The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
The Last Performance
by Kathleen McCluskey
The old mime had been performing on Mercer Street for so long that nobody remembered when he had arrived. He stood beneath the dimming streetlight every evening dressed in black, his face painted the color of bone. His lips were stained a deep, wet red. He simply performed his little tricks, pulling invisible ropes, pushing against invisible walls and struggling against chains that weren’t there.
People laughed. Children adored him. Tourists photographed him. Nobody ever wondered why his eyes looked so old or why his painted skin cracked like something dried over a bloody wound.
Daniel first noticed the blood on a Thursday evening. It glistened beneath the mime’s fingernails, black in the fading light. When the old mime caught Daniel staring, he smiled and raised a finger to his lips. Then he turned and pressed both hands against an invisible wall.
He pushed harder. His shoulders trembled, his knees buckled and his face twisted in silent agony. The crowd laughed at his exaggerated expressions.
The following evening Daniel returned alone. The mime was waiting beneath the streetlamp. His face was cracked around the eyes, his black clothes hanging on a body that looked as if it had shrunk overnight.
Daniel approached cautiously. “Hello, why are you here so late?”
The mime didn’t answer. He pressed his hands against the air, then slowly turned his head toward Daniel. He pointed at the invisible wall, then at Daniel. He beckoned him over.
Daniel hesitated before raising his hands. He felt nothing at first, then a faint resistance, like the surface of cold glass. He pushed. The barrier gave slightly beneath his palms and a sharp pain shot through his fingers.
The mime’s eyes widened. For the first time his expression held something other than misery.
Hope.
The mime began showing Daniel his routine. He did it with the patience of a teacher. Push against the wall. Struggle. Pull the invisible rope. Press both hands against the barrier again. Daniel began to mirror the movements, he felt silly at the absurdity of it but he couldn’t help himself. The atmosphere around them shuddered.
A crack appeared between them, suspended in the air.
It was as thin as a hair, but behind it Daniel saw something vast and dark, an endless depth filled with distant lights that may have been stars or eyes. A smell poured through the fracture, ancient and foul, like a tomb opened after being forgotten by the world.
Daniel stumbled backwards and the mime grabbed his wrist.
His fingers were cold and hard as iron and his grip crushed Daniel’s bones. The old man’s painted smile stretched until the corners of his mouth split, revealing raw muscle underneath. He dragged Daniel toward the wall and the invisible barrier rippled like water. .
“You have no idea how long I have been waiting.”
His voice was deep and layered, as though countless voices were speaking from somewhere deep inside of him. The streetlamp burst overhead, scattering glass across the pavement. In the darkness, Daniel saw the mime’s face change. The skin peeled away in gray, curling strips and beneath it was something that had never been human. Its eyes burned like pale stars and its mouth opened wide to reveal rows of small, pointed, glistening teeth.
“What are you?”
The thing smiled. “I have been called by many names, none of them were true.”
It pressed Daniel’s hand against the wall. Pain exploded through his arms. The barrier swallowed his hands, then his wrists, drawing him closer as the air began to feel thick as mud. He fought desperately, kicking and screaming but the creature held him fast. The more Daniel struggled the more the box tightened around him.
The mime stepped out of his box and began to change. His ruined face smoothed, his bent spine straightened. The cracks in his skin healed. The blood vanished from his hands. Beneath the collapsing shell of his old body, something beautiful and terrible unfolded.
Daniel fell to his knees, clawing at his throat as invisible fingers closed around it. He bolted upright. His face grew numb. His skin tightened as a layer of white spread across it. His lips darkened to a deep crimson. His clothes changed, black fabric crawled over his limbs like shadows.
The old mime stood before him, young and immaculate, brushing the last remnants of dead skin off of his shoulders. Behind him the box sealed itself with a sound like a thousand doors slamming shut.
Daniel pushed his hands against the barrier. He pulled at invisible ropes and struggled against invisible chains, his eyes bulging with terror. The creature watched him, almost fondly.
Then it smiled. “Don’t worry, the audience will love you.”
Fiction © Copyright Kathleen McCluskey
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from Kathleen McCluskey:
The Long Fall: Book 1: The Inception of Horror
Lucifer always cunning and intelligent challenges father to a battle of wits. Being the angel of light he casts a judgemental eye upon mankind. He begins a war with his fellow archangels and God. Michael, along with his siblings defend their home and mankind from their deranged brother. Broad swords and hand to hand combat drench heaven in blood. The four apocalyptic steeds are released, each having their own destructive power. Betrayal and lust are at biblical levels. Understand the very creation of evil and the consequenses that transpire in the first of THE LONG FALL series.
