As I walked over to what was making the sound I passed into the back room that Benny had walked through. At first I didn’t have a clue what I was looking at, but after a few minutes I realized it was an old, scavenged radio that someone had built from various old parts and pieces. The knob had been turned towards the on position, and from the speakers came the strange sound I had been hearing. After standing and listening for a few moments, I began to make out a whispering in the background of the static like sound. I couldn’t make out any words in particular at first, but as I listened I became more aware that the whisperer was in fact speaking random words. The words were without context, yet somehow were unnerving. I couldn’t decide which one made me more worried, but they all made me uncomfortable nonetheless. It was saying words like “Death, dismember, fire, burn, catch, kill……” and so on. Soon, the random words turned into phrases. These made me more concerned than the singular words. Phrases like “With a knife, Under the floor, In the hole, In five hours……” I tried to remain calm as the unusual words and phrases poured forth from the old timey radio. Soon Benny came from behind me, startling me to attention.
“Can I help you?” He asked with a narrowed expression when he saw me looking at the radio.
“Umm no, I just heard a strange sound and came to see what it was.” I responded moving away from the radio.
He reached past me and turned the radio off, staring directly into my eyes as he did so. Then he walked back around to the other side of the desk the radio sat on, and sat down in a chair, next to an old microphone, never taking his eyes off of me. I felt very uncomfortable with the whole situation. Benny was giving me strange vibes since I just figured out he was the source of the mutterings coming from the radio. I didn’t know what to do but excuse myself from the situation. I turned towards the door I had just come from, and began to walk out when suddenly Benny asked me a question,
“Have you ever seen a dead body?”
“I’ve seen ghosts and disembodied spirits but no, never a dead body.” I responded cautiously to his question.
“Neither have I.” Then he added, “Unfortunately it’s the dead that keep us here, trapped in this place.”
“I guess…..Are you dead too, like the other townspeople?” I asked as I moved backwards toward the door, not liking the direction the conversation was heading.
“No, I’m like you, one of the prestigious members of the Bennett family.” He answered sarcastically.
“I see, well I should probably be going, they are going to miss me at the hotel if I don’t get back soon.” I said never taking my eyes off him as I went.
I didn’t know what it was exactly, but Benny had a sort of madness to his eyes. I also didn’t know what his plans were for me, but I didn’t plan on sticking around to find out. I began to turn towards the door to get out, but found the door locked. As fear began to well up inside me I spun quickly back around, only to find Benny directly behind me, leering at me with a sort of hatred in his eyes. Before I could speak he whipped out a knife the size of my forearm, now that I think of it, it was probably a machete, and held it up to my neck.
“What makes you so damn special, huh?” I’ve been here since 1953 and nothing has ever changed. No one was allowed to leave…..I wasn’t allowed to leave. Yet here you came waltzing into town on your high horse and within a month you get to come and go at will. I don’t think so.” He hissed through his teeth.
This conversation had taken more than a wrong turn. Right then I did the only thing I could think of to do. I kneed him in the groin and ran. Where I was running to I hadn’t a clue, but if I was going to survive the night, I needed to find some way out or somewhere to hide. The back room looked as if it connected to several others. So I picked the first one and ran into it. It looked like an old garage, filled to the brim with old antiques and car parts and even an old automobile or two. I, knowing that I had limited time and places to hide, picked the first place that seemed reasonable, under one of the cars.
As I flopped to the dirt and dust covered ground I could hear Benny recovering. I slid under the nasty, oily, rust covered car just in time as I heard his fast footsteps approaching ever nearer. I laid there on my stomach, holding my breath, lest it gave me away. Benny walked slowly through the room, pausing every now and again to more closely inspect a large, wooden box or a stack of tires to see if I was hidden there. All too soon he came close to where I was and in that moment I swear my heart stopped. The only thing I could see from my position was his feet as they paced to and fro around the room as he muttered incomprehensible words to himself.
In a few moments he flew into a rage, knocking down the stacks of tires, stabbing and slicing the air as the blade whistled through it, and throwing aside the old boxes of car parts in an attempt to lure me out. I knew it was now or never, if I was going to leave the room, I had to do it now. I slid like a snake to the other side of the car, opposite to where Benny was in the room, and quietly and stealthily as possible emerged from underneath and crouched where he couldn’t see me. Then, as soon as I could, I made a break for it, dashing from the car side to the door slamming it behind me and locking it behind me.
As soon as I was on the other side I could hear him fly into a shrieking incomprehensible rage. He slammed into the door, banging and stabbing at it from the other side. Luckily for me the door was thick and the lock held. Not knowing how much time I had, I ran to the door to the rest of the gas station. I tried the door once more to find it still locked. I hurriedly looked for something, anything, to either pry the door off its hinges or break the lock. I thought I had seen a crowbar near the desk where Benny had been sitting along with a tool chest of sorts.
The chest held many tools and gadgets, which one was going to be the best one for me to use to get the door was anyone’s guess. I was not and never have been tool handy. I chose the crowbar first to see if I could simply bust the door knob and lock off. I stood before the door and took a deep breath, readying myself to take a hard swing. Right as I was about to I heard Benny yell out.
“You think you’re so special, you get to go anywhere you want and the rest of us are trapped here never changing or growing old forever! Well as soon as I get out of here I’ll show you! You’ll be trapped here just like the rest of us.”
My adrenaline flow picked up even more then. I had no clue what was wrong with Benny but I wasn’t about to find out. I steadied myself and lined up the crowbar with the door lock. I raised it above my head and took a swing. With a loud bang it collided with the door’s knob. I had made a good dent into it but it held firm. I raised the crowbar once more and swung down with all my strength and with yet another bang, knocked it off kilter. I tried the door once more, still it was locked tight. I hoped the third time would be the charm. I backed up a step or two, and lined up with the doorknob, raised the crowbar up, and came down harder than I had the previous two times. As it made contact, I felt the lock and knob give way, and heard a clattering sound as they hit the floor, just in time as I heard a crashing and cracking sound from behind me.
I turned to look over my shoulder as I was running out. Benny had escaped his makeshift prison as well. With a fiery rage and madness in his eyes he looked directly at me and began to sprint forward as I ran to the entrance of the gas station. He was quick on my heels as I reached the entrance, grabbing my ponytail and yanking me backwards just as I had gotten to the front door. To have made it so far and be pulled back from all safety was a crushing blow. The only thing I could do now was fight my way out of the situation. The only thing I could think of to do was what I had been taught in a self defense class years prior. The first act of business was to get the machete out of his hand and away from us.
I turned then and grabbed the arm with the machete, twisting his arm as hard as possible in a spiraling motion till I heard the bones in his arm begin to crack and snap. He immediately let go of the machete and I kicked it as far away from us as possible. The next thing I knew he was dragging me to the floor, still holding on to my hair, one arm limp as the other was entangled in my hair. Once on the ground he let go of me and sprung towards the machete. I grabbed onto his legs, pulling him backwards towards me in an attempt to keep him from reaching it. He flung around and hit me hard, square in the face, hitting my already painful wounds. I saw black mixed with stars as it took me a second to recover. By the time I had, he had the machete back in his good hand and was holding it towards my neck. The fight was over, and I had lost.
“Ha! See there, you aren’t so special after all! No go to sleep and come back as a little doll you stupid bitch!” He said, as hatred and spittle flew from his mouth as he said the words.
As he set the blade against my neck, drawing the first small amount of blood, I only had one option left. I didn’t know what else to do, so I turned my head to face Benny’s neck and bit down as far and deep as I possibly could. The moment I did so blood and gore spewed forth coating my face and chest. He immediately let the blade go in an effort to grab his own neck to stop the free flowing blood. It was a pointless endeavor; I had bitten straight through to his jugular. He quickly began to collapse further onto the ground, blood pooling all around him and spewing in every direction he turned on his way down. In seconds, he was completely still, his eyes unmoving and lifeless.
I backed away from him, as he lay there bleeding out fully, sliding backwards towards the door. I stood then and for the first time noticed my blood stained hands as they shook from all that had just occurred. I didn’t even have to think then, I just ran. I ran away from that gas station and from what I had just done and made a break for the hotel. Things had happened too fast and I didn’t know what else to do. I just wanted to reach the safety of civilization.
I ran the span of the town to the hotel doors and began to pound on them wildly, begging to be let in. The door quickly swung open and Lilly stood on the other side, eyes wide and mouth agape at my current disheveled state. I raced into the hotel lobby and she quickly shut the door behind me. Now that she could see me in the well lit room, I heard her gasp and grab hold of me as I backed into the desk and slid down to the floor.
“Are you ok? What happened? Are you hurt?” She asked in her high pitched panicky voice.
“I…….The gas station……..Benny……” Those were the only words I could manage at the time.
I watched as her face went from concerned and scared to solemn and worried. “What did he do to you……what happened?” She said more calmly this time.
“He…..he tried to kill me……but I killed him first.” I said still shaking like a leaf.
Her face changed once again to complete shock and horror at my words. I didn’t care in that moment what she thought of me, I was just glad I was safe at last. She helped me up from where I sat and began to pull me towards the staircase. She didn’t say a word, and for that I was grateful, but part of me wished she’d say something, anything to help calm my nerves. She ushered me up the steps and into the upstairs hallway past the doll room and other rooms and into my own. She got me in the bathroom and helped me to take off my blood soaked clothes and get into the shower. I watched the blood wash off my body and hair into the drain, pooling at my feet. I scrubbed and scrubbed but no matter what I did I didn’t feel clean.
Once I was finished, she was there ready with a warm towel and new, fresh clothes. I put them on slowly and I could tell she was looking me over for fresh wounds, cuts, and bruises, which I’m sure after the scuffle between Benny and I there were more than a few. After I finished dressing she got me into bed. She left the room for a moment and came back with a cup of hot tea and more blankets which she wrapped around me securely. Before turning off the lights she looked back at me and said,
“Try and get some rest if you can. Well take care of all this in the morning. You’re safe now. Please know none of this was your fault. Benny was a very unhinged person. It always got worse after dark. I’m not surprised something happened; I just never thought he’d do something like this. Anyways, get some rest and we’ll revisit this in the morning.”
She turned the light off as she left and in the quiet dark I became aware that my breathing hadn’t slowed down any. I began to focus on slowing down my pounding heart and rapid breathing. I don’t know how long it took, but I noticed soon that my racing heartbeat had calmed and my breathing slowed, and my limbs began to grow heavy and weary from the struggle. Then all too soon the overall tiredness and exhaustion from all that had happened hit me like a ton of bricks, and I could feel myself relaxing from my previous rigidity to a comfortable lax position in the bed, my eyelids growing heavy fast and before I had time to think much about anything more, they drooped as I drifted off to dead, motionless sleep.
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