The next day soon came, and Melvin was back in the modern section of the museum. She had little to no trouble getting in and navigating the now many life-like artsy scenarios displayed in the room. There seemed to be new additions in the twenty-four hours that had gone by when she saw something familiar. Tagged as a new addition and put out front and center for guests to experience were life-like statues of an elderly man and woman embracing. They were in pajamas and the woman’s face looked troubled. Melvin moved closer to the new piece, enamored by the blistering realism of the figures. She inspected the face and noticed the striking resemblance of the old woman from the day before. Confused, she looked around to see if anyone noticed, the other guests seemed in awe of the works and didn’t think too much into them. She looked again, this time at the male’s face and it finally hit her.
She gave in to her thoughts and poked the piece on the cheek and her finger went right through. She yelped loudly and dropped to the ground as people watched her antics. Red goo creeped down the figure’s cheek and stained the floral pajama top. She rushed for the exit, shoving people out of the way, and running blindly. She ran past the stout man in blue overalls, past the attendant, and toward her car.
Melvin pulls up just in front of the hotel and darts to her room. The door attendant tries to acknowledge her but to no avail. She packs her things hurriedly, looking towards the front door as she puts on her jacket and grabs her final belongings. She stops short at the door when she hears a loud noise in the bathroom. She walks over to check it out and is given a blow to the head that sends her flying back into the bedroom. She turns to find the stout man standing over her with an axe in hand. The man swings at her violently but misses. Melvin kicks down his knee and he staggers to the floor. She makes a break for the door and feels the axe just graze past her head to the hallway. The man cries out and chases her.
She reaches the lobby, taking the side door to her car when she bumps into the door attendant. He struggles to calm her as he yells, she begs him to let her go as he drags her back into the lobby. She scratches and bites his arms, and he lifts her. She punches him in the face, and he stumbles backwards. He lunges at her when his head splits open – the edge of the axe bulges through his forehead and blood splatters all over Melvin. She screams as the man falls on her.
She’s mine, the stout man yells!
She sees him running towards her and she forces the dead attendant off her. She runs to her car, fidgeting with the keys and begging the heavens for aid. The car starts just as the man shatters the window and grabs her by the neck. The car reverses wildly and crashes into another. The force throws the man on the hood as he hangs on. She steers wildly again, and the man flies off the car and into the road. She slams the peddle, sending the man flying with the bumper stuck to his leg. She drives manically down the mountain. The winding road is harder going down than it is going up, and she kept slamming into the walls. She finally manages to get down the mountain when the car flips in the air, rolling to the middle of the road and landing on its front. She slowly comes to when she feels immense pressure on her neck, the man slams her repeatedly on the steering wheel as he growls and curses. She fights him – she fights him with everything she has as the loud horns of a transport truck ram into them. The car flips continuously as it slides down the far hill. The trucks screeches to a halt and the driver rushes to the edge to see the SUV demolished at the bottom of the hill. At the side of the road, the driver finds Melvin bloodied and in pain. The driver calls for help as she tends to Melvin holding on for life.
Hold on, just hold on… can you hear me lady? An ambulance is on the way, the woman kept saying.
Melvin jolts up in bed – her bed, as her alarm clock blares by her side. She shuts the thing off and kicks at her now soaked sheets. She realized she left the heater on again, and it baked her room. Light from the window trickles in as the clock hanging on the wall ticks towards 10AM. She checks her phone and sees two text messages from her best friend and laughs. She had woken up from a nightmare and slept through the morning. The shrooms and horror movie the night before definitely took a toll on her. She plops back in bed, rubbing her neck softly like she feels a kind of pressure.
No way that’s happening to me, she says jokingly.
Knomad Films° 