Hum
by R. Thomas Riley

 I awoke from a deep sleep to a sound that I had never heard before in my apartment. As I lay there in my bed trying to figure out just what the noise was, I looked over at my cat sleeping peacefully at the end of my bed. He was a light sleeper just as I was, yet he was lying motionless, oblivious to the sound. Where the hell was that sound coming from? It sounded like a hum, a sixty cycle hum, to be more specific, like the sound that an amplifier or sound equipment would pick up. Right away I mentally went over my pre-bedtime ritual, I was fairly certain that I had not left anything on. I am a real stickler about that, I always turn everything off before I go to bed. I hate wasting electricity. Besides, it costs money, of which I have very little of. I slowly got out of bed, careful not to wake Elbert, (he's my cat, by the way) and shivered, as I was dressed only in my boxer shorts, at the coldness of the room. I winced at the creaking of the floor! boards beneath my bare feet, I glanced back to make sure that Elbert was still sleeping. He was.

I made my way into the living room to check the stereo, it had to be that. Where else would the hum be coming from? I gazed at the darkened display, a frown slowly forming on my face. The stereo system was off. I stood in the middle of the dark living room with my hands on my hips, listening, trying to determine where the hum was coming from. I could hear it clearly, but I could not determine exactly where it was coming from. I turned in a slow circle, allowing my gaze to rest on the various objects in the room. I didn't need light to tell me what I was looking at. I have lived in this apartment for almost three years, so I know where everything is. I have been told that I am a severely punctilious person, so knowing where things are located in my apartment is one of my pet peeves, almost as bad as not leaving anything on when I retire for the night.

Next, I padded over to the TV. It was also off, so I made my way into the kitchen. The only sound was the refrigerator gurgling at me from its corner. I placed my ear up against its smooth surface and listened. I could hear it. Everything that was happening, I could hear it! Amazed, I stepped back. My hand reached up to feel for my hearing aid, but I did not have it in. My hearing had gone out on me while I was in the Navy. The doctors told me that it was due to my job on the aircraft carrier I had been stationed on. Just one of the hazards of being an airplane jockey they said. I couldn't even hear the TV without the volume being in the fifties anymore, but now I could hear everything that the refrigerator's compressor was doing: the high-pitched whining of the Freon flowing through the condenser, the revolutions of the tiny electric motor, everything! Still in a state of shock, I slowly placed my hand on the refrigerator's handle and opened the door. As ! light spilled from the open do! or, a bright spike of pain blossomed right in the middle of my forehead. I grimaced and quickly shut the door. The excruciating pain vanished as quickly as it had appeared. What the hell was going on? I wondered. I opened the door again and the pain exploded, thundered, through my head. I slammed the door shut and glanced warily at the refrigerator. It seemed to leer back at me. It can't be, I thought. A frightening idea was beginning to take hold in my mind. I backed away from the refrigerator. I did not want to turn my back on the thing. Something about it scared the crap out of me. I finally came up against the far wall, my retreat halted. I looked at the light switch on the wall beside my hand. Suddenly, I did not want to be in the dark with the hulking refrigerator. That idea that had been forming in my mind was starting to disturb me. I needed to be sure, but I was afraid that I might be right. In the corner, the refrigerator seemed to laugh at me. Daring me to do it! .. This has t! o be a dream, I thought. I finally steeled myself to test my theory and flipped on the light switch. The next moment, I was on the ground writhing in pain. It was the light. The sound from the light was excruciating. It screeched through my head. I could hear the electricity thundering through the wires, it was tearing my head apart!

"Fuck!" I cried as I pulled myself up from the floor blindly swiping my hand at the light switch.

Blessed darkness. As the light was extinguished, my struggles ceased. I was lying on the floor gasping for breath, but the pain was gone.

"It was the light," I mumbled feebly.

The hum was still there, I suddenly noticed. It was not the refrigerator. Where was it coming from?

"I could hear the light," I said in amazement to the empty room.

My strength was slowly, but steadily returning. I finally crawled to my feet like an old man. My entire body ached. I felt as if I had just gone twelve rounds! in a boxing ring. As I shambled back to my bedroom holding the wall for support, I stopped abruptly outside the bathroom door. I shoved the door open, careful not to turn on the light. There it was! My razor was making the hum! I savagely ripped its power cord from the wall where it had been charging and the hum ceased. I looked at my haggard reflection in the mirror and smiled.

"It's gone," I said triumphantly.

***

I woke the next morning with a pounding headache. I lay in the bed, motionless, listening. The hum that I had heard the night before had intensified. Now there were thousands of hums! It, they, reverberated through my entire body. Tick, Tick, Tick, Ticka, Tick, Ticka. What was that? It sounded like a bug was doing a tap dance on the bedside nightstand. I rolled over and looked at my wrist watch on the nightstand. I could hear the inner gears rotating as the watch hands revolved around its face. What was happening to me? I picked up the watch and shoved it into the drawer. The ticking was muted but I could still hear the watch ticking away in the recesses of the drawer.

I got out of bed and listened as some of the hums ceased and new sounds replaced the old ones. I reached down and retrieved my hearing aid and placed it in my ear without thinking. It's a habit. My head exploded with fresh pain. I ripped the aid from my ear and the hum! s receded to an annoying level.

I was beginning to become a little worried. Whatever was happening to me seemed to be progressively becoming more severe and acute. What was I going to do when I had to leave the house? Would the concomitant hums paralyze me? What the hell was happening to me? I slowly got dressed, the hums providing a discordant background. I found that if I did not pay too much attention to the hums, they receded into the background somewhat. I could live with that, maybe. What if they become more than an annoyance? What if it affects you the way the light did last night? my mind sneered. Or was it the blackened TV in the corner that had sneered at me? I quickly turned to face the silent TV behind me. It was silent. Its one gigantic black eye was gazing back at me. Taunting me. If it had possessed an eyelid, I am certain that the TV would have offered me a knowing wink. I shivered as I walked by the set on my way out of the bedroom. I made as far as ! the hallway, before I stopped in terror. The humming sounds were everywhere! I could hear them in the walls, scratching, clawing, to get at me like a pack of frenzied rabid rats. I could feel the hums and drones in the soles of my feet as I stood rooted to the floor. Then as suddenly as it had all started, everything stopped.

I found myself holding my breath to make certain that what my senses were reporting to me were really true. After a few moments, I relaxed when the humming did not resume. I walked into the kitchen and stood before the refrigerator. I couldn't hear it purring. I smiled. Nothing.

I picked up my pack of cigarettes and lit one. As I exhaled a stream of blue smoke, I ran back over the events of the last few hours. I had to approach this rationally. Something could be seriously wrong with me medically. That scared me. As these morbid thoughts coursed through my brain, I walked into the living room, switched the TV on and sat down on the couch! .. The TV screen greeted me with static and snow.

"Damn it!" I said, getting up.

I walked across the room to stand before the TV. I looked at it with my hands on my hips. Fucking piece of shit, I thought. I gave it a little hit, but the screen remained filled with snow. I reached down to turn the knob. The thing shocked me! I snatched my hand back and glared at the set. My hand was throbbing and tingling. I could hear the hum again, I noticed all of the sudden. Now, my mind was spinning. This shit, whatever was happening to me, was not a passing occurrence. Suddenly, the TV leapt at me from its position on the entertainment stand. I reacted just in time barely managing to avoid the falling TV crashing onto my bare feet. The tube shattered, spraying millions of tiny glass projectiles in every direction. I stood in shock looking down at the smoking remains of the shattered TV laying on my living room floor. The fucking thing had tried to attack me! I was sure of it! I was positive that I had not touched it in anyway. It had leapt at! me of its own accord. What the hell was happening? I warily backed away from the TV, at the same time stealing glances behind me to make sure that none of my other appliances were going to try and attack me. I found myself by the phone, but I was afraid to touch it. Visions of the phone cord wrapping itself around my neck as I tried to call for help bellowed through my mind. I caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye and I whirled to see what had moved. The refrigerator was now crowding the entrance to the kitchen. Its bulk was the only reason it was not already attacking me because of the doorway's narrow opening. How the hell had my refrigerator moved across my kitchen without my hearing it! As I looked on in horror, the hulking beast moved back just enough to allow it to open its door. It hummed maniacally at me as it revealed the contents of its cold mouth. A mouth! My mind frantically! screamed. There were scores of razor-sharp teeth sprouting! g from around its entire lineament! The inside of the refrigerator was immersed in blood, but I could see what was concealed underneath all of the blood. I shook my head in denial at what my eyes were telling me I was seeing. It couldn't be! There was no way! I had to be having a nightmare. There was no way in hell that this was happening! I closed my eyes tightly against the horror inside the refrigerator.

I don't know how long I stood there with my eyes closed, but when I finally found the nerve to open them, there was nothing amiss. I know that I saw my refrigerator in that horrible condition! I know I did, goddamnit! Yet, now, everything was normal. I cautiously made my way into the kitchen. My senses were on fire as I gazed at my now quite normal looking appliance humming away in its corner. What was happening to me? Was what I was experiencing the onset of insanity or a brain tumor? I remember reading! somewhere that being afflicted with a brain tumor causes hallucinations, but would those hallucinations be as vivid and horrifying as what I had been experiencing since last night?

I was suddenly filled with regret that I lived alone. Sure, I had the occasional female companion over, but I hated to have my space invaded and as soon as I got what I wanted from them, I efficiently showed them the door. Now, I wished that someone was staying with me, so I could be sure that I was not seeing things and that all of this freaky shit was actually happening. Satisfied that my refrigerator was normal, I went back into the living room. I was going to make that call. At this point, I did not care if my telephone attacked me or not. I knew that I was avoiding going into my bedroom. Who was I kidding? I realized what I had witnessed in my demented appliance moments before. I sure as hell did not want to go into my bedroom and discover that I was correct. As I stood looking down a! t my phone, screwing up the courage to touch it, I noticed that the hums were back. I also heard something moving around in my kitchen. Something big.

I stood with my back to the kitchen, listening intently to the hums and Mr. Refrigerator making its trek across my kitchen floor, when a realization hit me. Every time I heard the hums, it was the same time the weird shit started happening. I don't know why that made me feel better, but it did. The hums were associated with my hallucinations. There I said it. Hallucinations. This proclamation to myself made me feel even better. I ignored Mr. Refrigerator and picked up the phone. I dialed Dr. Carom's number and waited as it rang.

"Jacob's Bluff Medical, Dr. Carom's office, how may I help you?" a female voice answered cheerily.

I stood with the phone glued to my ear as something struck my head from behind.

"Hello?" the receptionist said.

I didn't answer her, because I was too shocked by what was lying by my feet. Another of the small pellets hit me in the head again. The fucking refrigerator was throwing ice cubes at me!

"Is there someone on the line?"

"Uh, yeah," I mumbled.

"How may I help you?" she asked again.

"I'm, um, having some, um, problems today, ma'am," I said as naturally as I could.

I winced as another ice cube projectile glanced off the side of my head. They really hurt! Still, I ignored my suddenly baseball pitcher wannabe refrigerator. All of this was a hallucination. This particular hallucination just happened to come equipped with all the bells and whistles. Pain included at no extra charge, folks.

"Would you like to make an appointment?"

"Uh, yeah."

"And your name is?"

"Haven. Thomas Haven."

"Oh, Mr. Haven!" she exclaimed. "I thought it was you, but I couldn't tell. You don't sound like yourself."

I grimaced as the receptionist recognized my name. I had moved to Jacob's ! Bluff with the primary goal of maintaining some sense of my privacy. Being a best-selling horror novelist had its drawbacks. Fame, you spend half your career yearning for it, then the rest of your career wishing you hadn't wanted it so bad.

"Why the hell do you think I'm calling you for?" I retorted.

"Oh, I'm sorry, silly me," she apologized. I could tell that she was a little miffed.

I finally realized who she was. Cheryl Madrigal. I had dated her a few months back, but had quickly dumped her when she had wanted me to slap her ass in bed and call her a pig or some fucked up thing like that while she called me daddy and pleaded with me not to ravage her. Can you believe that shit? Not to mention, that I had caught her in my study digging through my things trying to find my new manuscript.

"I read your new book," Cheryl said hesitantly when the silence grew heavy.

"That's nice," I replied as another ice cube hit me dead center of my back. "Now, can I make an appointment with Dr. Carom?"

"Of course, Mr. Haven. Is it business or pleasure?"

"What?" I asked unbelievably.

"Do you really want to see him or do you want an excuse to come and see me?"

What the hell was wrong with this woman? I was fucking getting hammered with ice cubes from my refrigerator, my TV had tried to attack me, and now here I was having to deal with a former fuck buddy who was intent on recidivating our relationship.

"Look, Cheryl," I said as nicely as I could. "I'm having some serious major fucking problems right now, and I don't need your libidinous antics on top of all of this shit. I need to see Dr. Carom as soon as I can."

Smack. Incoming! How many fucking ice cubes could Mr. Refrigerator have? There were literally dozens of ice cubes congregated around my feet now. Hallucinations, Thomas, my mind admonished.

"Fine, what should I tell Dr. Carom is the nature of your problem?"

Well, you see, I woke up last night to these hums, right? And when I went to investigate said hums, my friggin' appliances tried to attack me. At the moment, my fucking refrigerator is trying to play catch with me.

I almost said that out loud, but then thought better of it. "I don't know what exactly is wrong with me, I just need to come in and talk to Dr. Carom."

An instant flash of pain sprouted from my big toe. I immediately began hopping around on one leg. Something had just bitten me. I looked down to see what had bitten me and saw that blood was pouring from my big toe. I forgot about the phone in my concern for my damaged toe. It dropped to the floor unnoticed.

A small insect-like creature scuttled over to the phone and promptly severed the cord with its sharp teeth. I stared at the creature in shock. What the fuck was that thing? It had two appendages sprouting from its sleek, black body ending with a pair of wicked-looking pinchers and moved along the floor like a snake. A scorpion-like tail swished back and forth at its rear. As it glared up at me with its red eyes, the creature opened its disproportionately large mouth in a yawn displaying hundreds of tiny needle-like teeth. It was then that I noticed the ice cubes. Concealed inside of them were more of the tiny monsters. So far, only this little one had escaped its icy prison.

My foot was a supernova of white pain. The fucking thing must have injected some kind of venom into my foot, because my leg was now pulsing, both warm and numb at the same time. I knew that I would not be on my feet much longer, and I sure as hell did not want to be in the same room when all the other ice cubes melted, giving birth to their diabolical progeny.

The creature suddenly leapt onto the back of my couch. The ease in which it had jumped scared the shit out of me. The little bastard was fast and agile. As it sat there staring back at me, I knew that it was going to kill me. There was an evil intelligence in its gaze. It wanted to taste my flesh. I hobbled backwards as more ice cubes were launched from my refrigerator's ice dispenser. If I could make it to my bedroom, I might have a chance. There was another phone in there.

The creature reared up on it's serpentine body and began humming. It was the same fucking hum that had woke me the night before! The piquant taste of fear flooded my mouth as I recalled the multitude of hums that I had heard in the walls the night before. I was going to die, I realized with portentous dread.

That was when I knew that this was not a hallucination. I might be a horror novelist, but what I was witnessing, I knew that I could never in my wildest imagination dream up such a horrendous creature.

The creature must have sensed my tensing body as I prepared to bolt for my bedroom, because it let out a tremendous scream of rage and launched itself at me. I reflexively threw my hands up to protect my face . I screamed in pain as the creature latched onto my forearm. The thing was emitting a shrill hum as its scorpion-like tail writhed trying to get at my face.

I turned and ran for my bedroom, as I entered my doorway, I savagely slammed my arm against the jamb, effectively pulverizing the hummer into a bloody mush. I quickly slammed my bedroom door. What I saw in my living room turned my blood to ice. There were at least a dozen of the tiny hummers scuttling across my floor heading in my direction. I limped over to the table beside my bed and clumsily fumbled with the phone. My hands were slick with blood, but that was not my only problem. My entire arm was going numb. In a few more seconds I knew that I would not be able to use it at all. It had to be a neurotoxin in the creatures saliva that was causing my paralysis.

I whirled around as my bedroom door shuddered. They were at my door! I collapsed to the floor as my leg finally gave out on me. My breath was coming in ragged gasps as I dialed 911 with wooden fingers that did not even feel as if they were attached my hands. The remaining rational part of my mind realized that I was going into anaphylactic shock.

I watched in horror as my door began splintering as the creatures chewed through the thin door. They would be on me in a matter of moments. I crawled into my bathroom dragging the phone with me. I flailed my deadened arms at the open door, but my arms were useless. I couldn't get the bathroom door shut. The hums were deafening now. They filled my head until there was nothing left but the hums. With the last reserves of my strength I pushed myself up into a sitting position.

"911, what is the nature of your emergency?" the phone squawked from far away.

I tried to answer the operator but nothing came out of my mouth but unintelligible gibberish. One of the creatures hauled itself through an opening in my door with a triumphant scream. The rest of the! m came flooding in through the opening. I screamed as they engulfed my body. Finally, they crawled into my mouth silencing my tortured screams.

I never heard the hums again.

***

"What do you make of this?" Detective Miller asked her partner.

The 911 operator had notified the police when she had heard the shrill screams of the caller pouring from her headset. The uniforms had arrived six minutes later. What they had discovered had shaken even the most veteran of them. The former Mr. Thomas Haven was unrecognizable. His body had been ripped to shreds.

"It looks like the poor bastard ripped himself to shreds," Archer said in awe as he bent down by the eviscerated corpse.

"You'd better take a look at this, Detective," a uniform interrupted from the doorway.

"What 'cha got?" Archer asked as he regained his feet.

"Looks likes Mr. Haven was a user," the uniform stated. "LSD, most likely." The detectives followed the uniform into the living room. Laid out on the kitchen table was all the utensils and paraphernalia of a dedicated user.

"Let's get this wrapped up, people," Archer said.

Miller looked back at the bloodied bathroom. "That must have been some trip."

"Yep, sure must have," Archer said, then stopped in confusion.

"What's wrong?" Miller asked.

"You hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That humming sound?"

© 2002 by R. Thomas Riley.
All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced in any form without express written permission of the author. All characters and events in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

R. Thomas Riley has been published extensively across the internet in such E-Zines as The Writer's Hood, Dark Funeral, Twisted Tales, Dreadful Dreams and The Swamp. His official website is http://groups.msn.com/ShadowsonthePlaster