Haunted Traveler Vol 2 Issue 1

41 damn it, and she could take care of her own goddamn child.

Evan closed his mouth. He looked at Brandy with bloodshot eyes. She almost lost her resolve. He patted her hip and gave it a soft squeeze. Brandy watched as he stepped into his slippers and wrapped his robe around him. He let out a slow breath and combed his fingers through his hair.

They’d been happy, once. Oh, they’d had their problems. Too many bills. Fights over stupid shit. Every couple had their issues. Brandy thought that the baby was going to fix everything. That’s how it was supposed to work, right? It wasn’t supposed to suck the life out of their marriage.

Evan shuffled to the door. He cast a last look back at Brandy.

I love you. The words caught in her throat. She did not speak them out loud.

He left the bedroom. She heard his slippers slap against the hardwood floor of the hall. The sound disturbed her, and it took her a moment to realize why. Junior was no longer crying. He knew that he was about to be fed.

Brandy turned to the baby monitor. Through its tinny speaker, she heard the nursery door creak open.

“It’s okay. Daddy’s here.”

Evan was on the same alien world, at the bottom of the ocean with their child. Brandy sat up in the bed. Junior gurgled happily. She could picture her husband reaching down into the crib.

Then the screams began.

Evan’s wails of pain echoed over the speaker and down the hallway. Agony in stereo. Brandy trembled and slipped down into the bed.

She pulled the blankets over her head with bandaged, bleeding hands.

She wept under the covers and tried to shut out the sounds as Junior fed.