Bottled Abyss (20 page)

Sitting on the toilet feels better now that the hemorrhoids have calmed some—heart’s all aflutter though—sort of dizzy now—don’t want to clench so hard this time, all that damn nacho cheese sauce last night, that’s what this is about—

See something behind the shower curtain—it looks like a person in there—is there anything to protect myself with—? What
is
that—?

It’s not moving—could it be some towels that Rosie left piled up in there—? Looks so—

Stretch out my arm, muscles tingle and burn, and grasp the side of the plastic shower curtain—still, the tall thing standing in the tub behind doesn’t budge—glide the curtain over, at a bad angle to do this—the curtain rings catches on the rod, have to tug—

A surging wind crosses through the bathroom—my hair flails as it passes—a force of power, the anvil of a God, drops down—

The toilet bowl shatters with the driving downward energy, my hair and scalp are ripped away along with ribbons of my scrubs, my ribs crush my heart, my left hip bone explodes and my leg is compressed so flat it looks cartoonish on the bathroom tile—

An airplane has fallen on me—what else could it be— Christ Lord, my body has been smashed as flat as the floor—how do I still breathe—? Look up to the ceiling and my dangling jaw disconnects from the tendons holding it in place—no hole, no airplane fell—nothing has come down through the roof—try to scream but everything is broken inside me—

The shower curtain moves aside—a scaled, bloody hand—the form revealed is also scaled, a monster of reptile and shark with the limbs of a powerful man—the creature is injured though—black seeps from its jelly eyes, its scales are tearing away and raw with pus, the gums around the shark teeth are mottled with black and red decay, and inside the shark mouth a human mouth speaks with parched lips flecked in blood—

“What were three are now one, and I am Fury—” it coughs—

Moaning, whimpering, sounds emerge as words, I can speak—!

“I don’t want…to die—”

“You have a chance to stay my vengeance,” says the Fury—the smooth voice sounds optimistic but weakened— “Do you know the song—? The song my heart wants so badly to hear—?”