He swings the shovel violently towards the two men, and blood and dirt flicks off the blade and splashes into the wet ground with the rain.
“I told you to go, I won’t tell you again!” He yells.
“Samuel, son, for fuck sake, she gone, it’s not her anymore. You have to let us do what must be done, you’re endangering everyone with your stupidity!” his father yells back as he avoids the shovels blade as Samuel swings it violently towards him again.
“You’re wrong, you’re all wrong, she’s still in there, I can see it, just leave us alone!”
“We can’t do it, this is for the best little brother, and I hope someday you will see that!” His brother yells as he charges at him and they both go crashing into the ground. Seeing the opportunity his father makes a mad dash for the door as the two struggle in the mud, two shots ring out in the house and then silence and they both freeze. Samuel pushes himself free and scrambles to his feet and charges frantically towards the door, when a scream erupts from inside that forces him to come to a stop, not her scream, but his fathers. He stands in the door way as his brother rushes to his side and a sea of red gushes from within and covers the two brothers.
For a few moments they both stand there in silence, frozen in fear and then Samuel’s brother lets out a cry of anger and runs into the house, Samuel stands there as he hears his brother’s cries get louder, changing from anger to pain in mere seconds, and then only the sound of the rain remains until it starts, the chewing, the tearing, the ripping. He looks up into the bleak night sky and lets the rain envelope him in its vacuum of violence, hiding the tears that runs down his face, and he collapses to his knees. He looks towards the doorway, into the darkness of the house and he hears it again, and he gets to his feet and reaches into the door way and pulls a control pole from around the corner as he slowly makes his way into the room.
“It’s ok honey, time to go back to bed, you’re still not looking the best,” he says to her, her face covered in blood, her once soft blue eyes now a cloud of grey, with only a hint of colour. She growls at him and rushes forward, but he manages to manoeuvre the noose of the control pole over her head and quickly tightens it down, pushing her back against the wall.
“Now come on honey, you know I need to clean this mess up, we don’t want any of these two coming back to cause us problems like the last ones did.” She grunts furiously at him, and he forces her towards a stairway that leads up to the next leave of the house. She fights him the whole way, hissing, spitting and growling at him, but he keeps his eye contact with her all the while and only smiles.
“I know honey, its OK, I know. It’s time, I just need to get it all ready,” he says calmly as he forces her down a dimly lit hallway, towards a room at its end. “You just get some sleep, and when you wake I’ll have it all ready, I promise.”
She stops fighting him and stands there, staring at him, her head tilts to its side as if for a second she understands his words and then lunges forward again aggressively. He shoves her into the room where an open cage sits in its center. They struggle back and forth for a few moments as both of them try to gain the upper hand, but his determination wins out as he give her one last almighty push and she goes tumbling backwards. Quickly he releases the noose from around her neck as she crashes into the cage, and he slams the door shut behind her. Instantly she lunges forward, trying to grab at him, banging ferociously on the cage as he locks the padlocks in place. Once all of them are locked he throws a blanket over the cage and collapses against the opposing wall, wiping the blood, sweat and dirt from his face, and that’s when he hears a murmur from down stairs followed moments later by movement. He forces himself to his feet, and tightly grips the handle of the control pole as he rushes downstairs, before him stands his father, blood dripping from his torn face, his jaw hanging from his skull, held in place by fatty tissue and flesh, he gargles and lets out a low growl. Samuel drives the control pole down upon his head viciously and knocks him to the floor, leaping over the reanimated corpse of his father he makes a mad dash for the shovel that leans up against the door way, he spins around as his father tries to get to his feet and drives the shovel down into his skull several times until it’s nothing but a mushy pile of bones and blood. He feels something brush against his leg as his brother violently begins to spasm on the floor, Samuel does not allow a moment to think of what he is about to do, for what he has already done, and drives the shovel down upon his brothers skull as well, he rests again, tears streaming down his face.
#
The candles burn brightly in the room as he places the cassette tape into the player and presses play, the upbeat, soft rock song begins to play and muffles the sound of the rain striking against the roof violently. He places a hand on the blanket and quickly pulls it off. She lets out a volatile hiss as she shakes the cage violently, and he just sits in front of it and smiles at her.
“Remember this song?” he says as he removes one of the padlocks from the cage door. “God it seems like it was a life time ago, all the crazy stuff that happened when we first met. I mean seriously, it was rough from what I remember, your Dad hated me, your Mum tried to hit on me, and so did your brother,” he says with a laugh as he removes another of the pad locks. “They’re never going to let us be alone, they’re never going to back off, and I’m tired honey, I can’t keep this fight up anymore. I’ve killed so many people, people I loved, you love, and I’ve done it all for you,” he says as a tear runs down his face as he removes the final pad lock and the door swings open. “Let’s live this life together, like we planned,” he says as he holds out his arm towards her, turning his head away in preparation. Softly and slowly she takes hold of his hand and he turns to face her, they sit there for a few moments, looking into each others eyes as their song plays its final few chords.
END
TWISTED ROADS – AN ANTHOLOGY OF TWISTED TALES – VOLUME 1