Alone at last, I lay in the tub with the hot water over my body. I watched the distortion the water made in my eyes while staring at the ceiling. The familiar burning in my chest from lack of oxygen, increased. Next would be the pain. Would I be able to go farther this time? I released a few bubbles from my mouth and watched their short trip to the surface, before exploding at the top. Just a little more and I would be free. No more games. No more paranoia. The burning tingled and flared inside my lungs, sending panicky signals to my brain. I tried to ignore them. I will not listen to them. I want out and this will be the way.

I couldn’t do it. I popped my head above water and gasped for the good healing feeling of air. Better luck next time, I guess. I sat up and just breathed. I wanted to cry but I punished myself so many times before not to. Instead, I just sat there with a million thoughts going through my mind. Something scratched at the door. I quickly covered my naked crotch, expecting someone to barge in. No one entered. Shadows at the threshold shifted.

“What do you want? I’m taking a bath,” I said to whoever was on the other side. There was no annunciated reply, just an angry grunt. Confused, I lay back down still gripping my lower part. Over the edge of the tub I could see it wasn’t human. Something sluggishly made its way in. I didn’t get a good look at it because I pressed myself close to the tub floor as I could go, the water drowning me again. A few seconds later it came right up to the tub.

The thing, whatever it was, had a flashlight looking device and scanned the contents of the porcelain tub. A blue light swept the water’s surface. The thing was short, stocky and looked very barbaric. Its skin was mutated as if it had been burned. The head had the same look of a pumpkin. Its small black beady eyes followed the rays of the blue light back and forth. What the hell was it? What did it want? I began to get nervous, thinking my time was running short, besides the fact that I had no air. I thought in the next motion it made; I would be snatched from the water and killed. This had to be a dream. After a few more seconds, and the burn returned to my chest, the thing left.

Satisfied with what it came for, I was alone again. Or so I thought. Carefully and ignoring the pain, I lifted my head and got some air. I tried gasping quietly, but my body was greedy.

I waited to see if the pumpkin head would return but it didn’t. Scared and baffled, I climbed out of the tub fast as if the water was now lava. My wet foot gave way under me and I almost cut my giblets off on the edge. Grabbing a towel, I crept to the wall by the door and listened. I heard nothing. The tick of the bathroom wall clock was louder than I ever heard it before. I dried myself off and got a fresh change of clothes I left on the toilet seat. I took a deep breath and tried the handle. Cracking the door, I peered out to see that the hallway was empty. Was this a joke someone was playing on me? I opened the door wide and stepped out, creeping down the hall. The house was silent. I could hear something outside, a muffled scream? I went to the kitchen window just in time to see someone crash their car into a light pole. One of those things was on the hood, taunting the driver. On impact, there was a blue light laser shot at the driver from the pumpkin-thing’s flashlight. The driver vanished and the monster flew off the hood onto the pavement.

“Holy shit!” I said aloud, shocked by the show.

A lady ran across the street, screaming at the top of her lungs. Another pumpkin monster was chasing her. The one that landed on the road after the crash, started to move again. Thinking it might come after me next; I ducked away from the window and headed for the basement where I kept my shotgun. I was tall enough for my head to reach that stupid pipe above the stairs. In the rush, I completely forgot about it. My head hit it hard and everything went black. That’s all I remember from that.

The next day I tended to my head which throbbed. We were out of pain killers so I decided to bring out my composition notebook and write down my latest nightmare and how I felt about it. It was not until I left the basement, that I found out it was all real. With no one around, I was beginning to think that maybe I had successfully drowned myself and this was the afterlife. What else to do when you are all alone for eternity?

The situation made me curious so of course, I couldn’t just sit around. I made a small pack of things and left the house, in search of anyone else that might be around.

To be Continued…

Editors note:

Please feel free to contact Mickforhire at his e mail address to express your thoughts and comments on his first chapter. Its mickforhire@gmail.com

Thanks, Dwedno.