The Terror #wattys2017 #TNTHorrorContest

The Tale

        Heather and Michelle's house was a little two bedroom bungalow that had been constructed sometime in the late twenties, early thirties.  In the early sixties, a Travel Inn Motor Hotel had been built on the adjoining property substantially blocking the view of the little house. It almost looked like the little house was built on the parking lot of the big Motel and if you didn't know someone lived there you might have thought it was a maintenance building.

        The narrow little street it faced, called Vallejo drive, was more like an ally with barely enough room for two cars to pass each other. It was a cute little hideaway with a large oak that overhung the roof and kept it perpetually in shade.  Inside it wasn't more than eight hundred square feet with tiny bedrooms that were on either side of the living room and a small kitchen with an open counter near the front door facing the living room with only one bathroom for the two occupants. Perfect for two pretty girls.

        You got to their parking area by pulling around the front drive of the Travel Inn and pulling around back, you could not access the parking from the street, it was weird, they must have had some kind of contract with the motel, it was a lot more like you were parking in the motel parking lot with the two allocated parking spots for the bungalow.

        Worm and I hadn't spoken hardly a word from Al's to Michelle's. He pulled the Nash into her parking space next to her bug, headlights flashing in the windows so if she were awake she knew someone was there.  Before we could even get out of the car she came running out in her bare feet and an oversized sweatshirt with "Tujunga" emblazoned upon it. She opened the door on my side and threw herself on my lap and encased me in her arms.

        "I was so worried about you, you dumb shit!"

        "I'm sorry, I, I couldn't allow myself to go to the hospital, I just couldn't." 

        She kissed my cheeks and jumped out, taking me by the hand, she led me to the front door.

        'Hi, I'm Michelle, you're Worm, right? I've seen you around"

        "Everyone's seen me around,' He chuckled

        "Well come on in, I have a couple beers in the fridge, my Roommate Heather bought them before she went to the hospital, I can't buy it myself, I'm still just a baby."

        We all went in the door that had been left ajar into the little living room, everything was painted white. There was a Loveseat a chair and a coffee table.  They had both been covered with what looked like tie dyed sheets and Indian blankets. Very colorful and girly, neat as a pin as always.  She went into the kitchen and said,

        "Who wants the beers, there's only two, or I have some cool aid and an RC Cola"

        "No beer for me ma'am , I'm strictly a doper type." Worm replied, 'And the other stuff has to much sugar unless you wanna put me in a diabetic coma."

        Michelle gasped, "Oh no, I had no idea, I'm sorry."

        "Don't listen to him, he's just messing with you, he messes with everybody" I told her.

        "I am diabetic you know, " He croaked

        "Yeah but I don't think a little cool aid is gonna put you in a coma"

        "It might if I had enough"

        "Whatever, the stuff you put in your body hasn't killed you yet, I just don't believe Kool aid will"

        'There's a lot more sugar in that than you might think, it's like two cups in a pitcher. You may find it hard to believe but heroin and methedrine or any other dope you can think of is probably not as bad for me as the sugar in that poison, it's bad for you too.  White processed sugar is a fucking disease in this country man."

        Michelle came in with the two beers, one for me and one for her, ice cold in bottles. I didn't know I wanted it till I put it to my lips and it was exactly the right thing. She and I both drank deeply and set them on the table. She sat next to me on the loveseat, turned out there were shorts under that big shirt that were visible when she sat down.

        There was a nineteen-inch black and white TV playing 'The Honeymooners" that we all started to look at. Michelle got up and snapped it off and sat back down.

        "OK sonny-boy, you've got some talking to do" She stared right at me with a look of consternation.

        "I don't know where to start, I don't want to scare you"

        "You're not going to scare me, I just want to know what's going on."

        Worm spoke up, "I think he might actually scare you Michelle, what he's got to tell you is pretty hard to imagine. You need to keep an open mind and not jump to conclusions. I think it will all work out one way or another."

        Michelle just stared at Worm for a moment as she let that process for a second. She looked to me like she was about to say, "who the fuck are you?" but she didn't. instead she said, 

        "Alright, go ahead then Mer."

        I looked to Worm and he nodded his head and then I looked to Michelle who looked way too worried to be telling this stuff too but, I said I would so.

        "It all began when me, Dale and Steve decided to drop acid."

        I told them everything, just the way it happened. The fun time we had, the bummer time I had in the car when those guys were trying to burn down the tree, the freak out I had that Steve snapped me out of when he slapped me and then on to the accident itself.

        How turtle flew in the window and Dales head spinning in front of me and winding up in my lap, the spark, the fire, Stevie's face sliding off and slapping the pavement and how I found Heather and drug her away from the fire.

        I told them every detail I could remember, shedding tears along the way for my lost friends and the fear of madness I had been keeping to myself with Dale's head reappearing and the crush I thought I had on Heather all the way through Dale's Mercury showing up and trying to run me down that very evening.

        All of it, I wrung it out of me like twisting a rag to get the water out. It was the first time I had ever told the whole story or even said it aloud. There was a certain calmness that came over me and I realized that Michelle had her arm around me and she was crying. I didn't even know when she embraced me but there she was, just listening and quietly weeping to herself from the horror of my tale. When I finally stopped talking, I was looking at the floor watching my tears falling on the rug and beginning to feel Dale's stupid head appear on my lap.

        "You poor thing, I had no idea what you've been going through." 

        " So what do you guys think, have I gone mad, I have Dale's head on my lap right now."

        Worm's eyes got wide staring at my lap and his jaw went slack. He looked at me, his big Blue eyes even wider and bluer , then back to my lap.

        "I see it too Bro, I see Dale's fucking head!"