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The Thing that Once was Karen by Douglas T. Araujo The thing that once had been Karen halted in front of the nightclub. She looked up, at the name written in big red neon lights above the door. ‘INFERNO’. She smiled. “Home sweet home,” she said to herself. With a resolute step, the thing moved towards the nightclub, wondering if the bouncer by the door would cause her any trouble. He would better not. “Nice costume,” the man said, and opened the door to her with a smile. “It looks real.” She went through the door, and was immediately assaulted by the smell of liquor, perfume, smoke and sweat. Electronic music hit her so hard that she could feel the reverberation on her chest. The bouncer closed the door behind her. The thing that had been Karen looked around. A crowd of demons, vampires, mummies and monsters filled the place. Some of them were chatting, some were smoking, and others were drinking by the bar. Most of them were dancing, shaking their bodies as if they were being electrocuted. The INFERNO nightclub was holding a Halloween party. She went into the crowd, looking for him. She knew he was here somewhere. She could feel him. She had been feeling him since sunset, when she had waked up. People danced and moved around her, but she didn’t see them. All she could feel now was him. So close. She was so close. Then somebody suddenly grabbed her wrist. “Look at that!” the man said, pulling her closer to him. “That’s a real nice make-up!” He took off the Friday the 13 th hockey mask he was wearing, revealing his booze-reddened cheeks underneath it. “My name is Tom. What’s yours?” The thing pulled her wrist free from his grip. “Get away!” she snarled at him. Maybe it was the tone of her voice. Or maybe something he saw on her eyes. But the fact is that the man’s cheeks suddenly paled, the blood visibly pulling way from them. His mouth dropped and his eyes sobered up. The hockey mask slipped from his hand and fell to the floor. Then he ran to the door, looking over his shoulder and knocking down a couple people on his way out. Once he was gone, Karen concentrated again. She looked around, feeling him closer. Then, all of a sudden, she saw him. He was standing in front of the bar, about twenty feet to her left, fully dressed in a devil costume, complete with tail, horns and a plastic trident. He had a beer on his right hand and was talking to a zombie girl. The thing that once was Karen walked straight to him. He noticed her when she was less than six feet away. He recognized her, and his eyes opened with surprise. The zombie girl must have noticed it, because she also looked at Karen with a mix of surprise and curiosity. “Hello, Leonard.” “Hello, Karen.” He looked at her with his bright blue eyes, and she could see he was uncomfortable. “It’s been awhile since I saw you.” “That’s true. It’s nice to see you again.” She gave him a seductive smile, and that broke the tension between them. Now that he knew she wasn’t going to make a scene, he was starting to relax again. “Where have you been? The last time I heard, you were…” He stopped, suddenly realizing he had crossed a line. “At the recovery clinic?” She completed, seeming amused. “Yes, I spent a couple months there, after I tried to kill myself over you.” “I’m sorry,” he said. “If I knew you would take it so hard…” He looked at the zombie girl, probably trying to evaluate what damage this conversation was making on his chances to go to bed with her. The girl was looking to the other side. She seemed bored and annoyed. “Never mind,” The thing that once had been Karen answered. “It’s all in the past. The present is what matters.” The same seductive smile again. He took the bait. “And so what? Tell me. What did you do after the clinic?” “I died,” she said in an amused tone. “That’s why I’m a ghoul now. Look.” She span around, like a little girl showing her new dress. “You look very nice,” he said, his eyes moving away from her breasts, but not so fast that she couldn’t notice it. “You also look very nice in this costume,” she answered, and touched his arm. She could fell the muscles under the red fabric. The zombie girl cleared her throat. Physical contact had been too much for her. “I’m sorry,” Leonard said. “Karen, this is my friend Betty.” The thing didn’t even look at the zombie girl. Instead, she kept staring at his blue eyes. “Do you wanna dance?” she asked him. He looked surprised, but not so much as the girl. Her expression changed from annoyance to incredulity and to rage in a split second. “Sure,” he said, not knowing how to say no. He threw a quick look at the girl, maybe expecting her to save him. She didn’t. By her expression, he must have concluded that his chances to go to bed with Miss Zombie that night were quickly approaching zero. The thing that once was Karen didn’t give him a chance to react. Quickly, she took the plastic trident from Leonard’s hand and handled it to the girl. “Can you hold it for us, dear?” Then she grabbed his hand and pulled him behind her to the middle of the dance floor. “Don’t worry, I will compensate you,” she said in his ear when they started dancing. Leonard looked at her with a curious expression, probably imagining what she was trying to say. He didn’t last much to discover what she meant. The thing that once was Karen made it very clear by the sensuous way she danced, and the way she brushed her body against his. Leonard understood the message. “What do you think if we go to my apartment?” He asked after a few minutes, breathing hard with excitement. “I thought you would never ask,” she said, and pulled his through the crowd towards the door. They started kissing when they entered the elevator on Leonard’s building, and his hands were all over her. When he pushed his tongue into her mouth, the thing that once had been Karen needed to make a real effort to not rip it off with her teeth. “We are almost there,” she thought. “Don’t blow it now.” They entered the apartment and Leonard closed the door with his foot while he tried to take Karen’s blouse out. Still pretending, she conducted him towards the bedroom, took off his shirt and pushed him on the bed. He fell on his back, and the bed creaked. The thing that was Karen sat on his chest and started tying his hands to the bed poles. “Oh, my God!” Leonard said, his face red with excitement. “Why did I dump you in the first place? I should be crazy…” “You did it because you could only think of other women. You never loved me.” “That’s not true…” “It is true and you know it. Can you free your hands?” He tried. “No.” She got out from his chest and stood beside the bed. The expression on her face got suddenly serious. “What is it?” He asked, still smiling. “Did I say something?” “Do you know what day is it, Leonard?” Her voice was lower now, aggressive. The smile faded from his face. “It’s Halloween,” he said. “Exactly. It’s Halloween. Do you know what happened one year ago, on last Halloween? Do you have the slightest idea?” He didn’t answer. His face showed a scared expression now. He was starting to realize there was something wrong. “I died, Leonard,” she continued in her menacing voice. “After four months on the damn clinic thinking about you all the time, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I killed myself with a shard from the bathroom mirror.” She showed him the scars on her pulses. “I killed myself because of you, your bastard! Because of what you DID TO ME! “What do you mean…” “SHUT UP!” She yelled, and her eyes turned red. Leonard’s eyes bulged in terror when he finally realized that the thing in front of him wasn’t Karen anymore. “Please…” He pleaded. “But tonight is Halloween again,” she continued, ignoring his words. “And Halloween is the only night of the year when the dead are allowed to come back, to resolve issues they may have left behind…” Leonard was crying now, desperately trying to free his tied hands. “Do you know what happens when you kill yourself, Leonard?” The thing that once was Karen took a razor from her trouser pocket. “Well, I’m going to tell you. When you kill yourself you go to HELL! That’s where I went, Leonard.” She sat on the bed beside him and slowly moved the blade in the air, one inch away from his face. “I… I’m sorry!” He pleaded again. “I didn’t know! Please, forgive me!” She rested the blade against his right cheek. Leonard stopped talking and shut his eyes. “Do you know what they do to you in hell, Leonard? Can you imagine the WAYS they TORTURE you there? Can you imagine the PAIN?” “Please…” “Well, don’t worry. You don’t need to imagine it. I can show it to you...” Slowly, the thing that once had been Karen started moving the blade again. The End Steven: Kfir: The story has a solid plot, with a good beginning and a reasonable ending. In spite of some flaws (for instance, the missing explanation for Karen's failure to rot) this story shows that Douglas Araujo has learned from the harsh critique he earned in previous rounds. Well done. Wendy:
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