Orpheus - Haunting the Dead.pdf - Dice

HAUNTING THE DEAD
RICK CHILLOT
reality, she thinks ruefully. She finds the vacuum
cleaner and switches it on. The noise drives the cries of
the infant from her mind. Just barely.
Blue Palace Hotel, Room 317
September 20, 9:25 a.m.
Ed walks into the bathroom, wondering if something
is wrong with his vision—the strangely muted
colors of the carpet, the walls, the furniture. He regards
his hands, turning them over and back again. His skin
seems oddly colorless. His fingernails are so washed-out
they’re practically gray.
The faucets of the bathroom sink won’t turn. Ed
leans forward, his hands against the counter, and lets
his chin drop to his chest. He considers going back to
bed. There is a flicker of motion. Ed turns, but the room
is still and silent. He notices the shower curtain. Isn’t
it moving, shaking just a little bit? He stares, but
nothing happens. Ed steps closer. And there: a ripple of
movement, down near the floor. Something. Ed takes
hold of the shower curtain and tugs.
A hand slips out from beneath the curtain, and an
arm, stretched over the side of the tub. Blood runs
down its fingers, falling onto the tile.
“Jesus!” Ed shouts, backing away quickly, but his
hand still clutches the shower curtain, and he pulls it
aside as he moves. Ed sees the body lying in the tub, a
naked woman, water up to her waist, her back slumped
awkwardly against the wall, her head tilted backwards
and her half-open eyes fixed toward the ceiling. Her
forearms have been sliced open like gutted fish. Streaks
of blood have congealed on her arms, and blood swirls
in the bathwater like black ink. There are three bands
of blood on her left cheek, where she’d pressed her
fingers to her face.
“Oh, Jesus. Jesus God.” Ed backs farther away from
the tub, feeling behind him for a wall, a towel rack,
something, afraid to turn his back on the bloody tub.
The floor tilts beneath him and he nearly falls to his
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