Doors (Book 1 of the Longwood Series)

It had been two weeks since she went to church. Gwynn dropped in often as did Maureen. Sheila made other friends from the neighborhood, but Gwynn and Maureen were her favorites. She could tell them anything and, often, they had the same answer.

One particular day, on a Friday, she was starting to iron her clothes. As usual, she turned on her soaps, wondering if Linda would finally reveal her feelings to Brad or if she would turn away out of fear that he didn’t like her because he was always flirting with her best friend. Sheila wanted to know what would happen.

She watched As the World turns, engrossed in the life of Linda and Brad. She ironed shirt after shirt without even being aware of what she was doing. She’d been doing this for a long time and her hands moved nimbly without even being watched. After this soap came One Life to Live and about 3 others as it was early afternoon. She would watch them all until 4 when she would have to start making dinner.

As the World Turns ended and she was still intrigued by what would happen with Linda and Brad. It was aggravating to be kept in suspense like that. She couldn’t wait until tomorrow to find out what happened.

She put away the folded clothes that she ironed and put the ironing board away. For once she was ahead of schedule. It was about 1 and the kids would be home by 2. She had an hour to do whatever she felt like doing, which was watch the next soap without doing anything.

When an infinity commercial came on, she decided to get a snack and take the ground beef out of the refrigerator and run it under hot water. She took it out of the freezer last night, but she knew it was partially frozen. It wouldn’t take long, about a half hour to completely thaw. Then she’d grab the bag of cheese Doritos and a Diet Coke. Brad always teased her about eating snacks and candy but drinking a Diet soda.

As she was got up to go to the kitchen, suddenly Sheila felt a chill. There was something here, a dark and heavy presence and she felt it breathing its cold, foul breath on her neck. She shivered. She didn’t know where the draft came from, it was July and hot outside. While she had the air condition on, it was set at 75 degrees. This was colder, more like in the sixties.

Sheila heard heavy breathing, like a beast that was hungry and about to attack. She whirled around and saw only the entrance to the dining room.

“The Infinity, the car for you!” the man on TV said extremely loud now. Sheila whirled back around and almost screamed.

The announcer’s eyes were red and glowing. Fangs grew out of his mouth and blood dripped from his fangs, running over his lips and stained his whole front shirt. In his arms, bowed back was the model, dead but with a macabre smile on her face, as if dying to feed him was such a pleasure. Her intestines were half ripped out of her body and blood pooled to the opening. The announcer took a bite of the innards, chewing and slurping the intestines in as if it was a huge spaghetti strand. He chewed and smacked his lips that made the intestines sound good, like it was the most delicious meal he ever had. She was becoming hungry and the horror of it all finally made her scream and close her eyes. She shook her head viciously.

“No, this can’t be happening, NO!” she screamed. She opened her eyes and the salesman was back to normal. The model was showing the car, a broad smile on her face.

“What the hell was that?!?” she asked herself and sank down onto the couch. What just happened? Why was she hallucinating? Did she have a brain tumor? It was the only thing she could think of.

She looked at the clock and was amazed that an hour flew by. She didn’t get to see her soap like she wanted, she had sat for an hour in a stupor, pondering what she saw. She had to be outside and wait for the bus to come to her house and drop off her kids. She was now running late. First, she had to take the meat out of the refrigerator and put it under hot running water. She ran to the kitchen and stifled the scream that came to her lips. All of the cabinet doors were open, and the food was shifted around. Nothing was broken but it wasn’t her orderly organization either. Peas were mixed with corn, the sauces for pasta were with the salad dressing. It was as if someone who knew she was anal about organizing purposely creating chaos just to torment her.

She slammed all the cabinet doors shut. She’d reorganize later, she was too spooked right now. She took the ground beef and put it face up in the sink and ran the hot water. She was shaking violently so it took longer than it should of.

Sheila wobbled to the kitchen table and sat down. She never felt so scared before in her life and she broke into gut wrenching sobs. “Please, no more. Please!” she screeched and sank down to the floor.

No! She couldn’t afford to fall apart now. The kids were almost home. She just hoped the poltergeist wouldn’t visit when the kids were there. Poltergeist? Was she now thinking the house was haunted? No, what was more likely was that she got up and rearranged everything and then sat down again. That was more believable than some stupid spirit doing this. No, she wouldn’t shunt this off to the spiritual world. She was sick, she must have a tumor and it caused hallucinations and fugues. She was also scared. What if she became dangerous?

She calmed herself down, now understanding that she was the culprit. There was no flesh-eating salesman on TV, chomping with gusto on the model in his arms. There was no ghost moving her crap around, it was her. Her family was prone to cancer and tumors.

She got the lasagna noodles ready to boil for when she was done with the ground beef. She took the garlic out. She was about to start sauteing the ground beef when the phone rang. She jumped.

“Hi honey, I just wanted to let you know I’m working late tonight so don’t wait for me, eat with the kids, okay?” Brad asked.

“Thanks for calling babe. I’ll save you some food. How late will you be?” Sheila asked. She was about to remove the ground beef when she noticed that water was no longer pouring from the faucet, blood was pouring out and congealing around the packaged meat.

She gasped and closed her eyes, shook her head, and opened them. Warm water was pouring out.

“Are you okay? I thought I heard you gasp,” Brad said, feeling afraid. Even through the phone line, he could feel her fear.

“I’m fine. When, exactly, are you coming home?” Sheila asked, tensed.

“At eight but if you need me, I’ll tell them I have an emergency at home,” Brad said. “I’m only doing the paperwork all pilots have to do before they leave. I can fill them out in the morning.”

Sheila closed her eyes. She couldn’t do that to him. This was his dream job and he was new. If he had to leave in his second week because of her neurosis, he may get fired.

“No, don’t come home but we do need to talk. It can wait until you’re home,” Sheila said.

“Okay honey but call if you need me. I love you,” Brad said.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I love you too.”

They hung up and she raced outside just as the bus came to a stop. She wished she could believe in a God to ask Him to protect her children, but she just didn’t believe.