Raven Hook

Chapter 9: Fight or Flight

Eric waved the knife in front of him as the hunchbacked monster started getting closer to him. He brought the kitchen knife up and slammed the blade into the back of the monster's head like an ice pick, dropping the monster on the floor. It twitched and died, dark red blood spewing from its head as Eric walked over its body. To Eric, it looked like a body of a woman who had died and had been left in the sun, shriveled up and deformed. Black splotches covered its body and it had blood red eyes. Eric walked to the next door and opened it, slowly pushing the door in as he stepped through the doorway, flash light casting a dim light over the room. Eric saw he was in another living space of some kind. Magazines littered the floor as well as papers. Eric picked up a piece of paper and skimmed it, "JESSICA MARTIN, 28, was found deceased in her home after being brutally murdered. Police believe that her husband, ERIC MARTIN, 30, may have committed the murder and are trying to locate him..."

Eric dropped the piece of paper as the tears started to roll off of his cheeks, Jessica dead? And they think I murdered her, Eric thought as he picked up another piece of paper off of the floor and read it. "The hunt continues for ERIC MARTIN, 30, as he eludes police. MARTIN is the prime suspect in the murder of his wife, the late JESSICA MARTIN, 28. Sources believe that MARTIN is armed and dangerous. Use extreme caution when approaching." Eric threw the paper to the ground angrily. It has to be another illusion; I would never hurt my wife. Eric quickly searched the rest of the room, finding a key in the drawer and pocketing it. After turning everything over in the room, Eric made his way back to the door and felt a chill wash over him as he reached for the knob.

"Jessica, you know I don't like people sneaking up on me." Eric turned and saw Jessica sitting on a chair holding the paper that said she was dead.

"Of course honey. You also know that you don't have a chance in hell getting out of this town alive." Jessica's words purred, the sexy way she talked when she wanted something from Eric.

"Don't worry about me, 'honey'. I know you aren't the real Jessica. I'll find the real you and then we can leave this fucking place for good." Eric turned back to the door and opened it as he felt Jessica's hands on his shoulders.

"Just remember baby, the party can't start without you."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Eric asked as he turned around to face her and saw that he was the only one in the room. "She loved doing that to me too." Eric opened the door and walked out of the room, waiting for the monster in the floor to spring back up and attack him but the monster was gone along with the blood. Eric walked to the last door and tried to open it but it was locked. Eric reached into his pocket and took out the key he had found. Inserting the key into the lock and twisting it, it crumbled to dust and Eric opened the door and peered inside. It was his master bedroom again; his bed neatly made the way Jessica did every morning, the curtains drawn back letting the sunlight into the room, his dressers were in the correct place and everything. If Eric didn't know any better, he would've thought he was back home. Eric walked through the room, touching the furniture and his bed, his hand meeting resistance as he touched them. This is real, Eric thought as he made his way to the closet, opening the doors and stepping inside, the mammoth sized closet full of their clothes and shoes. Eric touched Jessica's favorite dress, remembering the way it made her look in the light as the closet doors slammed shut, trapping Eric inside. Eric ran to the doors and threw his weight against them as he fell to the ground; they didn't budge. Eric was trying to force the doors to open as he heard voices shouting. The voices got closer until the bedroom door opened and Jessica was thrown into the room. She was wearing her favorite dress as she was thrown against the dresser and landed in the floor.

"Please baby, I'll be good." A solid smack across her face echoed through the closet as her head smacked the floor with a thud. The figure loomed over her and continued to beat her as Eric watched in horror as the blood pooled underneath her limp body. The man grabbed a syringe and stabbed it into the crook of her arm as Jessica lay at his feet, unconscious. The man undid his belt and whipped it out of its place as he raised it in the sky. Eric grabbed at the closet doors, rage building inside of him as he was forced to watch this person beat his wife in front of him. Eric heard bones cracking as the figure continued to mercilessly beat Jessica, her moaning and crying drowned out by the wet noises of the beating. Eric felt tears of rage fall off of his face as the figure stopped, trying to set Jessica against the dresser. Heavy footsteps thudded in the hallway as the bedroom door crashed open, revealing the same massive monster Eric saw in the hospital. Eric watched as the massive creature slowly walked over to the figure and picked him up by his head. The enormous hands of the monster easily encased the head of the man as the monster roared and squeezed, the man's head exploding in its grip. The monster released the man, letting him fall to the wood floor, and stepped to Jessica's unconscious body. The monster gently picked her up in his arms as he walked out of the door and his footsteps faded away.

The closet Eric was locked in finally opened and Eric ran to the man that the monster had killed. Eric kneeled down to get a better view and froze. Eric's breathing stopped and his hands shook. A cold chill unlike any he had ever experienced fell over him like a blanket. Eric stood up from the body on the floor and choked back bile and vomit. The plaid shirt, the faded out blue jeans, the old dress shoes, and the expensive belt was his own. The man the monster had killed was Eric. Eric doubled over and vomited, closing his eyes as he emptied what little food he had in his stomach onto the now decrypted old floor of the building he was back in. The room had changed again back into another living space, chairs and magazines were thrown about. Eric wiped his mouth with his hand as he steadied himself back up. Had he ever abused his wife? He couldn't remember anything before coming to Raven Hook and he was frustrated that he couldn't remember anything. He picked up the kitchen knife from the floor and continued moving, unsure what else lurked around the corner.