Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

Imagination Three Times Removed

His chest heaves back and forth with each breath, which in turn matches each step as he forces his tired legs up the hillside. A bevy of sweat cascades down his brow, attacking his eyes with stinging, ferocious intent. He blinks, twisting his nose as he catches a fresh breath of air. He nods his head and forces a strained smile as he passes the other shadows making their opposing ways along the path. He swallows an uneasy breath as he comes to a stop. He casts a wayward glance to his left and then to his right as the wheeled metal monsters rush past him. He blinks again and swallows another uneasy breath.

It is then, out of the corner of his eye, that he sees her slowly slide into sight. Her face paint is faded and cracked, drawing a devastating picture of her life up until now. The ruby red lipstick that once adorned her lips is now smeared across her face. Her once springy red hair, now a wiry mop, hangs from her tired head. Her once brilliant green eyes, now tired, bloodshot, dull, and desperate, stare wildly at him as a grin writes itself across her lips.

“P-P-Peter?” she stammers nervously.

He gently closes his eyes and takes a long, deep breath before opening them once more. He looks to the left, then to the right, ignoring her in the process. The smile drops from her lips, replaced by an overdramatic frown.

“D-D-DON’T DO THIS TO ME, PETEY! NOT YOU! NOT MY BOY!” she cries, throwing herself to the ground beside him and tugging at his arm. “NOT YOU, PETEY! NOT YOU!”

He takes another deep breath, pursing his lips as he closes his eyes once more. “She’s just in your head, Peter. She’s just in your head,” he whispers softly to himself. When he opens his eyes again, he finds her standing directly in front of him, her grin broad and wide once more.

“I KNEW YOU COULDN’T FORGET ME! I KNEW YOU’D BE THE ONE!” she yells excitedly. “I WAS YOUR FIRST! I SHOWED YOU ALL THE SEX STU—” but her words are quickly muffled as Peter grabs her by the throat and stuffs his other hand over her mouth.

“You!” he hisses, “You are NOT real, and you are NOT here!”

Her eyes widen like a manga cartoon character, and she starts ranting incessantly beneath his hand. He tightens his hold around her throat and squeezes her face with renewed gusto.

“I said!” he spits through clenched teeth as he pulls her closer. “You aren’t REAL, and you aren’t HERE! So, SHOO!”

They stand there staring into each other’s eyes for a few moments before he leans back with a furrowed brow while she shrugs her shoulders and starts gibbering beneath his hand once more.

He looks to his left, then to his right, and then back at her again. “W-W-Why haven’t you gone? W-Why are you still here?”

She shrugs her shoulders higher while continuing to chatter beneath his clutches.

Gently, he releases his hold on her and takes a bewildered step back.

“W-What’s happening? H-How can you b-be here?” he asks.

“Like I’ve been trying to tell you for the last few minutes, I DON’T KNOW!” she cries loudly. “After you moved on, I hooked up with Kelly Ofay’s kid Laura, and then she got too old to play imaginary friends, so I latched onto Tyrone Palacki’s kid, who is a bed wetter just like his dad by the way, and then, when he was too old, I was thrown to the gutter, and somehow stuck in the real world, looking for a way to survive, and to be honest, I’ve done a lot of bad things to do that, worse than the ones we did when you were experimenting with your,” she says, nodding towards his groin. “You…”

“Okay, okay,” he says quickly with a bright red face, holding his hands up in desperation. “I-I-I, I don’t think we all need to know everything that’s happened to you right now. Just tell me how you made it here, to me, today?” he asks.

“Oh, well that, you won’t believe it, but I was…” But her words are torn from the air as a wheeled metal monster tears through her, showering Peter and the others standing at the traffic light in a sea of red.