The Nightmare Never Ends by Jennifer Bernardini

Author:Jennifer Bernardini [Bernardini, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: New
Amazon: B0CGQ1W7CJ
Goodreads: 198017973
Publisher: Exploding Head Fiction
Published: 2023-10-15T07:00:00+00:00

Black Cat

Tom Rimer

“Heathen.”

Dean Chabby looked up from behind the counter. The figure before him was backlit by abrasive, overhead fluorescents and he had to squint to see its face clearly. Dean gulped and stood up straighter. He adjusted his cockeyed name badge and brushed a few sweaty strands of brown bangs from their position, shielding his bloodshot eyes. It’d been almost a week since he’d slept through the night and his nightmares had gradually become more predictable. More constant. More present. They ate at him and eroded at his ability to function and to participate in even the most menial of reciprocal interactions. He blinked twice, barely registering the other lifeform.

“Uh—” he gulped in a fashion grossly disproportionate to the actual word that’d just been uttered. In fact, nearly all of Dean’s reactions to the universe around him and the beings who inhabited it were, by all realistic and socially acceptable standards, beyond the realm of the expected. In addition to his never-ending exhaustion, Dean lived in a constant state of fear, paranoia, and superstition. Not ‘God-fearing’, per se, but fearful nonetheless. And, while he wasn’t likely to be seen counting his rosary beads, he did make sure to avoid walking under any ladders or stepping on any cracks and was usually the first to pick up a spider—even though he was terrified of anything creepy or crawly—just to make certain he didn’t accidentally crush the life out of it.

He gulped again.

“I—uh—I’m not sure I understand what you… ”

“Heathen,” the voice spat once more, this time visibly irked that its wants were not being met or understood. “You know—the movie? Heathen? It’s the newest found-footage thing. Just released last week. I saw the poster outside. You’re supposed to have it—”

Dean’s robotic nodding interrupted any further attestation. He lifted an arm and pointed to a long row of VHS tapes to his left. It had large, bright, neon-yellow signage hanging above it that read ‘New Releases’. “Yeah. Yeah, sorry,” he said. “It’s in the first row with all the other new shit. Everyone keeps looking for it in ‘Horror’, but we can’t put it over there until it’s been out for at least a month. Apologies. Damn the man, am I right?”

The teen grunted and stalked over to his intended target. After a brief moment of searching, he plucked the black, plastic-encased rectangle off the shelf and returned to the counter.

Yawning, Dean rang him up and droned what’d been programmed into him during his previous three years working the register at Danvers Video Circus. “$3.99. New rentals are due back in three days.”

The kid tossed down four bucks and patiently waited for the copper Abraham Lincoln owed to him. Dean rolled his eyes but made sure to place the coin face up as he slid it across the counter. He knew it wasn’t exactly how that particular superstition worked, but —

Just in case.

The customer snatched his movie and riches from Dean’s clutches and exited The Circus.

Dean looked up at the clock on the opposite side of the store.

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