The Terror #wattys2017 #TNTHorrorContest

The Next Morning

   I got off the phone with Danny last night with a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. This "Jimmy" character sounded a bit frightening yet I was also tantalized to undergo whatever experience was coming my way. I've never been one to shirk away from doing the right thing because I had some scary feelings about it. This has become a long strange trip and my curiosity has overcome any fear I might have about consequences. Then there is always Dale's ghostly appearances that have become a little more than a nuisance at this point. 

   I was pretty distraught over poor Michelle. She certainly didn't sign up for any of this shit, she's just a nice girl who'd been plagued with a bunch of intolerable bullshit with none of it any of her doing. The biggest thing she's guilty of is being there and giving a damn about her friends. I felt terrible that I had neglected Heather in her greatest hour of need but things took such a weird and convoluted turn that it needed our full attention.

   I barely put the phone back on the hook when I heard Mom's voice right behind me,

"So...?"

   "So noth'n Mom, so buttons on your dress."

   "Don't start thinking you're too big for your dear old mother to keep track of what you're up too. I might have been born at night but"

   "But it wasn't last night." I interrupted, I can't even count how many times I heard her say that.

   "Don't get smart with me buddy boy! You're not too big for me to knock you out you know." This was another one of her famous sayings. Every once in a while she would back it up by poking me in the shoulder with her bony knuckles but not this time. 

   "This is where you tell me about the little bird that tells you what I've been up to, right?"

   "That and you've been talking in your sleep, oh the things I could tell you that you don't think I know. So what was so all fired important for this "Danny" to call in the middle of the night?"

   I had to think fast, I wasn't really sure how much she actually knew. She had an uncanny habit of figuring things out. Some times I thought she was psychic or something.

   "He just wanted to know if I had seen Heather lately." I lied' but sometimes a half truth will sound convincing enough to get her off my case.

   "Well that's not what he told me, he said he had some "important information" to tell you about Miss Heather." She waggled her fingers making the quotation signs. She crossed her arms and stood her ground looking at me with that, "You're not getting off that easy" look in her eye.

   "Give." was all she said.

   I paused just long enough for her to know she had me. Like an idiot, I stood there with my bare face hanging out trying to figure how much I had to say to satisfy her concerns.  

  "OK, here's the truth," I said as solemnly as I could muster. "I didn't even know he told you that because I think he was just trying to find a way to get you to put me on the phone. Actually, we are planning a really big heroin deal and he wanted to make sure I knew what time to meet the connection."

  "Uh huh, and I suppose Mr. Danny brought you on board for all your big money to fund this activity?"

   "That's right, you don't know everything you know."

   "I heard you say you're going to go see Heather tomorrow and Michelle is picking you up in the morning."

    I acted incredulously, "You were eavesdropping on me?"