The Medusa Effect

THE MEDUSA EFFECT

CHAPTER ONE: TROUBLE

How did he ever get himself into this, Ethan wondered? He should grab his wallet and run for it, even if he would freeze his ass off running out there naked in the middle of April. When he heard the bathroom door closing behind her he felt his heart beating out of his chest. He stood up as quietly as he could, reaching for his pants at the end of the bed. He felt like a helpless child dancing on one leg. Everything in his head was a jumble. He really didn't how he had gotten to the motel. The one thing he did know...was that he had to get out. Not even the marks encircling his wrist were enough to make him want to stay.

He slid his foot into his boot, when he noticed the door standing open, just a slit. He caught a glimpse of her in the mirror. Her blue eyes glowed in the laboring light. Her long lashes waxed over her cheeks as she bobbed her head searching for some unseen object. He couldn't look away. When he saw her stand up her slender hip moved into the stream of yellow light. He felt his head jerk back. He had wavered, only seconds it seemed. He watched her running her hands through the thick black hair smoothing it against her shoulders. She leaned forward with her face close to the mirror. He trembled at the luscious lips pursed at the image. His feet turned to clay.

She came out quietly moving toward him. He was transfixed staring fully at her. He fell back. She walked around his twitching feet.

"You have to go." She whispered.

"What?"

"You're already dressed, I think you should go."

"Well...I." His tongue was lodged against his teeth.

The sock dangled from her long silver fingernails as she held it above him. She let it fall loosely through her fingers then bent over and picked up the other one. Leaning toward him she shot a look, deep into his eyes. Ethan felt his thoughts swimming. He half closed his eyes. The smell of her floated into him. She pushed him back further on to the bed, he felt his keys fall into his lap as she dismissed him. Somehow, he made his legs move forward. Before he could regain his senses, he saw her hand on the knob turning it. He thought if her skin even touched him that he might be burned. He stood carefully next to her at the door, his hands jingling the ring of keys uncontrollably. He felt the door thud behind him against his back.

He shuffled forward, not daring to look when he heard her high-top leather boots clicking on the newly shoveled walk behind him. He skated forward in the soft spring snow to the curb and felt his way along the car. When he got in and locked the doors he finally looked up and saw her standing in the headlights. He knew he would be back, he knew it.

He saw her lips turn up sneering at him. She laughed and disappeared back inside the open doorway.

Ethan found his way to Front Street. The rolling hill and the slippery road made the drive precarious. He slowed in front of the Landmark Hotel. He thought for a moment about going inside for a drink. He wound up sliding passed the intersection skidding into the lot across the lane. He shifted the car into neutral moving forward slowly until he finally stopped in the snowbank in front of Walli’s. If he would have gone ten feet more he would have plowed into the tiny fish market.

The well-lit pier, just past it, with the dark blue water sparkling beside the gray washed building, glimmered under the lamp light. He pushed the car door open and jutted forward to the water’s edge. The elongated shadow looming over the strip of water beside the iron-ore loading dock with its hundred-fifty chutes sticking straight up into the stars, beckoned to him. He walked to the padlocked fence. He hopped over it easily and slid along the breaches of the broken-down dock. The wooden slats under his feet moved with his weight. Finally, he planted his feet the on the cement abridgment under the mammoth structure. The long skeleton pushed out over two hundred feet hovering like a demon, tunneling forward into the dark. The patterned spokes of light illuminated his steps, propelling him forward until he finally reached the end, where the deep water warbled away from him far out into Lake Superior.

He stared down over the edge. The rocks under his boot plopped down below the surface disappearing instantly. He had the surreal feeling that if he stepped out onto the glassy surface he could continue walking on the one streak of light glowing out in front of him. He lowered himself getting onto his hands and knees and put his face down to the surface. The top of his head seemed to float away. For a second he thought he saw her image in the reflection. The echoing current, beat against the moss-covered face of the embankment. The droopy smell of it and the scent of fish, divined a familiar soupy brew. He shoved his hands down baptizing his blue fingers in the icy water. He couldn’t get the smell of her off him.

“Oh my God!” He yelled into the lake.

His breath plumed out in front of him making the words hang on the stillness. He had lived long enough to understand what love is, this was different, something hateful, akin to lust, but deeper. The vortex seemed to take over, he found himself nose down, with the water lapping inches from his face. A burst of energy suddenly filled him setting him back on his knees. The toxic stew worked like a steroid. He pulled himself to his feet and whispered out into the dark that this would be the place he buried her, this devil.