Brent A Harris is a fellow author, a
comrade, a colleague, a man whose pen sparks with wit and glides with
elegance. He guest blogs here with a story of horror, a story written with that same pen dipped in blood...
The Intruder
By Brent A. Harris
Based on an original story idea by Ricardo Victoria
Edited by Stephen Hunt
The
knife. I need to get to the knife. It was the
same knife Beth and I used to cut our wedding cake not long ago. And
it was there, on the counter of our home… just out of my reach.
There was someone in our house. The intruder was dressed all in
black, though his face was not covered. Beth, was in her bathrobe.
Alarm screamed across her face. She was near tears. My attention was
drawn to a bruise across her left check which contrasted sickly
against her pale skin and blonde locks. I had
to get to that knife.
The
man in black drew towards me. I was caught stuck between the
microwave and toaster, unable to get to that knife. The intruder must
have felt my presence. I was frantic now, trapped as I was in the
kitchen, my wife beyond my capacity to save. But I had to do
something. I suppressed my fear and replaced it with a growing,
boiling rage.
I
burst forward, leaping through the air towards my assailant. I seemed
to hover over him. I would have collapsed down on him, if it were not
for a quick stab of white-hot pain. It crackled over my whole body. I
felt shock and then went still for a moment, my anger bursting forth,
overcoming the agony until the whole room started spinning out of
control.
The
man in black must surely have stabbed me, but with what, I could not
tell. The lone lightbulb which hung on a cord above him started to
swing wildly, spotlighting the dim room’s cheap particle-board
furniture. I swung along with it. Then, the lightbulb exploded,
showering the room in luminescent sparks while glass shards stabbed
into the yellowing linoleum.
I
felt myself suddenly drawn into the living room, static sparking
around me from the shaggy brown carpet. I tried to catch my breath as
my hand slammed against the glass of the tv set. Beth and the
intruder jumped at the noise. The soft brilliance of the static
danced across the living room as I looked outward onto the scene.
Beth
stood in the middle of the cramped room. Somehow, she had managed to
clutch ahold of her rosary beads. I saw a streak of red cut across
her forearm. The wound looked vaguely familiar to me. Then, she moved
her eyes toward the tv screen. They were wide with alarm. The man in
black approached again, this time, holding some sort of weapon—I
think—stretched out in his hands before him.
“Inside
the tv!” I heard my wife cry out. The man in black snapped his eyes
towards me. The tv clicked off. For a moment, I was lost. But I found
my way and then discovered that I was finally beside my wife. I
clicked on the light to the lamp, but to my surprise, she jumped with
fear. She had no reason to be afraid of me. Still, she looked at the
lamp long and hard for a moment… then she picked it up. It started
to flicker wildly in her hands.
“He’s
here!” She cried out again, “inside the lamp!” The man in black
began speaking, although I did not understand the words he said. I
only wanted to get to Beth, but an unseen force prevented me from
reaching her.
Beth
took the lamp and raised it above her head. She threatened to throw
it down. That was our lamp, our wedding gift, just six months ago. Up
until a few days ago, we had a matching set. They were the nicest
things in the house. Beth had broken one. I remember the cut on her
arm, her falling onto it as if pushed. Now, she threatened to bring
that second lamp crashing onto the floor. As she
stood there, with the lamp overhead, the intruder opened a book that
had been held tightly in his hands and began to chant again. I looked
on in confusion.
A
swirling vortex opened beneath me. I felt its pull. I used every
ounce of my strength to remain free. The man in black continued his
assault on me, his words growing louder, more focused and commanding.
Sweat soaked into his starched-white collar. Every electrical device
in the house flickered on and off, in rapid succession, triggering
alarms and noise, and battering Beth and the man within a cacophony
of light and sound. But that did not stop them.
Beth
brought the lamp down in one smooth motion, sending it cascading into
fragments across the carpet and that was it, the vortex had me. A
whirlwind of rage swirled around, sucking me into the tempest below.
But I couldn’t let her go. She is my Beth.
She doesn’t belong to anyone but me. I know
my anger sometimes got the better of me, but I loved her. I won’t
harm her. Not ever again.
I
didn’t mean to hit her the other day. I didn’t mean to explode
into rage.
“I saw you talking with that guy again!” I yelled, shoving her into the lamp. It broke as she crashed into the floor, a piece of porcelain cutting through her arm. I didn’t mean to do it, just as I know she didn’t mean to race into the kitchen as I chased her. She didn’t mean to grab that knife—I know she didn’t—as it slid into my heart just as it had sliced through our wedding cake. It was all an accident. I can forgive you Beth, just don’t make me leave you!
“I saw you talking with that guy again!” I yelled, shoving her into the lamp. It broke as she crashed into the floor, a piece of porcelain cutting through her arm. I didn’t mean to do it, just as I know she didn’t mean to race into the kitchen as I chased her. She didn’t mean to grab that knife—I know she didn’t—as it slid into my heart just as it had sliced through our wedding cake. It was all an accident. I can forgive you Beth, just don’t make me leave you!
“I love you…I love
you,” I wailed as I was sucked down into the bottomless pit. The
last thing I saw was the look of relief on Beth’s face as I
disappeared into the depths below.
© Brent A Harris
All rights reserved
Brent A Harris is featured in the fantasy short story anthology Tales From The Tavern, available here. He is also featured in the new horror short story anthology Tales From The Mists from Inklings Press. The latest anthology is available here. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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