And Who Knew?

Listen here, bitch.

I flew to my car and shoved the keys into the slot. I impatiently pressed my foot on the gas pedal and flew out of the parking lot. It's funny, I never considered leaving a parking lot to be "freedom" or a "privilege". At least not until I had to experience being trapped myself.

I was vaguely worried about what would happen at the end of my hour, though. I made a few turns and parked into my drive through. I unlocked my door and frantically searched for my wife. I found her in the bed, texting on her phone.

"April! . . ." I scrambled on the bed and tried to put a hand on her shoulder. I expected, maybe even feared a bit, that my hand would go right through her.

I exhaled when it didn't. April jumped out of her skin and dropped the phone. I glanced down and froze.

She was texting the math teacher. She sat there, gaping at me with her mouth open like a fish. My gaze was fixated on the phone, though I saw her expression out the corner of my eye. She slowly tried to reach for her phone, but my head snapped up. I could have sworn it sounded like a stack of papers being slapped against a desk at my work place. Yeah. That's what it sounded like. My vision seemed darker, and I felt my jaw slowly start to go down.

"Listen here, bitch." I spoke, but the voice didn't sound like me. I glanced down and saw my jaw drop down to the bed. Literally. My skin sagged and seemed to slowly go down like it was melting.

I looked into the mirror.

And I screamed at my own reflection.

April screamed with me and scuttled away from me, reaching for the house phone. Probably to call 911. I don't think so. I reached over to slap the phone out of her hand.

crgrack the crunch I heard was sickening. Her arm was bent clean backwards and her fingers were fixated at odd places. My jaw and it's skin swayed back and forth as I took her phone and crushed in in my palm.

"Who do you think you are to go behind my back?" I spoke, even though my jaw was still hanging. I didn't have to move my mouth to speak. April cried and wailed at her amputated limb.

"I'm . . . S-s-sorr-ry . . . Hic!" She was a crying mess. I slowly backed away and out the house. I had wandered through the streets a bit, my feet slowly hovering the ground as my body sagged and stretched more than humanely possible.

"Grrk . . . . . Gluuulg . . .Graw . . . Eeeeeaaaaaakkkkk" I stared at my reflection, forcing myself to get used to this version of me. It seemed like I was melting. even my forehead sagged, hair spaced out and ugly looking, like back hair. 

And then, I was standing in the parking lot. And the first thing I noticed was my dry, stiff tongue.

"Hey, bartender! Can I get that drink right now?" I was sweating bullets at this point. I wiped sweat off my forehead, thanking whoever made urban legends that I was back to normal. I took a deep breath and tried to calm the jitters out of me.

I hurt April. I hurt the love of my life, and I know that she would never forgive me for it.

Then again, April hurt me. 

"Cool it, moron. You were the idiot that decided that you were gonna go ghost-fucker on everyone, remember? You could have just wandered around a bit. Say hello to some hobo off the side of the road. But no, you went straight to terrorizing someone." I was being patronized by the one guy I spoke to while coming to this freak show of a hotel. And I still don't know much about the situation I'm in.

"Y'll are fucking crazy, man . . ." I said with a  chuckle. I took in a few deep breaths and tried to calm down.

"This is fucking ridiculous. Here!" I got a drink thrust in my face.

"This is fucking insane, that's what this is . . . Who the hell are you people!? What are you doing to me!?" I felt a hard sting as someone slapped me across the cheek. I flew from my bar stool and landed flat on my ass. My cheek instantly started throbbing and my ears rang. I looked up. It was the girl with the mask.

"Get a grip!" She stomped off into room seven. I rubbed my cheek. Arthur chuckled behind me.

"Damn!" He cleaned a glass and set it on the counter.

"Oh, shut up. no one asked for your opinion."
"And no one asked you for your presence, but here we are."
"Who would take heed of a damn word you say with how much bullshit you talk?"

"You'll pay twice for that one."

"Nice try. It's all on the house."

"Humph." And just like that, the conversation ended. I think I like this guy.

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After a few chugged drinks with Arthur, I hobbled back to my room. I glanced at the empty walls lacking photo frames and strewn papers. It was nothing like at my house, where April had decorated everything.

I'm so sorry, April. 

I lugged myself in my bed. As soon as I was warm, the waterworks started. Don't judge me, okay? I miss my wife. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but I must have fallen into a flimsy state of sleep. Funny, I could have sworn I was wide awake.

Until I heard Po, Po, Po, Po, Po . . . I gasped like I was coming up for air and clawed out of the bed. I blinked a few times and focused on the giant sitting on my legs.

"The hell? Bitch get off!" Takai didn't move. Instead, she continued to sit on my legs, right below my knees. Frickin weirdo. Her hands were placed neatly on my chest, choking the life out of me. I tried squirming a bit, but she was crushing my legs. Just her thigh was the size of my torso and head combined, so no way in hell was I gonna try to squirm through. she could snap my leg in half any time she wants. I finally gave up and held still until she leaned over and got into my face. the "Po"s got even louder as she got near me, but she wasn't moving her mouth to make a sound. I stared at her, frozen like a dead fish. Her large sunhat fell and landed on my face. She picked it up and finally got off me.

"Good night" was all she said, before turning the lamp off, climbing under the covers of her abnormally large bed, and hanging her hat up.