He had checked into a run down little motel at noon, needing a place to catch his breath as he had been on the run the past 24 hours. The death of his wife had been an accident, he had nothing to do with it he swore that it was the truth. But he was never one to face his detractors, he had been declared guilty in his absence.The place was on the outskirts, calm and quiet, the place didn't even seem to have any guests other than him at the moment but the manager didn't ask for anything but the rent.
He had been nursing his soul with whiskey all afternoon, cursing the world for its unfairness and wallowing in self pity. As the evening began rolling in, there was a peculiar sound from beyond one of the walls of his room. "rats eh? big surprise." he told himself to create an illusion of company in his empty room. Moments later a louder noise, almost a whimper came from the wall, too loud too... articulate to be a rat. But his curiosity was peaked, "at last, a distraction", he thought to himself and stood up to make for the door. "probably a maid", he said to himself and stepped outside in order to take a look in the window, and stretch his legs.The air outside was still warm and muggy from the day and he wished for rain, "to wash it all away" he muttered to himself and walked out towards the parking lot. Turning around to see the neighbouring room's window, he was surprised to see it completely dark. "weird", he said out loud without thinking, his logical faculties numbed by his self medication. He walked back to the building to take a closer look through the window, but could not see anything for the curtains. A feeble noise of distress came from inside, and out of some strange mixed sense of justice and curiosity he decided to try the door to see if someone needed help.
The door was unlocked, and swung open with a small creak, the room was unlit, the curtains were closed, flicking the switches made no difference. It would do, the sun was setting but still provided adequate lighting to see clearly after the eyes adjusted. A woman lay still on the bed, foul smell permeated the air, the kind of smell that sticks to the back of the throat and makes you dry heave. A smell of something wrong, of death and decay. As he walked closer to the bed the smell seemed to become thicker, almost gagging.
As he grabbed her limp arm to stir her awake, all he got was a handful of skin that slid off her arm. Death has a peculiar touch on the bodies of warm blooded mammals, the layers of skin usually separate and slip apart in sheets. A curious fact he was suddenly reminded of, in the seconds before the situation sunk in. Horrified he stared at the crumbling swathes of dry, translucent skin he was clutching in his fist, the shock not allowing him to loosen his grip. "fuggin'ell!" He managed to hiss between his teeth and threw it on the floor, scattering bits of skin in front of him, staggering backwards.
Pulling the sheets off her face revealed a grotesquely distorted visage, mouth gaping wide, seemingly screaming from pain beyond human comprehension, lips rolled back with teeth bared. The tip of a black, swollen tongue protruded from the centre of the mouth. Clogging the bottom of her throat, as if a plug to keep the wails from escaping this tormented coffin of rotting flesh and bone. The pale, blemished corpse lay draped over the bed. Flies buzzed in and out of the orifices of the cadaver, for a second it seemed as if she... no, her skin, was moving, rippling and bulging, but that could've been the heady air in the room, depriving your brain of oxygen and distorting your vision.
The room suddenly dipped and swayed, he regained his footing but his field of vision was now notably narrower. "gas!" he exclaimed to himself, "stupid!". He started a lunge towards the door which was almost closed, but the floor suddenly tipped up and without mercy mashed his face with considerable force, knocking him out cold.
...
A slimy slobbery kiss from a dog, that had crept into the house through the cracked door, awoke him. He crawled, coughing and gagging to the door to get fresh air. Sitting down on the steps of the porch he shook himself and lit a cigarette to clear the taste of bile from his mouth. The sun had set completely, still glowing deep orange beyond the horizon.He wasn't done yet, the source of the noise was not yet ascertained, it'd be terrible if he walked away now only to find out later there was someone alive in there. Returning to the bedside, taking another look at the face, and the gaping mouth. Something very sudden, barely noticeable was happening. The swollen black tongue shook ever so slightly, almost vibrated as if from stifling a scream. A cold chill ran through his back, "she, couldn't have..." Leaning closer to see her eyes, flat, dried and staring dead out fully open as in a state of utter surprise, or horror.
The dog leapt onto the bed and pawed at the lifeless body, the skin on her thigh suddenly snapping, caving in and out burst a massive hive of white little maggots and flies. Her stomach caved in like a deflated balloon, and the dog whimpered and ran away. His feet frozen and breath halted he could not but stare at the cavalcade of macabre fireworks go off one after another in front of him. The blackened tongue suddenly cracked and burst open, black flies buzzing out in numbers that would put any clown-car to shame. The room had come alive, the bed was a white sea of maggots, rippling and heaving. and the air was blackened with flies, humming.
Finally snapping out of the trance this orchestra of death had put him in, he calmly but swiftly surveyed the room around him and seeing nothing, walked to the door and out on the porch. "It was just the fucking dog" he said out loud as if to convince himself that there was no need to return in there, closed the door and walked back to his room next door.
He made it straight to his bag and pulled out his bottle of single malt and took swig straight from it to calm himself. Sat down, laid down and stretched out on the bed. Staring straight up, beyond the ceiling, somewhere far away from here, far away from what lay next door, finally closing his eyes after a few deep breaths. He startled from a loud thump from the wall from beyond which he had just returned...
