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“HM,” THE DOCTOR SAID. “I’ve never seen this before.” The stereotypical blood-curdling scream issued from the television.
Louise groaned. “Another doctor horror flick,” she muttered. “Oh, wait,” she said, her voice thick with sarcasm. “This one has a man whose head turns into a giant brain with tentacles. Awesome,” She turned off the TV.
Darkness seeped around her, enveloping her in a discomforting quiet. She hugged a pillow to her chest and peered through the dark. Rain tapped at the window and forceful winds whistled against the window panes. She hated being home alone.
Lightening flashed in the distance followed by a boom of thunder.
With a squeal, Louise ran upstairs to her bedroom. “You’re twenty-seven—you should not be afraid of the dark or storms or . . .” she gasped and ran to close the closet door. “Open closet doors.” She leaned against it.
She heard a door slam and jumped, then breathed a sigh of relief. Her husband was home.
“You’ll never believe how silly I am!” She yelled. But her husband was nowhere to be seen. “Honey?”
The bathroom light was on, and the hiss of running water and splashing came from within.
“Honey? Are you okay?” She pushed the door open slowly and screamed.
Her husband stood at the sink, running water in his hands and splashing it on his face, only, he no longer had a face. In its place, waving slime-covered tentacles, sat an oversized brain. The tentacles probed the toothbrush holder, grabbed at the roll of toilet paper, and hand towels on the racks. One of them reached toward Louise as he turned.
“I don’t feel so good,” he said. He took a step forward then fell to the ground. The brain splatted against the floorboard as it hit, the tentacles twitched, and slithered, leaving behind smears of slime. Louise screamed and backed away.
“Tsk, tsk,” a voice said. Louise jumped and looked up, eyes wide. The doctor from the movie stood at the end of the hall. A scalpel gleamed in his hand. Something large and round hung from the other hand. “Poor thing,” he said. He tossed the round thing at Louise. It landed on the floor with a thud and rolled into the light from the bathroom.
Her husband’s face stared at her, an expression of fear and shock frozen on its features.
Louise screamed. Heart pounding, she jumped to her feet and turned to run to the back door. One of her husband’s tentacles grabbed her around the ankle. It pulled her toward him. She scrabbled at the floor trying to grip something, anything, to pull herself free. She chanced a glance over her shoulder as her foot entered a gnashing maw full of teeth.
She cried in pain as the teeth gnawed on her foot. A hand stroked her hair. She looked up at the doctor as he crouched next to her.
“He’s hungry, you see,” the doctor said. “He needs,” he paused and stroked her cheek. “Fresh meat.”
