Chapter XII: Night Terrors
The two men sit back, both with beers in hand as the basketball game blares loudly from the television set.
"Three pointer to win it all, c'mon!" shouts Dave Aiden.
The player sinks a spectacular shot as both the crowd and Dave hoot and holler in victory. Joshua takes a swig from his beer as he smiles widely looking at his younger brother.
"Told you baby, Mavericks do it again! I believe you owe me another case Michelob my good man." yells Dave as he polishes off the rest of his beverage.
Aiden raises his bottle in salute "A deal is a deal. Put on ESPN, we can catch the post game."
"I'd love too brotha, but I gotta get home, Tasha is waitin up for me."
"That's cool, I know you got two buns in the oven."
"Yes sir and let me tell you, if there's someone who ain't worth pissin off, it's a woman whose eight months pregnant."
Aiden laughs "I hear you on that."
"Yea well let me get on outta here. But I think I'll grab one last one for the road." says Dave as he grabs the last beer off the table.
"Fair enough, but listen, I really appreciate you coming over Dave." says Aiden as he walks his brother to the door.
"Absolutely, you know I love hanging out with my big bro. Nothing beats beer and a B-Ball game I always say."
"Right…" says Aiden as he slightly drops his head, a look of concern flashing across his face.
Dave notices his brother's sudden change in demeanor "You sure your ok Josh? I dunno, it just seems like your kinda distracted. Something on your mind?"
"I'm good man, just a little insomnia plus the work load at the Bureau is getting tough."
"I mean, I could call Tasha, maybe stay an extra hour or whatever if there's something you need to talk about."
"Don't sweat it bro. I'll work through it, I always do. I know you gotta get home to your wife. You tell Tasha I said hey." Aiden says as his brother steps through the door and out onto the balcony walkway.
"Will do…but on second thought, why don't you tell her yourself?" says Dave.
"What do you mean?" asks Aiden.
"Why don't you swing by for dinner one of these nights? Tasha's been dying to see you for the longest."
"I dunno, I don't wanna put her out. She's dealing with enough as it is, dropping twins in less than a month." Aiden says with a chuckle.
"You kiddin me? She lives for dinner parties. Look just a few months ago we had her mother, auntie and her eight crazy ass cousins over. She cooked so much goddamned food, we got leftovers till Thanksgiving. The kitchen is like her therapy or some shit." Dave says with a smirk.
Aiden sighs and nods his head "Who knows, I just might take you up on that. I'll call you sometime in the week, we'll set it up."
"You do that agent ass kicker." laughs Dave as he and his brother engage in a half hug embrace "Alright, now go the fuck to sleep. Those circles ain't gonna lighten themselves up."
"Will do Sarge." Aiden says as Dave walks down the steps of his brother's apartment building and gets into his car.
The F.B.I. agent looks on as Dave pulls out, when he catches something out of the corner of his eye. He turns his head swiftly and glimpses the menacing figure of the yellow robed specter standing directly across from him on the adjoining balcony. The monstrous entity just stands there in ominous silence as it slowly raises one of it's arms and points a taloned finger at Aiden. Breathing hard, Joshua bolts back into his apartment and slams the door.
"Fuck!" he yells as he smashes his empty beer bottle against the far wall. He leans against his door and slides down into a sitting position, his hand over his face "What's wrong with me?" he says in despair.
The dark room is dead silent as Agent Aiden sleeps soundly in his queen size bed. The digital clock on his nightstand, stands stark with it's bright green numbers illuminating a large portion of the surface beneath it. As the time switches over to exactly 3:00 A.M., Aiden blinks awake without cause or provocation. He rubs his head and yawns deeply as he looks over to his nightstand and reads the time. Somewhat absent mindedly, he reaches for the stale cup of coffee next to the clock and takes a few sips.
"I wonder if there's like an AA group for caffeine." he says groggily.
He slowly climbs out of bed and walks into the small bathroom inside his room and switches on the light. He grabs a bottle of half empty mouth wash and begins to gargle a large mouthful when he hears a faint whisper that says "Joshua…"
Aiden stops, with his mouth still full of wash he hesitantly begins to swish his mouth again, thinking that he might've been just hearing things. He spits the mouthwash out into the sink when he hears the sound of a loud bang coming from just outside his bedroom door. Aiden quickly grabs his firearm from out if it's holster, which hangs from one of the bedposts and steadies himself, aiming the gun directly at the bedroom door "Who there!?"
After a few moments of silence, the agent cautiously opens up the door, his weapon still pointed directly in front of him. Reluctantly, Aiden inches ever closer towards the dark hallway, every step in methodical apprehension. Once he reaches the edge of the doorway, he leaps out of the room, expecting for someone or something to be waiting for him on the other side. However, he is only greeted with empty darkness.
"Joshua…" the ominous voice from before whispers again.
"Who the fuck is in my apartment!? You don't know who your dealing with, I'm an F.B.I. agent!"
This is met with another loud bang and Aiden rushes down the hallway and into his living room. With his heart racing and adrenaline pumping, he scans the room but finds nothing. Then out of nowhere, the yellow robed entity materializes in the far corner, it's arms outstretched as if wanting to embrace the beleaguered man. Aiden doesn't hesitate to aim his weapon directly at the demonic figure.
"Federal agent, hands on your head now!" he yells, but the specter doesn't move "I don't know who or that fuck you are but you decided to mess with the wrong agent! Now I'm gonna tell you one more time, get on the ground and put your hands on your head you freak motherfucker!"
"Joshua…" whispers the voice, however it doesn't come from the direction of the yellow demon. With his weapon still trained on the spectral entity, Aiden slowly turns his head, realizing that the voice came from behind him. To his absolute horror he sees the dripping wet figure of a girl, her skin pale white and rotting off her bones. She is covered in seaweed as her wet hair cascades down her corpse like shoulders. But most terrifying of all were her eyes, nothing but hollow yellow orbs, soulless and foreboding. As she walks closer to Aiden, he starts to hyperventilate, pure fear coursing through his body.
"Don't be afraid Joshua, you've had the great honor of being chosen." says the cadaverous female as a searing pain grips Aiden's head.
The agent drops his weapon as he clutches the sides of his head and collapses to the ground, screaming in pain. As he writhes on the floor, the girl kneels down and stares at him with her horrifying eyes.
"You're her, your Jenny Downs. I saw what happened to you on the boat." says Aiden as he struggles to get the words out.
"Much like you, I was chosen by the King In Yellow." she says pointing to the yellow robed wraith.
"The King In Yellow?" asks Aiden in bewilderment as he looks over.
"On the day of my death, I went in with Professor Jeffries and it was than I was chosen. I acted as his eyes and my sacrifice was well worth the price to serve Hastur." says Jenny.
"I don't understand." says Aiden, his face conveying fear and confusion.
"Cthulhu is not worthy to rule in this realm! He's already proved that with his abysmal failure eons ago in his struggles against the Elder Breed! He is the shame of Yog-Sothoth and it is us who shall lay him low! For the King is The Feaster and we are his Feasting!" says Jenny as she places her hands on Aiden's cheeks.
Blood begins to pour out of Aiden's nose and eyes as he let's out another agonized shriek…