“Wow,” She said. There was this connection between them, a slight spark. Well, it was big. There was definitely something. “You look so…” Different? Yeah, well my hair was buzzed, and I didn’t have these sweet old tatties yet,” He tugged on the collar of his shirt, and turned his arm out, revealing a series of tattoos. “You know, charm works with deals, so…” He stopped and looked at Chrissy ``Twenty-Five percent discount. Fifteen bucks, come on you’re robbing me blind, here,” Eddie smiled and Chrissy’s face dimmed. “Do you have anything, maybe… stronger?” *** Eddie turned into his driveway, and Chrissy nearly fell out of her seat. He drove like a complete maniac, Chrissy made sure to tighten her seatbelt and held onto the seat for dear life. The music was loud, heavy metal. She asked him who it was and he told her Metalica. Oddly, she liked it. She didn’t strike herself as being the type to like heavy metal, but hey, she did. They walked into Eddie’s house and the same song was playing over the speakers. Eddie turned the music down, not off. “This is, uh, my castle,” Eddie motioned around the room then started to pick up some of the garbage “Sorry ‘bout the mess, uh, maid took the week off,” He turned around and smiled at Chrissy. He opened up a cabinet door. “Do you live here, alone?” Chrissy asked. “No, I live with my uncle. But he works nights, bringing home the big bucks, so,” Eddie gestured to the empty but messy room. “So, uh, how long does it take to kick in…?” “Um, depends on if you snort it or not, but if you do, then it kicks in pretty quick,” He looked up at her and smiled. He opened a small metal container and his smile disappeared. “Shit,” “Are you sure you have it?” Chrissy asked. If Eddie didn’t have it, then she would have to find someone else, and that wouldn’t be easy. Eddie had the convenience of going to her school. “Yeah, yeah just-” He held up his hand, like gimme a minute, and disappeared into a room down the hall. Ding. The clock. The clock is back. Chrissy practically jumped out of her skin and ran to the room Eddie went into. “Eddie, Eddie-” Chrissy stopped at the door frame when she saw that the person in this room was not Eddie at all. It was her mother. Her mother was in Eddie’s room, but the room wasn’t Eddie’s. Unless- Eddie was into sewing, and had a picture of Chrissy’s family in his room. “Chrissy, I’m loosening the back for you, it should fit perfectly!” It had her mother’s voice, but when she turned around that thing was not her mother. It was a monster. A monster with her mother’s face shape, nose shape, hair and voice. Her eyes were white, her skin looked like vines running through it. Not over her skin, through it. Under her skin. It had turned black at the vines, fading into her natural tone. Chrissy backed up, closing the door. Suddenly, she was no longer in Eddie’s trailer. She was in her house, her hallway, with the navy blue painted walls that have been there since she was little. She held the door closed, but that thing that was imitating her mom followed and tried to get out, but Chrissy held the door closed. The monster tried to open it, but it only did slightly. “Chrissy!” Chrissy’s mom’s voice rang out again, but this time, it was distorted and terrifying. “Chrissy! Open the door right now!” Eddie walked back into the living room, with the container in his hand. “Peaceful bliss, moments away-” Eddie looked up and saw Chrissy standing there. Her eyes were rolled in the back of her head, she was still, not moving at all. “Chrissy…” He walked slowly towards her. Chrissy ran from the door that slammed open. She ran down the stairs into the dining room. She gasped, the dining room had dinner from the other night. It hadn’t been cleaned up and now there were flies and mold. It was disgusting. “Chrissy?” Eddie waved his hands in front of her face. “Hey, Chrissy, wake up.” He got closer to her, still unmoving and in this trance, kind of. He snapped his fingers in front of her still unfazed face. He put his hands on her shoulders and tried to shake her. “Chrissy, wake up.” He started lightly tapping her face, as she still stood, not moving, eyes rolled into the back of her head, gasping almost like she was struggling to breathe. “Chrissy,” A voice, not like anything she had heard before. It was deep and weird and she didn’t like it. Chrissy ran down another hall, to the living room. The TV was on, her father was in his chair. “Chrissy, wake up,” Eddie yelled, trying to make her move, say something, anything. “I don't like this! Chrissy, wake up!” Eddie looked at Chrissy’s face and then his hands on her shoulder. They were lifting. Chrissy was lifting into the air. Eddie jumped back, running and falling backwards into a chair.
“Dad!” Chrissy ran to her father, and she turned around in front of the chair. She screamed. His eyes and mouth had been sewn shut. He was struggling, trying to move but his hands were tied to the chair. Chrissy ran into another room, but this room was different. It was the near front door, and she could hear the music that was playing in Eddie’s trailer. Never free, never me, So I dub thee unforgiven, the lyrics said. “Chrissy,” It was the same creature from the bathroom earlier, she recognized it. The way it squelched when it walked. The way it sounded. The voice. The same voice that had imitated her own mother’s. “It's time, Chrissy,” He walked closer, and she backed into the boarded up door. It was then that she saw the opening. There was a patch in the back wall, behind this thing, where she could see herself in the air, Eddie on the floor, staring up at her, with this look. He looked scared. Terrified. She closed her eyes and thought, long and hard. What I've felt, what I've known Never shined through in what I've shown Never free, never me So I dub thee unforgiven Chrissy opened her eyes, and looked behind the monster. Monster, it made her feel like a child again. Maybe it was a man. It sounded like a man. It had a human shaped figure. She reached out, hooking her fingers around one of the vines that covered the creature/man’s neck. It ripped off, and Chrissy had blood on her hand. It grossed her out. Was it even blood? She stopped thinking, and for the minute that he was distracted, she ran. She ran as fast as he could. Objects of her house had come crashing down, she ended up running around looking like a lunatic. But that didn’t matter. She ran to the cloud where she saw her, and Eddie. She jumped through it, like she used to jump over a jump rope when she was a kid. She suddenly found herself falling to the ground. She fell and hit her head on the carpet. Eddie jumped up off the floor where he had tripped, but he got back on his knees where Chrissy was. She rubbed the back of her head, salty wet tears rolled down her cheeks, and her eyes bounced from each and every one of Eddie’s features, his eyes, his mouth, his eyes again, his wild hair that fell in his face, his terrified expression. She reached out to touch his face, just to make sure he was real. “Jesus christ,” Eddie said, closely examining Chrissy’s face, scared and lost and confused. “What happened? Are you okay?” Chrissy’s face crumbled, and she shook her head and dropped it, looking down at her cuticles, destroyed. Eddie pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her. “C’mere,” He says, and she buries her face in his chest. “It was in my house,” She sobs. “My parents… the food…” She cries harder and Eddie hugs her tighter. Eddie himself was still terrified. So, what, she just floated up in mid air, and now she’s traumatized? Something happened. Something had to have hurt her, or she saw something, or heard something... *** It had been a few days since… the day. Chrissy hadn’t talked to Eddie, and barely talked to Jason. He had called earlier this afternoon, asking to hang out, and Eddie had called to make sure she was okay. Chrissy had missed it and he left a message. Chrissy was debating whether to go to Eddie’s or Jason’s. She felt like one of the girls in her mother’s smutty romance novels, trying to choose between guys. Except, it wasn’t a romance. Kind of. She loved Jason, and she and Eddie experienced one traumatic event together. She decided to go with Jason. Jason lived a few blocks away from Chrissy, so she rode her bike over. She pulled into Jason’s driveway on her bike, and then she heard it again. The ticks and tocks and chimes were stuck in her head, replaying over and over like the nightmare it was. But this time, it wasn’t in her head. It was real. Again. She looked behind her and dropped her bike. There it was, on the side of the house next door, the clock. Jason came out the door, and put a hand on Chrissy’s shoulder. It startled Chrissy, and she jumped and turned around. He examined her face carefully. “Hey…?” He said and bent down to pick up Chrissy’s bike. “You okay? You didn’t come to Benny’s the other night,” “Yeah-” Chrissy looked at the ground then back up at Jason. “Um, I was just coming over to hang out, but-” Chrissy squeezed her eyes shut and tried to think of an excuse. “I just remembered. My mom- my mom wanted me to do something, so, I can’t,” She swung her leg over her bike and started to walk back. “Bye,” She smiled, then she was off.
