The Incubus

Chapter 3, Scene 3

'How's the tie?' Justin asked.

'Hold on, Tanya,' Rebecca said and cradled the phone between her cheek and shoulder as she straightened his tie. She took a step back and eyed her corporate husband from top to bottom. When she was satisfied that he was presentable, she gave him a thumbs up. 'Yeah,' she said once the phone was pressed to her ear again. 'I completely hear what you're saying.'

Justin beamed. He contemplated making himself some coffee before leaving for work, but decided against it. He didn't want to spoil his mint-flavoured breath this early in the morning, so he opted for another check-up in the bathroom mirror instead.

'She should have put that dog down a long time ago,' Rebecca said as she made her way to the kitchen. In the hallway she absentmindedly corrected a photo frame that was hanging skew. 'And how is little Timmy doing?'

She walked into the kitchen, filled the kettle with water, and flipped the switch. The water should be boiled by the time Justin had left. 'Uh-huh,' she said. In the living room, she corrected a skew painting that hung above the television. 'It's that bad?' She switched on the television and muted it. She just wanted the white noise in the background until Tanya got there. 'That's just terrible.'

'Becky,' Justin called from the bedroom.

'Gotta go,' Rebecca said. 'See you in half an hour.' She hung up and walked to the bathroom, fixing another skew painting on the way.

'I'm ready to go,' Justin said and pushed out his chest. 'Wish me luck.'

'Good luck, sweetie,' Rebecca said and kissed him. 'Go make me proud.'

Justin picked up his briefcase that contained a notebook, some pens, his lunchbox, and a basic computer repair toolkit. 'I should be back at around six.'

'Have fun, love,' she said and walked with him to the car.

'Oh yeah, what was Tanya on about?'

'Oh,' Rebecca said and her eyes widened. 'You know the Buckman's dog?'

'Brutus? What about it?'

'It attacked little Timmy, their next door neighbour's boy.'

'That's impossible,' Justin said. 'That dog couldn't attack a ball of fluff even if it wanted to.'

'Tell that to Timmy's parents. He's in intensive care at the hospital in critical condition.'

'That kid must have done something to seriously agitate that dog,' Justin said. 'There's no way it would attack for no reason at all.'

'Hey,' Rebecca said and kissed him on the cheek. 'Don't shoot the messenger.'

Justin grinned. 'I'll see you tonight.'

He got into the car, started it, kissed her goodbye one more time, and then drove off. Rebecca waved at him until he disappeared around the corner. She had half an hour to kill before Tanya would pick her up for work. Enough time for a nice cup of tea and heavy duty catching up on her magazines that she had been neglecting the past two weeks. She stirred the tea and made her way to the living room, but when she got there she froze on the spot. She stood perfectly still and moving only her eyes, surveyed the living room. She slowly turned and made her way to the hallway.

Rebecca dropped the cup and her hand reached her mouth before the porcelain shattered against the tiles. Both paintings in the living room and the photo in the hallway were hanging skew again.