A Horror Story...

Animals

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 5:01pm

Rider’s hand was completely butchered. What was left of the knuckles was a blob of purple and red, the dirty skin torn and blood-soaked, the pinky dermis peeking through.

“Rider, please relax your hand,” the technician said as she placed his mangled fist onto the examination table while another technician put an oxygen mask over his mouth. Rider was ravenous. His face hot, the dark brows furrowed over his eyes, the black pupils larger than normal. He sucked in his cheeks and breathed in, taking quick deep breaths as he stared at his fist in front of him and held back tears. His usual blue eyes were drained and darkened to a gray color much like something out of a sci-fi movie. In fact, Rider didn't really look like Rider at all; the once gentle features morphed into something animalistic, something inhuman.

Most likely because he just had his arm detangled from a crop reaper.

The day before the accident was considerably strange, a heaviness contaminated it leading Rider to believe that there was something in the drinking water in Burns, Kansas, population: 222.

Tuesday, May 21st, 2012 7:10am

The air was heavy as Rider walked to school. It was the beginning of tornado season in Kansas; the sky was tinted purple and the clouds were ominous as the sun fought to peak through. The whole town seemed black and white as he passed it. Cumulonimbus clouds cast a shadow on the wheat field, turning gold to grey. The rain was to come any minute. Rider walked quickly, catching up to his friend a few feet ahead.

“What’s up Colin?” Rider said, as he pulled a cigarette out of his back pocket and placed it in his mouth.

“Hey, man, what’s good?” Colin replied.

“Last night I was out of my mind.”

“Rider, man, that shit was bomb. You said you got that blueberry kush from Darren?” he asked, “I don’t know why we ever bought off anyone else.” He laughed as he grabbed the cigarette from Rider’s mouth, inhaled slowly, then gave it back to him. Rider put it out under his beat-up Vans sneaker and looked up at the dark sky; it had started to rain as they arrived at Peabody-Burns High School.

Rider and Colin ran up the entrance stairs and into the school; packed against a crowd of other students, they pushed through the others and made it to their first class just as the last bell rang.

When it was 1:45pm half the students in Rider’s 4th block class were drooling on their periodic table of elements. But not Rider, Chemistry was one of the only classes he took interest in. His father had been a medicinal chemist so Rider learned much of the basics of chemistry through the conversation at the dinner table. Suddenly, the monotonous sound of the teacher’s voice was interrupted by the phone. The class jolted their heads off their desks much like a new employee does when he realizes he overslept on his first day.

“Hello, Room 230,” Mr. Karl answered. “Ah, yes, Rider, okay, thanks.” Rider’s eyes widened and locked with Mr. Karl’s. “Rider, they want you down at the nurse’s office.” That’s when Rider began to break out in a cold sweat, he could feel a knot form in his chest and he swallowed hard, but his throat was too dry to be relieved. Students were only ever called down to the nurse for two reasons: either they had to take their medication, or they were being randomly drug tested. And since Rider had only ever taken medicine for an allergic reaction to coconut, he new that the latter was the unfortunate reason. He pulled himself from his chair, feeling twenty eyes on him all at once, as he weaved through the desks and made his way to his fate which was surely a two week suspension.

Rider was not always a pothead. Cigarette junkie, sure, but weed was only his latest obsession. Since Rider started his freshman year, he had the urge to try new things, or at least that’s what Colin had told him to do. But why did he have to do it near the end of school? Why couldn’t he had wait until the summer?

The nurse handed him the cup and left the bathroom door ajar. Rider felt faint as he held the plastic between his fingers, staring into the toilet water, praying he would throw up, or worse, pass out so he wouldn’t have to do it. But he peed in the cup and the results showed up positive for drugs in his system.

“Rider...I--I’m sorry but you did not pass.” The nurse said as she looked at him, shaking her head. She seemed genuine, like she was sorry, and he felt awkwardly guilty, not for getting caught, but for making her upset.

Rider was sent home early, with some bullshit letter about further investigating the situation. He didn’t even care anymore. Fuck high school, he thought as he shoved the envelope into his backpack and started walking along the road. When he looked up he saw someone ahead of him, it was Colin, his flannel tied around his waist, cigarette smoke emerging from his figure.

“Colin!” Rider yelled. Colin stopped and turned around, only to turn back and keep walking. This time he was walking quicker.

“Yo, wait up, I have to tell you somethin’.” Rider started jogging, attempting to catch up but Colin only started walking faster.

“Colin, man, slow down, what the fuck?” Suddenly, Colin halted and turned into Rider almost completely knocking heads with him.

“Stay the hell away from me.” He spat and Rider backed up, losing his balance and tripping off the side of the dirt road where the pavement met the wheat field.

“What?”

“You heard me, I said don’t fucking come near me. You’re nothing but a snitch.”

“Wait? Did you get drug tested too?”

“Don’t play dumb Ride, you got me kicked off the football team.” He pulled out a crumbled paper from his jeans and threw it at Rider’s feet. Rider picked it up. “See? Just because you're scared of your goddamn father doesn’t mean it’s okay to make me the fuck up.” Rider shuttered at his words. He couldn’t understand how they both were drug tested on the same day. How did the school know they both smoked the night before? The only other person who could have known they were lighting up was Tommy. He lived two houses down from Colin and sometimes he walked his dog late at night. Rider and Colin had smoked in the garage but there was a window on the door, big enough to see through from the sidewalk. The chances of them both being in a random draw had to be miniscule. It must have been Tommy, it had to have been, Rider was sure of it.

“Listen, Colin I was tested too. I failed too. Why would I rat you out? That makes no sense.” Rider tried but Colin just shook his head. His face was abnormally devious. He seemed so angry that he was amused and it frightened Rider.

“Forget it, all I have to say is you better watch your back, boy.” Colin turned and continued to walk home. This time, he appeared calm as he pulled another Newport from his back pocket, casually lit it, and left his other hand swinging by his side. Rider just stood there and watched the three-dimensional body fade into the dusty Kansas air.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 3:36pm

Rider woke up gasping for air and grabbing at the sky. He rolled over and coughed uncontrollably to realize he wasn’t in his bed; he wasn’t even in his room. Rider was in a field surrounded by wheat up to his neck. He whipped his head around and looked out to the furthest point but there were no roads. He started to panic. Why the hell was he here? What time could it be? He began to walk through the field, trying to remember where he had been before but everything was a blur. “FUCK!” he screamed, his voice echoing in the sky. With his eyes squeezed shut he attempted to focus. Remember goddamnit, it’s not that hard. In his mind he saw something dark, a person standing over him but it was blurred out. He thought back to school, the drug test, the nurse’s brown eyes looking at him in disappointment then Colin’s smirk, his disturbing walk. He had never seen him so angry. Was it still Tuesday? It couldn't have been. He shut his eyes again and focused harder, trying to make out the dark figure in his blurry vision but it was no use. He realized that there was a sound in the distance, it sounded like metal grinding together, like a machine. When he looked above the wheat he saw it; a monstrous crop reaper moving in his direction. Then he saw Colin, walking next to the reaper, the same devious grin from earlier. Terrified, Rider started to run and Colin only laughed.

“You better run you piece of shit!” He shouted. Rider felt the earth crumble beneath his feet as he ran, each stride a struggle as he pushed through what seemed like miles of wheat, the reaper catching up to him. And then he felt his ankle crack and heard a loud snapping noise. He screamed and winced in pain as he fell to the ground, blood soaking his jeans. He pulled up his pant leg in horror to see metal teeth synched around his ankle. A bear trap. He closed his eyes and prayed to God that this would all be over. When he opened them he saw Colin standing over him and he recognized the dark shadow in his foggy memory.

He suddenly remembered everything. The baseball bat crashing against his skull, lying in the bed of a pickup truck. He felt the dried up blood on his forehead and the lingering trauma. He noticed the reaper had stopped moving but the blades were rotating rapidly and Rider breathed heavily, trying to avoid eye contact with the grotesque machinery. Who was driving it?

“If you think that hurts, then you got another thing coming to you.” Colin said as he grabbed Rider and pinned him down.

Rider fought but was a lot weaker than Colin who seemed to be enraged and stronger than Rider had ever seen him. Colin looked demonic. His pupils took over his entire iris, the green color barely visible, while his veins bulged from every inch of his tanned skin and sweat beads condensed along his forehead. He worked to tie Rider up against an old pipe sticking out from the soil, then he took his arm and nailed it to the ground with a chain he had been carrying and the reaper began to move again. Rider struggled but the chain cut into his wrist.

“Colin, stop, please fucking stop!” he screamed, “Someone help me!”