"BOdY PArTs"
Part One
Original thriller written by: Stacey L. Bolin
Copyright 10/5/2013
All rights reserved
Sound enhancement for the story.
"OH NO!" exclaimed Candace as she
reached into her dryer to discover that although her laundry had been tumbling
for more than an hour, they were as wet and as cold at the moment she'd put
them in to dry. "This is so not what I need right now!"
In her mind she began to see her budget
dwindling and her credit cards burst into flames, for she knew from situations
past, anything in her home that had a heating element in it was going to result
in either a hug repair bill by some repairman who would hit on her and then
rake her wallet through the coals, or a complete replacement of the product -
either choice was not in her budget.
On the flip side of her exceptional ability
to think the worst and the worst moment, she also had the special "MacGyver" mind
set when faced with solving unexpected problems - and this situation would be
no different from any other. Candace had only one solution - get everything
washed and take it to the local laundry mat to dry it all. Three washes at home
and one trip to the laundry mat would buy her about three days - she'd worry
about her dryer dilemma later.
By nine o'clock that evening she had washed the
entire fleet of dirty dish and shower towels, work clothes, and even a few items that
her boyfriend, Glen, had left behind during his weekend stay. "I wish Glen
was here right now," she thought as she looked upon the three heaping
baskets that she would now be loading into her car - by herself in the cold and
pouring down rain that could be heard even in a sound proof booth.
One basket at a time, she managed to get the
laundry into her, old, and very small but VERY reliable, Volkswagen Rabbit. She
quickly got into her car, started it up, hit the defroster on high heat to keep
the windows from fogging up, and looked for any radio station that would put
her in a better mood for doing laundry so late and on such a dreary bone
chilling wet night. "It's this kind of storm that make even the sane go mad." she thought as she backed out of the driveway and headed down the road.
The cold harsh rain beat hard against her car
as the wind blew strong and unforgivingly as she slowly drove towards her destination. "Ha Ha," she chuckled out
loud to herself, "What a great scene for a horror movie - Young petite
woman ventures out alone during a dark stormy night heading into a unknown
danger that awaits her..." she laughed again, "at the laundry
mat." A chill streaked through her body. "Ok Candace...maybe
not."
The roads gave the illusion of ice from the
reflection of the street lights that had not been damaged by the wind. She
loved the idea that she was not sitting in a line of traffic due to the evening
rush. When she finally arrived she was again pleased with the lack of human life
and the cars in which they drive. By the looks of things, she was going to get to drive
right up to the door and would be able to stay somewhat dry.
All the stores in the plaza were close and
dark for the night with the exception of the laundry mat and its neon sign that
read, in a bug zapper blue looking light, open and the EZ-Mart with its sign that said Z-Mat because it was in dire
need of a few red blubs to be replaced. What added to the spooky finger she felt
was poking her on her back - the laundry mat harbored a strange glow due to its
foggy windows that were created from the heat and dampness in the building
being warmer than the temperatures outside and offered no visibility to allow
her to see who was inside. A strange uneasy feeling was beginning to works it's
magic to set the seed in her mind to become fearful of what may lay behind the fog
adorned windows.
"It's a flipping laundry mat Candace -
get your ass out of the car!" she screamed at herself. Still a bit
apprehensive, she collected the laundry baskets and a box of dryer sheets
and made her way into the building.
Ring....Ring, sounded the small brass bell
that was hung over one of the two doors she chose to enter through.
"Olla" said a small but stern voice
from a women who appeared to be of an Asian or foreign decent, that was seated
behind the counter. "We close soon...No wash."
"Hi, um that's fine. I only need to dry
these?" Candace replied sounding more like a question of having to drying
them vs. needing to dry them. "I've never gotten the pleaser of going to a
laundry mat and being the only one here. All the dryers all to me, myself, and
I, - this is so cool."
"Ok...Fine...you dry."
"Phew! This stuff would have caused a
huge stink if I had to wait until tomorrow. Nothing worse than the smell
of...." The laundry tenant looked at her as she continued to nervously
babble on. "Wet clothes turning to the dark side and smell like some ones
old footlocker or attic barn."
The woman at the counter nodded her had but
clearly didn't understand the nervous banter.
"You know...a moldy smell?" She
questioned again, hoping her explanation would change the tenants’ look of
confusion. Candace pondered for a moment and tried to rationalize that maybe
there was some type of a language barrier, or better yet, the woman was
pretending not to understand because she didn't want to talk to her. Being
almost closing Candace realized that the look was more of a - hurry up and get
your shit done...I want to go home.
As Candace did her best to get both her
laundry dried and a laugh from the tenant, the sounds of the muffled wind and
the rain intensified as it accompanied the ringing of a second bell from the open
entry door furthest away from the counter.
"Olla" said the tenant.
The sounds of snorting and frothy bubbles
were the only sounds short of a greeting.
"Dang, that person must be drunk,"
Candace thought as she looked away from her laundry, that was tumbling heavy
and hard in the dryer. All she wanted to do was try and get a quick peek as to who had come through the
door, but all she could see was that whoever it was wore a dark hooded cloak
that was drenched with water and appeared as if they had walked many blocks to do their
laundry. Not once did the man or woman under the cloak ever look up to make eye
contact. Candace knew that she would be called out as rude if she kept being
nosy and not wanting to get caught staring, decided to refocus her attention back to
her drying laundry.
A Heavy rustling and shuffling grew more and
more intense. The scuffing of the unseen customers boot covered feet, in the
water that was pooling on the floor from the wet cloak, sounded like children
playing in a spring puddle - wet and messy. Suddenly, and
without any warning, there was a loud - BANG - SLAM - BANG - SLAM SLAM. It was
clear that their laundry was now loaded and was confirmed by the sounds
of quarters being feed into the washing machine. For a few short moments the
room was filled only with the sounds of two washes and three dryers running,
and then once again the bell rang out and the unknown person went back out into
the storm.
Candace turned to see the tenant looking down
at her cell phone when she asked, "Hey, I thought you said no washes because
you'll be closing soon?"
The tenant quickly looked up at her with a
continued expressionless look and then slowly looked back down at her cell
phone.
Once again it was now only the tenant and
Candace and 30 minutes left to go until the dryers were done. Candace had
forgotten that the one downside to drying clothes at this particular place was
that all the benches, for customers to sit down on, were all near the washers and
only folding tables were near the dryers. Fitting, but inconveniencing at the same
time. It was getting to that point in the night where the only thing Candace wanted to
do was to be home, wrapped up in her favorite quilt, a cup of hot tea with
lemon and honey, and watch a great mystery thriller movie. "It's October, the
season for all things that go bump in the night, as long as it is experienced
from the safety of my home and the comforts of my couch." she thought and
then laughed out loud. "This is the last place I want to be, but if I have
to, then I'm sitting down."
Not wanting to be seated close to the
counter where the expressionless tenant, or ET, which was now the new title
Candace had thought up, she sat at the beach nearest the washers where the cloaked soaked mystery customer was doing their wash. As she watched the washer move around,
she recalled her days as a young child when her mother would take the family
laundry to dry on days when the weather didn't allow for it to be lined dried.
From what she could remember, her family didn't own a dryer until her freshmen
year of high school, and she'd be the first to tell you that there is nothing
better than a bed that was just made with sheet that were hung outside to dry.
She always loved to watch the washers gently
roll the clothes through the sudsy white bubbles back and forth and then flip
into a crazed almost out of control spin. As she watched the two washers run
through their cycles, she noticed that it appeared that the customer was
washing two red comforters - one in each washer.
"Wow, that person could have saved
themselves $2.50 if they had used the 35lb washer and put both of them in
together. What a waste of money." she remarked quietly to herself. "I
wish I had...."
Her thoughts were immediately interrupted by
a strange sound that was a blend of water dripping and think bubbles that were coming
one of the strangers washers. Not wanting to bring attention to herself,
she remained seated, but leaned as far forward as she could toward the washer only to
notice, that in addition to the strange noises, it also seemed to be leaking a
bubbly reddish fluid. It was certainly not any kind of laundry soap that she'd
ever seen. She decided to get up and get a closer looker.
"No! NO TOUCH!" Screamed the laundry tenant in a sharp stinging sounding voice as
she flung her out from behind the counter and headed towards Candace like a
fire storm out of control.
"No touch wash! No belong to you! Move way now!"
"What's the problem? I'm only trying to
help." Candace could feel her heart trying to repeatedly jump into her
throat while her blood was pumping a mile a minute.
"Wash not yours! The tenant continued to scream as she pushed
her away from the washer.
This time Candace had gotten an expression,
one of anguish and hate. The tenant then looked dead into her eyes while
flailing her arm out and pointed in the directions of the dryers and said in an evil tone of voice, "You go dry clothes! Then you go home! No come back!"
The same cold chill that road with her from home, found its place within
Candace once again. Her instinct was telling her something was wrong. While the logical side of her wishing she was home.
"It wasn't laundry
detergent coming from that washer." She thought. Then in one brief moment she let herself ponder the idea of what it could have
been - immediately she could feel the hair on her body standing right up
straight to accompany the chill she was now wearing as a coat. She knew what it was leaking from the washer; she knew what it was
indeed - human blood.
To be continued.
Join me tomorrow for the conclusion to today original story
"BOdY PArTs".
What will Candace discover about the cloaked mystery person? Will she call the police?
Who's been murdered?
Will she ever get her dryer fixed?
Don't miss out on an ending that is certainly one that will deliver this years Halloween shock and awe - guaranteed.
You'll be thinking....what a killer story...no pun intended.
Happy Halloween.
