Free The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories by Aaron Polson

contest.
He wrapped one well-muscled arm around Gina’s slender waist and
pulled her closer. She giggled. Brad’s eyes swelled, fading to a
sky blue. Watch this , she mouthed before poking her thumbs into Brad’s eye
sockets, pressing until an oily black goo squirted out.
    Calvin woke in a cold sweat. The clock above
his mantle showed 6:30 AM. He rolled off the couch, snatched his
keys from the counter, and left the house before Gina stirred. He
wanted to be away; something smelled of rot and worked on his
stomach, telling him to go.

    The phone nearly knocked Calvin out of his
chair when it rang. He had been dozing at his desk in the newsroom,
but now he recovered, wiped some drool from his lips, and grabbed
the receiver.
    “ Sentinel. Calvin Morris speaking.”
    “ Calvin?” Lenny’s voice
questioned. “Shit, Calivn. I figured they’d probably locked you up
by now.”
    “ Who?” Calvin shook his
head to break the cobwebs loose.
    “ The freakin’ cops, dude.
They just called. They want to question you about the girl. You
know, 14-A, murderous Jane Doe?”
    Calvin glanced at his cell phone, noting a
missed message from the Springdale Police Department and one from
his house. “What…did you—”
    “ No. Shit no. Security told
them you had been here. Crazy shit, man. Her fucking eyes
were cut out .
Rough job too, somebody must’ve done it with a dull butter knife or
something.”
    A ball of ice grew in Calvin’s stomach. The
memory grabbed him, and he steadied himself against the desk.
“What?”
    “ They want to ask you about
it. They’re looking for something else, some evidence. A jar I
think.”
    Calvin scanned the area for
his camera bag. Not here. When he glanced up, he spotted two police
officers skirting around desks in the newsroom. “Look, Lenny…I
gotta go.” He dropped the phone on the cradle.
    “ Calvin, what’s the good
word buddy?” It was Jimmy Mann, cocky and ignorant, the cheese of
Springdale’s finest.
    “ Just catching up on some
paperwork. I’m sure you guys know all about paperwork.”
    The other officer chuckled. Jimmy glared at
him and faced Calvin. “Look, we had a little talk with your friend
at the hospital…Lenny? Anyway, I’m sure you had nothing to do with
defacing the body.” A moment passed in awkward silence, a verbal
game of chicken. “Although I am a little curious as to why you had
to go see her in the cooler. We would also like to know if you saw
anything funny at the scene of the accident, before we arrived.
Anything you didn’t tell us in your statement that night.”
    Lenny, you lying
bastard. Calvin straightened in his chair,
meeting Jimmy’s gaze. “No. Why would I go and withhold evidence
from you fellows.”
    Jimmy smiled, trying to pull off some
Hollywood-tough demeanor. “I dunno, Calvin.” He leaned forward.
“But Jane was wanted for murder, and anything in that car could’ve
been related to the case, and if you did—”
    “ I took something from the
scene—that’s what you’re implying, right? If I did, I’d be dumb
enough to be a member of the Springdale Police Department. Hell, I
cut those fucking eyes out with a spoon. Is that what you want?”
Calvin stood up, his heart rattling inside his chest, pushed past
Jimmy, and turned. “Look, I’m busy, got it? Play Sherlock Holmes on
somebody else’s time.” He held his head against the mounting pain
as he hurried into the afternoon sunshine.

    Gina sat at the kitchen table, pale and
washed like a sheet of clean paper. A mason jar rested on the table
in front of her. It was filled with something, a clear fluid like
water. Six eyes floated in the water like bleached grapes, bits of
flesh clinging to each and clouding the fluid. Calvin took a few
steps into the room and noted that two of the eyes had electric
blue irises.
    Gina tilted her head toward him. “I found
this in your bag Calvin.” Her hand shook as she pointed at the jar.
“I was going to call you. I thought maybe you