Fishing in Brains for an Eye with Teeth (Thirteen Tales of Terror) (28 page)

“Loss of sleep, loss of appetite, irritability, bad dreams. She called me last night because she had a nightmare that scared her to death.”

It unsettled Frank hearing Faith talk about dreams.  He didn’t care what
Annie
was dreaming.  He was a lot more concerned about what was going on in his wife’s head at night.

Faith’s shoulders were slumped, her eyes lowered. “I don’t know what’s going on but I have a theory.”

Again he was forced to ask, “What?”

“I don’t know. . . .  Sometimes I think she might have been assaulted, maybe even
raped
. Her nightmares are caused by
something
.  It’s almost like she’s consciously repressing the memory of something awful.”

“Wow,” Frank said, feeling sheepish and ashamed.  He didn’t for an instant think Faith was lying.  Annie was her best friend.  He knew how close they were.  He felt bad that he had suspected Faith was lying to him about who called last night.

He now knew it really was Annie.

Faith looked at him with a puzzled expression and he added, “That really sucks.”

Faith got up from the table.  “Just like a man!”  He had made her angry. “I tell you Annie might have experienced something so traumatic she won’t even allow herself to
remember
it and all you can say is, ‘Wow.  That really sucks.’”

He got up from the table and went to her.  “I’m sorry.  I don’t know what to say.”  He certainly couldn’t tell Faith he was slow to feel compassion because he thought she might be lying to him.  “What’s Stan say about all this?”   Stan was Annie’s husband.

Frank tried to hug Faith but she pushed him away.  “Stan is totally worthless.  He doesn’t give a damn about Annie!”

In his mind, Frank found himself defending Stan Katzenberg. 
You said the same thing about me the other night, darling.

Knowing he couldn’t verbalize what he was thinking, Frank didn’t know what to say.

Tears welling up in her eyes, Faith picked up her purse.  “Just leave me alone!”  Grabbing her car keys, she stormed out of the house. 

******

All day at work, Frank was obsessed, wondering,
Where did she go?

He wanted to believe Faith went to see Annie.

He was worried she went to see her secret lover.

When he called her cell phone, it was turned off.  That frustrated him but wasn’t surprising.  Faith wasn’t a fan of cell phones anyway, especially not since her sister had a car accident while talking on hers.  A lot of the time, Faith didn’t even bother to take her cell phone with her.

When Frank called their home, he kept getting voice mail and he kept hanging up.

Finally, late in the afternoon, he couldn’t take it anymore.  He picked up the phone and called the Katzenberg residence.  After four rings, Annie picked up the phone.  “Hello?”

“Hey, Annie.  It’s Frank.”

“Oh, hi, Frank.  Faith just left.”

Really?
  He wondered. 
Or did Faith put you up to saying that? 
He stammered, “Oh . . . well . . . okay.  Actually, that
was
why I was calling.  I haven’t been able to get a hold of her all day and—”

Annie interrupted, “That’s
my
fault.  I’m so sorry!  She’s been with me.  I’m kind of—”  There was a pause, and then Annie laughed.  Her laugh sounded strained to Frank, completely without humor. “Well, let’s just say I’ve got way too much happening in my little world right now.”

Frank didn’t care.  He had his own worries. 
Like whether or not you’re telling me the truth, Annie.  Oh, I believe you’re going through The Change early or maybe having a nervous breakdown.  I
do
believe you’re the one who called last night.  But has Faith been with you
all
day?  Or, after our fight this morning, are you sure she didn’t go to see her lover first, before she came over to your house? 
 Flatly, he asked, “Is there anything I can do?”

Annie laughed again, this time sounding more like her old self.  “You could send Faith and I on a Caribbean cruise!”

What?  So she can actually be with
Him
again?
  “I don’t think so,” he said, and then added, “If Faith is going on a cruise with anyone, it’s going to be with me.”

Now it was Annie’s voice that sounded flat as she said, “She’s so lucky to have you, Frank.”

Frank matched her tone.  “She’s lucky to have you too, Annie.”

He ended the conversation by thanking Annie and telling her, “Get to feeling better.”

They said their goodbyes.  Frank hung up and then immediately called home.

In his mind, he heard himself shouting,
WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU
BEEN
ALL DAY?
    

But when Faith actually answered the telephone, what he said instead was, “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.  Look, I’m really sorry about all this.  I hope you weren’t too worried.”

“Actually, I was.  I’ve been trying to reach you all day.”

“I’m sorry.  When I left this morning, I never intended to be gone so long.  If I’d known it would take all day, I would have taken my cell phone with me.”

“If you’d known
what
would take all day?”

Faith sighed. “I finally got Annie in to see a psychiatrist today.”

Frank winced.  He wondered why Annie didn’t mention that on the phone but then he thought she was probably too embarrassed.  He found himself asking, “Was that really necessary?”

A flash of anger radiated through the phone.  “Yes.  It was
absolutely
necessary.  I know how you feel about psychiatrists, Frank, so let’s just drop it, okay?”

“Fine.” 

“Annie has
major problems
right now and I’d appreciate it if you’d show a
little
compassion!  Right now, she needs me.”

Really?
  Frank was getting angry. 
Does she really need you
that
bad, darling, or is all this just a smoke screen so you can be with some guy?

“Fine,” he said again.

Faith still wasn’t ready to drop the subject.  “This is
serious
.  It’s not
hormonal
and it’s not just some ‘woman’s problem.’  I’m not going to get into the details because I know you won’t believe it but, I swear, Frank, if you don’t…”

Frank was startled when his wife started to cry.  Hearing her weeping melted his heart, immediately vanquishing his anger and suspicion.  Gently, he asked, “What, honey?”

After sobbing softly for about a minute, Faith admitted, “I’m just really worried about her, okay?”

“Okay.”  Sincerely, he said, “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to upset you.  I just honestly don’t understand what’s going on.”

Sharply, Faith said, “You’re right.  You
don’t
understand.  So let’s just drop it, okay?”

“Okay.”

And this time, they did drop it.

                        ******

Three nights later, Frank awoke to the sound of his wife screaming.  In an instant, he was shocked from being peacefully asleep to alarmed consciousness.

Faith’s scream was followed by her shouting, “NO, NO, NO!”

Frank found Faith lying on her back, completely limp.  In a little girl voice, she whined, “Please don’t hurt me!”

Frank didn’t even consider riding this nightmare out.  He grabbed Faith’s shoulders and shook her. “Honey, wake up!  Wake up, Faith!”

She moaned with fear.

Frank shook her harder.  “Wake up, Faith! 
Wake up
!”

From their doorway, Frank heard Bobby’s frightened voice, “Daddy?”

“It’s all right, son,” he said, thinking it was not all right at all.  “Mommy is just having a bad dream.”

Faith whined, “He isn’t
human
!”

“FAITH!” Frank bellowed, “WAKE UP!”

His wife opened her eyes.

Frank realized he was squeezing her shoulders very tight and let them go.  Behind him, he heard Bobby crying.

Faith asked, “What is it?  What’s wrong?”

Frank rolled out of bed.  “You were having a nightmare.”

“Nightmare?” Faith said in a disbelieving tone.

Frank went to Bobby and picked up his young son.  “It’s all right, buddy.  Everything’s fine.  Mommy was just having a bad dream.”

“Bobby?” Faith now sounded concerned.  She sat up and turned on her light.

At the same time, the hallway outside the master bedroom lit up.  Still holding Bobby, Frank stepped out into the hall.  Blake approached, rubbing his eyes, asking, “What’s wrong?”

Faith came over and took Bobby from Frank, saying, “I’m sorry, honey.  Did I scare you?”

Frank told Blake, “Mom had a nightmare.  Everything’s fine now.  Go back to bed.”

Bobby nodded in his mother’s arms, and then sniffed.  He told Faith, “You were
screaming
, Mommy.”

Frank shot his wife an ‘
I told you so
’ glance.

Seeing Frank’s glare and ignoring it, Faith apologized again to Bobby, “I’m sorry, baby.  I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

Blake asked, “You all right, Mom?”

She looked over her younger son’s towhead to smile wanly at her older son.  “Yeah.  I’m fine, sweetie.  Go back to bed.”

With a yawn, Blake did as he was told, turning off the light in the hall.

Frank wanted to know what Faith was dreaming about. 
Surely she wasn’t dreaming about me!
  Surely
she wasn’t!
 

Faith asked Bobby, “You want to sleep with us tonight?”

Of course, Bobby did.

Frank wasn’t happy.  His son hadn’t slept with them in months.  Bobby used to have his own nightmares and only recently outgrew them.

Sighing, Frank realized these were special circumstances.  It wasn’t every night a kid was awakened by his mother’s screams.

Frank resigned himself to getting no answers tonight.

Bobby snuggled in between his parents in their king-sized bed.

Faith fell asleep about the same time Bobby did.

Disturbed, Frank lay awake. 

                        ******

The next day, Faith claimed she couldn’t remember what her nightmare was about.

Frank wasn’t surprised.    

The shriek that woke him up was awful but even more unsettling was the terror in Faith’s voice when she said,
“
He isn’t human
.”

As hard as it was to figure out why his wife secretly hated him, it was even harder for him to contemplate her being
afraid
of him. 

                        ******

The next evening, Frank couldn’t keep his eyes open.  He went to bed two hours earlier than normal, leaving Faith still up.

Hours later, he was awakened by her voice.  She was not talking very loudly this time but he still snapped awake the moment she said, “I don’t believe that.”

Frank sighed as he rolled over to face her, thinking,
I didn’t even hear her come to bed
.  He was tired, not just physically tired but also emotionally tired.  He was sick of being jarred out of sleep like this.

Tonight his wife was facing away from him.  By the green glow of the alarm clock, he found himself staring at the back of her head.

Faith said, “That’s
not
the problem!  It’s
not
!
”

Frank rubbed his eyes.
 Oh, just shut up!
 

“
He’s
the problem.  I can’t
stand
him.  I want him to
die.
  The only time I feel whole is when I’m with you.”

Frank didn’t want to hear this.  Even though he knew she probably wouldn’t wake up, he grabbed her shoulder and shook her, saying loudly, “Wake up, Faith!”

She did wake up, jumping as if startled.  “What is it?  What’s wrong?”

Angry but trying to bottle it, he told her, “You woke me up again.  You were talking in your sleep.”

She rolled over to face him, saying, “I’m sorry.”  He was glad, at least, that she no longer denied she talked in her sleep.

Frank was too curious not to ask, “What were you dreaming about?”

“I don’t know.”  She thought about it and added, “Annie, I think.”

Annie
.
 
Frank didn’t believe her. 
Yeah.  Right
.

He jumped when she reached out to touch him.  “What did I say this time?”

Frank lied with absolutely no guilt, “Nothing I could understand.”

In a small voice, Faith said, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right,” he said, thinking,
There is nothing right about any of this
.  He rolled away from her.  “Go back to sleep.”

After a while, they both did.

                        ******

When Frank arrived home from work two nights later, he was stunned to find Faith sitting with Blake in the living room, watching the nightly news.  Faith and Blake never watched television together.  Faith was generally tuned to Lifetime, A&E, or The Food Network.  Blake lived for ESPN, MTV, and the WB. 

Neither
of them
ever
watched the news.

Frank turned his attention to the television just in time to see some fuzzy videos of light-streaks against a night sky.  Blake saw him and said, “Check it out, dad.”

A reporter appeared on the screen, holding an Eyewitness News Team microphone.  “Well, Andrea, as you can see, it’s probably going to be quite a while before anyone gets any sleep around here.  Until then, residents will be watching the skies.”

Frank heard a little bit about this at work today but not much.  His mind was elsewhere.

Convinced now that Faith was hiding something from him, fearful she was cheating on him, he’d been thinking a lot lately about who the other man might be.

Frank asked, “What’s up?”  Seeing his wife and teenage son together on the couch was too strange.  The last time Frank saw a scene like this was when Blake was Bobby’s age.

Blake said, “You don’t believe in this stuff, do ya, Dad?”

“What stuff?”

“U.F.O.s!  Haven’t you heard?  A bunch of people have seen U.F.O.s the last few nights.  Everyone was talking about it at school today.  Some Freshmen say they saw, like, real spaceships—
War of the Worlds
crap— but nobody believes them.”