The Awakening Box Set

by Michael Timmins

  Within moments she no longer could taste blood and she took her finger out. The cut was gone. The knives were quite sharp. She grabbed the other one and the two scabbards also displayed. She slid both into their sheaths and left the room. Once back in the hall, she continued to the end of the hall to the door there. She opened it slowly and could see the bodies of a man and a woman lying in a large four-posted bed. She listened quietly and heard their slow breathing, indicating they were fast asleep.

  Shae tiptoed over to the bed, her bare feet making no sound; her naked body quiet as she crossed the distance between the door and the bed. Silently she looked at the sleeping form of the man. He slept soundly as she gazed at his face. Images of Daniel and George flared in her mind. Anger blazed within her. She realized she held one of the knives in front of her.

  Before she could think, she brought the knife down and dragged it towards her, slicing neatly the man’s throat. The man’s eyes shot open and stared at her. He attempted to gasp for a breath but gargled on his own blood. The sound woke the woman next to him. Still groggy from sleep, she didn’t even have a chance to comprehend what was happening as Shae leapt upon the bed and brought the other knife down, slamming it into the woman’s abdomen, slicing into her diaphragm.

  Unable to inhale enough air even to scream, the woman’s mouth opened wide, but only faint whimpers could be heard. The last thing the woman saw before death took her was a naked girl, covered in blood, holding two long knives dripping gore, smiling over her.

  Shae stood on the bed, over the bodies for hours. The two knives she used were caked with dried blood. She held them in the tight grip of her hands. It was light out, dawn came and went. She barely moved from the bed she shared with the two bodies, lifeless and cold in front of her.

  Shae started as the doorbell rang. For a while, she still did not move. It rang again. She crossed to the window that looked out into the front yard. She couldn’t see who was ringing the doorbell but noticed there was a man dressed in a black suit at the house across the street. He was showing some sort of paper to the man at the door, to which the man shook his head.

  The man in the suit pulled a card from his front pocket and handed it the man. The gentleman at the door looked over the card then nodded and shut the door. Movement caught her eye as a man in a suit walked away from the house, she was in. He moved to the house next door.

  She edged away from the window. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she was certain they were looking for her. She needed to get away from this area, and soon. Those men wouldn’t give up. It was possible they might come back to houses they had initially not gotten any response from.

  She turned around and caught her image in the mirror over the dresser. She was a sight. Not quite a woman, her body still slight of build, slightly boyish with a slight flare to her hips and small breasts. Her skin was pale, almost white, made even starker by the dark red, almost black of the dried blood covering a lot of her naked form. She still held the knives she had used to kill the owners of this house. They were also covered with dried blood. She let them go and after a moment, gravity separated them from the dried blood on her hands. They fell to the ground with a clatter.

  Forty minutes later Shae was clean, her first real shower in over a year. Her hair looked luminous after she used all the different products she found in the shower. It was still riddled with split ends, but she found a pair of scissors and cut her hair short. Just above her shoulders.

  After wandering around the house, watching some TV, and eating some leftovers, she entered the daughter’s room. It was a teenager’s room. Makeup was strewn all over the vanity. Several pictures of boys were stuck into the frame of the mirror. Clothes lay everywhere.

  Shae tiptoed around the mess and slipped into the bed. It was the softest thing she had ever experienced. Her mattress for the past year and a half consisted of a thin piece of foam on top of a rollaway bed, like those in hotels. She stretched beneath the covers. They were cool and felt great on her naked body. She smiled, perhaps the first real smile she allowed herself in years. In moments, she was fast asleep.

  It was nighttime when she awoke. She had slept the whole day. She moved the covers aside and stood. After a brief search of the closet she found an older pair of jeans that fit her loosely and a t-shirt. The clothes felt good. It was like experiencing something new. It wasn’t new, not really. She had worn normal clothes before, but it was so long ago, its feel didn’t exist anymore. Shae went downstairs and grabbed the purse from the dead daughter and went back upstairs.

  For the next few hours, Shae played with the makeup she found. She managed to find lipstick she liked, along with some mascara. She stuffed those into the girl’s purse. Rummaging around in the purse revealed thirty-two dollars, which got Shae thinking. She searched around the house and located the mom’s purse and the dad’s wallet. A quick count. She had two hundred and eighteen dollars. She also had several credit cards to use. She collected all the money and put it in the purse.

  There were more leftovers in the fridge which she devoured. Shae sat thinking at the kitchen table. She knew she couldn’t stay here much longer. Sooner or later someone would come to find out what happened to the people who lived here. When there was no answer at the door, or the phones, the police would be called. They would come and find the bodies, and if she was still here, she would be locked up, again. She wouldn’t allow that to happen. There was no way she would get locked up again. She would do anything to stay free… anything. She would take the girl’s car for now, though she had never driven before, it couldn’t be all that hard.

  She had watched her foster-mother drive, so figuring out how to drive shouldn’t be too difficult. They would look for the car eventually, so she couldn’t drive it for long, maybe two days, at best, to get as far away as possible.

  She decided she would head north, at least in the direction of upstate New York where she used to live. That decided, she went back to the girl’s room and collected a few more shirts and another pair of jeans. None of the underwear fit, all too loose so she would have to do without. She found a gym bag in the closet and put all the clothes inside.

  For a long time, she stared at the two knives she had used to kill the parents. She wasn’t sure if she should take them with her or not. Truth was, she felt safe with them at hand. She knew she would be able to defend herself if she had them. In time, she made up her mind, washed the blood off them, sheathed them, and then put them in the gym bag. She grabbed the purse and the car keys and stepped outside into the night. Locking the door after her, she went to the car. She got in and after a few minutes of fussing around, got the car started and backed out of the driveway. She thanked her lucky stars it was an automatic and not manual. She didn’t think she would have been able to figure out how to drive a stick shift.

  It took several minutes and a couple of times turning around before she could find her way out of the neighborhood and on a main road. Shae turned into the first gas station she found and went inside.

  A young man sat on a stool behind the counter. He barely glanced up as she entered, too intent on reading the newspaper. She quietly approached the counter and stood there, waiting for him to notice her. As if sensing her staring at him, he glanced up.

  “Oh, hi. Can I help you?” He moved the newspaper aside, stood, and smiled at her. For a moment, she just stared at the man. She didn’t know what to say, casual conversations were something she was not familiar with anymore.

  “Umm... I need to get to upstate New York. What would be the best way to go?”

  The guy thought it over for a bit.

  “Well, I assume you would have to take 68. That eventually heads north.” He glanced around and came out from behind the counter. He was too intent on where he was going to notice Shae’s immediate reaction of backing away from him. She relaxed when she realized he wasn’t coming at her.

  He made his way over to a stand that had road maps on it and grabbed the one of West Virgini
a. He returned behind the counter. He carefully unfolded it and motioned her over as he leaned forward over the map. Shae was a little frightened of the guy, but she forced herself to go over to see what he was trying to show her.

  “Yeah, just what I thought.” He traced a road with his finger, showing her the route she would want to take.

  “You get onto 68 east and then you are gonna wanna hook up with 99 north via 220. Then that hooks into I-80... Then stay left and get on I-81. Then you are going to take a couple of Routes; 247N, 370, 17 and then 8. That will get you on I-88 which will lead you to I-90. From there you can head into Albany or wherever your final destination is. Got it?”

  Shae had no idea what he was talking about. But she nodded anyways. He must have seen the confused look on her face because he grabbed a piece of paper and wrote it out for her.

  “Here, take the map too.”

  When she reached into her purse to pay him, he shook his head.

  “Nah, don’t worry about it. Nobody ever buys those things anyway, so no one will miss it.”

  Shae smiled shyly at him while taking the map and directions from him. She felt lost. Not only was she unsure of where she needed to go, but she wasn’t used to being treated well by anyone, especially a man. She turned to go, opened the door to leave when something occurred to her, and she turned back.

  “Hey, how do I get to 68?” she asked him.

  “Oh, that is easy. Just head up the road here,” he pointed out to the road she had come in on, “and after about a mile there is an on-ramp. Just look for the one that says 68 East. Then just follow the directions. It’s quite a long drive you know.” Concern was evident in his voice.

  Shae once again was at a loss for words. She nodded and got out of there before she made a bigger fool of herself than she felt she had already done.

  Once outside, she started up the car and pulled out on to the street. She drove for a bit and just like the guy told her, she saw a sign that said 68 east. She managed to get the car onto the on-ramp and sped up to join traffic.

  During the night, nobody noticed her in the car and with the limited traffic, she made fairly good time, only getting lost twice. Getting directions and back on the proper route was easy. As the sun rose, she pulled into a busy rest area for two purposes: to relieve herself and get some much-needed sleep.

  A few hours later found her on the road, again, searching for a place to eat. She pulled off the highway at a small community and found a restaurant. She used the woman’s credit card for her meal and immediately threw the card into the trash, realizing she wouldn’t be able to use it again. She filled the gas tank with one of the man’s credit card, again tossing it after use.

  As she approached her destination, she had to ask for directions more often. To her surprise, most of the people were friendly and helpful. At first, she didn’t trust them. She figured they were only pretending to be nice so they could get something from her. Eventually she realized that wasn’t the case. They were just being nice.

  Still, she did not lower her guard. She was afraid the lab, where she had been held, would not give up until they found her. She was sure that was how they operated. They pretended to be nice to get something. So most likely, if they did find her, they would act like all these people.

  She had to be on her toes and wary. She started to feel as if someone was following her. It was weird, but she felt, almost physically like someone was coming for her. She got into the habit of looking behind her, always expecting to see someone coming. Even though she felt the presence was some distance away, it felt closer and closer as the hours passed.

  It was late afternoon when she pulled into Warrensville, the town where she grew up. The sun sat low on the horizon, just above the tree line. The round, orange ball seemed to rest on the tips of the branches, lighting the tops, but leaving the face of the trees dark. The town was small, and she found the road her foster mother’s trailer park was on. She turned the car down it and in no time, she was parked a little way from her foster mom’s trailer. She heard George’s loud voice yelling at Anne.

  Shae was amazed how she could hear the sound when he hit Anne. She glanced around at the other trailers next door. She knew they must hear it as well yet did nothing. They probably turned up their TVs or folded the pillow over their ears, all the while pretending nothing was happening. Anger boiled up inside of her.

  She remembered the night George raped her. How she cried out for him to stop. Yelled at him to get off her. She was sure now the neighbors must have heard her back then, as well as her foster mother. The thin walls of the trailer hid nothing.

  The new amazement of the friendliness of people was shredded to a million pieces when she realized the people here ignored the fact she was raped, and her mother repeatedly beaten. They sat in their trailers and did nothing while she slit her wrists because she didn’t want to live anymore after being violated.

  It was night when she left the trailer park, the moon was near full and illuminated the road with a pale silver light. She would return in a few days to take care of things.

  A few miles down the road she found a motel, parked, and went to the desk. She pretended she was the daughter of someone who needed a room and paid in cash. The woman behind the counter looked at her oddly, and Shae felt her watching the entire time she walked to the car.

  Shae saw a pop machine and went over to buy a pop, hopefully boring the lady enough she would stop watching. She didn’t need someone to suspect, as young as she was, that she was alone at a motel. By the time she got the machine to take her bill and pick a soda she wanted, the lady was again watching her TV. Shae quickly got her things out of the car and went to the room.

  She lay down on the bed and turned the TV on. She flipped the channel a few times and even though she had not really watched TV in years, nothing interested her. Instead, she lay there, staring at the ceiling, wondering why the hell she was here.

  True, it was the only place she knew of as home, but what kinda home was it? A home where she had been raped while her foster mother did nothing to stop it? Anne knew stopping George would mean he would beat her. She kept herself safe, while the child she was supposed to keep from harm was having her childhood ripped from her and broken. Sleep did not come easy that night. When it did come, it was filled with nightmares of being raped, first by George then tortured by Daniel.

  Morning came and Shae awoke with a headache. The sheets were soaked from sweat. After a hot shower, she felt a little better, though the headache was still there, just not as bad. She realized she was hungry, and she hadn’t eaten since yesterday afternoon, which might explain her headache. The motel sported a small diner and she made her way there.

  She didn’t want to run low on cash, but she knew she would have enough for a meal or two and gas for the car. She ate a full breakfast, two eggs, two pieces of bacon and two pancakes with whipped cream. She was nervous about today and ate without even noticing the taste. The waitress hovered near her the entire time. Probably worried she would eat and split since she was unaccompanied. Shae decided to leave her a big tip, just to see the look on her face for being so judgmental of kids.

  She took her time eating and realized she was trying to postpone what she was about to do. She looked at the bill and dropped a twenty on the table, twice as much as the bill, got up and left. She noticed the waitress rush to the table to check the money and to make sure she had paid the right amount. Shae kept walking out the door and went back to her room. She gathered everything up and packed it away. Five minutes later she was on the road back towards her foster mother’s trailer park.

  She arrived at the trailer park a little time later and drove to her old home. She parked the car and looked the trailer over. It was clear nobody was home. Why she hadn’t thought of that, she didn’t know. Of course, no one would be home now; they were probably at work, though George was more likely at a bar or some other woman’s trailer. She decided to wait. With the seat reclined, Shae dozed
off.

  The sound of glass bottles hitting against glass bottles woke her up. It was getting near dusk, starting to get dark. She hadn’t realized she had been so tired; she really must not have slept well at all last night. Shae glanced around to see what awoke her. She saw George walking back to the trailer, away from the trashcan outside.

  He had grown fatter since she was gone. He had a large gut, probably from drinking all that beer. His hair was slicked back and greasy, just the way she remembered it. He wore a white button-down shirt unbuttoned to reveal a wife-beater underneath. He kept looking around as if worried someone would spot him. Her foster mother’s car wasn’t there, which meant George had walked home. He probably was down at some other trailer having sex with someone. Even though she hated her foster mother, she didn’t like the way George treated her. She wouldn’t go to the trailer now. She would wait for her foster mother to get home.

  Shortly, another car pulled up to the trailer. A woman got out, dressed in a short red leather miniskirt and a leopard strapless top. Her dyed blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and she had a tattoo on her right shoulder of a heart with someone’s name in it. Shae couldn’t quite read it from here, even though her vision was unaffected by the low light of dusk.

  The woman went to the door and knocked a few times. George answered and said something to her, making her giggle. She squeezed past George and went inside. George glanced around outside. Shae ducked lower in the car seat so he wouldn’t spot her. Apparently, he didn’t since he went back inside and closed the door.

  Whatever the woman came for, it didn’t take too long since she was back out and in her car in a half hour later. Shae was furious. Not only did George beat Anne, he also cheated on her, apparently with more than one woman. Shae had enough. She got out of the car and strapped the two knives to her waist. She went up to the trailer and knocked. She heard someone move around inside and come to the door.