{"id":6807,"date":"2012-12-21T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-12-21T12:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/?p=6807"},"modified":"2012-12-21T06:00:47","modified_gmt":"2012-12-21T12:00:47","slug":"a-delicate-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/?p=6807","title":{"rendered":"A Delicate Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

Upstairs Guest Bedroom 2037<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

\"panicroom01_620_413_80_s\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Loyal Barstow chewed his fingernails and looked around. \u201cPanic room,\u201d he said. \u201cPanic room. But I\u2019m not panicked.\u201d He patted his nonexistent pockets.<\/p>\n

His bathrobe was open and he wore a tee shirt and sweats, both stained with red and brown. He hadn\u2019t showered in several days, he wondered if there was any water. For two weeks now he\u2019d been locked in a room originally provisioned for three or four days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t get in,\u201d he said and sprung across the bed, grabbed for a plastic bag and turned it inside out. Nothing in there. Loyal flung it away and sighed. \u201cNo one can get in. And I don\u2019t want to get out.\u201d He huffed and puffed and rolled onto his back. \u201cI don\u2019t want to get out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The guest bedroom had been converted during The Scare of \u201817, not to be confused with the Panic of \u201822. No, it wouldn\u2019t do to confuse the two. The year after The Scare, there had even been a militarized assault with fourteen black-uniformed men wearing night vision goggles. Loyal\u2019s father told the story with gusto, especially the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe mowed those fuckers down with good ol\u2019-fashioned machine guns–big ones!–and that was the end of that,\u201d the old man said before downing the last of his Scotch. \u201cIn the morning it was all over the news. The blonde talking heads didn\u2019t know what to make of any of it. My lawyers issued some kind of fucked up, pansy-ass statement. I wanted to cut those bastards\u2019 heads off and put \u2018em on spikes outside the gate. The damn legal eagles told me that was too Game of Thrones<\/i>.\u201d He poured himself another drink and looked like a stuffed lion. Carson Barstow would tell them everything they didn\u2019t want to hear.<\/p>\n

Loyal hated that story. He knew it inside out. Every little detail was a stripped screw whirling continuously in the threads of a nut of sanity.<\/p>\n

The media feasted on the carnage, counting each body, noting that none of the dead men existed on paper and, with sickening glee, lingering on each shredded body and the blood soaking into the ground underneath. They labeled Carson Barstow the Straeon Sadist for his extraordinary expenditure of ammunition in defense of his home. The film of the old man pounding his bare chest in the doorway of the Manor played endlessly for months and then each year on the anniversary of the attack. They never showed his lawyer pulling him out of the door.<\/p>\n

The elder Barstow\u2019s death triggered a fresh round of interest in the incident that overshadowed every other accomplishment. His development of security nanotech and his generous philanthropy weren\u2019t sexy enough. His obituaries, except the one in Barstow\u2019s hometown newsfeed, all led with the incident and each of the hundreds of articles mentioned his nickname.<\/p>\n

Despite clear instructions in his will, the estate went into probate.. There were calls to tear the house down and turn it into a park. The government kept Loyal and his step-sister Alannah from doing anything with it. A trust was set up until everything could be worked out.<\/p>\n

Loyal\u2019s slide into madness had begun shortly after he moved in three years ago. The previous tenants had done some renovation, restoring it to what it looked like at the turn of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

Loyal threw himself into learning the history of the house. The three libraries were of little help until he discovered The House Bible. He read it cover to cover in a single day, eschewing food and drink until he finished. That night he tore through the refrigerator looking for \u201csomething edible\u201d, finally settling on ice cubes and a stale baguette. When Hitchens, Loyal\u2019s personal assistant, saw the mess the next morning he quit on the spot. Loyal watched him leave. \u201cYou could bring some bread with you when you come back,\u201d he said. He told the people his step-sister sent to check on him what he saw and heard. He was sure they reported back to her everything he said and did, including his dependence on Barstow Corp. pharmaceuticals that \u2018helped\u2019 him not see everything he saw. Loyal cursed Hitchens for never coming back with the bread, too.<\/p>\n

The thing that sent him to the panic room staggered his imagination. Something reached out and touched him with an intensity he\u2019d only read in books. Not just physically, but psychically, too. Something awful, unhuman, terrifying made contact by worming into his fevered imagination. It scared Loyal so much that he felt he had no choice but to inject himself with bionanos that would keep him safe from any outside intrusion. Of course he overdid it.<\/p>\n

He could hear everything that the house did.<\/p>\n

And thought.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alannah Barstow-Collins heard a duck through an open window in the upstairs hallway. She craned her head for a moment to see if she could see it in the sky above Straeon Manor then shrugged, closed the window and resumed her trek toward her step-brother\u2019s room. Her phone rang. \u201cHi, Heather,\u201d Alannah said. \u201cNo, it\u2019s no bother. What\u2019s up?\u201d<\/p>\n

A client needed reassurance of his investments in Barstow. Alannah walked Heather through where to find the data and statistics the client required. At the end of the conversation Alannah said, \u201cReally, it\u2019s no bother. I\u2019m just visiting my brother. I\u2019ll be back in the office on Monday. Make nice with Mr. Sakamoto, okay? What? Oh, the family home. Straeon.\u201d<\/p>\n

A screech that might have been Heather and might have been electronic stabbed out of the ear piece and straight into Alannah\u2019s central nervous system. She dropped her phone and rubbed the sore ear with a kid-gloved hand. \u201cOw,\u201d Alannah said, \u201cwhat the fuck?\u201d She picked up the phone but the connection was lost. This just soured her mood even further. Straeon Manor was the last place Alannah wanted to be, and Loyal the last person she wanted to see.<\/p>\n

Mother always put on her best pearls and a new blue dress when The Man was coming. And when Emma Polly came over to babysit, they stayed in Alannah\u2019s room until Mother and The Man were gone for the evening. Sometimes Emma Polly would be in the kitchen cooking breakfast when Alannah woke and sometimes not. Mother never cooked breakfast. She always went out for croissant or bagels. Sometimes she had a red mark on her neck or just above the swell of her breast. \u201cA bug bite,\u201d she told Alannah who never quite believed it. She met The Man two weeks before the wedding.<\/p>\n

The marriage seemed to bring out the best in Mother, like she was good for Carson and he for her. Carson treated Alannah as if she were his own. Never any problems with the old man. Loyal, though, was was another story. They never quite got along and kept separate lives as often as possible. When they were in the same room, fireworks exploded.<\/p>\n

Fistfights were part of it. Cruel pranks another. Harsh words the majority of her upbringing with Loyal.<\/p>\n

Until the summer after her eighteenth birthday. Something changed in Loyal that year as Alannah went away to college. They talked over VoIP services and when she came home for visits her freshman year he was cordial and even flirty. One night while their parents were out, they got drunk and fooled around. She was lonely and he was seventeen and a boy. They weren\u2019t blood and she didn\u2019t like to think about the rest. She\u2019d known immediately it was wrong.<\/p>\n

Alannah took a deep breath, loosened her shoulders and knocked on the door to Loyal\u2019s room. Three years wasn\u2019t long enough to stay away. \u201cHey,\u201d she said, \u201cit\u2019s me. Can I come in?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can get in,\u201d Loyal said. He raised his voice so she could hear him through the six-inch concrete walls. \u201cIt\u2019s a panic room for a reason.\u201d He shook his head, looked at the monitor that showed her out there and then thumbed the intercom. \u201cYou can\u2019t get in, Alannah,\u201d he said. It\u2019s a panic room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBullshit,\u201d Alannah said. \u201cI\u2019m coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n

He turned and there she was in the room with him, her right hand out about waist height, her coat swinging from having walked in. \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter with you, Loyal? This place is a pigsty. It smells awful!\u201d She waved her hand in front of her face. \u201cAugh, have you been shitting in here? What the hell\u2019s the matter with you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Loyal freaked out. He skittered backwards into the far wall and spread his arms out wide. \u201cHow the fuck did you get in? HOW?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked through the damn door, Loyal.\u201d She wrinkled her nose and squinted. \u201cThis is terrible. You have an en suite<\/i> toilet back there, why didn\u2019t you use that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a panic room,\u201d he said, frantic, his peace of mind slipping. \u201cThe water\u2019s run out.\u201d He darted his eyes to the bed. There on the coverlet, squirming as it tried to reach its toes, was a baby; happy and gurgling. It smiled at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen did you get pregnant? When did you have a child?\u201d Beyond frantic now, Loyal tried to claw his way through the wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you talking about? I\u2019m not pregnant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe baby,\u201d Loyal said, pointing a shaky finger at the rumpled covers. \u201cThere\u2019s a baby on the goddamned bed!\u201d<\/p>\n

Alannah looked at the wall and he followed her gaze. The sheetrock bulged slightly, about twelve inches wide and maybe thirty-six inches long, a straight line that traveled the length of the wall. She took a step back. \u201cWhat the —\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crying.\u201d Loyal, beside himself, shook uncontrollably. \u201cIt\u2019s hurt, or sick, or something,\u201d he said and bit his knuckle. \u201cThis is too much. Too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now that she\u2019d seen something like what she\u2019d heard about from other visitors, Alannah turned her attention back to her step-brother. \u201cLoyal,\u201d she said with a dim hope that she sounded conciliatory, \u201cI think maybe you should come with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the baby — he\u2019s so young! He can\u2019t be more than six months old,\u201d Loyal said. His wild eyes found Alannah\u2019s placid face and he almost relaxed. \u201cYou can\u2019t see the baby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alannah shook her head.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you saw something else,\u201d Loyal said. \u201cYou did, I know it. In the wall. The voices, they say they know you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat voices?\u201d Alannah took a step toward him, anxious. The smell was overwhelming and she held down the urge to retch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can hear them,\u201d Loyal said nodding, \u201cthey\u2019re evil, something awful, inhuman. The language is like nothing I\u2019ve ever heard. Like nothing.\u201d He trailed off.<\/p>\n

Disbelief flooded over Alannah. \u201cThis is too much, Loyal. It\u2019s Christmas and I\u2019ve come to take you —\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Loyal said. \u201cNo, no, no. It\u2019s not Christmas. It can\u2019t be.\u201d He ducked his head and put his knuckle in his mouth again. \u201cLast week was St. Patrick\u2019s Day. It\u2019s spring!\u201d He wheeled on her. \u201cIt\u2019s spring.\u201d He was so sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at what I\u2019m wearing, Loyal,\u201d Alannah said. \u201cCoat, scarf, hat and gloves. It\u2019s winter. It\u2019s snowing outside.\u201d She held her arms out wide. \u201cCome out into the hall, I\u2019ll show you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her step-brother rushed into her arms and buried his face in her chest, snaked his hands under her coat and wrapped her up, pulled her close to him. \u201cI need you,\u201d he said, drooling on her blouse. \u201cI need you more than anything. I\u2019m going crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alannah didn\u2019t hug him back. Instead she put her hands on his shoulders and pushed. \u201cThat\u2019s not going to happen, Loyal,\u201d she said. \u201cNo way. Never.\u201d<\/p>\n

He held tighter. \u201cI love you, Lannah, I love you love you love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shoved as hard as she could and he landed on the bed. Loyal screamed. \u201cOh my god! The baby!\u201d He rolled to his left and saw something that made him shriek. \u201cNO!\u201d<\/p>\n

If he saw the same thing she did, his reaction was half what it should have been.<\/p>\n

Two hands reached up from under the bed, the fingers bending at the knuckles and coming down. Loyal thrashed, trying to worm away from the grasping, impossible hands. They came together over him and pulled down.<\/p>\n

Loyal screamed.<\/p>\n

Alannah stumbled backward into the door and it banged on the wall.<\/p>\n

That disturbed whatever was in the wall and it bulged again the way it had before, running around the room faster this time and more than just once. When it ran behind the door it pushed Alannah back into the room and she cried out. She stumbled and caught her balance.<\/p>\n

Loyal\u2019s ribs cracked as the hands clasped one another tightly and pulled him through the bed. The floorboards fragmented as his body was dragged down through them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The voices laughed at him. Mostly women, now, and none of them anyone he knew. The baby\u2019s cries haunted him and he felt something kicking at his spleen, but from inside. From far away he heard Alannah calling his name and shouting incoherently. Needles aimed their points at him.<\/p>\n

Loyal heard his father telling the story that had made him infamous. He heard the old man\u2019s cries as he pounded his chest. Something punched his heart.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alannah fell out of the bedroom and rolled across the hall, landing hard against the wall. She caught her breath and pushed herself up. When she looked into the room again, Loyal lay on the bed, arms and legs akimbo. Slow getting to her feet, breathing hard, Alannah peeked further in. The room wasn\u2019t anything like she\u2019d seen upon entering: it was still neat and clean except for the rumpled bedclothes. And of course Loyal\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

A tentative hand on the door jamb sent a jolt up Alannah\u2019s arm but she didn\u2019t let go. A deep breath to steel herself against what she might find and she stepped into the room.<\/p>\n

And it was filthy, smelly and Loyal\u2019s body was gone. The bed, broken in half, sat on either side of a deep hole in the floor. The bulge ran back and forth on the far wall. Alannah started to hyperventilate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s okay,\u201d a woman\u2019s voice said. \u201cEverything is okay now. This isn\u2019t a panic room any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alannah looked around for the owner of the voice but found no one. \u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all you need to know,\u201d the woman said all around Alannah. She felt warm and comforted now. \u201cClose the door when you leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s happened to Loyal?\u201d<\/p>\n

Love flooded through Alannah and she didn\u2019t ask any more questions. She knew her step-brother was gone and that was that. Wherever he was, it was where he should be.<\/p>\n

The door latched and she put her hand on one of the panels. She felt a throb in the wood and when she withdrew her hand, the door had disappeared. There was only a wall adorned with pictures of cherry trees in full bloom.<\/p>\n

Maybe it was spring where Loyal was.<\/p>\n

Here it would be a different kind of Christmas. Unsure if that was what she wanted, Alannah felt as though she\u2019d been given the gift of having the weight of the world on her shoulders being lifted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Upstairs Guest Bedroom 2037 \u00a0 Loyal Barstow chewed his fingernails and looked around. \u201cPanic room,\u201d he said. \u201cPanic room. But I\u2019m not panicked.\u201d He patted his nonexistent pockets. His bathrobe was open and he wore a tee shirt and sweats, both stained with red and brown. He hadn\u2019t showered in several days, he wondered if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28,706,769,803,1076,1167],"class_list":["post-6807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-28","tag-monsters-in-the-walls","tag-nursery-rhymes","tag-panic-room","tag-straeon-manor","tag-time-shift"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}