Richard Matheson: Ride the Nightmare

“I left it in him.”

“Oh.”

She heard Chris wringing out the mop and found herself imagining how the water in the pail looked. Teeth on edge, she moved past Chris and walked into the living room. She sat until she heard the pail being emptied and rinsed out.

She stood as Chris came in.

“I’ll be back as soon as possible,” he said.

”I’m going with you,” she said.

“What about Connie?”

“We tan take her.”

“I’d rather you stayed.” he said. “It’s not going to be pretty.”

“What about the other two?” she asked.

“Cliff couldn’t have shown them that photograph,” he said. “If he had they wouldn’t have let him come. They’re hunted men They haven’t got the lime for vendettas.”

She didn’t look convinced

“What if Connie woke up and saw him.” he asked.

Helen shuddered. “All right,” she said, “but what do I do?”

“Lock up. turn the lights out. I won’t be long.”

“All right.” she said.

She watched him walk across the kitchen and move out onto the back porch. He turned to close the door.

Then, with a lunge, he regained the house and shut the door behind him as quickly as he could without slamming it.

Someone was ringing the front door bell.

Helen’s instinct was to scream in fury at this monstrous piling of shock on shock. Then in an instant new terror had wiped her mind clean.

She glanced into the kitchen. Chris couldn’t seem to get away from the door. He leaned against it heavily, looking trapped and dazed. The bell rang again with a coarse buzzing noise.

Now Chris moved away from the door and she heard him pull a drawer open. The bell rang again, a jarring burst of sound.

“Chris,” she said.

He appeared holding the revolver.

“Answer the door.” he said. “If it’s them, tell them I’m in the—the bedroom. Then go in Connie’s room and lock the door.”

She couldn’t t take her eyes off the revolver. “But you can’t—” she started.

“Honey, she’s going to wake up again,” he said.

“Chris, no.”

“Do what I say.”

Turning, she headed for the door, a sense of hideous inevitability crowding away all feeling. Her fingers closed over the knob and she tried to turn it. It’s broken, she thought in dull surprise and tried again. Abruptly, then, she realized that it was locked.

The bell rang again. Helen was about to unlock the door when an idea pierced her terror. Reaching over, she switched on the porch light. Then, holding her breath, she drew aside the blinds. It was like a weight falling from her. “It’s Bill,” she called out hollowly.

As she opened the door, she heard Chris moving in the kitchen, the sound of the drawer being shut again.

“Hi,” she said.

“Say. I’m sorry to be a pest. Helen.” Bill Albert said, “but we’re all out of ice cubes.”

“Of course.” Helen forced a smile back to her lips.

“Come on in. We have plenty.” She wondered if her voice sounded as bad to Bill as it did to her. Chris came out of the kitchen and smiled at Bill.

“Hi,” he said. “What’s up?”

“They’re out of ice cubes,” she explained.

“Oh.” Chris nodded. “Come on in the kitchen and we’ll get you some.”

“I sure hate to bother you like this,” said Bill.

“Not at all,” Chris told him.

Helen followed them toward the kitchen, her mind leaping ahead to investigate: the floor mopped, the sink clean, the newspaper page in the wastebasket, the pistol in the drawer, the dishwasher standing and loaded again.

The broken window!

“I hope I didn’t wake up Connie,” said Bill.

“No, not her,” said Chris. “She sleeps like the dead.”

Helen shivered, stopping in the kitchen doorway. Chris had pulled down the door shade again so the broken window was hidden. Like the dead, her mind repeated.

“Naturally Mary had to pick this afternoon to defrost,” said Bill. “I keep telling her to do it overnight. She keeps telling me to buy one that defrosts itself.”

“Know what you mean,” said Chris. He pulled open the refrigerator door and opened the freezer compartment.

Helen looked around the kitchen nervously. One of the plates in the washer had been lying in the blood. Moving to the washer, she pushed its top down quickly. As she turned, she saw Bill looking at her and smiled.

“How are you tonight?” he asked her.

“I’m fine.”

Bill smiled politely and Helen turned to watch Chris tugging at the ice cube tray. It was stuck to the surface of the freezer. “Can I help?” Bill asked.

“I’ll get it,” said Chris. He didn’t sound very cheerful now. In a second, he’d wrenched the tray loose.

Now Bill had the tray wrapped in a towel and was apologizing once more for having disturbed them. Now Helen heard herself telling him not to worry about it and to take his time returning the tray. Now she was walking into the living room with the two men and listening to them say something about television which they decided to pretend was worth laughing at. Now they were saying good night and the front door was closing and Chris was leaning against it. breathing slowly, heavily.

”I’m going with you,” she said.

“What about—?”

“I’ll hold her on my lap.” she said. “She’ll be all right.” “But—”

“I won’t stay here,” she said.

He stared at her a few seconds. Then he sighed.

“All right.” he said. “All right,” he said again.

Chris turned the Ford onto the hill that led to the coast highway. On the floor in back, there was a sound of something shifting and Helen felt her skin crawl.

Chris braked beside the red light at the foot of the hill. He sat, wordless, his hands clenched over the rim of the steering wheel. Then the light changed and he turned the Ford around the corner, heading north. Helen closed her eyes as the car picked up speed. Maybe she could sleep, she thought.

After a while, she opened her eyes again and looked at the highway. The headbeams hurried on ahead, picking out a path of light for the car. She tried to shift Connie a little.

“She too heavy?” Chris asked. He sounded almost grateful for the excuse to speak to her.

“It’s all right,” Helen answered.

He stopped for the light at Santa Monica Canyon and Helen looked around the deserted intersection, at the steep hill angling off the highway, leading to the Palisades, the silent cafes and stores. The light changed and the car moved forward.

“Helen?”

“What?”

“I’d like to tell you about it.”

He waited as if expecting her to answer. Helen swallowed.

“If you want.” she said.

“I know you think I lied to you because I was afraid of going to prison,” he said. “That isn’t true. It was you I was afraid of. You were so young when we married, so unprepared for anything like that.”

“That was seven years ago, Chris.”

“I know, I know.” he said. “It’s just that I never knew how to tell you.”

The Ford started along the stretch of highway that led toward Sunset Boulevard.

“I was living in New Mexico when it happened,” he said. “I told you about it. That part wasn’t a lie. I was working for a bank. I picked up deposits from the big stores and factories in the area. It wasn’t much—”

He broke off as Connie made a restless noise in her throat. Then, after several moments, he began again.

“I was living with my mother.” he said. “We didn’t get along. I was seventeen but, to her, I was still a baby. So. more to defy her than for any other reason I started going to the skid row section of the city. I bowled there, played pool, just sat around sometimes. I didn’t belong there and I knew it. I would have preferred going to a concert or reading a book. But music and books I associated with my mother. I didn’t want to have anything to do with them.”