Chapter Seven

Stu stands patiently on a bridge high over the Silenti. He watches the water ripple by, lost in his thoughts. In one hand is a trainer, worn so much that the sole has popped open at the front. He casually drops it and it plops, quickly sinking from sight. Lifting his foot and grabbing the other trainer, he hurls this one in, even though it’s not yet split. Feeling the cool concrete under his feet, he curls his toes and plays with minuscule stones. He feels a dull vibration in his pocket and answers to a frantic and tearful Jenny. She sobs repeatedly into his ear.

“Say again?” says Stu, only just managing to get a word in. “Where can I find you?”

Within moments Stu’s car roars into life and skids away, a cloud of dust rolling into the air behind him. The roads, normally quiet as dawn approaches, are disturbed now by the wobbling exhaust emitting a throaty roar that screams into the distance.

As the car speeds along one of the main routes out of the city, he repeats the conversation through his head. Whatever has been haunting Jenny has finally caught up with her and Erica.

He thumps the dashboard, cursing himself. The last time he got this close to a woman she ended up dead, and the same thing happening to the last three is simply not acceptable. His hands tighten around the worn steering wheel, palms whitening, gritting his teeth in anger. He feels more attuned to this girl, more than he did with Samantha, exactly the same as with Anna - and the last thing he wants is to lose yet another one.

Stu yanks the steering wheel to the left and powers round a sharp bend, the tail end of the car sauntering off course then snapping straight as he accelerates through the one way Akerman Street. Parked cars rush by him, and suddenly he punches the brakes hard. The car skids to a halt and bumps up the kerb, the back sticking out into the narrow street.

Within moments he bangs repeatedly on the door of number fifty-five, thumping again even harder after his first knocks go unnoticed. A piercing scream then alerts Stu to activity upstairs and he sprints around the side of the house to get into the garden, pouncing first onto a small bin and then a larger one, vaulting the stained fence and landing neatly on the soft grass beyond. He takes a step forward and crunches a branch under his foot, recoiling and instinctively grimacing in pain. Ignoring any potential injury, he skips the crushed remnants and slips through the patio door, left tantalisingly ajar.

Energised by the sound of smashing glass from upstairs, Stu precariously dashes through the kitchen past broken plates, strewn cutlery and pulped food. The stairs creak as he bounds up them two at a time, a shrill female voice screaming for help. As he reaches the soft carpet on the landing, a wall of shattered glass shoots out from a door to his right, covering the pathway with glistening shards, some hurtling past the banister and cascading down to the hallway below.

He casually steps onto the carpet of daggers, grimacing a little with each new step, but his determination to help Jenny overrides any pain that might try and flow through him. Right inside the door he finds her, swaggering from side to side, her skin soaked in blood, complexion a desperate mix of anguish and suffering. She doesn’t spot Stu - instead the shadowy figure outlined behind her spots him, and extends her torture.

The shadow pulls away from her, tightening Jenny’s skin as it moves, stretching it backwards and increasing the tension on her face and chest, crushing her lungs as it bends her ribs, almost snapping them. Her eye-sockets bulge outward and jaw arches through her mouth, the entirety of her teeth exposed as her flesh trails away. Her gaze finally locks onto Stu and her eyes tell him how much it hurts, even though she can’t vocalise it. He instantly tightens his fingers and a rippling charge of red electricity illuminates the vein down his right arm, bursting into a ball of intense lightning that crackles in his palm. As the charge intensifies, the shadow unlatches itself from Jenny, slamming her skin back onto her body and throwing her to the floor, blood popping from every pore. Stu’s hand shudders as the glowing red sphere grows in size and power, stretching his already taut fingers nearly out of their sockets. The shadow looms over him, the eyeless stare bleeding with anger. It grows into a darkening blanket, widening out at the arms to form a thick cloud that towers over Stu. It then lurches forth and completely consumes him, leaving Stu cloaked in thick darkness. Amidst the shadowy sheet that contorts and twists over him, a faint shimmer of red illuminates the dark belly, resembling a black thundercloud that flickers with blood-red lightning. The electrical charge pulses, gathering in strength the longer it gestates. Then, a thick red globule pounds the side of the warping sheet, instantly shattering the veil into a sprinkling of fine black dust.

Stu drops to his knees, his right hand bright red even though the electrical charge is long gone. He looks up, spotting the reformed shadow sloping away into the far corner of the bedroom. Again he charges his right hand, an even thicker flow of electricity pulsing through the vein on his arm before a burst of fizzing electricity rockets forth, blasting the wardrobe just after the shadowy figure darts to one side, launching itself at Stu with breakneck speed to engulf him again. The shape wraps itself tighter this time, the shadowy dust melting into his skin and jerking his limbs as the thing tries to take over. Stu jolts violently, trying to disrupt the invasion, his skin now tinged a dark grey. Maintaining his balance and concentrating as best he can, the jagged chest scar glows like red hot steel, clearly visible from underneath his t-shirt. It shoots slithering electrical charges of green, blue and red across his body, wrapping around his muscles and eventually enveloping him in a fizzing electrical field that crackles noisily the stronger it gets. The shadowy form quickly draws away from him, trying to escape, contorting and wrapping itself over and over, unable to twist itself free. Stu’s body judders from the force of the pulsating electricity - the multiple strands are all dark red now. Lightning buzzes furiously around his entire body.

The electricity pulsates harder and faster, emitting a loud crackling noise the fiercer it gets. Instantly Stu’s electrical field explodes and the charge thunders out from him, frazzling the shadowy form. It withers and worms away, bleeding into a slight shadow that looms out from under the wardrobe. The unbearable noise whittles down first to a shrill cry, then finally into nothing. Stu gently exhales for almost an age, letting his body cool and relax, his tense fingers easing back into their sockets and returning to their normal pinkish hue. He shakes his head, clearing the mugginess, realising that Jenny still hasn’t moved from her fallen position. He wearily drops to his knees next to her, moving some loose hair from her face and checking for a pulse. There are small slithers of blood leaking from around her eyes and mouth.

She stirs, mumbling something incoherent before struggling to open her heavily bloodshot eyes. She struggles to accustom herself to the glowing sun bursting in from the outside world.

“Jim...?” Jenny mumbles, trying to sit up but lacking in energy. She leans heavily into Stu, head loosely flopping around. He ignores her, aware that her dazed state would explain her words.

“It’s gone.” he simply replies.

“I... where is he...?” she maunders, struggling with her thoughts.

Stu takes a deep breath as he forms his response. About to begin, he looks down and realises that she’s quickly lost consciousness. Looking across the trashed room, he only now notices Erica laying there, prone, quiet, lifeless. He almost loses the feeling in his legs, dismayed that someone innocent has once again been killed.

He bites his lip as he stares at her pale complexion. Erica’s long hair is tightened around her neck so hard that it has dug through the flesh, a yellow belt to a purple waistband. Stu looks away from her cold gaze, digging for his phone and holding down the number 9 key for a second.

“Ambulance please. Number fifty five, Akerman Street, Murkwood.” He immediately hangs up. Scooping a bloody Jenny up into his arms, he leaves the room. As Stu steps over the glass once again, wincing as he cracks the shattered glass, he fails to leave bloody footprints behind.

***

Jenny is still in bed, eyes screwed shut. A sheet is tucked up over her shoulders, legs pulled up towards her abdomen and arms folded under her head. A machine periodically beeps at her side, a consistent checker for the meds dripping into her system. She rests, recuperating in her sleep after such a draining morning. Her face is riddled with small red blotches, slim scabs formed around the corner of her eyes.

Stu watches from a hard seat to her right. He returned to her side not long after admission. Initially waking on arrival, it didn’t take long for her to panic upon hearing about Erica. She quickly cried herself back to sleep, and it was then that he crept in, not wanting to make his presence known to her. He checks his watch to realise that it’s nearly seven at night - it hardly seems like ten minutes since he last checked. Then, from the corner of his eye, he spots her stirring, and quickly gets up, quickening his pace to disappear out of this four bed ward. The only other visitors, a three-member family visiting an elderly patient, pay no attention to him.

Jenny’s vision is blurry at first, the glaring yellow lights above hurting her eyes. She first wonders how long she’s been asleep, starkly reminded of the location as coldness trickles through the vein on the back of her hand. It is immediately followed by an annoying bleep. Still struggling to remember what happened at home, she looks around at the other beds, all occupied by women. Two are asleep - the other lost amidst the conversation around her.

Too weak to push herself up, her skin feels overly warm, like she had fallen asleep in the sun. Looking at her bare arms, they are blotched with pin pricks of bright red. Utterly confused, she stares out at the nurses station on the far side to see it empty. Someone will be along soon. Surely.