It all started last week…
“Go brush your teeth and get ready for sleep”, my mom said to us as she moved the wine in her cup in a circular motion while sitting on the couch with her legs crossed on the surface of the table.
“Yeah, go to sleep brats, your old men need some privacy”, Eddie, my stepfather said from next to my mother.
“What the hell you talking about? She’s mine not yours, idiot!” Paul yelled out from my mother’s other side, knocking some booze out of his behemoth of a glass and onto the carpet.
Every day it was the same. These two clowns come to our house just to spend time with my mom. And by spending time I mean what I mean.
My mom is, as you can say, made to make even a fairy jealous. She has almost perfect skin with no flaws in her facial appearance at all. She is basically the next angel ready to ascend to heaven. Unfortunately, her nature, how she lives and her personality say otherwise.
She isn’t even our mom, why am I even calling her that as I’m writing this?
Maybe I’m being generous, maybe I’m being foolish or maybe I’m forgiving. Either way, she isn’t the mother that tucks you in your bed every night. She isn’t the mother that cares. Caring? Selfless? Generous? Those words don’t fit right in her personality.
She’s narcissistic, bipolar and selfish. Those words fit right in. Every night, my “stepfathers” wait at the door for Marie (Mother) to open the door for them. After that they get drunk. Beyond getting drunk? I don’t know. We are forced to go to sleep early and it’s not like I want to find out.
I can’t run away either. Where can I live then? Momma is the only family member left and I don’t even go to school anymore to find friends that would be happy to let them into their homes.
The cops won’t do anything either because I don’t even have a goddamn phone to call them.
I really wish dad was here. The last memory of him was the time he took us to the park one summer evening 4 years ago while mom was out with some friends. I knew he was sick, but he didn’t want to admit it.
“Dad?”
“Yeah sport?”
“What happens if you go away?”
He turned to face me, his face glowing in the fading sunlight.
“Just remember that I’ll always be with you guys no matter what. Even if I’m gone, just remember that I’ll always be there for you.”
I looked up at him. Eyes swimming with tears, I said, “Ok dad”.
I sniffed.
“Th-thanks dad. I love you too”.
Then he fell to the ground with a thud.
I screamed and screamed and screamed.
* * *
As I lay in my bed I couldn’t help thinking about that time. It was a pure nightmare, one that I can’t forget, ever. Painful images swam in my head, mostly about how my dad dropped dead that evening. I wanted the memories to stop coming to me. Why now?
There was a song he used to sing to us when we were still in diapers. Every time he sang it my heart would think it could fly from my chest up to heaven. I always felt like a shield was surrounding me from any danger when each word came out of his mouth.
Little one,
Don’t be scared,
I will always be there,
Don’t be scared,
Not even the devil will care,
Don’t be scared,
My love is in the air
Don’t be scared.
I repeated the lyrics over and over in my head until I managed to get rid of all the memories of the incident in my head. I was just drifting to the depths of sleep when I started to hear voices coming from the room next to mine.
Mother?
No, her room was upstairs. I should know this.
(i should know this)
My mind is foggy from exhaustion. Acting as a slave for your mother isn’t easy. We have to mop the floor, clean up the booze from the carpet by wiping it and even wash the clothes of my dirty step dads.
The voice persisted to the point that I could identify the words
(singing)
and what it is. Singing? Why would someone be singing at this hour and who is it? I slid from my bed and onto the floor, landing on my belly but getting back up.
Man, I am really tired.
I walked through the dark hallway, listening to the singing getting louder and more intelligible as I got closer to my brother’s room.
Why the hell is my brother singing this late? Not like he had ever sung a song in his life for that matter. At least not that I can remember.
I put my ear on the door of my brother’s bedroom and listened:
Little one,
Don’t be scared,
I will always be there,
Don’t be scared,
Not even the devil will care,
Don’t be scared,
My love is in the air
Don’t be scared,
“What the—”, I said out loud.
Ok, now I am seriously puzzled and confused. He doesn’t even care about dad that much yet he is singing it. It doesn’t make any sense what the hell.
With anger and some confusion, I pushed the door open.
“Bro, what the fuck are you doing”, I said as I switched on the light.
He stood up from his bed and looked at me with an ear-to-ear grin.
“Little one,
Don’t be scared,
I will always be there—,”
“Shut up, I’m tryna sleep here, and all I can hear is you singing. You never even cared about dad in the first place so why sing that fucking song. Go to be—”
“I will always be there,
“Don’t be scared,
Not even the devil will care,
Don’t be scared—”
“SHUT THE F—”
That’s when I heard it. The bed creaked and groaned as a humanoid figure was emerging from under it. Its pale skin reflected the moonlight from the window.
Words cannot describe the shock I felt in that moment.
“Wha—”, I stuttered.
The creature eyed me with morbid curiosity, then seemed to smile with its twisted mouth. There was something about that smile that I loved. I couldn’t quite explain it.
(its face)
The face was critically familiar. Where have I seen it? Why has my memory suddenly gone blank?
My brother, still grinning, began to sing once more:
Little one,
Don’t be scared,
I will always be there,
Don’t be scared,
Not even the devil will care,
Don’t be scared,
My love is in the air
Don’t be scared,
The creature rested its abnormally large hand on my brother’s head and squeezed.
(splat)
I fell to my knees. I had had enough. My mind was blank and blood is on my face and walls and hair and
(shut up)
now my mind is on overdrive.
What remained of my brother now lay on the bed soaked with blood. The creature let its hand drop to its side and smiled wider.
“Wh–what the fuck do you want”, I roared at it.
“WHAT ARE YOU!”
The eerie smile seemed to grow larger and broader.
“You’ve grown, sport”, The creature rasped.
“Has Marie been treating you well?”
I couldn’t fucking respond. How could I? I’m talking to a damn monster.
(footsteps)
Oh shit. My mom is coming. That means—
My mother came bursting into the room with her 2 new husbands, obviously drunk and intoxicated. They panned the room, looking at all the gore until their eyes had lain on the creature.
Everyone stopped moving, it was as if time had stopped. Time was now just an illusion in my eyes as the creature launched itself onto my mother and her husbands. My brain couldn’t process the gore and violence that was unfolding in front of me.
Blood splashed all over the place, limbs flew around the room, organs and intestines dropped to the floor like damp clothes.
It was a massacre.
All I heard was guttural groaning before I blacked out completely.
* * *
Waking up and getting up from the wet floor had been a mission. My clothes are soaked with blood and the metallic smell of blood has invaded my nostrils. I limped toward the door, every step shot excruciating pain in my head.
“Jesus fuck”, I muttered. Blood dripping from my clothes and dropping onto the gory floor.
As I made it to the hallway, I couldn’t help sensing the creature somewhere near me. I had a strong feeling, a really strong feeling that it’s close
(inside of me)
by.
My chest suddenly felt like it was being slashed by a machete. My knees gave way and I dropped to the floor, knees getting soaked from blood.
My heart had burst.
Blood ran down my bare ribcage and onto the already blood-soaked floor. Shock had overcome my face as I looked up.
(dad)
A groan escaped me, then the tears came.
“Hey sport. How are you doing”, his honey-like voice chirped.
Tears flowed down my cheeks like waterfalls. “D—Dad?”.
“Sport, we can go down to the park if you want. It’s not that cold outside”, he said.
Not feeling pain any longer, I stood up and looked into the eyes of my loving father.
Blood was everywhere, but I didn’t fucking care. My dad had come to save me from this shit life, and he is right in front of me right now. Nothing matters now, I can finally rest.
My dad wasn’t a human to begin with. He took square pills that made him sick, but now I know why.
He stood over 8 feet tall, with a gangling frame. Claws sprouted from his arms, legs, hands, feet, neck and back. His face was completely normal except for the dark outline around his head.
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him. Tears formed and died in my eyes, spilling down my wet cheeks like waves of the sea. Father did the same.
We embraced for a while longer until father was the first one to break it. The house was coated in scarlet and debris of the people I knew but hated.
“Dad?”, I said
“Yeah sport?”. He slumped to the ground to sit.
“Can you sing to me please?”.
He smiled a million dollar smile and laughed. Every second of that laughter made my heart yet again want to fly from its home. Not that I have a heart anymore.
Little one,
Don’t be scared,
I will always be there,
Don’t be scared,
Not even the devil will care,
Don’t be scared,
My love is in the air
Don’t be scared.
Father drew a breath. “So, sport”.
I looked up at him, focusing full attention. His tone was serious now.
“Who else was bothering you?”, he asked
He expanded his claws out of their sockets and shot a nefarious grin
I smiled. “No, but California has a lot of people in it”.
Somewhere in the house, my mother let out her last breath.