Dig Your Own Hole (5/9) By Joe Hakim

(1/9), (2/9), (3/9), (4/9), (5/9), (6/9), (7/9), (8/9), (9/9).

I slowly made my way around the flat, brandishing the vase like it was a sword or something. I checked all the windows, but they were locked. After that I checked all the places where a person could hide - cupboards, the shower, places like that - but there was nothing to suggest that someone had broken in. As I passed the coffee table, I noticed that Jenny's vanity mirror and a rolled-up twenty was on it. Seething, I went back to the front door. "You're ok, it's safe," I said. "There's no one in here." "Are you sure?" she asked. "Of course I'm fuckin' sure," I barked. I couldn't help myself, the initial feelings of fear and concern had been replaced with anger and a vague sense of embarrassment.

As Jenny made her way back in, I stood behind her, waving the vase above her head, imagining what it would feel like to hit her with it. I placed it back on the little table and then went over to the sofa and collapsed into it. I was tired, pissed, and pissed off. "What exactly did you see?" I asked. Jenny sat down and picked up her sacred bag and began scooping coke out of it and placing it on the mirror. "I don't know... I saw something moving in the corner of the room. It was like this big black shape. At first I thought it was a dog or something that had somehow managed to get in," she said, as she chopped a line out with her card.

"But then I noticed that it didn't have any legs or a head or anything...and then it started coming towards me. It was pulsating; it seemed to be growing bigger as it came towards me." As she said this she shivered and put her arms around herself. I sat there for a second, and then I just snapped. "Do you want to know what I think?" I shouted. "I think you're snorting too much of this shit and it's turning your brain to mush.' I grabbed the bag off the table and ran to the toilet. Jenny stood up and followed. "Please Mike, don't," she cried. I split the bag open and started pouring the cocaine down the toilet. She tried to grab my arms but I pushed her away and she fell to floor.

"Mike stop," she begged. "Why?" I said. "You can always go and fuck someone and get some more, what's the problem?" Jenny began to wail loudly as I flushed the toilet. I looked over at her, a trembling sobbing mess, and then I went over and put my arms around her. "I'm sorry, baby," I said. "There's something in here, I'm not lying," she said. "I'm so scared." "I'll protect you, don't worry," I said as I kissed her and stroked her hair. And that was when I noticed the white streak that had appeared in the middle of her head.

I felt like absolute shit. Jenny had been waking up in the night and screaming, fighting off invisible attackers. She would suddenly sit up and scream and I would jerk awake ready to kill someone. This had been going on for over a week and I had been arriving to work late, half-asleep and unable to comprehend what was happening to my girlfriend. It was on one of these mornings that Geoff decided to come and have a word with me. I was sat in the office with my head on the desk, battling to keep my eyes open so I could finish a report. There was a knock at the door. "Come on in," I shouted through gritted teeth.

Continued...Next Page (6/9)

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