The Terror #wattys2017 #TNTHorrorContest

Worm.....cue the music at the appropriate time please

        It had to be the acid, that's all I could think, maybe it wasn't normal acid, maybe it was some kind of super acid that fucks you for the rest of your life. I looked over and over at my hand to see if the bite marks were still there.  I was a good hour from home on foot and had walked it many times but tonight I had a little extra zip to my step. It seemed like I was moving through the air faster than usual, the breeze across my face felt a little swifter as it dried the perspiration from my brow and cooled my skin. 

        I kept an eye out for Dale's car, looking repeatedly over my shoulder as I moved down the cracked sidewalks that were part of the charm of my little town.  I was now at the point where I didn't even want to think about Dale, which of course, made me think about fucking Dale. I needed to get to a pay phone and call Michelle because she was going to be worried sick about me.  I wished she and I had met under better circumstances, I think we might have had something but if she has any intelligence at all she should run far far away from me.

        My buddy Steve who's burning face I saw slide off his skull and make that ...sound, would walk with me forever on these streets. "Till the wheels falls off and the hubs gets rusty," we used to say, he was my best friend, always had my back. I hadn't even spent much time mourning him, so caught up with Heather and Michelle and Dale and all the crazy shit that's been working away at what little mind I had left.  I suppose I've been avoiding it, that empty spot where Steve had always been. No time for that right now, I had bigger fish to fry. I had to get to a pay phone and the closest one was going to be near Foothill Blvd. I was up to Plainview now passing by Verdugo, my high school, oh yeah there's a pay phone in there, I just have to hop the fence, go behind the bleachers and....

        That's probably not such a good idea, the way things have been going lately I better avoid anything that could bring me any more trouble. If Steve was here there wouldn't have been any discussion, he'd just jump the fence and tell me to not be a pussy.  I went right on Plainview and just kept walk'n, it would only take about ten minutes to get to Foothill and the little market on the corner had a phone booth right in front.  I checked my pocket to make sure I had a dime for the phone.  What was that Ol' Steve used to say, three things you needed for a happy life.  "Don't play pool with a guy named Pops, never eat apple pie at a place called Mom's and always have a dime in yer pocket!"

        I wished he was walking with me right then, I wished he was around for me to tell all the weird shit that's been going on with Dale's fucking head and the Merc that just about ran me over tonight.  I looked at my hand again, the bite was gone now, I stopped under a street lamp and studied the area on the side of my hand where my little finger was and I couldn't see a damned thing. I studied it further looking at the lines in my hand, turning it under the light, nope, nothing, not a Gawd damn thing.  

        I was cracking up, loosing my marbles, I couldn't trust the things I was seeing which made it pretty hard to believe anything I was thinking.  My mind was tied in knots, maybe I should have let those paramedics take me after all? Throw me in the loony bin and put me in a straight jacket and leave me in a rubber room.  I started running Alice Cooper tapes in my head, "So I grabbed my hat and I grabbed my coat and I, I ran into the streets. I saw a man who was choking there, I guess he couldn't breath. Said to myself this is very strange, I'm glad it wasn't me but now I hear those sirens calling and so I am not free, I didn't wanna be, I didn't wanna be....see my lonely life unfold, I see it every day, see my lonely mind explode when I've gone INSANE.

        Maybe it's time I tell somebody, I would go to Dale or Steve but I don't really want to see those guys right now HA HA.  I laughed uncomfortably out loud and I didn't like the sound, not one little bit. I don't know who that was but it wasn't me, who do I tell, I gotta go somewhere, tell someone what's going on with me, someone who can talk some sense to me, get my head turned back around.  There, up ahead, I could see the little store and the phone booth and I started jogging. I wanted to get out of the darkness of the back streets and into the lights of the main drag. I hoped Michelle had gone home to answer the phone.

        I opened the folding door of the booth and stepped inside closing it behind me and the overhead light flickered to life.  it was nice in there, I felt protected and safe from the outside world, a little personal cacoon where nothing could get to me, quiet, still, calm.  I put my dime in the slot, "Cling ding" it said as it slipped through the mechanism and I got a dial tone.  I dialed the number 3-5-3-6-8-9-3 and the phone started ringing, riiiiiiiiiing riiiiiiiiiiiiing, ten times, "Fuck!" I said aloud, pick up Michelle.  Riiiiiiing  riiiiiiiiing, "Damn it!" I put the receiver on the hook and my dime rattled into the coin return.

        I watched as the cars passed by on Foothill Blvd. from the quiet confines of the booth for few minutes and tried again but to no avail.  I wondered if she wasn't driving around looking for me. I tried to think of who else I might call, someone who might come pic me up and just let me talk.  Worm, I could call Worm, he was a weird fucking guy but he was also smart and would do just about anything for a joint and I just happened to have one in my wallet in my secret stash. I almost forgot about it, "funny how the mind works ain't it," I thought, Worm equals Joint equals help.

        Anyhow, I had his number in a little book I kept in my wallet as well and gave him a ring.  He answered with his froggy voice and said he would come get me.  I felt saved like everything might be OK for tonight. Maybe Worm would have some ideas.