Sweet smoke stung
Ravi’s eyes and the city
lights cascaded like diamonds in his teardrops. He snatched the
roach from his lips as its fiery end popped. Sparks showered his
face. Tripping over a low hedge he landed on his back in spongy
grass.
Warm air
shook the cherry
blossoms and glittering star points flashed in the rolling clouds
above. With the starlight came the EEGs of a stranger and feelings
that used words as vents. Something wonderful caused him to stand up
and embrace the velvety darkness. Two moons vibrated and became one,
then a delicious odor of baked goods touched him.
He looked across
the yard and the condominium complex looked back with a hungry
jumble of bright alien eyes. His stomach growled, shaking angry
juices. He decided to buy some munchies and go upstairs. Moving
against the glossy purple night toward a side door, he thought, "Why
contemplate an overdose again? It could be worse, like I could be a
maniac or something instead of just an unemployed loser."
A porcine security
guard with a lazy stare was slumped on the desk. Ravi strolled out
of the concourse, passed the guard, and crossed the painfully bright
lobby clutching a paper sack of munchies against his chest. A
potato-chip autumn blew in his mind, drool and fangs were in his
stomach, but like a wild beast he needed privacy while devouring his
meal.
A blond woman, her
hips tilted sweetly, was by the elevators. He slowed abruptly and
his eyes shone like lanterns, taking in the creamy skin of her
thighs and shoulders. Her little red summer dress set his brain
smoldering, and he bit his lip as he pictured her naked beneath a
tree fern. She glanced at him and he forced a smile over his
grimace, looking for all the world like the stereotype of a weirdo
as he came to a stumbling halt.
The word TART was
written on her face in layers of thick make-up. "Hey guy," she said
with the forwardness of a hooker. "You been drinking poison or
something?"
"I never drink
anything cheap. It was just a flashback of my ex-wife's face."
"Think you're cool
stuff, huh?"
"I wish I thought
that way."
Her eyes were
innocent blue, but they cut into his heart. He knew she could see he
was a faker and nothing more. What would be left of his ego
tomorrow? - the elevator rattled open - maybe just a pile of scraps
on the elevator floor, and people would carefully step over him like
always.
Her body language
sucked him into the elevator, and she hit button fifteen. "I'm on
thirteen," he said, pressing button 13. "Only two floors from you.
Quite a coincidence, eh?"
She looked at him
icily, in the way women look at the dirtier half of the living dead,
and she was about to say something when the elevator began to bounce
up and down like a sardine can Zeus was shaking. It settled and the
door banged open, revealing an earthen pit filled with boards and
junk. A rat was about to board. She screamed and he spilled bags of
popcorn and chips as he hit the close button.
"What in the hell!
- - we're at the bottom of the shaft," he said, then his mouth fell
open as he watched her breasts swell with a deep breath. He hit the
numbers again and the elevator began to bounce its way back up.
The elevator
steadied and inched on up the shaft like a beetle. The lady had her
arms crossed and she looked panicky. He wanted to say something
reassuring, but his brain was meatloaf, then the lights blinked out.
The car stopped on a dime and a hum dropped down the shaft. Total
silence remained, then screaming took over. His groceries were
knocked out of his hands, razor-sharp nails slashed at him and he
fell against the side wall, sliding to the floor under the force of
the assault. Mustering his strength he tackled the woman and forced
her down. He gripped her wrists. She squirmed for a moment, then she
began to weep.
"I'm terrified of
elevators," she choked.
"Don't be
frightened. I won't hurt you. I've been smoking dope."
"Get me off this
bullshit elevator!"
"Hey, you all
right in there!" yelled a man with a gravely voice.
"No, we're stuck!"
she hollered back.
"Sorry, but I
can't help you -- it's a blackout. I gotta
guard my store downstairs. I'll see if I can find someone to get you
out."
"Wait, you can't
leave us here!" she sputtered. When there was no reply she sighed
out a shivering ghost and collapsed.
"Oh great," Ravi
muttered. "A blackout. It could last all night if not longer."
Deciding it wouldn't hurt to be comfortable he pulled her against
him and let her head rest on his chest. He found a chocolate bar
next to him and ripped away the wrapper with his teeth. He took a
bite and as he chewed on the sticky caramel fear grew in his mind.
"Maybe it's more than a blackout; maybe it's nuclear war." Demonic
apparitions peppered him with howls as they whirled in the darkness.
"The big one and nuclear winter," he mumbled as the wicked
apparitions mocked him and burst into hellish flames. Fire burned on
ice and he could see vicious new species of rats, flies and roaches
swarming through drifting poison gas and endless mounds of charred
corpses. Wide-eyed, he took another bite of his chocolate bar.
Suddenly the woman snorted loudly and stirred.
She snapped to an
upright posture. "Oh-no!" she exclaimed.
"Oh-yes," he said.
Somewhat adapted
to dark confinement she moved back beside him. "So are we being
rescued or what?"
"No word yet."
"You're single
aren't you?" she said softly, rubbing the inside of his leg.
"Sort of -- the
wife took off a year ago. What about you?"
"My husband's
criminally insane; he'll never be released. A thing about body
parts. He once brought me a--"
"It's terrible to
be alone," Ravi said, clenching his fists. "When women reject me I
feel like - feel like --" He succumbed to her kisses.
Time slipped
pleasantly by, then a man laughed - his voice was gravely. "Hey,
what's goin’ on in there? I could use some of that."
There was some
hasty movement in the elevator. "Did you find help?" the woman asked
in a hopeful tone.
"Yeah, I ran
across some Joe helping people next door with his pry bar. He don't
talk much, but I'm sure he can force the door. I
gotta get back to my store. I'll leave
the lantern and Joe can get to work."
He was sorry about
getting out; he let his mind fall in the darkness and his hand
wander on her thigh. A loud hammering on the door made them both
jump. "Joe," he said. "You're supposed to force it open, not hammer
it down."
"I hope this guy
knows what he's doing," the woman said.
Loud creaking
replaced the hammering and a crack of flickering light showed as the
metal groaned and gave way. Joe had the strength of an ox, but he
didn't know how to apply a lever. He put big gashes in the outer
door; he was like a moron opening a can with a screwdriver.
Finally Joe got
brighter, slipped his pry bar in the crack and forced the door
halfway open. They ducked out quickly and turned to thank him. The
woman gasped. In the lantern light Joe looked like a creature from
the bottom of a mine shaft. He was a squat, lumpy guy with swollen
blue lips and a porous red-veined bump for a nose. Lifeless hair
hung like cobwebs from a head checkered with bald patches. His eyes
were like little black olives in pools of moldy margarine, and he
grinned witlessly, showing crooked yellow teeth.
"Darling," the
woman said, almost choking. "How did you get out?"
"You mean that
guy's your mad husband?"
Joe's grin
widened. "The electric fence, the electric fence -- no power," he
blubbered. "Look." He set the pry bar down and reached for an
enormous dent-covered toolbox. Loosening up some snaps he lifted out
something large and held it up in the lantern light. It was a heavy
meat hook, a human foot hung from it - blood dripped to the carpet
from the toe of a nylon stocking. "For you, for you," he said
feverishly.
They took steps
back, turned and fled into the dark stairwell. They were down a few
flights before they heard Joe's heavy boots ringing above. His
crazed voice echoed, "Paint the town red, paint it black and blue!"
The woman threw
the side door open and they raced off under the cherry blossoms. An
apparition of a ghastly head swinging on a meat hook vanished in the
moonlight as Joe appeared. He looked around, but they were gone,
dashing into a lovers' darkness he would never find.
---The End ---
