There's Something in the Walls Read online

  David reached up and touched a hand to his nose, found that Alice was right, and ducked away into the bathroom to wipe his nose on some toilet paper, then he blew it hard to clear his nasal passages. In his frantic attempt to explain his fears, he hadn’t noticed his nose running at all. While in the bathroom, David happened to look in the mirror. He realized it must have been the first time he’d looked at himself in days, because there were familiar dark bags under his eyes, and puffy red skin on either side of his nose. When had he gotten sick?

  Alice appeared in the bathroom doorway. “Did you sleep last night?”

  David threw the now soggy wad of toilet paper into the waste basket and turned to her. “Not really. Too worried about Tommy. And whatever is going on in this building.”

  She nodded. “I thought as much. There are some empty beer bottles by your chair. I guess that didn’t help you any, by the looks of you.”

  David didn’t reply to this, so Alice went on.

  “Who lives in the apartment above you?”

  David thought a moment, then said, “I don’t know her name. She’s that old lady with white hair who walks with a cane. I hear it tapping the floor up there all the time.”

  “That dog… Bullseye, right? That’s Mr. Gustafson’s dog, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And the woman upstairs, Miss Anne is her name, I’ve spoken with her a few times. She can’t go up and down the stairs very well. Because of her hip, that’s why she needs the cane.”

  “Okay…” David had no idea where Alice was going with this, but she seemed calmer than he was, so he was inclined to listen.

  “Okay, well did you know that Mister Gustafson does her shopping for her, and brings her groceries up to her?”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  Alice smiled. “I thought not. I’ve actually wondered if there might be something going on between the two of them.”

  David considered this, then scrunched up his face. “Gross.”

  Alice slapped him playfully on the arm. “Jerk! It’s not gross, it’s cute.”

  “Sorry. But what’s this got to do with the dog?”

  “He takes Bullseye up there with him when he drops off the groceries. That collar probably just fell off and into a crack in the floor or something. It’s probably been sitting on the rafters above your ceiling for months, until the earthquake split it open and you grabbed it. Who knows, maybe Mister Gustafson already got Bullseye a new one and the one in your sink had been up there a year.”

  David rubbed at his nose, then scratched his chin. “Maybe.”

  “It seems more likely than wherever that rant you were on was about to take us. Flesh eating mold? Like that movie The Blob? Was that your theory?”

  David rubbed the back of his head and felt his cheeks flushed. “I don’t know. Maybe. I told you it sounded crazy.”

  “You weren’t lying. You know what I think?”

  “What?”

  “I think you’re tired, hung over, worried about your friend, and catching my cold. That’s a lot to deal with all at once. But I think I have a solution.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Let’s take a nap. I’m exhausted and sick and worried about Tommy too. Let’s sleep a few hours, then get something to eat, down a bunch of cold medicine, and go out looking for Tommy.”

  David thought about it. “That actually sounds pretty perfect.”

  Alice smiled. “I have my moments.”

  She walked over to David’s futon and adjusted it from the couch setting to the bed setting. Then she went to his trunk with the bedclothes and started to make David’s bed for him. When she was finished, she did something that surprised David. She undid the button of her jeans, unzipped them, and took them off. He was suddenly looking at blue panties. Then Alice reached up and undid her bra beneath her shirt and skillfully took it off without taking her shirt off first. Then she lay down on the futon and pulled a sheet over her. She looked up over her shoulder at David.

  “You coming?” she asked with an arched eyebrow.

  David had thought she meant they’d take naps separately, in their own apartments. He hesitated, then the image of the blue panties and the way the tips of Alice’s breasts had stood out against her shirt after she’d taken her bra off leapt into his mind, and he stooped, took his own pants off, then his shirt, and wearing only his boxer-briefs he wordlessly got into bed beside Alice.

  Her hair smelled like flowers; that was the first thought David had when he lay down next to Alice, and it was the last virtuous one.

  “You can put your arm around me if you want,” Alice said. “Make spoons. I love that.”

  David didn’t have to be told twice. He rolled on his side, then draped his arm over Alice. Her shirt had hitched up a little and his hand came to rest over her naval. The flesh there was smooth, warm, and taught. They were so close together that Alice’s bottom was pressed against David’s crotch. David felt himself become aroused. A moment later, Alice felt it too.

  “Naughty boy,” Alice said with a giggle. “How will we ever get our nap with that in the way?” She rolled over to face him, a lustful grin on her full lips. “Although, I guess we could consider this our third date. If we looked at it that way, it’s not like we rushed into bed together, right? Three dates... That’s a respectful amount of time to wait, don’t you think?”

  “Absolutely,” David said, then quickly—and a little too eagerly—added, “I’m with you one hundred percent.”

  Alice laughed long at that. David couldn’t stand it anymore. He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her. Their breaths quickened. Instinct took over from there, and soon they were both naked, sweating, and lost in the animal nature of the act.

  . . .

  Afterwards they slept. David awoke sweating, because he and Alice were still wrapped in each other’s arms. Funny, he hadn’t noticed the California summer heat before now. That was the effect Alice had on him. He’d known nothing outside of their lovemaking. But now, after the fact… He was beginning to wonder if they had been smart. They hadn’t used protection of any kind, and he hadn’t even asked if she were on birth control. That was very unlike David. Even through high school and in his early twenties, when he was little more than a walking erection fueled by hormones, he had always been very careful when it came to sex. The only other woman he had ever had unprotected sex with before Alice, in fact, had been his live-in girlfriend of five years back in Michigan, and even then it was only after they had both been tested and certified as disease free.

  What had come over him? Alice was beautiful, yes. And he was sick, and hung over, and sleep deprived, and worried about his missing friend, of course. But all of that was no excuse. This just wasn’t like David. He didn’t do things like this. He felt a panic attack coming on and quickly got out of bed, not wanting to do it in front of Alice. Oh, his panic attacks… It’d been so long since his last one, he’d almost thought he was over them. No such luck, it seemed. The nervous shocks went through his chest like jolts from defibrillator paddles, and he was gasping for breath before he knew it.

  Alice began to stir. He didn’t want her to see. David found his jeans and tried to stay quiet. He pulled them on and ran to his door, then opened it as quietly as possible and went into the hall. What if she came out here? What if someone else did? David needed a place to hide. He wheeled around, and his eyes fell on Tommy’s door. Tommy’s door with the broken lock. David fought through his panicked breaths and stormed into Tommy’s room. He tripped almost immediately over a stack of books and went down. Then, like a wounded animal, he crawled to the back wall and curled up against it. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe. Tried to breathe. Tried to breathe…

  Pain seared hot and bright in the back of David’s neck. With the crippling panic already on him, this sensation was almost too much and for a moment he froze, his breathe caught in his throat and his heart feeling like it would soon burst in his chest. It was a blinding pain, that star
ted at the base of his skull, but shot down over his whole body in rapid waves.

  Some instinct caused David to reach back, to grasp at whatever was causing this explosion of anguish in his skull. His hand made it almost to his scalp, but it was stopped by…some foreign object. A tube-like, ropy thing, slick with ooze. David’s mind searched for an answer to what this could mean. What had his hand landed on? But there was nothing. It made no sense. And then the thing moved, and when it did, the pain grew even more intense, and David’s head moved with it. Realization dawned on David then. The slimy rope was attached to him. In the same place Tommy had received his wound…

  It fucking bit me…

  David screamed. He clawed at the thing attacking him. Tried to tear it from his head. Suddenly he was jerked upwards with a force that nearly broke his neck. His back slammed against the wall and his vision went white. He screamed again. Voices were shouting somewhere outside of the awful struggle he was in. David only knew this on the outskirts of his awareness though. He was sure he was being killed. That he would die if he did not free himself from whatever had hold of him. He reached back again and tried to grasp at the thing. Again, he was whipped around and slammed against the wall.

  Tommy’s door flew open with a force and men rushed into the room. At the exact same moment, David found that he was free. Whatever the tube-like slimy thing was, it had let him go! He fell forward, away from the wall and scrambled over the stacks of Tommy’s archives. Hot blood splashed on his back and he knew somewhere in his head that whatever had happened to Tommy only a few nights before had now happened to him. He fled. The men—men David did not recognize as residents of the building—tried to stop him on his way out. David made it to his feet, shoved through the outstretched arms that tried to stop him and ignored the pleading voices that told him to calm down, and then he was out into the hall, running for the stairway. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Alice standing in the open doorway to his apartment, rubbing sleep from her eyes, eyes that widened when she saw him running past, shirtless and blood spattered.

  David ran on. Terror had gripped his guts and it propelled him forward to the stairwell. He heard Alice shouting after him. He didn’t stop. In the stairwell, David jumped fully down the first flight to the landing below. He felt a sharp pain in both ankles, but tried to keep going. He didn’t make it down the second flight with his senses. His injured foot, again slick with blood, slid on the wood of the top step and he was soon falling headfirst to the landing below. His head hit the floorboards and his lights instantly went out.

  . . .

  David woke again in his futon, only he was alone this time. No, that wasn’t right, Alice wasn’t lying next to him, but someone was sitting on the bed beside him, dabbing at his forehead with a wet, cold cloth.

  “Are you awake?” It was Alice’s voice.

  “Sort of,” David said. His head was killing him. “What happened?”

  “You took a fall down the steps. Some men were here to inspect the damage caused by the earthquake. They heard you screaming and found you in Tommy’s room. Why were you in there, David? I didn’t even know you’d gotten out of bed until I heard all the noise.”

  David tried to think about it. Tried to remember what had happened. He had no memory of anything past falling asleep with Alice in his arms. The effort to collect his thoughts drove new spikes of pain between his ears.

  “I have no idea,” David said finally. “I can’t remember getting up.”

  Alice nodded. “You have a concussion. Memory loss is common with that. But…” She bit her bottom lip and looked away.

  “What is it?”

  “Well. That’s not your only injury. You remember that wound on the back of Tommy’s head that he got the other night? You have the same wound now. And it didn’t happen when you fell. The men who found you in Tommy’s room said you were already bleeding from your head before you fell.”

  David winced, trying to make sense of it. He didn’t remember any men finding him. Didn’t even remember leaving his room.

  “It was hard to convince them not to call an ambulance. I told them you didn’t have health insurance and then lied a little…told them I was already a registered nurse and that I’d look after you.”

  Something occurred to David. “What did they say about this place? What’s causing the slime? Is it black mold?”

  Alice shook her head. “We don’t know. They hadn’t looked at anything yet when they found you in Tommy’s room. Seeing you like that left a few of them pretty shaken up. The foreman told Mrs. Perkins that they’d have to come back another day to look at the building. Mrs. Perkins, of course, wouldn’t hear it. She argued with the foreman for a bit, then fired them all. Even tore up the check she’d written. I don’t think they’ll be coming back here.”

  David expelled a breath. “Shit.”

  “On the bright side, I got to practice stitching up a wound,” Alice said, smiling a little.

  “I thought you didn’t have the stuff you needed to do that here.”

  “I didn’t. I had to go to school and steal it. Tommy watched you while I was gone.”

  David bolted upright, ignoring the pain this caused. “Tommy was here?”

  “Yeah.” Alice tilted her head. “Didn’t I mention that already? He showed up like a half hour after you went down the steps.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “He left again. Said he’d be back tonight though. He doesn’t look good, David. Even worse than you. He’s paler than normal, and sicker than anyone else in the building. I don’t think he’s slept in the last few days. He was talking like a crazy person too.”

  “What did he say?”

  “I don’t even know. Kept mumbling about a mollusk, or a…I think he said ‘nautilus.’ At least that’s what it sounded like he was saying. I almost didn’t want to leave you with him, but I didn’t really have any other options.”

  David tried to concentrate on what Alice was saying, but he felt himself start to drift off again.

  “David,” Alice said.

  He looked at her.

  “What happened to you in there?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

  “David,” she said again, looking away. “Why don’t I feel scared? I mean… I should feel afraid right now, shouldn’t I?” She placed her hand over her stomach. “But I don’t. I don’t…I don’t feel anything at all.”

  She wiped at her nose. It had started to run again.

  David placed a hand on her thigh. “I’m going to figure this out, Alice. Now that Tommy is back, he can help me. We’ll figure out what’s going on and stop it.”

  Alice placed her hand on top of David’s and interlaced her fingers into his. Then she moved in closer and lay down next to him. She rested her head on his chest. David felt himself start to drift off to sleep again.

  “I can hear your heartbeat; you know?” Alice said.

  Her voice stopped his decline into unconsciousness. He caressed her shoulder.

  “It’s weird,” she added. “It seems like it’s beating really slowly.”

  David stared at the ceiling, lethargic. He continued rubbing Alice’s shoulder and she began to do the same to his chest. The room seemed to spin around him. He looked at the hole in the ceiling, now shining from the sludge that lined the inside. For a moment, he imagined that whatever was in there was looking back at him. Alice began to writhe against him. Before he knew it, she was straddling him, pulling her shirt off. She reached down and grasped between his legs, and suddenly he was inside of her, and he forgot about what was in the ceiling. He forgot about everything. Everything except Alice and the pleasure she gave him.

  When the deed was done, David and Alice lay in a sticky heap on his futon bed. There was a distant feeling of regret in David’s head. They had used no protection again, and David had climaxed inside of her. It was so irresponsible. So unlike David to do, and so unlike what he thought Alice would be like as well. She was inte
lligent, witty, and down to earth. Why was she engaging in such debauchery with him? Why were the two of them being so careless? So reckless? But all of this, all of these thoughts and worries, were in the background. David felt no real fear or anxiety anymore. Like Alice, he seemed to feel nothing at all. In this absence of feeling, he fell asleep.

  . . .

  When David woke up later, Alice was gone. Hazy light spilled across the floor in his room, and long shadows splashed the walls. It was early evening. He must’ve slept quite a few hours. Hunger gnawed at his belly, and he was thirstier than he’d even been before. David rolled to the edge of his futon, then tried to sit up. To stand. It didn’t work. He felt dizzy, and in a flash, nauseated. He hung his head over the side of the bed, retched, and produced nothing more than what tasted like sour phlegm from his gullet.

  “Did you let it touch you?” a ragged voice asked.

  David jumped, as, for a moment, a little fear was able to burn through the smoke and fog around his senses. He whirled around and found Tommy sitting at one of the small chairs by the table in his kitchenette.

  “Jesus, Tommy,” David said. “Where have you been?”

  Tommy didn’t answer. He was fiddling with something on David’s table, something that made a clicking sound.

  “What are you doing?” David asked.

  “Did you get any of the slime on you?” Tommy asked.

  David had to think about it for a moment. He remembered his hand being covered in the black goo when he’d pulled the dog collar from his ceiling. How it had burned the slices in his skin from where he’d cleaned the broken dishes.

  “Yeah, I got it on my hand,” David said.

  “Then it’s got its hooks in,” Tommy said. “That’s how it works. It poisons us. Makes us sick. Makes us slow and stupid. Makes us not use our heads. Like a spider’s or snake’s venom. It wears off after a while. Make sure you don’t get it on you again or it’ll get worse.”

  “What are you talking about?”