Dance Macabre (short story)

As I did with the first 3-short-story publication, I'll be posting them here as well.

Which now is a good thing as I don't have anything else for you!

Michael had just dropped Chrissie off at her house. She lived in an apartment, not far from him, so it made sense to use just one car.

They'd been at a friend's birthday party, meeting several other people they knew from their many stays at the nudist beach nearby.

Michael hummed one of the tunes he and Chrissie had danced to. It had lodged itself in his head, and would probably be his ear-worm for a few days. No problem for Michael, it was a neat, upbeat tune.

Before he reached home, his phone beeped. He knew it was a message from Chrissie, who was both his best friend and a coworker. She always warned him to drive carefully, and he'd always see that after driving carefully.

"*Was fun. Must do again soon. Good night. C.*" was what she'd written this time.

"*I agree*," he wrote back, then left his car, went inside, got out of his clothes, and prepared for a good night's sleep.

A second before he would switch off the bedside light, his phone beeped again.

"Working on crazy idea. Let's dance, baby. C."

"Baby?" That was a first. Michael grinned at the prospect of a crazy idea. Chrissie was good at coming up with stuff. Once she'd arranged a nude hike in one of the national parks in the area. Over twenty people from the 'beach club' had joined, and it had been a great day. Would she do something like that again? Probably not. Chrissie always looked for new things, and she wasn't scared of going the extra mile, or thinking up something out of the ordinary.

"*Looking forward to it. Sleep well, baby.*" he wrote back. She wouldn't mind his 'baby', as she started it.

He switched off the light.

BEEP.

And so he switched on the light, to find "XXX" on his phone. He looked twice. Had she really sent him kisses? After some hesitation, he sent the same back, and waited.

Chrissie didn't send a reply, so he switched off the light again. And waited. But the phone didn't beep again that evening.

The next day, Michael met Chrissie outside, in front of the office building. They worked in different departments, but they always took some time to go outside and walk around a bit, if the weather allowed for that. Or their calendars.

"So what's the crazy plan?" he asked.

Chrissie grinned. "I'll let you know. I got the idea last night, at Noah's party. I think it's really cool, but it might creep you out. I'll have to do some investigating first, but I'll let you know as soon as I have more information on if my plan is actually feasible."

"Creepy? What are you planning, lady?"

"I'll let you know... baby." She looked at him and smiled shyly, which was so not Chrissie. "I hope it's okay to say that. I like you, Michael."

"Oh, well, yes, I like you too, Chrissie. A lot." He was taken aback by her upfront words. "And it's definitely okay to call me baby, baby." He felt he was taking a risk, but that worry faded as she smiled.

"Awesome. Here's our bench. Let's sit and eat."

Their stroll had taken them to a small local park, more a big garden, where they often sat down to empty their lunch boxes.

Michael tried a few more times to find out what his all of a sudden perhaps girlfriend was planning, but she said nothing about that. Instead, she pointed out flowers and other things that attracted her attention.

After lunch, they strolled back to work, this time hand in hand.

The day went by without anything out of the ordinary, but when Michael headed to his car, he found Chrissie standing there. "Hey there, pretty lady," he said, and loving how she smiled at those words. "Are you lost?"

"No, I'm not, but I hope you can take me home. I found out the bus isn't coming, and the next one is here in only an hour."

"Bus. You came by bus. Is something wrong with your car?"

Chrissie grinned. "No... I was kind of hoping you'd offer to take me home. I like you, Michael, and that way I can spend a bit more time with you."

"Of course I can!" He opened the door as his heart somersaulted, made sure she sat comfortably, and got in too. As they were driving, he mentioned the option of dinner together.

"Oh, are you for real? How gentlemanly of you," Chrissie said, putting her hand on his for a moment. "That would be so great. I'm not the world greatest cook, so - Oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that."

"Why not?" he asked.

"I don't want to scare you away by listing all my bad habits," she confessed.

"That was only one. That doesn't scare me off," Michael said, with a grin. "We can go to my place, and I will cook dinner, or we go to a restaurant and we stare at each other until the food arrives."

"Hmm, both options sound good," said Chrissie, "but at your home we can drop the clothes, right?"Oh, drat..."

"Oh drat?" He hadn't expected that.

"I have an appointment this evening. Nails." She held up her hands. "That means I can't stay."

"No problem. I'll make something simple, and you can leave whenever you want." He looked at her for a moment. "Or I'll take you there."

"Nah, that's fine. I'll get there, don't worry."

Once at Michael's place, they quickly undressed, and Chrissie asked if she could sit in the kitchen, to watch him make their dinner. He had no problems with that.

"Just don't laugh at my apron," he warned her. "Cooking and bare skin often don't go together well." His kitchen apron showed a naked chef, with only a long necktie covering the essential bits. It made Chrissie laugh.

Again he tried to make her talk about her plan, and again she avoided any answer. "You'll see," was all she said.

Over dinner, at the kitchen table, they talked about the party the night before, and how much fun they'd had.

"I am convinced nudists have more fun than dressed people," Chrissie said. "Because nudists are who they are, and they're not afraid to show it. Bumps, lumps, scars and all."

The difference between nudists and clothes-people fueled many a conversation in the nudist circles, and they all agreed how their way of life was better. Free from restraints, less laundry, and all in all healthier as they caught more Vitamin Sun on their skin.

As Chrissie had to leave for her manicure appointment, she hugged Michael for a moment. "Thank you so much, Michael. I'll see you at work again tomorrow."

"I hope so," he said, watching her dress.

After she'd left, Michael cleaned up the table and did the dishes. He was old-fashioned in that respect. Doing them by hand was better, he always said, and he also liked it. It was something which didn't require mental gymnastics. It was relaxing.

By the time he was done watching TV and debating going to bed, there was a message on his phone. From Chrissie.

"Want to dance naked again? Tonight, Victorian cemetery, around midnight. xxx"

Michael looked at the text. "Sure!" he typed, and sent the message off.

Dancing at the ancient cemetery? And naked? Michael frowned. How had she thought that one up? The place was out of town, deserted almost all the time, definitely at that time of night. But if Chrissie wanted to dance with him there, he would be there. Tomorrow at work he'd feel the repercussions, but he wasn't going to let this slip by.

Michael left his car. He'd been early, so he'd waited at one entrance of the Victorian cemetery. For a moment he'd worried Chrissie wasn't there, but there was another entrance. She probably had gone in that way.

He left the car and was grateful for the few lights around, and the full moon. Dance naked, she'd said. After a massive bout of hesitation, he took off his clothes and left them in the car. Only wearing his sandals, holding the car keys in hand, he walked into the dark cemetery.

He'd been here before, as the atmosphere of the place was so different from anywhere else.

"Chrissie?" he said, a bit louder. He had no idea where she was, and she should be able to hear him.

There was no audible reply, but a faint light came up, not far from where he was.

Michael found his way past the old graves and over the ancient paths, until he found the spot. He knew it. A circular opening where four handmade, stone seating arrangements were around the open area. And in the open area stood a nude woman. Her hair was caught in a net, and she wore a mask. Slowly she turned to him and held out both her hands.

He slowly walked up to her, putting his keys on one of the stone benches. He took her hands and slowly pulled the woman against him. She felt as good as Chrissie had done, earlier that evening, and before he could even whisper her name, she started moving.

His body followed her movements, and at some point he took over, leading in the dance, which felt as if they were ghosts of fairies, dancing at their private party. There was no music, but somehow their bodies followed the same rhythm, the same silent music, and the dancing became faster and faster, more intense, even sensual at times.

Almost unexpectedly, the dance slowed down to a very slow shuffle. They were body to body, arms around each other. From behind the mask, Chrissie's dark eyes looked at him as she licked her lips. Michael leaned in and kissed her. She replied to it, and the kiss lasted a long time. And all that time, they kept moving, slowly as a tree branch being pushed by just enough wind.

The kiss finally broke, and Chrissie's arms slowly moved down his sides, until they hung down from her shoulders.

"Chrissie, I-" Michael started to say, when she suddenly moved lightning fast. She grabbed him by both arms, leaned into him, and bit hard in his left shoulder. "Ouch!" he cried out, and the next moment her hands let him go.

She turned and ran off into the darkness.

"Chrissie!" The loudness of his voice shocked him, as it carried far in the silence. Then he noticed how the light, which had come from nowhere visible, started fading.

Still shocked by her biting, Michael found the bench where he'd left his car keys, and started the walk back to his car. His mind was filled with questions, as he held a hand over the spot where she'd bitten him. The pain was already receding, and it was gone by the time he opened the car door.

Slowly he put his clothes on, then sat down in the car. Determined to find out what had made her do this weird thing, he took his phone and switched it on.

"What..." he mumbled, as he saw there was a message from Chrissie.

"So sorry! Can't make it! Next time, hope I'm on time and you didn't drive out! xxx"

Michael stared at the message. Can't make it? Stunned, he tried to make sense of the message, and what had happened in the cemetery. If Chrissie hadn't been here, who the hell had he danced with then? And still the question remained: why had she bitten him? Vampire things suddenly flooded his mind, but he hadn't noticed any fangs in the woman's mouth. During that kiss, he would have noticed those.

He read the message a few more times. After that, he called Chrissie.

"Hey?" She sounded as if he'd woken her up.

"Chrissie? It's me. Michael. I'm at the cemetery..."

"Oh? Oh! I thought I'd sent you a message..." Chrissie sounded confused now.

"You did. I just saw it. There's something I have to tell you."

She sighed. "Now? Do you know what time it is?"

"I do. And... I just danced with someone, here at the cemetery."

"You..."

Michael understood she needed some time to absorb and process that.

"You danced with someone. At the cemetery."

He told her about arriving, the light, and the masked, naked woman. "And before she left, she bit me."

"She bit you... Okay, baby, I'm wide awake now. You have to come over here and let me see you. And then you tell me this whole thing again, because it sounds impossible."

"I'll be right over..."

Chrissie wore a bathrobe as opened the door to her apartment and let him in. She looked worried. "Are you alright?" As soon as the door was closed, she slipped out of the robe and tossed it into a room.

"I am. At least, I think I am. Still puzzled, though." He was already taking off his shirt, so he could show her the bite mark.

"That looks bad, Michael," she said. "Come with me. I have a first aid kit and I know how to use it."

She sat him down at the table, got the kit, and started cleaning the wound. "At least it's not very deep," she said, as she put some gauze on it and taped that up to keep it in place. "Are you sure you feel okay?"

"I do," he assured her. "And thank you, and sorry for keeping you up this late."

"That's okay," she said. "And now we're both here, and awake..." She smiled. "I could switch on some music and we could dance. I promise I won't bite."

Michael smiled back at her. "I'd better get out of the rest of my clothes then."

"You'd better," she said.