Pain and Punishment [FICTION]

Welcome to your punishment. Imagine if you will that you are to be punished for every lie you tell. What would be the worst possible punishment? Would it be looking at the faces of the those who suffered for your lies? Would it be hearing your own voice spouting such untruths? Could we develop a punishment more insidious and fitting? Or has one already been devised by someone who couldn’t take falsehoods to heart anymore?

~

“Don’t worry, darling, I’ll be right back,” Roy tipped one corner of his lip up in that heart melting way he had.

Henny smiled back at him and though her heart didn’t fully believe his reassurances, it beat out the drumbeat of the lovelorn. She watched him walk away as sadness settled into her heart, calming its percussion. As his car roared out onto the street and disappeared into the distance, sadness gave way to disappointment that he could still make her feel this way. 

“Why am I so stupid?” She asked the empty air.

“You’re not stupid. You just haven’t reached the point where you want to do something about all those lies,” a voice cackled in her ear.

She jumped back and turned to face the speaker—her elderly neighbor. She forced a smile onto her face as she took in the scrawny woman’s wild grey hair and black sack of a dress.

“Hello, Janice, I didn’t realize anyone was here.”

“Too focused on that fool of yours. I know,” she grinned showing surprisingly straight teeth. “Might be about time to teach him not to tell lies, particularly such bad ones.”

Henny shrugged uncomfortably, rubbing her bare arms as a chill ran through her. “I think I need to get back inside.”

“As you wish, my dear, but I am right next door if you ever get tired of being lied to.” She patted Henny gently on the shoulder and hobbled down the stairs.

The heels of her shoes clacked loudly, making Henny question why she hadn’t heard her until she spoke. As she watched the older woman make her way slowly back to her house with her dark dress and silvered hair blowing in the soft breeze, every whispered warning to beware the witch next door rushed back into her mind. She shook it off and headed back into her house. Janice had been nothing but kind and helpful to Henny and her little family. She even forgave their dog digging up her prize tulips, refusing to accept money or help to replant them. The other neighbors just hadn’t bothered to get to know her. And witches aren’t real. She glanced over her shoulder one more time after repeating these reassurances in her mind, but she bit her lip a little as she realized Janice had disappeared without her door ever creaking open.

~

A few days later, Henny found herself on Janice’s porch. She hadn’t heard back from Roy until this morning when he called to ask her for a few bucks because he was running low. He called from her front step and rapped on the door until she opened up and handed over what little money she had. She plastered on a smile as he left a hint of a kiss on her cheek. Inside she was seething as the hint of someone else’s perfume wafted off of him in waves on his way back out the door.

As her door creaked open, Janice smiled sweetly at Henny, inviting her inside. She glanced around, curiously. Thick burgundy curtains were pulled back from the windows to allow light to pour into the room. A recliner sat in the middle of the window, with a cat perched regally on either arm like tiny gargoyles soaking up the sun. Off to one side, a loveseat nested between two bookshelves filled with worn tomes and crystals.

“Would you like some tea, dear? Or something stronger?” She offered as she gestured toward the loveseat and wrinkled her nose, “I saw your young man leaving like his tail was on fire.”

“No. I don’t think I could drink anything.” Henny looked down at her hands, feeling her shame rise forcefully to her cheeks as she avoided the second topic.

Janice reached out to pat her hand as she settled down beside her, “He is the one who should be unable to look a person in the eye. We have all had young, foolish love.”

As she raised her eyes to meet Janice’s, Henny felt a warmth filling her stomach as if she had accepted that drink. It gave her courage to ask, “But what do you do when you start to think that love isn’t good for you?”

“Teach them a lesson.”

Henny’s eyes widened as Janice took her hand and helped her up from the couch. She remained silent as the neighbor led her into a tiny back room where only candles lit a small altar. She tried to pull away, but Janice’s grip proved inhumanly strong.

“Just let me do one small thing for you. I don’t like how that man treats you.”

She took Henny’s other hand and pulled her into a circle she had drawn on the floor. As they stepped into it, a gust of wind swirled around them. Janice began mumbling strange words quickly under her breath. Henny held her breath and closed her eyes tight, unsure what else to do. Her lungs began to burn and her eyes popped open as the last words left Janice’s mouth.

The older woman patted her hand again and lead her back to the living room, where the cats observed them both warily before closing their green eyes again.

“I think I’m ready for that drink,” Henny croaked.

~~~

At first just hints of words echoed through the room. Then they coalesced into phrases and sentences in his own voice that he recognized for he had repeated them as often as he needed to in order to keep Henny content to wait for him and take care of him.

“I heard you”

“I have only ever loved you”

“You need me more than I need you”

“They didn’t have my check ready today”

“You know you’ll never do better than me” 

Then the dust swirled around his feet and each lie rose up like a hurricane being birthed by the ocean. As if changed by the mere thought of the beach, it turned to sand, grinding away at his skin as it swirled around him. The words grew louder and more familiar phrases joined them. With each new lie echoed from his guided tongue, the swirling increased until he disappeared inside it. His screams drowned out the lies, yet still they came back to his remembrance as sand sloughed off his skin and his streams echoed through his deafened ears. At last, he found solace in unconsciousness.

~~~

When Roy awakened, familiar walls assured him he was home. The dingy sheets of his own small apartment held the sweat of his night terrors but no blood. When he reached up to his face, it seemed intact though the skin burned as if exposed to too much sun. He took a breath of relief and stood up from his bed, searching for his pants in the clutter on his floor.

“I’ll go to Henny. She’ll tell me everything is alright,” he reassured himself as he raced to the door.

As he drove to her house, he put the top down on his convertible despite the chill in the night air. By the time he arrived, he had the tousled windswept look that he knew melted her heart and other areas he cared more about.

He rang the bell. Her soft footsteps approached the door and pointed his most winning smile at the peephole.

“It’s late, Roy. Go home,” she said through the door.

“But you are my home, baby. I missed you.”

He heard her sigh, but the door didn’t open. “I can’t do this anymore, Roy. Go home.”

“I told you. I am home. Let me in.”

He thought he heard her determination waver, but he wasn’t the sort to risk it where a fool woman was concerned. He fished in his pockets for his keys. Carefully selecting the one she had entrusted him with and putting it in the lock. It didn’t turn.

“Baby, my key isn’t working.”

“I changed the locks. I can’t listen to anymore of your lies.”

“What lies?”

The door opened a crack and she peered out at him, so he could see her red-rimmed eyes and the knowledge deep inside them. “You know what lies.” She hissed and started to close the door.

He wedged his toe in the door and leaned his weight into the door until the chain strained and both wood and metal squealed a warning, “Come to your senses and let me in.”

“Go away. I don’t want to see you again,” Henny gasped as she pushed harder against the door.

“Young man, I would do as the young lady says and not come back,” a raspy voice turned him round

The overall picture presented by its owner should have convinced him to listen. At first he laughed, but she raised a double-barreled shotgun to reinforce her suggestion. Roy released a string of expletives and stepped away from the door. It promptly closed on his back.

“Old woman, mind your own business.”

“This is my business. We look after our neighbors in this neighborhood.”

She cocked her head to the houses across the street. Porch lights cast a soft glow on people standing inside open doors with phones in their hands. A few even waved their own firearms in salutation as he looked their way.

He spit on the ground at the old woman’s feet, “She isn’t worth it anyway.”

“She is to us,” Janice said.

He snarled and spit at her again before stepping into his car and pulling away from the house.

“I wouldn’t have done that twice,” she called after him.

An icy chill settled into his shoulders and began to spread from there as her words suddenly brought back the dream of of his own words coming to cause him harm. He shuddered violently and the car swerved…

~

Realized the title might have got friends who love horror and Jane Austen a little excited. Sorry. I wasn’t taking a dark take on Austen’s writings. Maybe next time? Probably not, but if you want check out some novels written based on “What if?” Questions involving dear Mr. Darcy and Miss Elizabeth, I can refer you to the writings of a dear friend of mine.

Living and Loving Lies [FICTION]

I cover my mouth with one hand as something brews deep down in my belly. I carefully sit down at my computer. As the dainty burp escapes without my cubicle neighbor’s notice, I use my free hand to hastily type my password. A pop up alerts me of a new email sporting the subject “Everything you know is a lie.”

I glance around the office to see if any of my coworkers is watching their prank unfold. Everyone is busy with their own interests, presumably getting all our new books ready to hit the shelves and our digital holdings appropriately linked to the online catalog. I click on the email, furrowing my brow as I read.

“Act calm as to not alert anyone, but everyone around you is not who they say they are. You need to quietly get out of there and meet me at the spot where you had your first real kiss. You know the place. My name is Mark.”

I glance at the timestamp. Five minutes ago. I survey my coworkers again, none of whom are named Mark, and find each remains oblivious to me. I tab over to the department calendar and find that both the boss and the office tattler have taken this afternoon off. I lock my screen, slip my keys and phone into my pockets, and casually walk toward the door closest to the stairs to the restroom. I glance at a few screens on my way past, surprised to find that even game-loving Jemma’s attention remains on work and work alone.

I shake my head and hurry out the back door, relieved to find no one lingering near the mailroom. I relive my first kiss as the sun caresses my face on my way down High Street. As the road ends, I turn left to head toward the old high school. High grass grows around it since the school decided that letting it go to hay in the summer season made more sense than paying someone to mow it once a week. I suppose they weren’t wrong since a local farmer quickly offered to give them ten percent of the earnings he made from bailing it and selling it to his peers right before the school year starts again each year.

A clear path runs through the summer hayfield and right toward the small stream running behind the school. I look around the empty parking lot for any clues as to who Mark really is. Nothing moves except high grass with every breath of wind. I finally decide to risk it and follow the path. That doesn’t mean I don’t turn to glance over my shoulder more than a few times just in case something suspicious catches my eye. Even in a small town, one can’t be too careful. 

As I hear the stream burbling blissfully over smooth rocks, I slow even more, listening for any other sounds. The air carries nothing unusual to my ears. I step into the clearing, cringing as a twig breaks under my bumbling foot. A tall man with broad shoulders turns to face me. While I swear I don’t know anyone quite that tall, the smattering of freckles across his nose and the blue eyes looking out at me from under a shaggy mop of red hair strike me as familiar.

“Ethan?” I gasp as his lips curl into a familiar smile.

“You were expecting someone else?”

“You signed the email Mark.”

“My middle name…” He holds up his hands as if that explains everything.

I shake my own head in confusion.

“I am a little hurt that you didn’t know it was me.”

“You expect me to remember your middle name after one kiss?”

“Well, we did got to school together for a decade before I finally snagged that kiss.” The intensity of his gaze makes me blush, but a chill dissipates the heat as he continues. “But sadly that isn’t why I needed to talk to you.”

I nod. “So your email implied. What’s going on?”

“Have you noticed anything odd lately?”

“Got a weird email today.”

He folds his arms and purses his lips, “I’m serious.”

“So am I…”

He sighs, “So your coworkers are all behaving normally?”

“Well…” I bit my lip.

He gestures encouragingly.

“Everyone seemed a little too into their work today, even the ones who like to goof off.”

He nods. “Anywhere else?”

I ponder all my interactions over the past week. “You know, people in the grocery store seemed more focused and driven…”

“Like buying groceries was an inconvenience not a necessity?”

I nod and shiver a little as the coincidence settles into my mind. He reaches out to take my hands.

“What does it mean?” I whisper.

“I don’t know. I saw you pausing to sniff some peonies this morning outside the library and realized you haven’t been affected.” His face lit up. “I knew you could help me figure this out.”

“But where do we start?”

We stare at each other for a minute then he offers me a smirk. “Aren’t you the librarian? Shouldn’t you be the research expert?”

“Okay, jerk, let’s go back to my realm,” I grab his hand and begin hiking determinedly back to the library.

“You’ll blend in perfectly like this, as long as you let go of my hand,” he mutters with a snicker.

I drop his hand and mumble a few choice words of my own, but I hear his footsteps keeping pace with mine, undeterred by unmanly giggles.

~

We slip in through the employee entrance to attract as little attention as possible. Luckily, the out-of-character behavior of my coworkers motivates them to spend as much time at their desks as possible. No one questions us as we take determined steps to sit at one of the public computers. I quickly enter my credentials and pull up the website of the local paper. Nothing leaps out at me from the headlines, but I realize that the articles seemed much shorter than usual, filled with just facts and no fluff to make them interesting to read.

Ethan and I exchange looks and dig deeper. We don’t look up until a shadow looms over us. I look up into the face of my boss. Her fake smile doesn’t reach her steely, empty eyes.

“This is a breech of your work ethic, Miss VanDyne. You will have to come with me.”

My eyes widen as they meet Ethan’s equally frightened expression.

“Bring your friend.”

“I was just leaving. Thanks.” Ethan motions for me to come with him as he stands up and steps toward the stairwell.

“It wasn’t an invitation,” my boss’s voice holds no inflection.

I start to follow Ethan, only to find a small hoard of my coworkers converging on us from every direction. “Um.”

Before I can blink, they have us solidly surrounded like bison protecting their young, except they press in close and force us to step into line behind my boss. She calmly leads us into her office and nods for the others to close the door after shoving Ethan and I inside.

“Take a seat,” she gestures at the wooden chairs before her desk, “There’s no reason for this to be uncomfortable.”

“I dunno,” my sarcasm flows despite my better judgment, “I feel pretty uncomfortable.”

Ethan laughs nervously but plops into one of the chairs at a glare over my boss’s glasses. My mouth snaps shut and I followed suit.

“So it seems you haven’t been indoctrinated yet,” she purses her lips, “We have to change that. Tea?”

We both shake our heads in the negative as she gestures to a pot steaming happily on her desk. She frowns and begins pouring tea into a couple of delicate tea cups anyway.

“Really? I find tea quite calming.”

“Never touch the stuff,” Ethan offers, “Religious reasons.”

“You don’t need religion when you have technology and reason,” she offers me a cup.

I shake my head again and push my hands under my thighs. Her eyes narrow as she holds the tea under my nose. Realization rushes in and I turn my head to avoid breathing the steam rising upward from the cup.

“If you won’t cooperate, I will have to have our friends come back in and help.”

“Maybe we would cooperate if we understood better,” I hope her response will help me find a way out of this.

She shakes her head now. “You watch too many movies. I’m not a villain who will monologue until you can escape. I am a sentient life form from outside your galaxy, who rather likes my new host.” Her eyes scan up and down my body, “And I have a friend who would be perfect for you. If you will just…”

She pauses for a second and hope nestles into my breast. Then she finishes her sentence in the shrillest tones ever to touch my ears, “Open up.”

I scream and place my hands over my ears. As I ds so, she steps forward in one swift motion and pours the tea into my mouth, letting the cup fall to the carpeted floor as she clamps a hand over my mouth. I try to fight the liquid back out of my mouth, but she refuses to loosen her grip. Once the liquid touches my throat, drowsiness overtakes me. 

“I’m sorry,” I mumble to Ethan as I slide to the floor.

~~

When I awake on the floor of my boss’s office, Ethan lies at my side. I don’t think anything of it. Getting back to work is far more important. I have work to do to make the planet a better place for my new family. I smile as a warm consciousness jiggles deep inside my belly somewhere, knowing my life had been changed for the better.

~~~

See! My June theme continues! More romance! The love between a host and its parasite is eternal—well, at least until death do them part.