Feast

Modesto, California. July 5th

Darcy's eyes flickered open, fighting against the sharp morning light that was enveloping the bedroom. Like most nights she always slept heavy and experienced wild dreams an hour or two before waking which would be mostly forgotten by the time she had punched snooze for the final and umpteenth time.

Even though it was a hot Californian summer, a chill shook her body which made her gasp and groan. Darcy glanced at the alarm clock that was ticking away on her bedside table. It was one of those old fashioned wind up clocks that really shook you when it's metallic howl rang out to wake you from those little slices of death we call sleep. It read 7:35.

She stared at the clock for a little while, hazily pondering to what day it was, "It's a Saturday right?" she thought out aloud. Then slumped back onto the pillows, pulling the sheet up over her head in relief. There would be no commute today, no mindless small talk in the office, no endless meetings or phone calls, just blessed rest, oh blessed rest.

Her mind was lazily rewinding itself back to the previous nights 4th of July celebrations. She had gone to a bar with Lori and Zoe, no recollection of what time she/they had left, no recollection of how she got home or what time. Just a very hazy blankness.

She didn't drink alcohol anymore, not even on big days like 4th July or any other of the holidays yet Darcy felt like she had spent the night drinking rum chasers. There was an odd metallic taste in her mouth and her stomach felt heavy, bloated even.

"Cameron" she thought. "I came home with Cameron." Darcy thought about the casual relationship she had with him, but no he would have stayed over had he taken her home last night. Her arm reached to the left of the bed and sure enough there was an empty space where the Canadian would have been quietly snoozing. She sighed and turned back over to once again look at the alarm clock. It was approaching 8am.

A raging thirst suddenly rippled through Darcy's body prompting her to rise from the bed and put one shivering foot onto the laminated wooden floor beneath her. The floor felt like ice even though it was raging hot outside. The air con had not been on all night yet the room felt like the middle of winter. She put her other foot onto the glacier like floor and struggled to stand up. Steadying herself to an upright position by leaning against the closet she walked slowly towards the bedroom door wearing just an old over sized baggy Ramones t-shirt, shivering.

Grabbing the door to support her weight she quietly opened it and shuffled towards the bathroom across the landing, grasping at the walls for balance. The bathroom door was already open and the light inside on. She stepped in and noticed clothes bunched up and strewn across the floor, the bathroom tap was flowing a silvery stream into the sink. She moved to the sink and turned the faucet open a little more and cupped her hands under the flowing water to drink. She kept drinking and scooped a handful of water to splash onto her face. The sheer coldness made her gasp out loud and she looked into the mirror above the sink and saw the claret red over her mouth, her shirt and her arms. Her teeth were stained red.

Darcy felt giddy like she wanted to pass out and at that instance she felt violently sick. Her body juddered as her stomach emptied its contents into the sink. A film of cold sweat slithered over her as she collapsed to the floor.

She had been out cold for over an hour and woke out of breath gasping for air. She pulled herself up using the sink being careful not to catch a glimpse of herself in the bathroom mirror.

Something startled her wildly as she felt something brush at her ankles. She looked down and saw the sprightly figure of her cat who had a habit of following her into the bathroom. She breathed out heavily as the cat looked up at her and gave a hungry mew and turned towards the door to run downstairs to the kitchen.

Slowly Darcy opened the bathroom door and made her way down the stairs, gripping the hand rail. She got to the bottom and could hear the cat mewing wildly in the direction of the kitchen. She stepped through the hall, then the living room and then finally the kitchen which like the bathroom had its light left on. The door was slightly ajar and when she tried to open it there was something heavy behind it stopping it opening fully. She pushed a little harder, then gave the door all of her weight causing her to crash in through the opening and fall face first onto something that really should not have been there.

She rolled over and saw the bloodied corpse of Cameron lying on the kitchen floor. His body covered in blood and his throat appeared to have been ripped out.

A metallic howl erupted from upstairs and Darcy emitted a silent scream.