Orpheus - Haunting the Dead.pdf - Dice

HAUNTING THE DEAD
RICK CHILLOT
and they watch as the tiny body is pulled into the
darkness.
Blue Palace Hotel, Basement, Old Furnace Room
September 20, 11:59 p.m.
Victoria walks a slow circle around Ed, who stands
motionless in the center of the room. She holds her
hands in front of her chest, palms out. The eyes in her
hands blink and look to the left, the right, the left.
“Any last words, darling? I wouldn’t advise using that
special voice of yours, it will just make me angry.”
Ed glances at the floor. Flat shapes are arranging
themselves at his feet, like a shadow: legs, torso, arms,
head. “Is that for me?” he asks.
“Your new exterior,” Victoria answers. “A child
from below will use you for its skeleton, you see. But
don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of company. The anguish
in this place has reached a fever pitch. After
tonight’s symphony of death and murder, the gates will
be wide open and thousands of the children will be
born here.”
“And does that include your child, Victoria? The
one you murdered in its crib?”
She stops walking. “You—you don’t know….” She
is standing in front of him, and her three pairs of lips are
vibrating like harp strings.
“That’s the real horror, isn’t it?” Ed spits the words
out like they’re poison. “It’s all just Halloween decoration
around here, compared to what you’ve been
carrying in your head since that day.”
The highest of her three mouths opens, and the
voice that comes out is like breaking glass. “SEAL HIM
IN.” The shapes on the floor quiver. One flies toward Ed,
and it wraps around his leg from ankle to knee. An armshape
encases his left forearm. Ed falls to the ground,
nauseous. Victoria is laughing.
( 282 )
6