The Contingency
The flames were warm on his defined face as he sat out in the cool, partly cloudy night. He leaned forward in the old yellow frayed folding chair to enjoy the warmth on his whole body. A cool breeze blew across his bare arms and face immediately causing his skin to react by rupturing into hundreds of small bumps. The smoke rose smoothly and gently into the thin night air. The moon hung motionless in the dark twilight sky and seemed to be staring down on the young muscular man. The moon hid itself from him occasionally as the smoke crossed its illumination like that of a veil which covers a bride's beautiful face.
Jake rose from his rickety chair to stretch his legs and six- foot, well-toned body. His four-legged companion did the same, but then sniffed out a more comfortable spot by the fire and resumed his previous position of enjoying the fire on his belly.
As Jake stood there looking around he could only marvel at the magnificence and awe-inspiring beauty of the twinkling stars overhead. As he looked, a meteor shot by and was gone as quickly as it began, leaving only a fading trail in its path.
"What could be more beautiful than this?," Jake thought to himself. No sooner did his mind construe this thought than his eyes saw something walking towards him from the opposite side of the fire! Getting closer he could see that it was a very curvaceous silhouette. Yes, a woman. But who? As she got closer, the scent of her perfume rode on the breeze and made its way into Jakes nostrils, like that of a midnight train entering a mountain-side tunnel. His chest stretched to its maximum bulk as he inhaled the sweet, sensuous odor. Jake exhaled ever so softly not wanting the smell to disappear. He inhaled for another body tingling breath, but instead sucked a lone mosquito out of the night air and into his nose. It lodged itself at the back of his throat making Jake cough and try to clear his throat. He sounded like a spewing cat trying to get a hairball out of its’ esophagus. Jake could see the woman, still making her way toward him, her face starting to become visible.
Jake hacked once more with a mighty blow and the mosquito, along with phlegm and other respiratory liquids, hurled forth landing at the woman's feet. Jake's dog, Chum, aroused by the commotion, rose to his feet and sniffed out the human hairball and with one lick of his tongue consumed it. The woman, now only a few feet from Jake, watched as Chum lay back down. She slowly lifted her eyes from the ground and stuck them back in her head. She now stood there with her eyes focused on Jake.
Jake felt embarrassed because of his actions, but at the same time felt as though the woman's seductive eyes were dressing him, since he was only wearing his 36-38 size Fruit of the Looms underwear. "This isn't real, it's not happening," Jake thought to himself. "She is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen!!" Besides, this was the only woman Jake had ever seen.
The woman stood about five feet, six and nine sixteenths inches tall. Her hair was light brown and came down to just below her shoulders. She had big brown seductive eyes which were accompanied by her extremely gorgeous facial features. Her skin looked soft to the touch and was a smooth, silky, creamy tan in color. The lips of the female were a dark red in shade, but oh, how those lips entranced anyone looking at them, especially men. They were full and ready to burst, the kind of lips that could cure any man's injury. Working his way past her face, as hard as it was to take his eyes off of, Jake moved down to her bare shoulders that flickered in the presence of the fire. In fact Jake noticed that they were on fire, but realized his eyes were playing tricks on him. His eyes roamed down to her sight-for-sore-eyes, beautiful figure. She was perfect in every way. Moving down he could see that her waist was very curvy and something to be desired, along with her small petite derriere. Her legs were well toned and smooth, like a piece of wood that's been sanded with six hundred grade sand paper. All aspects of her body stood out because of the skin tight dress she had on, but another look at it revealed that it was her skin. She was shedding. Jake didn't care, he wanted her badly.
He asked her name and she replied in a soft voice, "Michelle." Her soothing voice sent shivers up and down Jake's spine. He moved in closer to better use his senses of touch, smell, and taste. Their eyes stared deeply into one another’s. Michelle could see that Jake had a bad case of eyelash mites in his left eye facing her but it would be his right eye if she was looking from Jake's point of view. She instead stared at Jake's right/left eye and began to feel attracted, as did Jake. It was an instant bonding between them. They could feel deep down that they were made for each other. Sparks began to fly as they inched closer together, so they moved a couple feet away from the fire.
With their eyes locked together it would take a special key to separate them and their new-found love. Michelle's hands roamed the mold of Jake's face, his eyes, nose, down to his neck and back to his warm moist lips. He was the forbidden apple that Michelle so deeply desired. Jake pulled her close to him pressing her body against his own. Michelle’s lips met Jake’s softly, tenderly, but only for a second as Jakes sense of smell came into play. He smelled garlic and onions on Michelle's breath, but on a second smell of the air realized that it was his armpits that stunk as he was beginning to sweat profusely. The smell of Jake's aroused body didn't matter as he and Michelle kissed again but this time with more passion. Michelle felt a warmth within herself, especially her now bare feet. It wasn't a heat that Michelle had felt before. She looked down to see a freshly laid pile of dog poop resting on her foot. Michelle could feel it oozing between her toes with small chunks of corn intermixed throughout, but Chum's waste couldn't dash apart the feelings she was having with this man.
Jake squeezed harder to bring her even closer. He didn't realize his own power on Michelle's petite body as he heard a snap and Michelle went limp in his arms. A small moan arose from Michelle's wet noodle-like body. Jake’s heart was pounding. He could hardly hear Michelle’s voice over the heartbeats throbbing in his ear, but managed to hear her say, "I can't move." Jake thought that she was only kidding and decided to let go of her to see if his theory was true. It wasn't. Michelle crumpled to the ground into a small heap. Jake picked her back up and held her close. Jake then realized that Michelle wasn't a pile of soft powerless flesh for nothing. He had hurt her, and hurt her bad as his hand soon found out by running it down along her spine.
He discovered it was her fourth and fifth lumbar that had been compressed and crushed. A piece of Michelle's spinous process of vertebra was slightly protruding from her smooth creamy skin. He knew that he had probably injured her into a paralytic state. She would be a quadriplegic. Jake moved his hand again and felt something very uncommon in a spinal injury. "Her bones must have been fragile!," Jake thought as he felt the dorsal root ganglion of the spinal nerve connected to the spinal cord dangling between his fingers. He squeezed it to see what part of Michelle's body would react, but soon regretted his actions as Michelle's left eye popped like that of a cherry tomato being squished between your teeth, and squirted Jakes face with aqueous optic jelly. Michelle's head winced and twisted in pain as her left eye went dark.
Jake heard the most horrifying scream he had ever heard before in his life as Michelle let out a blood-curdling shriek that seemed to last for six seconds. Her scream must have passed 190 decibels as Jake's right ear exploded sending a torrent of blood streaming down his cheek.
At the same time, Chum, startled from the piercing percussion of sound, leaped into the air and came to rest in the middle of the fire. He quickly jumped back out to more cool ground and watched as his tail burst into flame. Barking and whining, Chum chased his tail in order to extinguish the red hot flame. Going in circles now, trying to catch his tail, he looked like a small tornado with hair. The more circles and the faster Chum went, the more the flame grew, getting energy from the oxygenated air. Chum's teeth were gnashing and snapping at the flame-ridden tail which was now fully engulfed. Reaching Chum's rear, the fire began to dwindle and lose strength and finally went out. Chum squatted and drug himself around in the cool dirt looking like a dog with worms. A small growl arose from Chum's innards as he was feeling a lot more relieved from the hair burning experience. Chum’s now hairless tail made him look like an overgrown rat of sorts. The end of his tail still smoked like that of a discarded fag, with the smoke ascending into the thin night air. Chum lay back down hoping that sleep would make the hot throbbing sensation in his appendage disappear.
The air was filled with the scent of burnt hair as Jake wiped his face off, and instantly everything went dark for Jake. He couldn't see or smell, and the once taken-for-granted sense of taste now vanished. Three of his five vital senses rested in his palm and half of one was oozing out of his ear. He could feel his head begin to turn warm as the bodily liquids stored within him began to color his head red.
Michelle, in the meantime, could only watch in horror as Jake's head deteriorated before her one eye. She wanted to run, but couldn't, and could only stare into Jakes now dark, hollowed out went deep into his skull. Two smaller holes a few inches down marked Jake’s nasal cavity now filled with blood and mucous. Jake’s head began to resemble a bowling ball, but not the kind you'd want to stick your fingers into. Michelle could hear a moaning coming from Jake's red skeleton looking head. His breaths were short and raspy; he was choking on his own blood. His lungs were filling with this life-sustaining fluid. Each new beat of his heart drew him closer to death. Michelle also realized that Jake was crying in pain due to the fact that his exposed tear ducts were shooting out streams of water like that of a broken fire hydrant. Michelle wanted more than anything to hold Jake and comfort him, but she couldn't do what her mind wanted to, due to the fact that her spine was severed.
Jake likewise, even though feeling faint and knowing he might kick the bucket, knew he had to help the person that meant so much to him, Michelle, but didn't know how to do it with the condition he was in. He knew that her life depended on his. His mind was racing with ideas when suddenly he remembered man's best friend lay only a few feet away. Jake tried to whistle for Chum, but instead, only sprayed Michelle's face. He tapped his bare leg in hopes of getting Chum's attention. The sound of skin being slapped awoke Chum. His ears perked up and he staggered to his feet and slowly approached his master. Michelle's nose wrinkled in disgust as she smelled Chum's roasted, charcoal tail a few feet below her. Jake, unable to talk, pointed away from Chum and into the woods hoping that his loyal companion knew what he was trying to say. Michelle caught onto Jake's idea and with a stern voice said, "Go dog. Go get help now!” With that, Chum turned and headed into the Michelle watched as Chum, part Chihuahua, part St. Bernard, part Poodle, hiked his leg on a bush and relieved himself before disappearing into the forest.
Michelle began to weep, because she knew that this was probably going to be the last man she'd be with before her departure to Hades. Jake heard Michelle's tearful sobbing, but only in monotone, and put his hand on her head hoping to comfort her in some way. He reached up to wipe the tears away from Michelle's angelic face, but accidentally stuck his finger into her open eye socket. His finger sank deep into her carved out hollowing making her head retract with pain. Jake felt as if he were sticking his finger into a container of margarine, soft and sticky. He pulled his finger back out of the wound like that of pulling a plunger out of a silicone tube. Michelle's vocal cords once again reached a piercing shriek blowing out Jake's other eardrum. Jake was now no more than a walking piece of celery. He was useless in all capacities except touch.
He fell to his knees, holding Michelle as he did. He ran his fingers through her hair, trying to ease her pain as well as his own.
The soft touch of Jake's manly hands running through her long, beautiful hair gave Michelle a sense of peacefulness. She closed her eye wanting to capture the every stroke of Jake's hand against her head. Her mind began to run free from all the pain and suffering that was going on around her. Thoughts of her young adulthood started to fill her mind.
She remembered it was a clear, warm day. The sun was shining down upon the two of them, warming them from the outside, while a different kind of warmth rose from the inside. Michelle was only nineteen and innocent, but the feelings that Alex was giving her made her want to stay with him for eternity. He was a strong-willed man as Michelle could remember. He set lofty goals for himself and always reached those goals. He had reached one of his main goals, that of becoming a host on a game show, but today he had a different goal in mind, that of making Michelle his wife. Michelle could remember Alex and herself, standing on the high peak overlooking the unsettled volcano in Hawaii with the man of her dreams running his fingers through her bleach/blond hair. The question came out of his mouth like a soft summer breeze, "Will you be my wife?," and flowed into Michelle's waiting ears. Tears of joy ran down her pink doll face cheeks as she responded with an undeniable, "Yes!" They embraced one another for the last time as Alex slipped on some loose pumice rock and fell out of Michelle's loving arms to the lava below. Michelle remembered his screams for help all the way down until he hit the lava, like that of a rock hitting thick mud, and was instantly incinerated in a ball of flame.
While Michelle lay remembering her past, Jake continued to stroke her hair and soft face. Jake didn't realize that they were only a few feet from the crackling fire, and little did he realize that a hot ember popped out of the fire and into Michelle's hair, away from Jake's soothing hands.
As Michelle thought about Alex's plummet to the inferno below, she began to feel a little warm. Was it her thoughts that made her feel this way or was it something else? It was that something else which lay within the keratin strands of her scalp, slowly sizzling into the layer of flesh like that of a Jersey cow being branded. As her face contorted into an agonizing pain of what the real source of heat was, her hair exploded into an orange fireball.
Jake couldn't hear Michelle's wailings of pain, but soon found out as his hands flinched back from an enormous heat-wave. Instantly he knew what was taking place and began throwing dirt onto Michelle's burning head. He got up to find something else to extinguish the fire with, but in the process stubbed his big toe on an exposed rock, splitting it wide open. He gurgled in pain and grabbed his toe, squeezing hard to stop the pain and bleeding. He stumbled backwards, falling at the side of Michelle's body. His head struck a piece of firewood that lay near the fire, making him woozy. He felt as though he might blackout, never to awaken again. As the feeling of death started to overtake him, he reached for Michelle one last time.
His hand came to rest on what felt like a burnt marshmallow, it was Michelle's blackened scalp. Just like a burnt marshmallow, Jake's hands became sticky from the fried epidermis covering. As he moved his hand away, Michelle's skin came with it in one smooth, creamy move. It was like removing the outer layer of a burnt marshmallow, exposing the delicate still warm and gooey center. Jake noticed that Michelle didn't fidget or move her head while this was taking place. He reached over with his other hand, putting his two fingers on Michelle's neck, hoping to find a pulse of life in Michelle's withered body, but it wasn't to be.
Jake lay there, hoping that this was all a bad dream and that he would soon wake up. The world as Jake knew it was closing in on him like that of dirt being piled around a dead corpse in a grave. Thoughts of the night began to rush back to him, thoughts of Michelle and the beauty she possessed. The first time he held her and the smell of her perfume. The last thing Jake recalled was that of his lips meeting Michelle's for the first time, the passion and tenderness of that moment gave Jake a sigh of relief. Jake could feel tears flowing down his face for the last time, but not tears of pain and the thought of death, but the tears of joy and comfort that Michelle had brought to him. With all the strength he could muster, Jake slid his hand over until it met Michelle's. He grasped it and pulled it to his chest, hoping that somehow Michelle's lifeless body could feel the love that lay within the last beat of his heart.
Jake's head slowly rolled to the side ending what had begun as a wonderful night.
In the meantime, Chum, continuing on his journey for help, stopped and sniffed the air. Was it the scent of his master's death that hung in the air like a cold morning fog or was it something else that his outlet shaped nose was detecting? Small clouds of vapor shot out of Chum's nostrils like a fire-breathing dragon as he exhaled into the frigid night air. It wasn't his master he had smelled, because there before him loomed a giant grizzly. The grizzly's mouth dripped with clear cool liquid as it had just come from a fishing meal at the river on the other side of the hill. Rearing back on his hind legs, the grizzly stood over nine feet tall making Chum look like a small rat, which he did with a bare tail.
The bear charged the small, defenseless four-legged furball. Its teeth were showing as its’ mouth was open exposing the jagged, ivory stones of death. Its lips were gnarled back with thick saliva from its' hungry orifice. A deep, thunderous growl from deep within the fierce animal was heard as it charged ahead, closing in on the nervous pooch.
Chum had only one thing to do and that was to try to fight to stay alive. The beast was only a few feet away as the hair on Chum's back stood on end making him look like an overgrown porcupine.
There was an intense battle between the two creatures. Fur seemed to be flying everywhere. The crushing of bone could be heard and the tearing of flesh. Growling and yelping filled the dense forest. Suddenly, as quickly as it had begun, it was over. Silence fell to the earth as the victorious animal stood over its casualty. He used his keen sense of smell to determine if his enemy was dead. Concluding that it was, the wounded animal limped off only to stop a few yards away to see the motionless pile of fur, flesh and bone steam quietly like the evaporating dew of the morning grass. Turning back around, the victorious, strong-willed dog, Chum, continued on his quest to find help.
He soon came upon a cave of sorts and sniffed out a dry spot to rest for the night. The dog hoped that the next day would be better than what the night before had offered.
Little did Chum realize that there wouldn't be another day because of his poor choice of a resting place. He had found his night’s warmth in a dry, dark tunnel.
The 3 a.m. train rumbled in one end of the tunnel and out the other, slicing its way through the brisk night air, destined for the lights of the big city.
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Written by a Fellow Warmchew
