Pantomaniac

Chapter 25

Kef's eyes were on fire! He violently rubbed his eyelids but the burning sensation persisted. It was as if hundreds of roasted needles were being drilled into his eyeballs.

"Arggghh!!!"

He sat up. His body moved left and right, writhing and shaking the bed. Fighting the pain, Kef forced his eyes open. There she was. Standing by the room door. She was throwing something at him.

But there was nothing. He saw nothing.

The mime child did not stop. And her mask...her mime mask. Everything was the same except for her mouth. Instead of a still carving of regular human lips, a huge smile plastered on the white surface of the mask. The lips were red. Blood dripped down by its edges.

The mime was smiling. The mask was smiling.

Kef continued twisting his body. He fell down the bed and continued rubbing his eyes. Willing for the pain to go away.

Something grabbed at his hands and pried them open. When Kef opened his eyes, tears flowed freely down his cheeks. Through his blurred vision, he saw the mime. Her face was inches away from him.

"Time is running out..."

Kef's body shivered at her words.

"Next time...I'll throw bigger nails...at your eyes...."

Then, she disappeared. Kef was panting. His tears did not stop flowing, both from fear and whatever was left of the pain. Minutes later, the burning sensation was gone.

Nails? She was throwing nails? Invisible nails?

All of a sudden, a whirlpool formed inside Kef's heart. His tears started drying up. His body grew stiff. By his hips, his fingers curled into fists as he gritted his teeth. His face started to shake.

Kef sat up in an instant. "I will find you!!!"

The scream echoed throughout the house. Within seconds, Kef had changed and was marching down the stairs. He raced to the store room and grabbed his toolbox. The moment he was on the road, Kef sprinted. The sound of tools banging against the box pierced the silence of the night.

*****

The bungalow was as dead as it had always been. Standing in front of the locked room, Kef listened for any signs of presence.

Nothing.

He knelt and slammed the toolbox down. The sound echoed in the silent mansion. Kef's fingers rummaged for the tool he was looking for. The moment he found it, he did not slow down.

Standing back up, Kef faced the door. His fingers were wrapped tightly around a hammer. It was at that moment that his arms started shaking. It could have been from fear. It could have been from adrenaline. Either way, he could not wait any longer.

Taking a step forward, he slammed the hammer onto the door. The head of the tool hit the door's surface.

For a few seconds, Kef stood frozen. Then, he dropped the tool and yanked his arm back. He doubled over, gritting his teeth. Kef shook his arms. The door was not made of wood. It looked like it was but it was completely steel. The impact of the hammer and the door sent electric shivers up Kef's arm. He felt like a thousand needles were stabbing at his arms. He should not have swung too hard.

The good thing was, whatever anger that was nesting inside him had disappeared. The pain killed it. At that moment, the house felt ten times larger. The air, one million degrees colder.

A laughter broke out from behind the door. Giggles. They were the sound of children giggling. And one of them sounded just like Alisa. Kef's beloved Alisa. Kef almost went towards the door when something banged against it from the other side.

Kef fell back. Still sitting on the dusty floor, he stared at the door.

He heard a scraping sound, like someone was clawing at the door from inside the room. Then, his eyes caught movement on the surface. The door was moving...no! Something was moving against it. Kef could not believe what he was witnessing.

Someone was pressing a face against the door, moulding it into the steel frame. A face was growing out of the door. The steel surface bulged further and further outwards, staring back at Kef as if he was a meal.

It was a mime mask. A bloody mime mask was growing out of the door!

Kef stood up and sprang down the staircase, almost missing his foot several times but he did not stop. He ran for his life, literally. He dashed into the dark tunnel and out into the woods. He ran and ran and did not stop. Not even when he reached home.

He raced up to his bedroom and the moment he was inside, he lunged for the cupboard. Kef's chest heaved violently. His back coated with thick sweat, his forehead shined with perspiration. Every part of his body was shaking. As he reached into the cupboard to grab his travelling back, his fingers shook as if he had Parkinson's disease.

He could not take it any longer. He needed to leave.

Kef grabbed every piece of clothing he could and stuffed them into his bag. He ran all the way back down, out of his house and dashed into his car. He had to be somewhere else. Anywhere but his house. Anywhere far from the bloody bungalow. He needed help.

Fighting back his tears, he slowly dialled his boss' number.

"Hello?" Encik Bakar answered.

ButKef was lost for words.