For Those Who Dream Monsters (20 page)

“Yeah,
well, maybe you could come over tonight?”

“Sure,
I can come over. What time were you thinking?”

“As
soon as you can after work. I can cook some dinner?”

“Sure.
That’ll be great.” The bitch couldn’t cook for shit, but he’d eat dog turd if
it meant he could get his hands on three hundred and eighty thousand. “I’ll get
to yours for about half six.”

“Great,”
said Anna. “I’ve missed you,” she added tentatively.

“I’ve
missed you too,” echoed Frank, without much conviction. Anna had a strong urge
to say, ‘Well, you could have called me anytime’, but she refrained. She hung
up the phone and felt happy for a few moments, but then the reality of the
situation hit her and the panic returned. She would put on some really sexy,
feminine clothes and cook a nice dinner, she would be cheerful and she wouldn’t
talk about her illness. Perhaps when Frank spent some time with her, perhaps
when they made love and he saw that things could be back to how they used to
be, he would forget about the money and forgive her for making it all up – he
would understand that she’d done it because she loved him and wanted to see
him. Perhaps… But who was she really kidding?

Frank
arrived, looking every bit as sexy as when Anna first laid eyes on him. He
froze when Anna went to hug him, shattering any hope she might have had about
them getting back together. Dinner was awkward: Anna waiting on Frank, nervous
about her cooking, Frank forcing himself to be polite and not to be the first
to mention the lottery money. When they had finished dessert, Anna leaned over
and tried to kiss him, but Frank pulled away.

“Cancer
isn’t contagious, you know,” Anna told him.

“Look,
Anna, I really appreciate you helping me out with the money…”

“Frank,
there’s something I have to tell you…”

“What
is it?” There was a long silence as Anna thought frantically whether to tell
him or not. “Well?”

“There
is no money.”

“What?”

“I
really wanted to see you…”

“What
do you mean there is no money?”

“I’m
sorry. I really wanted to see you…”

“So
you pretended to win the lottery?”

“I’m
sorry.”

“You
stupid fucking bitch! You made me leave Monica and come all the way over here…”

“What
do you mean, leave Monica?” Anna suddenly felt sick.

“We
were supposed to go out to dinner tonight…”

“You’re
back with your ex?”

“I’m
not
back
with her, Anna. I’ve always been with her.”

The
room spun and Anna had to hold onto the table.

“But
when we met, you said you’d split up with her six months earlier.”

“Yeah
well, I didn’t think you’d sleep with me if I told you the truth.”

“So
all the time we were together you were living with Monica?”

“Oh,
come on, Anna; don’t try to tell me you didn’t know.”

“How
could I possibly have known?”

“I
never had you over at my place; I hardly ever stayed the night at yours.” The
pathetic look on Anna’s face was really winding Frank up. “For God’s sake,
Anna, don’t tell me you’re that fucking naive?”

“So
our whole relationship was a lie?” Anna could hear her voice cracking up, but
there was absolutely no way she was going to cry in front of Frank again.

“Look,
I’m not here to discuss our non-existent relationship. It was over ages ago. If
there’s no money, then I’m going.” Frank got up to leave.

“Wait!”
The change in Anna’s tone stopped Frank in his tracks. “There is money. You can
have it. But you have to help me get it out. It’s in the basement.”

“What?”
Frank looked at Anna and she searched his eyes for the slightest hint of the
man she thought had loved her. She saw only a mixture of incredulity, contempt
and greed.

“It’s
not safe in here. There’s all sorts of people going up and down the corridor,
and my flat isn’t very secure. One kick and they’re through the door. So I hid
it in the basement.”

“You
hid three hundred and eighty thousand pounds in the basement?”

“It’s
only three hundred thousand. I’m using the rest to get proper healthcare.”

“Whatever…
Are you having me on?”

“Frank,
it’s okay that you’re still with Monica. Maybe we could still…”

“For
God’s sake, Anna!”

Anna
raised her hand to stem Frank’s anger.

“Okay.
Let’s go get the money.”

“Can’t
you just bring it up and I’ll wait here?” If anyone was dumb enough to keep
three hundred thousand pounds in a damp rodent-infested basement – if the money
even existed – it was Anna, but he didn’t fancy creeping around in the dark,
looking for it.

“It’s
heavy – there’s quite a lot of it. It’s best if we go together.”

“Alright,”
sighed Frank. “Let’s go.”

As he watched Anna descending the stairs into the cellar, Frank was not happy.
He wondered whether there was in fact any money, he wondered whether Anna even
had cancer; he had often wondered whether she had made the cancer up just to
pressure him into spending more time with her. He was tempted to turn around
and walk away, but even the slimmest chance of three hundred thousand pounds
was something you didn’t just walk away from.

Anna
paused at the top of the steps and looked back at Frank, searching his face in
the darkness one last time. Nothing there – only impatience, wariness and
annoyance. Anna continued down the steps, the tears she’d been holding back
finally breaking out and trickling down her face.

Anna lay whimpering in the corner, her eyes closed until the creature finished
feeding. Frank hadn’t even had time to cry out, but Anna heard the tearing,
slurping, crunching sounds despite clamping her hands over her ears. When the
sounds ceased and Anna opened her eyes, the creature was gone. Anna threw up
her dinner, returned to her bedsit and cried herself to sleep.

Anna was still grieving over Frank when the time came to provide the creature’s
next meal. She found that most of her former friends – friends who had suddenly
become very busy when Anna’s money ran out and even busier when she got sick –
were more than willing to visit her at short notice when she told them about
her lottery win. On nights when nobody wanted to come over, she went out and
brought back men.

One
night she was watching the thing feed on a married stockbroker called George,
when she found herself admiring its thick black fur and the way the scant light
falling into the cellar penetrated its extraordinary membranous wings. She
wondered if it could actually fly. As it finished feeding and turned to go,
Anna called out to it.

“Wait!”

The
bloated fiend turned back and gazed at Anna, mild interest in its slanted red
eyes, its fangs bared in what looked to Anna like a grin.

“You
feed so fast,” Anna said to it. “I mean, you kill so fast… I’ll bring you
someone tomorrow night. I was wondering if you could … kill that person …
slowly?”

The
creature contemplated the woman before him for a few moments. A hollow,
sinister laugh reverberated in Anna’s ears.

“Very
well,” the thing said finally, its mouth never moving as it spoke. “I’ll eat
your doctor slowly.”

“How
did you know…?”

“I
can see inside you.”

Anna’s GP refused to speak to her and, after many phone calls and much
pestering of the receptionist, when he did finally talk to her, he refused to
come.

“I
don’t make house calls,” he told her.

“But
I’m in pain, Doctor,” pleaded Anna, “I’m scared. Please, I’m too sick to leave
the house today, and my painkillers have run out.”

“If
you feel so bad, you should call an ambulance.”

“Please,
Doctor. I’ve been your patient for fifteen years. Please, I need you… I can
make it worth your while.”

“Don’t
be stupid, Ms Weedon. The NHS pays my wages, and I don’t make house calls.”

“I
didn’t mean to offend you, Doctor. It’s just that I won the lottery recently,
and I don’t have anyone to leave the money to. And you’ve been my doctor for
fifteen years. I thought you could do with the money – perhaps you could expand
your private practice. And I really need you to come over tonight. Please.”

“You
won the lottery?”

“Yes,
Doctor, and I would really like to leave you the money when I die – which, as
you know, won’t be long now.”

“Well,
I guess I could make an exception. After all, you
are
an exceptional
patient, and I
have
been your doctor for fifteen years…”

It had been hard getting her GP to come down to the basement, but it had been
worth it. The creature was true to its word and killed the doctor slowly,
holding him down while it ate him piece by piece, making sure the man could see
and hear his own flesh being chewed and swallowed.

Anna’s
doctor screamed to her to save him.

“Help
me! Get it off!”

“
You
should have helped
me
, the first time I came to you with bleeding and
abdominal pain,” Anna screamed back at him.

“Please,
help me!”

“No!”

The
doctor continued to scream and struggle, but the creature held him firm, and
his movements weakened as exhaustion, blood loss and excruciating pain sapped
his strength. Through the darkness and the tears that were streaming down his
face, he thought he could see Anna smiling.

“Why?”
he gurgled at her, blood spewing from his mouth.

“Because
it takes away my pain, which is more than you ever bothered to do!”

Despite
the creature’s best efforts to keep him alive as long as possible, after half
an hour of being eaten, the doctor’s heart finally gave out and stopped. Five
minutes later, there was no trace of him left, apart from some bloody, tattered
rags. The creature turned to go, but Anna called it back.

“Wait!”

The
monstrosity turned back and the two of them eyed each other for a long while.

“May
I touch you?” Anna finally asked.

“Why
do you want to touch me?”

“You’re
my only friend.”

The
creature laughed – that distant, hollow, grating laugh that scared Anna, even
as the creature itself no longer scared her – well, not as much as it used to.

“You
fed me all your other friends,” the creature grinned with its bony, bloody
fangs.

“They
weren’t my friends. Not really. They never did anything for me. Not like you.”

“Touch
me then.” The creature found the woman amusing. It was always entertaining to
watch how fast humans gave away their immortal souls – and all their nearest
and dearest – to get what they wanted: money, success, sex, longer life, an end
to pain. It was enough to look inside them, see what they wanted the most, and
once you offered it to them, they just rolled over for you.

Anna
crawled uncertainly over to the creature and reached out a trembling hand. When
she found that the fiend didn’t bite it off, she gently touched its black fur.
Anna was amazed to find that its fur was quite soft – not hard and bristly as
she had thought. As she stroked the monster’s fur, it narrowed its red eyes –
rather like a cat – and after a while it started to purr-mewl. Under its fur,
the creature’s muscular body was round and firm. Exhaustion overcame Anna; she
leant her head against the creature and fell asleep.

In
the early hours of the morning, the cold woke Anna up. She was lying on the
damp floor of the cellar alone; the creature was gone.

The next day, a policeman and policewoman came round to Anna’s flat and asked
whether she had seen her doctor the previous day – he had not returned home
last night and had not turned up to work in the morning. His last appointment
had been Anna’s house call.

Anna
said that he had been with her for about ten minutes, and then left.

“What
was the exact purpose of his visit?” The policeman tried to make himself
comfortable on the small sofa.

“He
prescribed me some painkillers.”

“Can
we see the prescription, please?”

Anna’s
heart started to pound, and she had to think fast.

“I
don’t have the prescription anymore,” she said. “I already bought the
medicine.”

“Can
we see the medicine, please,” said the policeman.

“Of
course.” Anna went to the bathroom and started looking for an old bottle of
pills. The GP had been so keen to discuss the money that the two of them had
forgotten all about the painkillers that Anna had said she needed. She finally
found a bottle half filled with pills and brought it in.

“That’s
only half full.” The policeman took the bottle from Anna, and studied it
closely. “And it was issued a month ago.”