02 The Ugly Man by P. D. Viner

Author:P. D. Viner [Viner, P. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery, &, Detective, General
Publisher: Random House
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Seven

It is dark. No, black, not merely dark. All light has been sucked from the universe. She feels like she has been turned inside out, like the worst hangover multiplied by a thousand. She took LSD at college once with a group of friends. They all had ‘amazing’ trips. One said they grew claws and tunnelled into the earth to a land where dinosaurs still existed, another evolved into a creature that could fly, and soared so high she touched the face of God. A third swam with the dolphins and mated with one, producing a hyper-intelligent and gentle mermaid race. Patty had curled into a corner and screamed that he was beating her, that he would kill her. She screamed for seven hours – the last two were silent as she had wrecked her voice box. That had been the worst she ever felt, until now. Now she feels like her stomach is on the outside of her body and has been dragged over gravel.

It takes some time for her to realise she is lying on stone. She slowly reaches out her fingers and traces them along the floor. Large flagstones, like you might find in an old house. In a cellar. Images return to her, the shark teeth and the eye… Mark Radix. She rolls on to all fours. She is not restrained. She feels her body. Her jacket is gone, her shoes too and belt. She stretches out her hand, feeling in front of her, slowly crawling forward. She reaches some steps, also stone, gets to her knees and then up on her feet. Using her hands to feel the way she climbs up them. She counts each step – there are nine before she gets to a door. Heavy, oak and… unlocked.

Her stomach is broiling, acid sloshing about. She might be sick. Breathe. She could turn back, go and lie down again and wait for—

‘No!’ She must go on. She opens…

‘If this were a horror film…’ Jim-in-her-head starts to say.

‘Not helping,’ she tells him, and turns the handle. A sliver of light builds until it burns her eyes. She opens the door fully with a haunted house creak.

‘No need to be scared. This is just fine,’ she whispers to herself. Fine. Fine. The door opens into another cellar. There is a single bare bulb, the walls are brick, everything smells of damp and mould – it is overpowering. She steps on to it, the brick bites at her bare feet. She hobbles forward, can see two doors. They look identical.

‘Eeny meany…’ Jim says. She picks one and pulls at the handle. It is stiff but gives. Inside the room is dark and…

‘Is someone there – please, is someone there?’ A voice calls out. Patty freezes, her first instinct is to turn and run but the voice sounds so pathetic and needy.

‘Please, please… is that you, Mark? Please let us go, you—’

‘No. No it isn’t him.’

‘Oh God, oh God, are you here to rescue me, are you the police? Have you found my wife, please tell me my wife and kids are safe.

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