Free My Clockwork Muse by D.R. Erickson

kill me.
    I thrust the laudanum vial into my trousers
pocket and at the same time set my lantern down on the worktable. I
was soon to be trapped between Burton and the wall, so I looked
around desperately for a weapon. Finding nothing but a length of
board, I snatched it from the table. Though it felt disappointingly
light in my hands, I reared back, raising it high above me and
brought it down with all of my strength atop Burton's head.
    The board snapped. The sound of the fool's
bells filled the chamber as his hat flew from his head. In its
place there appeared a great black gash where the board had caved
in part of Burton's skull. He seemed not to notice. I had delivered
a killing blow and yet Burton continued towards me, step by
implacable step. To oppose him, I found myself with only a useless
piece of splintered lumber in my hands.
    I flung it aside, grabbed my lantern and
thrust it into the face of the fiend. It burst apart upon the
exposed bone of his chin, spilling oil all down the front of his
motley. Instantly, he was engulfed in flames, his shoulders and
face lost in a shroud of fire. I dashed around him and ran like mad
for the stairs. The slick soles of my shoes caused me to skid
around the corner, and again on the first step as I tried to climb.
I found myself sprawled on the stairs and I could see by the
flickering shadows on the wall that dead-Burton was again pursuing
me. I attempted to clamber up the stairs on all fours, my shoes
skidding from the treads as I went. The blaze of Burton's flaming
torso brightened the stairwell as though in the light of day. I
could hear his heavy footfalls, could feel the heat of the flames
on my back. I dared not look behind me.
    I had just about reached the door to safety
when I felt his skeletal fingers close around my ankle.
    Then I turned and gazed up in horror at his
scorched dead face.

 
     
     
     
     

Chapter
6

     
    "Fiend!" I cried.
    Disregarding the flames, I reached up and
grabbed the hideous creature by his lapels. I could feel his
fingers close around mine. I tried to push him away or yank him
aside.
    "Edgar! Edgar!"
    I cried out in fear. The thing was shaking me
and I felt it slapping my cheeks. I blinked my eyes open. A black
shadow filled my vision. I drew back in terror, my heels digging
for purchase.
    "Edgar! Wake up, man!"
    The shadow resolved itself into a face, but
it was the face of Doctor Coppelius, not Burton. Confused, I looked
around and saw that I lay not on the stairs of the boarding house
basement under the flaming torso of a murderous cadaver, but in my
own bed and under my own roof. This seemed to have little calming
effect on me.
    I pulled Coppelius close. "It was Burton!" I
cried, falling back at once against my pillows and covering my
face.
    "There, there, Edgar. You have had a bad
fright, but you are safe now."
    Coppelius tried to comfort me with his
too-sharp voice as he patted me with his too-coarse hands. I spread
my fingers, looked out and saw that it was true. I was safe in my
own bed. I let my hands fall away and saw Coppelius' bulging blue
eye peering at me from beneath his shaggy brow. As hideous as
Burton had been, Coppelius might have been worse. At least Burton
had the excuse of being dead. On the other hand, Coppelius was,
presumably, not trying to kill me.
    "What happened?"
    "You are safe now, my dear man," Coppelius
said with a strained smile—which did not surprise me, for all of
his expressions were strained. His countenance could be endured
only from a distance, and now I found myself nose-to-nose with the
man. And what a nose! It was a great twisted bulbous thing,
pock-marked and purple. It seemed to emerge like some mangled jut
of rock from a crashing sea of wild gray whiskers. He gave me his
usual cock-eyed look. One of his eyes was forever hidden under an
extravagant brow. The other bulged from its socket, a pale gauzy
blue eye. He pointed the hideous orb at whatever object he meant to
observe and now he was