Housed and Fed

Another horror short, please enjoy!

“Look, the doctor told me to come to you.” The psychiatrist looked over her red rimmed glasses into the man’s eyes. “Yes Mr. Cortez, I understand that. The thing is the symptoms you are describing seem to be brought on by something outside of my ability. Nothing in your medical history, examinations, or family talks show signs of schizophrenia. The hallucinations are caused by what I believe to be an animal bite. It would be rabies.” The man raised both his hands and grabbed the back of his head in frustration as he rocked in his chair. “The doctor has given me the shot, has taken my spinal fluid, and run every test in the book. He says it’s all mental. I’m tired of spending money not understanding what is going on. Does anyone help?” Lizabeth bit on the end of her pen. He seems to be completely neurologically sound. The test results were fine. He has no issues in society. He only complains of restless nights and hallucinations. “Sorry I have to ask this again but explain it one more time. What happens to you when you go to sleep?” Cortez seemed to relax with Lizabeth’s tone. Maybe he understands I do want to solve this mystery? Lizabeth watched his hands as he rubbed them together in thought. “It’s when I’m going to sleep. It’s not every night, maybe once a month. I wake in pain. I have these deep spasms. Then I black out. I have these dark hallucinations of my house, and the neighbors house, and the night air.” Cortez stuttered out the last part. Lizabeth wrote quickly in her journal. “Only once a month, this happens?” Cortez nodded. That’s weird, why is the time so exact? Lizabeth bit on her pen again. “Do you only experience visual stimulation in your hallucinations?” Cortez shook his head nervously. His dark hair swished with the motion. “No, the night air I can feel it. The smells.” “Smells? Sorry I cut you off, that’s an interesting one.” Lizabeth stammered. Cortez  gave a sheepish smile and continued. “No worries, yes the smells are so intense it’s nauseating. “What do you smell, is it pleasant or foul?” Lizabeth rested her fingers on her jaw. “I smell everything. The grass outside, the leftovers in the fridge. The neighbors’ body order. The animals in the woods. Everything.” Lizabeth wrote quickly. “That’s very strange. Most people just experience foul or pleasant smells when it comes to hallucinations. Do you know it’s the exact smell you think it is?” Cortez’s blue eyes met Lizabeth’s, they held no lie. “I know exactly what it is.” Lizabeth took another note. Body spasms, hallucinations, all on a monthly schedule. Maybe this guy is a nut? He seems trustworthy. But this is the first session. “Your body spasms, what happens with that?” Cortez rubbed his temples with his fingers. “It starts with my back feeling like my spin is twisting. Then my legs cramp followed by my jaw. It’s one of the worst cramps I’ve ever felt in my life and it lasts for at least a minute.” Cortez paused to open the water Lizabeth gave him at the start of the meeting. “Do you wake up with pain from these cramps?” Cortez shook his head, “No, I have no pain at all. I’m starved though. When I get up I eat what feels like pounds of food and I’m thirsty, insanely thirsty.” Cortez paused to take a drink. “I also wake covered in blood.” Lizabeth flinched at this comment. “You wake up covered in blood?” Cortez nodded. “Are you injuring yourself?” Cortez shook his head. “No, I don’t have a scratch on me.” Lizabeth wrote this last piece. What the hell is going on with this guy? “Is it someone else’s?” Mr. Cortez shrugged and sat back. “I don’t know, I don’t know what is going on.”  His face was sweaty, you could tell he was gripped by fear of his medical condition. If you could call it that. Lizabeth took a few more notes and looked at the clock. Their hour appointment was about to end. “Well Mr. Cortez, that is our session. I’m going to recommend medication to help with your sleep cycle and continued sessions to help determine further cause of your symptoms.” Mr.Cortez just gave a weak nod, stood up and accepted the paper Lizabeth handed him. I still don’t know what’s wrong with him, this is the weirdest case I’ve had. Lizabeth thought to herself. 

It was late and it was winter. Lizabeth grabbed her jacket for her walk home. The dark night would be her only company. Jesus, it is cold today. It was 6:30 pm but it got dark at 5. She only had a mile walk home. Most of which was along a snow covered park. Tonight the street lights cascaded golden light across the sidewalk. It was a very bright night, even with the street lights the moon was very bright. Giving a haunting blue glow across the park. Lizabeth walked quicker. I don’t want to freeze to death. She shoved her gloved hands deeper into her jacket pockets as the chill air ran down her spin. Suddenly in the bushes to her left came a noise, a loud pop of a branch. Lizabeth stopped and stepped back into the snow on the other side of the sidewalk. What was that? Suddenly a low growling emerged. Like that of a dog. Lizabeth removed her pepper spray. Fear racked her body. She could barely make out a muzzle. Is that a dog? “Hey boy?” God I hope it’s a nice dog. Then the muzzle raised until it stood taller than Lizabeth. She could see a man’s chest attached to a large humanoid dog head above the bush. The creature looked right into Lizabeth’s eyes. Its dark red covered canine fangs were accompanied by honest blue eyes.