Fear the Abyss: 22 Terrifying Tales of Cosmic Horror (7 page)

"
I’m dead. And you aren’t crazy. You have to help me
."

Frank considered this for a moment; his dead wife was talking to him through a radio on a cruise ship headed for what was originally a second honeymoon.

"Some second honeymoon, huh?" he said.

Radio Candy laughed.

Frank stood up and walked away from the desk to clear his head a little.

"
Where are you going
?" the voice sounded worried.

"I’m here," he replied. "Just, walking around a little. Trying to let this sink in, you know?"

"
Okay, thought I lost you. I’m so sorry
."

"Sorry for what?"

"
I don’t know
," Candace said.

"It does put a damper on this trip, but it’s not like it’s your fault. I was thinking of suing that goddamn company."

"
You won’t win
" Candy said. "
It’s not their fault. It was mine. I got stupid. Clumsy
."

Frank looked at the radio and frowned.

"You aren’t clumsy or stupid, Candy. You never were."

Candace on the radio sounded like she sighed.

"
I was. More than you know
."

Frank walked back to the desk and sat down.

"How are you able to talk to me?  You’re some kind of ghost, right?"

"
Not exactly
," she said. "
There was an explosion at work. They told you that much I’m sure
."

"They did,"

"
Well, the explosion didn’t just kill me; it irradiated my body in some terrible way near as I can figure. It killed me, but it kept the molecules intact. Alive and aware somehow. Even when I was cremated. It must have been the new isotope generator we had started using. Experimental. My ashes are nearby the radio I guess
."

Frank looked at the box and put a hand on it.

"You’re right next to the radio."

"
I can feel it, that makes sense
," the voice said. "
Where have you kept the box? I’ve been hoping you’d put me near something electronic to test my theory
."

"Theory? You’ve been a pile of ash for three months."

"
Yes, and I’ve been just hovering around. It’s been awful--hearing you and not being able to say anything. It’s like being in hell
."

Frank was still reeling from this, but it was starting to sink in a little bit more.

"God, I’ve missed you so much Candy," he said.

"
Then you need to help me, Frankie. You have to free me
."

"Free you how?"

"I need you to dump the ashes. You need to separate the ashes and scatter me. I think I can move on if you do that
,"

"Is this another theory?" Frank asked. Although he was getting closer to believing what was happening, he wasn’t so sure he wanted it to be over; just hearing her voice made him feel better.

"
It is, but if I was right about the radio, I should be right about this
,"

Frank felt his eyes well up again.

"I don’t know that I can do that, baby. I really don’t know-"

"
I have to tell you something that may make you change your mind
," she said.

"What?"

"
I didn’t accidentally blow myself up
."

"I know. Those bastards were careless..."

"
No, Frank. I blew myself up
."

Frank stared at the radio in disbelief. That didn’t make sense.

"Honey, that--"

"
I killed myself
."

"You’re lying," he said. "You were happy. We were happy. You didn’t kill yourself."

"
You were happy
," Candace said. "
You were always happy, Frank. I’m sorry to say that, but you have to know
."

"You’re just saying that to make me dump the ashes," Frank said, but he knew when she was lying. He always did and she wasn’t lying now. "Why didn’t you say anything?"

"
I tried to, but I couldn’t. I knew you’d never divorce me. Not without a fight. I just couldn’t...face you after our argument
."

Frank sat there, looking at the clock. He didn’t say anything at all, he just looked. The digital display still read 9:43 and flickered to 44 every few seconds.

Candace had wanted out. And she got out, alright. But that number...what the hell was that all about?

"
Frank
?" Candy asked. "
Are you still walking around
?"

"No, I’m here." He said. "Just pondering I guess."

"
Ponder face
," she said and gave a small laugh.

Frank wasn’t getting something. She couldn’t face him about not being happy? She was able to face him about nearly everything else and talked about leaving him. He looked at the clock.

"What happened at 9:43AM, Candy?"

"
What
?"

"The radio your voice is coming through? It’s a clock radio. It flickers on and off between 9:43 and 44. What’s that all about?"

There was a silence and she responded,

"
I don’t really know
."

"The time of death was 10:32AM, so it’s not that. What happened at 9:43?"

Again there was silence.

"
I don’t...really know. That’s odd
."

Frank laughed.

She was lying.

"You’re a box of ash talking to me through a radio and
that’s
odd?" He clapped his hands. "Oh Candace, that’s wicked."

"
Frank, are you going to scatter my ashes? Are you going to let me go
?"

"I want to know what happened at 9:43." Frank said.

He stood up from the desk and walked over to the TV. It was a big widescreen television that was mounted on the wall. In all the time he was in the stateroom, turning it on was never an option. He just wanted to cry, mourn and go on. But now...

"I have a theory, Candace." Frank said and pushed the power button on the TV.

"
Frank
?" Candy said through the radio and then a large burst of static shot out.

The TV screen was a bright blue that began to break up as soon as the static sound blared over the radio.

Behind the loud white noise he could hear Candace calling for him. It sounded like she was at the bottom of a well, but slowly on the TV, the screen began to clear up; not enough to where he could see anything clearly, but he could make out something.

"I can almost see you Candy," Frank said and sat the edge of the bed. "Are you there?"

"
What are you doing
?" Her voice was very faint, but he could hear her.

"I turned on the TV." He said. "I have a
theory
."

"
Frank, turn off the TV
," she said, still sounding distant, but getting closer.

"Let’s see. Show me the explosion," Frank said, and almost instantly, he got a grainy looking point of view looking image on the screen. It was Candace’s lab. It was scattered with microscopes and gloves and computers that all flashed by like a continuous wild camera shot. Occasionally, Frank could see Candace’s hands come into view and she was moving frantically across the lab. The quick blackouts that happened must have been her blinking, he thought.

"I’m seeing what you saw that day," Frank said. "This is amazing,"

"
Frank, stop it!  Please-you don’t want to see this
!"

Frank ignored her and kept watching. He watched Candace walk to a power box filled with fuses and switches. She began to flip random switches and then she ran to a large terminal that had a huge warning sticker above a dial. She grabbed the dial and turned it all the way to the right. She spun around and looked at the power box from across the room. There was a moment and then a blinding explosion. Frank jumped back from where he was sitting and gasped.

He had just watched his wife die from her point of view.

He cried as he heard Candace calling to him.

"
Frank, turn the TV off. Oh God, please...turn that off
."

Frank let out a big sigh.

"Show me what happened at 9:43," he said.

The TV went to static and then cleared again. It was another point of view from Candace but this time she was typing at a computer. It looked like she was typing an email. Candy looked away from the email and at a picture of her and Frank on her desk. Then she looked at something in front of the picture.

It was a pregnancy test. Frank couldn’t make out what brand, but he could see the color pink.

Candace again looked back to the email. She hit the ‘send’ button and the email sent. Candace looked at the bottom corner of the computer screen and saw the time.

9:43AM

And a split second later, it was 9:44.

Frank turned the TV off.

He sat there.

"
Frank
?"

Frank sat and said nothing.

"
I’m so sorry, Frankie. I don’t know what to say
."

"You couldn’t tell me?" he asked. "You could tell me every horrible other thing but that? Who was it?"

"
No one you know
," the radio said.

"Obviously," Frank said and chuckled. "You cheated on me and then you got pregnant and then killed yourself
and
your unborn child."

Silence.

"How could you?" Frank asked.

"
I’m in hell, Frank. Literally. I’m sorry. You’ll never know how sorry I am
."

Frank laughed.

"What was the email? Was it to him?"

"
Yes
," Candace said simply. "
He didn’t want to pay for an abortion and I wasn’t about to tell you. I panicked and told him I was going to kill myself. He wrote back, ‘fine.’ Can you believe that
?"

Frank just sat there, not saying anything. She sounded so cold. As cold as ever, in fact.

"I’m going to go take a walk, Candy. I’d ask you along, but I don’t think the cord to the radio is that long,"

"
Frank, wait
!"

Frank got up and stormed out of the stateroom.

He walked around the entire length of the ship twice, which took longer than he thought it would take. He thought about what had just happened. He had spent three months feeling broken and now, he was broken all over again in a different way.

The question now was what to do.

After an hour, he came back into the room. He didn’t hear anything on the radio, but when he slammed the door closed, he heard Candace start to cry.

"
Frank? Oh, baby. Are you back
?"

Frank sat at the desk.

"I’m here, Candy."

"
Are you okay
?"

"Is the baby in there with you?" Frank asked. "I know it wasn’t really formed yet I guess, but is it?"

"
Yes
," Candace replied. "
You can’t hear her? She screams all the fucking time
."

Frank remembered the scream when he turned the radio on earlier.

Frank nodded. "I’d always wanted a daughter, you know."

"
I know
," Candace said, sadly. "
But you wouldn’t have wanted someone else’s baby, would you? You would have thrown me out and
--"

"Bullshit, Candy. Just bullshit." Frank said. "You should have known me better than that,"

"
I do know you better than that
," Candace shot back. "
You never would have let me go. You would have wanted counseling or some such thing. Truth is I just wasn’t in love you, anymore. Sorry, but it’s true.
"

"You’re sorry," Frank said flatly to no one in particular.

"
Yes I am and I’ll never be able to make that up to you. But please. You have to help me! After the explosion, all I have is this baby screaming and nothing else. There’s no light, nothing else but her and her damned screaming and I hate it
!"