On the run and other short stories

Part 17... On the Run. (Finale, Final Act, The End... for now)

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 03:56:38 GMT

She continued to stare at him, her gaze was just as cold as ice and as sharp as a scalpel.

“Hon, did you want to go with David or not?”

“Well sure, let’s go,” John said.

The feeling of deja-vu was fading from him quickly. Despite that he had a lingering suspicion he had seen and done these very same things before. It was almost as though he wasn’t moving forward in time at all but was being recycled in it.

He was reminded of the movie Groundhog Day and how Bill Murray had been forced to repeat the same day over and over never really moving forward. He had moved forward though hadn’t he?

‘Ahhh yes, he moved forward after he made the right decisions,’ John thought to himself. ‘But what are the right decisions for me.’

‘I don’t know what they will be. I’m just going to have to find out,’ John thought. ‘Maybe it’s just one of those like paradoxes and I have to keep repeating things. Maybe I’m dead, I died somewhere and this is hell. It’s a possibility isn’t it? I’ve heard that hell is different for ever person. It also depends on your faith, and who you are. There’s the seven circles. If you’re Hindu they say that no matter what you have to go to hell and depending on what you did in life, what your karma is you determines how long you stay and how you’re reincarnated.’

Around him the restaurant was a hustle and bustle.

Did it have a PA system?

He could have sworn he heard someone’s voice above him, like on a PA system, what had it said though?

Smith party of four? Does he need more?

The world seemed to be a bit of a buzz... it was like he couldn’t quite hear anything, yet he could hear everything. That buzz... that god awful buzz and zippy feeling. He felt like everything was passing him. Like everything was streaking by him sort of like driving very fast.

“Hon are you ok?” Dyan asked.

She had seemingly changed places at the table. She had been sitting next to him, now she was sitting across from him.

He couldn’t remember her getting up and moving. It seemed that she was just suddenly across the table from him. It was disconcerting.

So was the fact that as his eyes rolled around in his head not really able to focus, he thought he saw a familiar face... he couldn’t remember the man’s name, but he was sure he recognized the face.

Maybe it was just one of those guys who had a face that looked instantly familiar.

“Hon... are you alright?” Dyan asked again.

He wasn’t sure what, but something seemed different about her again too.

“Dyan, I think I’m going to go to the restroom.. I think I had a bit too much tea,” said John as he stood up from the table.

Hadn’t it been a square or rectangle before... now it was circular.

John was starting to feel queasy. Very queasy.

As he walked to the restroom the restaurant seemed to be constantly changing. One minute it looked like a typical chain neighborhood bar and grill, the next minute it looked like a gas station and then a ski lodge, then back to a neighborhood bar and grill. At times it seemed to be all three.

He wasn’t sure what was going on but as it continued it made him more and more nauseous.

The buzzing and the voices that seemed to be coming over the PA system. He still couldn’t quite make out what they were saying.

He thought he heard something about condition.

‘Condition? Condition of what? Maybe I heard it wrong, I’m in a restaurant, why would they say condition on a PA system in a restaurant,’ John thought.

He entered the restroom and had another one of those God awful flashes of deja-vu.

‘This restroom isn’t right,’ John thought. ‘There should be tin signs, or sports pages, or movie memorabilia on walls. This is all wrong. This--.’

The restroom was black and white. The floor was white and a little more than half the walls were white, there was a line of black tiles above about the halfway point on the walls.

It was a restroom from the past, or the future?

A restroom from a Chinese restaurant.

A restroom that didn’t belong in a neighborhood bar and grill. A neighborhood bar and grill he was supposedly in.

He grasped for the wall of the nearest stall to steady himself from he nausea and dizziness that were wracking his body and mind.

“Hey Johnny, there’s someone in here,” a familiar voice said.

It was the voice of... of... of who?

“Sorry man,” John said.

He went into the next stall and looked down into the toilet. He just looked. It didn’t take long before he saw something else in the toilet. His own vomit. He had vomited and didn’t even know it.

He just hoped he didn’t end up face first in the toilet.

John exited the stall and stared at the door to the restroom. It seemed to be jiggling. He wasn’t sure why it seemed to be jiggling. It just did.

He thought he heard the door open, but it was still closed.

‘Must have been the women’s room door that I heard,’ John thought.

As he exited the restroom, things returned to semi-normal. Things seemed to stop jiggling and changing at any rate. They still didn’t seem right, but he didn’t hear the PA anymore... and.

There were still some things out of place, like the familiar faces... some of the decor seemed to be blended. There was now a big fireplace where there had been a bar. It looked like the kind of fireplace that might be in a ski lodge.

Then there were the new chairs.

They were black and shiny metal with a flower print fabric on the seat part. They seemed to be straight from a Chinese restaurant. At least in parts of the restaurant.

In others there were cheap diner style booths. The kind you might find in a gas station. One whole wall had also changed to a row of cold cases filled with sodas.

John finally found the table he had been sitting at with David, Michelle, Ben, Tammy and Dyan. But it too had changed.

No longer was it square, or rectangular. No longer was it even circular. It was now a triangle. With only two chairs. Dyan was there, but she looked a little different.

He still couldn’t figure out what was different about her either.

“There you are. I was starting to think you had fallen in,” said Dyan.

“Ha, No. I’m here, I didn’t fall in,” said John.

“Well good, because that just would have been a mess,” Dyan said.

“David and the others had to leave, but I told them we’d go on the ski trip with them,” said Dyan.

Well that at least explained why they weren’t at the table, but there wasn’t even enough room at the table Dyan was sitting at for the others to have sat there with her.

“Why’d you say I would go? I didn’t say I wanted to go on the ski trip,” John said.

“I thought it would be fun for the two of us to go take a vacation together,” Dyan said.

“But skiing?”

“It’s just a little trip, and we’ll have a room all to ourselves.”

“We can always have a room all to ourselves.”

“But hon, it’ll be in the mountains and it will be romantic,”

“Look, I just don’t want to go.”

The PA voice was back.

This time he could hear something very clearly.

“He needs another shot, he’s not reacting well.”

John looked around. He looked at Dyan and then around the restaurant. The bar was gone still so no one could be talking about a shot from the bar. Then he just reacted.

“Who needs another shot? Shot of what?”

Dyan looked at him with the greatest of concern.

“Hon, what are you talking about? Who are you talking to?”

“I’m... didn’t you hear the voice? It sounded like it was coming over a PA, it said he needs another shot and then it said he’s not reacting well.”

John looked around again.

The restaurant had returned to what should have been and could have been regarded as normal. It once again looked like a neighborhood bar. Once again the table was a rectangle. Once again all of his friends were around it.

Whatever was going on, was resetting itself.

“So you ready for that ski trip man,” David said.

He was no sitting across from John and Dyan was now sitting beside him.

“What is going on?” John asked.

“Well, we were discussing a trip to the mountains, a ski trip to the mountains, and we were talking about that while you were in the bathroom, but that’s it,” said Ben. Ben was now bald, his blond hair had been replaced by a shiny head.

Everyone was different but the same.

Perhaps the most startling change was that Michelle had become Puerto Rican.

“Why is everything changing?”

“John, what the fuck are you talking about?” David asked.

“You, all of you are different, the restaurant is different, the... everything is different.”

‘Everything is different. How would they know, they don’t even know they’ve changed?’

“What are you talking about John? No one has changed. We’re all wearing the same clothes we were wearing when you left for the restroom. How do you mean by changed?,” Ben said.

“Look, it’s not important, just... nevermind. Nevermind.”

John excused himself from the table again and headed for the bathroom once more.

When he entered the bathroom things had changed again. As he closed the door, it absorbed into the wall and disappeared.

The room was now padded up to the height of a man’s head. Above that the walls were a light mint green. It reminded him of... of what.

Movies.

What kind of movies?

‘The kind where a guy is in a hospital or a nut house, it’s that soothing green. That antiseptic nut house green. That green they use in medical buildings from Washington D.C. to Shanghai to Dubai. It was something... the medical profession used. I’m not sure why other than that it is supposed to soothe the nerves.’

It certainly wasn’t soothing his nerves, especially not with the door disappearing into thin air.

The door had disappeared, and another one appeared across from the one he had walked in through, this one didn’t have a door handle on his side.

There was a small screen covering the window on the door, and there was only one window in the entire room.

His clothes had changed too. He was now in what appeared to be hospital garb. A patients hospital garb.

“Hello?”

Once again the voice from the PA.

“He’s up again,” came PA voice number one.

“What did he do again,” a second voice from the PA. This one more feminine.

“We’re not sure exactly what he did. He was found by a couple in their cabin up in the mountains. He was nearly starved and he was severely dehydrated. There were the bodies of four other people in the cabin. They had all been brutally murdered. Our patient here was the only one left alive and he was nearly dead himself, he was covered in the others blood,” the first voice said. It apparently didn’t care what he thought.

“So he murdered them?” The feminine voice asked.

“You see that’s the interesting thing. Dr. Myers; he hasn’t stood trial yet. There really is only circumstantial evidence for the case from what I understand, but it doesn’t matter anyway, he’s not competent to stand trial,” said the first voice. “That’s why he’s here in our care and custody.”

“Hmmm, so why isn’t he competent to stand trial?”

“Well, when you claim someone else murdered the other four people in a cabin with you and you’re found sitting in a pool of their blood it does make it a bit hard. Especially when that’s pretty much all the evidence. I was at the scene that night, the detectives believe he wore gloves because they couldn’t really find any prints or hard evidence. There were no witnesses, at least not any living witnesses, and so it just kind of leads us to today. With Mr. John Dearborn sitting in room 317 of the Overbrook Institute. Most of the time we keep him heavily sedated because he disturbs the other patients, but sometimes, somehow, he fights the sedatives.”

John was sitting on the floor in the room now.

‘Was that what had happened, he had killed his friends? Could I really have killed Dyan, Ben, Michelle, Tammy and David. But wait, hadn’t they said only four other bodies were discovered in the Cabin? What about the fifth person.’

“Five people in a cabin all by themselves, and then one just goes crazy, it’s a rather tough pill to swallow Dr. Powers,” the feminine voice said. “I’d like to talk to him once he is awake.”

“Well that’s the other interesting thing Dr. Meyers. Before we dosed him yesterday, he requested you by name. Oh, and I never said that there were just five people in the cabin. There were six people in the cabin. The police know that because there were six bags found, and six drivers licenses, three males and three females.”

“Dr. Powers, I do have one other question, if he says he didn’t do it, what does he say happened?”

There was a pause that John didn’t like the sound of. A large blank gap. A gap you could drive a mack truck through.

“Dr. Meyers, he says that Bealzebub did it.”

Dr. Meyers, who ever she was, had a short chuckle.

“The devil made me do it. Isn’t that the oldest excuse in the book?”

“Make no mistake Dr. Meyers, he does not say that Bealzebub , the devil, Satan, Lucifer, made him do it, he says that Lucifer did it himself.”

“Dr. Powers, I can not wait to interview him.”

John sat quietly in his room.

‘Quite the raving lunatic I am,’ John thought ironically as he sat in the corner, quiet, still.

A few hours later, the door to the cage of the wild beast known as John opened, and Dr. Meyers stepped through. The door closed behind her. An orderly was posted on the other side.

“John, I’m Dr. Dyan Meyers. I work here at the institution. I’ve taken a special interes—”

John cut her off.

“I know who you are. I know what you want, and why you came here.”

“Oh?”

“Yes Dyan. You came back because you wanted to put an end to his rule of this vessel.”

“Vessel? Who’s rule John?”

“Dyan, you know very well who’s rule,” John said, as he looked up at Dyan, his eyes smoldering with hatred and a soul not of his own.

“Yes Lucifer... I do.”

The room became hot. Hot and quiet.

* * *

“Have you seen Dr. Meyers,” Dr. James Powers asked of the orderly posted outside room 317. “Has she come out?”

“No Doc, she’s still in there,” said the orderly.

“Open the door immediately,” Dr. Powers said in a voice as still as a flag in a gale force wind.

The orderly nervously inserted a key into the lock on the door of room 317 and opened the door.

When the doctor and the orderly saw what was inside, the doctor ran forward uncapping a needle, while the orderly ran down the hall, a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from puking. Dr. Dyan Meyers lay on the floor motionless. In the corner, John sat, covered in vermilion.

Dr Meyers blood covered the floor, the walls and ceiling.

When the orderly returned, his face was nearly as white as his uniform, two security guards followed close behind.

“From now on, no one is to go into room 317 and the patient is to be kept sedated by myself or someone else I authorize at all times,” Dr. Powers said.

In the corner John sat mumbling.

* * *

“So John, what do you think about a ski vacation,” David asked.

“Sure,” John said. The restaurant was the same as he ever remembered it. The same as it had been two years before, when that fateful ski trip had first been planned.

On the Run... Part 16.

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:15:32 GMT

John had cut his eyes to near slits to look up at Dyan who was still holding the knife to his throat. Her eyes had seemingly been replaced by the brightest white light he had ever seen.

"Dyan?" John barely stammered.

In an instant his world seemed to come to a stop and then to rewind.

* * *

'Something is definitely wrong. I don't know what it is, but this isn't the way things should be. What isn't the way? Well, I shouldn't be dead should I?'

John blinked his eyes and looked around, everything was fuzzy, like he was looking through a fog.

'How can I be thinking if I'm dead? I don't know that I can be, maybe you can keep thinking even after you die. I'm not sure. Haven't ever been dead before. What happened to the cabin... what happened to me... what happened to my friends...what happened to Dyan...what happened to me.'

John felt warm and fuzzy. A memory suddenly washed over me, but not as strong as the ones he had felt in the deja-vu. It was much more spotty... like a static filled TV channel.

It was a memory of Dyan and himself in a rental cabin. It was more like one of those motor lodges. Where each room was a cabin, it was summer. Two summers ago as a matter of fact.

It was a memory he still held dear. It had been their first vacation together.

Dyan had been so lovely then. She always was and remained lovely to the last time he saw her. But things had become... they were... things had settled some he thought to himself. He could remember her saying that they were the perfect compliment to each other, he was the yin to her yang.

'What does that mean exactly hon?' he could remember asking. All he could remember about yin and yang was that the symbol from chinese mysticism was a popular thing to draw when he was in the 4th grade and that he had at that time wanted to get a tattoo of the symbol. He never had, he had really gotten turned off of tattoos.

'Look it up,' she had said before they had made love for what must have been the umpteenth time that weekend at the cabin. A different cabin. A different time.

He had never looked it up, he had just always thought of it as her way of saying they perfectly complimented each other. All about balance and everything.

Isn’t that what most people meant when they said something about yin and yang?

He wassn’t sure.

He wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

It had all shifted in one little moment that seemed to extend itself out over and through time.

* * *

“Dyan, have you seen my aspirin,” John asked.

He had seemed to need his aspirin a lot lately, he hoped he wasn’t becoming dependent on it to deal with his problems. At least if he was, he wasn’t turning to more serious or potentially deadly habits like crack, or alcohol.

“I think it’s in a bag in the backseat,” Dyan said.

John looked around him, once again he was in his car. Once again it was a dark, rainy night. Once again he had the feeling as though he were being pursued, though this time he had the feeling that he was nearly caught... that whatever had been chasing him was very, very close.

John suddenly felt his heartrate increase.

He couldn’t remember Dyan having been beside him in the car until just that moment. He had been at the gas station and had dropped the bottle of aspirin on the passenger seat. There wasn’t anyone there before.

He had looked in the back for a bloody knife which he was certain would probably not be there now if he were to look.

‘I think I figured it out,’ John thought to himself. ‘I seem to be remembering three different times, three different places, and three different events. But why? Where and when am I really?’

“I’ll be right back hon, I need to go to the restroom,” said John opening his door to the bitter cold and the stinging rain.

He walked to the gas station and entered the door. It was brightly lit. Too brightly lit, especially for midnight. It was John’s personal belief that the interiors of gas stations should be dimmed at night.

When he turned around to look at his car, it wasn’t where he had left it. In fact the outside had changed completely.

It was no longer night time, it was no longer raining. It was no longer the desert. It was where he and Dyan had spent their first weekend together, the gas station near there, but how was it possible.

‘Why is everything changing around me all the time. I keep seeming to go between now and then and whenever that is. I’m so confused. I’m now two years ago with Dyan about to be at that mountain bed and breakfast they had been with each other at,’ John thought.

But he had just remembered them in the room together.

‘Ok, so there’s two years ago, there’s whenever I am that it’s night in the desert and then there’s the vacation in the mountains from 3 months ago,’ John thought. ‘That still doesn’t explain why everythink keeps changing.’

“Yeah, I wanted to get some gas,” John said.

The interior of the gas station was just as he had remembered it in the time after the ski vacation when he was running from someone or something. But who or what. He kept having visions of something else as well... someone... with a knife... he couldn’t make out who it was.

“You ok hon, you look a little shaken,” Dyan said from behind John.

She had surprised him. The last he remembered she was in the car, or in the bed and breakfast or the cabin. he wasn’t sure of anything anymore, let alone where he was or anything at all really.

‘I must already be mad or going mad because it seems that I can’t get a grasp on my situation, on my reality, on my... on my anything. I’m here, then I’m there. I’ve got a knife to my throat after I was thinking of a knife and I really have no clue as to what’s going on. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to learn that I’m in a mental home strapped to a bed and that all of this is my imagination gone wild. That I’ve been cooped up in an asylum for so long that my mind has really gone crazy and created it’s own world or worlds,’ John thought.

John felt a tap on his arm and looked to where the tap had come from.

When he looked to his left where the tap had come from he saw Dyan and the gas station had beenr eplaced by the restaurant from three months ago.

“Hon, David wanted to know if we wanted to go on the trip... to the mountains... to go skiing at his uncle’s cabin,” Dyan said.

The look in her eyes was like cold steel piercing his flesh.

Before bringing you the long anticipated Part 16... this....dear readers

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:15:06 GMT

I appologize profusely to you my dear readers for the long delay between part 15, and Part 16. It is a busy time of year as you all can imagine and this 'short' story has taken on a bit of a life of it's own.

Originally I intended it only to be about 6 parts, just for a new part every few days leading up to Halloween, but since then it has grown into a bit of a thriller that is now a living, breathing work of literature. The characters are taking shape and the story is constantly evoloving. When I don't know what's going to happen next, I know I have a 'live one' on my hands in the way of a story.

And now... without further ado... part 16....

On the Run...Part 15

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 19:11:18 GMT

John was driving back to the cabin with Dyan and Ben beside him in the front seat. Tammy, David and Michelle were squeezed into the back. The radio was on at a low volume, but just loud enough that John wasn't quite able to hear what was going on in the backseat.

"Yeah, I don't know Michelle, the guy in the restaurant was crazy or something,"
"Oh, he was crazy," David said, suddenly remebering what the man had said about John, and killing them all.

"What did he say?"

"I'm sure he said something like 'oh your friend really pretty... he veeeerrrryyy lucky to have such a beautiful girl as came in on arm. she make me so horny,'" Dyan said jokingly in a mock asian accent. It got everyone in the car to laugh; including John.

"Seriously though David, what did the old bat have to say?" John asked.

David was petrified at the thought of revealing what the man had revealed. But why?

His friend really wasn't a deamon. Why be afraid, if his friend wasn't a demon?

"Well actually, he said that you were a demon, that you were possessed, and that he had put rat poison in your food and that you were going to kill us all," David said.

He suddenly felt better. Now that he had Said it, he realized what a ridiculous thought it was that John was a demon.

"Oh really? He thought I was a demon and put rat poison in my food," John said with a laugh. "What a card. I mean, if he had put poison in my food, I'd be dead by now; right?"

"Well that's what I was just thinking," said Michelle confidently from the back. Her tone didn't match well with the conversation going on around them.

John was simply trying to remember why this all seemed so familiar. It was familiar wasn't it? It was like deja-vu. He had seen all of this before. He had said these very things before. He had eaten at the Chinese restaurant before. He had been poisoned before. He had been driving them all back before.

What had happened when they got back though?

He couldn't remember.

'I didn't kill Tammy, there's no knife in the back of my car, none of that happened,' John suddenly thought remembering a thought or conversation with himself that had never happened before or hadn't happened yet. He wasn't sure.

But that would mean that he was going to kill tammy, why would he kill Tammy. He had no reason to kill her.

Even if she was a nosy, snotty, good for nothing bitch.

'What did I just think? Wait. I don't get it. Did I kill Tammy before? But what before, this is happening now, how could it have happened before? How can I be remembering something that hasn't happened before. How is that even possible? She's sitting right behind me, alive, breathing, well in every sense of the word. '
The feeling of deja-vu subsided and suddenly disappeared as he continued driving up the mountain, a pair of headlights washing across his eyes, killing the thought immediately.

Meanwhile, Tammy had remained quiet throughout the whole thing. She had been thinking back to all the experiences so far that weekend. The strange smell earlier that day, not once but three times at least in her memory.

She remembered how the smell had increased when John was angry, when he was frustrated with the others. She remembered how he had seemed shaken, pale, and different after he had come down the mountain, several minutes after they had arrived at the bottom.

He had been sweating then hadn't he?

She couldn't remember, it seemed that way.

Sitting just in front of her, John thought he was able to hear her very thoughts.

"Well Tammy, what do you think? You don't think I'm a demon do you?"

"No, no, of course not."

"So it's settled then, I'm not a demon."

John looked up into the mirror and let his gaze meet Tammy's eyes. She could feel a chill running up and down her spine. She knew something was up, she could tell that he was in fact a demon. He had been possessed. What was worse, she could tell by the way that he was looking at her, that he knew she doubted him.

By the time they got back to the cabin, everyone was in a much better mood. Everyone that is except for Tammy.

She knew that something was not right with John. She was also fairly certain that he knew what she was thinking.

"Oh man, what a day, what a day," David said plopping down on the sofa in the living room. "I don't know that I'll be able to get up and do it all over again tomorrow. Especially not at the crack of noon."

"I know one thing, I'll be rippin' and roarin' to go," said John. Dyan was clinging to his body and nibbling on of his earlobes as he walked towards the stairs which lead to the second floor.

"For someone who didn't want to even come on this trip you sure have changed your tune," Dyan said taking a break from nibbling his ear lobe.

John simply glanced at each of his friends.

"What's the matter, can't a guy change his mind?"

His friends sat remained in silence, it was such a change from what he had expressed about the trip since it's outset. It was the best mood he had been in since before the restaurant. All except Dyan were completely floored by the sudden change in demeanor.

Tammy however was a little more than floored. She could see right through the front that John was throwing up, desperately trying to hide what he was actually thinking.

"Well, this has been fun, but I'm really beat," Tammy said. "I think I'm going to go to bed."

Ben quickly followed her without saying a word, simply throwing his jacket on the sofa in the living room and continuing toward's Tammy's room.

"Yeah, I think we will too, come on Michelle," David said tugging on Michelle's arm headed to the stairs.

John and Dyan also headed towards their own room.

John admired Dyan as she stripped for bed. She was wearing a set of lace underwear with a matching bra. The scalloped edges of the lace highlighting Dyan's skin so perfectly.

"Are you ok hon? You seemed to be not so great on the slopes," Dyan said cocking her head and looking at John.

"I'm fine... just a little beat now. I think it'll be good to go to bed," said John.

He pulled her close to him and put a hand in that little spot on her back as he kissed her deeply and pulled her close.

"mmmmm you know what that does to me hon," she said as he let go of her lips.

"Yeah, I do," John said with a smirk. "Lay down hon, I'll be back in a moment."

John headed out of the room and went back down to the kitchen and reached in the refrigerator and opened and grabbed a bottle of coke.

As he twisted off the cap he could see the vapor coming out of the bottle and it reminded him of the fog on the road.

'What road....' he thought for a second then suddenly he had that strong feeling of deja-vu again. It was like his memories were like the vapor coming out of the coke bottle... there... but not.

He had been driving down the road... away from something... or someone. But it was like he was trying to remember a movie he had only seen previews for. He could remember some, but not everything.

John finished off the coke and threw the bottle away and headed back up the stairs.

Dyan was already asleep on the bed. She looked so peaceful laying there. As he crawled in behind her and spooned his body against hers.

He drifted off to sleep thinking about the day... and his foggy memories. the deja-vu of the whole trip. As though it had already been done, this was a rerun. As he put his head to the pillow he thought of Tammy's name to himself and closed his eyes drifting off to sleep.

Across the cabin, in the room Tammy was asleep in she was tossing and turning. She was in a deep sleep, dreaming.

John pushed the door to the room open and looked at her body in the bed. It was nice looking, not modelesque, but definitely beautiful. Beside her Ben's half naked body was facing the wall.

"TAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY" John said in a voice not his own, but deeper. Something not of this earth. Demonic.

As he looked at her his eyes glowed flame red and his shadow seemed to show what was inside him, what had taken over his body. There seemed to be horns and wings behind him in his shadow on the wall.

He seemed to float towards her. She tried to scream but couldn't. She looked at Ben, but he remained motionless and asleep.

"TAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY" said again. This time she could feel that her body was freezing up, being frozen by some force beyond her own control.

Despite the freezing up feeling, or the stiffness, she could also feel her body burning up, getting warmer. It felt like she would soon burst into flames.

"NOOOOOOO" Tammmy finally managed to say out loud. She had been thinking it in her head, but hadn't been able to scream it, even as she said it she could swear it wasn't any louder than a whisper, she could barely feel the word pass by her lips and enter her ears, but she knew she had said it.

Tammy woke from her sleep. It had all been a dream, John wasn't at her door. He hadn't said her name. It must have been her screaming the word no that woke her from her slumber.

"I need something to drink," she said to herself. Swinging her feet out of the bed she decided to go to the bathroom first.

Turning on the cold light blinded her as she fumbled for the sink handles to turn on the cold water. Splashing it on her face as she looked up to brush her hair out of her face she could have sworn she caught the glimpse of something in the mirror.

She wasn't sure what it was she thought she saw, but she was certain she had seen something. She had, hadn't she?

Tammy stumbled to the kitchen to look at what was available in the fridge. Beer, beer, wine, coke and beer.

"I guess I'll have a beer then," Tammy said with a sigh of dissatisfaction.

Closing the refrigerator door, she could have sworn she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.

"I really need to get back to sleep," she said plodding back to her room.

Closing the door behind her she took a swig of the beer and set it on the nightstand. She looked at Ben who was laying in the bed. He was one of the most sound sleepers that she knew.

"NOOO YOUUUU NEEEEEDDDD TOOOO DIIIIIIEEEEEEE," said a demonic voice from above her.

Tammy looked up to see John suspended above her. She wasn't sure how he had done it, she didn't much care, but she was too paralyzed to move let alone scream. His eyes were glowing the color of charcoal embers and seemed to smoke like them too. She opened her mouth to cry out, but couldn't. He had dropped down and pinned her to the bed. Ben still didn't wake... he was facing the wall. She noticed even with the commotion and assault on her body... that Ben's throat had been slit.

"DO I LOOK POSSESSED TO YOU?" He said in that otherworldly voice.

His breath smelled like death, smoke, and rot.

Before she could say anything he had slit her throat and rolled her over in the bed. As she bled to death he covered the body with the covers and drank the rest of her beer.

He walked up the stairs and went to the room occupied by David and Michelle. He could hear muffled noises from inside. He didn't care. He wasn't there to be polite. He was there for one reason only.

He opened the door. At least he thought he had. He ended up on the other side of the door at any rate.

"John what the fuck are you doing in here," David said in the middle of a passionate moment with Michelle. "John?"

David noticed something was very wrong with his friend. His feet weren't touching the floor... his toes seemed to be just above it.

"JOHN GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!!" Michelle screamed at John, just taking notice of his presence in the room.

As he opened his eyes the room was filled with an eerie red glow, the same glow that filled his own eyes.

Michelle and David fell silent as that glow filled the room. John rushed them and within seconds they were both dead.

He closed the door as he exited the room and returned to normal.

Opening the door to his shared room with Dyan he did so quietly.

"Hey hon, did you get something to drink," said Dyan sitting up in the bed. She had slipped her bra off. Her breasts seemed to glow in the pale moonlight.

"Yeah, I just got a coke," said John.

"That's good sweetie," she said laying back in the bed.

He pounced on the bed laying down beside her.

"You know... you probably shouldn't have killed them," Dyan said.

John was shocked at what he had just heard and was just about to say something when he felt that urge take hold of him. Once again he could feel his eyes on fire and that other thing within him taking over. He was no longer himself anymore. Just as he felt that though ne noticed that Dyan had a knife to his own throat.

On the Run...Part 14

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 02:33:10 GMT

A few hours after that first run down the mountain with his friends John suggested dinner again, and this time the idea was readily accepted by all involved.

John drove the truck down the mountain to the Chinese restaurant they had looked up in the phone book from the ski lodge. It wasn't the only one in town, but it sounded nice enough and it was also the only one open. Their vehicle was the only one in the parking lot. It wasn't too surprising though, it was rather late and most people had probably already had dinner.

The inside was typical of oh so many Chinese restaurants, the tall back chairs with the black metal frames and the standard laminate tables. Nothing fancy. The walls were painted with a waterfall scene replete with warlords and Chinese ladies with pale white faces and long flowing silk dresses with ornate patterns.

The restaurant also came complete with a little old asian man who looked like he was scripted for the part of "Chinese restaurant manager" in some major motion picture. His face was salt and peppery and his face had just the right amount of wrinkles.

"Hello, welcome to Canton, will this be for here or to go," said the man who greeted them as they walked in. Like some sort of stereotypical cartoon, the man pronounced his 'L's' as 'R's.'

"Well gang, do we wanna eat here or still wanna take it back to the cabin," Ben said.

'No, no that's not right. David said that. Why is Ben saying what I remember David saying.' John thought to himself. 'I'm so confused as to what is going on. Am I dreaming now, was I dreaming before? Is anything real anymore?'

John had a glazed over puzzled look on his face as he stepped into the restaurant and removed his hat and gloves.

"Oh hell, we're all here, let's just eat it here," Dyan said grabbing a chair at the nearest table.

The others also quickly sat down at the table.

'It's the same table, everything's the same but it's all different.' John thought. As he looked at the table another thought came to mind. 'No! It's not the same table, it's not the same table at all. The other table had four chairs around it and was blue and the chairs had red upholstry and the tables were blue, but now... now it was reversed and there were the perfect number of chairs around the table.'

John couldn't believe what was happening. Suddenly his day out with the other five had just gotten longer and stranger. He just wanted to go back to the cabin and read, or sleep, or anything. He wanted to know what was really going on. He was still puzzled at why he had even agreed to go along on the stupid trip.

"But guys, I thought we were going to take it back to the cabin, eat it while we watch a movie or something," John said desperately trying to change the course of action. Though suddenly he remembered that's exactly what he had said... before? Was it even before, or was it later? Had it just been a dream.

"Come on John, stop being a bitch and sit down with us," David said.

The comment insensed John. He was already confused and upset, but his best friend had just called him a bitch.

"I will in just a second, I think I need to go use the restroom first," John said politely, restraining his anger. He unzipped his jacket and placed it on the back of the empty chair at the table.

John walked towards the hanging sign for the restroom and entered the men's room.

He walked over to the sink and splashed two handfulls of water on his face.

"They're just trying to have a good time, you should try to too. You're always feeling left out of things like this, just relax and enjoy it," John said to his reflection in the mirror over the sink. "This is what friends do, they hang out, and they laugh and joke with each other."

John closed his eyes and threw another hefty couple of handfull of water on his face. That's when he noticed the burning smell.

It was back, that smell. That horrid, putrid odor.

"JJJJJOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN" the voice echoed throughout John's entire body.

He opened his eyes.

The restaurant was gone. It came as no surprise, hadn't he been here before. Hadn't this all happened before?

It had been replaced by something which John could only think to describe as Hell. But what exactly is hell?

Hadn't he read somewhere long ago that Hell was simply an endless repetition? Perhaps he was already in hell that's why everything seemed so familiar. Why had it suddenly shifted as well he wondered.

'The last thing I remember before waking up on the couch in the cabin was...'

As he strained to remember what that last memory was the smell became overwhelming. John looked around him and gone were the white tiles of the restroom, gone was the toilet stall, gone was the door. It had all been replaced by hell. The only remnants of the restroom were the sink and the mirror.

'The last think I remember before waking up on the couch in the cabin was... being in my car... and a...'

The smell was becoming so strong it was making his stomach and trachea do that odd little jiggle dance you can feel before throwing up, he was holding his mouth closed, he didn't want to throw up. He hated the feeling and he wanted to keep any connection he could with what he was thinking and that meant maybe the contents of his stomach could help him remember where he was before he woke up.

'My car, I was in my car and I was reaching for aspirin and a...'

He couldn't hold back any longer, he knew he had to throw up, he was still holding his jaw shut.

"BLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDYYYYYYYY KKKKKKKKNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFEEEEEEE"

The voice erupted through John's being, literally shaking him. It had also completed his thought. He had been looking for a bloody knife. But why? Why was he looking for a knife or even for a bloody knife?

As he looked around for a visual clue to why he might have been looking for a bloody knife in his car he noticed the reflection in the chrome of the sink hardware and the reflection in the mirror showed the restaurant bathroom. They also showed John himself, with a kind of glazed over look in his eyes.

"JJJJJOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN" the voice once again erupted through every fiber of John's being.

When he looked around, Hell had been replaced by the restaurant again.

John wasn't sure if he had hallucinated or if he had actually been transported to hell and back.

'What the fuck is going on,' he thought to himself. 'Why is this happening to me? Why am I back in this restaurant bathroom? Why was I looking for a bloody knife and aspirin in my car?'

Behind him the door squeaked open.

"John, damn man, thought you fell in man," Ben said. "Were you jackin off, or giving birth?"

John politely laughed at his friend's joke.

"Giving birth, it was a monster," said John.

"Alright, well let's get back to the table, Mr. Miagi in there is ready to take our orders."

The two walked back to the table.

"I'll take a beef and broccoli, Michelle here will have the shrimp fried rice," David said.

"I think I'll have the Kung Pao chicken," said Tammy.

John was staring off blankly into space.

"Sir, for you," the Chinese man said.

John turned his head up to look at the Chinese man. When he did the Chinese man took a step back uttering something in Chinese under his breath.

"What... what can I get for you sir," said the Chinese man.

"I think I'll have the General Tso's Chicken," said John.

Dyan and Ben each ordered there dishes in turn and the man disappeared into the kitchen.

"What's his problem," David asked. "All our man John here did was look at the guy."

"Yeah, that was really strange," Tammy said.

As they waited for their food, the six friends stayed in a jovial mood, laughing and joking. John had relaxed some, but he still couldn't get what happened in the restroom out of his mind.

Had it been some sort of hallucination. It probably wasn't good to dwell on such things, lest they happen again.

It wasn't too much longer before four heaping plates of food were brought out to the table.

"Eat and enjoy," said the Chinese man as he put the plates of food in front of each of the six at the table.

As they ate he kept an eye on John the entire time, watching him.

About a half an hour after their food had been brought out, all six had pushed their chairs slightly away from the table and were leaning back away from their food.

"I am full," said David.

"Me too," Tammy said.

"I am so ready to go to bed," Michelle said putting her napkin on the table beside her plate.

"Check please," David said. "Now none of you worry about chipping in, I've got this."

"Good, because I so was not paying," Ben said with a laugh.

The Chinese man brought the leather check holder over to the table, and David slipped some money into it without even looking at what the total was. The entire time the Chinese man with a sour look on his face watched John.

A short time later he returned with David's change.

"Have a good night," he said as they stood to leave.

All but David headed for the door while David headed for the restroom.

"John, here, start the truck so ya'll can stay warm," David said tossing John the keys.

The others headed to the truck, while David decided to take care of business.

Zipping up his jacket as he walked towards the door, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You forgot your fortune cookies," the Chinese man said.

David turned around to face the man, who had a worried expression on his face.

"Your friend is not ok," the Chinese man uttered.

"What?"

"Your friend you called John, he is not... he is possessed."

"What are you talking about?"

"I could see it in his eyes, you could smell it on him too. That smell of death, brimstone. Hell."

"Look man..."

"No you look! Look into his eyes and you will see what I am talking about! He is not well! We tried to kill the demon inside of him, we put rat poison in his food. He should be dead, but yet he walked out the door with a smile on his face! Your friend will kill you all! I suggest you kill him before he does!"

David was now at a loss for words.

"Now go, before he becomes suspicious."

David turned and began to walk out the door. Fortune cookies in his hand.

Outside in the truck John, sitting in the driver's seat was watching the entire exchange between David and the Chinese man.

On the Run...Part 13

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 13:40:59 GMT

David, John, Ben, Dyan, Michelle and Tammy were done breakfast and were dressed and ready to go hit the slopes right around 6 p.m. when the only light on the trails came from the lights along the side. The sun had retreated and it was a new moon.

"Wow, would you just look at that, look at the slopes man, it's just so," John said admiring the natural beauty of the snow covered mountain. They were nearly alone on the slopes with most everyone else eating dinner at the lodge.

As he spoke John was filled with an overwhelming sense of Deja-vu.

'I've been here before, I've done this before,' John thought to himself. He was seemingly frozen in the moment. It was fairly scary how he had just all of a sudden realized or seen the entire scene and how it as about to unfold before him.

'David's going to say something about let's cut some powder, and then he's going to jump right on down the trail. Then everyone else will be back here and follow him,' John thought to himself.

He felt more like he was watching a TV show that he had seen before. Even years before, but that was intimately familiar. Like the 'I Love Lucy' show where she works at the chocolate factory.

Anyone who's seen it once will immediately remember it as soon as it begins any other time.

"Yeah, it's great... so ummm... let's cut some powder," Ben said before jumping down the trail on his skis and letting loose a crow of excitement. He was the epitome of Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up.

David wasn't far behind him, quickly racing to catch up and horse around.

'That's strange,' John thought. 'Why did I remember David saying that and doing what Ben just did?'

For that matter John thought, why hadn't he remembered Ben or Dyan coming along on the trip in the first place. Everything seemed hazy, like it had been done before but also like it was being done for the first time.

"We should probably follow him," Michelle said, hints of concern in her voice and a doubt as to what else could be done.

"Yeah, just to make sure he doesn't get hurt," said Tammy with a laugh.

Witht hat, Tammy and Michelle turned their skis down the slope and began to follow after David.

'Why couldn't I have had my moment to just enjoy the scenery? Why did he have to ruin it with that stupid crow he does? They just don't understand the natural beauty of a place like this and just the sereneness of it all, the tranquility, the... the... WHY?!?!?!' John thought to himself still standing at the top of the mountain. He could feel nerves in his face and neck spasming, pulsating with every intense thought.

"Hon, are you ok?" Dyan said from beside and slightly behind John.

"Yeah, I'm fine... I think," John began. "Have you ever had one of those moments where you feel like you've done something before and you're almost certain you know what's going to happen next. Like you're in a store and you see something happen and 10 minutes later you see the same thing happen again. Well I mean... it doesn't have to be..."

Dyan looked into John's eyes with a concern for him like he had never quite seen before.

"Hon, what are you talking about?"

"What is the name of that feeling, like where you've seen something before."

"You mean deja-vu?"

"YES! That's it!"

"Silly, of course you've seen me before, I'm your damn girlfriend."

John looked at her with just a look of sweet amazement and then gave her one of those kisses that made him feel like he was Cassanova, Romeo, and all the other great lovers in the world rolled into one.

"I didn't mean you though Dyan," John said. "I meant this whole situation. It's like I've done it before."

"Well, have you been skiing before?"

"Not recently."

"Well maybe that's it. Maybe you remember skiing before."

"No, no that's not it at all."

"Well... have you... have you ever been skiing before and had your girlfriend tell you she missed having you in bed beside her the night before and that she's not wearing any panties right now?"

"No, wha--," John paused and gave a little laugh. "No, I've definitely never had that happen before."

"Have you ever been skiing before and had your girlfriend tell you she's not wearing any panties and that if you beat her to the bottom of the hill you might get to see her all nekkid tonight?"

"I think I'll get to see her all nekkid tonight anyway."

"Only if you can catch me!"

With that Dyan took off down the hill with the skill and dexterity of a professional skiier leaving John in her dust at the top of the hill.

As he stood at the top of the slope, the lights began to flicker around him, eventually cutting out altogether plunging the slopes which had been bright as day into the pitchest of black. He could no longer hear the shouts of his friends from the slope. Shouts of fun, exhuberence, excitement.

What he did hear was not reassuring, it was simply a low, throaty, inhuman growl.

It was not of this Earth, and sounded almost like it was not of this dimension. It sounded more like a growl from beyond. If John had ever met the Devil he imagined that's what the Devil would sound like.

Then there was the smell.

A putrid combination of the smell of rot, decay, death, sulfur, fire and tar. The smell overwhelmed him and he wasn't able to contain himself anymore; though essentially paralyzed and petrified by the sudden change from tranquil and serene almost heavenly to hell like, he vomitted all over the snow in front of him.

Then that growl continued deep in his ears, shaking everything within him. It made his organs vibrate. Never in his life was he ever able to feel anything like it. The closest he could compare it to was being in a car with a really loud bass and with that bass turned to maximum.

"Who's there? What's going on?" he said aloud. "Dyan, Ben, David, Michelle, Tammy?"

His voice fell flat, like a rock. The growl was so overpowering that he doubted if he tried to raise the volume of his voice above the timid almost mouselike volume he had just managed that anyone would have heard him.

"Come on, this isn't funny. Whoever's messing around cut it out!"

John once again was awash with feelings of deja-vu. This had happened before. He was damn certain of it now. There were differences which he couldn't put his finger on, but he was damn certain that this had happened before.

What made things worse was that even though he had a familiar, 'been there, done that, got the tshirt,' feeling about everything; this was still giving him the creeps.

Whatever was going on though, John was not happy with it.

Then out of the corner of his eye he saw the same two red hot, glowing ember like eyes in the woods.

"JJJJJOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN" the voice seemed to be saying from all around him.

Surely someone must have heard it, someone must be coming to check on him to see why he wasn't at the bottom of the hill yet, surely. Dyan would be missing him, why wouldn't she come to check on him.

Maybe David would miss his best friend.

John tried to move and found that he couldn't. It was as if every muscle in his body had ceased to function, instantaneously and simultaneously.

"Who are you?" John managed to say, barely above a whisper.

"JJJJJOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN" the voice repeated, again seeming to come from all around him, shaking his very core.

To John it felt like the voice was grabbing him, squeezing him, that he was literally in the palm of someone or something's hand, to be crushed if they wished it.

All John could think about suddenly was the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence in Fantasia. He imagined the mountain was coming alive around him and that it was going to eat him.

"JJJJJOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN" the voice once again repeated.

John hunched down and closed his eyes, hoping that whatever was going to happen was going to be over with quickly that he wouldn't have to suffer, that it would be quick and painless.

It seemed as though the air around him suddenly was becoming superheated. But then just as suddenly the air returned to the icy nature it should be for on top of a snow covered mountain.

John opened his eyes, the lights were back on, it was dark blue in the sky above him and everything was back to normal.

'What the hell is going on here?' John thought. 'This is some scary, freaky ass shit going on here. It may be the first time, but it certainly doesn't feel like the first time. I've seen it all before. It feels like an instant replay or a sequel or something. This can't be real, it can't be happening... it must all be in my head.'

But as he looked down he saw that his vomit was still on the snow, well in it. It had melted the snow and sunk down into it some.

'It wasn't a dream,' John thought. As he wiped his nose which was sudeenly running because of the cold, he could smell that stench, that combination of rot, death, sulfur, brimstone and fire that had surrounded him only a moment before.

"It wasn't a dream," John said aloud. "What the hell is going on here?"

John pushed off and skied the slopes until he reached his friends at the base, gliding in and hugging Dyan.

"Dude, where the fuck were you?" David said.

"You guys, have we ever been here before, done anything here before?" John said. "I just keep having these feelings of deja-vu."

"God bless you." Ben said.

"I didn't sneeze, you fucker!" John said. "Look, for now I'm going to chalk it up to a dream. But seriously, I'm hungry as shit, can we get out of here and get something to eat. I'm craving some Chinese food."

"You shithead! We just got here and now you're all like let's go eat? That is some seriously fucked up shit," David said, utterly pissed off.

"Alright, fine, let's go hit the slopes a couple more times," John said.

"Dyan, do something with your boyfriend," Ben said clapping her shoulder before leading the way back up the slopes.

Ben, David, Michelle and Tammy began their trek back to the top of the mountain. While Dyan and John Were left alone at the base of the hill.

"It'll be ok hon," Dyan said. "They've just all really been looking forward to this trip."

"I know," John said. "Let's just... ski some more and I guess we'll all go out to dinner later."

Reluctantly John began the walk to the lifts for the top of the hill. He still was uneasy about his experiences on the slopes that evening. He didn't trust anyone, not even himself anymore.

On the Run...Part 12

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 18:35:23 GMT

Driving through the night John felt as though he hadn't seen the sun in months. He had seen it hadn't he? It wasn't anything of great consequence that he hadn't. He just would have liked it's reasurring warmth on his skin.

Warmth. Besides that artificial warmth from a heater he really hadn't felt warm in a long time. Not truly warm.

The road ahead of him seemed to have no real end in sight. The occassional lights of a town or a roadside gas station the only interruption to the monotany of it all.

Still though, he felt as though he were in one of those old movies before green screens or blue screens, when car scenes were done with a projection screen and a loop of footage. It seemed as though it were all the same, everything that was passing him by was simply a looped reel.

Wasn't that what it had been for him all along though, a looped reel? The whole vacation never seemed very real in the first place did it. It had all seemed like a dream, something that never was. A night time reverie.

A bright flash in his rearview mirror caught his attention.

'Is that them?' John wondered.

Who were they anyway? Who had been following him and for how long? It was another thing that had been bugging him. Just like the whole vacation had been bugging him.

'It's been like a dreamfrom the start. We were at dinner then next thing we know we're in the mountains. Maybe it's just because it happened so fast, maybe it's because... maybe it's because... maybe it's because what? This is a dream?'

John jammed on his accelerator.

'But how is that possible, how can it seem dream like and be a dream when I know it happened. It happened didn't it? Yes, of course it did.'

John was begining to think he had lost his mind or was losing it.

"It's not possible. It is absolutely not possible that this has all been a dream. I've lived every day of it. I've... I killed Tammy, No I didn't kill Tammy. I couldn't have."

Lived every day of it John thought. He began to desperately grasp for details to prove that he had not just dreamed the past three months.

"Ok, ok... I gotta get a handle on this. John, this has not been a dream. You have to decide what is real and what is not. I know that I'm not a killer, so I could not have killed Tammy. I couldn't have. That must not have happened. So if that didn't happen, there shouldn't be a bloody knife in the back of my car."

John was gonna reach in the back and grab for where he remembered the knife.

That was an interesting point itself. If he wasn't a killer why was there a bloody knife in the car he was driving? Whose car was it anyway? John didn't have a car like the one he was in... and wasn't the car he had gone to the mountains in a truck?

His head was starting to hurt from thinking about the matter too much and he had to pull over to the side of the road. He opened his glove box and removed the still empty bottle of aspirin.

"Why didn't I just swipe that old guy's bottle?" he asked himself.

As he threw the bottle into the back seat he heard the familiar sound of pills jangling in a bottle.

"Now that's really odd. I don't remember there being any in there."

As he looked up and out his passenger windows he came to a startling realization. He was at a very familiar looking service station.

"Now that is REALLY odd."

Though it was very familiar looking there were some differences. It looked newer, the building seemed a little bit larger and it almost reminded him of a painting he had once seen that had people sitting at a lunch counter with their backs turned.

He looked in the windows of the service station and saw that it was indeed hauntingly familiar.

Despite the differences, there seemed to be more similarities to where he had just been.

John turned on the interior lights of his car and looked around in the back for both the aspirin bottle and the knife.

As he rummaged around in the back he saw that there was no knife.

"So no knife, means no dead Tammy. But if there's no dead Tammy. Then why am I here and where is here?"

The pieces of reality seemed to be slipping away from John as he passed out across the front bench seat of his car.

* * *

John woke up on the couch and looked around the inside of the cabin. His friends were already in the kitchen.

"Well good morning Mr. Sleepy Head," said Tammy from a stool at the counter. Beside her, her boyfriend Ben had his arm draped around her.

"Well, well, well, well, couldn't find your way back to your bed," said David from the kitchen counter setting two slices of bread in the toaster. "You were pretty tore up last night, but I figured you would at least find your way back to your bed."

Michelle was poking her head above the refrigerator door as she pulled a box of orange juice out.

John was taking a quick inventory of the room. It was nearly as he had remembered it in January. Except... there were some definite differences, most notably the addition of Ben, whom he thought Tammy had broken up with. But aside from that and that the cabin seemed to have been laid out completely in reverse, it all seemed the same.

"No he never did make his way up to the bed," Dyan said from the stairs.

John couldn't believe his eyes. It was Dyan, the girl he had been pining away after for more than a month. But what was she doing here.

"I'd dump his ass except for the fact that I love his cute ass," she said. "You know I love ya right darlin'."

John stood up bolt upright from the sofa. His head started spinning and he quickly sat back down.

"Guess I'm still a little tipsy, or hung-over," said John.

"Take some aspirin, drink some coffee and you'll be fine," Ben said still leaning all over Tammy.

That was another difference John was having a little trouble wrapping his mind around... Tammy was alive, hadn't he killed her?

On the Run...Part 11

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 18:38:23 GMT

Sitting in the gas station John chewed down one aspirin and then another. He carefully watched the old man who was out in front pumping gas into his car. The memories from three months before kept overwhelming him.

'What happened, what really happened?' He asked himself the question over and over again staring out into the rainy night.

'I didn't kill Tammy... I know I didn't, I couldn't have.'

Looking down at his hands he felt more like Lady MacBeth than John Richardson. He didn't think it was possible when he had read the Shakespearean play to feel like Lady MacBeth who was never fully able to 'clean' her hands of the blood she had spilled.

John thought he could see a drop of rust colored dried blood here and there out of the corners of his eyes, yet when he looked down there was nothing there. No crimson, no rust colored stains, nothing but his own pale white flesh.

As he stared out the window again he could have sworn that he could see the faces of his friends in the window as though they too were being reflected in the window, like they were standing right beside him.

John turned to face the interior of the station. There had to be a restroom around somewhere... he felt the sudden urge to wash his face. Not that it would matter, he was still being followed, and he was afraid if he didn't leave soon, his pursuers would catch up with him.

As he walked into the restroom he was surprised at how clean it was, white tiles, white walls, white fixtures... such a contrast from the run down look of the rest of the establishment. It almost looked institutional in comparison to the rest of the station.

John was almost afraid it was another of those strange terrible visions he had been suffering from. That it was no more real than the breasts of the woman on the pinup callendar near the desk.

He turned the faucets on and splashed the luke-warm water across his face. The water dripped from his nose and eyebrows as he took several paper towels and patted his face dry.

John avoided looking in the mirror for fear of what he might see... he remembered looking into the mirror at Canton in the mountains three months earlier and the terror he had experienced.

'I just have to keep running, as long as I keep running, they will never find me,' John thought to himself.

How long had he been running though? Months now, his pursuers still hadn't given up. He still wasn't sure of exactly who they were, just of the disguises they often took and of how they looked sometimes when they weren't trying to blend in. Their sickly pale faces, the dark suits... the guns.

'Who are they anyway, agents of heaven or agents of hell?'

Did it matter though? He suspected they were the latter. Though, why would agents of hell be after him if he had been possessed and doing satan's work?

Had he been possessed? Had any of what he remembered really even happened?

How could it not have, he remembered every single detail.

John turned off the light and re-entered the lobby area of the station coming face to face with the attendant.

"That'll be $25," he said looking up into John's eyes. The way the man looked at John was making him nervous.

"Right, no problem," John said reaching into his pocket for his wallet and pulling out a $20 and $10 bills. "Keep the extra $5, it's a tip."

"Thank you, Johnny."

John flinched at the old man calling him by name again. Even if he claimed he called everyone that, the way the attendant did it was slightly unnerving.

"Right... thanks again to you too man."

With that John walked out the door and to his car. It had stopped raining since he had been in the restroom. The pavement was still wet though and had a slick look and feel to it. It was almost like obsidian, but not as smooth.

John opened the door to his car and slid in pushing his keys into the ignition swiftly in one quick motion.

Turning the keys brought his car to life with a growl and a purr. The classic Mustang engine sprang to life.

The radio hissed to life with just static coming over the airwaves. But was there just static... John thought he heard something else there.

He turned the volume knob as far as it would go.

"John. John? He must not be..."

It was there–faintly-then it was gone.

"What is going on?" John said aloud with a note of panic in his voice. "What the hell is going on?"

Looking over to the station John saw that the attendant was on the phone.

'He must be calling the police, or... he's one of them and he's telling them that I'm here.' John thought.

He turned the radio down and shoved the car's gear shift lever into 2nd and jammed on the gas squealing tires as he held the clutch down until the car was to a sufficient speed for him to let out on the clutch.

'They must be here... I need to get away.'

John disappeared into the middle of the night in a cloud of exhaust and brake dust.

"I've got to put a stop to this, I've got to get away from them," John said alone in his car as he continued away from his pursuers.

To be continued...

On the Run...Part 10

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 22:55:13 GMT

By the time they got back to the cabin, everyone was in a much better mood. Everyone that is except for Tammy.

She knew that something was not right with John. She was also fairly certain that he knew what she was thinking.

"Oh man, what a day, what a day," David said plopping down on the sofa in the living room. "I don't know that I'll be able to get up and do it all over again tomorrow. Especially not at the crack of noon."

"I know one thing, I'll be rippin' and roarin' to go," said John.

"For someone who didn't want to even come on this trip you sure have changed your tone," David said.

John simply glanced at each of his friends.

"What's the matter, can't a guy change his mind?"

John was in fact changing his mind. But not in the way he had implied through his words. He wasn't exactly John anymore, but possessed by an unearthly force.

His friends sat remaining in silence, it was such a change from what he had expressed about the trip since it's outset. It was the best mooed he had been in since before the restaurant. Michelle, David and Tammy were completely floored by the sudden change in demeanor.

Tammy however was a little more than floored. She could see right through the front that John was throwing up, desperately trying to hide what he was actually thinking.

"Well, this has been fun, but I'm really beat," Tammy said. "I think I'm going to go to bed."

"Yeah, I think we will too, come on Michelle," David said tugging on Michelle's arm headed to the stairs.

As they proceeded up the stairs John walked towards his own door. As he put his head to the pillow he whispered Tammy's name to himself and closed his eyes drifting off to sleep.

Across the cabin, in the room Tammy was asleep in she was tossing and turning. She was in a deep sleep, dreaming.

John pushed the door to the room open and looked at her body in the bed. It was nice looking, not modelesque, but definitely beautiful.

"TAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY" John said in a voice not his own, but deeper. Something not of this earth. Demonic.

As he looked at her his eyes glowed flame red and his shadow seemed to show what was inside him, what had taken over his body. There seemed to be horns and wings behind him in his shadow on the wall.

He seemed to float towards her. She tried to scream but couldn't.

"TAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY" said again. This time she could feel that her body was freezing up, being frozen by some force beyond her own control.

Despite the freezing up feeling, or the stiffness, she could also feel her body burning up, getting warmer. It felt like she would soon burst into flames.

"NOOOOOOO" Tammmy finally managed to say out loud. She had been thinking it in her head, but hadn't been able to scream it, even as she said it she could swear it wasn't any louder than a whisper, she could barely feel the word pass by her lips and enter her ears, but she knew she had said it.

Tammy woke from her sleep. It had all been a dream, John wasn't at her door. He hadn't said her name. It must have been her screaming the word no that woke her from her slumber.

"I need something to drink," she said to herself. Swinging her feet out of the bed she decided to go to the bathroom first.

Turning on the cold light blinded her as she fumbled for the sink handles to turn on the cold water. Splashing it on her face as she looked up to brush her hair out of her face she could have sworn she caught the glimpse of something in the mirror.

She wasn't sure what it was she thought she saw, but she was certain she had seen something. She had, hadn't she?

Tammy stumbled to the kitchen to look at what was available in the fridge. Beer, beer, wine, and beer.

"I guess I'll have a beer then," Tammy said with a sigh of dissatisfaction.

Closing the refrigerator door, she could have sworn she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.

"I really need to get back to sleep," she said plodding back to her room.

Closing the door behind her she took a swig of the beer and set it on the nightstand.

"NOOO YOUUUU NEEEEEDDDD TOOOO DIIIIIIEEEEEEE," said a demonic voice from above her.

Tammy looked up to see John suspended above her. She wasn't sure how he had done it, she didn't much care, but she was too paralyzed to move let alone scream. His eyes were glowing the color of charcoal embers and seemed to smoke like them too. She opened her mouth to cry out, but couldn't. He had dropped down and pinned her to the bed.

"DO I LOOK POSSESSED TO YOU?" He said in that otherworldly voice.

His breath smelled like death, smoke, and rot.

Before she could say anything he had slit her throat and rolled her over in the bed. As she bled to death he covered the body with the covers and drank the rest of her beer.

He closed the door as he exited the room and returned to normal.

On the Run...Part 9

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:00:51 GMT

John was driving back to the cabin with Tammy beside him in the front seat and David and Michelle in the back. The radio was on, but just set at a low volume, but just loud enough that John wasn't quite able to hear what was going on in the backseat.

"Yeah, I don't know Michelle, the guy in the restaurant was crazy or something," said David. "He said that he poisoned John with rat poison and that he's possessed by some sort of demon and that he's going to kill us all."

"He poisoned John," asked Michelle. "That's crazy. No way he did that. I mean, he's right up there driving."

John was indeed at the wheel of the truck, and was indeed driving. He seemed to be in better spirits than he had been in all day.

"He's not a demon, he's not possessed," said Michelle.

She had said it just loud enough for John at the wheel to be able to hear something from the back seat, but not what was said. Enough for him to turn down the volume on the radio.

"So what's going on back there, what are you two talking about? Hey David, what did that creepy chinese guy want to talk to you about," John said from the front seat.

David immediately became flushed and then pale as he remembered what the Chinese man had said to him while he was still in the restaurant. What the man had said about John being a demon. What he had said about the rat poison.

"Oh, he was crazy," David said, suddenly remebering what the man had said about John, and killing them all.

"What did he say?"

David was petrified at the thought of revealing what the man had revealed. But why?

His friend really wasn 't a deamon. Why be afraid if his friend wasn't a demon?

"Well actually, he said that you were a demon, that you were possessed, and that he had put rat poison in your food and that you were still going to kill us all," David said.

He suddenly felt better. Now that he had Said it, he realized what a ridiculous thought it was that John was a demon.

"Oh really? He thought I was a demon and put rat poison in my food," John said. "What a card. I mean, if he had put poison in my food, I'd be dead by now."

"Well that's what I was just thinking," said Michelle.

Tammy however had remained quiet throughout the whole thing. She had been thinking back to all the experiences so far that weekend. The strange smell earlier that day, not once but three times at least in her memory.

She remembered how the smell had increased when John was angry, when he was frustrated with the others. She remembered how he had seemed shaken, pale, and different after he had come down the mountain, several minutes after they had arrived at the bottom.

He had been sweating then hadn't he?

She couldn't remember, it seemed that way.

Sitting beside her, John was able to hear her very thoughts.

"Well Tammy, what do you think? You don't think I'm a demon right?"

She jerked her head to look at John so fast it caused a spasming pain in her muscles.

"No, no, of course not."

"So it's settled then, I'm not a demon."

As John's eyes met Tammy's she could feel a chill running up and down her spine. She knew something was up, she could tell that he was in fact a demon. He had been possessed. What was worse, she could tell by the way that he was looking at her, that he knew she doubted him.

On the Run...Part 8

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 15:47:54 GMT

It wasn't long before David had pulled the truck into the parking lot of the Chinese restaurant. Their vehicle was the only one in the parking lot. It wasn't too surprising though, it was rather late and most people had probably already had dinner.

The inside was typical of oh so many Chinese restaurants, the tall back chairs with the black metal frames and the standard laminate tables. Nothing fancy.

"Hello, welcome to Canton, will this be for here or to go," said the man who greeted them as they walked in. Like some sort of stereotypical cartoon, the man pronounced his 'L's' as 'R's.'

"Well gang, do we wanna eat here or still wanna take it back to the cabin," David said.

"Oh hell, we're all here, let's just eat it here," Michelle said grabbing a chair at the nearest table.

John couldn't believe what was happening. Suddenly his day out with these three had just gotten longer. He just wanted to go back to the cabin and read, or sleep, or anything. He was still puzzled at why he had even agreed to go along on the stupid trip.

"But guys, I thought we were going to take it back to the cabin, eat it while we watch a movie or something," John said.

It was already too late though, his three companions were already seated at the table.

"Come on John, stop being a baby and sit down with us," David said.

The comment insensed John. He was already upset, but his best friend had just called him a baby.

"I will in just a second, I think I need to go use the restroom first," John said politely, restraining his anger. He unzipped his jacket and placed it on the back of the empty chair at the table.

John walked towards the hanging sign for the restroom and entered the men's room.

He walked over to the sink and splashed two handfulls of water on his face.

"They're just trying to have a good time, you should try to too. You're always feeling left out of things like this, just relax and enjoy it," John said to his reflection in the mirror over the sink. "This is what friends do, they hang out, and they laugh and joke with each other."

John closed his eyes and threw another hefty couple of handfull of water on his face. That's when he noticed the burning smell.

It was back, that smell. That horrid, putrid odor.

"JJJJJOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN" the voice echoed throughout John's entire body.

He opened his eyes.

The restaurant was gone.

It had been replaced by something which John could only think to describe as Hell.

The smell was overwhelming now. John looked around him and gone were the white tiles of the restroom, gone was the toilet stall, gone was the door. It had all been replaced by hell. The only remnants of the restroom were the sink and the mirror.

Oddly enough though, the reflection in the chrome of the sink hardware and the reflection in the mirror showed the restaurant bathroom. They also showed John himself, with a kind of glazed over look in his eyes.

"JJJJJOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN" the voice once again erupted through every fiber of John's being, shaking him literally.

When he looked around, Hell had been replaced by the restaurant again.

John wasn't sure if he had hallucinated or if he had actually been transported to hell and back.

'What the fuck is going on,' he thought to himself. 'Why is this happening to me?'

Behind him the door squeaked open.

"John, damn man, thought you fell in man," David said. "Were you jackin off, or giving birth?"

John politely laughed at his friend's joke.

"Giving birth, it was a monster," said John.

"Alright, well let's get back to the table, Mr. Miagi in there is ready to take our orders."

The two walked back to the table.

"I'll take a beef and broccoli, Michelle here will have the shrimp fried rice," David said.

"I think I'll have the Kung Pao chicken," said Tammy.

John was staring off blankly into space.

"Sir, for you," the Chinese man said.

John turned his head up to look at the Chinese man. When he did the Chinese man took a step back uttering something in Chinese under his breath.

"What... what can I get for you sir," said the Chinese man.

"I think I'll have the General Tso's Chicken," said John.

The Chinese man quickly scribbled something and then dashed away.

"What's his problem," David asked. "All our man John here did was look at the guy."

"Yeah, that was really strange," Tammy said.

As they waited for their food, the four friends stayed in a jovial mood, laughing and joking. John had relaxed some, but he still couldn't get what happened in the restroom out of his mind.

Had it been some sort of hallucination. It probably wasn't good to dwell on such things, lest they happen again.

It wasn't too much longer before four heaping plates of food were brought out to the table.

"Eat and enjoy," said the Chinese man as he put the plates of food in front of each of the four friends at the table.

As they ate he kept an eye on John the entire time, watching him.

About a half an hour after their food had been brought out, all four friends had pushed their chairs slightly away from the table and were leaning back away from their food.

"I am full," said David.

"Me too," Tammy said.

"I am so ready to go to bed," Michelle said putting her napkin on the table beside her plate.

"Check please," David said. "Now none of you worry about chipping in, I've got this."

The Chinese man brought the leather check holder over to the table, and David slipped some money into it without even looking at what the total was. The entire time the Chinese man with a sour look on his face watched John.

A short time later he returned with David's change.

"Have a good night," he said as they stood to leave.

John, Michelle and Tammy headed for the door, while David headed for the restroom.

"John, here, start the truck so ya'll can stay warm," David said tossing John the keys.

The three friends headed to the truck, while David decided to take care of business.

Zipping up his jacket as he walked towards the door, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You forgot your fortune cookies," the Chinese man said.

David turned around to face the man, who had a worried expression on his face.

"Your friend is not ok," the Chinese man uttered.

"What?"

"The other male, he is not... he is possessed."

"What are you talking about?"

"I could see it in his eyes, you could smell it on him too. That smell of death, brimstone. Hell."

"Look man..."

"No you look! Look into his eyes and you will see what I am talking about! He is not well! We tried to kill the demon inside of him, we put rat poison in his food. He should be dead, but yet he walked out the door with a smile on his face! Your friend will kill you all! I suggest you kill him before he does!"

David was now at a loss for words.

"Now go, before he becomes suspicious."

David turned and began to walk out the door. Fortune cookies in his hand.

Outside in the truck John, sitting in the driver's seat was watching the entire exchange between David and the Chinese man.

On the Run...Part 7

Sun, 16 Oct 2005 20:42:16 GMT

The rest of the ride to the top of the mountain no one said anything about John, or the smell which could be smelled coming from his clothes. Though it wasn't particularly strong, if the wind was blowing just right, the others could notice it.

For the most part, the rest of the time the four friends were out at the resort and on the trails they remained silent. It was an odd sort of silence too, like a first date awkward silence.

No one could really tell why it had happened, but it had indeed happened.

After about 3 hours of riding through trees and down the snow covered mountain the four friends took off their skis and hopped back into the truck for the short by distance ride back to the cabin. Though it may have been less than ten miles from the parking lot, the ride seemed excruciatingly long.

"So should we order out or cook something for dinner," David asked. His tone had about as much vibrance and color as gray.

It was the first anyone had said on the way back to the cabin.

"I guess we should stop and get something," Tammy said. Her nostrils were still stinging from the emanation coming off of John's clothing. She didn't want to say anymore about it though, she thought maybe he had gotten some puke on his clothes and maybe that was causing it and didn't want to hurt his feelings. "How does everyone feel about Chinese?"

There was another one of those long awkward pauses before anyone said anything. The air hung still in the truck, not disturbed by anything, sound or movement. It was like living in a photograph, the world had suddenly been paused.

"Yeah, sounds good. I could really go for an eggroll about now," said Michelle.

Perhaps it was just her natural exhuberance and joy that changed the air in the car, perhaps it was the mention of an eggroll, but Michelle hit the proverbial play button on life. Things were once again returning to normal in the car.

"Yummm, or some dumplings," Tammy returned, her nostrils were still stinging from the stench, but the thought of the dumplings cheered her up.

"Yummmm," Michelle repated, though the way she said it was almost the way only a small child can say the word. With pure uninhibited love and emotion for the food.

"Sounds good to me," said David. "Do you want me to just drop you two or three off at the cabin and go get it, or should we eat at the restaurant?"

"Let's get it and take it back, but since we're already all in the car, let's just do it all together," Michelle suggested.

John was sitting still in the back of the truck. He had not said a word since leaving the resort. His eyes were still. With the heavy coat on it appeared as though his chest were still, he was almost like a dead person.

"John, is Chinese ok with you?" Michelle asked quietly.

Suddenly his eyes sprang to life, darting to meet Michelle's. The quick movement and dead stare caused Michelle to jump a little.

"Yeah, that would be good," John said. "I haven't had Chinese in a long time."

'Why can't they just drop me off at the cabin? Why do we have to do everything together? Why are my friends being such pricks?' John thought. Then his internal monologue began to mimic Michelle's voice 'is Chinese ok with you? No! I want to be left alone. I didn't want to come here but you all dragged me with you, wasn't really given much of a choice now was I!'

Suddenly Tammy's eyes began to water. The stink from John's clothes was becoming too much to bear for her. She wasn't the only one to notice either, Michelle's eyes also began to tear up.

"David did you let one," Michelle asked with a bit of a laugh.

"No ma'am, not one that smells like that," David said, choking on the smell. "John, was that you?"

John was sitting in his seat, still looking like a corpse, lost in his own thoughts he was oblivious to what was taking place around him.

"John, did you cut the cheese man," said David a little louder.

"No, no, I didn't man," John said, as he realized the others were choking on some smell he feigned as though he too were choking. "What is it though, did you hit a skunk?"

"I don't think I did," said David from behind the wheel. "Whew that is some powerful stuff."

"David, don't lie, I think you farted," John said, starting to laugh. He couldn't help it. It was almost like little kids on the bus in elementary school. John could have sworn this happened once on a field trip. "David cut the cheese!"

Thinking back on those elementary school days, John added for a bit of humor, "DOORKNOB!"

The threat of a punch sent David into action touching every door handle he could in the truck.

The smell meanwhile had retreated.

"I think it was just some roadkill or something," said Michelle. "I don't smell it anymore."

"You know that doesn't count, that's a doorhandle, not a knob," said John from the back seat. "I'm so going to wail on you."

"Yeah Michelle, I think you're right, must have just been a dead animal on the side of the road," said Tammy. But it was the winter time, the smell shouldn't have been able to carry like that and she had never in her life heard of a dead animal that smelled quite like that.

To be continued...

On the Run... Part 6

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 22:16:42 GMT

"Hey man, where have you been, we've been waiting for you," David said as John came to a stop near his three friends.

John's face was nearly as white as the snow, he was still shaken from the events at the top of the slope. He was glad it was cold out and if his friends asked he could use that as an excuse for why his hands were shaking.

"You've missed all the fun," Michelle said. "We've had a snowball fight and everything."

John began to wonder how long he had been at the top of the slope. It couldn't have been that long could it have? He looked down at his watch, it had been fully 30 minutes since they arrived and almost 20 since Tammy, David and Michelle had taken off down the slope.

"John, you look like you've seen a ghost are you ok?" asked Tammy.

John wasn't afraid to hide it anymore now that he wasn't feeling well. He still didn't want to tell his friends about what had happened at the top of the slope, he was afraid they would think he was crazy if he told them about hearing his name being growled at him, and the odor which he could still smell on his clohtes. He wasn't sure if the others could smell it or not, he certainly didn't want to ask them.

He also wasn't going to ask them if the lights had gone out. None of them had said anything about that yet, he supposed he was going crazy, perhaps it had all been an illusion. A dream. Everything was probably just caused by something he had to eat. Maybe it was like Scrooge said in "A Christmas Carol," just a bit of undigested beef or a bit of mustard.

He couldn't remember having any mustard on his sandwhich at breakfast. But it could have been something else on the sandwhich.

"Yeah, I just don't feel so well. Can we go back to the cabin?"

"Oh you fucker," David said. "You never wanted to come on this trip in the first place, and now you've gone and just... you know you really can be a wet blanket sometimes. A loser, pure and simple."

Michelle and Tammy just looked at David and John.

The mood had in a matter of seconds changed from playful and fun to concern, and now to contempt and was filled with tension and hatred.

David looked as though if John even blinked within the next few seconds he would slug his friend and knock him into the next week.

John's face had gone from pale to the deeper flesh tones of anger. His muscles had become rigid and ready for an attack, the attack he could sense could come any second from his friend.

"Enough you two," Michelle said. "This is ridiculous, you two are best friends. John, if you don't feel well why don't you go to the lodge and get a drink or something, sit down and rest, just chill. And David if you so much as lay a finger on your best friend I don't know what I will do but I gurantee you will have a very miserable weekend."

John's muscles relaxed and David also relaxed.

"Come on man, I'm sorry I yelled at you," David said opening his arms to give his friend a hug. "Do you want to go back to the lodge or could you stand to play around out here with us a little longer?"

John embraced his friend.

"Yeah man, I'm sorry, I must have just been nervous or something," John said. "I don't know, I like hurled at the top of the hill and... yeah, let's do some skiing."

"That's just gross," Tammy said. "I did not need to know that."

"Come on, lets just go to the top of the mountain and go down the slopes a few times," John said.

"That's my man," David said. "Let's do this!"

With that everyone headed to the lift that would take them back to the top of the mountain.

John was still thinking of his experience at the top of the hill, this time he would go down at the same time as his friends.

"What is that smell?" Tammy asked as the four friends boarded the lift. "It smells like... something rotten and cigars."

To be continued...

On the run... Part 5

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 05:12:34 GMT

David, John, Michelle and Tammy were done breakfast and were dressed and ready to go hit the slopes by 5 p.m. just as the sun was setting and the lights were illuminating the trails.

"Wow, would you just look at that, look at the slopes man, it's just so," John said admiring the natural beauty of the snow covered mountain. They were nearly alone on the slopes with most everyone else eating dinner at the lodge.

"Yeah, it's great... so ummm... let's cut some powder," David said before jumping down the trail on his skis and letting loose a crow of excitement. He was the epitome of Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up.

"We should probably follow him," Michelle said, hints of concern in her voice and a doubt as to what else could be done.

"Yeah, just to make sure he doesn't get hurt," said Tammy with a laugh.

Witht hat, Tammy and Michelle turned their skis down the slope and began to follow after David.

'Why couldn't I have had my moment to just enjoy the scenery? Why did he have to ruin it with that stupid crow he does? They just don't understand the natural beauty of a place like this and just the sereneness of it all, the tranquility, the... the... WHY?!?!?!' John thought to himself still standing at the top of the mountain. He could feel nerves in his face and neck spasming, pulsating with every intense thought.

As he stood at the top of the slope, the lights began to flicker around him, eventually cutting out altogether plunging the slopes which had been bright as day into the pitchest of black. He could no longer hear the shouts of his friends from the slope. Shouts of fun, exhuberence, excitement.

What he did hear was not reassuring, it was simply a low, throaty, inhuman growl.

It was not of this Earth, and sounded almost like it was not of this dimension. It sounded more like a growl from beyond. If John had ever met the Devil he imagined that's what the Devil would sound like.

Then there was the smell.

A putrid combination of the smell of rot, decay, death, sulfur, fire and tar. The smell overwhelmed him and he wasn't able to contain himself anymore; though essentially paralyzed and petrified by the sudden change from tranquil and serene almost heavenly to hell like, he vomitted all over the snow in front of him.

Then that growl continued deep in his ears, shaking everything within him. It made his organs vibrate. Never in his life was he ever able to feel anything like it. The closest he could compare it to was being in a car with a really loud bass and with that bass turned to maximum.

"Who's there? What's going on?" he said aloud.

His voice fell flat, like a rock. The growl was so overpowering that he doubted if he tried to raise the volume of his voice above the timid almost mouselike volume he had just managed that anyone would have heard him.

Then out of the corner of his eye he saw the same two red hot, glowing ember like eyes in the woods.

"JJJJJOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN" the voice seemed to be saying from all around him.

Surely someone must have heard it, someone must be coming to check on him to see why he wasn't at the bottom of the hill yet, surely.

"Who are you?" John managed to say, barely above a whisper.

"JJJJJOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN" the voice repeated, again seeming to come from all around him, shaking his very core.

To John it felt like the voice was grabbing him, squeezing him, that he was literally in the palm of someone or something's hand, to be crushed if they wished it.

All John could think about suddenly was the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence in Fantasia. He imagined the mountain was coming alive around him and that it was going to eat him.

"JJJJJOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN" the voice once again repeated.

John hunched down and closed his eyes, hoping that whatever was going to happen was going to be over with quickly that he wouldn't have to suffer, that it would be quick and painless.

It seemed as though the air around him suddenly was becoming superheated. But then just as suddenly the air returned to the icy nature it should be for on top of a snow covered mountain.

John opened his eyes, the lights were back on, it was dark blue in the sky above him and everything was back to normal.

'It was just a dream,' John said to himself.

But as he looked down he saw that his vomit was still on the snow, well in it. It had melted the snow and sunk down into it some.

'It wasn't a dream,' John said. As he wiped his nose which was sudeenly running because of the cold, he could smell that stench, that combination of rot, death, sulfur, brimstone and fire that had surrounded him only a moment before.

"It wasn't a dream," John said aloud.

To be continued...

On the run... Part 4

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 05:11:56 GMT

That first night David and Michelle had slept in the same bed upstairs while Tammy and John had opted for seperate beds.

John knew that esentially his friend David had been planning this weekend as an excuse to just have sex with his girlfriend and for himself to get laid by Tammy, but he really wasn't in the mood for any of that.

Still he found it difficult getting to sleep, everytime that he closed his eyes, he could only think of the two red orbs in the woods. It was disconcerting to say the least.

He awoke the next morning to the sounds of giggling and the smell of food cooking all coming from the kitchen.

"Hey!!! He did make it through the night! What's up man?"

David was entirely too wide awake for John's taste, especially this early in the morning.

"You do realize that you're entirely too perky for whatever time this is in the morning," John said. His eyes were drawn into slits and yet he was still being stung by the bright qualities of the light inside the cabin.

"Dude, you do realize it's like 3 in the afternoon right?"

John looked down at his wrist, the numbers were still fuzzy from not being able to force his eyes to focus. But he could indeed see that the little hand was pointing at the three and not any sort of morning like hour, at least not that would correspond with the birght light inside the cabin from the sun.

"Why'd you guys let me sleep in all this time."

"We figured you'd need it, besides we only got up around, what 11 babe?"

Michelle contemplated the time for a moment before nodding her head.

"Chill dude, it's a vacation, it's supposed to be lazy. So get some grub and we can still hit the slopes before they close for the day."

John was still upset. He suspected that his friends had in fact been up and had already hit the slopes, only when they returned to find that their friend was still asleep they decided to deceive him.

'No, no, no,' John thought to himself. 'They wouldn't do that, I'm just being paranoid or something.'

"Ok, guys, what's for breakfast or whatever?"

"Well we have, a wide assortment of stuff that probably isn't good for you, but damned if it doesn't taste good," said David.

With that John simply laughed and proceeded to grab a plate and fill it.

As he ate the sandwhich he made with the various assortment of food items before him including bacon, cheese, and lunch meat David discussed the plans for the day.

To be continued...

On the run... Part 3

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 05:11:04 GMT

About 5 hours after the dinner in the restaurant the four tired friends had arrived at the top of the mountain in the skiing community and resort area of Cross Haven.

The streets had an eerie yellow-green glow from the combination of the lamps which lined them and the moon high above. They were all but deserted at 1 a.m. which is when John, David, Michelle and Tammy had arrived there.

The hotels, and ski lodge were already closed, not that they had room anyway. It was the time of year when reservations were usually required at least a week in advance for the most basic and least luxorious of accomodations.

"Well guys, it looks like the town's shut down," David said. "We could either pitch a tent, head back home, or..."

"Home please david, we can always go another time," said Michelle.

John wasn't exactly disappointed that it looked as though they would be going home, though he figured he would probably end up with at least some of the driving duties on the way back home. But that didn't bother him much.

"No, no, nope, I've got another idea," David said with a glint in his eyes.

"No? David what are you thinking, what's this idea of yours," Michelle asked.

Tammy's head was on her shoulder in the back seat, completely oblivious to what was going on around her.

"You'll see."

Despite the snow on the streets he sped up to a nearly dangerous speed along the narrow main road, snow covered rocks to one side and a steep drop off to the other. Michelle was now sitting firmly against the back of the seat, she had decided to stay quiet lest she distract David and his already dangerous driving.

John too was confused by his friends actions.

"Here we go," David said, slamming on the brakes and turning the wheel sharply. It caused the vehcile to nearly spin out of control, fishtailing as he brought the vehicle onto the even more narrow gravel road.

The sudden and erratic movement of the vehicle jarred Tammy awake with a shout.

"What the hell is going on here," she said in a shrill voice.

"Ummm, it appears that David has lost his mind," John said rather shakily.

"Nonsense, nonsense," David said. "I'm perfectly in control of the situation. Here we are."

John looked around as David brought the car to a much more reasonable speed, cutting his lights and pulling slowly up to the cabin in the woods.

"Ummm, David, do you know who lives here," John said. "Because I don't, and I don't think that you do, and I think that they might be a bit curious as to why we're coming here."

David brought the car to a stop and looked at each of his friends.

"Ok, everyone stay calm and stay right here. I'll be right back."

Before anyone could say another word, he jumped out of the truck and ran up to the door of the cabin stealthily.

"Oh my God, he's going to kill whoever lives here and we're all going to be arrested for being accessories," Michelle cried.

"I'm not sure what the hell has gotten into him, but this is just crazy," John said. "When he comes back we'll take the keys from him, tie him up with something and throw him in the back and drive back to town. We'll turn him into the police or something."

Tammy was speechless except for the near constant muttering of 'Oh my God,' under her breath.

"What has gotten into him, have you ever known him to do anything like this" Michelle asked John.

Before John could respond there was a knock on his window and an ear piercing shout from Tammy. David had knocked on the window of the truck to let the others know that he was back.

"Jesus are you crazy," said John jumping out of the truck. "What the hell do you think you're doing coming to a--"

"Cabin owned by my Uncle Harry, in the middle of the woods near a ski resort that's completely booked up," said David.

"What," John said completely flabbergasted. "What?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to give you guys a good scare," David said. "My uncle actually owns this cabin and he's out of town and everyone in the family has a key. I just wanted to see if anyone else from the family was here using the cabin or if it was just going to be us. Gave you guys a pretty good scare didn't I?"

"Jesus John, you should know better than to scare the crap out of us like that," said Michelle. "You had Tammy here in fits."

"Sorry guys, I guess I should have let you all know, but anyway, let's get inside and I can get a fire going in the cabin," said David.

John grabbed his bag and Tammy's as well heading for the door. As he closed the back of the truck, he would have sworn on a stack of Bibles that he had seen two red eyes, as red and glowing hot as coals peering at him from the woods.

"Man I need to get some sleep," said John heading towards the front door of the cabin. Inside David had already started a fire which was heating the whole cabin and had already given sleeping assignments.

By the time John walked in, nearly everyone was in pajamas of some sort.

"Hey John, check it out, my Uncle left some beer in the fridge, want one?"

John set the bags on the floor.

"No, that's ok," John said.

"You look like you saw a ghost or something man, I think you could do with a cold one," said David.

"No, well... to be honest, I did think I saw some red eyes in the woods when I was getting the bags," said John.

"Man, I think you already had a couple of cold ones... no actually that could have been a deer or something and the light from the cabin reflected in it's eyes, happens all the time," David said dismissing his friends memory from outside as merely a trick of light and the eyes of some innocent creature.

"Yeah, I guess that's it."

He still couldn't put it past him even as he went to lay down in the bedroom he had been assigned. It wasn't long before he was nearly asleep.

To be continued...

On the run... Part 2

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 05:10:22 GMT

When last we were with our traveller John he had stopped at a gas station along the highway and was inside the station while the attendant filled his gas tank.

We now continue our tale...

He still couldn't let himself forget what happened, he doubted that he ever would, just like he doubted that he would ever sleep again.

Anyone that had seen what he saw probably wouldn't ever sleep again if they lived to tell about it, and if they did live to tell about it... they'd probably run their car off the nearest cliff to end the nightmare of their life.

It had all started three months earlier when John's friend David, and his girlfriend Michelle along with Tammy, a friend of Michelle's had been sitting down at dinner and talking.

"Why don't we all go camping," David said.

"Yeah right," Tammy said. "Hasn't anyone at this table ever seen a scary movie, that's how they all begin, someone comes up with the good idea of going camping and then next thing you know it's all blood and guts across the screen."

Everyone at the table laughed at the comment. It hadn't been meant as a joke, but Tammy even found herself laughing at the ridiculousness of the comment.

"Ok, so camping is out," David said still laughing a little. "What else could we do?"

"Well, have you guys ever been skiing?" Michelle asked. "I know you have Tammy, you came with me last year."

"Oh yeah, you mean the entire vacation where I was on my ass!"

Once again the table was sent into laughter. Nearby tables were now starting to glare in their direction.

"Shhhh," John said. It was almost literally the only thing he had said all evening. He was the quiet type and he didn't like the attention his companions laughs were drawing in their general direction.

If he were to be at a party, chances are you'd find him by pure chance by the punchbowl or probably sitting somewhere alone. He wasn't anti-social, and he wasn't really shy, but he wasn't one for crowds.

"Wait wait, what about your ass?" David asked, drawing a stare from Michelle.

"Ok, well basically, Michelle here drags me up to the mountains to stay at a lodge and go skiing, and whenever we go out on the slopes I slip and fall on my ass."

Michelle had to interject at this point.

"Wait wait wait, you're leaving out your favorite part," Michelle said causing Tammy to hide her face in her sweatshirt. "You left out the part about the ski instructor, that you described as what was it again... hunk like?"

"Yeah yeah yeah, what of it," Tammy said her face still hidden by her sweatshirt.

"Only the fact that you were swooning over him."

"So he helped me up and put his goregous hands all over my body, can a girl help it if she likes a guy in a ski patrol uniform."

Once again the table was in laughs, even John this time. He hadn't wanted to come to a dinner with just David and Michelle, 'I'll feel like a third wheel,' he said to David only hours earlier that evening.

That's when Michelle invited Tammy, 'Oh, I can pick up Tammy, she's single John, you'll like her, she's super cute.'

She was indeed super cute, beautiful even, but John wasn't ever one for social situations, especially with unfamiliar people.

Yet, here he was sitting with his friend, Michelle and Tammy.

"So let's do it right folks? Let's go skiing," said David with such force and enthusiasim it nearly literally shoved the others at the table back from where they were sitting.

"When? Do you really mean right now," John asked.

"Sure, why not."

"For starters, I don't have any clothes with me," Tammy said. "I mean besides the ones I'm wearing."

"Look, we all live about 10 minutes from here, everyone can meet at my house in like 20 minutes and we can go from there," David said. "So let's do it."

David threw a $50 bill on the table and stood up.

"My house, 20 minutes, let's go skiing," David said as he grabbed Michelle who giggled and they headed out the door.

"Come on Tammy," Michelle said grabbing Tammy by the hand.

John was left standing near the table. 'Why not? It's just a little ski trip,' he thought to himself, and picked up his jacket and headed out the door.

To be continued...

On the run... Part 1

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 05:09:40 GMT

It was getting late and John was already tired of driving. He had been driving for 14 hours straight. He didn't mind driving, but not when it was for 14 hours. He wasn't exactly sure how many miles he had covered, but it seemed like it hadn't been enough.

Every time he came upon a place he thought might be a good place to stop for the night, he became haunted by the visions and were they ever so haunting.

Visions of his family, visions of his friends, visions of the others as well... those were the worst.

He knew he couldn't keep driving though, he would eventually have to stop. He would eventually have to rest. He didn't want to, but he had to, there was no way he could keep driving. Coffee could only keep him up for so long. He had already been up for, how long had he been up?

"I've been up since Sunday I think," John said aloud answering his own questioning thoughts. But when was Sunday. He quickly glanced down at his watch, it said that it was 10 past 2, but he knew that couldn't be right, the dashboard told him it was nearly 5:30, one of them was wrong, but he wasn't sure which. It was dark out, it could honestly have been either. Neither clock told him what he so desperately wanted to know, what day it was.

The lights of the city suddenly became streaked, not from his speed, but from the rain which was splattering on his windsheild in giant globs of cold mid-March wetness. They made a loud smack as he drove through them.

Suddenly there was a pinging sound coming from his dashboard, his car was low on push-juice, gas, fuel, petrol, there were oh so many names for it. It couldn't have happened at a better time, he was right near a gas station.

"No, no, I can't stop," John said aloud. "It's just another one of their tricks, they're trying to get me."

When he looked at the gas gauge again it was still resting firmly and heavily on the E.

"I guess I'll just have to get it," John said reluctantly. He was now waging a heated battle with his eyelids, they wanted to close, and he didn't want them to.

As he pulled into the service station a bell rang alerting whatever attendant might have been on duty that there was a customer outside. Whether or not there was an attendant inside was a different matter.

The rain on his windows and the glare from the overhead mercury vapor lighting wouldn't allow John to see if anyone was in the little building that was obviously from the 1960s.

John looked down and opened the glovebox. The bottle of aspirin he kept in there was nearly empty. There were maybe six pills left, he kept them for his sudden onset migraines. Aspirin was the only thing that could do the trick, he also took it when he was really nervous.

Most people use some sort of drink, be it water, or rotgut to get down pills. John was used to dry swallowing his aspirin by now and wasn't bothered at all by the acrid smell of the bottle or the acidic burning on his lips or tongue from the tiny white pills.

"God I hope they have some aspirin, I have a feeling I'm going to need before this day is over," John said aloud. "What day is it anyway?"

He reached into the backseat of his car and grabbed the zip up jacket from the rear bench seat, the mid-March evening temperatures were motivation enough to grab it, let alone the rain which he was sure would make him shiver if he were out in it too long. Despite the covering over the pump area, the wind was still blowing the rain in nearly every direction.

As he ran into the station he saw that it was everything he had hoped for and less.

It was dusty, reeked of age, had no snacks, no cold box full of drinks, no self serve medicine rack. There were no magazines and it looked as though if he asked to use the restroom he might be handed a hubcap with the key attached and told that the can was around back.

Service station, not convenience store.

Behind the desk, not counter, there was a man whose name John could only guess was Buddy, Bubba or Bob, it seemed all mechanics had the same name. Plumbers also seemed to all have the same name, perhaps it was something associated with those particular trades.

"Well, well, well, we haven't seen a customer since about 10 o'clock, of course most travellers look for one of them fancy gas stations instead of the comforts we offer here, what can I do ya for," the aged man in the greyish green coveralls said behind the desk slowly standing up.

"Look man, all I want is a fillup, and a bottle of aspirin if you've got one."

The man, whose name tag did indeed read Bubba in blue script inside a white oval, gave John a good look over.

"A fill up and aspirin 'eh Johnny boy."

John cut his eyes at the aged man now, his tired body tensed every muscle ready to pounce, to flee, to do whatever was necessary. John wasn't sure if this was one of the demons who had been chasing him after all or not. If it was he was going to be ready.. ready for what, he still wasn't completely sure. But something.

"I'm sorry, did you call me John?"

"Sorry, just an old habit of mine," Bubba said, with what John could have sworn was a red twinkle in his eye. "My mistake. In any case, there's aspirin in the top drawer on the right hand side, and I'll fill your car up. You can sit in my chair if you like, I've got the sports section right there on the desk if you're interested and I'll be back in a bit."

John watched as the man walked past him and out into the cold night air and the freezing cold rain. It wasn't very long after that before he had pounced on the bottle of, generic, aspirin.

"Figures," John said aloud. But he thought to himself, aspirin is aspirin.

His next stop was the pinup calendar on the wall. It showed a redhead in a position only a male could think up, especially when it came to tires. Below he looked to see what day it was, or at least what day it might be, he still wasn't certain how many days he had been up. How many days it had been since what happened.

He still couldn't let himself forget what happened, he doubted that he ever would, just like he doubted that he would ever sleep again.

Anyone that had seen what he saw probably wouldn't ever sleep again if they lived to tell about it, and if they did live to tell about it... they'd probably run their car off the nearest cliff to end the nightmare of their life.

John still couldn't believe what had happened. It all seemed like a dream.

To be continued...