Read Online FEAST OF THE FEAR by Mark Edward Hall - Free Book Online
Authors: Mark Edward Hall
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afraid.”
“ I know. I’m glad. That puncture wound in your side is infected. I can smell the decay. You know how you got it?”
He shook his head.
“ I do.” She crooked her finger again in that odd way. “Come, I’ll show you.”
“ I don’t know if I can.”
“ I think you can.” She turned and began moving down the tracks. He watched her go. In some strange way he did not want to lose her. He was lonely. Yes, her appearance was unpleasant but at least she was someone to talk to. And she hadn’t tried to hurt him.
He began moving after her. He saw her far down the tracks, green and ghostly against the approaching dawn. His side ached beyond pain. His body felt like it was on fire. No matter, he wanted to catch her, so he upped his pace wincing with each step he took.
She stopped and turned toward him. “Hurry,” she called, then turned back around and continued on.
“ Wait,” he said. “Where do these tracks lead?”
“ They don’t lead anywhere,” came her wistful reply.
They walked for what seemed a very long time. By the time she left the tracks and headed down into the woods the sun had begun to rise. He followed.
A little further on he realized that he’d come this way before, perhaps on several different occasions, for he crossed over a swampy area that looked familiar and he saw several sets of tracks. When he compared his shoe print to a particularly well preserved specimen he was convinced.
Christ, he thought. I’ve been walking in circles.
Presently he began to see that areas of the forest were scorched. He wondered if there had been a recent fire. Up ahead in a large clearing the demon-woman stopped. When he caught up to her he saw the wreckage of a medium-sized jet aircraft, twisted and blackened by fire, and realized that the clearing was only there because the aircraft had taken out trees upon its contact with the earth.
“ Well, at least that answers the question of how I got here,” he said to himself. “Must have been in an airplane crash.” But the more he surveyed the wreckage the more he realized that no one could possibly have gotten out of that mess alive.
“ Now you get it, don’t you,” said the woman.
“ Yes,” he said. “I’m beginning to see.”
“ But you still don’t know why, do you?”
He shook his head.
“ Let me refresh your memory. We were on our way to Lake Tahoe from Los Angeles. Or rather you were. You didn’t know I was on board. It was then that I confronted you with the affair.”
“ Affair? I don’t understand. Who are you? Who am I?”
“ You see that ring around your neck?”
He reached up and touched it.
It’s all yours now. You own it. . .
“ You never would wear it on your finger. Instead you put it on that chain and you’d tuck it under your shirts. I guess you were ashamed. I don’t know. Why would somebody marry a person they were ashamed of? Maybe for money, huh?”
“ No,” he said, backing away.
“ But I knew the moment you began the affair. You thought I was stupid? I could smell her on you. You were going to leave me for her and I couldn’t allow that to happen.”
He was beginning to remember now. It had been just the two of them on the plane. He and Daphne. But she wasn’t supposed to have been there. She’d snuck on and had waited in the aft section until they were airborne. He was supposed to meet his lover in Tahoe, and he wasn’t just planning to leave Daphne . . . he and his lover were going to . . . kill . . . oh, God, could he really have been that heartless? They were going to make it look like an accident. That way he’d have all her money. But somehow Daphne had found out. When she’d come up behind him holding the gun to his head he knew it was over. No amount of explaining had been enough to quell her anger or change her mind. Her intent was to take them both down in a blaze of glory.
“ You remember what happened next, don’t you Jack?”
“ Is that my name?
“ I know. I’m glad. That puncture wound in your side is infected. I can smell the decay. You know how you got it?”
He shook his head.
“ I do.” She crooked her finger again in that odd way. “Come, I’ll show you.”
“ I don’t know if I can.”
“ I think you can.” She turned and began moving down the tracks. He watched her go. In some strange way he did not want to lose her. He was lonely. Yes, her appearance was unpleasant but at least she was someone to talk to. And she hadn’t tried to hurt him.
He began moving after her. He saw her far down the tracks, green and ghostly against the approaching dawn. His side ached beyond pain. His body felt like it was on fire. No matter, he wanted to catch her, so he upped his pace wincing with each step he took.
She stopped and turned toward him. “Hurry,” she called, then turned back around and continued on.
“ Wait,” he said. “Where do these tracks lead?”
“ They don’t lead anywhere,” came her wistful reply.
They walked for what seemed a very long time. By the time she left the tracks and headed down into the woods the sun had begun to rise. He followed.
A little further on he realized that he’d come this way before, perhaps on several different occasions, for he crossed over a swampy area that looked familiar and he saw several sets of tracks. When he compared his shoe print to a particularly well preserved specimen he was convinced.
Christ, he thought. I’ve been walking in circles.
Presently he began to see that areas of the forest were scorched. He wondered if there had been a recent fire. Up ahead in a large clearing the demon-woman stopped. When he caught up to her he saw the wreckage of a medium-sized jet aircraft, twisted and blackened by fire, and realized that the clearing was only there because the aircraft had taken out trees upon its contact with the earth.
“ Well, at least that answers the question of how I got here,” he said to himself. “Must have been in an airplane crash.” But the more he surveyed the wreckage the more he realized that no one could possibly have gotten out of that mess alive.
“ Now you get it, don’t you,” said the woman.
“ Yes,” he said. “I’m beginning to see.”
“ But you still don’t know why, do you?”
He shook his head.
“ Let me refresh your memory. We were on our way to Lake Tahoe from Los Angeles. Or rather you were. You didn’t know I was on board. It was then that I confronted you with the affair.”
“ Affair? I don’t understand. Who are you? Who am I?”
“ You see that ring around your neck?”
He reached up and touched it.
It’s all yours now. You own it. . .
“ You never would wear it on your finger. Instead you put it on that chain and you’d tuck it under your shirts. I guess you were ashamed. I don’t know. Why would somebody marry a person they were ashamed of? Maybe for money, huh?”
“ No,” he said, backing away.
“ But I knew the moment you began the affair. You thought I was stupid? I could smell her on you. You were going to leave me for her and I couldn’t allow that to happen.”
He was beginning to remember now. It had been just the two of them on the plane. He and Daphne. But she wasn’t supposed to have been there. She’d snuck on and had waited in the aft section until they were airborne. He was supposed to meet his lover in Tahoe, and he wasn’t just planning to leave Daphne . . . he and his lover were going to . . . kill . . . oh, God, could he really have been that heartless? They were going to make it look like an accident. That way he’d have all her money. But somehow Daphne had found out. When she’d come up behind him holding the gun to his head he knew it was over. No amount of explaining had been enough to quell her anger or change her mind. Her intent was to take them both down in a blaze of glory.
“ You remember what happened next, don’t you Jack?”
“ Is that my name?
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