To Watch You Bleed

by Jordon Greene

  “Happy Halloween,” Lenore said, surprised to see teenagers at her door. She put her finger up, “Ah, yes. Candy, right?”

  Silence. The three just stood there, waiting. Lenore tilted her head awkwardly and turned back toward the candy bowl. The rustle of feet sounded behind her. She turned to find the group standing within the doorframe.

  “All right now, I’ll bring the candy to you,” she uttered, showing more authority.

  No one moved. They stood in place, staring back through their masks. The black abyss of the middle kid’s orbs bored into her.

  “Come on now. I said you need to wait outside,” she tried again.

  The kid with the bullet hole mask, Bullet, stepped a foot’s breadth closer. His friends immediately followed him, Freddie and Skull-face.

  “I said out!” Lenore raised her voice, mustering equal parts thunder and command to disguise the trepidation building in her lungs. “Out!”

  When no one moved, Lenore took a step toward them, hoping to scare them. They were probably just a group of pranksters who couldn’t let go of their little prank. She would end that quickly, she thought. Lenore came to a cold stop when Bullet's hand came out of his treat bag. Her eyes widened at the sight glinting metal, a long sharp blade. She stepped back involuntarily.

  At first she wanted to kick herself for falling for such a trick on Halloween, but when the flame light gleamed off the ten inches of curved silver steel, her mind went into stunned fright. She stood, frozen.

  “No,” the lips behind the bullet-holed mask moved. Another knife appeared in Freddie’s hand, smaller, but still a large kitchen knife likely swiped from the family knife block. Her mind imagined dark ominous lips snarling behind the mask as her heart pounded, paralysis holding tight to her legs.

  Mara! her mind screamed.

  Breaking from her stupor, Lenore defected a step back before swinging her body around and sprinting off. She had to warn Mara, but she did not dare lead them to her. Lenore’s feet pounded off the foyer landing and down into the kitchen as the three formerly stoic figures burst forward. Maybe she could get her own weapon. Three against one were bad odds in any fight, even a knife in her hand couldn’t change that, but it couldn’t hurt either.

  “Come here, baby!” one jeered but Lenore couldn’t tell which, she didn’t care which.

  She bound around the tile-covered counter and sprinted for the utensil drawer where the most readily available knives were stored. Before she could reach out and pull the drawer open, a hand gripped her shoulder and wrenched her around. It yanked her body close, chest to chest. Those black eyes were only inches from her frightened green counterparts.

  Lenore’s breathing came in short rhythmic gasps. Her body tensed at the feeling of the boy’s hardened chest pressed firmly against her breasts and stomach. Fear jetted through her veins alongside the adrenaline. She struggled to loosen his grip around her back. His hand was planted firmly in place. She stopped her struggling as the knife came back into view, hovering dangerously close to her neck just above her clavicle. She felt the cold edge of metal meeting skin, a singe of excited terror coursing through every vein in her body. She shivered.

  “Now, now, Lenore,” the lips behind the bullet-holed mask spoke her name in a young but raspy tone, moving inches from her face. Lenore’s eyes widened at the sound of her name. “Just calm down and everything will be just fine.”

  He waited. Lenore’s breathing steadied only the slightest bit. She exhaled in abrupt stutters. The boy’s grip loosened and Freddie took hold of her around the waist, pulling her to him, her back to his chest.

  “Well, not everything will be fine, but eh,” Bullet jeered, an almost sociopathic air about his voice. “So, where’s the whore?”

  “Yeah, where’s the little whore at, Lenore?” Freddie jeered before she had a second to compute the original question. The voice behind the mask was immature, maybe a hint of gang-like quality or the attempt at a deeper tone by a medium-octave voice. She didn’t care.

  Whore? What? Lenore’s mind was ablaze. Should she run? Should she stay put and chance her luck as the submissive captive? Should she escape the blade and warn Mara?

  “Mara, the whore,” Skull-face spoke up for the first time, a more shrill sound than she had expected to come from behind such an ominous mask.

  Mara?

  “She’s not here,” Lenore lied without even thinking. “She’s out.”

  “No she’s not,” Freddie said between quiet chuckles.

  Bullet tilted his head, digging his black eyes into hers. Even in this situation, this horror, Lenore could not help but admire the deepness of the boy’s eyes, a quality that betrayed him as both kind and heartless, a contradiction that she could not reconcile.

  “Don’t lie to me, Lenore,” Bullet said in a softer tone that gave the slightest credence to the softness in his eyes. “We know she’s here, so where is she?”

  His voice remained calm as he spoke the last few words slowly and deliberately. As if she had woken from a trance, Lenore suddenly realized that they were using her name and used the recognition to bypass the question.

  “How do you know my name?” she asked between stuttered breaths that were finally beginning to regulate.

  A hard grin formed between the lips on Bullet’s mask. Skull-face seemed to bob with some pent-up excitement that was waiting to burst within him. Freddie just nodded, his amber eyes calm behind his mask.

  “We know a lot about you, Lenore, and about Mara, Dalton, Aiden. All of you. But we’re just here for a little fun,” Bullet explained candidly, like it was any other conversation. Then his voice slowed to a decidedly more deliberate pace, the raspy quality heightening, “Now, let me try this again. Where is Mara?”

  “She’s not here,” Lenore tried again, letting her voice drop into more despair. “I’m telling you, I'm by myself, everyone’s gone for the night.”

  “Maybe so, but they’ll be back eventually,” Freddie quipped, the hot stench of his breath coating her neck and right ear from behind.

  “Don’t be a fool, Mara’s here,” Bullet chided Freddie before looking back at Lenore. “So where is she?”

  The three masked figures turned on her, their human and inhuman eyes drilling into her. She shifted her gaze quickly between them, unsure what to say, what to do. Bullet took another step toward her. He angled his head to the right and then back to the left, taking in a deep breath as if examining her soul behind his screwed up mask. Lenore closed her eyes, but did not say a word, trembling in Freddie’s grasp.

  “Either you show us where she is, or we’ll break down every door in this house to find her. If we have to break down doors, Lenore, you’re not going to like how we bring her downstairs,” Bullet reasoned. He huffed lightly, pursing his lips in an ominous grin just within sight through the slit on the mask. He let the massive blade float around playfully under Lenore's chin. “No, you really won’t enjoy watching that. Take us to her and things will work out a little more in your favor.”

  Opening her eyes, Lenore looked down to the floor shamefully. How could she stop them? They would find her either way, and if Bullet was true to his word, Lenore could only imagine what they would do to her. She cringed at the thought. The sight of metal came into view as the blade tapped under her chin and lifted her view, pressing dangerously against her skin. She trembled.

  “So what’s it going to be, Lenore?” Bullet asked calmly.

  “Upstairs,” she said after a few seconds. Suddenly, revulsion for her own soul welled up inside her. Had she made the right decision or simply damned them both to an earlier grave?

  “There we go. See, that wasn’t that hard,” Bullet jeered. “Lead the way now.”

  Lenore frowned and reluctantly turned to lead the way. The tip of the blade left her chin. She walked to the stairs and grasped the wooden railing along the wall to support her shaking body. She did not dare look behind her. She knew what was there. Three dangerous kids, bent on something horri
ble. What their goal was, she didn’t know, she didn’t want to know. No, she just wanted them out of her house.

  Cresting the top stair, she led the trio down the hall. For a brief second she entertained the notion of taking them to the wrong room, leading them off to some empty room and making a run for it. The knife prodded her gingerly in the back. She decided against the ruse, it could only make matters worse.

  Just a few feet down the hallway, Lenore stopped at Mara’s bedroom door, her prison as she had referred to it the past two weeks. Lenore shivered and turned cautiously to face her captors. She nodded at the door and immediately looked down.

  “Call her out,” Bullet whispered. He motioned with the curved blade like it was just another appendage, not a sharp-edged weapon. Lenore began to shake her head in refusal. “Do it.”

  A tear escaped her eye, she swallowed and looked up toward the ceiling before knocking on the door. “Mara.”

  “Go away,” Mara yelled back angrily.

  “Oh my,” Freddie giggled, looking back to Skull-face who joined in quietly. Bullet just stared at Lenore, steel-eyed, waiting.

  “Try again,” he said.

  “Mara,” she started and looked back at Bullet. “Get out! Out the window! Ru…”

  Bullet shoved his body against her, pinning her painfully against the door frame and his body. He shoved the knife precariously under her throat. He seemed to growl as he barked out a command, “Get her! Now!”

  Freddie and Skull-face immediately went to work banging at the door with their feet. Freddie took a swipe at the heavy solid wood door with his knife, burying it a mere eighth of an inch. It was useless.

  “Come out, Mara,” Bullet bellowed out, “or I’m going to slit your mom’s throat right here, right now!”

  A stirring echoed from inside the room. Feet pattered on the floor but no one said a word on the other side. They waited.

  “I’m going to give you to the count of five to open the door and walk out. Don’t try anything stupid,” Bullet commanded. “Five… Four…”

  Lenore’s body shook with fear as the blade laid against her neck. The cold metal stung as it moved ever so little, nicking her skin. Mara. Just run.

  “Three… Two…” he continued the countdown.

  Suddenly, a latch clicked from the other side and the door slowly moved inward. Eyes peeked around the small opening, Mara’s eyes, and opened wide in fright as she saw the knife around Lenore’s neck. For a second she rethought her actions and began to shut the door. Freddie wedged his foot in the gap.

  “No, no,” Freddie said. “You’re coming out to play now.”

  Freddie shoved his body against the door, using his weight to knock her off balance. The door swung wide and Mara stumbled back but stayed on her feet.

  “Looks like someone was ready for bed,” Freddie quipped, noting the tan of her soft sculpted stomach, pink panties and a matching bra that left less to the imagination than a skimpy bikini showing behind the open gown. His eyes moved up and down her with a grin that no one could see behind the mask. Mara reeled the gown shut and cinched the cloth belt around her waist.

  “Aw, come on,” Freddie whined. “Whatever, you’re coming downstairs regardless.”

  He moved forward, Skull-face following a few footsteps behind him. As he advanced, Mara stepped back, her eyes were those of a child as she cried, “Get away!”

  As Freddie passed the threshold, another body jumped from behind the door, wrangling its arms around him. He was pulled to the ground with a hard thump. Before he could react, a fist rammed into his side and he gasped. Mara moved forward to help but suddenly saw her mother standing in the doorway, a blade held tight to her neck and Bullet shaking his head slowly. She stopped. Then Skull-face rushed in, a glint of light shining off his blade as it curved through empty space and found purchase in her boyfriend’s calf.

  As quickly as the struggle had begun, a stunned scream echoed behind Freddie as Nathan lost his grip. His arms coiled back and he fell to the ground. Freddie reeled around and brought his knife up into the air. Mara screamed, “No!”

  “Stop,” Bullet’s raspy voice penetrated the chaos.

  Freddie stopped his blade’s plummet a mere inch over Nathan’s chest. He let the small but sharp blade hover in place for a few moments as he stared into the boy’s eyes intensely. Nathan curled up in pain and fright and turned away. Skull-face wrenched the knife out of Nathan’s calf, earning a grunt and moan of pain. Nathan screamed in pain, gingerly touching his wounded calf.

  “Well that was stupid, Mara,” Bullet said without emotion or empathy. “Are you trying to get your boyfriend killed?”

  Mara stood in place, shaking, wanting to run to Nathan and to her mother, but afraid to move in either direction. Freddie got to his feet and kicked Nathan in the side for good measure before stepping up to Mara. She took another step back. Freddie huffed angrily.

  “Stop that shit, or my buddy back there is going to slit your mom’s throat right in front of you,” Freddie commanded angrily. Bullet tightened his grip around Lenore and let the blade move just enough to bring blood from her neck. Mara’s eyes lit up.

  “Okay! Okay!” she cried, tears running down her cheeks.

  Freddie moved in and wrapped an arm around her stomach, bringing his blade up against her neck. Mara lifted her neck, trying to keep it from touching her. She shivered as Freddie’s body writhed slowly against her back. He moaned pleasurably.

  “This is more like it,” Freddie said before his palm found purchase on her left breast and squeezed tight. “Yeah!”

  Mara jerked, the need to get away clouding her memory of the edge of the knife against her neck. Freddie’s arm wrapped staunchly around her waist, letting the knife move out to keep from slicing through her fragile neck.

  “I’ll slice your pretty little neck if you don’t calm down, I swear it,” Freddie said more calmly than she had expected. Slowly she stopped struggling and let his grip tighten around her.

  “Please stop, please just stop,” Lenore pleaded between sobs.

  “We will. In time,” Bullet assured her.

  Still on the ground, Nathan’s eyes burned with rage at Freddie. He tried to get up but his wounded calf sent him tumbling back to the floor.

  “What do you want?” Nathan asked angrily.

  “Well, that has nothing to do with you,” Bullet said from the door. Nathan craned his neck back to see the white-masked figure. “So…” Bullet sighed. “This might work, though.”

  “What do you mean?” Nathan’s voice had changed. It had lost its anger in a scared confusion.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Bullet said. “Let’s get them downstairs.”

  Immediately Freddie complied, shoving Mara forward past Nathan and out the bedroom door into the hallway. Skull-face kicked Nathan in the side gently.

  “Get up,” he ordered through the red mask. It almost seemed as if the boy had painted the crimson skull on his mask with blood.

  Struggling, Nathan propped himself up on his hands, cringing as his calf moved, planting his hand on the vanity table. He took in a deep breath and pulled himself up with the table, careful not to put any weight on his right leg where blood seeped through his jeans. Finally, he managed to stand.

  “Let’s go,” Skull-face said.

  Nathan stepped forward with his bad leg and immediately pain blossomed up and down his leg. His nerves went haywire up and down his body, and his leg suddenly when numb. He dropped to the ground with a thump and groaned.

  “Dammit,” Skull-face huffed. “Here.” He reached down and took hold of Nathan’s arm, hefting him up. Nathan struggled to get to his feet even with the boy’s assistance, his small arms proving to hold little real strength. As he got to his feet, he thought about fighting the boy, trying to wrench the knife from his grasp. As if reading his thoughts, Skull-face brought the knife to Nathan’s bare throat. It was the type of blade Bullet had. Long and crooked. Every sliver of light in the room seemed to re
flect off its cold blade. Nathan put his arm over Skull-face’s back for support and let himself be escorted from the room, useless.

  Downstairs again, Skull-face deposited Nathan on the recliner by the couch where Lenore and Mara crouched fearfully and teary-eyed.

  “Looks like your boyfriend is going to stain your chair a little,” Skull-face said.

  No one answered. Skull-face shifted his head, “It was a joke.”

  The other two just looked at him aimlessly through their masks without a word. “Whatever,” he pouted.

  Bullet returned his attention to Lenore before moving on to Mara. He let his gaze settle on her sky blue eyes for a full half-minute before Lenore caught a slight grin form behind his mask. He nodded his head for a moment without saying a word. Then he turned to face Nathan and frowned.

  “I was not expecting a guest in our little game tonight,” Bullet complained as he eyed Nathan. He turned and grinned at Skull-face and Freddie, “It seems, though, that fate smiles back at us.”

  Nathan’s brow furrowed, confused. Mara broke her gaze from the masked figures to look at Nathan, begging to find understanding in his eyes. There was none there, only more unknown, more fear. She looked to Lenore who attempted to fake a grin to comfort her daughter but retreated back to a tear-stained frown.

  “Now we’re only missing one person,” Bullet continued. “Where is Dalton?”

  “He’s not here,” Lenore said, hoping the crazed boy behind the mask would hear the truth in her words.

  “Oh, I know he’s not here,” Bullet said. “I think we can fix that, though. You’re going to call him, make him come home. I think he’ll want to.”

  “I’ve tried all night,” Lenore told him. It hurt now more than it had minutes ago. Before it had only been an irritation that her husband would not answer her calls, that he was somewhere else, ignoring her. However, now it tore at her heart. Had he been here, maybe he could have stopped them. Maybe he could have done something. But that was over and gone, it was too late for maybes.