Simulacrum Part 1

That old familiar, dreadful clicking.

Daniel Spaulding finally gave up and with a huff, tried to rise as quietly as possible. But the bed had other plans, and the old box springs squealed under his shifting weight. He grimaced and paused. Avery turned over but didn’t wake up. Fortunately, she was a sound sleeper, even in her condition. He was the opposite; he slept like shit and had since he was a kid. The last couple of weeks were worse than usual. Since the authorities found Lena, all the worst things that ever happened to him came flooding back, making it impossible to pretend that everything was normal.

So, on the night he turned a quarter century, he sat at the kitchen table with all the lights on in the front of the house, the night thick against the windows. Avery, pregnant and snoring, lay in the bedroom, and he could hear her labored breathing over the rickety A/C window unit. They married a year and a half earlier, and she just began her third trimester.

From the driveway came that old dreadful clicking, and he rose from the kitchen table, bowl of soggy cereal forgotten. The sound was etched into the folds of his brain, the code of his genetics. He knew it immediately and knew It had found him.

He marveled, though without much surprise, that it managed find him here—a small suburb outside of Lexington. They were some four-hundred miles north of his childhood home, and foolishly, he had hoped this would be far enough away from all the blood and guts of his youth. Lexington was Avery’s home. She was a bluegrass girl through and through. He moved up with her one summer between college semesters and adopted the place as his new home. Now this thing was here, blackening his new life as it had his old one.

Over the years it killed his entire family: first Dad, then Mom, and most recently Lena. Now it was Dan’s turn. He knew everything was his fault; his family’s death, all of it. He interrupted it long ago, and it had spent the last nearly two decades exacting its revenge. But he wasn’t a kid anymore, and he would not give up his new family without a fight.

****

His dad disappeared when he was eight.

One Friday evening, after waiting all day for Dad to get off work at the factory, the Spaulding family loaded up the Envoy and pulled out of 112 Green Circle, headed for Chattanooga for the weekend. They took the Eason exit onto the state highway, skirted the weekend traffic in town, and merged onto the interstate. Danny sat in the back seat with Lena. Mom packed them both coloring and activity books to help pass the drive. Bracing on his knees, Danny colored action scenes of Batman fighting the Joker and the Riddler while Lena worked through her sudoku puzzle book. Danny managed to stay mostly inside the lines, though the unfortunate interventions of potholes made it impossible all the time. When it grew too dark to color, Danny asked for supper, and Mom passed back two Lunchables and a pair of Capri-Suns, one for each sibling.

After slurping down the last of his juice, he fumbled through his backpack, pulled out his latest Goosebumps book. “Can I get the flashlight for my book?”

His parents, now just shadows in the dash-glow, looked at each other but didn’t speak for a moment. “Sure thing,” Dad said finally.

Mom popped up the armrest and handed back the light. “Just be careful you don’t get a headache. If your head does start to hurt, take a break, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Flashlight in hand, Danny delved back into Haunted Mask II. It was not as good as the original Haunted Mask, but much better than Go Eat Worms! Now that was a ridiculous book.

Ten pages in, Danny began to feel pressure behind his eyes, a heaviness pressing out from his temples. Blinking, he clicked off the light, folded the corner of the page, and stowed the book back in his pack. Lena snored next to him, her forehead against the window, mouth open, drooling. A yawn pushed its way out as he watched her sleep. Up front, Mom and Dad talked quietly while one of Dad’s Bruce Springsteen tapes played in the background. Danny yawned again, he snuggled into the seat, adjusting himself into a position resembling comfortable, and closed his eyes. The sound of tires on pavement and the hushed tones of his family faded.

A burst of light and a slamming door brought him upright. His vision was sleep-blurred, and the interior light clicked off too soon, leaving him blinking in the dark. “Are we there?” he tried to ask, but his words came out in a confused mush. Outside, the headlights shined into the darkness and against the beams he made out his mother’s silhouette.

“Still a ways to go, kiddo,” his Mother said. “Your dad has to use the bathroom and doesn’t want to wait. We’ll be back on the road in no time. Go back to sleep, honey, and I’ll wake you when we get to the cabin.” Her words seemed distant and fuzzy, but he got the gist and dropped back against the seat.

Two dreams later, a hand grabbed his knee and shook. “Danny. Danny, wake up,” Mom said.

He sat up right away. His subconscious had recognized the worry in her voice and threw him back into the world. “What? What?” He picked out the paleness of her face, leaning over the armrest. “What is it?”

“It’s your dad—”

“Where—”

“He hasn’t come back yet. It’s nearly an hour, and I’m getting worried.” She pointed out the window.

The outside world, in the slant of moonlight and headlight, appeared apocalyptic. The trees lining the road grew tall and thick, and the branches looked like swords. Weeds rose like tentacles. Danny felt eyes glaring at him through the glass, monsters licking their lips with hunger. His body went cold, and suddenly he needed to pee more than ever in his life. Something got him. Something, a monster or an animal, ate Dad. Could it get into the car? Were they next? A fit of snakes twisted in his gut. His teeth chattered in the dark.

“You have to go check,” Mom said.

Danny’s head snapped around. “What?” No, no, no, no. It’s going to get me. The car is safe. I can’t go out there. I…

“Danny.” Her grip tightened on his leg, fingernails really digging in, for a moment before rising to stroke his cheek. “Dad probably tripped or something. I need you to take the flashlight and go look for him, okay? Without Dad here, you’re the big man, and you need to be strong. You need to go check. Be our hero.”

He sobbed and jerked away. What was she saying? Did she know what she was doing to him? The monster would eat him next—he was only eight. What could he do?

“It’s okay, sweetie. You’re going to be fine. Go on and hurry back with Dad. You’ve got this.”

The flashlight shook in his hand, rattling the batteries within. After three failed attempts to get the door open, Mom reached back and opened it for him. The cab-light came on, and he noticed how frightened she looked. Couldn’t she see how frightened he was? He tried to swallow, tried to breathe. His leg shook as he lowered his sneaker to the ground, but he took a deep breath and forced the other down and then he was outside. Gravel crunched under his little feet. The flashlight clicked on. The beam jittered across the evil forest like a frantic lightning bug.

“Mom.”

“Go on, son.”

The door shut behind him, and the world dimmed a bit as the light over his shoulder faded. He gripped the flashlight as tightly as his little hands could, but still it darted around before him, making him dizzy and mutating the vegetation into even more malevolent shapes. Any second, he thought. Any second the beast would fall upon him and tear him to ribbons. Gobble him up as Mom watched from the car.

When nothing happened, he grew steadier, not by much but a little was better than none. Ten steps past the nose of the SUV, a chasm opened in the wall of foliage—a path leading into the woods. Leaves quivered in the hum of the idling engine. Clamping his shut, Danny focused all his willpower into not crying. He took one last look back into the headlights, and stepped into the forest, angling his feet to avoid slipping down the worn path.

First, he heard the clicking, a sound like a mechanical beast chomping its steel teeth together. Cramps squeezed the area just below his belly, and he pressed his legs together and took baby steps. No matter what, he would not wet himself. Or cry any more.

The clicking grew louder and then it stopped.

To his right, a bush rustled. It swayed out against the path.

He tried to call out for Dad, but his throat clamped shut.

Dad stepped out of the brush and into Danny’s crazed flashlight beam.

He didn’t notice Danny at first, but right away the boy could tell something was off. His neck was far too long, for one thing. Dad jerked his head; in odd zig-zag patterns; eyes blinking, nostrils flaring, teeth clenching and unclenching. Then it stopped and he looked normal. Dad’s face fell still, and he let out a long deep breath that reminded Danny of the flue in Pop’s wood burning stove.

Finally, directly into the flashlight’s beam without shielding his eyes or squinting. “Daniel?”

Daniel? Dad never called him that, always Danny or Dan the Man, but never Daniel. And his voice was wrong. It was too scratchy. Danny couldn’t have explained it, and there was still a lot he didn’t know, but he did know the person standing before him was not Dad.

But it was trying to be.

Danny squealed and sprinted to the car, slamming his fist on the lock switch after closing the door. Mama climbed into her seat and whirled on him. Even Lena woke up and removed her headphones.

“What is it? What is it? Daniel Spaulding, where is your father?”

Danny said a lot of things, but none of them made it out of his mouth. His teeth clattered too much to make words. He bounced up and down on the seat and shook his head in terror.

The Dad-thing stepped out of the trees and into the headlights, grinning. It walked forward in a stiff-legged motion. Lena pointed. “Right there. Why are you freaking out?” she said

“What?” Mama looked from Danny to the thing approaching the driver-side door. She leaned back and gently grabbed his shoulders. “Danny. Danny. There’s your father. He’s okay. We’re all okay.”

She unlocked the doors, and it climbed into the seat in front of Danny. He fell still, eyes wide and breath held. What was it doing? And why didn’t Mom or Lena say something? Did they think it was Dad? Couldn’t they see it? It was like a jacket buttoned all wrong. Lena had already replaced her headphones, and Mom snapped her seatbelt into place as the thing started the car and pulled onto the road.

“Well, that took you long enough. You decide to camp out for the night?”

It laughed and shook its head. “I don’t, not sure. Tripped out there.”

“Hmm. What happened to Danny?”

“Danny?” It sounded confused.

“Yes, your son. You know, the fruit of your loins. He went to check on you like a big man and then ran back screaming his head off.”

“Oh. Yes. I don’t know. Something out there must have frightened him. I didn’t see him.”

She looked back and gave Danny a pitiful, joking glance. Danny stared back, dumbfounded. He had to warn her. She had to do something, anything. And they had to go back and look for the real Dad. Who knew what this monster’s plan was? Maybe it eats people, he thought. Or worse. “Psst. Psst. It’s not him,” he said.

“What’d you say, Honey?” Mom said, far too loudly.

In the rearview mirror, the Dad-thing’s eyebrow cocked. “Yes, Danny. What is it?”

He took a deep breath, met the monster’s gaze in the mirror, and tried to look scary. “You’re not my dad. You’re trying to trick us.”

Mama laughed. “Where’d you come up with that? Those Goosebumps books Aunt Megan gave you?”

“It’s not him.”

“Baby.” She reached back and put a hand on his cheek. “It’s okay. You’re back in the car. Whatever scared you out there is now miles away, and it can’t—”

“No. It’s right there.”

“You’re safe. I promise. Your Dad’s here. He’s fine, too. We’re all all right, and we’re going to have a great weekend. Just try to calm down and relax, okay?”

The eyes in the mirror no longer looked amused or unsure. They stared right back at him, and even in the dim light Danny could see it hated him. Why couldn’t Mama see it? Didn’t she feel the rage-heat coming from the driver’s seat?

He slumped back. His chin quivered. He couldn’t understand his mother. That meant it was up to him to do something. But what? He slid into the middle of the back seat and watched the road through the windshield. They were driving down a hill, the base of which dipped and curved around a stand of trees. The headlights shined off an orange rail that marked the path of the curve, and just like that he had a plan.

The Dad-thing steered them down the hill, slowing for the coming turn. At the bottom, with the orange barrier looming bright as the sun, Danny leaped forward and grabbed the steering wheel. He jerked it as hard as he could. The surprised monster shoved Danny away and tried to right the vehicle, but it was too late.

Screams filled the cab. A sharp metallic screech speared through Danny’s brain as the SUV crashed through the guardrail. He was thrown forward, and the vehicle bounced as it went over the edge and into the gully next to the road. The dad-thing snarled. Danny’s face slammed into the dashboard.

The world faded to black.

Thank you so much for reading! Part 2, the story’s conclusion, will be out next week.