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This writing was accepted for publication in the 84 page perfect-bound issue... cc&d magazine (v214) (the November 2010 Issue) |
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Order this issue from our printer as an ISSN# paperback book:  or as the ISBN# book “Don‘t Tread on Me ”:  |
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She Feeds
Kris A. Threadgoode
“Turn right up here, Honey. This road’s my driveway.” said Ariane as she reached over and put a hand on Steve’s knee.
The driveway didn’t look like much more than a cart path. The tall grass in the middle brushed down the underside of the Taurus a bit more than he would have liked.
‘This is probably wreaking havoc on my car. Why the hell am I out here?’ Steve thought to himself. Ariane moved her hand to begin massaging his thigh. ‘That was it.’ He smiled.
Steve thought back at how easy it had been to get to where he was going. He’d started the evening just sitting in Joe’s bar just the same as he did every Saturday night. This time it’d been different as he’d only been in about an hour when she arrived.
Ariane had just moved into the area and was looking for some fun, as she’d told Steve while they’d sat and shared a round. She was single, lonely, and wouldn’t mind if he came home to keep her company on this particular night.
It seemed to Steve the house was miles back along the twisting path between the black walls of forest that the headlights didn’t penetrate. ‘I’m just idling along. That might be why this is taking so long.’ He thought some more.
They rounded a bend and a house slid into view. It couldn’t have been more than a single bedroom dwelling covered in weather-beaten clapboard siding. There wasn’t much of anything around the house other than overgrown patches of weeds.
“This is my home.” said Ariane as she tugged at Steve’s shoulder.
Not needing to be invited twice, he turned and pulled her into a tight embrace, mouth entwined onto mouth in an interminable series of kisses as passion ripped through the pair.
Steve cupped one of her breasts and squeezed gently. He immediately felt a squeezing of his own as a hand probed the crotch of his pants.
‘Woof... She knows what she wants, and brother, is she gonna get it.’ Just as he was thinking this, Ariane pulled away.
“We should go inside where we can be more comfortable.”
Steve turned off the engine. “Sounds good to me.”
“Hold on, there, stud. I want to go in first and tidy up a bit. Wait here... okay?”
“Sure. But don’t keep me here too long.”
Steve watched as Ariane climbed out and walked to the house in front of the car lights, observing every wiggle. When she’d entered the door of the house and turned on the lights, he shut off the car’s lights and engine.
He sat there thinking about the night to come and focusing on his own personal excitement, savoring the moment. Thoughts raced around in his head and he chased them trying to keep track of just one idea of how he could make the best of the sex that was sure to follow. It wasn’t long before he lost track of how long he’d been sitting or of the fact that he had closed his eyes.
Steve opened his eyes and looked around. He couldn’t have dosed off for more than a second, but somehow it seemed darker. He strained to hear anything in the silence to justify being startled awake, but there was nothing. He was just about to settle back and close his eyes again when a hand thumped against the side window not inches from his face.
Steve threw himself toward the passenger seat as a twisting sensation shot through his gut. He almost shouted aloud, but noticed the hand belonged to Ariane and the rest of her was standing behind it.
“No more sleeping for you. It’s time to go inside.”
It was quiet outside the car, and much like the inside there was not even the tiniest breath of a breeze. Clouds blotted out the stars so that there was no light either other than the dim light that reached out from a window and the open front door of the house.
Ariane entered the house first and Steve followed closing the door behind.
When he closed the door, he felt odd somehow as if every hair on his body stood at attention.
He was going to ignore it as an odd chill when he noticed the doorknob was much higher on the door than where it had been on the outside. In fact, the door itself seemed to be much larger. He turned to ask Ariane about the strange door when noticed the entire room seemed to be very large.
“What the...” Steve started to say but stopped short at the tiny sound of his own voice. He tried again to speak after clearing his throat, but the same child’s voice issued forth.
He looked first at his hands and then as much of the rest of him as he could see without a mirror. “This is impossible. What did you do me?”
A raspy sounding voice replied, “You have become as you are because this is how you are.” An old woman stood in frayed brown robes at the far end of the room. Steve realized with a start that this was Ariane. The beautiful woman he’d been necking with just a bit before was now bent and hobbled. Her face was lined with deep creases but her eyes were no less dark and piercing.
“How long will I be like this? I don’t want to a kid.”
“You will stay as you are for time being. Come. It is time to sit down for dinner.”
“Dinner? It’s midnight out. Who eats dinner at midnight?”
“Nonsense, child. How can be midnight when the sun hasn’t even set. Look for yourself.”
The room was made primarily of wood; it had a hardwood floor, bare walls and ceiling, and log support beams open to the room. All of it seemed very old and worn. The few simple pieces of furniture looked like they escaped from the back room of an antique shop or maybe a garage sale somewhere. The entire house smelled of kerosene, candle wax, and moth balls. There was nothing electric to be seen not even a bare light bulb. An unlit kerosene lamp sat on small table near the window.
The window was shrouded in yellowed lace curtains and Steve stepped closer so he could see outside. A soft orange light pushed in through and around the edges of the curtains. Past them, he could see that it was sunlit outside.
It was the view outside that startled him yet again. The house stood on a small incline as he could see a field of wild grass stretching out to a road far in the distance. Beyond that were the dark shapes of a factory complex that stood practically on the horizon itself. There wasn’t a single tree to the horizon.
“Where are we? What is this place?” Steve backed away from the window almost tripping over a footstool.
“No time for that now, child. It is time for you to sit down to dinner.”
Before Steve could protest further, Ariane took hold of his wrist in a tight grip and pulled him into the next room. There a round table also sporting a faded wooden finish was laid out with place settings for two. She pulled out the nearest chair and Steve sat.
‘This has to be some kind of dream. Someone had to have spiked my beer.’ He picked up a fork and drove it into his left hand. Instantly, he was rewarded with a shock of pain that so surprised him it caused him to cry out.
Ariane was moving toward the kitchen when she stopped and looked back. “Are you that hungry as well that you’d turn cannibal on me. If you wait just a moment, child, I’ll be back with our meal.” Smiling, she walked through a swinging door into kitchen.
Steve stared at the empty plate in front of him trying to find some sanity in this mess. Being rendered a child frightened him somehow. He wasn’t stranger to being dominated by a woman. ‘My ex was never this bad.’
A clap of thunder sounded. Then a second that seemed to grow in intensity rather then end. The dishes on the table started to rattle.
Steve slid out from his chair and ran to the front room to look out the window. In the distance, there was a dark brown column rising on the horizon. The rumbling ceased, but the column rose and began to spread out across the sky.
He heard the shuffling of feet as Ariane entered the room. “Oh no... It’s finally happened.”
Steve again backed away from the window, but this time managed to catch a footstool behind one ankle and tip sprawling on the floor.
Outside it grew dark. There was the sound of rain pelting the roof, first in slow fits then growing stronger and louder. Along with the pounding of rain a soft hissing sound began to grow in volume.
As Steve sat up, he noticed drops had begun to fall from the ceiling and strike the floor causing it to generate little wisps of smoke. A drop fell upon his ankle causing it to itch and then burn as if someone were putting a cigarette out on his skin.
“We have to get out of here! Change me back, quick!”
“There’s no time. Besides... Where would we go?” Small streamers of smoke rose from the old woman’s shawl.
It was a barely a moment before there was drops falling from the ceiling to look like it was raining indoors. The hissing on the roof had increased to a roar as if a great fire was raging above. The air had a metallic tang and Steve’s nostrils burned with each breath he took.
He slid underneath a wrought-iron and glass coffee table and watched as Ariane began to increasingly smoulder. She screamed and waved her arms as she hobbled around in a small circle. Pieces of her shawl and robes began to fall away from her and land in smoking piles on the floor.
Even under the table it didn’t not remain dry as Steve struggled to breathe. His entire backside began to feel like there were insects crawling on his skin.
Ariane’s shrieks dropped to gurgling moans as her body sagged to the floor. Blood streamed off of her and mixed with the bubbling wetness that was already eating at the cracks in the floorboards. She soon ceased moving.
Steve tried to hold his breath to escape the air that tore at his throat. His back and legs were beginning to burn, the pain already becoming more than he could bare. He forgot about his breath as he thrashed about and took in a new lung-full of pain. He screamed.
It was dark and there were no sounds. Steve no longer felt any pain as he sat on what felt like a cot with a blanket bunched at his feet.
He put his hands to his face and touched what was still the face of child. Tears welled at the corner of his eyes. ‘When will this ever end? Why can’t I wake up?’
Steve sat for time and did nothing as it was too dark to move about. The silence did little to erase the shock of watching Ariane die. As the image of laying under the table came to his thoughts again and again, he felt a burning twisting in his abdomen. He tried to think about something else, anything that would distract him, but nothing helped for long. It was impossible to forget being afraid as long as he was still a child.
After the fourth or fifth loss of the battle within him, Steve let a scream escape him. As soon as the sound of it died away, he heard the first sound since he’d awoke into the darkness. Someone was moving closer as the floorboards of house creaked nearby.
The room gained light as a door opened. Steve shielded his eyes with a hand as he grew accustomed to the lantern.
A voice spoke, “It’s okay, child. You’re better now.” It was woman’s voice, much softer than the old woman.
‘The one who’d died.’ Steve began to cry.
The woman set the lantern on a small table in the room and moved close to the bed. She took Steve in her arms. “There, there, child. It’s not so bad as that. We’re both alright. See?” The woman was Ariane, but a different version yet. This one was much younger than the old woman, but older than one he had picked up in the bar. A bar that seemed like a different world, far away.
Steve felt strangely comforted being in this woman’s embrace. After a few moments, the torrent of emotion left him and he worked toward putting himself back together.
Some minutes later, when his sobs had subsided, Ariane let go of him. “It’s late. You should sleep.” She put her hands to his shoulders and gently laid him back into bed. Then she pulled the blanket up and tucked him in. “Sleep well.” Ariane leaned in and kissed his forehead. Then she picked up the lantern and left the room closing the door behind her.
Steve wanted to fight the whole situation. He wanted to shout the woman down, but the fact was he really did feel tired. He closed his eyes, breathed deep, and it seemed only moments before he drifted in slumber.
Bright sunlight met his eyes as he opened them. The nausea met Steve next as he tried to look around. Last of all, the pain in his head as if someone had hammered a nail in his forehead while he slept reached him along with the realization he was sitting at the wheel of an automobile.
His eyes focused enough that he could see the car was parked at the end of a road in the forest. He moved his tongue around the parched surfaces of his mouth for a moment as realization caught up to what he was seeing. His hands were those of an adult again.
‘It was just a dream after all. A really wacked out, kick you in the rear dream, but just a damn dream.’ He opened the car door and climbed out into day.
Looking at his watch, he saw it was around noontime. Steve straightened his clothes. ‘Guess I should go and apologize for falling asleep in the car. Hope she’s not too pissed at me. I might even get a home cooked lunch if I play it smooth enough.’
Steve walked past the front of the car and walked toward the house looking toward his goal. He then felt as if the world were sinking out from under him, his forehead tingled and sparks ran across his vision.
There in front of him was not the small house with the clap board siding he’d seen the night before. Weeds, tall grasses, and a few saplings of trees poked out of the center of an old stone foundation where some time ago a house had stood.
“Haven’t seen you around here before. How about I buy you a drink?” said John trying to keeping his voice deep while talking above the general noise level of the bar. He had to lean in close to make sure the she could hear him. This gave him a double bonus, he got wind of her perfume and snuck a minute peek the curve of her breast that pushed out the top of the tight blouse she was wearing.
John couldn’t believe how lucky he was to meet up with a woman this finely shaped in a dump like George’s Tavern in a small dirt town this far out of the normal pace of life.
Yet here she was. Dark wavy hair of a medium length hanging over pale skin. Dark eyes that had searched the room when she first entered as if looking for someone. Red velvet blouse with fancy lace borders and a black mini covering very little of legs encased in fishnet stockings. It seemed to John that he had hit pay dirt as this women had to be out to kill tonight. It all came down to the pickup line.
The woman turned and looked at John. For the briefest moment, there was darkness in the look she gave him, but just as quick, her features softened. A smile grew from glistening ruby lips.
“I love to join you for a drink. By the way, my name’s Ariane.” She turned herself on her stool so that she faced more towards John. That was the break he was looking for.
He took her through the various levels of small-talk that he used at times like this. Set up to show a little bit of his personal side, without telling to much. No need for a life story as he had no intension of her hanging around beyond this night.
It was about an hour later that he felt comfortable enough to put in the first nudge for the goal. “I have a question. Why would a woman as beautiful as you want to hang around in a place like this?”
Ariane sipped at her rum and coke; the straw held ever so daintily between her lips. She let go of it and spoke. “There’s no more need for cheap lines. If you want to go home with me, just say so.”
