Stay With Me

William set the empty glass down on the bar. It was his seventh beer and he was beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol full force. “One more for the road.” He said as the bartender passed. He laid a five dollar bill on the bar. The bartender nodded and began to fill another glass. William welcomed the ice cold beer as comfort for a bad day gone by. He’d recently broken up with his girlfriend of several years; a dumb fight over where they were going in life. He felt he  was heading right, but apparently she was turning left. It just wasn’t working out. It made his head hurt more and more as he thought about it. He drowned his sorrows in a large gulp of beer.
“Thanks, Clyde.” He said with a sigh. The bartender nodded in his direction once again and then turned to help other patrons. William felt a bit more woozy after imbibing the alcohol, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to feel anything but drunk at the moment. He finished the beer and turned on his stool. The ground seemed to sway beneath him as soon as his feet touched. He took a moment to collect his bearings.
“You gonna be okay?” Clyde asked, a hint of concern in his voice.
“Yeah. Yeah, I just need a moment.” William responded. His head was swimming. It felt good. He took a few steps just to be sure and then he was out the door. The night air was balmy, blissful. It felt great on his skin. The only thing that could bring down his mood was the realization that he needed to make his way back to the hotel. She’d decided it’d be best if he left. He didn’t agree, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He found it wasn’t too difficult to pass as sober once he’d gotten the rhythm down again. He walked a few blocks before he encountered nay other bodies on the sidewalk. Under a street lamp, on a bus bench, a young couple sat there, making out right in the open. William found himself feeling disgusted, but not at the audacity. It was simply just them being there. He was jealous. Deep down inside, he missed what he had before. A small part of him wanted to call home, but he couldn’t help but feel as though he should let it go, at least for the night. He kept walking.
He passed several darkened stores before he decided to stop under another street lamp and check the time on his watch. It was close to two in the morning. He felt himself missing the comfort of his bed. His head swam a little. The alcohol was wearing off slowly, but he still felt it coursing through is veins. He noticed a corner store about a block up and figured he’d cap the night off with a six-pack and some late night television. He began to wonder why he’d even left the bar in the first place, but then he remembered he just really wanted to be alone. He was tired of the bar scene. Jaded, even. It just wasn’t his scene.
William made it to the store just before the alcohol cutoff time and purchased a six-pack, though the clerk was skeptical of his condition. He smiled to himself, though it seemed an impotent gesture. He had no reason to smile. His night had not been good. The beer was simply a cushion for the blow dealt to him by life. Life. Fuck life he thought. He leaned against the wall just outside the shop, outside of the view of the clerk, and popped the top off one of the beer bottles. He wasn’t far from the hotel and he had no intentions of waiting to get there before he kept the suds flowing. Just as he took a sip, he heard what sounded like shouting nearby down an alley not far from the shop. Against his better judgment, he decided to check out the commotion.
As he neared the lip of the alley, he could more or less clearly hear the sounds of several men. And then he heard the whimper of a woman. His blood turned to ice in his veins. He set the now five-pack down and poked his head into the alley. Under a flood light at the end of the alley, he could see three average sized males crowding around a young looking female. One of the men, wearing a plaid and denim jacket, did the majority of the noisemaking, the other two were more his backup vocals.
“Where is he?” The jacketed man screamed at her. “Where the fuck is Sam!?” She cowered in fear as he balled his fist and looked as though he was about to strike her. One of the other men cracked his knuckles.
“HEY!” William yelled down the alley, still holding his now half-full beer. The three stopped in their tracks and looked behind them to the entrance of the alley.
“Get the fuck outta here. This has nothing to do with you.” The jacketed man said.
“Yeah,” came his backup. “This ain’t got nothing to do with you!”
William started walking down the alleyway. He didn’t know if it was his disdain for violence against women or the alcohol or both, but something inside him welled up and forced him to take action against these thugs. “Look, I’m not looking for trouble, but I’m not gonna let you hurt that girl.”
The three men laughed. William cracked the bottle against the wall of the building nearest him, breaking it. The remaining liquid splashed to the ground. He gripped the neck like a knife and continued down the alley. None of the three men seemed to want to tangle with him.
“Look, pal, we’re just trying to find our friend. He was with this bitch last we saw.” The jacketed man pointed at the girl as he and his friends backed away.
“Well, try to find him somewhere else. Beating her up isn’t gonna get you shit. She obviously doesn’t know where he is, do you?”
The young woman whimpered and pressed her back against a garbage can. She was obviously shaken by the incident.
William held the broken bottle up. “See? Now get the hell out of here before it gets messy.”
The jacketed man turned to his friends, “Let’s go, guys. This bitch is his problem now.”
They circled around each other until the gang of thugs was closer to the exit of the alley. They then broke into a run, disappearing into the night. When he was sure the coast was clear, he dropped the broken bottle and approached the young woman.
“Are you okay?” He asked as he held a hand out to her. She flinched, as if expecting to be hit. “It’s okay, I promise. I won’t hurt you.”
The young woman hesitated and then slowly put her hand in his. It was cold and clammy. He led her to the edge of the alleyway and then looked around, just to be safe. His beer was still where he’d left it and the three men were nowhere in sight. “Okay, we’re good. Let’s go.”
He decided to take her back to his hotel room, just to be sure she was safe, even if only for the night.

When they arrived at the hotel, William fumbled some with the cardkey. Partly because he was not fully familiar with these devices and partly because the shock of the altercation hadn’t fully sobered him up. He eventually got the door open and with the woman in tow, entered his room. After she passed the threshold, he made sure to close the door and lock the deadbolt. Not only was he worried the thugs may have followed from afar, he didn’t want any seedy elements barging in on them in general. Better safe than sorry.
He turned the light on, put the remaining beer into the fridge, and then let himself fall onto the bed. He rubbed his face with both hands. He couldn’t believe what he’d gotten himself into. He checked the time again. It was barely three. He looked at the girl to see her still standing near the door.
He motioned to the table and chair near the television set. “You can have a seat. Or do you want to take the bed? I don’t mind, I promise.”
She didn’t move. She just stood and stared at him.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded slightly and took her time sitting down at the table. William decided to start from the top, “What’s your name?”
She shook her head.
“What’s that mean? You don’t remember or you don’t have a name? I’m confused.” William didn’t know what to make of her. She sat there staring at him, though.
“Okay, well, we’ll come back to that later, I guess.” He sat up and took a closer look at her in the light. She had red hair, cut short. Her face was dirty.
“Do you want to clean up in the shower? I don’t mind.” She stood and began to walk towards the bathroom. William closed his eyes and flopped back on the bed. He heard the click of the light switch in the bathroom. He heard the door shut. He heard the water turn on. What was this chick’s story? What was her name? Something just seemed off about her. He wondered to himself just what he could have gotten himself into. Who was this girl? He waited a few moments while she showered before he got back up and walked over to the fridge. Inside was the beer he had just brought back as well as a half eaten pizza. He grabbed a slice and bit into it. It was lukewarm. This hotel was a piece of shit. He grabbed the remote and turned on the television as he sat back on the bed eating his pizza. At least the cable channels came it clear. He turned it to the sports channel. A rerun of the previous afternoon’s SportsCenter was on. He watched for a little while before the bathroom door opened. He hadn’t even noticed the shower shutting off. The girl walked out naked and wet. William was taken completely by surprise. He didn’t have time to avert his eyes. Shocked, he gazed at her thin, dripping wet body. Her breasts were small and perky. Her skin was alabaster white. Pale as porcelain. He looked her over. Her pubic mound was a fiery red. She stood directly in front of him, her own gaze steady on him.
“Do—do you want a towel? There should be one back in the—” He wasn’t able to finish. She jumped on him, kissing him. His lips tingled. He was taken aback by her actions. At first he tried to push her away. All he could think of was his girlfriend. His ex-girlfriend. What had begun as disapproval soon turned to acceptance. He kissed her back. He couldn’t resist. She pushed him back onto the bed and straddled his waist. William did nothing to deny her what she wanted. She reached down with both hands and tore his shirt open and began kissing his chest, licking his nipples.
“Wait, I don’t even know your—” She put a hand over his mouth. He quieted immediately. Her hand slid away, smoothly, silkily. She continued kissing him over his body, slowly moving her way down. He moaned. He didn’t normally, but tonight, he moaned. She unbuckled his pants and slid them down. Before he could move, she had taken him into her mouth. His penis began to tingle just as his lips. He loved the feeling.
“Oooh,” he moaned as she caressed his shaft with her tongue. It wasn’t long before he felt he was going to release. “Keep going. Please, keep going.” He whispered. She massaged his genitals with fervor until he ejaculated into her mouth. She continued going for a few more moments before she stopped and let him fall limply from her lips. He felt dizzy. The strange woman crawled up the bed to his side and held him tightly. She was still wet, cold.
“Stay with me.” She whispered. He felt himself slipping into an inevitable sleep. It was so late and he was spent.
Soon the darkness overtook him and he was out. In his sleep, his mind raced. He dreamt of the conflict in the alleyway. He dreamt of the girl, this dirty vixen cowering in fear. What was it about her? In his dreams she seemed different, though. He saw her as the redhead she was, but something about her face. Her face was twisted and distorted. Her eyes were missing, her mouth like that of a lamprey, sucking and hissing. Her monstrous visage turned toward William as he got closer to her and let out a shriek and then he opened his eyes.
William tried to move, but found his body was mostly numb and tingling. He could barely move his hands. His left hand lay by his side. His right was over his chest. In the dark, he could barely feel something twisting and writhing over him as he struggled to regain control of his body. He heard a hiss. He was able to move his right hand, albeit barely. His chest felt slick and slimy. He felt the writhing again. In the little bit of light shining in from the moon outside he could see something above him. He slowly stretched his hand out to the lamp near the bed, his fingers tingled with every movement of his muscles. He was able to click on the light. What he saw horrified him. The girl no longer lay by his side, but straddled him once again. This time, she had changed. She wasn’t the same. Her body was slimy, as if she’d melted. The sickening gore coated his body, numbing him. She twisted and writhed over him, covering him more and more. He looked up at her face. It was just as he had dreamed, a horrible, toothed face, sucking and hissing. She, it, moved over him. His body began to feel as though it were on fire. He tried to scream, but there was no sound. The creature spread further over his body. He tried to kick his legs, but found no motor control. He struggled internally, his mind raced.
What was going on? What was this girl? Was he going to die? What was it doing to him? And then he came to the realization he was being digested. There was no other explanation. This girl, this creature, was eating him. As he lay in the bed, still trying to fight his immobility, the thing brought its sucker face close to his. It hissed, but this time there were words.
“Stay with me.” It gurgled out. A tear streaked down his face. His body burned with an intensity he’d never known. It was then he realized he would have no choice but to stay with her. He would become a part of her. He was hers.