Chapter 56

Things had escalated.
Arnold B. Cavenstein was curled into a ball on the linoleum floor of his kitchen. He had assumed the form upon hearing the unmistakable sound of a gunshot from the next room where he had been hosting a dinner party for the past several days. Since the gunshot there had been no sound from the room and no movement by any of the room’s dining members.
As he sat motionless on the floor Arnold’s heart beat ferociously in his chest. His mind was screaming at him to get up and go, escape from the chaotic situation. His body slowly began to catch up to the urgency of his thoughts and he moved to uncoil. Suddenly, a high-pitched voice screamed from the dining room. Arnold froze.
“You really don’t know why I’m here do you?”
There was a moment of silence and then the voice continued.
“He was too thorough! Too meticulous! He knew I didn’t understand, so he left it for me. All spelled out! And when he left and all I wanted to do was die, it was the only thing there for me!”
BANG.
“AAH!” cried a second deeper voice.
“Don’t move again Simon or I’ll put it somewhere worse!”
Footsteps could be heard moving slowly around the adjacent room. With each step Arnold could feel his breath quicken until it seemed he would have no room left in his lungs.
“You’re all responsible! It took me a long time to find out each story, but it’s all bound up in this room! You’re takers! You took from him, and from me, and sooner or later you’ll take everything and there’ll be nothing left! Well to hell with all of that! I’m going to stop this right now!”
The footsteps stopped.
“Pick up the phone, Roland! Call him off!”
Through the wall a muffled murmur of response could be heard.
“Bullshit! You can do anything! Get on that phone and call him off!” screamed the high-pitched voice.
An even shorter mumble replied.
The room fell into silence for several moments. Arnold had pressed himself against the stove in his frightened stupor and was clinging to the oven door handle. Sweat dripped from his forehead onto the floor only inches away.
“This can’t keep happening!” shrieked the voice, quivering with primal desperation.
BANG. BANG. BANG.