The Paradigm Demured: Part V- Vertigo

       

            Wide-eyed and frozen with revulsion, Natalie slowly looked up at the man, only to see that it was hardly a man at all.  What she saw would never leave her memory.  An inhuman face stared back at her, causing Natalie to lose any semblance of rational thought.  An uncharacteristically loud shriek slipped from Natalie’s mouth, which hung wide open.  In a frenzy of consternation, the rest of the clothes she was carrying exploded from her arms, spiraling haphazardly all over the floor.  The creature did not even flinch from the display.  The natural reflex would have been to automatically shield its eyes from contracting any unnecessary harm in a sudden outburst such as this one; but the long arms just remained suspended lifelessly, making no motion to shield its face. 

            The clothes landed around the inhuman form, creating a chaotic pile against the wall behind it.  Further stunned, Natalie grabbed Carol’s arm without thinking, and pulled her away from the ethereal creature.  Carol, bewildered by Natalie’s outburst, ran along with her in a state of panic.

            “What?!!”

            Natalie didn’t say anything until the two had reached the front of the store.  She huddled next to her friend whose breathing had also become rapid and broken.  Natalie gestured towards the dressing rooms with her finger.

            “Didn’t you see it?!  That…  thing!”

            Carol looked where Natalie was pointing, but again saw nothing.

            “Uuuuhhh, what thing?!”      

            Natalie pointed at the lifeless creature once more, this time with a much greater emphasis.

            “THAT!!!”

            Carol threw her arms out to the side, emphasizing her speech with hands that had nothing to grip.

            “What?!  I don’t see anything!”

            Now Natalie was sure.  The thing she was dreading the most had become a reality- Carol wasn’t able to see the creature.  That left only two possibilities:  either that because she alone could see this being, it was here for her and her alone, or that she.  Amazingly, nobody else seemed to see it either, as most of the store had turned its attention on the pair that had made all the commotion.  It felt as if this thing existed only for her.  The rest of the bookstore was seemed to go on about their business as if nothing were amiss, ignoring it completely.

            A smell Natalie had never experienced before penetrated her olfactory senses.  It was strong, pungent, though not the one of decomposition she would have expected had she been in a rational state of mind.  Rather, it was a faintly sweet burning aroma- scorched rubber infused with a honey glaze.  It was fragrant, though not overpowering; yet somehow, Natalie found it instinctively repugnant.  A thousand things going through her mind, and none of them made any sense.  Only one thing was clear- that this thing was after her, and she was terrified.  

            “Carol…”

            Natalie’s attention was still on the dormant being in front of her, causing her to sound completely distant.  Realizing she needed to focus, she brought her attention back to her bewildered friend, whose eyes were fixed on her with a look of intense expectation.

            “I think…”

            Natalie paused, unsure of what to say.

            “I’m having…  Vertigo.”

            Carol’s expression turned from one of anticipation to one of sympathy.

            “Vertigo?  Really?!  You get that too?”

            “I’m just so stressed about…  everything…  And now everyone’s looking at me like ‘oh, she’s just the crazy girl’.”

            “Hey…”

            Carol embraced Natalie, attempting to console her.

            “Don’t worry about them.  You need to let it out.  Let’s go somewhere and talk.”

            “I just need to be alone for a bit…  I still haven’t dealt with everything.”

            "Not even.  We're besties, remember?  Come on, let's get out of here; I'll buy you a coffee."

            Carol had never been very adept at sensing when to back off, and Natalie knew she was running out of time before the creature decided to attack.  Never mind the fact that a coffee was filled with copious amounts of caffeine which was the last thing she wanted right now, the possibility of losing another loved one was completely unacceptable to Natalie.

            “Thanks, Carol, but why don’t you keep shopping.  I’ll be fine, I just need go home.”

            Natalie tried to pull away, but Carol immediately caught up to her.

            “Well, I’m coming with you too!”

            “No!!!”

            Carol seemed like someone had just unexpectedly slapped her across the face.  She had never known Natalie to issue a command to her in such an utterly stern manner before.  And the passion in her voice was totally unlike the friend she knew.

            Natalie’s denial of her friend’s companionship promptly halted her, and Natalie was not oblivious to the fact that Carol seemed deeply hurt.

            “I mean…  Just have fun with the sale; I’ll see you at home.”

            “Umm…  Okay, Nat.”

            Giving her friend a faint smile, she hurriedly exited through the door, leaving a confused Carol to only watch as her friend disappeared into the bright light of the outside world.

            Natalie bit her lip as she rapidly moved through the ocean of pedestrians blocking her way.  All of them were going on about their normal daily lives, unaware of what was about to happen.  One thing she was sure of- whatever had killed Brandon was now after her.  If she were around people, they might get hurt, and no one should have to suffer the fate of losing a loved one as she had.

            Natalie’s sadness and need for revenge had ultimately blinded her to the situation she was now running from:  the possibility that they would return for her.  She barely even had time to grieve for Brandon, let alone figure out her next move.

            It just wasn’t fair!

Now she was being hunted down.  And they were going to do the same thing to her that they had done to Brandon.

            Natalie’s pace increased as her thoughts became impossibly jumbled.  She walked as quickly as she could without rousing suspicion, figuring any sudden movements might goad the entity into a peremptory attack.  She was afraid for herself, but she wanted to make sure her friend was out of harm’s way.  If something was going to happen, she could at least make certain it was away from those she cared about.  She had already lost so much, and wasn’t prepared to lose any more.  This was her fight.

            She sat down by a fountain and looked around.  Nothing…  People continued to go on about their everyday business as if nothing strange were afoot.  Even though the thing chasing her was invisible to the average person, she couldn’t believe that some of the more sensitive people wouldn’t at least feel some kind of dread as the creature passed.

            “Come on, Nat, this is what you wanted!  Now you’ve got one of these bastards in front of you.”

            A loud pop startled her, jolting Natalie with a frigid wave of panic that shot through her entire upper body.  A child was standing with a string dangling around his arm.  He began bawling tempestuously, causing his parents to lean down in an effort to solace the surprised child.  And there it was again- standing less than two feet behind her, towering over the frantic child and his concerned parents.  Still it did nothing to move, or even seem to acknowledge her presence.  It remained perfectly stoic:  perfectly out of place.

            Natalie’s legs twitched, as all her muscles tensed- reflexes set in place to spring into action.  She was afraid, because no matter how fast she ran, Natalie realized she wasn’t going to be able to outrun this thing; but even as intimidated as she was, that was hardly what she wanted.  More than anything, she needed to confront this creature and make it answer for what had happened to Brandon.   

            The creature remained languid, only causing the animosity within her to increase.  Her grief began to turn into rage:  a desire to hurt this unknown thing searing through any sense of reason she had.  She wanted to feel this thing break beneath her, just as it had broken her dreams.

            “Come on…”

            Natalie clenched her fists tightly, and with all the resolve she had, flung herself at the abomination.

            “…you son of a…”

            Natalie swung her fist with all the power she had.

            "BITCH!!!”

            Though she had put all of her being into that trusted punch, and thrown it with all her might, it would never find its target.  Instead, a wide-eyed Natalie passed right through the creature.  Though she half-expected some kind of trick after her encounter with the assailant in Brandon’s apartment, she was not prepared for the incredible force which came down on her shoulder blades.  The impact completely blindsided Natalie, sending her sprawling face first into the concrete. 

            She tasted blood, and spat a large globule onto the concrete.  It did little to quell the flavor, as it continued to pour out of the freshly opened wound on her lip.  A stream of red ran down Natalie’s face, as she picked herself up, and glared at the monster.  She wiped her lip, and looked down at the blood on her palm.  “Not too bad”, she thought, “only a bloody lip and a few scrapes”.  She wasn’t done yet.

            Finally the creature had become animated, twisting its head 160° towards the vengeful challenger it had just nullified.  The hand which was awkwardly positioned outstretched behind its torso rolled back into place, locking in its socket.   Its empty eyes stared directly at hers, stealing the courage from Natalie’s very soul.  This thing was different than the man who had murdered Brandon; much different.  The man that had killed Brandon had eyes which could illuminate the darkest room; they gave off a sense of power that made the hairs on her arm stand up if she got too close.  These eyes, on the other hand, seemed to be drawing energy in, sucking the life-force out of the environment like two miniature black holes fitted perfectly into this thing’s skull.  And the most obviously scarring difference- the thing before at least appeared to be a man.  No matter how the level of imagination the beholder possessed, there was no way it could pass for human.

The creature hadn’t responded until she’d lashed out at it in anger- a misstep, in hindsight.  Now with its attention, Natalie was petrified.  Yet somehow in this moment, she felt a strange connection to her lover deceased.

            “This must have been what Brandon felt…”

             It began to move towards her, phasing through the robes which cloaked it in mystery, and revealing the sickly body underneath.  The coverings seemed to dissipate and burn up as they faded out of existence.  Now completely naked, it began to beckon her to come closer.  While there was no change to its exterior, Natalie could feel it was somehow sneering at her.  It was the most chillingly grotesque smile Natalie felt.  Even an autopsy in a medical journal would have been a welcome change.

            The rotting leathery skin of the creature disgusted her, though not nearly as much as did its disproportional physiology.  It had an S-shaped neck similar to those of the avian population, specifically those found in vultures.  Sitting at the end of the elongated neck was a head with a rather bulbous cranium- larger than that of a Cro-Magnon.  Perhaps the most disconcerting were the exaggerating proportions of arms.  If measured, they would surely be as long as its legs.  There was no musculature to speak of- it was without definition, almost feminine/child-like.

Natalie’s attention had become completely divorced from her surroundings, wholly entranced by the inhuman reverent.  Before she knew what was going on around her, it was already too late.  While all her focus had been placed on her anger, she failed to notice the waves of people had come to a complete halt:  frozen, as though this were a piece of history that had become separated from the flow of time.  A forgotten snapshot of her and this abomination.

            Natalie knew she was in trouble.  If she was stuck in this altered state of reality with this creature, any means of escape had been cut off.  And fighting it directly was out of the question.  Based on how her hand had passed right through the creature in the dressing rooms only minutes before, she was fairly sure any physical effort would prove fruitless.  Yes, this was going to be impossibly difficult.

            The monster’s neck extended, raising its height to well over seven feet.  Large claws protruded from its hands, grinding together as they further pushed through its skin.  Its arms were now long enough that they scrapped against the ground.

            The beast reared its head back as if to howl, yet only a strange gurgling sound escaped the monster’s throat.  Perhaps it was not able to speak, given its seeming level of decomposition, or perhaps this was all it needed to frighten its opponents.  As other large bony protrusions continued to push their way through the skin, it was delegated to a mere question of irrelevance.

            Quickly becoming apparent that she had made a grave mistake, Natalie realized that there was absolutely no way she could fight this thing.  Not only did it seem to possess incredible speed, it seemed to be aware of where she was at all times.  All she could manage was to run, and that’s exactly what she now planned to do.  But as she turned to flee, she hadn’t taken a single step before she noticed the creature was already standing in the way of her path, effectively blocking her escape.  Again Natalie turned to run, and again the leather-skinned creature stood in front of her.  Its sneer had gotten increasingly louder in her mind; so much so that it was giving her a headache.  No matter what she did or where she ran, the creature continued to outflank her.  Wherever she would step, it would step first.

Her bare hands had passed right through the creature as if it weren’t even there, so it stood to figure that any other weapon she could produce would most likely have a similarly futile effect.  At this point, her single best strategy was escape.  In order for this to work, however, she needed this thing to be distracted; and with it as fixated on her as it was, that was going to be next to impossible.