Vintage Misery: Finale (rough draft)

In ‘The Wizard of Oz’, the Wicked Witch had these horrible flying monkeys. I used to be terrified of them when I was a kid. Of all the things in the scope of my haunted world, that was the thing that scared me most. As a kid, it was hard to explain exactly what it was that scared me. It wasn’t the monkey aspect, it wasn’t the flying aspect. It was actually something about the face. That blue, stretched back, forced upon smile mingled with hollow, sad looking eyes. It looked trapped, forced into a shell, and that was what scared me. Add in the flying and it made me terrified that I, too, would be forced into that same expression. That same lifeless yet living way. I thought the flying monkey could bite me and I would turn into it too.

We call that irony.

The best way to defeat the flying monkeys, though, was my dad telling me they weren’t real, and instead telling me about the Wakefield house and the candle factory. Something that was actually real. But dad wasn’t here and now the flying monkeys 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, survival instincts were 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 brain power to answer Neil to my fullest capability 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 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 cuss, but he pinched his mouth as tightly shut as possible. He pulled the trigger again, nothing but a dull click. He shook it in hopes something would work to get it going. There wasn’t much time, I needed to get up into the house before daylight. There had to be a way to distract them, to get them out of here. Mercy then dropped the flare gun into the water, making a very loud plopping noise. The creatures shuddered and changed course, flying towards us, hitting against the wall, crawling along it like spiders and swiping out at us with gnarled, knobby fingers.

Mercy covered me without hesitation. He took the swipes and bites from the bat creatures, slowly easing us towards the ladder while he did. We fell over the rocks, falling back into the water. One of the creatures grabbed Mercy out of the water and I grabbed hold of his legs. They swarmed around him, crawling all over him. I pulled on his legs, fighting the creatures to get him back. Then a rock struck one upside the head.

He 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, and once they were all inside, one turned. It sniffed the hair, flicked its ears upwards. It 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 and pulled out the gun. He shot, hitting the creature in the head. It clung to me, pulling me, almost ripping me off the ladder had it not been for Mercy. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up. The bat fell down, hitting against the ladder and then splashing into the water.

Once the grate 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. I nodded and looked up at him, his face was covered in bite marks and scratches, I’m sure my backside was the same. I rolled onto the cold, concrete floor and took slow, deliberate breaths to calm myself down. 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 myself up again and rubbed my eyes. “I have always done this! I have always caused trouble!” I sobbed into my palms. “I am 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,” I cried.

“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 sorry for yourself, it’ll only make it worse.”

I rubbed at my eyes again. “Sorry. I’ll uhm...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 duffle bag and dragging it along the ground as my arms felt too weak.

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 set 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 or something I could use to start lopping off heads. “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 duffle 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. It wasn’t the time, though.

“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. “You have a ghost? Ghosts are real?”

“Not the time to explain, but yes.” I frowned. “Wish he was here so he could tell me where the vampires are sleeping.” I stepped out into the hallway, remembering it from the first time I was here. Beth’s ‘room’ was at the end of the hall, although I doubt that’s where she’s sleeping now.

“There’s a gas can in the duffle bag,” I told him. “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. “Easy blow torch. My mom taught me that.” I went towards the stairs. I could hear Officer Pitbull yelling outside, hopefully they weren’t aware they were here. Mercy started pouring gas around the base of the stairs while I walked up, axe in hand. I went up slowly as the old stairs creaked. Each time they squeaked or made a sound, my heart stopped beating out of fear it would alert someone.

Once I got to the top, I smelled fresh earth, even over the powerful fumes of the gasoline. I walked further in, following the scent of the earth. It reminded me of when I was young and how, sometimes, my parents had to dig up old graves. The scent of fresh earth, especially when wet, always took me 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. Inside there were mounds of rich black dirt. I stepped inside slowly, approaching the mounds as cautiously as possible. The mounds 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 moment for hesitation.

Someone grabbed my wrist and kept me from swinging. I looked back and saw Mercy standing there. 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 removed from my body all together. I struggled, trying to bring myself back, but I was being pulled further and further away.

“Alice?” Mercy said urgently. He came up 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 and I felt a voice calling to me. It 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 show. Long, coiled fingers beckoned from the darkness, begging me to join it in the cold.

My body moved, but I was not the pilot. I might as well have been miles and miles away from it.

“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, taking the axe from his hands. He struggled with me, not letting me have it. I finally wrenched it from him and my body raised it as if to strike him. I swung, and he dodged. The axe broke into the floor 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. Do not make me wait longer.” The voice continued to seep into my mind. It melted through the conscious and subconscious, becoming the only voice inside my head. I didn’t even have my own there.

Mercy hit 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 argued back.

I felt woozy, I felt slightly off balanced. Oh god, Neil was making me high. I started giggling to myself, and Mercy grabbed me, putting me into a lock. I struggled as Neil and the voice fought for control. The smoke in my mind was growing thicker and I was feeling goofier. The struggle was also making me feel 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 ran me from the room. I hit against the doorframe and flopped down onto the ground, 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 pulled inside, dragged across the floor and then the door slammed against the top of my head. I laid there in the dark, very cold room, surrounded by dirt and moss. I heard Mercy beating on the door, but I couldn’t move or respond.

Beth came out of the earth, rising up naked from the rich, old soil. She breathed, 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 earth towards me, placing her body over mine. She smiled, long dark hair falling in front of her face.

“There you are, I’ve been waiting.” She stroked my face, moving the hair away from it. She dipped down, licking blood from the bites. She moaned against me, sounding erotic and beasty 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 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. Our paths were meant to cross. So innocuous, yet so monumental.” She licked my lips then pressed a long, hard kiss to 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. But for some reason, all I could do was giggle and laugh 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.

She propped herself up upon her arms, which now 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 horrible, hideous mouth.

My body moved like a rag doll as Neil hefted me up. My head slouched back, rolled forward and my legs flopped around like the scarecrow.

“I know you hate this, Al, but I have to get you out of here.” My body threw itself against the door and flopped back down to the ground. “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 ground. My legs went solid, kicking her sharply in the stomach and sending her off me. She rolled into the pile of earth then dug herself into it.

“Where’d she go?” Neil whispered.

Erzsébet’s hand lunged out from the earth, dragging us inside. Everything became black and heavy. 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. I thought this was it, but suddenly her body arched, blowing back the dirt as she released an ear shattering scream. She threw herself through the door, shattering it. My head rolled back against the hill of dirt, watching her go into the room where her sisters were. She screamed in agony and threw Mercy from the door.

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

Mercy was struggling against Erzsébet. 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 together.

Erzsébet screamed, throwing Neil and I off her. I could feel my arms at this point, so I reached up, grabbing 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. She squeezed harder and harder around me.

“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?” She screamed at me. “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. You and I could rule this world. 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 upon me. “You’ve never once taken anything in your life seriously, Alice. You’re a drifter, a seed caught in the weed, never to be planted, never to take roots. Now is your chance! Plant yourself in me.”

Neil and I both snickered and laughed which made Erzsébet press us harder into the wall, actually making an indent with my back.

“Don’t you want to be loved, Alice?” She took on that same, sweet voice that she used as Beth. “Isn’t that what you’re searching for?”

“What do you know?” I spat at her.

Erzsébet’s eyes widened then she 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 down hard and yanking it free. It dropped to the ground, but there was an open hole in her skull. I reached inside, pushing my hand through and into her brain. Her mouth released from my neck, her body went limp and flopped to the ground.

“That’s gross.” Neil huffed.

I picked myself up off the ground, searching for the ax before she regained herself. “Where is it? Where is it?” I shrieked. I found it 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 went into Officer Pitbull, struggling with him and making him flop around and falter. All the while he continued to shoot his gun off, hitting the wall, hitting the ceiling, almost hitting me. I ducked, hitting the ground. Erzsébet was moving, her eyes twitching and rolling around in her head. She was healing, her brain smooshing back together from where I jabbed my hand inside. No wonder I had to remove the heads.

I grabbed the ax again. Standing on my knees, I managed to lift myself up. I struggled to lift the ax, my arms shook and hurt 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’s to protect here? What’s to protect in this world anyways? You don’t care about anything, only yourself. That’s why you should come with me. Let me have you and you never have to care about anything ever again.”

I wobbled, arms trembling.

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

I had seen enough death from the other side. I had seen ghosts, I had seen the phantasms, I had played in their world more often than my own. I wasn’t scared of dying, not exactly. I was scared of death, I was scared of leaving shadows behind. In my youth it wasn’t the thought of death that scared me, rather the inability to. To live on as myself and nothing, to keep wondering 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.” I pushed back. “They would beg to differ!” I swing the axe down, crushing her neck, tearing through it. I struck again, and again, and again.

Officer Pitbull fell onto the ground and everything went quiet. I sat there, breathing, shaking, dropping the ax as Erzsébet’s body withered and shrunk before me. I crawled over top of her, heading towards the stairs. I braced myself upon the railing, moving down where I saw Mercy on the ground.

“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.”

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, another room was an easy tinder box.

I then came to the foot of the stairs when I remembered Officer Pitbull. Before I set the gas on fire, I decided to check and see if he was alive. He had a faint pulse, so I carried him down off the stairs. Already the place was filled with smoke. I dragged Officer Pitbull towards the front door and I threw the lighter at the stairs. The gas lit, the fumes lit.

I got myself and Officer Pitbull out and I threw myself down upon the ground. I laid there, feeling the heat from the fire and I began to cry.

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 had spent a few days in the hospital. After which I was questioned by authorities who had come down following the incident. The cavern was being drained and bodies were being excavated. Missing people were no longer so missing, but they were still gone. Officer Pitbull still had yet to come to, and I feel bad for him because I know personally what influence Erzsébet could force over someone. Mercy was fine, he was in the hospital for as long as I was. I have never been so tired before. I suppose this would be the best time to 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 upon 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 there 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 asks. “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 took a small breath. “So, what would you like to do?”

“Good question.” He kicked out 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, going to that Mexican restaurant, Habanero. For once, I let Neil enjoy the burrito of his dreams. He earned it. He saved my life more than once through the course of all this. Even if I knew it was going to make me sick with how much he ate and how fast he ate it. 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. It was 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 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 avoid it. “I just wanted to say goodbye before I left. I know you’re eager to be getting 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 then put his smile back on. “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 starts off unsurely. “Your family need any help?”