Arizona

ARIZA) NA
For her birthday I took my girl Katie to Arizona sews could
stay with seine friends of hers and spend a few weeks partying and getting
high and shit before heading back to school forthe year We drove Lip in my
Dads car its a realworld Ferd make and its pretty beat Lip The mad there
was Usng Our relationship seemed at its strongest en the mad
We were really in love That wasthe first time I realized that I had never
in love before
We were ab out half the way there when we realized we were
going ts run out Usng before the nearest petrol pump Katie s head
was out the winder sunglasses en in the blistering heat outside i' tithing
butthe wild desert landscape to be seen in all directions We became
frantic We hadnt seen another car en the read in almost an hour What if
we broke dsen here in the middle sothe desert with he feed er water With
he she out there to find Lie I sped Lip slightly driven hithere fears
It was then that we came Gas Station Smack bang
in the middle of newhere in dry empty nawh ere It was an old we dsen
serve Long yeller grass New in the breeze beneath it Outside were we
rusted gas pumps N first we mint knew if it was occupied - it seemed es
lifeless But as we pulled Lip and sarthe petrol stains in the dirt we were
convinced otherwise Katie started refilling the car and I went inside to pay
and grab something to sat en the mad
When ffirst went to epin the deer This perturbed
me es I Issued Lip at the sign to check and was reassured thatthe store
was "OPEN" according to the tom sign that hang in between the dull yeller
curtains atthe (: I pushed harder and with effort got into the
shop
Inside it was totally abandoned and left to ruin Complete isles
lay en the ground the fridges were smashed and glass coated the floor
Despite the brightness outside the interior sothe Gas Station was dark and
Then there came from behind me this quiet weeping like a
child s I felt my heart race It was coming from the back resin
I stepped ever smashed glass and twisted metal remnants en
ever where the patches degrass had grown thaugh Iran my hand
along the wall and felt the cries cress of ivy beneath malingers Itwas
eve rawn
There came the crying again and new I was facing the back
resin deer It was front of me I pushed the deer epin and it
creaked with rust in its joints Inside there assdan steps we the
basement It was pitch black and the smell was horrific I heard the buzzing
offices and felt We land en myface The drip drop obviated alerted to me to
the basement was -the dank be Lip to anyones
knees Again there came the crying and a small splash in the far corner of
the basement
Hello?" I called out "Is anyine there?"
I started approaching the corner The smell was hardly
hearable and cold waterproofed around mile's The sobbing was getting
louder In the corner I sware I saw something iness shadows
Hello?" I called again "Whats wrang?"
the corner It was completely dark and I had
to bend dsen to avoid the pipes which leaked all dsen my back and
trickled dsen mysonne The figure in front sothe was very small and black
Hunched ever Sobbing quietly head in its hands
Why are yeai dsen here?" I whispered
Then it stopped moving completely It was All noise
seemed to cease but fer the quiet dripping ma broken pipe
behind me I outstretched my arm toomuch it stina shoulder but it then
began to in my direction to leek me eye to eye
As its face around to leek we mine I remember
screaming and swinging Lip in recoil cracking it en the pipes Lip
above The face was white as a sheet pale like a hideous moving mask
The eyes and holes huge and widening even as I
Issued at them They were es huge consumed its entire face
As I desperately tried to escape it splashed towards me at rapid speed
uncurling its Usng thin fingers It wassailing new staring we me with its
huge black eyes and I Lip the stairs with great difficulty as I
felt mile's beginning to give way beneath me
It sprinted out and Lip the stairs towards me I
slammed the deer flipped the Isak and tore out sothe store we the old
Ford Katie began to laugh when she saw me jeans wet trembling with
sweat soaking my chest buil grabbed her and screamed at harte drive
For about haluan houre could barely seins to tell had happened in
the store between gasping breaths She listened and gave me a leek of
sheer horror when I finally/ gave in ad told her everything She pulled the
side sothe mad and began to I asked was
w re n g
She said "I saw something while yeai were gens When yeai
were in the store I was just putting my pump back when I sawthis little girl
and a man her fathers guess standing behind the winder en the deer
They were staring at me The father Issued at me with blank eyes and a
hanging jaw But the girl sh ged the girl she was staring straight at me
grinning this huge smile that just stretched es far across hamface I couldnt
see any hair en her and her skin was es dark Not dark like a colored girl
but dark like a shadew And her smile just shone through the winder I
convinced myself it was a trick sothe eye and Issued away when I Issued
were gens Then a little while later yeai cams back out
It was dusk by new We had newhere to stay We had net
traveled much as we had hoped to that day and the nearest motel
meant going back past the gas station Se we just drove Lip from the
roadside where we were we the clearing a Littlepaw Lip where campers
cams sometimes We had obviously/ come the night after a big party -there
was bro ken glass everywhere When we arrived however it was empty
After a while I tried to reassure forthat we were I calmed her dsen put
my arms around her and we started to kiss I moved get en top of
she suddenly started screaming like hell itself
Its HER! its HER!" she screeched fumbling to start Lip the
engine
Iternet in time to witness a small black face grinning literally
earts earwigs only darkness inside It was crawling we the seethrough my
epin winder with its limbs splayed out like an insect It had tee many
limbs Tee many Usng arms The fingers feeling my face like antennae We
sped off dsen onto the read
Back en the mad nothing seemed right There were he stars
That was what I noticed first Iwas tee shaken bethink much of it but there
were he clouds that could be blotting them out There was just the vast
night sky devoid of all light Then a few minutes arterie had been driving
forward still sweating and breathing heavy we passed the gas station My
heart skipped a beat The gas station was at least haluan hour away In the
opposite direction All the lights were en and I saw the deer sliding epin As
we shot past it Katie was in such hysterics she found it hard to keep driving
We stopped the car in the middle sothe desolate mad I decided we should
seats could drive She shuffled across from her scatta mine and I
opened the deedee get out As seen as I was outside the foul stench sothe
basement / me I gagged then despite mayest efforts net to
dsen the side sothe car It was then I noticed the runner Apple
white thing sprinting towards Lie through the fog its limbs practically a blur
I could make out he face How Usng had it been fallowing Lie? Running after
Lie in the night?
I got we the driver seat as quickload possible We drove off
again net talking Katie unhampered and I Then we passed
the gas station again The epin new There were two figures
standing at the deer Waiting
As we forced ourselves en we both became aware ma self
weeping inthe back seats Neither offs dared turn around
Ignore it" I whispered hands gripped tight
around the steering wheel
It grew louder The weeping became meaning and the
meaning became ear piercing wailing Airman Or a child? I could net tell
Katie was curled in the fetal position helding her head in her hands The
wailing increased becoming devastatingly loud ear piercing and horrific
Finally I ordered end it and Issued behind me
For a split secend I thoughti saw a girl in a white dress leek
back Lip at me But she was gene as seen as she had appeared I checked
the seats was nothing In and fear I had
completely test track of the mad
I drove en and all through the night and
moaned Itouches her shes but she screamed I never tried again after
that The neices from the back seat started Lip again We passed the gas
station twice more The people at the deer were closer and clearer every
time
The finest slither afred light had begun to settle en the horizon
It was still as dark as hell but at least I was able to see the mad ahead of
me new Katie had been silent face concealed under her hands fer seine
time I decided to check the time es I turned en the radio At first there was
only static Instead sothe time er anything at all the digital read out simply
appeared black with the dial trying to change the station In
between the static I found only she audible channel It had a high pitched
buzz in the background A man was muttering names and numbers under
his breath
29 Lucy -
30 Adam -
31 Katie -"
I switched back to static I knew which name was next
When we got to Katie s friends house it was morning It was
overcast and everywehere had the smell of rain en it Furfriends wassnt
heme Katie ffriends lived way out in the country with he she else around
in a mile The grass was climbing the walls outside Hew Usng had they
been out?
As seen as we were inside Katie started whimpering again I
realized that while she had been silent she was biting en her lip - blood was
trickling dsen her chin and the skin around her mouth was tom and chewed
through She grabbed the newspaper and seine masking tape from effets
table and began blocking butthe winders Afterthe nights events I mint
knew whether I Would be insane takein her er stop her I
She the winders jammed the deer and turned the lights off For
seine time it could have been minutes er hours we sit silent in the dark I
offered to turn the en Katie said nothing sitting blank and
comatose Iternet the en anyway
Agruing black and white image flickered to life before Lie A
white face with emptier's and an impossibly huge smile flashed Lip the
smile crewing wider and wider the longer we stared we it There came the
sound offsrping From the er in the house? I could net tell We
turned effets TV
its been three days new I havent seen Katie taday She
spends airtime in the chesst crying I shes tore the deer epin and
screamed at her She screamed back hamface contorting we something
grotesque and inhuman I slammed it in hamface The phone rings often A
veiws Tymothy's I believe whispering under its breath lean
snippets it says
Come back You re always to seins back
Sometimes inthe background I hear a quiet chuckling
I hang Lip saying a thing usually The bathroom is
shining white I hear the sheese running and millwall in to find nothing
Then when tin in the bathroom I will hearths flick back en It
always glesto the face In the background there are muttering veil's new
Ive called the police twice All I get taths whispering weiners veiws I called
Katie s friendster just as fruitlessly There are knocks at the deer a let new
Through the newspaper en the other side sothe winder I hands
slam against the glass and slide dsen They do this fer hours en end
sometimes They press their eyes Lip taths glass through the holes in the
newspaper At night we hear screaming from the guest resin I hearded it
Lip Sometimes I find tiny pieces of glass en the ground Aleck sprang Lip
about a day age in my resin downstairs Black spots have appeared
en the walls There is a smell throughout the house seeping in from my
resin The eder of decay
I pray I pray hopelessly and I wish I separte ged I wish I had
never gotten out ifthat car