Read Online Someone Is Bleeding by Richard Matheson - Free Book Online Page A

to see Jim. I didn’t find him, but I did find somebody else.
    Audrey. Audrey flung her arms around my neck. She had a silk pair of lounging pajamas on. Black and sheer and nothing else. I could feel the uncupped softness of her breasts mold against me.
    “Give us a kiss, Dave.”
    The thin face, that sweet smile. Her soft lips pressed against mine. And I got a sense of tension in her. The way she clung to me. It wasn’t right.
    Suspicion vindicated by the distinct odor of whiskey on her breath.
    That was a shock. Audrey had never drunk at college. She’d just follow Jim around, a disciple to his calloused presence. Treasuring the few scraps of affection he gave her.
    “Gee, Dave, it’s good to see you,” she said.
    “It’s good to see you too, Audrey.”
    She drew back, her small hands still gripping my shoulders. “Let me see,” she said. “Oh, yes. You’re heavier. Affluence? Or beer?”
    I chuckled and leaned over to kiss her cheek.
    “Audrey, Audrey,” I said, “what transmutation is this? I remember saddle shoes and bright-eyed naivete. Now I find a new hairdo, sexy pajamas and . . . well . . .”
    “And liquor?” she said.
    I tried to slough it off.
    “Come on in,” she said, “come on in and talk to me. I’m lonely.”
    “Is Jim home?” I asked as she led me into the living room, big and empty now.
    “He’s on business,” she said.
    I got that too. Too chipper, too much a toss-off. She had found the phrase too easy. And from it I knew there’d been a lot of nights when Audrey had stayed home while Jim went out on “business.” The old American synonym for cheating. Yes, it all added up. College had been the preamble.
    I sat down and Audrey got a couple of drinks, Big ones, and straight. She drained hers swiftly and filled her glass again.
    We talked for a long while. It wasn’t too pleasant.
    “Sometimes I could scream,” she said later on.
    I thought of Peggy. “Sometimes I could, too,” I said.
    Then I stood up. “I’d better go,” I said. Before I forget myself, I didn’t add. I went over to her.
    “Good-bye, Aud . . .”
    I slopped when she looked me in the eye. Her breath was tortured It shook her body. Something seemed to be bubbling up in her.
    “I could scream,” she said.
    “Scream,” I said.
    Suddenly she grabbed my arms and pressed her open mouth against my chest. I heard the muffled sound of her screaming at the top of her lungs into my flesh. It lasted until her breath went. Then she raised her darkly flushed face and looked at me, gasping.
    “There,” she said, hardly able to speak. “Mostly it’s a pillow. Thanks for the nice cushion.”
    She turned away. I followed her from the room. We stood together by the front door.
    “Will you give me a good-bye kiss?” she asked.
    She raised on her toes and slid her arms around my neck. She brushed her warm lips over mine. Then she smiled and stroked my cheek.
    “You’re sweet,” she said. “I wish . . .” She shrugged. “Oh, what’s the difference, anyway?”
    “Good-bye, Audrey.”
    “Good-bye, dear.”
    I went out the door and down to my car. I got in and sat there a long time staring at the windshield, wishing I’d stayed with Peggy.
    Then, as I stepped on the starter, light streamed across the porch and leaped on the car.
    “Dave!”
    I looked over and saw Audrey come running across the porch and down the steps. She had on a long black raincoat with a hood over her head. I saw a maid at the door watching her go. Then the maid shrugged and shut the door.
    Audrey ran around the car, opened the door and slid in.
    “How about giving a gal a ride into town?”
    “All right,” I said, caught off guard.
    Back on Pacific Coast Highway, I asked her where she was going. “Santa Monica,” she said.
    You’re not quite dressed for evening activity,” I said.
    “Nobody will notice,” she said, “where I’m going.”
    “Where’s that?”
    Just drop me off downtown,” she parried. “I’m not going