[Ongoing] A collection of unsettling or unusual short stories. Some have monsters, some have humor, some draw tears, some make you think, and some have artwork. Each is a revealing glance of someone's life.
Every writer has their own methods of comi...
Original story below, but you can find a revamped version in my collection "The Fall of Souls: and six other twisted stories about unlikable people", available on Amazon!
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A friend told me about the app. The one where volunteers are connected with the visually impaired so they can help them figure out if their food has expired or which tie works best with their suit. I hadn’t been an angel lately, so I figured this’d be an easy way to get some brownie points.
Turns out there was a surplus of volunteers, so my first call was over a year later. I’d almost forgotten about it, but the moment I saw the notification, I jumped up and accepted the call. An old man popped up on my screen, I introduced myself, and so started my hour session ... that turned into a nightmare.
Ennis was a jolly guy who wanted to surprise his wife with dinner for their anniversary. Since he rarely set foot in the kitchen, he needed my help. I smiled. This couldn’t have been more perfect. I loved cooking.
I had a lot of fun talking to Ennis. He kept cracking jokes and making fun of his culinary skills, and I laughed and assured him he was doing great. He did repeat himself often and I figured he must be slightly senile. I had to give him credit for remembering their anniversary.
Soon, the eggplant parmesan was ready, and I helped him find the dishes, silverware, candles, and a lighter. He propped his phone against the wall as he set the table with my guidance, and he gasped when a woman called his name.
She sounded much younger than Ennis and I assumed it was his daughter, but he proved me wrong when he sheepishly said he’d hoped to surprise her. I could hear her ooh and ahh as she walked over, and my jaw fell open when she came into view. She was gorgeous.
And she was undressing.
As I said before, I’m not an angel. But, oh how I wish I was at that moment. I should’ve hung up. Ennis didn’t need me anymore. He probably didn’t even remember I was there. But I couldn’t peel my eyes away from his wife.
Ennis may've been blind, but I wasn’t. I took in every inch of her curves, the thrill of voyeurism titillating my heart, as well as other areas of my body. It was a harmless act. She’d never know.
She continued to gush over the work Ennis put into his surprise, and I continued to ogle her as she stripped layer after layer until she was only in her lingerie. My blood rushed at the sight of her body. She was utterly wasted on a blind, old man. Ennis had no idea how lucky he was.
I licked my lips as she unhooked her bra and set perfection free, and I stifled a groan when she slipped out of her panties. This was the dirtiest yet most thrilling thing I’d ever done, and I reveled in the view, her ignorance the cherry on top as she continued to hold a tender conversation with her husband.
There she stood, flawless, rubbing herself all over. Captivated, I awaited her next move ... and I sat up in disgusted shock, my pleasure snuffed.
Were those flakes fluttering off her? I grimaced. Yes, they were. She was sloughing off her previously immaculate skin. Repulsed by what had to be a medical condition, I reached over to hang up, but I froze when I noticed the gray flesh beneath her shedded skin.
This wasn’t a condition.
This was something else.
She was something else.
Morbidly fascinated, I watched her grotesque transformation, tuning out Ennis’s rambling as I tried to figure out what she was. Her curves were now blobs of flesh on the floor, ribs striating her thin, ashy body. Two iridescent eyes blinked from a rigid, angular face, her rosy dimpled cheeks replaced by sunken cheekbones, her luscious hair by a pitted, bald dome.
She walked up to Ennis, looking like a spindly alien scarecrow, and I held my breath, anticipating her biting his face off. Instead, they wrapped their arms around each other and shared a passionate kiss.
I gagged.
Then I immediately regretted it.
She let Ennis go and turned in my direction, and I rushed to hang up, only to lose all my senses when I saw her skin become translucent … revealing faces trapped within her abdomen.
I stared in petrified horror as they pressed against her skin, their eyes wide, their mouths open in silent wails, their mass writhing and squirming in desperation.
Ennis smacked his forehead as he remembered I existed. He chuckled as he explained the app to his wife, but she didn’t find it funny. Neither did I.
She walked over, and with every one of her measured steps, my terrified eyes got wider as the faces’ tortured expressions became clearer. My heart thundered louder than Ennis’s ramblings as I struggled to move. To hang up. To just close my eyes. But I couldn't. I was frozen with fear … and something else.
Something inexplicable.
She reached for the phone, and my frantic breaths stuttered as she held me level to her iridescent eyes. Their luster was hypnotizing, and my panic surged as I fought to resist their pull. I failed, losing myself as they erased the world around me, abolishing gravity, stopping time, numbing my chaotic thoughts, soothing my fear. I floated within their ethereal prison, my body forgotten …
… until the world crashed back down on me in sharp focus.
I gasped and jerked back against the couch, my heart in a frenzy as I stared at the phone shaking in my hand. The screen was black. With a trembling thumb, I tested the buttons.
My phone had died.
A quivering sigh deflated my lungs and I rested my head against my knees, lightheaded with unease and confusion. I didn’t know what she was doing to me, I didn't even know what she was, but my phone just saved my life.
I wobbled to the bathroom and splashed water on my face, desperate to invigorate myself so I could think clearly. Dripping, I took a look at myself in the mirror … and the iridescent eyes reflected in mine drew a blood-curdling scream from my throat before my world went dark forever.
