The Dream Operator by Mike O'Driscoll

Author:Mike O'Driscoll [Mike O'Driscoll]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horror, Mystery Noir, Crime, Thriller, Supernatural, Short Stories, Collections & Anthologies
ISBN: 9780995094956
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 35599008
Publisher: Undertow Publications
Published: 2017-06-05T23:00:00+00:00

*

Snow has fallen heavily overnight and the roads are barely passable. It takes an hour to drive to Penygwaith, and when we reach the house and hurry up the steps we find a dozen or more faceless snowmen crowded together in the front garden. My head spins as nausea rolls through me. “Who are…?” I start but don’t know really what to say.

Alison laughs. “They don’t have snowmen down under?”

I wonder how she knows they’re all men. Staring at the tall mounds, my mind struggles to impose order by imprinting faces on them, some clearly female. “Why though? Who would make them?”

“Ah, kids, who cares?” She walks past them, leaving me no choice but to follow her. Their featureless faces unnerve me, forcing me to hurry on into the house. As we wander around inside, I hear music again but I can’t tell where it’s coming from. At one point I look out Frank’s bedroom window and see that some of the snowmen appear to have moved. I don’t mention it to Alison in case she’ll think I’m crazy. The longer I spend here, the more certain I am that I want no part of it. Back downstairs, I find Alison huddled inside her coat, dozing in mother’s armchair. I watch her for a minute or two, thinking how right she looks there, how much she belongs. Even so, a bitter taste wells up in my mouth as I think about her choosing Frank over me. And yet, I feel I still have a chance with her, that after what’s happened, she could be mine once again.

I wake her but say nothing of what I’ve been thinking. We go to the New Inn and talk about Frank. At first she’s reluctant to say much about him, but the more she drinks, the harder she finds it to contain her bitterness. And all the while I listen and say the right things, showing her how different life could be with me.

“He used me,” she says. “Like he used everyone. But I thought I’d be the one to change him.”

“Nobody could’ve changed him,” I say.

“I lost my own friends,” she continues. “All we had were his drinking pals. We hardly ever went out together and when he did, I’d have to wear what he wanted me to and plaster myself with make-up till I looked like a doll on display; Frank’s doll. And God forbid anyone should try and talk to me. Twice it happened and twice he put them in hospital.”

“Did he ever hit you?”

She laughs but there’s no humour in it. “You get used to it after a while; you learn to roll with the punches. You watch his moods, learn to anticipate him.”

I’m filled with loathing for Frank, and with regret for what might have been.

“The worst thing,” she goes on, “is when you figure out how to provoke him, push him over the edge, and then you do it, like it’s a game. See how far you can push him before he knocks your brains out.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.