The Tragedy of Mr. Arnesdale & Other Stories
By Amanda Lawrence Auverigne
Copyright © 2011 by Amanda Lawrence Auverigne
Smashwords Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Contents
I
Brittany walked through the dimly lit halls of the empty library. She moved towards a row of large metal bookshelves near her. She entered one of the narrow aisles and paused in the center of the dusty space. She stared at the neatly arranged books in front of her.
After a few moments, Brittany raised her right hand and she grabbed at the spine of a large crimson volume in the center of one of the tightly packed shelves. She tightened her grip atop the book before pulling at the cowhide covered object carefully.
Loud cracks erupted from the dusty volumes surrounding the scarlet manuscript.
Brittany wriggled the book in her grasp and after a few moments, the weighted tome fell from the metal ledge and into her hands.
"Alright," Brittany said holding the aged tome carefully in her grasp.
Brittany opened the book slowly.
The spine of the volume cracked loudly and a flood of dust and paper particles floated into the air.
Brittany lowered the book in her grasp and she sneezed four times.
"Damn allergies," Brittany said with a weak cough. "Now I have to medicate."
Brittany She opened her eyes with a strangled cough and walked quickly across the narrow aisle clearing her throat. She left the passage quickly and stepped into a wide area that was filled with several large wooden tables and chairs.
The area was deserted.
Brittany stopped in front of a table and she placed the book carefully atop the wooden slab.
"Now for some meds," Brittany coughed reaching into her bag.
She pulled out a small bottle of pills. She wrenched the cap from the container and shook two pellets into her hand before popping the items into her mouth. She swallowed the objects with a loud painful gulp before placing the cap onto the bottle and sliding the container inside her bag. She reached into her satchel and pulled out a large bottle of water before pulling the cap from the container and gulping the fluid.
The sound of loud rap music poured from her bag.
Brittany lowered the empty bottle from her lips and placed the cap onto the object before placing it on the table. She reached inside her bag and pulled out her cell phone. She tapped at the screen and the image of a handsome young man appeared on the screen.
"Brit?" Randall asked with a blink.
"Yeah hey Randy," Brittany said cheerfully with a cough. "I missed you today."
"Yeah I missed you too babe," Randall said. He leaned closer to the camera. "You don't look so good. Where you at?"
"The library rare books," Brittany replied with a choke.
"Oh," Randall said. "Your allergies must be really kicking in."
"Yeah I just took some my new meds for it but they won't do any good with all of this dust."
"The new meds with the meth in it?"
"Randy, my allergy meds do not have meth in it."
"Well, when you took them last week you were kinda hyper and it took you awhile to calm down."
"I wasn't hyper I was just super happy. And it's not meth. Its caffeine and some other stimulant stuff I think."
"Well you be careful with those."
"I will."
"Look, I'm in the Drake building right now and I wanted to know if you wanted to get something to eat. I can be at the library in two minutes."
"That would be so great but I have to read this stupid book for that paper that's due next week."
"Can't you just check it out? That way you can read it with a surgical mask and gloves."
"Ha. Ha. And no I can't check it out. Its reference. Non-circulating."
"Oh, so rain check on the lunch then?"
"How about dinner later?"
"Dinner would be great. Where do you wanna go?"
"Gordetto's Italian Restaurant. Its my favorite and we haven't been there in awhile."
"Gordetto's it is. Just text me when you're done studying and I'll come and get you."
"Okay, I'll see you later."
"Okay and Brit?"
"Yeah?"
"I really uh. I really miss you."
"I miss you too. I'll text you later okay? I'll try that new Vid Text App thing your friends developed."
"Okay, it works great babe. You should try it."
"Okay I will."
"Alright."
"I'll see you later."
"Okay."
"Bye."
Brittany tapped at her cell before she placed it on the table. She looked at the dusty red book.
"Okay let's do this," Brittany muttered.
Brittany took a deep breath that ended in a cough. She grabbed the book and raised it from the table.
Small tufts of dust fell from the lower portion of the book and the floating objects landed on the table in fluffy puffs.
"Randy's right," Brittany said. "I do need to wear a surgical mask to read this book."
Brittany opened the book slowly.
Small bits of leather and paper fell from the top portion of the book and the particles landed on the table.
"This is just ridiculous," Brittany said irritably placing the open book on the table. "This is clearly an example of why digitization works."
The sound of a low voice suddenly echoed behind her.
“You gonna be long with that?” the voice asked.
II
Brittany jumped with a start. She released her grasp on the book and turned around. She blinked rapidly and stared at the space behind her with a small choke.
A tall skinny young man was standing a few paces behind her.
He possessed dark hair, pale skin and unusually bright green eyes.
The young man looked at Brittany with an expression of boredom across his features.
"Did you hear me?" the young man asked.
"What did you say?" Brittany inquired.
The dark haired man lowered his sight from Brittany's wide eyed face and he stared at the book on the table behind her.
"I have a paper due in two days and I really need to use that book," the young man said raising his left hand and pointing a thin finger at the book.
Brittany turned away from the young man. She glanced at the red book before she turned to him once more.
"Well I'll be done with it soon and then you can use it," Brittany said. She reached inside her bag and rambled through its contents. "Damn it's not in here. Ugh I left it in the dorm after it went off in Lit class this morning. If I tell Randy I left it in my room I'll never hear the end of it."
The young man shifted his sight from the crimson book. He lowered his left hand slowly and looked at Brittany.
"What did you just say?" the young man asked.
Brittany looked up at the skinny young man and she took a small step back.
"Nothing," Brittany replied quickly. "Just uh talking to myself is all."
Brittany pulled her hand from the interior of her bag. She turned around quickly and snatched her cell phone from the table. She tapped at the screen of the device and turned quickly to the young man in front of her aiming the machine at him while gazing at him with a nervous smile.
The young man glanced at the cell in Brittany's hand before he focused his green eyes on her face with a weary sigh.
"So how long will you be using it?" He asked.
"Using what?" Brittany inquired tapping quickly at the front portion of the cell with her index finger.
"The book," the young man replied coldly. "You can't check it out because its reference. So how long will you have it? I need to know. It's important."
"Um," Brittany stammered. "I'll be using it for awhile. There might be a lot of information in there that I need to read for this paper that I'm working on. I need time to look through the chapters to make sure that's its info that I need."
“So, are we talking forty five minutes or an hour?”
“Um I don’t really know.”
“So, you have no idea of how long you’re gonna be using it?”
“No, I don’t. I have to read some of the chapters in it and take notes. And I don’t know which ones that I have to really focus on. The paper that I’m working on…”
"You should let me take a look at that book first."
"What?"
"I only need to look at four chapters in that book. I can read really fast. It’s a gift really. One of many that I was born with. So I'll be done with it in thirty minutes. Twenty if my new Scanner App works. Let me get my cell."
"Uh, no."
"What?"
"I said no."
"No what?"
"You can't use this book."
"Huh?"
"I said you can't use this book. It's my book."
"That book is not your property. It belongs to the university library."
"Yes it does but I found it first. So, I get to use it first. You'll just have to wait for me to get done. I won't be long."
"Look, my Scanner App is operational so I'll just be twenty minutes. By then you should have cleared up that little sinus problem that you're having right now."
"What?"
"The dust in this section of the library is horrible huh? I hate coming here. But seeing that I need to use most of the info for my papers some days I have no choice. Like today. I really need to use that book. And it won't take long."
"No, I found it first."
"Look, what's your name?"
"Brittany."
"Hello Brittany. I’m Martin. Good to meet you."
"Yeah good to meet you too, Martin."
"So since we know each other now, I'll have to ask you again to let me use that book."
"I already told you no! I'm using it first! I got here first and I found it!"
"Are you crying right now?"
"No you creep! It's my allergies!"
"Okay, I so really can't convince you to let me use that book first huh?"
"I told you no! Now leave me alone!"
"You're really going to make me do this the hard way huh?"
"What?"
Martin took a small step forward and he opened his mouth wide.
A loud hiss echoed in the space just before a long red tongue burst from his lips.
The rounded edge of the glistening appendage slammed against the left side of Brittany’s neck with a loud smack.
Searing pain engulfed the side of Brittany’s neck and a strange coldness passed over her body.
Brittany's cell phone fell from her grasp and the object landed on the floor atop its side with a loud cracking sound.
Brittany gazed at Martin with wide eyes.
A loud choking noise poured from her throat. She raised her trembling hands and grabbed at the tongue that jutted from her neck.
She screamed when stinging discomfort engulfed her palms.
Brittany looked down at the scarlet organ.
Hundreds of tiny black thorns jutted from the shining exterior of the wriggling red tongue.
Small droplets of thick gray fluid rose up from the curved tips of the sharp barbs. The liquid dripped onto the floor in smoking spatters.
Martin moved his head back swiftly and his elongated tongue fell from Brittany’s neck with a loud pop.
Brittany collapsed onto the floor with a loud choke.
She lay motionless on the chilled stone. She stared up at the Martin with tears in her eyes while she struggled to move.
Martin smiled at Brittany. He licked his lips before he spoke.
“Don’t worry. You’ll just be a little paralyzed for awhile. For about forty-five minutes. It's really nothing to worry about,” Martin said calmly.
Brittany's entire form trembled. She blinked and released a loud choke before she spoke.
"You monster," Brittany rasped.
"Not at all," Martin said. "I'm just not human. Excuse me."
Martin moved forward slowly. He stopped in front of Brittany and stepped over her prostate form with a cheerful whistle. He walked across the dim space and stopped in front of the table. He looked at the dusty red book and smiled.
"Okay," Martin said grabbing at the edges of the crimson volume.
Martin turned the powdery pages of the book slowly and he let out a violent sneeze. He rubbed at his eyes and stared at the aged manuscript with a loud snort.
“You know," Martin said. "Someone should really scan this and put it in the archives online. It would make my life a whole lot easier.”
"Help me," Brittany gasped.
"Stop trying to talk and don't struggle so much Brittany or you might swallow your tongue," Martin said. "I sincerely hope that's not the sound of you choking on your tongue Brittany. Another campus casualty is the last thing I need right now. I like this university and I'm almost done with my thesis. I'll be graduating next spring and I'm really excited. I don't plan on leaving and starting over in another city. That gets tiresome for my kind."
The sound of a loud clicking noise suddenly echoed behind Martin.
The noise stopped and a low buzzing sound reverberated in the area.
"What's that?" Martin asked. "Some idiotic ring tone?"
The buzzing sound became a low hum just before a loud voice echoed in the area behind him.
"Turn around and see for yourself d-bag."
III
"What the?" Martin asked.
Martin raised his sight from the book. He turned around quickly and looked at the space behind him.
Randall was standing a few feet behind him.
The young man was holding a large silver gun in his grasp. He smiled at Martin.
"Hey," Randall said.
Martin opened his mouth and he released an unearthly shriek.
Randall fired his weapon.
A large sphere of crackling yellow flame burst from the edge of the gun.
The flying projectile of fire soared across the space and struck the center of Martin's chest.
The center of Martin's torso exploded in a burst of crackling yellow flame.
Martin's form was propelled violently backwards from the force of the fiery impact. His body rose up from the floor and he flew rapidly across the space before his spine struck a nearby wall.
Martin's form was pinioned to the wall and the flames that engulfed his chest passed quickly across his form.
The flames crackled atop his form and thick chunks of scorched flesh fell from his body and landed on the floor.
After a few moments, the flames were extinguished and Martin fell from the wall and landed on the floor with a loud thud. He lay motionless on the floor.
His skin was gone and scorched portions of muscle and bone could be seen.
"Crispy," Randall said.
Brittany sat up with a choke.
"What?" Brittany rasped.
Randall turned from Martin's motionless form and he rushed to Brittany. He fell to his knees in front of her and cupped her face in his free hand.
"You alright babe?" Randall asked.
"Yeah," Brittany said. "That monster creep jabbed me with his tongue."
"You look okay," Randall said pressing his hand to the side of Brittany's neck. "Your heart rate is fine and its surprising that you're up this quick. The venom from these creeps usually knocks people out for an hour. I wonder why you got up so quick. Wait I know. It’s the meth in your allergy meds that helped."
Brittany grabbed Randall's hand with a grunt. "My meds don’t have meth in them!"
"Okay just stimulants," Randall said with a smile. He moved closer to Brittany and kissed her lips.
Brittany returned Randall's kiss and she pulled away from him. She looked across the space and glared at Martin.
"That Monster Creep hit me with his tongue! Yuck! And it had these weird thorns on it! I can't believe it! He Tongue Tazed me!"
"I know," Randall said. "I saw the vid you sent me from your cell."
A loud crackling noise suddenly rose up from the far side of the room.
Brittany and Randall turned in the direction of the noise.
Martin was standing up.
Thick tufts of black smoke rose up from his skinless and scorched body.
"You jerk! You burned off my skin! Do you know how long it will take for that stuff to grow back! What in the hell is wrong with you!" Martin shouted.
Brittany grabbed Randall's gun and she aimed the weapon at Martin's head.
"You're a creep that's what's wrong," Brittany said. "And you just Tongue Tazed the wrong girl."
Martin raised his hands and he shook his head while gazing at Brittany with wide eyes.
"Wait!" Martin yelled. "I didn’t' hurt you! All I did was paralyze you! I’m not like the other of my kind! My venom is not poison. I didn't try to hurt you I just wanted an A on this paper! I’m an academic not a murderer! Just don't! Don't shoot my head off! It won't grow back!"
Brittany laughed before she fired the gun three times.
Three spheres of bright yellow flame burst from the firearm.
The trio of fiery spheres flew across the room rapidly and they struck Martin's legs and skull with loud cracking sounds.
Martin fell to the floor with a pain wracked shriek.
His legs were gone and half of his head rested atop his neck in a fiery mass of bubbling brain and seared bone.
"You creeps!" Martin shrieked while slapping at his fiery head.
"Nice," Randall said with a nod.
"Thanks," Brittany said. She rose to her feet. "I have to admit that I went to those Creature Hunter meetings of yours just to make you happy at first cause I know how important it is for your girlfriend to have the same interests you do."
Randall stood up. "Yeah?"
"And I have to admit that all of those PowerPoint presentations about monsters and their weaknesses all of those group building exercises were boring but when it came to the seminars on firepower, well, that was really interesting and fun," Brittany admitted.