For Beetlegooze!

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For Beetlegooze!
Figure running from a Falling Mansion by John Williams Allison
'oh no, something ate your husband' pt1
Something was off.
Really, really off.
It has only been around a week now but something was very amiss with your husband.
You took out two yet to be cleaned carrots and felt a fresh, humid and cold gust of wind come at you from the window you just opened.
You moved to the sink to start cleaning them.
It's unclear what exactly is wrong, it's not per se that anything really happened.
Yet something about him worried you.
You started to peel the carrots.
Nothing has changed, he's been going to hunt and coming back as usual. Bringing back vermin to sell or for you to skin and to cook.
But he has been very quiet.
Eerily so.
You started cutting them up into little dice because that's how he liked them in his stew.
You moved to the mountain side with him years ago right after you got married.
You were never a really outdoorsy person hence you never really ventured far from home.
Typically spending your days crafting jewelry, or doing work around the house and outside. Taking care of the garden and each other.
You finished cutting and went to add the carrots into the pot. After upping the heat a little you go to cut the already peeled potatoes.
Some days when it's warm you would venture out to a nearby field and lay there to enjoy the sun, and sometimes him and the dogs would join you.
But it's been cold and rainy recently, and the whine at your feet dragged you out of your thoughts as you looked down to see Balto.
A small smile graced your lips and you put down the knife to kneel down and pet your boy behind the ears.
Something happened that day in the woods.
It was very late in the evening, the sun having already set hours ago, when you were outside and on your porch with a thick blanket thrown around your shoulders. The wind was strong and the air piercing but nothing could compare to the worry induced nausea that plagued you.
He should've been home by now you told yourself. It was a typical of him to stay out during the night, he was a good hunter and knew the dangers of a pitch black forest. You knew that wolves were spotted in recent times and you worried that something happened to him.
You were pacing, trying to calm yourself down, knowing that he's a good survivalist and doesn't go out unprepared. That he'll return in the morning and all will be fine, that he might just walk out of the treeline and moment and hug you and tell you it's all right and then you'll feed him and get everything set for bed.
The meal you've had prepared was standing on the counter still, you'd reheat it and all would be fine again.
You forced yourself to sit down on the bench you two had made together a few years back and huddled up into the blanket further.
Your porch was thankfully constructed so that the winds wouldn't blow at you directly but sleep today was out of the question.
You had to be ready for him to return possibly injured, and if he wouldn't return by morning come you'd grab a horse from the closest farmer and get your friends from the village to try and help you find him.
You closed your eyes for a moment, the prayers your family has taught you as a child coming back to you, as you started reciting them, praying for his safe return, for the spirits to guide his way and protect him.
It was unclear how long you sat there, hearing nothing but the howl of the wind and the aggressive whoosing of the fields around you, as you gazed out into the pitch black treeline. Hoping for a familiar silhouette to emerge, for your dogs to start barking and come running towards you. But there was nothing.
Until there was.
You saw movement on the left and immediately jumped up to focus on it. You grabbed the lamp and moved to the edge of the porch, squinting your eyes to try and make out what was over there.
It was something small, lanky and fast and it was moving towards you.
Your eyes widened and you whipped around to grab your rifle, thinking it was a wolf, but as you readied the weapon in your arms and we're about to take aim you heard a familiar bark and your heart jumped in your chest.
Thousands of thoughts were running through your head as Balto, your wolf dog hybrid came running at you. The rifle was already discarded as you dropped to your knees to meet him.
"Boy, oh boy what's gotten into you", he was in obviously destress and has been running for a while now as he pants and laps at you as you desperately move your arms over him to check for injury.
The worst thoughts start gracing your mind as you not only see the blood cakkng his maw and head but also feel the cold, sticky liquid in his fur. You move him to see the area better, and weave your fingers through his fur to check whether he was cut or shot but couldn't find any obvious injuries.
"Where's papa boy, why are you alone", you speak to him as you check his paws and periodically stare into the area he has come from expecting your husband and your other dog, Balu, to come running out next.
But nothing follows and you usher your dog into the living room, not caring about the dirty trail he leaves. You prepare a bucket of warm water and several towels to clean him up and get him dry, as you now scan part of the treeline from out the living room windows.
It's only once your done and Balto shakes himself to dry off that you take another peek into the mirror and make out a figure.
Your fingers twitch for just a moment before you discard everything and run straight out of the house and towards your husband. Balto close behind as you don't bother closing the door.
The grass is wet and slippery and the sheer power of the wind keeps trying to throw you to your knees but you shield your face from the onslaught and continue on towards your husband.
You call out his name and see him notice you, as he also starts making his way towards you. But you notice he's slow, really slow, and your worries increase because what if he's hurt?
Balto is barking but you spare it no thought as you get closer.
"Are you okay?", you scream out and double your effort to get to him quicker as he doesn't respond.
It's when you're finally close to reaching him that Balto manages to bolt past you and to your utmost shock jumps to attack your husband.
"BALTO?!", you run, absolutely petrified as he latches onto your husband's arm, growling at him and yanking like he would do to prey, dragging him down and away from you.
For a moment you stop to see whether it's a stranger he's attacking but you make out your husbands silhouette, you hear his grunt, you can vaguely see his hair and face and when he kicks and punches Balto, and you hear your dear animal yip and fall, apart of your heart rips because you don't know who to be worried about more now.
But you take the final steps and get between the two, your hand lands on your husband's chest and before dealing with Balto, before doing anything, you look up into his face, *needing* to meet his eyes, needing the reassurance that he's here, that it's truly him. And for just a second, as you turn to look, as you up your lids, all time stops, because what you see terrifies you to your core. Your deepest, most essential instincts scream at you in warning, as the face that looks back at you feels inherently wrong, near soulless, like a corpse would. But the moment passes and you blink, and back at you stares your husband's pained, contorted face and you just brush off the moment to high adrenaline and bad lighting, although you can't quite shake off the innate dread that just jumped at you.
"Shhh, boy, down", you turn to Balto again, and try to relax him and when he doesn't stop growling you step forth to grab him by his scruff and force him to submit.
He relents and you take a moment to breathe, before turning around again to your husband staring at you.
So many questions while around your head, "is he okay, where's Balu, where's his weapons, is he okay, why did Balto do this, why is he not saying anything, is he in shock, is he okay?"
You look at him a moment longer, at his slouched body, the ripped clothes, at the hand hanging limply, dripping blood from where Balto bit him, at his soaked form and when another strong gust of wind passes through your clothes and chills you to your core you get up and more ask than say "let's go home."
A pause, and then a nod from your husband's now blank face. You worry and you continue worrying as you make your way back to the house, you still holding Balto and him following you two from behind.
You look back a lot to check on his gait, trying to make out injuries but the moon doesn't pose good enough a light source to truly make anything out.
Once finally at the door you quickly bring Balto upstairs and lock him in a room as he lets out pitiful whines, before running down and stopping short in your tracks.
Your husband is still standing in the doorway and unease settles like cancer in your bones.
The wind still howls, and the warm light from inside just shows you how disheveled and catastrophic he truly looks. Like he's a rag with which you cleaned truly everything and didn't bother to clean it once.
But the worst thing was his behavior, he didn't seem lost, his eyes were focused, too focused, yet he didn't move, he didn't close the flayling door, he didn't take off his.. already undone boots?, he didn't go to clean himself or change clothes, he didn't even show pain or worry about his wound, straight acting like it's not there.
And so you stood again, facing one another. Your mind racing at his odd behavior, before finding itself and simply going over to pass him and close the door, he moves out of the way to let you. Once closed and locked you look back at him, "Did you lose Balu?".
He looked at you as if in interest, not blinking, and it took him too long to answer, "He's dead".
He said it in such a dark and slow tome that a shudder ran through you. His voice nearly sounded... wrong.
Your head dropped and you looked down at the dirty floors, for a moment it's as if everything went blank for you, before you turned aware of your own soaked form and decided to just not think for now and get over with what needed to be done.
You dropped your shoes and pants right there, moving to remove your shirt too as you looked at your husband and noticed him still looking at you, and was he breathing harder?
"Take off your clothes, we need to inspect your wound and prevent hypothermia", you said matter of factly before also dropping your shirt and moving past him again to get to the bathroom for more towels and the first aid kit. As you walked in you heard him slowly start to remove his clothes and you took a breath.
Once you've gathered everything you stepped back out and saw him now standing there nude, you vaguely picked up on Balto clawing at the door upstairs.
You looked back at him and moved forth to go back into the living room, after putting everything down onto the table you went to add more firewood to the dimmed fireplace. Thank the gods your house was well isolated against the cold you thought.
You lit a few candles as he finally stepped through the doorway.
You didn't like how much he felt like a stranger in his own damn house. You side eyed him and after lighting the last candle blew out the match, "sit down on the couch".
He followed your instructions and sat down in the middle of it, his gaze never leaving your form.
You came forward and stopped to stare at him, or to be more precise, his body.
His suspiciously...unharmed body?
"Your...clothes, they were ripped to shreds", you looked at him," you only had your shirt and pants, where was your jacket or... equipment." You pause "What the cuck happened out there", you whisper at him.
"I got attacked", he stated. You looked at him again, growing uncomfortable with his incessant staring problem. It's not like he wouldn't state at you, he actually did so often, but never like this. Never like you were something new, never so...weirdly.
"By what?", you ask.
"I... couldn't really see", his voice came out.
"You...couldn't see?", you ask, not believing him.
"It happened really fast, it killed Balu. When it attacked me, Balto ran.", you were staring at his arm, the blood having already stopped dripping, contemplating his story.
"Did you kill it?", you eventually asked.
"Yes", he answered.
"Will you...retrieve Balu's body? And your equipment?", you asked, now looking at the floor, as the room slowly began to rise to a more comfortable temperature, considering both of you were basically naked.
There was a pause in which you didn't dare look up at him again, before he said "There's not much left of him anymore".
You flinched and your eyes flew to him again, wide eyed. His face looked emotionless, and you waited, you waited for something to happen, for him to get up and hug you, for solace or compassion or even just a blink of pain, but nothing happened and both of you stayed quiet.
"I'll bring back the equipment tomorrow.", he eventually said.
You couldn't do anything but nod, as you now looked at the medical supplies. You looked at his arm again and checked the bite
"I don't think that you need stitches, but maybe disinfect the wound please", you told him.
A nod.
You nodded too.
"Are you okay?", you asked.
"I am", he answered.
"Mmh", you took a step back, away from him.
"I'll... I'll bring down some clothes for you and then check on Balto.", on your way out you spotted your rifle still laying in the corridor but instead of getting it decided to head upstairs to go get the clothes.
You could feel a headache forming and taste bile in your throat. Something was wrong. You just hoped that he maybe hit his head, or was in a state of shock. But something was very, very wrong and you didn't know what to do about it, you didn't even know what it was.
You dried yourself, dressed for bed and headed down to give him his clothes, but when you came down he wasn't disinfecting his wound, nor was he wrapping it, instead he was at the wall, looking at your unofficial marriage photograph. Where you two stood smiling from ear to ear with your dogs, back when Balto was still a puppy gifted to you by your friends for a fruitful marriage and couldn't be still as you held him in your arms. And Balu was ever the proud hunting dog, sitting in perfect form near his owner, a pure bread Riesenschnauzer. You two loved your dogs like they were your actual children.
You paused in the doorway and when he looked back at you he smiled. And it took you a moment to realize that he was imitating the smile from the photo, it was too bright, too *wrong*. Why would he smile now? It made your breath hitch and tears form in your eyes from the panic and so you dropped the clothes in the couch and went to excuse yourself but instead stopped again before you could leave.
You were in the doorway again, and didn't dare look at him as you said "I think I need some time for myself tonight. Can you sleep on the couch?", when no response came you painfully forced yourself to look back at him. And he hadn't moved, the smile did drop though.
"Of course", he said.
"Thank you", you answered, before fleeing upstairs and opening the door to the extra room you kept for your hobbies, in which Balto was also waiting for you.
Once inside your pup was immediately on you and you tried to close the door as quietly as you could before also locking it and going towards the far corner of the room, before breaking down and covering your face with your hands as you tried to weep in silence. Balto was whining and licking at your face as you desperately tried to catch your breath, fruitlessly.
Breathe
Laudanum Label // International Museum of Surgical Science
~ Purple and Blue ~



