The man that dripped

I locked the door behind me. Well I thought I did. I heard the rain a pitter pattering as it dripped onto the step outside, which I thought odd because with the door closed I shouldn’t be able to hear it. 

BANG! The door slams shut. The noise from the door made me jump, however the feeling of being watched was more disconcerting. I knew I wasn’t alone and with my fella still out at his meeting I felt powerless, scared and totally alone. 

I stand frozen in place like a person that had come face to face with medusa herself. My legs quiver, I dare not turn to face my foe. I hear the trickle of water. It sounded as though I’d left the tap running however that was impossible as I’m a meticulous person and always checked the taps are turned off  properly before I leave the house.

I look down at my feet, I gasp when I see water surrounding my feet like a castle in the middle of a moat. I slowly turn to face my intruder, and let out a sigh of relief when my eyes meet with nothing. 

I turn and  face forward, Startled i jump backwards and again I’m frozen with fear. I try and wrap my mind around the view presented; a large figure stands directly in front of me and blocks my path. His clothes are wet and drip endlessly from the cuffs of his jacket and also from the turn ups of his denim jeans. Water spilled out like miniature sprinklers from the holes in his trainers and his hair still wringing wet hangs messily across his face obscuring his facial features.

I dare not move. My heart is beating ten to the dozen. It’s so loud I can hear it on the outside of my body, the thumps ring through my ears like a big bass drum. The fine hairs on my arms begin to lift and stand to attention as if readying for battle. My breath shortens, I dare not breathe, I dare not make a sound. Suddenly the figure lunges forward. His hands are cold yet clammy as he grips my neck in a two handed choke hold and begins to squeeze, sausage fingers  embed themselves into the folds of my skin. I feel suffocated, I am suffocating. My lungs begin to burn as I struggle for the air that eludes me. I try and fight and dig my fingernails into the backs of his hands.  The world around me starts to dim, I look to my attacker, my heart rate increased when I saw his identity, it was  Trevor my other half or maybe his dopple ganger. I mouth "Trevor" as my eyes start to close. Suddenly his vice like grip loosens; I instantly let out the air that had been choked back. The air this b*****d had trapped inside my lungs. 

“WHAT THE F**K TREVOR!!!!” i say in-between filling my lungs with air.

He doesn’t answer, neither does he move. He just stares in an unnerving manner,  a manner that has my blood running ice cold as if razor blades coursed through my veins and cut from within. 

Suddenly the breath I eagerly expel forms in little clouds and hangs in front of my face. It’s like in an instant the room has changed from room temperature to the North Pole.

I hear a sound and turn to its direction. The light that shone from the tv made me gulp. I hadn’t turned it on and how come it was playing my wedding video? I turn my attention back to the figure and with a shaky tone ask, “Who are you and what do you want?”

He doesn’t answer. I watch as he extends his arm and extends a sausage finger towards the tv. 

BETHANY!!! He says. Yet as I watch his lips never moved, not even a quiver. So how was I able to hear him? And why was he wringing wet?

The crackle of the tv caught my attention so I turned in that direction, the view presented is of Trevor and I and one other his best mate frank. I continue to watch as the tape fast forwards and gasp loudly when it pauses on franks face. Suddenly the penny drops. I had been having an affair with frank for the past three months as things have been a bit rocky between Trevor and I for a while. Suddenly the tv flicks to the news channel. “What the…?” I say open mouthed. 

I rush to the tv and crank the volume up. 

“Just after 10pm a red Volvo lost control on this notorious curve and plummeted into the quarry lake a hundred feet below." The reporter says.

I gasp as the camera switches to the crane pulling the rear end of the car out the water. I gulp loudly whilst tears filled my eyes as I see the registration. It is Trevor’s car. I continue to watch as the car is pulled out the water and now dangles in mid air. Suddenly the car door swings open and two legs dangle out of the doors open space. It was Trevor; I’d recognise those trainers anywhere. 

A cold shroud covets my body causing a shiver to run the entire length of my spine and I slowly turn to the man pretending  to be my husband whilst thinking to myself how can he be in two places at the same time? I was trying to wrap my head around the scenario I found myself In as my eyes lock with my mysterious guest. The look in his eyes where that of sadness. I slowly reach out and move the hair from his face and reveal his facial features. He doesn’t move. I gasp loudly as I part his hair. Mouthing "Trevor it’s you how can" I stop in mid-sentence and look back towards the tv.

The cold shroud that encapsulated me before returns tenfold. The penny drops and now I know I’m faced with the ghost of my dead husband. I turn back towards him. His eyes fill with murky water and spill down both sides of his cheeks, our eyes meet and the puddle around my feet starts to form once again. The cuffs of his jacket begin to drip faster and so does the turn-ups on his jeans.          

I turn back towards the tv and gasp when I see Trevor being loaded into the back  of a waiting ambulance then turn around expecting to see Trevor but he was no more. My eyes lower to the floor and where he once stood nothing but a puddle of water remains. 

BANG! BANG! I turn quickly towards the front door and slowly walk towards it. 

Bethany are you ok? BANG! Beth? Open the door. "Have you seen the news?” a voice shouts from the other side of the door. I knew that voice I knew it well, it’s franks voice. I rush to the door and fling it open and upon seeing him wrap my arms tightly around his neck. I was pleased to see him.

I invite him in and close the door. Suddenly the freezing temperature returns  and I watch as franks breath hangs in mid air just in front of his mouth as if he’d just took a drag of a cigarette and blew out the smoke.  

The trickling sound of water returns. My eyes lower to the puddle, I gasp loudly and force my hand to my mouth as my dead husband rises from the puddle. 

“What the f**k …..” frank says. 

I turn to face him. The colour from his face has drained leaving behind a ghostly blank canvas. 

Suddenly i feel a hand on my shoulder I shudder as droplets of water drip onto my blouse. 

Trevor extends his arm and points in franks direction and mouths FRANK………. I try and move, I cant. I’m paralysed I watch in horror as Trevor flicks his wrist and hear Franks scream as he flies through the air and crashes against the adjacent wall. I watch helplessly as my ex moves closer then watch as frank is forced off his feet and pinned against the  wall. I try to speak and plead my case but no words will leave my lips. All I can do is watch as Trevor takes Frank apart piece by piece. I couldn’t even cry. It was like I was watching the events unfold but standing outside my own body. Franks head was the last to go and I watched as he pulled it clean off spinal cord and all like a champagne cork being pulled however what sprayed around the room wasn’t champagne.       

BANG! BANG! My eyes move towards the door and I watch as it vibrates. 

I try to move, slowly I regain control of my bodily functions and stand dumb founded to the view presented. Franks arms and legs lay strewn across the floor ghosted by a trail of blood where each appendage had landed. The walls and floor are marred with eight pints of his blood. 

BANG! The door rocks again. “Mr’s Cooper it’s the police”  

What am I to do? How will this look? 

I turn to the puddle and say “F**k you Trevor” and as I looked his smiling face beamed back from the ripples. The b*****d had set me up.