Friday 21 March 2008

Dizzy

"Aghhhhhhhhhhhh! I've had it! I'm Done for!"

"Aghhhhhhhhhhhh! No, I'm not one of them!"


"The Horror!"


Scottie woke up and hurridly looked around him. In his half-sleepy state he looked to see if she was there. He felt a wave of panic run over him. There she was! The Lady in Grey. She was coming nearer...


He should run, but he was paralysed with fear...


"You were having another nightmare, Mr Fergusson", said the nurse, taking a thermometer from the pocket of her grey uniform. "It's okay now."

Later that day he was taken to his weekly meeting with the Institute's physciatrist.

"The dream started the same as always, but this time it ended. I managed to get away, though I couldn't believe it."

"Suppose you tell me about it."

I was in the city art gallery. I love it there. Well, I did, until... Anyway, that's when I saw her. Dressed in grey sitting in front of an old portrait. She was staring at it. Her hands were frantically busy - I saw she was making something out of bits of office stationary that she must have had in her handbag.

I thought she was just a bit dotty, but then I realised the startling resemblence.

The wierd figure that she was crafting looked just like me!

But she had her back to me! How could she know? I tried to get her attention, but she kept staring ahead and crafting. Then I realised the other startling resemblence.

The woman in the old portrait looked just like the woman in grey!

I left the gallery - I no longer felt like looking, and went walking. I didn't know where, just around the city. Eventually I came to the graveyard. This seemed to suit my mood, and I walked around. Then I saw her. Her!

She was staring again. This time at an old gravestone. I walked up to her. She didn't seem to notice me. The inscription on the grave said "Carlotta Knee", and there were some dates. Some time in the 19th century. Suddenly, she turned round.

She looked straight through me and walked away. I stood there wondering, and then I noticed that she'd dropped something. It was the wierd figure that looked like me. And she'd crushed it beneath her feet...

After that, things are a bit of a blur. Days passed. Everywhere I went, there She was. In that same grey suit (or maybe she had a whole wardrobe full of them). I went for a meal at my favourite restaurant. She walked past, and I almost died. "John Ferguson, died suddenly at Park N Pizza choking on an olive." That would have been embarrassing (I don't even like olives particularly), but fortunately the waiter was an expert at that Heimlich thing.

Anyway, I decided that next time I'd confront her. But Fate had other plans. I was walking by the river when I saw someone in trouble. I jumped in and pulled out the drowning person. It was the Lady in Grey. I took her back, practically unconscious, to my apartment.

She slept for hours. When she woke up she started to thank me for saving her life. Then she stopped.

"Dang, It's you! The horror! You should have left me to drown, not bring me back so you could torture me more!"

"But..."

"You keep following me. Everywhere I go. I know what you are. I know that I've only got a 33% chance of surviving an attack from zombies like you."

"But..."

"AND BAD LUCK, YOU'RE THE 33%!", She shouted lunging towards me.

She had reckoned without my arachnophobia, which has meant that I have excellent reflexes when it comes to running away screaming. But she kept following me.

I ran. And ran. But I couldn't get any distance between us. Maybe she's got a phobia too. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, and ended up at the old Mission. It's practically deserted, just the odd nun around from time to time to tend to the grounds. I headed for the imposing bell tower.

I don't know why. It was probably the old survival instinct of getting to higher ground, but I found myself pelting up the stairs.

Then I realised she was no longer there. From the top of the tower, I saw her running away.

Which was crazy, because she could have got me, especially as I've no head for heights."

"Hmmmm", murmered the shrink, "This is a good sign. The dream is finished, and maybe you can get back to reality. Then eventually we can let you out of here."

"No!", said Scottie,"If it's all the same to you, I'll stay here. This is the one place I feel safe."

"Well, I didn't say we'd let you go straight away. Now that's it for today. I have to see the new patient now - the vertigo sufferer. We'll talk next week."

Scottie left the office feeling a lot better. So it was all in his mind after all! He nodded aknowlegment to the patient sitting in the waiting room, then suddenly froze. It was Her...

32 comments:

Jean Knee said...

Brian I think you could have a very lucrative career in short fiction. It all sounds vaguely familiar. was she wearing a hat?

was she yelling for Penny to get back in the fence now!!


it could be a zombie like episode, I'll have to investigate further

http://www.cracked.com/article_15643_p5.html

Jean Knee said...

oh yes, F I R S T

Jean Knee said...

You want to know what the scariest thing in the world is? Riding in one of those log things--no straps or buckles to hold you in and it creeps to the top of the steel hill painfully slowly and you just know you're gonna fall out even though you wouuldn't dare move for fear of falling out

and then a spider lands on you-what you gonna do then?? If you swat it you might fall out. If you don't swat it you'll feel it's hairy legs crawling on you.

the top part happened to me and I survived

Brian o vretanos said...

Jean Knee:

She was wearing a hat. I'm not sure about the dog or the fence, though.

The worst part of the log thing is getting soaked.

Anonymous said...

Brian, I'm in the middle of a muddle so I'll come back later but I just wanted to say you CRACKED ME UP when youput the image of a GIANT screaming and running like a 7 year old girl.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I'll. Be. BaHck!

Bee said...

Okay, if you each scare each other, that's 2 negatives which becomes a possitive.

OR YOU CANCEL EACH OTHER OUT!

Bee said...

I, of course, meant 'THEY ARE'. I wasn't trying to imply it was either of you...

Brian o vretanos said...

Bee:

It doesn't work like that. Two lots of scaring is twice as scary...

Jean Knee said...

I don't know why you two have to bring math into it-now that's scary

Dan said...

was she wearing a bathing suit? and sun glasses with a Peter Pan hair cut?

Brian o vretanos said...

Jean Knee:

Bee started it.

Dan:

I'm not sure whether she was wearing that or a smart grey suit. The 19th century portrait had a woman in a Victorian dress, but with a straw hat and shades...

Jean Knee said...

you were 11th on your own blog.


did they have shades in the 1800's?
cuz it could be one of those time traveling ghost hauntings where you're being warned against some kind of future danger.

watch out Brian

Brian o vretanos said...

Jean Knee:

According to wiki, the Chinese invented them in the 12th Century, and in the 19th Century they were worn by people with syphillis.

Don't worry, everyone's got an embarrassing ancestor somewhere in their family...

Brian o vretanos said...

Have you seen "Bram Stoker's Dracula"? Gary Oldman walks through late 19th/Early 20th Century London with blue shades...

Tracy Rambles On And On said...

Ooh, I love Gary Oldmans in Bramstokers Dracula. I love the whole movie really.
You're a very talented writer Brian. You should write a book of short stories. And then give me an autographed copy.

Brian o vretanos said...

Tracy:

I've watched that film quite a few times - I think it's great. Apart from the dreadful "English" accents.

Thankyoufor the vote of confidence. It's easy to write things when you steal the plot from somewhere else (Vertigo in this case)...

Jean Knee said...

okay so the presense of shades roles out those time traveling ghost hauntings where you're being warned against some kind of future danger


have we considered alien abduction?

no that seems totally wrong



the dude must be a lunatic

Jean Knee said...

I meant rules out

Brian o vretanos said...

Jean Knee:

It doesn't rule it out, it just means that the shades aren't proof of that. If people had time travel, though, they wouldn't want to go back into the past to warn something about something, because it might have a bad effect on their present.

Jean Knee said...

she might be warning him to keep himself in shape due to a zombie invasion in the future--like terminater


or he's loony

Bee said...

Loon. Ey. Loooooon---eeeey!

Bee said...

That's the best I could do... I'm sleepy.

Brian o vretanos said...

Jean Knee:

I don't think she was trying to warn him - I think she was on a wild zombie-killing rampage.

Jean Knee said...

oh so she was trying to eat his brains? if that's the case it was definitely a zombie type episode.


mmmm, brains

Brian o vretanos said...

Jean Knee:

Are you suggesting that she was a zombie? It's possible. I think she was just a disturbed individual who couldn't cope with the knowledge that the odds would be against her in the event of a zombie invasion, and so assumed that Scottie was one.

Do zombies eat brains?

Jean Knee said...

oh yes, they love brains. love them


today I ran after a kite than Lean dropped in the park. Drew said I run like a mechanical duck that barely moves it's arms.
and now I'm even more afraid of an invasion.

Brian o vretanos said...

That's one problem that zombies have - they dont' run very fast. To make up for it, they're difficult to stop.

I don't think you're turning into one, though - surely you'd know if you'd been bitten?

Bee said...

jean knee, it could be worse, you could run like the robot from "Lost in Space". That's how I run.

Jean Knee said...

the new zombies infected with the rage virus are fast. fast- also they have zombie frogs and zombie slug pals that are equally faast

Jean Knee said...

Hoew would I know if a zombie bit me for sure? I wake up with bite marks on me almost daily.





I'm almost 103.7% sure I run weirder than Bee.

Brian o vretanos said...

Well, now you've produced statistics to back up your claim - you must be right. This is worrying!

Though I don't think zombies eat cadburies mini eggs, so maybe the zombification isn't at a very advanced stage yet.

Bee said...

Now I really want some CEs! Dang it! The Easter bunny didn't stop at my house this year... probably that traitorous Santa Claus! I think he ratted me out and told the rabbit I was a tad bad last year.