Bizarre Life of Sydney Sedrick (2 page)

My clothes were torn. Strips of cloth lay shredded on the ground around me. The pockets of my wool coat hung from the seams, with chunks ripped from the fabric, and my black leggings had holes in the knees.

The cold air on my bare skin felt like needles pricking me with every gust of wind. My mind was in a state of chaos.

What the heck just happened?

Who was that crazy man with feline eyes, and what was he doing going around biting people and licking them like a dog licks a spoon of peanut butter? This was one of the worst nights in my entire life.

The realization of the situation struck home. I was in Kenosha with no one to call for help, and I was completely alone. My aunt didn’t have a cell phone. Heck, neither of us did. Not setting up a cell phone account the second my little car drove across the Wisconsin state border was a very bad decision. The excuses ran through my mind at alarming speed.

Okay, Sydney, focus. Now wasn’t the time for I wish, I would haves.

Even if I had a cell phone to use, there was no one to call, well maybe the police, Animal Control, or Freaks Are Us? Who knew what would have happened if that door hadn’t been opened? What would the mad man have done if he hadn’t been scared off?

Whoever came out of the store and spooked the attacker must have walked away in the opposite direction.

My body shook so hard, my teeth rattled, and it wasn’t from the cold. I lifted a hand to my neck to feel how badly I was injured. The shaking of my hand caused the torn flesh in my neck to hurt worse. I took my hand away and remained on the ground, not moving.

It was hard to think straight. My breathing was rapid and shallow. I couldn’t slow or deepen my breaths. The glittering snowflakes continued to fall all around me, covering my body. I had stopped feeling the cold air. My head ached from where the man had held it in place against the alley stones.

Slowly standing and brushing the snow off, pain exploded in my back. My purse and car keys were lying beside me in the snow. Obviously he hadn’t been hiding in the alley waiting to rob someone. The animal man had left me without taking anything, except for some blood and flesh.

When I leaned over to retrieve my things, I spotted the object he’d been crouching over. It wasn’t a baby, thank heaven, or at least it didn’t look like one. Anymore. My stomach lurched, and the dry heaves kicked in.

A whiff of old blood hit me in the cold air. I turned my head to stick my nose into my scarf, trying to block out the acrid smell of meat before vomit hurled from my body. Seeing dead animals on the side of the road always made me feel sick to my stomach. Seeing the chunk of raw meat the man had been chewing on in the alley, staining the snow with oozing blood, made me want to puke. The meat in the snow was unidentifiable, and I really didn’t want to think about the dark patch of what might have been human hair lying in a wet stringy line.

I looked around to make sure there was no sign of the attacker before grabbing my purse and keys. I sensed the heat of someone’s, or something’s, glare on the back of my neck and body as I stumbled the rest of the way to the car.

Cold air whipped up the back of my coat.

Was the crazy man still out there?

My hands shook as I put the key into the door lock, climbed into the driver’s seat, and locked the doors before starting it. Blood seeped from the gash in my wrist and dripped onto the steering wheel.

Get home, Sydney. Time for hysterics later.

I had no idea who to call or tell about what had happened. My thought processes were numb. It was either that or a little touch of hypothermia was setting in.

Warm air blew through the vents in the dashboard of the Jetta as I pulled into the driveway of my aunt’s home. The porch light shone bright over the front door. Aunt Judith was already home from her date. Only her car was parked in the driveway. There was a lot to talk to Aunt Judith about, and relief washed over me that she was already home and alone.

The scent of herbal tea with honey hung in the air the moment the front door swung open into the house. The smell was a welcome change from that of old blood, which had stayed with me the entire ride home. Closing the heavy wooden front door against the cold, I yelled out, “Aunt Judith, I’m home.”

She came to the doorway of the kitchen on the opposite side of the living room and waved. “Hello, my dear, come and tell me how your day at the store went.” Her gray hair gently glistened from the lamp light on the coffee table.

Admittedly, she did have a glow about her that made me change my first impression about the successfulness of her date. Guilt hit me hard. I hated to ruin her night by telling her about the attack, but there was no other choice. Someone else had to know.

Feeling suddenly woozy, I took baby steps into the kitchen, through the swinging white door, and looked closer at her. The sight of her in her housecoat and long silver hair braided over her shoulder made me smile, despite the night’s events. She had her old nightgown on, which meant she was definitely alone. Of course, she still had her usual beads around her neck, with their different patterns and color streams. She told me a long time ago that each combination of the colorful beads had a special charm placed on them that gave her some kind of protection. She’d never said from what.

I headed over to the kitchen table and dropped my purse on the top before pulling up one of the wooden chairs to face her so we could talk. “Aunt Judith, you would not believe my night. I was attacked by a man, Aunt Judith. A very scary, very large man!”

Aunt Judith paled. “Oh dear Goddess.”

“When the man turned around, his eyes were like a wild animal’s. His teeth, well they weren’t like anything I’ve ever seen before.”

“Sydney, did the man do or say anything to you?”

“Yes, he attacked me like a cat toy and bit a chunk of skin off my neck.” I didn’t mean to yell at her, but my neck was killing me. The pain didn’t get better on the way home, it got worse. The torn skin on my neck felt like someone was stoking a fire in my tissues and making it hotter.

She went even paler. “Oh, well, honey, don’t you worry, everything is going to be just fine, just fine indeed.”

“I think we should call the police.”

She shook her head and said sternly, “No, we don’t need to call anyone, Sydney. Everything is going to be just fine,” she repeated as she leaned over the kitchen table, patted my hand with hers, and grabbed her cup of tea from the counter.

She didn’t mention the blood still dripping down my neck, over my collarbone, and onto my shirt.

“Don’t you worry about a thing. Tomorrow you’ll feel better. Don’t go calling anyone. I’ll fix you something up that will make that neck of yours feel lots better.”

She didn’t examine my wound, didn’t scream and cry. She left the kitchen, just like that. She hadn’t even encouraged me to call the authorities. She told me everything was going to be just fine. I wasn’t really sure what I had expected, probably for her to cry and demand that we leave Kenosha, but no reaction at all was definitely a surprise.

I stood in the bathroom and examined my neck in the mirror. A soft knock sounded on the door. “Sydney, I made a paste for you to put on that wound. It will take some of the pain away, honey.”

Aunt Judith came into the bathroom. I sat on the sink counter to give her a better look at my neck. She took the cotton ball from the bowl and globbed on some of her paste. It felt cool and soothing against my hot flesh.

“Aunt Judith, what is going on? That man wasn’t human. I think we should call someone and tell them there’s a lunatic running around attacking people.”

She made shushing sounds before saying, “My dear, there are things in this world that won’t make much sense to you right now. But trust me, calling the police is the last thing we should do. We’ll talk more about it in the morning.” She finished applying the paste and made a dressing out of the gauze and tape she’d brought in with her. “Tomorrow morning, I want you to shower and let warm water run over your neck, then put some more of this paste on and re-dress it just like I’ve done now.”

Still baffled by her strange behavior, I headed for my bedroom. Unfortunately, sleep proved elusive. Who could sleep in that old house, the branches of the leafless oak tree scratching against the window of my room like a B-rated horror movie? Who knew what was lurking out there in the dark?

I did.

I knew.

And now it knew me.