Jim was about to get into bed when he realised that he was not alone in his room...
There was a great grave shadow lurking in the corner of his room.
He hoped it was just his imagination creating objects, or maybe the moonlight rebounding from the chest of draws. But then the object moved...
And no he was not dreaming! He had pinched himself twice! He was wide awake for sure!
Eventually the object started to move towards him.
What was this thing? This unfathomable fiend slowly taking shape in front of him?
He started to shake.
Jim prayed:
'Please let it be a dream! O please dear lord make it be a dream I beg you!'
But O no! Alas for poor Jim for it was not a dream.
The writhing shadow started to talk using this vile, rasping voice:
'Shall I turn the light on?' it said.
'I don't know if that is a good idea,' Jim replied. 'I am scared. I think I prefer things the way they are, and left in the dark...'
'But without light I cannot see you properly,' said the fiend in the corner of the room. 'I am going to turn in the lights so that we can both enjoy the sight of each other.'
So the light turned on, and for the first time in his life Jim beheld the horror of the fiend...
Few words formed in his brain that were adequate to describe the the outrageous form of the fiend. If Jim was perfectly honest with himself, no words were up to the task of explaining or deciphering the sheer scale of the horror that confronted him that night.
The thing was clothed in a single flow of dark fabric, and from this fabric there appeared a head, and arms, and maybe something that could be called legs - the head of the fiend itself was situated atop a body that resembled an animal native to the coasts of Florida and Brazil, the Belgium explorer Huey would tell you that the animal the fiend resembled was known to natural science as the Manatee. But it was to the creatures head that Jim's eyes were drawn finally, at its spindly grey hair, its recessed jaw, and the uncanny droop of its forehead. One eye on its head was larger than the other, and the eyelid of the left eye was twisted by some bizarre deformity affecting a bulge that rather resembled a spike, or a horn. And as the fiend moved its copious waves of floppy flesh undulated like a jellyfish.
Jim didn't know it at the time but this fiend was actually Mrs Rits, wife of Mr Rits the owner of the Rits Hotel and the same gentleman he had met and had an interesting conversation with about cotton trees the previous day.
'I have been waiting for you,' she said to Jim. 'Long have the nights been without you to warm the side of my bed.'
Jim shook with horror. 'I beg your pardon?' he returned. 'Do we know each other? Maybe you have mistaken me for somebody else? I really think there has been some mistake here. Can you please leave? I have an important meeting tomorrow.'
'O there is no mistake,' Mrs Rits replied. 'I know you and you know me. You would think I would forget the times we shared together? And why would I leave? I have waited so long for your return.'
She had obviously mistaken Jim for somebody else.
Jim was really starting to panic.
'Look maddam can you please leave. You can't invade my privacy like this,' said Jim.
He didn't know how she had managed to gain access into his room, because the door was still barred by pieces of furniture.
Jim had a little think to himself and then it struck him - Good gosh! Maybe she had entered through the bathroom window? He had left it open before his walk.
So it was his fault this foul woman had entered his room!
'I remember the last time we talked,' she continued. 'What was it you said to me? Wait for my return! That is what you said. I will leave the window open to thee, my love. Like a play written by the hand of Shakespeare, you said to me, soft what light burn in my heart when the window is open yonder - I wait there for thee, my love.'
'I think there has been some confusion here,' said Jim.
'I think it is you who is confused,' said Mrs Rits. 'Maybe you are tired. Maybe you forget. Maybe some sleep will revive your thoughts. Then you will remember all that we have been through, our journey together, our passionate adventure in the streets of Fenwick. When last we met you told me with your own voice that you loved me. You said so yourself, and I will never forget it. The last time we met we made love ten times in this very room. And we shall do so again, you and I; we shall make passionate love like never before. I do not care if my husband finds me in your arms, for he cannot snuff the hot flame of love that burns in both our hearts - the flame that kindles us as one.'
Jim heard this and understood that he was in a very bad situation. The woman was quite clearly mad, and had obviously confused him with a previous lover, somehow. It was either his appearance, or she was drunk, or on illicit substances, whatever, no amount of explaining or pleading could convince her that Jim was not her man.
So he was left with no choice.
He had to find an escape route.
There seemed to be only one way out, and that was the same way that he came in:
The bathroom window!
So he made a run for it, and hurried through the window as fast as a ferret down a rabbit hole!
He was back on the streets again, but the nightmare was far from over.
Mrs Rits had gotten out of the hotel and had somehow managed to corner him on the East Street.
She waddled towards him, arms waving, her vast waves of sagging flesh wobbled like the blubber of a beached whale. Jim was literally dealing with a Walrus in human form!
Did Fenwick have a zoo by any chance?
'There can be no escape from you my love!' she cried. 'We are destined to be together, to spend the rest of our lives in one another's arms!'
Mrs Rits was a very large woman and almost blocked the street left to right, but Jim was just about thin enough to slid by her vastness, and once on the other side he ran for it. On merit to her copious girth Mrs Rits found it very difficult turning around so Jim was given a few minutes to be able to put a good amount of ground between him and his assailant.
'That walrus beast won't get me!' he said in his mind.
He made a couple of turns, and then eventually found the entrance to the Short Tailed Fox drinking house.
Once inside the pub he ordered a drink (he sure deserved one) and pulled his coat up to cover his face took a seat in the corner.
'Hopefully she won't find me here,' he said to himself. He looked at the front door and it looked about large enough for one average sized person to walk through. "She is so big she won't be able to get inside," he thought.
Relishing his success he allowed himself a little chuckle.
Victory was his!
'If I need a sleep I will just slip here on this chair,' Jim said. 'I am sure the owner won't mind so long as I pay. They might even have a room I can stay in. I think I am going to be safer her that in that crazy hotel. It just seems a lot nicer here. That Mr and Mrs Rits are just too much for me!'
Just as Jim was starting to think that the nightmare was at an end, a police officer walked into the pub and walked over to his table. He checked Jim over and then asked him to stand up.
Having little choice Jim obeyed.
'Hold out your wrists son,' said the police officer.
'I beg your pardon?' Jim returned.
He was understandably confused.
'I need your wrists on display. I have got to cuff them.'
'Why?'
'I will explain when we reach the prison. But for now no questions. Just hold out your wrists and let's get this business done.'
'Aren't you even going to read my rights?'
'Don't try my patience sonshine,' the police officer returned. 'Now let me cuff you or things here will start to get nasty.'
Before Jim knew it he was being cuffed and led into a police van.
A few minutes later they were driving into Fenwick prison.
Jim was taken out of the van and led inside a cell.
Once inside prison Jim met DC Will Peddler.
Like everyone else he met in Fenwick DC Peddler talked to Jim like they were old acquaintances, like he was someone Jim should already know.
'You have got quite the reputation in town eh?' said the constable. 'But we have got you this time, Jim. Little rat that you are, cornered and trapped! But you won't fight back. You can't. You know the game is over. Harassment is a very serious charge, don't you know? Could land you ten years.'
'Ten years?'
'Here in Fenwick we do things differently.'
'You don't need to tell me that,' Jim replied.
'Less of the sarcasm sonshine,' DC Peddler shouted. 'You have got no power here. You are just a crook. Scum. That's all you are. Human filth. And I am going to make sure you get what you deserve. O yes. It's over for you.' DC Peddler rubbed his fingers together and chuckled. 'We have finally bagged us the biggest rat in town and it's about damn time too! I think we are going to squeeze ten years out of you. How does it feel to know that your life is over, Jim?'
'Can you at the very least tell me what it is I am supposed to have done wrong?'
'You were seen in public in the company of Mrs Rits, Wife of the respected hotel proprietor Mr Rits. Could you tell me what you were doing holding another man's wife in your arms?'
'I think you need to ask her that. I was in her arms not the other way round thank you very much. And it was a very uncomfortable position to be in let me tell you! I would not want to relive any of it!'
DC Peddler heard this and sneered. 'That's how it is going to be is it? You are going to play the victim card hey?' he said. 'Very nice for you. But it is not going to work. As I told you already the game is up for you sonshine. We have a written allegation from Mr Rits that you have been harassing him and his wife for two days now. This is a very serious business you have gotten yourself tied up in, Jim. This is going to get you locked up. We are going to have to detain you for the night at the very least.'
'Detain me? What does that entail?'
'We are going to be locking you up with the big boys,' said DC Peddler. 'You are going to be having some company tonight Jim. Ha! They are going to love you inside. Serial harasser of defenceless innocent woman. When the big boys find out what you have been up to they are going to be having some fun with you, Jim. One night in Fenwick prison will teach you. You are in for a big old shock. Most people who spend the night here in this place rarely manage to see it through to the next day.' DC Peddler chuckled once again. He was obviously enjoying very much sweating down poor and confused Jim.
Jim explained that Fenwick was still part of the United Kingdom which meant that he had rights, but DC Peddler wasn't listening to any of it:
'No one is going to defend a serial harasser. You are going to get locked up! I am going to find you a nice cell, and some nice friends to share the night with. Ha! The lads are going to love you, Jim. Caged animals always appreciate a slab of fresh meat!'
Just at that moment a rookie officer entered the cell and asked for word with DC Peddler in private.
They were gone for about five minutes, leaving Jim to sweat some more. When the DC returned he was cursing under his breath and with a sad heavy sigh told Jim that he was free to go!
'It's your lucky day again, Jim. Someone, who I cannot name, has just told one of my officers that you spent the whole night with them having drinks. Looks like you have got some friends looking out for you after all. How convenient hey? No matter. There will be other days. We will get you, eventually, Jim. You can't keep escaping us all the time.'
And so they let Jim go, and released him from the cell.
Jim was glad to be free again, but then a dreadful thought occurred to him. Was he not already a prisoner? A prisoner of Fenwick itself!
He returned to the subway and discovered that there were no trains in operation... the railway and the only way off of the island evaporated into the distant mists beyond. The grimness of his situation was all but apparent, crystal clear like a lucid dream:
He was trapped in Fenwick!
(All spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are intentional - the author 😆)
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