Free Screamscapes: Tales of Terror by Evans Light

towards the bedroom door.
    Gerard flicked off the bathroom light switch and padded past his glaring wife to the sofa downstairs. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep again that night.
    Within minutes he was snoring.

    He awoke the next morning delighted to find that his headache was gone. He wasn’t sure if what he had seen in the bathroom the night before had been real or a wicked dream. He examined his eyes carefully in the hallway mirror. Everything looked normal.
    Gerard desperately needed someone to talk to, someone to help him figure out what was going on. He hoped Sonia would be understanding if he opened up to her. He knew he’d have to approach the subject carefully, or else she might think he was losing his mind.
    After packing the kids out the door to school, he took a deep breath and told her everything that had been going on.
    The conversation went downhill fast.
    “What do you mean you can’t remember what you write?” Sonia asked, visibly irritated. She trembled as she sipped her coffee.
    “Sonia, I don’t know. I can remember sitting down to type, but I can’t remember what I wrote. I don’t even know how I got to bed last night, and it’s been like this for a while. Honestly, I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this.”
    Sonia’s face flushed with anger. She slammed her mug down on the granite counter.
    “You don’t know how much longer you can go on like this?” she snarled at him. “You can’t remember when you went to bed last night?”
    Gerard realized this conversation had been a big mistake, especially this morning. He should have waited.
    She was getting revved up. “That’s so funny,” she sneered, “because I remember the exact moment you came to bed last night. I remember very well, because I tried to go back to sleep for several hours. I remember seeing ‘4:44 AM’, and thinking how strange it was to see those numbers on the alarm clock.”
    She glared at him, daring him to speak.
    “You don’t have anything to say?” she asked sarcastically. “That’s odd, because you sure had a lot to say last night, didn’t you? What was it you said when I asked you to please let me get some sleep? Was it ‘I’m sorry’? No, no – that’s not it. What did you say? Oh wait, I remember – ‘DON’T FUCK WITH ME’. Yes, that’s what you said, didn’t you? You are such an inconsiderate asshole .”
    She turned away from him and began tossing dirty breakfast dishes into the dishwasher.
    Gerard attempted a recovery.
    “I’m so sorry,” he said, “you’re right – I am an asshole, a major asshole. But I’m also a very, very sorry asshole.”
    Sonia didn’t bother to look at him as she wiped the table.
    Gerard grabbed a broom and began sweeping the floor. He was going to need to change his strategy or else this argument was going to become the opening salvo of their relationship’s World War III.
    “I have to finish this one book. I have to finish it,” he pleaded with her, “I’m going to go crazy if I don’t get it done. In fact, I think I’m starting to go a little crazy already.”
    He smiled and stuck out his bottom lip like a sad puppy, hoping she would find it hard to stay mad at someone so cute.
    She finally relented.
    “Okay, okay,” she said. “At least you got it done before your deadline. Now maybe you can take a little break from writing for a while.”
    “My deadline is tomorrow,” Gerard said. “I promise I’ll do my best to have it completed by then.”
    Sonia stopped what she was doing and gave him a funny look.
    “What are you talking about?” she said. “You already finished it - I mailed the manuscript off yesterday, overnight mail. I have the tracking number around here somewhere.”
    She dug through her purse.
    “What manuscript? Gerard asked, confused. “I haven’t finished writing it yet! What did you mail? To who? ”
    Sonia’s irritation returned with a vengeance.
    “Are you just screwing with me now? I’ll