Aphelion by Andy Frankham-Allen Read Free Book Online

stripped me naked. But I watched him, as Meg carefully sliced a long strip of skin off him, from the left shoulder right down to his waist. He didn’t scream, I think he had got so used to it now that he couldn’t scream any more. Although the pain he felt was clearly written all over his face. I did scream, however.
    Once Meg had finished she held the skin aloft like a trophy. Then, and I have to confess I could not remove my eyes from the spectacle; she put one end in her mouth and started chewing. The old keeper of the courts came over to her laughing, and she nodded at him. My stomach turned as he took the other end of the strip of skin into his own mouth, and together they continued chewing as if the skin was a long piece of spaghetti being eaten by two lovers.
    “Why?” I asked.
    “Infidelity, Mr. Jensen.”
    “What? I’ve never…” A flash of memory; watching the tight ass of Mr. Wyndham in his tennis shorts, Jake, my husband, at home oblivious. I swallowed, and the manager nodded. “But…I didn’t do anything.”
    “No, but you would have. And now Mr. Wyndham will be saved the displeasure of taking part in your infidelity.”
    I looked around; checking one last time to make sure Mr. Wyndham was not hanging on the wall. “Where is he?”
    “Safe in his room. Meg tells me it was you who almost disturbed me returning him there.”
    I was too stupefied to respond to that. So the manager carried on.
    “He shall awake in his room, believing he fell asleep after a tiring bout of tennis. He’ll have no memory of his brief trip down here.” The manager nodded at the chef. “Gene here makes the most amazing and potent amnesia pills. Mr. Wyndham had to be brought down here to arouse your curiosity. We knew you’d want to know how he could get in a lift one second, and then not be in it the next. But, he is safe now. The lure worked.”
    “Congratulations,” I said, trying to sound braver than I felt. “But he’ll be expecting me to meet him.”
    “Yes, until Meg explains that you left earlier without any word as to why.”
    “Others will miss me. My husband…”
    “Will receive a letter from you explaining that you had an affair with another man, and how you could not handle the guilt and so he shall never hear from you again.”
    My mouth worked to speak, but I could not find the words. In my mind I could see Jake at home thinking that I had been capable of… I lowered my head. I would have, given the chance. Maybe I did deserve this. To treat my marriage in such a casual manner…
    “You will be missed for a while, but you will soon just become another statistic. One of millions who can’t handle their lives and so sink into the underbelly of this wonderful nation of ours. Sometimes someone will pass a tramp on the street and think they recognise him as you, but they’ll ignore that as stupid. You’ll soon be forgotten.”
    I looked at the man beside me, who now seemed to be unconscious. Knocked out by the pain, no doubt.
    “Yes, you will be like these.” The manager indicated his staff. “We are the avenging angels, seeking divine retribution for the infidelity of man. We have these conferences to seek out those who wish to pervert the sanctity of life. Those who would sleep with others when bound by wedlock; those who climb to their present positions in life by nefarious means. We gather them in, and consume the sin off their flesh.”
    Meg and the old man had finished their bizarre meal. The manager walked over to Meg and licked the remaining blood off her lips. He looked back at me and winked. “You shall make an excellent feast indeed. Your sin is one of desire, and that reeks throughout your body.” He placed an arm around Meg and guided her out of the small cavern. “We shall return for you.”
    And they shall. Of that I have no doubt. Maybe I deserve it.

Reflection
    It had been a shitter of a day, but Corey Jordan was glad to be home. There was no way, in his considered opinion,