Note: Set between the episodes Monster Movie and Yellow Fever
Mid October 2008
11.13 pm.
Virtue, Iowa
"With the lights out, it's less dangerous..."
With the beat of the music filling her head, drowning out everything else around her as she washed, Jane worked her way through the pile of dirty dishes haphazardly stacked to one side, her mind lost in the words of the lyrics.
Only as a faint prickle of cold swept across her back causing the soft downy hairs to rise up did she pause. Her eyes widening at the sensation, her arms elbow deep in soapy water as she tried and failed to push back the pin pricks of fear that now crept up her spine.
Her hand shook. A slight tremble starting at her fingertips and vibrating up her arm as she brushed her hand dry against the surface of the apron wrapped around her waist. Turning the volume of her iPod down low, she listened intently, focusing her attention beyond the silence that wrapped around her. Hearing only the familiar hum of the old fridge nearby she took a slow and steadying breath.
There was nothing there. It was just her mind playing tricks. Making her think there was something there when the reality was just the opposite. She knew that. Was almost certain of that. And yet the the calm from earlier eluded her, replaced with an uneasy fearfulness that was like an itch upon her skin. With another slow, deep breath she reached up, running a hand through her hair as she tucked a wayward strand that danced upon her cheek behind her ear.
She stared out through the kitchen window at the darkness beyond seeing only hazy reflections. Her face, the kitchen, the door to the diner. Everything was as it should be.
There's nothing there
She breathed out. Pushing the tentacle of fear back to where it belonged and went back to work. Hands once again in soapy water, music playing loudly through her ear buds.
The music helped. Distracting her from her thoughts as the beat, beat, beat drummed through her head. Focusing on the rhythm she turned the hot tap on and was slammed with icy coldness curling up and around her spine in a sharp and chilling embrace.
She drew in a sudden gasp of breath, every nerve in her body feeling alive as her mind screamed out just one word.
Run.
Ripping out the plugs from her ears she gripped the edge of the counter, knuckles straining white against her skin. Small hurried breaths like whispered gasps escaped her lips. Heart pounding so loudly from the fear that coursed through her body that for a moment she couldn't focus on anything else except the thud thud thud echoing in her ears.
Taking a few more breaths, trying to breathe out slowly with each one in a desperate effort to calm herself she looked frantically towards the main diner, seeing the lights on, hearing nothing. Not even the sound of Amy's off-key voice singing along to the radio as she always did when she went about readying the diner for the next day. The complete absence of sound told her all that she needed to know.
Panic flooded her body as logic fled her brain and her heart raced further. She wanted to run. The urge to flee was so strong that it was almost suffocating in it's intensity but something stopped her, something stronger than the fear, telling her she mustn't run, telling her that Amy needed her. Something terrible was happening and Amy was out there. Out there alone.
Inch by inch she slid her hand across the cold stainless steel surface of the counter top until her fingers met the blunt end of a knife. Wrapping her hand around it she gripped it firmly, bringing it closer, readying herself for what was ahead. She took a step and then another and another, her footsteps quiet and controlled, containing no hesitation as instinct guided her, taking control of her body, ignoring the fear in her heart and the voice in her head that told her to run, run now.
"Amy?"
The name came out hesitant and soft as she took a step into the diner. Color and light flashed across her vision as she took in her surroundings. Images forming like a series of disjointed photographs.
Blink.
The gleaming shine of the till, the gray of the counter top, fat droplets of red splattered across it.
Blink.
The black and white squares of the checkered lino floor.
Blink.
More red. Crimson and bloody. Fanning out across a booth. Streaks and splatters and so much more.
Blink.
The soles of Amy's sneakers, startlingly in their whiteness.
Blink.
Lightly tanned legs splayed out, one foot twisted just a little backwards. The black edge of Amy's skirt, the angle of it all wrong as it laid upon her thighs.
Blink.
Bright red again. The color of Amy's fitted t-shirt. And a darker red, seeping out and in to the cotton fabric and the skin underneath.
Blink.
Amy. Her face this time. Brown eyes, wide-eyed and staring straight at her, cold and empty. The pale pinkness of her face slowly fading to an unnatural grayish white pallor. A splash of red upon her cheek, startlingly in its brightness.
Blink.
Red yet again. So much red. In a shade so dark, so glistening and wet that it didn't seem real coming from Amy's now lifeless body.
The sound of screaming seemed to fill the room though no actual sound escaped her lips and as she saw what had killed Amy the scream escalated inside her and then all was silent.
SPN*SPN*SPN
12.23 am.
"There are no such things as monsters."
"There are no such things as monsters."
All around shiny surfaces bounced with light and reflections, illuminated by the faint glow of a single fluorescent light. Beyond, the rest of the diner was shrouded in darkness with random fragments of light snaking their way whatever gaps they could find, streaking out across the surfaces. Light and dark came together forming shadows on the walls giving the diner an eerie creepiness. The calm stillness of the night only added to the feeling of something unnatural, the silence broken by desperate words that were being spoken over and over again and the steady sound of running water cascading over the sides of the sink, hitting the floor, the water pooling and spreading outwards.
"There are no such things as monsters."
"There are no such things as monsters."
Oblivious to the water that was all around her, Jane sat on the cold, wet floor ignoring the dampness seeping into her clothes as she rocked back and forth.. Legs bent up, hands clasped over her ears, repeating the phrase like some kind of incantation.
"There are no such things as monsters."
"There are no such things as monsters."
Jane focused all her attention on the words she was saying, desperately trying to shut everything else out as fear gripped her.
Monsters weren't real. None of this was real. If she could just close her eyes it would all be gone.
"There are no such things as monsters."
"There are no such things as monsters."
She wanted to believe in them. Needed to believe in them. If she could just make them real, make them true, then everything would be alright.
"There are no such things as monsters."
"There are no such things as monsters."
She repeated the words again and again, clinging to the hope of them even as a tiny part of herself kept whispering that she was wrong. That they were all wrong and that everything they had told her that couldn't possibly exist, did. Monsters were real. Very, very real. And deep down she knew this. Knew this with complete and utter certainty. No matter how hard she wanted to deny it, no matter what anyone told her.
Monsters were real.
And that was why she was sitting here on the floor, rocking back and forth, her hands over her ears, saying words she wanted to believe in but knowing it was all a lie because it was the only way she knew to hide from the truth.
And if the truth was that she thought monsters did exist, that they were real, then maybe she really was crazy after all.
SPN*SPN*SPN
Songs:
Smells Like Teen Spirit (performed by Nirvana)
