Shorts II

By JE Bridget

5 spine-tingling tales designed to capture your imagination 

• Language: English
• Publisher: JE Bridget
• Release date: Oct 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386039372

Book preview

Shorts II

The Devil Inside

Andrew Palmer became known for terrorizing, torture, kidnapping and murder. He was also cunning, clever, deceitful, and charismatic with a slightly roguish smile for the ladies. For years, the residents in the town of Danbury, Tennessee thought him just mailman who had brought their mail and offered friendly smiles to all. Had it not been for an outsider, Tracy DeLong, a police officer and friend of one of the residents whose mother went missing, Andrew might have continued his depravity for years.

In the span of seventeen years, seventeen people disappeared, simply vanished from existence. Their families and friends never heard from them again. Their pleas for release or location of the bodies fell on deaf ears, they were merely gone.

While Andrew was a villainous monster that lived in Danbury, he was also the antagonist that resided in my novels and my mind. It was a small bloody fingerprint left on the edge of a barn doorway that led to his capture and ultimate demise.

I had created seven best-selling novels with Andrew. He was responsible for slipping through the night like a cat, eluding both the best investigators and the bumbling law enforcement officials all while clandestinely sustaining a secret dark desire that gripped and held him tightly throughout the years. 

Through plot progression and character evolution, Andrew had become too sure of himself as some characters do and that inevitably led to his mistake.

One usable fingerprint and a match through the government employees’ database was all it took to rid the residents of Danbury of the unknown serial killer that had plagued their community throughout the years.   The residents were at first shocked by the news, shocked that it was Andrew, shocked at how his friendly smile and dedication to his job had deluded them all, and then pleased as thirteen of their missing loved ones’ bodies were recovered from the dirt cellar beneath Andrew’s house.

I sighed, both from the completion of the story and at the thought of beginning new stories, new plots, new characters, and different directions.

Why wasn’t I wearing gloves?  I heard the question as clear as day. Looking over first my left shoulder, then right, I didn’t see anyone standing behind me and saw that I was alone in my writing room. After a few minutes when no other sounds intruded, I decided it must have only been my imagination questioning the rationale of Andrew’s demise. After all, I had made quite a bit of money from Andrew and to give him up like that was something that was indeed questionable.

Shuffling the stack of manuscript pages together, I placed them into the mailing box bound for my agent. Standing up and stretching, I yawned and decided a shower was needed prior to a trip to the post office.

The post office was one of the newer buildings in our town, large glass windows lined the front of the building giving it an airy feeling while the landscaping blended it into the community in which it served. Pulling into the parking lot, I angled into one of the parking slots and turned the car off. Stepping out, I reached back in across the console for my package, grabbed it and closed the car door. As I looked up into the windows of the post office, I saw the reflection of a man standing beside one of the trees. He looked somewhat familiar and I turned quickly looking towards the trees. Someone disappeared out of sight as I turned and I only caught a glimpse of movement. Shrugging my shoulders, I decided it was nothing and proceeded inside.

Hi Ben. I called out and walked up to the counter.

Hey Mister Russell, Ohh, he said as I laid the box onto the counter. Got a new one?

Yeah, it’s a new one.

Having read my others, he asked, How’s it end?

I can’t tell you that, I smiled. It would ruin the story. But... I hesitated for a moment, the butler did it.

He chuckled. That was our running joke for the last six of seven novels. I’ll take care of it for you.

Thanks. I’ll see you Ben.

Don’t make it too long next time. I like reading your books.

Thank you Ben. I raised my hand in a goodbye gesture and walked out the door. Still smiling, I saw there was a slip of paper under the windshield wiper on my windshield. That’s odd, I thought and pulled it out from under the rubber blade. In simple printing, it asked, Why wasn’t I wearing gloves? Stunned, I looked around quickly making a three hundred sixty degree turn and saw that I was the only one in the parking lot. Crumpling the note and shoving it in my pocket, I thought it had to be the guy I thought I’d seen when I pulled in. Turning towards the tree line and the sidewalk, I hurried over. No one was there, but another slip of paper was lying on the ground. Flipping it over with the toe of my shoe, I read the word Why scribbled on it.

Now plagued with more questions than answers, the drive to the grocery store wasn’t as nice as I thought it would be hours earlier. The sky was still blue, but didn’t seem to shine as brightly, the trees all seemed to have lost their luster and my mind drifted through a hundred different scenarios trying to find answers. The five questions that I always asked of my characters, the- who-what-when-where-and why bounced through my brain like a steel ball in a pinball machine. The only thing I could think off was that someone had been somehow watching me when I’d finished the story. It was the only rational thing that made any sense, that or I was losing my mind.

At the grocery store, I wandered aimlessly pushing the empty cart up and down the aisles; the mental list of items needed was gone. I couldn’t remember what we had and what we needed. Rounding aisle five into six, I saw a man at the other end of the row staring towards me. It looked like it might have been the same man I’d seen at the post office earlier. He stood staring as I walked nearer. Within forty five feet, he gave me a rakish smile and turned away.

I was suddenly shaken to my core. My feet instantly froze in place, the ice water in my feet continued to race up my spine into the back of my brain. A darkness overcame me like an embolism exploding in my brain and blinded me. Stumbling, I dropped to my knees there in the aisle. As I blacked out, my brain continued to rush images of him to me. That smile, the cut of his clothes, the gait as he walked away. I knew them all well because I created them.

The next thing I saw was my wife, Doreen, standing over me and I was laid out flat on a gurney. Being a person who believes he has an unlimited vocabulary, all I could say was, what happened?

She offered me a concerned smile. There you are. Are you feeling better?

Taking stock of myself, I went through a mental checklist of sorts making sure everything was functional, I shook my head yes. Where am I?

You’re in the Emergency room. They think you had some kind of really bad anxiety attack. You blacked out in the grocery store.

It all came back like a tidal wave crashing against the walls of my skull, seeing what I knew now was Andrew. First, it had to be him hiding from me behind the trees at the post office, then, more openly brazen at the grocery store. I remembered how he looked just standing as casual as ever amid all the colorful cereal boxes holding onto a mini-basket and staring at me, smirking.

Doreen must have seen the change in my face as well. Her concern was evident as she stood over me looking down. I knew there wasn’t a way to explain to her what had happened. I would’ve been transferred to the eight floor in a moment’s notice, and everyone knew the eight floor was the crazy ward.

Taking a deep breath, I knew I tried to gather my thoughts on my five W’s. This was something I would have to deal with by myself. No one would believe me and I wouldn’t blame them, I didn’t understand it either. Besides, Andrew was a part of me. I knew him like no other, better than anyone on earth and I knew how to deal with him.

What still plagued me, ate away at me was how. How did he do it? The why was simple, he was pissed that I had him caught and essentially killed him off. Back to the how again, how had he crossed over into the present? When did he do it? Where did he find a portal that allowed him to jump? And if he only lived in my mind and the pages of my books, how was the biggest of the problems. I knew he was clever and cunning and would have exploited any opportunity especially if he knew where the story was going and how it was going to end.

Looking back to Doreen, I smiled up at her and told her I was fine and pulled the IV from my arm. Grabbing hold of her hand, I pulled myself up from the gurney. I could see it in her face that she still wasn’t sure of me but I swung my feet to the floor and stood. Let’s get out of here. I told her.

I’m sorry I didn’t get the groceries. I started as we pulled out of the maze that was their parking lot. Maybe it was the stress of just finishing the story and rushing it off to Tony. Tony was my agent. Now that I think about it, I didn’t have any breakfast.

Doreen listened patiently trying to decide for herself if I was okay.

Can we stop by the grocery to get my car?

Do you think that’s a good idea?

Listen sweetheart, I’m fine. Really I am.

She hesitated, but also knew my stubbornness. Okay, but I don’t like it and I’m going to follow you all the way home.

Smiling, I squeezed her forearm, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Doreen didn’t see it, but there was another note on