This is not a Jack Spade story but I wrote it and need a place to stick it (insert joke here). It was a spur of the moment type of impromptu thing. Hope somebody enjoys it.
A chilled wind rustled through the trees accompanied by the sounds of wind chimes hung from the multiple apartment balconies. He was alone on his way home from a friend’s house. A shiver cascaded down his spine; he could feel eyes upon him, multiple eyes peeping through blinds, watching his every step as he passed by their windows. The chimes gave off a feeling of being in another world, a place where realities merged. He walked the hundred or so yards back to his apartment lost in his own thoughts, wondering if his middle child was asleep yet, if his wife was still up with the baby? Hopefully the two youngest were asleep then maybe if his wife was willing he'd get her to fool around a bit.
The odds were never in his favor.
He passed by the apartments pool that had been locked up for the winter and thought about just jumping the fence, stripping down in the cool air and diving in but, that was only a fleeting thought. He wasn’t that spontaneous. He always tried to play by the rules and besides it would take a lot more alcohol than what he had left in his glass to spur him to such reckless abandon.
The wind picked up with a heavy gust then sustained itself at a constant speed causing a cacophony of tones to ring out from the multitude of wind chimes hanging from the porches and balconies around him. He was startled from the sound and made a quick look around to see where the noises were coming from but, it was pointless. The chimes were everywhere. How come he had never noticed them before. He squeezed his eyes shut tying to focus on the concrete walkway in front of him but, it wasn't his eyes that were the problem it was the environment. Everything around him shifted, wobbled and rippled outward from the wind chimes. It was as if he could see the sound waves being admitted from the chimes as the wind caused them to strike together.
And that's when he felt it, teeth like needles pierce his shoulder through his cotton t-shirt. Something had bit him but, when he turned around there was nothing there, just a distorted, wobbly landscape; with the cool, still waters of the pool. "What the Hell just happened he thought to himself". The wind continued to blow but, the pool water was calm, glassy.
"That can't be right, the wind is to strong not to at least cause some ripples in the water?"
Then the water started to move but not in a way that it should have. Multiple thin columns of water arched into the air like tentacles from an octopus. They wrapped around the metal bars in the fence and pulled a clear jelly like creature up onto the textured concrete that surrounded the pool.
His brain screamed run but his legs didn't speak the same language anymore. Tentacles shot forth like whips from the creature trying to grab at him but, at the last moment his legs decided that it would be a good idea to run. He could still see and hear the sounds rippling outward from the chimes. The sound along with his distorted vision caused a wave of nausea to roll over him and he fought back the urge to vomit but, it still made his throat burn and his eyes water. He ran. He ran through the tunnel between the buildings, past the laundry room and mailboxes that were built into the wall. He ran the sixty or so feet left towards the front door of his apartment as he got there he threw what was left of his rum and coke he was drinking ,before this all started over his shoulder as he fumbled for his keys. Thanking God he didn't drop them in his haste. He drove the key home feeling the mechanism inside the lock click free he shoulder the door open and then dove inside locking it back as quickly as he could.
Exhaustion washed over him and he passed out right there at the base of the stairs.
Early the next morning his wife found him curled into a fetal position with his head resting on the first step of the staircase, concerned he may have fallen down the stairs during the night she rushed to his side and tried to wake him. His eyes popped open and he immediately grasped his head with both hands. The hangover had already started. He relayed the events of his walk home to his wife who laughed it off saying," I told you not to drink too much, it would give you nightmares".
Was it all a dream? Did he stumble in drunk as Hell and just pass out on the floor? Reluctantly he went back to the door and turned the thumb latch to unlock it and peered out the crack it made as he slightly opened the door. The sun hadn't raised above the roof of the courtyard buildings but he could see it.
There on the sidewalk layer the glass he had been drinking from, turned on its side, empty. He felt like a fool. It was all some drunken induced dream. He went to pick up the plastic glass when the sunlight peaked over the roof of the adjoining building and that's when he saw it, a trail that sparkled like a billion diamonds that stopped only feet from his over turned glass.
He stared for a moment then, closed the door, turned the thumb latch that locked the door and started up the stairs. Shock had set in, his mind raced, and then his vision blurred, dizzied he reached out his hand to catch the stair rail to balance himself. His shoulder hurt, searing pain brought him down to his knees right there and his hand slipped from the rail. Through the pain his mind told him something else felt off, felt wrong. The rail, it felt slimy, why? He looked at it and what he saw made what little sanity he still possessed shatter. His hand and most of his arm was a clear gelatinous tentacle.
He screamed!
His wife ran back into the room to see what was going on and the last sounds she heard were that of her own here own screams joining in unison with his.
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