Patapsco River Horror Story

Chapter 10

The sound of footsteps rudely dragged Neil out of a deep sleep. A deep sleep he had not had in a week. A sleep with no bad dreams, no dreams at all. Opening his eyes Neil looked around the room, he was still in the basement; the TV was still on. He watched for a moment the cartoon that was on and realized the sound was off. Hearing the footsteps again Neil’s eyes scanned the ceiling for the location of the sound. Then his eyes moved to the clock on the wall.

“Its 8:27 and Debbie is up.” Neil said to himself.

He started to roll off the couch when he noticed the boxes at his feet. Neil stared at them for a moment.

“I need to look through these boxes this morning.” Neil said to himself as he scratched his head.

He could not think straight, he needed some alcohol. Looking around the room Neil realized there was nothing to drink in the basement. He stumbled as he got to his feet. His equilibrium was a little off. Some of the alcohol from last night was still in his veins. Neil slowly and awkwardly made his way to the stairs.

He grabbed the railing with his right hand to help steady himself on the stairs. The steps made a low wincing sound as he put his weight on them. As Neil made it to the top of the stairs, he felt his equilibrium coming back. He reached for the door knob and pushed the door open. The light from the windows of the kitchen broke over him like an ocean wave.
Neil raised his left hand to block the sun from his eyes. The smell of beacon frying in a pan filled his noise; it brought back memoirs of his childhood. He could recall his mother cooking beacon and eggs on the weekend. The house would smell like beacon and freshly brewed coffee all morning. Neil stood in the doorway of the kitchen for a moment reliving parts of his childhood.

“Morning Daddy!” Debbie said as she stood in front of the stove.

Debbie was wearing dark blue sweat pants and a black t shirt, with a faded photo of a band on it that Neil could not make out in the glare of the bright morning sun. She started to interrogate her father with questions:

“Would you like some breakfast?” She asked.

“Did you sleep in your cloths in the basement last night?” She asked without waiting for an answer for the first question.

And finally. “What were you doing with those old boxes down there last night?’ She asked without looking up from the frying pan.

Neil needed a drink, with out one, all the questions Debbie just asked were all spinning in his head and confusing him. He stumbled by her without saying a word with his hand up trying to shade the sun from his eyes. Moving through the kitchen and down the hallway with his arms stretched out and his hands on the walls to help support him, Neil made it to his bedroom door. After pushing the door open he stepped in to the room. It was dark, the shades were pulled down, and pushing the door closed behind him he reached for the end table.

He grabbed the bottle of whiskey and took a shot. It burned going down Neil’s throat and he had nothing to chase it with. He sat down on the edge of the bed and gasped for air as the whiskey hit his empty stomach. Neil’s stomach was yearning for the beacon and eggs he smelled in the kitchen. His stomach started to protest loudly.

Smelling of alcohol and stale cigarettes from the bar last night, Neil want to take a shower before eating breakfast. The bed creaked as he launched himself off the bed with his arms out from his sides. Neil reached for the dresser as he stumbled into the bathroom. He steadied himself in front of the sink as he looked at himself in the mirror. Neil thought about the experience he had in the restroom of the bar last night.

He stared into the mirror; he could hear the stall door in the restroom open and slam shut. Then a few seconds later the door to the restroom open but no image in the mirror between.

“It just did not make sense.” He said to himself as he looked at himself in the mirror.

Neil stood in front of the mirror as if he was waiting for his image to give some kind of reply. He ran his fingers through his hair. Turning towards the tub he turned the water on and removed his clothes to take a shower. After stepping into the tub he pulled the shower curtain closed and turned on the shower. He sighed as the warm water hit the top of his head.

The bathroom was filled with steam by the time Neil was finished with his shower. He turned the water off and brushed his hair back out of his eyes with his hand. Pulling the shower curtain back Neil reached for the towel from off the rack. He dried his hair and the rest of himself off and stepped out of the tub. Standing in front of the mirror over the sink, Neil could not see his refection through the heavy steam billowing around him. He wiped the steam off the mirror with the towel but there was so much steam that it covered the mirror back up immediately.

Realizing there was too much steam in the bathroom for him to see his reflection; Neil raped the towel around his expanding waste and opened the bathroom door. The steam swept through Neil’s bedroom like storm clouds on a hot summer day. He toweled himself off and put on some underwear and a pair of jeans and walked back into the bathroom with the towel in his hand. Most of the steam in the bathroom had dissipated. The mirror was covered with the last remains of steam in the bathroom.

Putting the towel to the mirror, Neil wiped the steam from the surface of the mirror. He noticed that behind the steam the mirror was black. There were no reflections at all, not of himself or of anything behind him in the bathroom. Neil was not frightened by this by now he had become use to the strange things he was seeing the last day or so. He put both hands on the sink and shuck his head he could see the refection of himself in the porcelain sink below his hands.

“Its some type of insanity, I know it.” Neil said to himself.

Neil noticed that his hands were shacking. He could feel the fear building inside himself. It wasn’t the fear of what was going on in mirror or the bad dreams of figures down by the river or the train. It was the fear that he maybe going insane. Neil looked back up at the mirror; he could see his reflection now and everything behind him in the mirror again.

“It was just another bad dream.” Neil told himself.

“I dreamed it while I was awake, yes, the alcohol, too much alcohol not enough sleep.” Neil tried to convince himself.

He stumbled out of the bathroom and grabbed the bottle of whiskey from off the night stand. Before he could get the bottle to his lips, he stopped. Neil stared at the bottle for a moment.

“No! No whiskey, it will only make things worse.” He said to himself in a low voice. His hands shook as he screwed the cap back on the bottle.

He dropped down on to the bed and put his face in his hands as the whiskey bottle fell on to his pillow. Putting the whiskey bottle back on the night stand Neil slowly walked back towards the bathroom. He stopped by the wall next to the bathroom door. Slowly he put his head in the doorway to peer into the bathroom to see if he could still see his reflection in the mirror. Relieved that he could still see his image in the mirror Neil slowly entered the bathroom to brush his teeth and comb his hair.

After finishing in the bathroom Neil put on a T-shirt and made his way back down to the kitchen where Debbie was still cooking eggs and bacon. She had a pot of coffee on the stove also. Neil went strait for the coffee on the stove. He needed a cup badly. He removed a cup from the cupboard and placed it on the counter, when he reached for the coffee pot Neil notice that his hands were still shacking. Neil grabbed the pot and poured the coffee as the shacking pot taped the side of the cup making a high pitched clanging sound.

“Need help?” Debbie asked smartly.

Neil just looked at her as he grabbed the cup with both hands. He took a sip of the coffee but had to set it down quickly because it was so hot. Neil shook his hand after releasing the cup because the heat was scalding his hands. Debbie was starring at him as she lend against the counter shaking her head.

“Would you like some eggs to go along with that coffee?” She asked trying not to show her amusement.

Neil was to busy wrestling with the hot coffee cup to respond to her. She continued on with the cooking, as Neil tried to drink his coffee.

“What are you looking for in those old boxes in the basement?” She asked.

Once again Neil did not know how to respond. His mind raced to think something up but the alcohol running through his brain and the emptiness in his stomach were not helping his thought process. There was about fifteen seconds of silence.

“I have not looked in them yet. It’s been so long that I can’t remember what’s in them so I just wanted to take a look in them.” He finally said as he looked up from his coffee cup.

Debbie put some fried eggs and some stripes of beacon on a plate and sat them on the table in front of Neil. He pushed the cup of coffee aside and started on the plate of food. Debbie was amazed how fast he finished of the eggs and beacon. Neil had not had a meal like that since the last time Debbie was at the house.

“If you eat any faster you might take a finger off. Would you like some more?” Debbie asked as she stood next to the stove with her arms folded.

“No, thanks that was a wonderful breakfast, I really enjoyed it. I want to go down and that a look in those boxes.” Neil said as he put his plate in the dishwasher.

“How was the party last night?” He asked as he closed the dishwasher door.

That was the first Debbie had thought about the party and the strange events that happened there since was lying in bed last night.

“It was, it was fun, yes it was very nice.” She said awkwardly.

“Did Adam have a good time?” Neil asked.

“Adam! Yes Adam had a very nice time.” Debbie said again awkwardly. “How was your evening with Mr. Kevin?” She asked quickly.

The question brings Neil back to the events of the night before. “Well, it was interesting you might say.” Neil said awkwardly this time.

There was a few seconds of uneasy silents between them. As they stood in the kitchen, both thinking about the pervious night the each had.

“I wonder what he meant by that?” Debbie said to herself but she did not question him any further.

“Well, I am going to head down stairs and look into those boxes.” Neil said as he turned to open the basement door.

Debbie reached for the phone on the wall and dialed Amanda’s number.