On The Surface

The Groom

Conscious thought slowly returned. Waylon had never fainted before. His first thoughts were of the pain in his lungs. Every breath was agony and soon he dissolved into a fit of hoarse coughs. He reflexively attempted to bring his hands up to his mouth, but found them bound. For the second time that day, Waylon was incapacitated. His eyes flew open and he found himself staring at the kind of portable lantern one might take camping, hanging from a dingy unfinished ceiling. Eddie's basement, he remembered.

Waylon pulled at the restraints and found his wrists and ankles were held tight to some kind of table. He tried to remember any tables he had seen in Eddie's basement. The cheap plywood must have been obscured by sewing projects and yards of fabrics. At least the air seemed to have cleared slightly after opening the trapdoor, though mist still swirled about in eddies created from unknown drafts in the secret basement.

"Eddie," Waylon said, wriggling against his constraints and trying to look around the basement.

"Darling," came Eddie's voice, but something sounded off with his normally soothing voice. "Did I frighten you? I'm awfully sorry. I didn't mean to."

Waylon slowly became aware that someone had stripped him out of his clothes and dressed him in a delicate gown. It was the same satin dress he had worn the first time he and Eddie ever fooled around after the photo-shoot. The dress that had meant so much to him. And now he was tied to some strange table wearing the dress, and Eddie was nearby in the mist.

"Eddie, did you tie me up? This is beyond bad timing for this. We have to get out of here. This is serious, did you not notice the" Waylon's attention was immediately drawn to a figure that walked into the dim light cast by the lamp. It was Eddie, but...

Eddie's face had a strange burn pattern along the right side of his face, similar to the weeping wounds on Billy and Frank. His right eyebrow was all but missing, and his lips looked blistered and bloody. Something had caused all the blood vessels in his right eye to burst, leaving a shocking blue iris floating amidst a sea of blood. The other side of his face was less marred. A giant bleeding gash leading away from his bloodshot left eye. The damage to his face was extensive and disturbing. Worst of all was the unsettling smile on his face. It was like staring at a different person.

"You are quite right of course, darling. This is serious," said Eddie, his voice at once familiar and horrifying. His usually eloquent speech pattern seemed slurred and lisped in a new way. Perhaps the damage Waylon could see was just the beginning. "We've met before, haven't we?"

"Eddie....do you not recognize me? It's Waylon," he whimpered, pulling in vain against the restraints. Maybe the damage to Eddie's face had affected his vision.

"You look familiar...maybe from before I woke up. It was like a dream, waking in such an ethereal place, and then you walked in and I thought to myself...could this be the one?"

"I don't understand. We have to get the fuck out of here! This isn't..." Waylon was silenced when Eddie pressed a large, strong hand wearing a finger-less glove directly into his mouth. He tried to scream around the intrusion and his nostrils flared as he attempted to breathe in enough of the dirty air to stay conscious.

"Now now, darling. That's no way for a lady to behave," scolded Eddie, though there was a smile on his ruined face. "Suppose I can't blame you for that. You're not what you're meant to be. Not yet. I'm going to fix you. I want to make you better."

Eddie leaned closer, his hand still clamped over Waylon's mouth. "I've searched all over for the right girl to make my wife, and in the end she happens right into my home. An adorable story to tell the children—don't you agree, darling?" The gloved hand was removed and replaced with Eddie's mouth as he forced his tongue between Waylon's lips. Waylon closed his eyes and whimpered into the kiss. He struggled to lift his shoulders off the table, returning the kiss passionately, hoping to snap Eddie out of whatever horrible side-effect he was suffering due to the terrible fog.