Read Experiment in Terror 05 On Demon Wings Online
Authors: Karina Halle
Tags: #Fantasy, #Horror, #Romance, #Adult, #Mystery, #Suspense, #Goodreads 2012 Horror
algebra.”
As she talked excitedly about what she’d be missing on
her Monday, my thoughts automatical y went back to
Creepy Clown Lady. Where was I now? Back in the
hospital or somewhere else? And where was somewhere
else? Where she came from? Where was
that
?
“Come on weirdo, let’s get you back to bed before the
doctor catches us,” she said, placing her hand on my arm,
turning me back to my room. “I think anyone with the name
Dr. Cain is just waiting to inflict some serious punishment
on people. Thank God he’s not a dentist, right?”
I sucked on my lip, debating whether to tel her about
where I saw the doctor earlier. Ada had always believed
me when I talked about the ghosts I saw – she was one of
the few people who did.
I settled back into the uncomfortable hospital bed and
watched as Ada got out one of her magazines and began
flipping idly through it.
“I had something just happen to me,” I said quietly.
Ada paused and lowered the magazine to her lap and
brought her eyes to mine. I had her ful attention.
I quickly explained seeing Creepy Clown Lady in the
hal way, then what happened before I woke up in the
hospital, the demon baby, Dex and Dr. Cain.
“What do you think?” I asked her when I was done.
She shivered and brought her wide cardigan closer
around her skinny frame. “I think there’s no way I’m sleeping
tonight.”
“But what do you think it means?”
She pondered that for a moment, her blue eyes
swimming from the faint glow of the closest light. “I don’t
know. I think what you saw earlier, with Doctor Cain, was a
dream brought on by the drugs, or the shock of what
happened.”
“And Creepy Clown Lady?”
“I guess it could be too. Do you feel any different now
with me then you did five minutes ago?”
I thought it over. “A bit. I feel more awake now. I couldn’t
real y think straight before, everything felt so…muddled. But
I stil think I saw her.”
“Mayhaps. It might have just been in your dreams
though. Maybe you were sleepwalking. It doesn’t mean she
wasn’t
trying to reach you. But I doubt you just strol ed onto,
like, another dimension or something.”
We both laughed at the last part but it sounded forced. I
think we both knew, as farfetched as the other dimension
situation was, anything was possible.
The next three days off of work were like a mini-vacation,
only I was unable enjoy it like a normal person would. My
body was sore and fragile most of the time, which resulted
in a lot of bed rest, which eventual y turned into couch rest.
When I wasn’t sleeping or reading, I was occupying the
couch in the living room like a permanent fixture, present for
whatever my sister, mom or dad wanted to watch. I wasn’t
even that big of a TV person; I just wanted to be around
people, even those who annoyed me, even when my mom
forced me to watch
The Bachelor
.
I started to hate being in my bedroom. I felt strangely
alone and afraid. Each night I could have sworn I heard
someone whispering my name from my closet and when I
wasn’t freaking out over that, I was torn up inside by the
reality of what had happened to me. Though I never wanted
a baby, and having a child would have probably ruined my
life in some way or another, I was fighting a battle between
despair and relief. One minute I was relieved that I lost the
baby, the next I was wrecked to the point of tears for feeling
that way. It was almost as if I was upset over what could
have been. A
what if
that preceded the
what if
. And that first
what if
was something I didn’t let myself think about.
By Thursday night, Maximus got in touch with me. He
apologized for not getting back to me earlier (something
about doing a reading for a local couple) and I apologized
for not having an answer for him about the show. With al
that had happened, returning to Experiment in Terror was
the last thing on my mind and I couldn’t bother devoting an
ounce of thought to it.
He didn’t sound too bothered by my reluctance, though.
“You take your time darlin’,” he said through the phone.
“The only thing I’d like an answer on is when can I take you
out on the town?”
I was sitting on the couch and my mother was at the end
of it, pretending to pay attention to the commercials in
between
America’s Next Top Model
, though I knew she
was listening to my conversation like a hawk.
It was a good question. I hadn’t felt like going to work
and dealing with day-to-day people, let alone go out on a
date. It was far too soon for me to handle.
“I know this sounds like an excuse,” I began, turning
away from my mother for the slightest bit of privacy, “but I’m
real y sick. I haven’t been going to work, even.”
“Sick?” he drawled. “You want me to come by and bring
you soup? My mama taught me a mean recipe, extra spicy,
shoots that cold right out of ya.”
“No, that’s OK,” I told him. “I’m doing better. I just need to
take it easy for a while.”
“Al righty,” he said. “I know when I’m being brushed off.
But I don’t give up that easily.”
“I swear I’m not brushing you off,” I told him. “Though I
admire your persistence.”
“Darlin’, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
I couldn’t help but grin at that and flushed red once I
realized my mother was now blatantly staring at me.
“How about,” he continued, “I cal you next week. Give
you time to pep up.”
I sighed internal y. He real y was persistent. I
remembered the way he hounded me in Red Fox, trying to
convince me to leave with him and leave Dex behind with
the skinwalkers. I didn’t bend then and I tried hard not to
now.
“You can try,” I said, making sure to add a teasing tone
to my voice so he wasn’t
too
discouraged.
“Then I shal . Have a good night, my lady.”
There was a click of silence and I slowly pressed the
end-cal button.
“Who was that?” my mother asked careful y. There was
an edge to her voice.
“Oh,” I said with a shrug. “Just some guy.”
“Dex?” she asked venomously. Her tone jolted me.
“No!” I exclaimed. “Not Dex. Do you think I’m stupid?”
She didn’t say anything. Of course she thought I was
stupid. Look what had just happened to me.
“It was this guy Maximus,” I explained with a sigh, tucking
my feet underneath the quilted blanket. “I met him while we
were in Red Fox. He lives in Portland now.”
“Oh,” she said. She stil looked suspicious but a wave of
relief washed across her brow. It was official; my parents
hated Dex with a passion. And I couldn’t blame them at al .
Not that I cared.
“Is this Maximus a nice guy?” she asked.
“I think so. He’s very polite. Old-fashioned. You’d
probably like him.”
“Then we should have him over for dinner sometime.”
I was taken aback. I gave her an incredulous look. “We
aren’t dating mom. I mean, he just asked me out on a date
but I’m certainly in no shape to go anywhere, let alone
with…a man.”
“But that the last date you went on, nothing came of that.”
“With Brock? Mom, he was a meathead.”
“He seemed like a nice young man.”
“You never met him!”
“He got you to lose weight.”
“Mom…,” I warned.
“Perry,” she retorted in her clipped voice. She turned her
attention back to the show, where vapid American model
wannabes were bitching about each other. “You are a pretty
young woman. You could be on this show, if you lost enough
weight-”
“And grew eight inches,” I interjected.
“And found some confidence. You deserve to have a
nice man in your life. Someone stable, who wil take care of
you, put up with you-”
“Thanks mom!” I rol ed my eyes.
“-and love you. Your father and I, it hurts us to see you
like this. For the last few months you’ve just been…
sleepwalking through life. You’re not yourself anymore. I’m
glad you’re finding friends where you work but it’s time that
you start finding that right person for you.”
I crossed my arms and tried to focus on some bald
model cal ed Raquel. “I’m only twenty-three years old, for
crying out loud.”
“And life goes by far too quickly than it ought,” she
finished in a tone of voice that signified that it was,
thankful y, the end of the conversation.
She went back to watching her show, instantly drawn into
the drama, while I was left pondering what other weird
wrench could be thrown into my life. As if I didn’t have
enough things to think about.
The erratic thoughts about my tumultuous love life
fol owed me into my sleep, where I lay tossing and turning in
my bed, half awake in a delirious state. Final y I had enough
and rol ed over, forcing my eyes open. It was 2:42 in the
morning but I was lucky I had one more day off before I
returned to work.
I sighed at my restlessness and let my eyes adjust to the
dimness of the room. My ears rol ed into effect and picked
up the various noises around me, the faint howl of the wind
outside, the whir of my laptop computer, the fuzzy sound of
static from my TV.
Wait, static from my TV?
I slowly rol ed over and looked at my TV in front of the
bed. It was on, the red light at the bottom left was lit, but the
picture was near black and the faint fuzz of static warped
around the corners of the screen.
That was odd. Why was the TV on? I had only watched
TV downstairs with my mother. I hadn’t watched a thing up
here for days.
I was reaching over for the remote on the bedside table
when the TV suddenly lit up with the grey and black static of
a lost signal.
It reminded me a little too much of
Poltergeist
. My heart
hammered loudly in my chest.
I aimed the remote at the TV and quickly pressed the off
button.
Nothing happened.
I pressed it again, aiming it at an angle.
Again, nothing happened. The static grew louder and the
outline of a woman’s face fil ed the screen, her face
comprised of wavering, jagged black, white and grey lines.
I couldn’t make out any detail except for grey tubes that
were lips. They moved up and down, as if the face were
talking.
This…was not good.
I got out of bed and approached the TV as if it were a
skittish deer, keeping the remote aimed precisely at the
off/on button. I pressed it repeatedly as I approached the
screen, but to no avail. I was going to have to turn it off by
hand.
I was right up against the screen, my hand going for the
physical button on the bottom left corner when the face
moved. I froze, eyes drawn to the dancing screen. The lips
opened.
“Perry!” the face on the TV screamed.
I screamed back. I hit the button with my fist but it did
nothing.
The TV screamed my name again, the voice coming out
of the speakers.
I quickly lunged for the back of the unit, taking the power
cord in my hands and yanking it out of the wal .
“Help me!” the TV screamed again, in a voice not unlike
my own. It wasn’t plugged in anymore. But it stil screamed.
I scampered for the door and flung it open, taking off
down the dark hal way that was only lit by the nightlight by
the bathroom door. I went straight for Ada’s room, ripped
open her half-shut door and jumped into bed with her.
“Ada!” I cried out in the darkness, putting my arms
around her. “My television is possessed!”
I paused after I said that. Ada didn’t feel like Ada. She
felt…
leathery
. Beneath the sheets, something hard and
cold and pointed flicked my way and it wasn’t her legs.
“Ada?” I whispered in horror, an unbearable feeling
rising up in my throat.
Whatever I was holding shuddered, as if it were
laughing.
The rough protrusion stroked my inner calf.
Then the light went on and I was blinded into a sea of
yel ow/white.
“What the hel ?”
I squinted at the direction of the voice and saw the blurry
shape of Ada standing by her door, one hand on the light
switch, the other at her chest, clutching her pajama shirt.
“Oh my God, Perry, you scared the hel out me! What are
you doing?”
I looked down at where I was on her bed. I was holding