“Content Warning: >!Mentions of child abuse and violence.!<” becomes “Content Warning:
_I bought a box of old medical books, for my college thesis, and this notebook was inside it. I think it got sold to me by accident. I had to share it here. Obviously, I changed the names of the people and places out of respect_
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We had just gotten home from school that day, and me and my sister were playing outside. I was around twelve, I think, and she would be around ten.
We lived in a big house. My parents’ room was the best, because it had a bathroom inside. The kitchen was not small, but us four barely fit around the table at the same time to eat dinner. The table was too big. We had a living room with a tv and a fireplace, and a bathroom at the end of the hall. I don’t remember my original house, but supposedly it was much smaller. Now we lived in a quiet place where you basically only had the town centre with bare necessities. The town was so small, that you could walk from home to school, or any other place really, in no time at all.
My parents would always leave for work early in the morning. I would have to make sure my sister ate, and that we got to school on time. Then at the end of the day, we would get home from school, and we would play until our parents came back. Unlike today, back then, children were expected to stay at home without the parents for some time.
My sister and I used to play this game every afternoon after school. We named it “Red Legs”. In this game one person sits down on the floor with any wooden stick, and swings it rapidly along the floor, while the other person just hops and tries not to get hit in the ankles. Sounds stupid but, for us, it was a lot of fun. Our parents hated it, because we would get bruises all over our legs. That’s why we called it “Red Legs”. When you’re born in a time without the internet or smartphones, you could make anything into a game.
Of course I would never swing too fast, but I had to pretend like I was swinging as hard as I could, so she felt happy. I remember the cracks in her laugh when trying to skip. One hand keeping her hair from her eye, never losing sight of the stick, the other hand swinging for balance. Maggie couldn’t swing fast enough to hit me, so I had to be slow on purpose. The more I got hit, the happier she got. Sadly, I got a feeling that lately, she had gotten suspicious that I was throwing the game. Maybe she was getting older and it wasn’t as fun anymore. She just started losing her smile. Was Maggie becoming a grumpy, uninterested pre-teen already? Was it something at school?
One day, when we were getting home from school, I asked:
“Are you sad Maggie?”
“No?” she said, not expecting the question.
“You look sad”
“I’m not,” she said, smiling at me.
Maybe nothing was wrong. Maybe Maggie was really just getting older. Maybe we would soon end up avoiding each other and only talk to our own friends.
We were now almost at home. She had been quiet all the way.
“By the way,” she said looking at her toes as we walked home, “can you sleep in my room tonight? You can sneak in after mom and dad fall asleep.”
I was extremely forbidden to sleep in the same room as my sister. The only times we did, was when we went and stayed in my grandparents home for the weekend, because we had no choice there.
“Yes! Just like grandma and grandpa’s house! But why? Do you feel scared all by yourself? I never feel scared. I will protect you”, I remember trying to posture like I was much older and stronger.
She grabbed my hand firmly and we walked back home.
Later that day, at night, I was in my room, under the covers, listening to the noises around and inside the house. I was waiting for my parents to get into their room.
I finally heard my mom close their door. When it felt safe, I got up, trying not to make any noise. My feet hit the ground, but the socks muffled the sound. There was a creaking floorboard here and there, but nothing too loud.
Before going to Maggie’s room, I planned on going to the bathroom, so that if my parents heard me, they would stay in bed. I went down that dark hallway.
At night, that was the biggest part of the house. And the worst part was knowing that once I opened the bathroom door, I would have the bathroom mirror right in front of me. What if I saw a reflection behind me? And so, I would avoid looking at the mirror before and after using the bathroom at night.
After pretending to use the bathroom, I went back to my room again but stopped at the door. My room was right in front of my sisters, and side by side with my parents’ room. I opened my bedroom door and closed it, without actually entering the room. I just pretended I did. Now I really had to be very quiet. I slid my feet across the floor like I was skiing, so as to not make stepping sounds crossing to my sisters side.
Maggie had left her door very slightly ajar. I opened it very slowly and looked at the bed. My eyes searching for my sister in the darkness. There she was, in bed. Looking at the door. Her eyes, also scanning in the dark. As soon as she recognized me, she popped up, and threw the bed covers to the side.
“Hurry,” she whispered.
I slid into bed with her. She was very warm. And so was the bed.
“I’m sorry Danny. I’m sorry,” she said, forcing her forehead into my chest.
“Why are you crying?”
After a while of her just whimpering in the same position against my chest, I felt the pressure ease off. She had fallen asleep.
This wasn’t normal. When has Maggie ever been like this? I stared at the ceiling, not being able to sleep, trying to figure out what was wrong. But who was I kidding? I was not going to understand it, unless she explained it to me. I would have to ask her again tomorrow. As my thoughts wandered off, I started to get sleepy, and my eyes heavy. I started to fall deeper and deeper, and I dozed off.
I woke up in the middle of the night. My eyes wouldn’t focus, and I didn’t know what time it was. It was dark all around. I rubbed my eyes trying to fix my eyesight. When they started working, there she was. Her eyes bulged, staring deeply into mine.
“Maggie, what’s wrong?”
“He’s here, Danny” she whispered.
“You’re scaring me Maggie”
“I’m sorry Danny, I’m sorry I tricked you“
“What is it !?” I asked, scared and confused.
Then with a trembling voice, she pointed and whispered:
“Mr. Nibbler is over there”
As soon as Maggie said this, I heard the bedroom door close, and I heard stomping footsteps outside, getting farther and farther away. I didn’t see what had just left the room, but there really was something in there with us.
Then after a second, the footsteps started coming back, getting louder and louder, and the door opened, letting the hallway light enter the room.
“What are you two doing at this time of night?! I told a million times you are not allowed to sleep in the same room! Do you know what time it is? I need to work in the morning, and you have school. Go back to your bed immediately Danny!”
It was my mom, still half asleep, standing in the doorway, yelling at us.
I lied about what happened. My mother was angry, and I thought that yelling monster would just make things worse.
“Sorry mom, I heard Maggie crying from my room. So I came to see what was wrong. She was having a really bad nightmare”
“A nightmare?,” she seemed doubtful.
“It wasn’t a nightmare! There was a monster in my room! He ran away when Danny woke up!” my sister yelled.
“A monster? There are no monsters, Maggie.” said mom, already tired of this conversation.
“Yes there are! Tell mommy, Danny. Tell her what you saw!”
“Enough! I don’t need this nonsense from you two, especially at this time of night!”
Maggie just pulled the bedsheets over her head in protest and stayed under them crying. Mom looked at me and let out a sigh.
“Danny, you can stay if you two promise to be quiet, and go to sleep. I’ll break the rule this one time. But this won’t happen again, do you hear me?” she said more calmly but with a serious tone. “I’ll leave the bedroom door open, and the hallway light on, so no more nightmares happen. I’ll turn it off when I wake up in the morning. Just please go to sleep, ok?”
I nodded.
Mom left the door open, and left the hallway light on, just like she said. We heard her bedroom door shut. I looked at Maggie, trying to understand what just happened.
Before I could even mutter a word, we started to hear footsteps in the hallway again. We both looked at each other, our eyes popping out of our heads, not knowing what to do, and then we both stared at the door, waiting for something to happen.
Thump…Thump…Thump…
The footsteps were getting louder, and then we saw a shadow forming and getting bigger outside against the hallway wall.
But before it could take shape, we heard a click and the hallway light got turned off. And now we waited, in darkness, for what was coming. We didn’t speak, we didn’t move. We waited, looking at that door. The light coming from the window was now slightly lighting up the door to the hallway. We were going to see something.
Thump…Thump…Thump…
And then no footsteps, no noise. Complete silence.
And then, we saw it go past the door. It looked directly at me.
I saw an angry scowl and a pair of big blue eyes reflected in the light from the window. That was the only thing I registered from that figure that went past the door, before it made its way into the other part of the house.
Nothing but silence.
After what felt like hours, I felt Maggie collapse and fall asleep. I stayed awake the rest of the night, still petrified, staring at that door, waiting for it to come back. I prayed it didn’t. I stared and stared, holding Maggie’s hand.
After a long time, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I blinked for just a second. And with that blink, morning had come. I had kept her safe.
“What now?”, I thought to myself. I knew that something had to be done, but how on earth would I convince my parents that there was a monster inside my sisters room, and that I saw it. We were only children. Would you ever believe a child that there was a monster inside their room?
I could talk to my friends and try to come up with a plan. My sister and I had the same group of friends. I don’t remember most of the names, but there was George, Jackson and Raisin. I believe we were around 5 or 6 kids, but those are the ones I remember the names of. They were the ones I was closest to. George was the one that loved dungeons and dragons. Or anything fantastical or mythical really. Jackson was the athletic type that beat everyone at anything physical. And Raisin was the cute ginger girl that all of the boys tried to impress.
Maggie woke up, and reached out for me, to see if I was still there. I didn’t know what to say, so I just said:
“What was that thing?”
She said she didn’t know what it was. I didn’t either.
“How long has he been here?”, I asked.
“ I don’t know”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She shrugged and didn’t answer.
“Why didn’t you? I would’ve believed you”, I insisted.
“I couldn’t say anything”, she whispered, “He said he would hurt anyone that I told, so I couldn’t say anything. I’m sorry I told you, but I was so scared.”
“What do you mean? That thing speaks?!”
She looked defeated.
“It only talked to me once”
“What?”
“He told me he likes to nibble on my toes. He said he was Mr. Nibbler”
Then she started to tell me everything.
“The first time, I woke up to scratchy noises. I didn’t know what it was. I looked at the door and closet, and I couldn’t see anything. Then I saw a shadow looking at me. I couldn’t move or speak. Like I was still asleep. The shadow kept making scratchy noises and I fell asleep again. After that, some other night, I woke up and Mr. Nibbler was sucking on my toes like a lollipop. When I looked at him I couldn’t see anything. Everything was blurred, but I could smell him and hear the scratchy noises too. He leaned over me and whispered in my ear that I had to be quiet. He said that he wasn’t there to hurt me. He said that his name was Mr. Nibbler and that he just wanted to have fun and play. He asked if my feet tickled when he kissed them. I wanted to answer but I fell asleep again. After that, it was always the same thing every night but sometimes, he touched me in other places. One night I said your name, and he got very angry. He said that if I told anyone about him, that he would hurt me and that person very much. He made me promise not to tell and bit me toe really hard. But I couldn’t answer. I tried really hard, but I couldn’t. I had no voice. I never told you anything because I didn’t want you to get hurt. But last night, you scared him! When he saw you he ran away. You saved me”
After all that, she hugged me. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to ask.
“Please promise you’ll come to my room again tonight. Please, don’t leave me alone with Mr. Nibbler. You have to scare him again. Even if mom yells at me”
“I promise Maggie. I promise”
That rest of the day, all I could do was try to come up with a plan. I needed to plan something for that night. There was no way that monster was going to ever touch my sister again.
At school when we were all sitting around in the playground, I asked my friends in a sort of kidding way, what would they do if they had a monster in their room. Of course everyone started to make fun of me, saying that I was afraid of monsters. But then I said it was just a joke, and that I would use a sword. George, being the fantasy fanatic, said that the sword would be the best for a regular monster, but if the monster was magical, I would be better off with a staff and spells. Jackson said that he would just wrestle the monster to the ground. Raisin said she would stab it in the face.
“Get a knife from the kitchen, wait under the bed, and stab it in the face when it comes out”
We all looked at her and each other. She was serious.
The day had passed faster than ever. I remember the feeling I had that day. That excruciating anticipation. I can only imagine what my sister felt, every single day. We barely spoke at the dinner table. My parents asked if everything was alright. We pretended it was, and they must’ve believed it, because they didn’t ask again.
“I don’t want a repeat of last night, do you hear me?”
My dad was always very stern with my sister, but this time it bothered me even more.
I remember getting angry, because it wasn’t her fault. I was going to say something, but I didn’t want to make it worse.
We all went to our rooms. As soon as my body hit the bed, I started going over the plan in my head and started to practice in my room.
“That thing only appears when Maggie falls asleep, so I need to hide under the bed. When that thing comes out, I’ll rush it and stab it with the knife I took from the kitchen”
I started to hear my parents heading for bed, so I jumped in mine. Now I just had to wait for everything to quiet down. I was scared but determined to go. Could I even stab that thing? Would I freeze when the time came.
But something was wrong.
I was starting to feel numb. First my legs, then all around my head. It felt like a thousand needles were prickling my body. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I felt my body getting heavier and heavier. And then, darkness.
I woke up in a state of daze. Everything was blurry around me and I felt like I was weightless and helpless. My eyes struggled to focus.
“Danny, Danny, Danny….”, a voice repeated disappointedly, “Why did you have to go and ruin everything last night? Did you think I would just let it go? Do you know what I go through all day? Thinking and thinking about little Maggie, and what I want to do to her. And then you just ruin everything”
I felt that voice coming from the door. It sounded like a snake, if a snake could talk.
“Mr. Nibbles”, I let out, faintly.
“Oh, so it was her who told you about me? I thought it was just bad luck having you in there last night. I see she even told you our special secret name. What a shame. I wanted to play a lot more”
He had now sat on my bed, alongside my legs. He had his hand on top of my knee, and was tapping it, in a don’t worry sort of way.
“Don’t try and get up Danny. You can’t. I have this special power that makes little children sleepy. That’s how I can do what I do. I know you don’t want to, but I am going to Maggie’s room now. And you are going to stay very quiet in here. I was savoring her, day by day, little by little. But now that you and her know about it, she has to go away. I can’t savor it anymore. I only have one more chance at it, before it ends. So I have to go for one big bite. Do you want to know what I’m going to do to your sister Danny? I think you can imagine a few things, right?”
As he stopped talking he got up, laughing. I tried to grab him, but my hands would not close hard enough. I had no strength in me. I felt that shadow leave my room. I heard my sister’s door opening and there was nothing I could do. Then I heard the door close.
I tried and tried to make myself get up, but couldn’t stay awake. I struggled and struggled. And I was gone.
The next morning, as soon as I woke up, I ran as fast as I could into my sister’s room. When I got there, she was sitting on the bed. Her little feet dangling from the side. I put my hand on her shoulder and tilted her head back so I could see her face. She screamed at me at the top of her lungs and almost punched me off.
“Get away from me Danny! You liar! You liar! You lied to me! Get away!”
And that was the last thing she ever said to me.
I was so hurt that I ran away. I couldn’t stand looking at Maggie, knowing that I had failed her. I ran away like a coward.
That same day the school called our parents. We didn’t show up to school and Maggie was found wandering around town all alone. After a few hours they found me as well and I got escorted to school, where my parents were already waiting for me. I remember that I got the day off school, and my parents didn’t go to work either. After my mom and dad talked to the teachers, we all went to the town’s doctor’s office. When we got there, it wasn’t the doctor that I was used to seeing. This was a lady. A big, six foot blonde woman. Very thin and very old. No life in her face at all.
We were all waiting in the corridor. The lady doctor called and talked to my parents. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but I could see my mother getting very upset with my dad. She then came back to me and said:
“Wait here Danny. I’m going to talk to the doctor. Don’t leave this chair, ok?”
“Is Maggie ok?”
“Wait here Danny”
And then she went into the room with my dad and the doctor.
After a while, they came back out.
“Danny, the doctor wants to speak to you. Just answer her questions”
“Where is Maggie mom? Is she ok?”
“Just go to talk to the doctor. Don’t make things worse”
So I went inside the room. The doctor gave me a creepy smile. The room smelled of disinfectant, and the chair squeaked when she moved around.
“Hello Danny, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine”
“How is school going? Are you getting good grades?”
“I don’t know”
“I see someone is grumpy. Listen, Danny, I need to ask you some questions about what happened”
I knew this was coming, and I knew I was going to sound insane, but I had to tell the truth.
“What is this Mr. Nibbler the girl was talking about?”
I was caught of guard.
“Danny, we already know what happened. We just want to hear what you know and saw”
I guess this was the opportunity I wanted. So I told her everything.
“Did this Mr. Nibbler ever touch you?”
The question caught me off guard. They knew.
“No?”
“What are your parents like with the girl?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you feel they like you more, or do they like her more?”
My parents were always colder towards my sister. It always bothered me. But I was not going to tell this to the doctor.
“They like us the same”
“Has your sister ever talked about running away?”
“No! She would never do that”
“Did you or her ever notice something strange in your house? Other things like Mr. Nibbler?”
“No”
“Are you sure? Nothing else scared you? Only Mr. Nibbler?”
“Yes”
“Good, good. Ok Danny, thank you. I’m going to tell your mother to come in now. Please wait outside again”
“Is Maggie ok? Where is she?”
“Please wait outside”
She got up, and opened the door for me. My mother was outside. I didn’t see my dad. My mom went inside the room with the doctor. I waited outside. Not five minutes after that, my mother was coming out the door again.
“Let’s go home Danny”
“What about Maggie? Where is she?”
“Your sister is going to stay here a few days”
“Why?”
“Because the doctor needs to look after her”
“And where is dad?”
“Dad is not coming home with us. Let’s go”
When we got home, my mom called my grandparents. She was arranging a place for me to stay. My mom said that it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to be around at this time. It would be best for me to stay away at my grandparents.
She started packing my things, and I asked:
“Mom? When can I see Maggie?”
“Help me pack your things and don’t talk about it anymore”
“But mom”
“ENOUGH DANNY!!”
She just continued packing. She told me everything was going to be alright and that dad would soon be home and that all would get back to normal.
We listened to the car radio all the way to my grandparents. When I started to see the city in the distance, I teared up. It made me miss my sister even more. It made me remember all the happy moments we had together at my grandparents house. She would’ve loved to be here with me right now.
As soon as my grandma saw me, she came straight to my side of the car and gave me a huge hug. My grandpa only gave me a smile, but I knew he was as happy as her. My grandparents’ house still smelled the same as always. It has this very distinctive smell. I would say it’s a combination of tea and wet plants. They showed me to the guest room, which was really my room and my sister’s room when we stayed there. It was as small as a closet and it barely fitted a bed and a dresser.
My mom said I should go and play, so that she and my grandparents could talk. So I did.
After a while I remembered to check the secret stash me and my sister had. That dresser in the room had a loose piece of wood on the back of it. You could hide something around the size of a soda can inside. I pulled on the piece of wood with my fingers and it popped straight out. And there they were.
The two braided bracelets and a pocket knife. One bracelet was red, and one was black. Both were made from fake leather. The black one was mine, the red was my sisters’. The pocket knife we found on the street once. It was really sharp, and we had to keep it hidden. My sister wrote her name, misspelt, on the side of the black blade cover. “Magy”. She had called dibs when she found it. And you had to respect dibs.
I took everything out and hid them in my pants pocket. I was going to take it back to my sister next time I saw her.
After a while my mother called me back down. My grandparents had prepared me something to eat. It was pancakes with strawberry syrup. I sat down to eat and my mother started to gather her things. She was leaving.
“Be good Danny. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Don’t be a burden to mama and papa”
“What about dad?”
My mom pretended she didn’t hear the question, said goodbye to my grandparents and left. And that was it. All I could do now was wait.
My grandparents were larks, and that meant that I would be alone in my room very early and had a lot of time with nothing to do. I didn’t have my comic books, I didn’t have my toys. I had nothing there. Only very old rubber dinosaurs that I used to play with when I was around five.
There was nothing I could do, but go to sleep. At least something was reassuring. Mr. Nibbler wouldn’t be showing up here.
I woke up to the sound of the phone ringing. It was morning.
I got up and went down stairs. My grandma was talking to my mom on the phone. I asked if everything was ok with Maggie, but I got no answer. I felt like something was wrong from her tone.
After she hung up the phone, she turned to me and said that my mom would be sending someone to pick me up in a few hours. I was going home earlier than expected, but she couldn’t pick me up. Somebody else was coming. I asked about my sister again, and my grandma said that everything was going to be alright and that my mother would probably take me to see Maggie that afternoon. I jumped in the air with excitement and asked for more pancakes.
“Grandma, can you make extra pancakes, so I can take them to Maggie?”
And so my grandma did.
I couldn’t wait. I was so nervous. My grandma told me to go get ready so that I could leave as soon as my ride got there. I went to pick up all my stuff, and my grandmother helped me put everything in my bag. My clothes, toothbrush, and some shoes. I heard the doorbell ring and I dashed straight to the door.
It was a man in a suit. Looked like a butler with a hat.
I looked at my grandmother and she seemed to understand me telepathically.
“Yes Danny, it’s time to go. Give me a hug”
I thanked grandma and grandpa and took the pancakes with me. I sat down in the backseat of the car and put those pancakes on my lap. I couldn’t let them slip and fall. They were for Maggie.
The man got in the car and we were off.
He said nothing the whole trip, and I was too shy to ask anything myself. He had an imposing, scary presence.
We arrived at a huge gate with security. They let us in. It is still the biggest house I’ve seen to this day. It had a road inside of the premises. That’s how big it was. The man told me to get out and go inside the house. My parents would be waiting inside for me. And so I did. As soon as I left the car, the main door of the house opened and my dad came outside to greet me.
“Come on Danny, Let’s go inside”
The house was even bigger on the inside, if that was possible.
“What are those?” My dad asked.
“Strawberry pancakes. Grandma made them for Maggie”
My father didn’t react. Before we entered the main living room, without looking at me, he said:
“You were not supposed to know any of this Danny, but now, we have no choice. All I want you to understand is that we did what was necessary for us. For you. I need you to be a man now. Don’t let your family down”
I stayed quiet.
When I got to the living room, I saw my mom, and that man. If a pig could turn into a human, it would look like that man.
Mr. Simmons.
My mom was sitting down on the sofa across from him. She looked serious.
“Hello Danny. Please sit down young man. We have a lot to talk about”
My mother was sitting to my left, and my dad sat down to my right. Mr. Simmons was sitting in front of me in a leather cigar chair.
“Relax dear boy. No need to be scared. What is that you have there on your lap?”
“Strawberry pancakes for my sister”
“Ha ha ha. That is priceless. Pancakes for little Maggie”
For a man with so much money, I’m surprised he never fixed those yellow buck teeth of his. They looked like they glowed in the dark.
He lit a cigar, and then glanced at my parents and said:
“So, any of you morons want to start explaining?”
My parents looked reluctant. And so he insisted.
“It was your fucking mess. You asked for a chance to explain. This is it. Explain”
My dad looked at me, and started explaining.
“You are not old enough to remember, but we were very poor Danny. I had lost my job and your mother’s job paid close to nothing. There was no chance to live at grandpa and grandma’s. There is no room for all of us. A week there would’ve been too much. We were going to lose our house. We would end up in the street. I couldn’t let that happen”
He continued.
“Around two years ago, we were at Mr. Simmons house, at the Christmas party he organizes every year. The ones you hate. We had already drunk a few glasses of wine and we were having a bit more fun than we were supposed to. You were sleeping in some guest room, while we partied away. One thing led to another and the party turned into something a bit more adult. Stuff that we should’ve never done with you around. By the end of the night everyone had left, and Mr. Simmons told us to stay and sleep there. It would be dangerous to drive home with you in the car. So, in the state that we were, we accepted. As you know I still had no job, and I was planning to ask Mr. Simmons for one. I wanted to explain to him that we were broke and we were about to lose the apartment. So we agreed to stay”
“I already knew what your dad wanted, Danny. That’s why I invited him to the party. Otherwise why would I even bother inviting your parents?”
My dad looked ashamed. “Danny, I need you to understand that we are not bad people. We did what we had to do. We did it for you”
“I invited them to recruit them. Your mother already worked for me, at one of my many businesses. I knew of her situation and I know weak people when I see them. The job he has now, the job you mom has, the house you have, the money, all of it was given to you by me. You had nothing before. You lived in a crummy little apartment even rats would be ashamed to call a home. Now you live in a big house. Now you have money. Toys, food. You parents should get down on their knees and kiss my feet. And sometimes they do.
He smirked.
“To cut a long story short, your parents babysit for me. They babysit my investments. Like your sister. Like cute little Maggie”
I remember my heart sinking. What was he talking about?
“My most successful business is kids. I take em’, keep em’, rent ‘em, sell em’. The only thing these stupid people in that backwards hick town need to do, is make sure they have a place for my customers to use. You don’t pay for the house, you don’t pay for the food, you don’t pay the bills, nothing!! You have one fucking job, and your parents managed to fuck it up”
He glared at my parents, and they shrunk like children.
“Your sister was top of the shelf expensive. Everyone wanted to fuck her and we had a line that stretched around the block. So, what does your dad do with one of my most prized possessions? He fucks up, and gives a low dose of sedative. You see, he ran out of it, and instead of going to the store, like he fucking should!, he decided to split the last drops on you and your sister. Once a fuck up, always a fuck up. That’s why you woke up, that’s why she woke up, that’s why you interfered with one of my customers, and that’s why we are here now. Do you know how much he paid? Then to make up for the day he had nothing, that man really went to town on your sister. Crazy fucker. One stupid, fucking, mistake and this is what happens. Lucky for all of you, I found a buyer that was willing to take her for good. He said he could use her abroad, and pass her off as barely used. So, since I am now in somewhat good spirits, I am willing to give you three, a second chance”
He stood up, and came up to me. Really close.
He took Maggie’s pancakes from my lap, sat down again in his chair, and put the pancakes on his lap. He opened up the case, and started eating the pancakes with his hands.
“I run that town you live in. Everything is mine. Built with my money. A lot of depend on me to live. I feed them. I give them homes. In return they do what I tell them to do. It’s a perfect system. The police get me the pregnant junkies, the ashamed teenagers, the prostitutes, all that trash. My doctors pull the product out and the orphanage turn those shits into diamonds. Then it’s a just a question of getting them registered, finding a couple, like your parents, to take care of them, and then rent them out. Plus, when they become to old to use, I find buyers and ship them off to fuck knows where. It’s amazing what desperate people will ignore, to live like kings. My costumers will never talk, because they are fucking addicted, and I make the product easy to get. And for those who suddenly decide to grow a heart or turn to Jesus, we just show them the videotapes we made. Do you want some of them and see your sister again? Hahaha, I’m just fucking with you Danny.”
He stopped eating mid way, threw the pancakes over the little table to his side. He relit the cigar, and continued talking.
“So here is the deal, it turns out, girls that have brothers, tend to feel safer around men. I don’t understand any of it, but my guys tell me it’s important. And if you don’t trust the science of the people you employ, why employ them in the first place? I need boys to play the brother part, and we have a bit of a shortage on that front. So, what do you say? Life goes back to being what it was. You get to have a new sister and put this all in the past. I’ll let you go to the orphanage and pick the one you like more. You can even call her Maggie again.”
Then a pause.
“Well? Yay or nay? Your parents already said yes. They would like to bring their son home with them. But it’s up to you. Do you want to go home?”
My parents looked at me and said, “ Say yes, Danny! Say yes, so we can be a family again!”
So I looked at Mr. Simmons and said yes. I said yes.
“Very good, hahaha! Wonderful. It’s decided then. I am too generous sometimes”
He got up, stood tall over me, and then bent down, putting his face right in front of mine.
“No hard feelings?”
I could smell my sister’s strawberry pancakes in his breath. He grinned ear to ear and stretched out his hand for a handshake. And so did I. But my hand didn’t open for a handshake.
Stab.
My arm stretched out, closed fist, and I shoved my sisters pocket knife into the side of that big fat fucking pighead of his.
Stab. Stab. Stab.
He buckled and fell head first into the ground, smashing his bucked teeth on the mosaic floor.
Stab. Stab. Stab.
Deep into his neck. Deep into his ear. Deep into the neck again. Blood sprayed everywhere. My face, the couch. My clothes, my parents. My mother screamed. My dad lunged at me, trying to save that pig.
“Danny! What are you doing!?”
But he slipped on all the blood that had drained out of the pig, twisting his leg and blowing out his knee in the process.
I walked over to my mom, who was still screaming, and I made a great many other holes for her to scream out of.
Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab.
She was trying to say something, but all I could hear was her gargling her own blood, tongue and skin. I watched her struggle and twitch around, until she stopped and fell backwards on the couch.
Dad had crawled what he could on three limbs, but he didn’t get far. His arms and body were slippery. And the slick floor didn’t help his cause much.
Stab. Right on the leg.
He managed to kick me from the ground with his good leg. I felt the impact on my chest, and for a few seconds I couldn’t breathe. I dropped Magy on the floor. But I picked her right up.
He screamed and struggled. He knew what was coming.
“Stop Danny. Please Danny!”
Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab.
There was no face left to look at.
Magy had taken them all out.
I looked around. So much blood.
I heard some commotion outside the room. So I ran to the door and locked myself in.
I stepped over the corpses and picked up the phone. I called 911. And waited.
A few days went by.
I got sent to Merry’s Psychiatric Hospital.
An investigation ensued. A lot of people got arrested. A lot of people turned up dead. A lot of kids were found buried, others belly up in the river. Some never came back. A lot of stones went unturned as well. A lot of names that were connected, but somehow got unconnected.
The years passed and I still live in Merry’s. They say I am not ready to leave yet, but at least they say I’m sane enough to be able to have a pen and a notebook. And so I write about it. They say it helps.
Maggie was never found. To this day nobody knows where she is. No person was ever caught for transporting kids from that town. I hope she never made it out alive. I dream of people walking the woods, hoping one day, one of them trips over a tiny little body with fiery curly hair. What would you prefer? To know your sister was killed and buried? Or the alternative? When I get to heaven, I hope to see her there. I hope she is still the little Maggie I once knew and loved.
Either way, I just wish I can talk to her one last time, and say sorry for falling asleep.
I hope they have strawberry pancakes there.