Tales From The Shift

10/28/1994 (Halloween)

“I was working in the lab, late one night…”

Johnny “Prince Of” Darkness potted down the rest of the song and grabbed the request line. “Hello. K-Drac.”

“Hi there,” a low, female voice purred. “Is this Johnny Darkness?”

“You’re talking to the Prince,” the deejay said as he reached for a CD. “How can I help you?”

“It’s not you who can help me, you poor, doomed soul. I’ll be helping you before the clock strikes midnight.”

Johnny punched another blinking line. “Hello. K-Drac. May I help you?”

“Did you think you could get rid of me that easily?”

Johnny frowned and quickly hit another line. It was the same voice…but it couldn’t be…he had just hung up on her.

“K-Drac.”

“It’s no use…you can run, but you can’t hide.”

“Jesus,” he said, “you sound just like…”

“It is me, my dear, sweet, innocent fool.”

Johnny slammed the phone down and checked the clock. Ten-fifty-five. Halloween, Part 3 had just ended at the local theater. The whacked-out calls always began when the movie was over. He leaned back in his chair and stretched. Only an hour left on his shift and he would become one of the ghouls himself, emceeing a costume contest at a local night club.

As the second-hand crossed the top of the hour, Johnny hit the station ID.

“This is Kay Dracula…KDRC, Muldavia, Indiana.”

When “Thriller” kicked in, he turned down the volume and reached for his tenth cup of coffee. He had been drinking since his shift began at seven, but it was all he could do to stay awake.

He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, the thoughts of the strange female on the consecutive phone calls nagging in the back of his brain. It should have been a warning signal. The last deejay that held the 7-midnight shift had disappeared the previous year…on Halloween night…but Johnny didn’t give it any thought when he got the gig. Night deejays were always disappearing, then popping up at another station somewhere else.

It took KDRC a long time to fill the slot. Word had it that the station was haunted…the man Johnny replaced wasn’t the first who had disappeared mysteriously. But Johnny didn’t care. He needed the money. Besides, he didn’t believe in ghosts.

When he opened his eyes, he instantly knew something was wrong. The entire room was dark. No illumination came from the ceiling or even the board. He sat up quickly. The air was chilly. He could feel a cold mist against his face.

“What’s going on?”

A voice behind him ran a chill up his spine. “I said you could run, but you couldn’t hide.”

Johnny wheeled around in his chair. Standing next to the door, her face lit by the single candle she held, was a beautiful woman. She seemed to be floating in mid-air, a flowing, white robe fell from her shoulders to the floor.

He started to rise, but she held up her hand. “Please don’t get up.”

He had no choice. From out of the darkness, strong, claw-like fingers clamped down on his wrists, mashing them against the chair. He jerked his head around, but could see nothing. Were others holding him or just unattached hands?

His breath caught in his throat. A steel vice crushed his chest. He fought to swallow. “Wha…what do you want?” he stammered.

She smiled. Radiant. A face like an angel’s. With a sultry, but chilling voice she said, “You, my dear boy.”

She stepped closer. The candle hung behind her, suspended in mid-air.

More claws grabbed his ankles and knees, spreading them apart.

She stepped closer between his legs, then reached out and caressed his hair. Smiling, she rubbed the back of her fingers against his cheek. “You’re such a handsome young man. Much prettier than the last one…and the one before that.”

Johnny’s heart beat in his ears. He was hypnotized by her beauty and her eyes. She stared right through him into his soul. She dropped down and placed her palms gently on his thights. She lay her head against his chest. He felt her body through the thin, sheer robe.

His mind raced, trying to find a solution to the puzzle he was a piece of. It was a nightmare, but he was wide awake.

“Relax,” she cooed as she stood up. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Her shoulders shrugged and the robe dropped away. She was wearing nothing underneath. She sat on his lap, her lips brushed against his ear. “Trick or treat,” she whispered.

He closed his eyes again, swept away by uncontrollable emotions and the erotic sensation of her tongue swishing against the side of his neck. He felt himself spinning into a deep, bottomless void.

“Hey, idiot.”

Johnny snapped awake. Chuck Henry, the all night deejay, was standing over him, a wicked smile on his face.

“I thought you were doing some special Halloween programming by playing “Thriller” over-and-over for an hour, but I guess you just fell asleep.”

Johnny rubbed his eyes and stared at the clock. It was midnight.

“It worked, though,” Chuck rattled on, “the phones are ringing off the hook.”

Johnny got out of his chair without a word and staggered down the hall to the bathroom. He turned on the cold water and splashed it against his face. After a few seconds, the fear that churned his stomach was barely a memory. He checked out his reflection and managed a crooked grin. “None the worse for the wear.”

He never noticed the two, tiny puncture wounds on his neck.

“Yo, Darkness!” Check’s voice stopped him as he was walking out the door. “You’ve got a caller on line one. She sounds hot.”

He hesitated only a moment before picking up the phone. The dream was almost forgotten. But the familiar voice brought it crashing back with a vengeance, freezing him with fear, yet exciting him at the same time.

“Happy Halloween.”