Carnal

This story is by Austin Bartolo and was part of our 2017 Spring Writing Contest. You can find all the Spring Writing Contest stories here.

Chris leans into the eye piece of his Celestron PowerSeeker telescope. He brings it into focus peering right into Janet’s bedroom. Chris is in his early thirties and lives alone. He’s a good-looking guy, but lacks social skills. Janet lives next door to Chris and his bedroom window is in perfect alignment with her bedroom. Chris sees a black blob zoom past his view. He jerks his head up and looks with both eyes. The Celestron PowerSeeker pivots downward.

“What the hell was that?”

Chris checks his watch.

“She should be home any minute now.”

He put his head down into the eye piece again and dialed Janet’s bedroom into focus.

Knock. Knock.

“Now what?”

Chris lifts his head away from his target once again.

Knock. Knock.

“Who is it?” Chris yelled.

Chris doesn’t hear a response.

“Who is it?” he asked again.

Still no response.

Chris storms out of his room and navigates to the front door. He grabs the handle, twists, and yanks it open. Almost hitting himself in the forehead.

“What!”

“Hi Chris,” said Janet. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh… uh… Hi Janet,” he said. “Something wrong?”

“No. It’s nothing like that. Did UPS dropped off a package for me at your house. Their website said they delivered it and left it on the porch, but I didn’t see it. I wanted to check with you before I called and bitched them out.”

A small bead of sweat creeps down Chris’ forehead.

“Uh… no. UPS didn’t leave anything here.”

“Damn it,” she said. “Thanks Chris.”

“No problem.”

Janet turned and walked back to her house. Chris stared at her until her silhouette was out of his view. He closed the front door, locked the dead bolt, and walked back into his bedroom.

“Now where was I?”

Chris adjusted the telescope and waited. After a few minutes, Chris saw Janet’s bedroom illuminate. He focused the Celestron.

“Hello again Janet,” he said. “You are beautiful.”

She took off her clothes and tossed them onto her bed. When her bra came off, her breasts dropped ever so slightly. She left the bedroom and traipsed into the bathroom. Chris came up for a breather to let his eyes readjust. After about 20 minutes, Janet reappeared into the bedroom wearing a robe. He followed her movements as she walked over and sat in front of her mirror, dried her hair, and fixed her face. She stood up, walked to her closet, and picked out an evening dress. Janet let the robe fall off her shoulders and onto the floor. She got dressed, bent over into her closet, and pulled out a pair of heels.

“Nice,” Chris said. “Don’t rush.”

Chris blinked and regained his focus just in time to watch her leave the room.

He stood up not taking his eyes off of her bedroom window and plopped onto his bed. Chris turned his head and checked his old school alarm clock radio on the nightstand.

“It’s 5 o’clock,” he said. “Maybe she’ll come back.”

But she didn’t come back. Chris left his bedroom and walked into the living room. He grabbed the remote and turned on the television flipping through the channels faster than a dolphin cuts through water.

“Hopefully, there’s something good on now. The news is always depressing.”

Chris locked onto The Big Bang Theory, tossed the remote onto the couch, and roamed into the kitchen. He looked out the front window watching for any kind of movement. A car turned into Janet’s driveway.

“That’s not Janet’s car.”

He forgot what he wanted in the kitchen, turned, and walked right out his front door.

“I can’t be obvious. What the hell am I doing out here? Mail, idiot. Walk to the mailbox and check mail.”

Chris continues down his driveway in pursuit of his mailbox. Birds chirp as the sun sets. A slight breeze caresses his face. He watches Janet get into the car. As the car backs out of her driveway, Chris gets a good look.

“Holy shit, she’s going out with John.”

John, Janet, and Chris all know each other from work. They work in the same building, but not in the same office. He waves to them to be nice. Neither Janet nor John reciprocate.

“Assholes,” Chris said smiling.

As he walked back into his house, Chris watched the car cruise down the street out of view.

Chris went back into his kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

“What looks good?”

After deliberating multiple options, he pulled out some leftover chili.

“This will be good.”

He vented the lid and put it in the microwave for one minute and thirty seconds. At the ding, Chris had his hot pads at the ready and lifted the steaming chili out of the microwave onto the counter. He transferred some of it to another bowl, carried it to the living room, and chowed down. Another episode of The Big Bang Theory was starting.

“Just in time. I love this show.”

After a few minutes, Chris fell asleep. His chili bowl resting on his lap.

“What the hell was that?”

A car door slammed shut and woke Chris. He checks his watch.

“10:30pm. That must be Janet.”

Chris leaps off the couch, his chili bowl falls to the floor, and he runs into his bedroom. He sits on his bed, lights out, and waits. Chris sees two shadows enter Janet’s room. He stands, approaches the Celestron, puts his eye to the eye piece, sets the focus, and settles in.

“Nice kiss.”

Janet is lipped-locked with John as they struggle to take each others clothes off. They separate. Janet unzips her dress and it falls to the floor. Her bra and panties follow. She bends one knee and takes off one shoe, then bends the other knee and takes of the other shoe. Janet, now totally naked, watches John. She said something to John. Chris saw her lips move, but couldn’t decipher what was said.

“Gosh, she’s beautiful,” Chris said.

John turns his back and takes his clothes off. Before John has a chance to turn back around, Janet transforms into her alternate form; a succubus. A winged beast with nails that cut through flesh with ease. Horns protrude from her forehead. Her breasts grow a cup size and her butt tightens and becomes well-defined. This is a demon from hell.

“What the hell,” Chris said. “Oh… my… God.”

Chris watches in fear as Janet takes her left hand and pierces John’s abdomen, cutting him open hip to hip. His entrails hit the floor. She takes her right hand and claws his throat, ripping it open, severing both carotid arteries. John falls to the floor dead. Chris knocks the Celestron into the window. Janet hears and looks right at Chris.

“Holy shit!”

Chris slams his blinds shut and runs into his living room.

“Where the hell is my phone?”

Chris searches frantically for his phone. Looking left onto the end table. Looking right onto the other end table.

“Where is it? Come on, Chris, think. Where did you put the phone?”

Boom! Janet throws herself into Chris’ front door. Chris almost jumps out of his skin as he runs into the kitchen.

“There it is.”

The phone is sitting on the kitchen counter. Chris grabs it.

Boom! Janet throws herself into the front door again, this time the door jam cracks, but the door holds strong. Chris drops the phone. His eyes search all over the floor.

“Calm yourself, Chris. Pick up the phone.”

He sees the phone, picks it up, and dials 9-1-1.

Crash! Janet gave up on the door and threw herself through the living room window. Chris dropped his phone again.

“I’m here for you, Chris,” Janet said. “I saw you watching me.”

Janet walked toward the kitchen for Chris.

Crunch.

“Arghh,” she grunted.

Janet looked down at her left foot. It was bleeding. The chili bowl in pieces.

“I’m going to kill you slowly, Honey. I hope you’re ready.”

“9-1-1, what is your emergency?” the Dispatcher asked.

Chris has nowhere to go. He turns toward the living room and Janet is right there, salivating, waiting for him. Janet caresses her breasts.

“What’s the matter, Chris? Don’t you like my body? I know you do. You’ve been watching me for a long time. You didn’t think I knew, did you?”

“Get away from me, bitch,” he said. “The cops are on their way.”

“Oh we are way beyond that, Honey. I’ll be finished with you before the cops even get here. Did you like what I did to John? I hope so, because I am going to do the same thing to you.”

Janet lunges at Chris. He makes a move and avoids Janet’s advance. She crashes into the refrigerator. Her feet slip and slide on the floor from her bleeding foot as she tries to regain her balance. Chris runs into his room, closes, and locks the door.

Ka-boom!

Janet bursts through his bedroom door and stops. Debris flies throughout the room.

“Here I am, Chris. Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted? We can be together. Pity it won’t last but a few seconds.”

Janet lunges at Chris and this time connects. She lands on top of him flattening his back onto the bed. Her saliva drips onto his face. He could still smell the perfume she wore on her date with John.

“I’m waiting, Chris. Whatcha gonna do?”

Chris thrashes about trying to get free. He reaches for anything he can use as a weapon. He grabs his alarm clock, the cord rips from its socket, and bashes Janet in the side of her head.

“Ha ha ha. You can do better than that. I like it rough. Hit me like you mean it.”

Janet exposed her fangs and moved in for the kill. Chris hit her upside her head again… and again… and again. The clock broke. He kicked his legs up, shifted his body weight, and threw Janet onto the floor. Chris scooted off the bed as quick as he could and ran toward the door.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” she said.

Janet springs up and lunges toward Chris. Her nails stab Chris’ right leg in the calf. Chris collapses in agony.

“Son of a bitch,” he said.

Janet whips her other hand around and connects with Chris’ left thigh and continues to crawl up his back. There is a knock on the front door.

“In here. I’m in… here,” Chris said.

“Say goodbye, Chris.”

Bang. Bang.

Two bullets, discharged from a cop’s weapon, find their way into Janet’s head. Blood splatters everywhere. Chris feels Janet’s grip instantaneously loosen. He reaches behind and frees himself from her grip.

“Thank you,” Chris said.

“What the hell is that thing?” the Cop asked.

At that moment, Janet’s lifeless body returned to human form. Chris crawled out from underneath her, hobbled up holding onto the Cop’s shoulder, and turned to look at her.

“Looks like a dead, naked woman, officer,” Chris said.

The Cop and Chris looked at each other.

“Agreed,” said the Cop.

Bang. The Cop fired one more in her.

EMTs arrive. They place Janet in a body bag and Chris on a gurney.

Six months later Chris’ house is repaired and there’s a sold sign in Janet’s yard. Chris walked outside to check his mail. The air was crisp.

“Well I’ll be damned,” he said.

A moving truck pulled up with a BMW leading. A beautiful woman exited the BMW and spoke to the truck driver.

“This is the house,” she said.

The woman walked up the driveway and entered the house. Chris ran back into his house, into his bedroom closet, and snatched his Celestron. He looked out his window and saw the woman enter her bedroom.

“Hell no,” he said. “I’m not going through that shit again.”

Chris walked the Celestron outside and set it at the curb for the garbage.