What He Wants

A Psycho in the Flesh

                                                             A Psycho in the Flesh

The beginning:

I just put a bucket of fake blood up on the arm of the chair in my living room. There’s a neighborhood haunted house competition going on for Halloween. My brother and I thought it would be a lot more fun if we did boys vs. girls. Everyone in the neighborhood was joining in on it. We choose our themes secretly with all of our groups and then get rewarded by making the others the most sickened.

My best friend and I decide that for my house we will do a gory pad theme to gross all the men out. The thought of doing a girl’s bloody nightmare even sickened me to the core, but knowing all the men would be way worse off, made it all worth it. All of the strangers being horribly disgusted is an added bonus.

I walked out into the front yard smiling down at my little brother knowing I was going to be missing him. The hug we exchanged felt full of love. But I got chills and I felt the hairs on my arms rise up. From the corner of my eye I see a man staring at us. I send my brother on his way to the neighbor’s house where all the boys who were participating are meeting.

The man stared off in the direction my brother was walking in, consequently making me smile. I liked seeing a man taking interest in my brother.  I wave him over yelling, “That’s my brother, and if you want to meet him I can introduce you!” He smiles at me while he walks towards me. This man is casually dressed nothing out of the ordinary about him, not even for Halloween. He is tall with broad shoulders and olive toned skin, he has short straight brown hair, and his brown eyes light up with his wide smile.

 “Sure, I’m meeting a friend who lives right down the street.” He says. I got an odd feeling that I may know him but couldn’t quite pin from where.

“I’m sorry I thought you were looking at my brother. I’ll still walk you.” I say feeling embarrassed. I latch arms with him smiling down at the floor. I look up to see him smiling as well. The street is covered with Halloween decorations and fall leaves blanketing the sidewalks. The last bit of sunlight is making the trees shine off some green, yellow, and red.

“It’s alright, How are you?” He asks.

There’s that awkward feeling like I know him again, but I choose to ignore it and reply, “I’m well…you know…alright, not amazing or anything. You?”

“I’m great now. Why are you not doing amazing?”

I wouldn’t normally talk to people about my feelings that I don’t know but I’m not necessarily uncomfortable talking to him. I feel like he is someone I may have liked if I had ever met him before. My gut feels tight with that thought which is odd and it starts making me wonder who he is.

“Have we ever met?” I ask.

“I don’t think so. Don’t try and dodge the question.” He smiles widely.

“So you know that feeling when you’d rather tell a complete stranger how you feel rather than your friends or family? Knowing that they can judge you and it doesn’t matter because you’ll probably never see them again so it doesn’t matter?” I ask.

“Yes, I do… more or less.” He laughs. I stop walking to look at him, I do know him from somewhere, and I have to have met him before. There’s no way I’d get this feeling for no reason.

“I have to have met you before.” I say squinting; analyzing his features. My heart sinks that second. I could feel my eyes widen looking at him. I know in that moment who he is. He grabs my arm as I start walking the other direction, which makes my heart jam into my throat.

“Get away from me! You’re sick!” I yell pulling my arm away and racing to get home. It was my ex-boyfriend. He had changed his facial features since it was Halloween having on an extended nose and contacts. I can’t believe I fell into his bullshit! He had been practically stalking me after I broke up with him last year. He had been sending me letters online, calling, texting and showing up at my house.

Inside my house I try to brush off the feeling of terror and get my shit together. I have an entire house full of girls just waiting to scare some people. The thought that he might show up sends all the hairs on my body sky rocketing to the sky. I look in the living room seeing a bunch of blood splatters everywhere and a bunch of pads covering the walls and floors.

“Okay get into positions!” I yell moving into the corner of the room holding onto a bucket of blood to throw at someone. The saliva that has been missing from my mouth is finally returning and some frustration is making its self-known. How dare he trick me like that! After all of this time I thought he would have gotten passed me and moved on. Apparently not.

The door is hanging wide open making my heart rate pick up quickly as the first kid comes into the house. Thankfully it isn’t him. I throw some blood on the boy. His reaction is exactly what we had been hoping for. All of the girls said some nasty things to him and some of them cracked jokes.

I walk out front seeing all of the men from the other houses coming up to mine. I look for my brother wanting to tell him to watch his back. I scan the crowd until I see him standing there next to my ex. I feel sick to my stomach. He must have my brother fooled too. I greet everyone entering my home filling up my living room without any space to move.

I look out frantically for my brother but am pushed back with hands covering my mouth. I slam hard against the wall making my head dizzy and my vision foggy.  I feel his hands now underneath my shoulders supporting me from falling to my knees. He walks us through the front door and across the street. I want to protest but I’m on the verge of being disconnected from reality most likely from a concussion.

He places me in his back seat kissing my forehead so lightly I almost miss it. Everything in the car is moving around in circles I’m unable to focus on anything, let alone my surroundings. I had no idea where I was going to be.  I did know that he has family outside of my city that owned some property in the country. He may be taking me there, but I couldn’t keep thinking my head hurt too much and the blackness pushes me off into unconsciousness.