Anthology. Robert Deshaies

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СКАЧАТЬ wanted to make him feel better. I…I had to leave. I had to just start somewhere no one knew me. Tonight, I thought I was back into the thing I thought I had escaped. I guess that was the panic attack talking. Then I met this girl, and she was everything that Donny was when it all started. Started so long ago now it seems…”

      The entire time I was pleading to this soulless…this man, he approached without a sound. His hands held behind his back with strength and reserve. And then he had finally reached me just floating in this pool of…nowhere. He had contacted me in nowhere, and he looked. As I pleaded and poured my soul unto him, he just stared. In his hand, he held a pendant. There was a decorated skull with a long silver chain. He moved it up to his lip, and he spoke, “Melanie, wake up.”

      Then I was back. I could see the lights pouring in from the curtains. I was lying in a bed; I was no longer tied up. I glanced around, and the room appeared…it appeared to look as it should be if Sonja and I…

      Sonja, where was Sonja?

      “Sonja!”

      Suddenly, next to me, a rustling appeared, and I prepared for the worst.

      “Yes, what is…whoa. Vous-êtes bien, Mélanie?”

      Oh my god, what was that?

      “Sonja! Oh, I’m sorry. Umm, do you remember much from last night?”

      “Oui, mi amor.”

      “Oh…” I was utterly confused. “What do you remember exactly?”

      So she began explaining, and everything appeared perfect. Perfect, as in once we got back to her place, we made love all night and woke up with a bit of a hangover. No assailants, no questioning, just nothing. What was wrong with me?

      We took it slow. She mounted me. She looked compassionately down at me, and she began to touch. I…

      “Melanie, are you sure?”

      Yes, I needed this. I needed this release. It was the stress. It’d been building since I left New York. That was just a dream. There was nothing to be worried about. So I pulled her waist to mine, and the morning went by. It was Sunday. We didn’t need to do anything but lie here.

      It was 5:00 p.m. We were still in bed. Sonja made coffee and ran to the boulangerie and brought us some great food. I was still shaking up from last night’s dreams. What did I experience? I mean, it was so real.

      Sonja entered back into her bedroom, and she told me that she had work in an hour.

      “It’s okay, Sonja. I’ll be fine. Can…can I see you later?”

      “Oui, ma cher. I would love to see you tonight. I’m off at midnight.”

      “Okay, I’ll shoot you my address.”

      “Parfait.”

      Sonja jumped onto the bed and kissed me goodbye. That was my queue to go scavenge whatever was left of my Sunday evening. I gathered my stuff, and it smelled like her. No blood either. Whew. I blew Sonja a kiss goodbye, and I left.

      Out on the street, I reached into my bag to grab those old Camels, and I felt something that shouldn’t be in my pocket. I pulled it out, and there it was…another note. Listed was an address. Nothing else. How did this get in here? Did Sonja put it here? Well, I could look up the address on my phone, so that was what I did. Apparently, it was a building near Les Champs-Élysées. Hell, I had a few hours before Sonja came over, and she’d already seen me at my worst, so I might as well explore this note.

      I was on the metro, but I didn’t remember walking down into the subway. There was music playing in my ears, but I didn’t have earbuds in. Also, I was the only one in the metro.

      “Hello?”

      No response, just this music and the train tracks.

      Am I going insane?

      The metro reached my stop, and I exited. No one, absolutely no one, was in the metro. Is there some national holiday or something? Okay, let me just get to this address and see what the hell is going on. As I walked out of the underground, I noticed everyone was wearing the same type of mask from my boss’s party last night. Was there a carnival in Paris? As I began walking, the map on my telephone alerted me to go five hundred feet northbound, and I should reach my destination. I made a 180-degree turn, and I saw the building number. I walked toward it, and in the doorway, there was a man.

      “Hello, Melanie. I hope you found my note. Tell me, did you experience strange occurring last night?”

      I didn’t want to answer. I just wanted to turn around before another nightmare unleashed itself unto me. But I couldn’t turn around; I was compelled to listen.

      “Melanie, my name is Mr. Jacket. I am an acquaintance of your ex-boyfriend, Donny Blaze. He wanted to see where you ran off to. Now, Ms. Percourt, I normally do not take cases like yours, but…”

      “I’m sorry, did you say ‘cases’?”

      “Yes, my dear. Please allow me to explain.”

      He clicked his fingers. Again, the world faded along the edges, forming into cascading black waves. I was in nowhere again. This time, I sat at a table. There was a chessboard on the table, and the figurines were designed to look like people in my life. I wanted to scream, but I was compelled not to. Then I heard his voice once again.

      “You have been marked, my dear. I am here to collect. You escaped. Plain and simple. You escaped when you shouldn’t have. You thought you could leave your old life behind, but you must have forgotten about the night you originally met me? I assume that’s why the days have been so foggy since I have returned to collect.”

      I couldn’t speak. My mouth opened, but my voice sent no sound forward. The thoughts in my head were nil. I was listening, but I didn’t want to hear.

      “Would you care for me to refresh your memory?”

      I couldn’t speak.

      “Very well then.”

      This felt like a dream, but I knew it was a memory, and I was living it again. Donny and I were in Grand Central Park. He was holding my hand, and I was bundled up from the cold. He was the opposite; his hand was running solely with heat. It was sweltering, but I wouldn’t let go. He was all I have. As the freezing chill blasted against our faces, I remember us sitting down on a bench overlooking the little lake. The water was frozen over, and birds were playing on the twigs that were frozen facing upward. My hand was still touching Donny’s, and I could see him reaching into his pocket. This was the moment. He was pulling out one of his needles and that cursed little bag out from his jacket pocket. He’s going to shoot up. I decided that I needed to tell him to stop. I moved my other hand over the bag and needle and told him, “Another time, hon. Not here, please.” He nodded. He put the bag back into his jacket, and we got up. Time then froze. I was back at the lake. Donny’s gone, and I was alone.

      Mr. Jacket appeared on the icy lake. He was just standing there…soullessly.

      “I’m giving you a choice, Melanie. This was the moment. Memory moves in many absurd ways. In one, you never halted Donny from shooting up. He coerced you into taking some just to please him, and СКАЧАТЬ