Suspense Magazine July 2013

curiosity killed the cat”
“Sure,” James answered.
“And do you find it to be true”
The man’s brow rose and his eyes opened more.
“Never gave it much thought,” James replied. “I suppose
so,” he added in a snotty tone becoming aggravated.
“Why do you think it was created” the man inquired.
“How do you think it was started Obviously, it had to begin
from somewhere…probably through observation. Wouldn’t
you agree” The man suavely returned the attitude with a
grin.
Not the philosophical type, James gave the question no
active consideration and simply looked on blankly shrugging
his shoulders.
The man raised a withered hand, snapped two fingers
and pointed behind James. James turned to look. The hall
had been transformed, changed and completely the opposite
of when James came through. Paintings were exchanged with
newly depicted ones and the thresholds now each held a horrible
looking beast, much worse than the ones he had been
with in the first hall. As each gawked, low growls, screams
and cries filled the air.
“Like I said,” the man began cackling, “it’s all a matter of
perception.”
James turned back toward the man and his eyes fell to
the nameplate. It now read deviL rM.
The black leather chair squeaked as the man leaned back
laughing louder and fear flooded into James when he saw
the man’s lower half was that of a goat. He turned and fled
back down the hallway past the dreadful creatures with no
concern whether they were reaching out. The man’s laughter
echoed down the hall after him.
“Want to know what the RM stands for” the man called
out.
James didn’t care and concentrated on being surefooted.
“It’s for Resident Master!”
Rounding the corner, hundreds of various voiced laughter
thickly filled the air, echoing from wall to wall, impelling
his ears and chasing after him. The prior creatures were gone
and James focused on the end wall.
Drawing near, he lowered his stocky shoulder like a fullback
would, determined to break through the concrete block
barrier and back into the morning from which he came.
His shoulder collided and he cried out loudly when it
popped sideways out of the socket. Momentum slammed
his face into the hardness, chipping most of his front teeth
and breaking an upper cheek bone before brutally deflecting
backwards and landing on the floor in an unconscious heap.
James opened his eyes and blinked a few times trying to
eliminate blurriness. The pain in his shoulder was terrible
and his mouth tightened when he winced. Jagged points of
what was left of his teeth scraped against his bottom lip as
he grimaced, feeling the dried streaks of blood that had run
from the corners of his mouth and down from his nostrils
crack with the movement.
Looking up he hazily saw shadowed shapes standing
above, surrounding and looking down at him.
After a few more blinks, features started gradually coming
into view. It was the creatures from the thresholds, with
the bespectacled little man at his head smiling widely with
uneven and grotesquely-shaped teeth.
“Shall we answer your question now” the man grinned
wider as horns broke through the skin of the man’s forehead
and wormed stubbly out like a growing weed. “Your soul was
destined and you can’t tell me that you didn’t know You had
your one warning…your one chance. Something I always
allow…a warning if you will. Something I do for every destined
soul and maybe something more than a little game I
play. After all…there should be some sort of fun involved…
right”
The creatures chortled profusely as the man looked away
around the standing perimeter before looking back down.
“You were allowed back out. But just as curiosity and the
cat, you stepped right back in, now didn’t you Remember
the growling dog You could have easily turned away and
headed in the opposite direction. But NO! You stood firm, all
uncaring with malicious intent. Remember Of course, no
need to feel bad about it now. After all, you’re no different
than most, choosing to continue along the identical path until
it’s far too late. Should I apologize for the trickster in me
I think not because it’s what I do.”
The man’s voice grew deeper and he straightened, still
gazing downward.
“I trick souls. So, do you still want to know where you
are”
The fright in James’s face answered the question for him
and the man noticed.
“I assumed as much.”
Rooted and frozen in realization, James could only hope
it was a dream and wanted to cry out, awaken himself from
the horror if it was, but he couldn’t seem to utter even a peep.
The man’s eyes flashed bright red as he wickedly smiled
and raised a crooked finger to his lips, “Shhhhhh.”
Apprehensive with eyes wide, James looked back as the
creatures stopped their hilarity one-by-one and reached
down. James felt their grip and his voice let loose a tremendous
shriek before going black.
When he awoke, his shoulder no longer hurt, his mind
seemed perfectly clear and an eerie calmness lingered
through his body as if it wasn’t really there. Looking down,
he watched an expensive business suit wearing man come
ambling through a white clouded haze and grow increasingly
perplexed as he stared down the hall. James listened intently
to the drooling creature’s claws clacking almost in perfect
unison with the clock’s ticking. Somehow he knew that the
both the skeletal character and shadowed knife wielding man
was watching, too.
When the man noticed the creatures his eyes grew wide
and disbelieving.
James wanted to call out…to tell the man to turn around
and go back and never return. But the tight noose he dangled
from wouldn’t allow a single syllable and just as the man
peered up at James, the clock began chiming midnight. ■
30  Suspense Magazine July 2013 / Vol. 049