that I will fumble, that I will make that one mistake and look into
them. I will not allow it to happen, they will not get me

As I pull into the parking lot of my office,
the huge gray building in the distance seeming more like a prison
than a corporate headquarters, I notice the conspiracy that has
formed against me.

This is too hard...it's just too hard. They
stalk me everywhere...after every rain. I'll never find peace.

The rain subsides but they gather now, larger
than before, more ominous and conniving than ever. In front of the
main doors to the building massive puddles await me. I slam my car
door, keys jingling in my trembling fingers and just stare. The
building seems miles away, but the puddles are close, getting
closer all the time.

How am I going to get in the building?

Raindrops trickle from my umbrella; patter
from underneath my car. I hear them pound on the asphalt...I watch
them fall in slow motion...is that a tint of red I see?

The back...there must be a back way
in
.

I start through the lot, one foot in front of
the other, making my way to the far corner of the building,
steering clear of the damned things blocking the way in.

My God there are more! Around me others
slither, from around car tires, building up on both sides...to my
left and to my right. I can feel them following me, there's
something sentient about them, they are aware. Darkness fills them
but some glimmer on the surface with rainbow colors, car oil mixing
with vile waters in an attempt to seduce me, to draw me over with a
tantalizing kaleidoscope that masks their true essence.

No I can't look. Not for one second. If I
look into just one puddle and see my reflection I will die. Faster
and faster I push myself onward, away from the evil that surrounds
me.

The air is heavy with the stench of death.
The smell after it rains is so nauseating and rancid. Gloom has
saturated everything, colors are drab, light fights a losing battle
to break through but it's useless. They have sucked all the joy out
of this world.

At last I escape their reach, leaving them to
fester in defeat, and discover another entrance to the building.
Good, a new escape route has presented itself. I must get as
creative as possible to avoid looking into them. They never blocked
the front door before. Each time it rains it's something new. They
are truly cunning.

After shaking a bit of the excess rain from
my umbrella and hanging my coat up, I sit at my desk and turn on my
computer. My fingers still shake as I pull the keyboard into reach
and settle down to program endless lines of code...nothing glamorous
but it pays the bills.

Then the light of my life appears in my view.
Sandra heads her way to my cube, a wide smile on her face. She is
the one true peace I have in this world. We met here about three
years ago and we've been inseparable ever since. The day she
accepted my marriage proposal was the happiest day of my life.
Without her warmth and understanding I would have gone utterly
insane.

"
You just made it," she
says, voice soft and soothing, a chorus of angels, a sweet melody
that calms me. "The rain again?"

"
How did you guess," I
return, attempting a smile but still a bit shaken with the way they
gathered at the doors.

"
Charlie you really need get
over your phobia. One more late morning and Mister Stanley is going
to write you up."

"
It's not a phobia Sandra,
you should know that by now. It's real. I know it will happen and
so do you."

"
Charlie you won't die if
you see your reflection in a puddle. It's just a fear like flying
or heights. There's no basis for it."

"
There is. I can prove it to
you. How can you doubt me after all this time, you're the only one
I've ever breathed a word of this to. You're everything to
me."

"
Charlie I'm just concerned
about you. I think you need to get some help."

"
I don't want to talk about
this now. I'll see you at lunch."

"
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to
upset you." She's so precious and sweet. How could I even be mad at
her, even for a second? "I love you," she whispers in my ear and
plants a soft kiss on me.

My whole day just got brighter despite the
horrors that stir outside. I turn and look up at her, a smile now
on my face. "I love you too." We kiss again before she sashes back
off to her desk. Thank God for Sandra. What would I do without
her?

"
So are you going to prove
it to me?"

Her question dissolves within me, passing
through my skin, clinging to my soul. All I could do, all I want to
do is stare at her, watching her eat her tuna sandwich with the
crusts cut off. Tearing it into smaller pieces with thin, delicate
fingers so she can nibble on it with small bites. She's so
adorable.

The ring I gave her catches the light and
twinkles, causing me to get a bit dizzy. It's the perfect size for
her, just right for those small hands. I still remember the look on
her face when I gave it to her.

"
Well," she demands through
a couple more bites.

"
Sorry honey, I was
daydreaming again. I wish I didn't have to prove it to you. I just
wish that you would believe me when I tel---

"
Maybe talking about it will
help you get over it. Realize your fear. I mean you just can't
keep---

"
It's not just a fear Sandra
honey. It's not a phobia. I saw it happen...I saw it." I could feel
something dark swirling inside me. The power they have over me is
frightening, astounding. It's all I can do to keep myself from
screaming right now as I remember it. It's like it just happened. I
am standing there, all color sucked right out of me. I will never
forget that day...

The field was lush and vibrant green, all
around us trees blossomed with life, thick, rich in color. It had
just finished raining, the air smelled clean, new, it was more than
refreshing it infused us with energy and joy.

Our backyard was a paradise, a garden of
plenty. A huge grassy field stretched out to an encompassing forest
of pines and evergreens. We were one with it, Billy and I, the
animals of the forest ran with us, the field was our playground and
Billy loved to play after it rained, especially near the puddles.
He loved to jump in the puddles.

We followed one of the trails in the forest;
it sloped on an incline and twisted off into shadow and shade,
flurries of butterflies and hummingbirds danced in the distance.
Tiny puddles lined the trail as we walked and Billy made a point to
stomp in each one as we walked, laughing as the water splashed
across his sandaled feet or speckled his knobby knees.

We came to a fork in the trail. It tore in
two different directions like a serpent's tongue. In the middle of
the fork sat a huge puddle, the shade of the trees shivering above
us colored it black, the blackest puddle I'd ever seen.

Billy ran to it immediately, drawn to it in
some mystical way. He was much younger than me and easily
fascinated with the most mundane things. But that puddle was far
from mundane, I could feel it deep in my bones, down to my every
fiber. I shuddered when I first laid eyes on it.

"
Billy come out of there,
Mom will be so mad at you!" I called, attempting to get my brother
away from the pit of black waters.

"
Charlie this is awesome!
Come jump with me." Billy splashed and danced, letting the puddle
soak him, watching waves fly through the air with every stomp, with
every crushing jump into the air and down again.

With his last jump, the last one I would ever
see him do, Billy looked down into the rippling puddle. "I can see
myself," he called with a giggle. "Boy do I look funny."

"
Billy don't," I tried to
warn. I tried to stop him. I did everything I could. "Stop staring
at yourself. You know what happened to that Greek man in that story
Mom read us. He stared so long he drowned."

"
Ah don't be dumb Charlie.
It's funny. Look at me." He stuck his tongue out at himself and
waved his hands at his reflection in the puddle then suddenly a
strange expression washed over his face. His eyes widened with
terror. He looked up at me briefly. "Charlie..." was all he managed
to whisper as he collapsed into the waters, their blackness
wrapping around him like a funeral shroud, like oily tendrils
sucking the life from him.

His face was pale and his eyes stopped
moving. I'd never seen him look that way. I stood frozen, too
scared to move, too shocked to call out for help. I didn't know
what to do. I stared at him, his lifeless body lying in the middle
of that deep, black puddle.

I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came,
I was mute, crippled by my own fear. Slowly whimpers came until I
was crying, tears soaking my face, hands clinched into fists so
tight my fingernails bit into my palms, drawing blood.

The puddle rippled, I swear to God it knew I
was there. Billy's eyes glared at me, empty, terrible, asking me
why I didn't help him. Why I didn't save him from the darkness that
slithered into our lives.

I ran...ran from the scene...ran from my little
brother. I didn't know how long or how far I ran, I just knew it
would never be far enough from those damn puddles...

Sandra looks at me with pity and tenderness.
I love her so much. I think that she understands now. "Oh honey,"
she says. "Your mother told me a long time ago that your brother
was born with a heart condition. She never told you when you were
children. It was your brother's heart...not the puddles. You must
know that now."

"
I don't care what my mother
said. I was there." She didn't understand, not at all. Now her eyes
reflected suspicion, judgment, as if I was nuts. "Well what about
my father then. You can't just explain that. He was found face down
in a puddle...face down in the street. Don't you see, these things
are a curse to my family...they're out to get us all."

"
You're father was an
alcoholic," she says, denying my every word, not listening to a
thing I'm saying. How could she behave this way? "He drank himself
to death. He couldn't handle the loss of your brother. He drank for
years, drank himself to death. Oh my baby, I know it was really
hard on you. Both your father and your brother but it wasn't the
puddles. You have to get some help for this." She reaches her hand
out, touching my own.

I immediately pull my hand away. How dare
she! "I don't need any help. I'm not very hungry. I think I'm gonna
go get some air."

"
Charlie wait..." she tries to
stop me but I won't hear it, none of it. "Charlie
please...Charlie!"

My vision is clouded with red, tainting the
sudden image of my little brother, his glaring eyes, his pale skin,
the ripple of the puddle. I storm through the cafeteria and down
the stairs.

Out into the cold, gray day I thrust myself,
pushing the double doors apart with a clatter, my whole world
flustered and filled with doubt. I come off the steps and nearly
plummet into the huge puddle at them bottom. I never even saw it
coming, crafty bastard.

I close my eyes and throw myself out of its
grasp, my quick thinking saving my life once again. That was too
close! I almost looked into it, it was right there waiting for me,
hoping I would look, hoping to catch me off guard and steal my
soul.