Vintage Misery: Finale (complete)

When I was a kid, I used to be terrified of the horrible flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz. Of all the things in the scope of my haunted world, it was hard to explain exactly what it was about those things that scared me so much. It wasn’t the monkey aspect, it wasn’t the flying. It was actually something about their faces, the stretched, blue forced smiles and hollow, sad-looking eyes. They looked trapped, forced into a shell, and that was what scared me. It made me terrified that I, too, would be forced into that same state, lifeless yet living. I thought the flying monkeys could bite me, and I would turn into one too.

The flying monkeys, however, were defeated by my dad telling me they weren’t real, and instead telling me about the Wakefield house and the candle factory. But Dad wasn’t here, and these flying monsters were unbearably real and terribly close. Staying underwater was the best option, at least for as long as we could hold out.

My chest was starting to burn from lack of oxygen, and survival instinct was kicking in along with the panic. Why was I doing this? Why was I risking my life for a town that didn’t even matter to me? I didn’t have the brainpower to answer Neil when he asked. But maybe ‘because’ was all I had. Was that enough?

Mercy and I swam to the edge of the water, coming out together behind some rocks. The bat creatures were swarming, diving, hitting the surface of the water and then bouncing back up to join the dark fury above. Mercy slowly took the flare gun out of his pocket and reloaded it with a new canister. His moves were slow and purposeful, making as little noise as possible. He took aim and pulled the trigger. Nothing.

He wanted to curse, but he pinched his mouth as tightly shut as possible. He pulled the trigger again, and there was nothing but a dull click. He shook the flare gun. There wasn’t much time. I needed to get into the house above before daylight. There had to be a way to distract the monsters and get them out of here. Mercy dropped the flare gun into the water, making a very loud plopping noise. The creatures changed course, flying towards the nearest cavern wall, climbing down it like spiders and swiping at us with gnarled, knobby fingers.

Mercy covered me without hesitation and took the scratches of the bat creatures, slowly easing us towards the ladder while he did. We fell over the rocks, back into the water. One of the creatures snatched Mercy out of the water, and I grabbed hold of his legs. They swarmed around him, crawling all over him as I pulled his legs, fighting the creatures to get him back.

Then a rock struck one creature upside the head. Neil threw another rock, striking one right between the eyes. “Come and get me, you sacks of shit!”

They hissed and dropped Mercy. I caught him, stumbling backwards into the water as the bats’ attention became focused on Neil. He kept chucking rocks at them, leading them further away from us. “What’s happening?” Mercy rasped, his face covered in bite marks.

“Ladder!” I shoved him towards it, making sure he got onto it first. Neil led the bats back through the corridor, but as they piled out, one turned. It sniffed the hair, flicked its ears upwards, screeched and flew directly towards me. It locked onto my back, biting my shoulders, neck, and scalp. Its sharp fingers dug into my sides, but I couldn’t scream and alert the others.

Mercy got to the top of the ladder and pulled out the gun. He shot, hitting the creature in the head. It clung to me, almost ripping me off the ladder, but Mercy grabbed my hand and pulled me up. The bat fell, striking against the ladder and then splashing into the water.

Once we were both in the cellar and the grate behind us was closed, Mercy put his arms around me and held me. “Are you okay?” he shuddered.

I was shaking, still terrified to make a sound in case there were any more pursuers. I nodded and looked up at him, his face was covered in bite marks and scratches, and I was sure I looked as bad. I rolled onto the cold concrete floor and took slow, deliberate breaths to calm myself. Mercy sat there, knees up, arms braced against them. His eyes stared at nothing. “This is all my fault,” I whimpered.

“How?” Mercy asked.

“It just is!” I sat up again and rubbed my eyes. “I’ve always done this, always caused trouble!” I sobbed into my palms. “I’m a magnet for this… this…”

I slapped myself a couple of times before Mercy stopped me. “Stop,” he commanded me softly. “Just stop.”

I slouched down and sniffled. “I keep moving so nothing will stick. I just go from place to place to place, hoping I don’t find anything. I got my parents hurt so many times.”

“It’s not like you want these things to happen, is it?” Mercy squeezed my arms gently. “It’s not something you control.”

“But I attract these things! There must be a reason…” I began to blubber again. “I’m so sorry, Mercy.”

“It’s Luke,” he said. “You don’t have to keep calling me Mercy.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“And it isn’t your fault. I don’t know anything about what’s happened to you, but I can tell you that no one goes out into the world asking for anything like this. Hell, I didn’t even think this was possible. Stop feeling guilty. It’ll only make it worse.”

I rubbed at my eyes again. “Sorry. I’ll… I’ll stop crying in a second.”

“I’ll start then,” he said gently.

I smiled at him. “Thanks, Luke.”

I stood up slowly, taking the duffel bag and dragging it along the ground, too weak to lift it. Mercy picked it up for me, throwing it over his shoulder nonchalantly. “I’ve got it. So, what have we got to do?”

“Hopefully we can find something that’ll cut heads off,” I muttered. “All we’ve got is that gun for now.” We went up a flight of stairs that led into the back of the kitchen. I stood there for a minute, hearing voices outside, including Officer Pitbull.

“Do you know how many were out there?” Mercy asked, standing close to a window so he could listen.

“Five, maybe.” I kept my voice low. “But who knows how many they actually have under their control?” I went through the kitchen, looking for a knife. “Hopefully, once we kill them, they’ll return to normal.”

“What if it kills them?” Mercy’s voice quivered.

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

Mercy set the duffel bag down and started looking too. He opened a closet and he pulled out an axe. “The blade is still sharp.” He turned and offered it to me. “Better than a kitchen knife, hopefully.”

I took the axe into my hands. “Lucky I know how to use one of these.” I tried to make a joke to lighten the situation, but it felt wrong as soon as it left my mouth.

“What happened in the cavern?” Mercy asked again. “What made them all change their minds? It was as if they started chasing something else, but I couldn’t see anything.”

“I have a friend,” I finally told him. “A ghost named Neil.”

Mercy’s eyes widened. “Ghosts are real, too?”

“It’s not the time to explain, but yes. I wish he was here so he could tell me where the vampires are sleeping.” I stepped out into the hallway, remembering the layout from the first time I was here. Beth’s ‘room’ was at the end of the hall, although I doubted she was sleeping there now. “There’s a gas can in the duffle bag,” I told Mercy. “Start pouring it out down here. Once we’re done upstairs, we’ll light this place on fire.”

“Why do you have hairspray in here, too?” he asked.

I simply shrugged. “It makes an easy blowtorch. My mom taught me that.” I went towards the stairs. I could hear Officer Pitbull yelling outside, and hopefully the police weren’t aware we were here. Mercy started pouring gas at the base of the stairs while I walked up, axe in hand. The old stairs creaked as I climbed, and each time they made a sound my heart stopped.

Once I got to the top, I smelled fresh earth, even over the powerful fumes of the gasoline. I walked past the landing, following the scent. It reminded me of when I was a kid and how my parents sometimes had to dig up old graves. The aroma of fresh dirt always took me back to those scenes. Most kids probably smelled that and thought of gardens or lawn work.

The rich, loamy smell came from a door on the right, and inside there were mounds of black dirt. I stepped in slowly, approaching the mounds as cautiously as possible. They were moving, as if breathing. I scooped away some of the earth, and inside there was Yvie resting. Her face looked like a death mask. I took a breath and raised the axe. There was no time for thinking, no chance for hesitation

Someone grabbed my wrist and kept me from swinging. I looked back and saw Mercy standing there, and fear flowed through me like ice water. He took the axe from me, and I stumbled away from him. His eyes were glassed over, his expression unreadable. He raised the axe and brought it down.

Yvie’s head rolled off the mound of dirt and next to my feet. I kicked it away and looked back at Mercy with relief. “You scared me,” I mouthed to him.

Mercy nodded and motioned to the next pile. I went to sweep the dirt away, but my body suddenly went cold and stiff. I tried to move, but it was as if I had been detached from myself. I struggled, trying to bring myself back, but I was being pulled further and further away.

“Alice?” Mercy said urgently. He came closer to me. “What’s going on? Your eyes look weird.” He reached out and grabbed my shoulder. I could feel it, but somehow it was far away from me. “Alice!”

My vision started to fade. A voice whispered to me, directly into my ear, even though there was no one around. I felt so drowsy, so desperate for sleep all of a sudden, but the voice kept whispering to me. “One is enough,” it said. “Come now. Further down the hall. I’m waiting there for you.” The voice was cold in my head, a breeze from a wide-open window filled with ice and snow. Long, coiled fingers beckoned from the darkness, begging me to come closer. My body moved, but I was not the pilot. I might as well have been miles and miles away.

“Alice,” Mercy said again, raising his voice just a bit. He shook me, and my body responded by slapping his hand away. I moved towards him to take the axe from his hands, and he struggled with me before I finally wrenched it away from him and raised it to strike him. I swung, and he dodged. The axe split the floorboards, and my body pulled it out again to swing.

“Alice!” Mercy grabbed my hands, fighting with my body. “Stop it! What’s going on with you?”

“Hurry. Come to me. I am waiting to embrace you, to love you. I have waited far too long to find someone like you. Don’t make me wait longer.” The voice melted through the conscious and subconscious, becoming the only voice inside my head. I didn’t even have my own there.

Mercy punched me in the gut, and while I could feel it, my body didn’t respond. It just kept trying to bring the axe down. The axe was taken from my hands, and Neil was suddenly there inside my mind. “Get ahold of yourself.” My head filled with thick smoke. “Don’t get lost!”

“Leave us,” the other voice hissed.

“Fuck off! This is my territory,” Neil shot back.

I felt woozy, off-balance. Oh god, Neil was making me high. I started giggling to myself, and Mercy grabbed me, putting me into an armlock. I struggled as Neil and the voice fought for control. The smoke in my mind was growing thicker, and I was feeling goofier and also very ill. I was so concerned all this time that perhaps Mercy was going to come under the control of the vampires, I didn’t even think to consider myself.

My body yanked itself away from Mercy, kicking him in the shin and running for the door. I hit the doorframe and flopped down onto the floor, laughing. “Get up, Alice!” both Neil and the voice shouted.

The door at the end of the hallway opened wide, striking against the wall with a loud bang. I was dragged across the floor and pulled inside, and the door slammed shut against the top of my head. I lay there in the dark, cold room, surrounded by dirt and moss. I heard Mercy beating on the door, but I couldn’t move or respond.

Beth emerged, rising naked from the rich, cold soil. She exhaled, dirt falling from her lips. The sweetness she once exuded was gone, and now she looked like the terrifying predator that she was. She crawled down the pile of earth towards me, placing her body over mine. She smiled, her long, dark hair falling in front of her face. “There you are. I’ve been waiting.” She stroked my face, moving the hair away before she dipped down, licking blood from the bites. She moaned against me, the sound erotic and beastial all at once. Her lips pressed against my skin, then her tongue. “Girls like you don’t show up often,” she moaned into my ear.

“Alice!” Neil’s voice faded in through the smoke.

“I knew I wanted you right away,” Beth breathed. She clutched my chin, moving my face so I stared up at her. “Passing by you that evening was fate. So innocuous, yet so monumental.” She licked my lips then pressed a long, hard kiss into me. “I’ll need you more than ever now that Yvonne is gone. You’ll be just as powerful as me one day.” She began unbuttoning my top. “And you can carry me through the ages.”

I grunted, wanting her to stop touching me but having no control over my form. All I could do was giggle despite my discomfort. The smoke Neil left inside me flooded through my limbs, making me feel more warm and numb than like a ragdoll.

Beth smoothed her hand down my chest. “Alice is such a childish name. I’ll give you a new one.” She kissed the top of my breast, and then I felt her teeth there. “You may call me by my true name - Erzsébet.”

I felt her teeth sink into my flesh, and then my fist collided with the side of her head. “I’ll call you roadkill, you sick fuck!” Neil’s voice came from my lips.

Erzsébet propped herself up upon her arms, which looked weirdly splayed, longer and grotesquely sinewy. Her mouth snapped open, revealing the extra row of teeth she possessed. She screamed at us, showing off her hideous mouth.

My body moved like a rag doll as Neil hefted me up. My head fell back, then rolled forward, and my legs flopped around like the scarecrow’s. “I know you hate this, Al, but I have to get you out of here.” My body threw itself against the door, then flopped back to the floor. “Work with me, Al!”

Erzsébet’s body slid across the floor, propelled by her long, gangly arms. She lunged at us, tackling us back to the floor. My legs solidified, kicking her sharply in the stomach and throwing her off me. She rolled into the pile of earth, then burrowed into it.

“Where’d she go?” Neil whispered.

Erzsébet’s hand lunged from the earth, dragging us inside. Everything went black as her hand wrapped around my throat, my arms were weighed down by the earth. This was it. I was either going to suffocate, or she was going to drag me down into hell. I waited, feeling her body move closer to mine. ISuddenly her body arched, throwing off the dirt as she released an ear-shattering scream. She threw herself through the door, splintering it. My head rolled back against the hill of dirt as I watched bolt to the room where her sisters were. Then she screamed in agony, and threw Mercy back through the doorway.

“He must have gotten the other heads! Smart boy! Now let's get you upsy-daisy!” I rolled down the mound of dirt, flopping onto the floor below. Neil hefted me back upright. I slumped and fumbled, but I was beginning to feel my fingers again and move them on my own. “That’s my girl. Come on, Al. You’re better than this!”

Mercy was struggling against Erzsébet, but her strong arms had him locked as he tried to fight for the ax. Neil and I threw ourselves on top of her, grabbed her around the neck and pulled her off Mercy.. “Swing, batter!” Neil yelled.

Mercy took the chance, hitting Erzsébet in the head with the ax. He tried pulling the ax out, but when he did, in came Officer Pitbull. He tackled Mercy, throwing him back down the stairs.

Erzsébet screamed, throwing Neil and I off her. I could feel my arms at this point, so I reached up, grabbed for the ax handle and held on for dear life. She swung us back and forth, shaking us ferociously. Her body seemed bigger than before, and her hand wrapped easily around my waist before she squeezed.

“Admit defeat. It will be easier when I make you mine!” Erzsébet snarled. She wrenched me off the ax handle and slammed me against the wall. “Do you know how lucky you are?! Despite my legs, despite the way the world once viewed me, I became the most powerful woman in it! You… you can be so much with me. Don’t you want to feel that strength? That power? After being so weak, being so aimless and lost, don’t you want to know your path for all of eternity?”

I still felt slightly stoned, so I had to laugh. Erzsébet’s eyes narrowed at me. “You’ve never once taken anything in your life seriously, Alice. You’re a drifter, a seed caught in the weed, never to take roots. Now is your chance! Plant yourself in me.”

Neil and I both snickered, which made Erzsébet press us harder into the wall. I felt the bumps of my spine begin to dent the plaster. “Don’t you want to be loved, Alice?” She took on the sweet voice that she used as Beth. “Isn’t that what you’re searching for?”

“What do you know?” I spat at her.

Erzsébet sneered. She lunged at me, putting her teeth into my neck and biting. I grabbed hold of the ax handle jutting out from the top of her skull, pulling hard and yanking it free. It dropped to the floor, but there was an open hole in her skull. I reached inside, pushing my hand through and into her brain. Her mouth released my neck, and her body went limp and flopped to the floor.

“That’s gross.” Neil huffed.

I picked myself up, searching for the ax before she regained herself. “Where is it? Where is it?” I shrieked. My hand closed around the handle and raised it to swing at her, but there was a gunshot. Officer Pitbull came to the top of the stairs, bloodied, bruised, and grinning like a sadistic clown.

“Oh, for fucks sake! We should just kill him!” Neil lunged out of me, causing me to fall over as I couldn’t use my legs just yet.

Neil disappeared into Officer Pitbull, struggling with him and making him flop around. All the while he continued to shoot his gun off, hitting the wall, hitting the ceiling, almost hitting me. I threw myself on the floor.

Erzsébet was moving, her eyes twitching and rolling around in her head. She was healing, her brain coming back together from where I jabbed my hand inside. No wonder I had to remove the vampires’ heads. I grabbed the ax again. Rising to my knees, I managed to lift myself up. I struggled to raise the ax, as my arms shook and ached like they were broken.

“Why do you want this, Alice?” Her voice spoke into my head again. “Why do you want to kill us? What do you have to protect here? In this entire world? You don’t care about anything, only yourself. That’s why you should come with me. Give yourself to me, and you never have to care about anything ever again.”

I wobbled, arms trembling.

“There’s nothing here for you.” Erzsébet’s hand stretched out to me. “But there is everything with me.”

I had seen enough death. I had seen ghosts, phantasms, and played in their world more often than my own. I wasn’t scared of dying, not exactly. But I was scared to leave regrets behind. To live on by myself with nothing else to live for, to keep wandering with no purpose. I didn’t want that. I wanted to die having lived. I wanted to die and never come back. I didn’t want to linger for centuries on end.

“My mother…” I strained as I fought against her. “My father. They would beg to differ!” I swung the axe down, crushing her neck and tearing through it. I struck again, and again.

Officer Pitbull crumpled to the floor, and everything went quiet. I sat there, panting, shaking, dropping the ax as Erzsébet’s body withered and shrank below me. I crawled over her, heading towards the stairs. I braced myself against the railing, descending to where I saw Mercy on the floor. “He’s still alive,” Neil said gently.

I took a lighter from my pocket. “Can you get him outside?”

“I can, but what about you?” Neil asked. “Are you going to be able to get out okay?”

He moved towards me but I stepped aside. “I have to make sure,” I told him. “It has to burn. Please. Get him out of here, okay? I’ve got this.”

Neil grabbed me. “You get out too, okay? If not - well, I’ll find you.”

I nodded. “Get going.”

Neil slipped into Mercy’s body. He turned to look at me, then ran. I went back into the kitchen, taking out one of the cans of hairspray. I held the lighter before it, spraying and setting the curtains on fire. I walked through the entire house, lighting everything I could on fire. I set Beth’s room ablaze, then another room.

I came to the foot of the stairs when I remembered Officer Pitbull. Before I set the gas on fire, I knelt to check on him. He had a faint pulse, so I carried him down off the stairs. Already the place was filled with smoke, and I dragged Officer Pitbull towards the front door before I threw the lighter at the stairs. The gas ignited. I heaved myself and Officer Pitbull out and threw myself on the ground. I lay there, feeling the heat from the fire as I began to cry.

Many hours later, I sat there at the bus station, waiting for my bus to come in. I was holding my bag to my chest, looking out down the road. I leaned back, gazing up at the sky where the clouds were thin and streaky against the sky. “So, where are we going?” Neil asked.

“I’m going home,” I told him. “I think I’ve run away for long enough.”

Neil nodded, following my line of sight into the sky. “Yeah.”

I’d spent a few days in the hospital, after which I was questioned by the authorities. The cavern was being drained and the bodies were being removed. Missing people were no longer so missing, but they were still gone. Officer Pitbull had yet to come to, and I felt bad for him because I knew personally what influence Erzsébet could force over someone. Mercy had been in the hospital for as long as I was. I’d never been so tired before, and I supposed this was a prime opportunity to just go home. I could rest there.

“Will we go out again?” Neil asked.

“I’m not sure.” I straightened my back, sitting erect rather than leaning. I turned towards him, giving him a smile. “What do you want to do?”

Neil got a confused look on his face. “What do you mean? You’ve never asked me that before.”

“Haven’t you ever wanted to… I don’t know, move on?” I asked. “Is being stuck with me really what you want?”

Neil pursed his lips and shrugged. “I don’t know. I never really knew what I wanted. Aside from eating and getting high, but…” He slouched and stared at the ground. “I’ve never really thought about moving on. It scares me.”

“You don’t want to stay around here, do you? It’s scary here too, obviously.” I held my hand out to him. “I’m not a kid anymore. I can part with you now.”

A soft smile appeared on Neil’s face. “Why do you wanna get rid of me now? You wanna run away with that cop?”

“Not even close.” I turned my body completely towards him. “I realized that my biggest fear in this world is being in it forever, and I can’t keep you here. It’s not fair. You deserve to move on, go to the other side and find some rest.”

“But what if that’s it?” he asked. “What if I pass on and it’s nothing? Worse yet, what if it’s boring?” Neil’s eyes went up to the sky. “I don’t think I’m ready.”

“Well, should you ever change your mind, you don’t have to worry about me.” I lean back on the bench. “I’m not the boss anymore.”

“I never really thought of you as my boss,” Neil murmured. “You were always my friend. I knew that.”

I smiled to myself and inhaled the cool air. “So, what would you like to do?”

“Good question.” Neil swung his legs. “Well, there is one thing I can think of.”

I gave him the eye. “I think I know.”

We left the bus station, straight to that Mexican restaurant, Habanero. For once I let Neil enjoy the burrito of his dreams. He’d earned it. He saved my life more than once through the course of all this. Even if I knew he was going to make me sick by gorging as fast and hard as he did. Even the little buzz he gave me by possessing me wouldn’t save me from that level of nausea and stomach cramps.

“There, happy?” I was already holding my stomach. I felt like I was an overstuffed teddy bear getting ready to rip at the seams.

“Yeah! That was awesome!” Neil said triumphantly.

“Let’s get back to the bus station then,” I grumbled. I was going to make some bus driver very miserable, I could feel it.

A car pulled up along the sidewalk. “There you are!” Mercy came out from the driver's side. “I went looking for you at the bus station.”

“Must have just missed us,” I sighed. “I made Neil a promise.”

“He shaved,” Neil giggled.

Mercy furrowed his brow, deciding to ignore Neil’s comment. “I just wanted to say goodbye before I left. I know you’re eager to get home.”

I noticed his backseat was packed with boxes and suitcases. “Looks like you are, too.”

“Not home exactly,” he sighed. “I have a few places I want to go before I get back there - if I go back there. My mom will probably blow a gasket when she finds out I quit being a cop,” he chuckled.

“I say let her. Has she ever had to chop off vampire heads?”

Mercy looked queasy. “Let’s not bring that up.” He made a face, and then his smile returned. “Maybe if we’re headed in the same direction.”

“It’ll be more fun than the bus,” Neil shrugged.

“I’m headed to Colorado,” I told him.

“So am I. Hop in.” He got back into his car, and I took the passenger seat. We drove off, leaving that town behind. “So, uh…” Mercy started off awkwardly. “Your family need any help?”