From: -=AV=- Hello Spenderficers, I just wrote this piece in the heat of the moment. I decided, "What the Hell." It was worth the kick. It is a type of fic that I will call Horror!Fic. You will see the oddness of this once you read it. Title: "Demon Dance" Author: AV E-Mail: avxfiles@geocities.com Rating: R (terror; screnes of death; live killings) Classification: X - X-Files case... nothing more Content: Alternate Universe; Terror!Fic Spoilers: nothing Archive: Anywhere, just tell me! Disclaimer: They're not mine. Chris Carter owns them. Summary: During the night, Spender is awoken by the screams of his neighbor. Terror ensues. Author's Note: I need feedback. Drovar, I know you're out there... how was it? Kristina? Meg? Spender lay asleep in his apartment. The window of his room was partly open, letting a cool, summer-night breeze rush through. So quiet and peaceful. A scream. It made him jolt up in his bed. The scream had come from the apartment beside his. A lovely female lived there alone. He had tried several times to approach her, but failed miserably each time. Another scream. A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead. She had never been like that. She was always quiet. Even with company. There was something wrong. A third scream. He jumped out of his bed. He reached over his night stand to get his gun. He fiddled nervously, groping for the cool metal shaft. Nothing. Spender shot his head around and looked terrified at the empty table. His watch and alarm clock were even missing. "No..." Spender muttered. He shoved his left leg out from under the covers. This bare feet hit the cool hardwood floor. His second leg swung out to meet the first. He hoisted his rear from the bed and began to walk briskly to the front door of his apartment. He could hear the creaking of the apartment complex settling. His made him jump with each "creak" and "moan" it made. He made his way across the living room which was the first room a visitor would see entering. There was only his computer screen on, the screen-saver aglow in the darkness of the apartment. It made everything in the room's shadows dance across the walls. Like demons celebrating the damnation of a human soul. Terrible thoughts. The night seemed to do this to people. Spender had read cases of people just losing it during the night. Just because they could stand what they couldn't see. A creak. Shadows moved. He made it to the door. The screams had stopped, and he wondered if his female neighbor had just been having a bad dream. A shatter. From next door. Oh, God. There was something going on. "Easy Spender, old boy," he said to himself. "Don't lose it." He reached out his hand for the doorknob. He squeezed his hand and turned the knob. The door creaked open. The dim light from the hallway seeped into his apartment, ceasing the demon dance. For now. He placed his bare foot into the hallway. No one else was out there. As if no one else could hear her screams. He walked across the public carpeting which thousands must have done before. He walked only ten feet till he reached the door of his neighbor. He looked at himself. He was in nothing but his underwear. He hoped he wasn't going to make a fool of himself. He placed his ear to the door, listening of any sign of life. He didn't hear anything... but it didn't mean it wasn't there. Spender placed his hand on the knob and gave it a turn. There was sweat forming on his chest. He was nervous. He was also unarmed. The door popped open. It was never locked. Nor closed properly, for that matter. The door swooped open and a rush of cool air hit him in the face. She must have an air conditioner. He didn't. His heart was pounding in his chest, keeping him informed with the idea that he was still alive. Her place looked very familiar to his. Exact form. Even the same furnishings. But the accessories were all different. Where his computer would have been, there was a fish tank. It gave off an eerie glow that filled the room with a blue light. A creak. No. A footstep. In her bedroom. Spender froze, almost afraid to go inside to see what was wrong. His mind was filled with awful scenarios of what could go wrong. What being was waiting for him. Another step. Closer. Heart pounding. Spender backed up. He needed to be armed. He spun around and went to the fish tank. He had noticed a metal spade... the ones used in fireplaces. He clamped his hand around it and pulled it from the table. The light from the tank made the metal seem as if it were glowing. I freaked him out. A step. Another heart beat skipped. Spender held his weapon high above his head as he made his way further into her apartment. His hands were shaking. A step. Close. Probably twenty feet away. The door he saw ahead of him had the shadows of a lamp dancing on it. The light from the tank making the silhouette of the lamp dance on the bedroom door. Like the demons. They were back. His heart kept pounding. There was an intense thumping in his ear. Another step. The demons danced. Step. Dance. Step. Dance. No step. They continued to dance. Spender stopped feet away from the door of the bedroom. He couldn't hear the steps of whatever was behind the door. Had they stopped? Had the even been there to begin with? The spade in hand, he came up to the door. He grasped the knob and gave it a full turn. It opened easily. The demons danced. He pushed the door open and expected and man to jump out at him. No one. He moved further into the bedroom, with his spade in hand. He saw the figure of a woman lying in the bed. She was sleeping, and didn't look as if she had been disturbed. "Dammit!" Spender muttered. "There was nothing wrong." He moved closer to the woman he had admired for so long. Her head was covered with the sheets. She stepped up beside the bed and placed his knees on the floor. He leaned over her body. Wait. Her body. Her sheets. He reached over to the edge of the sheets, and uncovered her head. There was something odd about her. He pulled the sheets off of her, and Spender almost swallowed his tongue. She was there. Peacefully. Dead. But peacefully. Well, maybe not. Her throat had been cut. Blood had pooled on the bed, and her face was stuck in a silent scream. Her third scream. She had been killed. What was that behind him? A footstep? Yes. God. Another step. God, no! As if someone had been hiding from him. He could feel that someone step up behind him. He could just feel someone's presence loom over him. It was a chill he got. No! A strong hand grabbed him from behind and across his chest, pulling Spender up to the man. A knife came out with the stranger's other hand. It pressed against Spender's throat. It cut. It tore through a major artery. Another cut. This time through his larynx. The man left him go, and Spender fell to the floor. "Hegglp..." Spender gurgled. It was a muffled "help." He could feel the blood spirt out of him with each heartbeat. Thump. Thump. Spender groped in the darkness. He pulled himself up using the woman's night table. He propped himself up and open his eyes. He looked for a phone. "Gggnooo!" Spender spitted out "no." He saw his handgun. Right beside his alarm clock. And his watch. Spender felt weak. He felt his heartbeat slow down. His hands loosened and he fell from the night table onto the floor. He could feel nothing but the beat of his heart and the spilling of his blood. His life fluid. He saw only red. And the dancing of the demons. Dancing into the night. What do you have to say? I'd love to hear it. ~~AV~~ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- OVER 630 SITES! Do you have an X-Files web site? 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