Chapter 1846Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkF21S11K0P
Annaliese sighed as she stretched and rolled back her shoulders. She was exhausted; teaching long classes late at night was tiring. Being only an adjunct professor, she really did not get top pick for class times, and so she was relegated to Art History Survey I on Friday nights from six to nine o’clock. As a night class on Friday night, most students either didn’t show up most nights or were mentally clocked out. Though she loved teaching, that made for rather boring classes. She yawned. “I’ll be so glad with this class is over for the semester,” she muttered under her breath as she unlocked the door to her glorified-coat-closet-called-an-office and walked inside.846Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMYb507WpeM
Within her office, she had just enough room for two bookshelves on the right-hand wall and a small, L-shaped desk in the corner. Behind her desk, she had a small office chair, and in front of it a wooden stool for students to sit on if they visited. It was rather cramped. Above her desk was a rectangular, awning window. It didn’t shut quite right, and so her office was freezing. She hated winter; she was always freezing, sniffling, and coughing. After pulling on her heavy coat, Annaliese picked up her bag and began stuffing all her papers inside.
There was a rapt knock at the door. Annaliese looked up, confused. Who could that be? she wondered. Surely all of her students left immediately after class ended. “Come in?” she called, her confusion echoing in her voice. The door opened, and an elderly woman, probably close to eighty years in age, walked in. She was rail thin and rather tall, with a severe demeanor. Her face was thin and angular, with high cheekbones, and she had bifocal glasses pushed low on her nose. She also had grey hair pulled back in a tight bun. For some unknown reason, she made Annaliese feel extremely unnerved.
“Are you Dr. Annaliese Lenz?” the woman asked, peering over the rims of her glasses. Her eyes matched her face, very thin and cold. The chill in Annaliese’s office felt intensified under her stare.
“Well,” Annaliese replied, “I’m not a doctor yet. I’m still working on my dissertation. But I am Annaliese, yes. May I help you?” Shivering, she bit the inside of her lip nervously. Why was this woman coming to see her so late at night?
The woman smiled. “Oh, dear! I’m so happy to meet you!” She embraced Annaliese in a tight hug, which felt more like an anaconda’s tight grip than a hug. Annaliese just stood, slightly dumbfounded. The woman pulled back smiling.
“Do I… know you?” Annaliese asked. She was still rather taken aback. While the woman seemed to be putting on a happy front now, she still seemed cold and somewhat insincere, at least in Annaliese’s mind.
“I’m Phyllis Gates. I worked with your grandfather once-upon-a-time. Surely he’s mentioned me?”
A sharp twinge of pain shot through Annaliese’s chest. Her grandfather had died early that year. She had been extremely close to him, and his sudden death had sent her into a spiraling depression for several months, losing quite a bit of weight and overall health. If her grandfather hadn’t been so proud that she was following in his footsteps and getting a doctorate degree in Art History, she would have even quit school. Luckily, that had been her salvation. By focusing on something that she and her grandfather had both loved and learned together, she was able to pull herself out of her grief.
Putting on a bright smile quickly, Annaliese began nodding. “Oh yes! I believe I remember hearing your name once or twice.” That answer seemed to satisfy Phyllis. Although honestly, Annaliese had never heard of the woman before. Her grandfather had certainly never mentioned her. For some reason, despite seeming genial now, Phyllis still gave her the creeps. There was just something about her that did not seem right at all.
Phyllis had started talking again. “I’m sorry to stop by so late. I was on campus and I heard that Alphonse’s granddaughter worked here. I’m very sorry for your loss, dear, and that I wasn’t able to make it to the funeral.” She was holding onto Annaliese’s hand with her bony, frigid fingers now. That made the office colder than ever. Annaliese wanted to pull away, but she didn’t.
“Oh, that’s alright. I’m glad you came to visit though. Would you like to go get a coffee and chat? I’m afraid my office window is broken, making it rather cold in here.” Annaliese knew she was shivering by now, and she really just wanted to go home. But it was best to be polite.
“No, no dear. I just wanted to stop by tonight! I shan’t keep you. It’s late and so cold out!” Phyllis let go of Annaliese’s hand and took a step back. “It was so nice to see you. I’m busy this weekend, but I’ll be in town for a few days after. I hope we have a chance to talk more.”
Annaliese nodded. “Sure. I have office hours on Monday around noon, but we could have lunch if you like?” Secretly, she hoped her invitation would be declined.
“That sounds nice dear. Well, goodnight!” Phyllis turned and started out the door, but suddenly paused. “Oh, I forgot to ask.” She turned around completely to face Annaliese again. “Are you also researching the Illuminated Manuscripts that Alphonse spent so much time on?” For some reason, though the smile was still on her face, the demeanor of the old woman had completely changed now. It was sinister.
“No. I’ve been studying Romanticism and the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich,” Annaliese replied. That was a complete lie, however. Of course Annaliese was studying the medieval manuscripts that her grandfather devoted his life to. She herself had spent so many of her summers traveling with her grandfather to study with him. Continuing his research was extremely important to her.
“Do you know where his research is?” That, Annaliese suddenly felt, was the real reason for Phyllis’ sudden visit.
“No. I was never able to find it. His books and journal articles are pretty easy to find though. I can make you a list?” Again, that was another lie. She had all of her grandfather’s notes, journals, and manuscripts stowed away in her closet at home.
“I’m sure I can find those myself. Thank you dear.” And with that, Phyllis Gates suddenly left, leaving Annaliese a tad surprised.
Well, that was an abrupt, and rather rude, ending to the conversation, she thought, turning to gather up her belongings once more. By now, she was ready to go home. After waiting a few more minutes to make sure her visitor had time enough to leave the building, and maybe walk the length of a few of the parking lots, Annaliese locked up her office and left the building.
Unfortunately, she had a bad habit of waking up late, and so she never got a very good parking spot. Pulling her winter coat closer, she walked as briskly as she could towards her car. “I hate winteeeeer!!” she groaned, watching her breath float in the cold air before her. It was well below freezing in temperature outside, with a possibility of snow or sleet through the weekend. Annaliese hoped her heater still worked. It had been acting funny lately. The owner of the duplex she lived in was supposed to fix it today, but who knows if he had actually gotten around to it. “Oh, I swear if he hasn’t, I’m going to give him a piece of my….”
She stopped walking suddenly. Though she was in sight of her car, there was something else beside it. Squinting, she peered at it, then felt her heart sink. There was a dog sitting next to her car, and a large one at that. Freakishly large, disheveled, and black.
Annaliese was terrified of dogs, ever since one had chased her as a child. Though she had come out of the experience physically unscathed, a disabling fear of large dogs had plagued her ever since. Now what do I doooo?? she wondered, slightly despairing inside. I just want to go home! She stared at the dog for a few minutes, which sat next to the driver’s side door of her small car. It didn’t seem to have any intention of moving, but Annaliese definitely did not plan to go near it. She stood where she was, staring at it, for at least five minutes. Finally, the dog stood up and began walking towards her.
Though she wanted to run, probably the worst thing to do with a dog, Annaliese was frozen to the spot. She couldn’t move at all, even though she desperately wanted to. The dogs slowly skulked towards her, while she screamed in her head at her legs to move.
“Miss, are you alright?”
Annaliese jumped, the spell broken. She looked quickly behind her, where a man was standing, then back in the direction of the dog. It was gone. “Where did it go?” she asked aloud.
“Where did what go?” Annaliese looked behind her, to the man that had walked up. He was looking at her like she was insane, with a raised eyebrow and a slight smirk on his face. He had black, slicked-back hair, and the beginnings of a stubbly beard on his face. He was wearing a black leather jacket, jeans, and boots.
“The dog!” Annaliese exclaimed. “That big black dog that was right there!!” She pointed to where the dog had been, just maybe fifty feet away from where they were standing.
“There’s never been a dog there,” the man said. “You’ve been standing here for five minutes. Are you alright? Coming down with a fever?” Smirking, he put his hand up to Annaliese’s cheek, but she jerked away.
“There was a dog,” she insisted. Desperately she looked around for it, but it was gone. There was nowhere for it to hide, since the parking lot was completely empty except for her own car.
“Riiiiiight. Just like there are aliens hiding out in the art room. Because you know, no one can make that weird abstract shit without being from another planet.” The man laughed.
Now Annaliese looked at him strangely. First Phyllis, now the dog, and now this man. Tonight was bizarre. It was definitely time to go home. She hurried off to her car.
“Aw! Goodnight, doll!” the man called as she climbed into her car and drove away.
~*~
Annaliese had driven home as fast as she could. Once inside, she locked her door and sighed. “I swear…” she muttered. All she wanted now was a hot shower, a glass of wine, and to sit down and watch TV.
After taking a shower, she realized that her heater still wasn’t working, so she put on flannel pajamas and a hoodie. Then she went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine, and promptly sat down on the couch, wrapped herself in blankets, and turned on the television.
In a few hours, Annaliese began to yawn. As she stood up to move to her bedroom, a violent scratching at the door began. “What the hell!?” Annaliese went over to her front window to peek through her blinds.
A large, black dog with red eyes hit her window, rattling the panes, and started growling. Annaliese gasped loudly, and darted to the other side of the room as fast as she could. What was wrong with this dog!? It was now continuously hitting the window. Surely it would break any moment. Annaliese grabbed her house phone and ran into her bedroom, slamming the door. The window partially shattered as she did so.
Frantically, Annaliese tried to dial 9-1-1 to get the police or animal services to take care of the beast, but to her dismay the phone line was out. “No, no, no…” Her cell phone had been left in the kitchen to charge, and now she could hear the dog growling in her living room. There was no way she could get to it. The other side of the duplex was empty, so there was no way anyone could hear her if she started beating on the wall. It was only a matter of time before the monster dog tried to break into her bedroom, which would be easy since the door didn’t even lock. Annaliese was terrified, sinking down to sit in front of the door. What could she do!? There was no way she could hold the door shut for long…
Suddenly she heard a loud yell, like a battle cry, then an even louder crash and yelp. The growling suddenly ceased. “I got it!” a deep voice exclaimed excitedly. Now it sounded like someone was bouncing up and down in the middle of her living room.
Curiosity winning over, Annaliese slowly cracked opened the door and peered out from the bottom. The first thing she noticed was all the glass shattered in the floor, reflecting the lights of the television in the dark. Both her window and her glass-top coffee table had been broken. But in place of the dog, there was now a large man, holding what looked like an equally large battle hammer, like the one you see in games. Surely it wasn’t real? It was still dark, so the man’s face was not visible. There was no sign of the dog, only a black, greasy smear in the middle of the floor and on the remains of the coffee table.
What on earth was going on!?846Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHU60jvcOM5
