Ghost Stories, books, WoD 2edycja
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™
®
By
Rick Chillot / Matt Forbeck / Geoff Grabowski /
Matthew Mcfarland / Adam Tinworth / Chuck Wendig
1
“Only the hand that erases
can write the true thing.”
— Meister Eckhart
Someone had sliced open Ted’s forearms from wrist to elbow They had pulled
back the skin and pushed aside muscles and tendons torn through nerves and
blood vessels until they exposed the yellowwhite of bone They had filled the cavi
ties with carpet tacks sewing needles shards of a glass and razor blades Then they
had squeezed muscle tendon and sinew back together pulled the skin tight and
sewn it all together again without leaving a single stitch mark Now Ted could feel
the hundreds of jagged edges and merciless needles tearing into his arms as he typed
ripping into him like tiny teeth
He pushed himself away from the desk massaging one wrist and then the other
“Carpal tunnel syndrome…” Ted muttered “Should have its own telethon like MS” He
checked the clock He’d been typing for two hours That was an improvement A month
ago five minutes at the keyboard would have left him in pain for the rest of the day
It seemed the vitamins and wrist exercises were actually helping
Opening the FedEx box Arnie had sent made Ted forget about his condi
tion for a while According to Arnie’s last email a realestate contact had
hooked him up with a welloff widow preparing to move to an oldfolks’
home A widow usually knew the value of her own treasures but could
easily be talked into unloading her husband’s stuff at a fraction of its
actual price “For grave robbers we’re pretty lucky” Arnie had once
said “We don’t even get our hands dirty”
By late afternoon Ted had priced several flyrod reels and
sent email queries to three collectors who’d fight for them
like hyenas over a dead antelope He’d listed mintcon
dition LPs for online auction He’d thrown out six wa
terstained copies of Reader’s Digest (What was
Arnie thinking?) And he’d closed back up a desk
lamp three fountain pens seven por
celain figurines and two wrist
watches for later appraisal
2
Chapter 2- ATTRIBUTES
The
final bundle
was a tubeshaped newspa
percovered package As he pulled off the
twine and tugged at the wrapping Ted tried to
guess at what was inside Too short for an umbrella
Perhaps a pool cue disassembled in its case? That might be
something worthwhile if it was an antique and in good shape
Ted knew a newly retired doctor who was setting up a billiards
room…
Then he realized what he was looking at Under all the newspaper
was a lifesized elbowtofingertips human arm and hand He almost
dropped it altogether before he realized it was just a sculpture Ted pulled
the remaining newspaper down like a sleeve It was made of some sort of
ceramic a light terra cotta color not dissimilar to human flesh Ted let the
wrapping fall to the floor The hand and fingers were anatomically correct if
somewhat simplified Fingernails and wrinkles were suggested by creases but
not completely defined
He laid the arm on his desk palm up The hand and fingers were curled as if
grabbing at something As if the arm had been alive and moving a moment be
fore and would again if he turned his back After cursing Arnie one more time
Ted retrieved pieces of newspaper He considered boxing the piece back up for later,
but decided to research it instead. The sooner the it was gone, the better.
And if he didn’t rewrap it he didn’t have to touch it again
***
Ted handed Judy a spare pillow which she dropped on the couch “Are you
sure you don’t want the bed?” Ted asked again
Judy clucked her tongue “I’m sure! Don’t worry about it” She was fishing
through her duffel bag for her alarm clock “Seriously my race is Saturday and
then I’ll be out of your hair Hey I saw you on that antiques show last month That
suit you were wearing was awful”
“You saw that?” Ted walked across the living room and looked out the win
dow The street light on the corner flickered It was late Most of the other
houses on the street were lit by weak yellow porch lights It was good Ted
thought not to be alone for once “Judy— ”
“Yeah?” She was sitting on the couch with her legs crossed at the
ankles flipping through a copy of Bicycling magazine
“Nothing… I guess I’d better let you get some sleep”
“I’m getting up at six for a ride I’ll try not to wake you” she
said
3
***
“Let go of me!” Ted tried to say the words but no
sound came out of his mouth He wasn’t sure where
he was only that there was something
clamped hard around his right hand
Something that squeezed
***
“It’s just business” Ted explained again as he scanned the road and changed lanes
to pass a sputtering pickup truck “Hey here’s the turn” he announced and sig
naled a left onto a cracked and potholed asphalt road
Judy stared at him as he adjusted the rearview mirror and tried to ignore her
“We don’t do anything illegal” he finally said “If people don’t know the value
of what they’ve got that’s their problem It’s how I make a living I buy things low
and sell high”
Judy spit her gum into a tissue and wadded it up “Like that?” She cocked
her thumb toward the back seat “It’s the ugliest thing I ever saw”
Ted adjusted the rearview mirror and saw the hand sculpture on the
back seat He had placed it palm down on a thick towel It looked like the
fingers gripped the fabric like a baby clutching a blanket The thing had
made him nervous the day before but now it seemed sort of elegant
and charming in its simplicity “Arnie and I had an interesting con
versation about it this morning Have you ever heard of Manuel
Diaz?”
“No”
“He was a sculptor who died about a year ago He was
a distant relative of Mrs… A lady Arnie visited the other
day Anyway since Diaz died his work has really
been selling I talked to a few dealers and
they told me he’s on the verge of
gaining a national
4
Chapter 2- ATTRIBUTES
his fingers in a
cold inflexible grip His hand
was being pulled and he had to follow
All around him were tall shapes against dark
ness Columns No trees Black trees in a forest of
night Ted could feel his feet tripping over roots and
branches
“Let go” he said again this time forcing a whisper from his
throat He pulled away but something pulled back Something dragged
him unceasingly into the dark
“Ted! Ted!”
Ted pulled his hand out of Judy’s grasp and blinked Her face was red in
the light of the digital clock by his bed “Wake up”
“Wha…?” His mouth was dry He was sweating “What’s…?”
“You were shouting”
Ted rubbed his eyes Had he been dreaming? Something about a… No it was
gone Judy was crouched next to the bed She massaged his wrist “Is your carpal
tunnel acting up?”
“No” he muttered “Sorry… sorry I woke you”
“You didn’t” she said standing “I came up to use the bathroom By the way I
walked past your office and that saw that creepy hand thing on your desk It scared
the shit out of me”
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