Family Night

by Miller, Tim

  “Now, save your tears Sarah. You’ll need them for yourself in a moment. It doesn’t look like Julie is in any condition to help out. So my lovely daughter here will do the honors.”

  The girl bent down and picked up the hammer. Sarah began to cry and scoot away.

  “No! No! Please! Don’t do this!” She pleaded.

  “I recommend you hold still. My daughter sometimes does her own thing, and you probably won’t like it.”

  Sarah stopped moving while the girl stood over her, and then knelt down. She grabbed Sarah’s ankle, pulling her leg out flat. Sarah closed her eyes, pinching them shut as tight as she could, hoping it would all be over soon. She felt bursts of pain up and down her leg as the girl didn’t hit her feet. Instead she smashed the hammer into her left knee cap. The bone exploded on the first blow as Sarah screamed. The pain was worse than anything she’d ever felt before, hurting so bad she became dizzy.

  After a few blows, the girl stopped.

  “Fuck! That hurts!” Sarah screamed. “I’m gonna kill you, you little bitch!” Though the voice was hers, it didn’t sound like hers. She was dying on the inside and becoming someone else. She doesn’t even know why she said that, but she did. Before she could process anymore of the thought, the girl began smashing away on her other kneecap. More cracking and splitting of her patella bone as she became dizzy.

  She opened her eyes and saw Julie lying there watching and crying. The man and boy stood watching also. She wished they’d just kill her. Why did they have to do all this? Did they get some sick pleasure watching them suffer? As she watched Julie writhing on the ground, something switched on inside of Sarah. Julie was breaking down. No one had ever broken the woman she loved before. She would make them pay for what they’ve done to Julie. That was her last thought before she passed out.

  Chapter 20

  Ben hung there, listening to the girls’ screams. There was nothing he could do. Since that woman had gouged his eyes out, he had been drifting in and out of consciousness. Between the talking and the screams, he wasn’t sure what was a dream and what wasn’t; the last time he’d been awakened by excruciating pain was when the man started cutting his leg up. He couldn’t see but knew what they were doing. He smelled the grill and heard them eating his own flesh.

  Most of the pain had gone though. He felt his sanity slowly slipping away each passing minute. He didn’t know if it was day or night. He even wondered if he was even alive. The feeling in his hands and arms had long gone. The last thing he’d heard was the girls hitting each other with hammers from the sound of it. There was pounding, the sounds of bones breaking and more screaming.

  He wondered how long he had left. A few minutes before that, he’d fallen asleep and thought he might be dead. Then the man cut into his leg. He may as well have been a side of beef hanging from a meat hook. That is all he was at this point. He tried to figure out exactly how he ended up in this situation. Not that it mattered at this point. The screaming had stopped a few seconds ago.

  “Well,” he heard the man say. “That was boring. They both passed out.”

  Ben wished he could say something, anything, but his ability to speak was long gone. He never imagined being trapped inside his own body before, but there he was. Footsteps sounded, getting closer to him.

  “And how are you over here my friend?” The man was now just a few feet in front of him. “How was lunch?”

  Ben wanted to hurt the man and hurt him badly. But he was helpless to harm anyone. He would try to kick the guy, but he couldn’t even feel his leg anymore. It was no longer even throbbing. It had to still be there, just no feeling.

  “I’d say the cat’s got your tongue, but one of the lesbians ate it.” The man laughed an obnoxious, dorky sounding laugh. He heard the guy’s daughter laughing too. Ben had no idea what kind of a sick fuck would do this shit, and bring your kids along. This sick fuck obviously does it.

  He heard the man moving closer to him.

  “How many fingers am I holding up?” The man asked, mockingly.

  Ben took a deep breath, mustering what strength he had, and spit onto the man. He knew it landed from the sound of the splatter. He didn’t know if the guy still had a mask on or not, but took some small satisfaction in his one act of defiance to his captor. Ben knew his mouth was filled with blood, phlegm and bile, and he’d just given this asshole a taste of it.

  “Now, I’m afraid that wasn’t very nice,” the man said calmly. Suddenly the man punched him right in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He gasped for breath when he felt a hand grabbing his ragged leg that had been cut to shreds. There was no doubt it was still there suddenly as intense, hot, pain shot through his entire body.

  He could tell all three of them were now punching and kicking him. Ben tried to be strong, but couldn’t keep from screaming, despite his best efforts. Someone punched him hard in the face, as he could feel his nose crunching and blood filling his mouth once again. There was another blow with something hard to his mouth, knocking out his front teeth, and then a second blow knocking out more. He tried to spit the teeth out, but the blows continued, causing him to swallow several of them. He gagged as they went down, cutting into his throat on the way down.

  After several minutes, the beatings stopped. He could hear them breathing hard. Ben hung there, clinging to consciousness, wishing he would just pass out again, or die. But he knew that would be too merciful. Mercy was not his friend. After several minutes of listening to them catching their breaths, the man finally spoke.

  “Ok, this one is no fun anymore. Plus he’s starting to stink. Sweetheart, I want you to take care of him for me. Can you do that?”

  There was no answer, so Ben figured she was nodding.

  “Ok, great honey. Use this knife. Now, you’re going to want to cut his throat. You will get blood on you, it’ll squirt everywhere. You’ll want to cut from here, to hear.” He felt the man touching his neck on the right side, and then the left showing the girl where to cut. Ben was actually glad he was finally going to die. He wished he could help Julie and her friend. He wished someone knew where they were, or who this guy was, but he couldn’t. All that was left for him was pain and death.

  “Go ahead sweetie,” the man said. “You can do it.”

  He heard the girl getting closer to him just before he felt the knife. The girl was good. She made one quick cut right through his trachea. The pain was quick and sharp as he felt the air rush out of his windpipe while filling with blood. He gagged and choked for air as he felt his body twitching, fighting for air. The girl was sure not to hit any arteries, so he wouldn’t bleed to death. He had to go through this last bout of suffering before he was free. He struggled for a minute as dizziness set in, no air left in his body as he finally stopped struggling. Death began to overtake him, as the pain subsided. Finally, he was at peace.

  Chapter 21

  Sarah groggily woke up, both her knees throbbing in the worst pain she had ever felt. She had been dreaming that she was at the beach in Port Aransas, Texas with Julie. They were running through the surf, jumping through waves and splashing each other. That dream seemed a million miles away as her reality set back in. They were still trapped in this hell, slowly being killed.

  Looking around, she saw Julie still asleep. Ben wasn’t faring nearly as well. He was hanging upside down, his throat cut with a bucket full of blood just under his head. Sarah felt her stomach lurch, as she placed her hand over her mouth. After a few deep breaths and looking away, she had regained her composure. In some ways, Ben was the lucky one. He was free of this place. She wanted free too, but not the way he went if she can help it.

  She couldn’t straighten her legs at all. Both her knees were swollen to the size of softballs. Even the slightest movement hurt like hell. Doing her best to ignore the pain, she scooted across the floor over to Julie. Placing her hand on Julie’s head, it felt hot, real hot. Shit! She began shaking Julie trying to wake her.

  “Jules! Wake up! Julie
, come on. It’s me! Please wake up!” Sarah said. Julie started to look around, but was obviously disoriented.

  “Mom? Where are you?” Julie said.

  “It’s me, Sarah!” Sarah patted Julie’s face, shaking her by the shoulders. She stopped when the door slid open. Standing in the doorway was the girl, still wearing her mask. Sarah waited as the girl stepped in, but she was alone.

  “What’s going on? Where’s your dad and little brother?”

  “Sleeping,” the girl said. It was the first time Sarah had heard her speak.

  “Julie has a bad fever. She’s burning up.” Sarah said. But the girl just stood there.

  “If she doesn’t get to a hospital, she’ll die. Look at Ben here. You think this is ok?” Sarah continued.

  “I’m the one who killed him. My dad taught me how,” the girl said.

  “How old are you?”

  “Fourteen.”

  “My God. And he’s teaching you to kill like this? You think this is ok? If you help us, I can get you help. I can get you away from him. Julie is a police officer, she can help you.”

  “I don’t want to be away from him. He’s my dad. We’re a family.”

  “What’s your name?” Sarah asked. The girl didn’t reply. “You can’t tell me your name? What will it hurt? You guys are going to kill us anyway, aren’t you?”

  “Well yeah. That’s what we do.”

  The girl seriously creeped Sarah out. The guy was bad enough. Here was this teenage girl who should be out texting her friends, playing on Facebook, or playing sports. What she should not be doing, is hanging out in weird ass dungeons torturing and eating people. That’s fucked up shit for grown-ups, let alone kids. God knows what kind of monster this girl will grow into.

  “Will you help Julie at least? I don’t care what you do to me. Kill me now if you want. Just help her, please?”

  “Ok, I think I can help her.” The girl said. She walked in and slid the door closed. Walking over to Julie, she knelt down next to her, and held her head in her lap. Stroking her hair lightly, Sarah finally felt some sense of comfort, that at least this girl wasn’t a total psychopath like her dad.

  “She has pretty hair,” the girl said.

  “Yes she does.” Sarah said, trying not to cry again.

  The girl reached to her side and pulled a large knife from a sheath on her hip. Grabbing a handful of Julie’s hair, she began cutting along her scalp, pulling out hair and skin in one big mass. Julie woke with a scream, flailing her arms. The girl rolled her onto her stomach and finished cutting until most of the hair and skin in Julie’s head was gone.

  “No!” Sarah yelled. “Why? Why’d you do that?”

  The girl stood, holding Julie’s scalp and examining it.

  “Cause she has pretty hair,” the girl said. “I want it.”

  Julie lay on the ground, still screaming. There were small patches of hair hanging off the back of her head. The rest of her head was bald and bloody as Julie felt the top of her head, trying to figure out what just happened.

  “You crazy fucking bitch!” Sarah screamed. “I’m going to cut your fucking heart out. I promise you. You’ll be dead before I am.”

  “I doubt that,” the girl said as she walked closer to Sarah. She looked up at the girl, those empty eyes of her mask staring down at her. The girl put the knife back in its sheath, stared at Sarah for a minute and turned her back to her. She looked like she was going to walk away, but she spun around and kicked Sarah in the face. Her nose crunched under the girl’s boot as blood sprayed over her and Julie. Sarah fell backward sending the sharp pain back through her knees. Her eyes watered as her hands covered her face. Once her vision cleared, she could still hear Julie crying, but the girl was gone.

  Chapter 22

  Captain Johnson walked into the house. The smell of the dead bodies made him want to throw up. It had been years since he worked a crime scene, but for some reason, he was the only one answering his phone. He looked around at the two bodies on the bed. One was male, the other female, both their faces had been hacked to pieces. There was nothing but bloody shreds of bone and flesh where their heads once were.

  This was a crime of passion for sure. Well, maybe not passion, but definitely rage. Whoever killed these two knew them, and wanted to annihilate them.

  “Hey, Lopez.” Johnson said to another detective in the other room.

  “What’s up Captain?”

  “You see Castillo or Sylar? Both their phones are off. You heard from either of them?” Johnson asked.

  “Nah, I haven’t heard anything. Maybe they hooked up and don’t wanna be bothered.”

  “Yeah, I highly doubt that.” Johnson said as he laughed. “Any info on these two?”

  “Her name is Margaret Mason. Thirty-eight years old. Married to Edward Mason. The guy’s name is Tony Brown. Twenty-four years old, single. His wallet was in his jeans. The home is the Mason’s.”

  “So you thinking the husband caught them together?” Johnson asked.

  “If I were a betting man, which I am. I’d say that’s exactly what happened.”

  “Where is the husband? Eddie is it?”

  “We’re not sure. They have two kids too. Brandi and Jeffrey, fourteen and five. They’re gone too.”

  “You think he killed them too?”

  “Doesn’t look like it. Only sign of anything is in here, and some blood in the other rooms, but that was tracked. He didn’t try very hard to cover his tracks.” Lopez said.

  Johnson just couldn’t get over why he couldn’t reach Castillo. Sylar he could see not answering when he’s on call. He’s probably passed out or hung-over somewhere. But Castillo was always on the ball. Hell, half the time, she had her radio on and came in before anyone had to call her.

  “Yeah, I can see that.” Johnson said. “Put out an APB on him and the kids.”

  “How about an Amber alert?” Lopez asked.

  “That’s not a bad idea. Look around, there has to be pictures of him and the kids around here. Let’s get their faces all over. Hopefully they’ll turn up quickly. Find out what kind of car they had too.”

  “Got it boss.” Lopez said as he walked out.

  Jesus H. Christ. What kind of animal would do this? He wondered if the kids were here when he killed their mom; or if they even saw it happen. On the dresser was a photo of the Mason woman, back when she had a face. There was a man in the picture with her; they were on a beach with their arms around each other. It looked like she was a little taller than her husband. Mr. Mason looked like he was balding and a little thick around the middle as well. Not exactly what you pictured in a vicious killer, but Johnson had seen all kinds.

  One of his last cases before his promotion to lieutenant was a little old woman who stabbed her son to death with an ice pick. She stuck him at least thirty times in his sleep. All because he stole her food stamp card. He’d learned long ago to never underestimate the horrible things people will do to each other, especially those closest to them. He was looking at it right now.

  As he went outside to his car, there was an older man standing at the end of the driveway, just beyond the crime scene tape.

  “So he finally killed her, did he?” The man said.

  “Who killed who?” Johnson asked. “And who are you?”

  “Oh yeah, hi. I’m Roger, Roger Castro. I live across the street there.”

  “So who do you think killed who?”

  “I figured Eddie finally killed Margie. She’s a crazy bitch, or was anyway. Am I right?”

  “I don’t know if she was a bitch. But yes, Margie was murdered, so was some young guy she was in bed with.”

  “Oh yeah. She was real fucked up that way. I don’t even think she liked the guys she brought home. I think she did it just to fuck with Eddie’s head.”

  “Did they fight a lot?” Johnson asked.

  “Heh, you shittin’ me? They were never not fighting though it was usually just her. She’d run around telling him what an
idiot he was. He’d just sit there with his face fire engine red, but not saying a word. I knew eventually he’d lose it if he didn’t leave. Looks like he did.”

  “It’s pretty ugly.” Johnson said.

  “How’d he do it?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “How’d he kill her?” Roger asked. He was one fucked up old geezer.

  “I can’t go into that just yet. Do you know if Eddie worked anywhere?”

  “Oh no. He lost his job almost a year ago, been home ever since. Margie been working but that’s it.”

  “Any idea where he’d go? Have you seen him at all last day or two?”

  “Nah, I didn’t see nuthin’. I stay inside and keep to myself. Only came out when I saw all the commotion over here.”

  Yeah, you sure keep to yourself all right.

  “Ok, well thank you for your help.” Johnson said.

  “Did he shoot her? Stab her maybe?”

  “Have a good day Mr. Castro,” Johnson said before climbing in his car. He decided his next stop would be Castillo’s place, and find out what she is up to. He’d need her help on this one.

  Chapter 23

  The Mask woke from his nap. It was still early in the morning. Even though he wasn’t wearing his mask, he was still The Mask. Eddie was dead, he died with Margie and her lover. He didn’t waste time hiding their bodies. Sure, the authorities would figure out he killed them. He figured it would take them awhile to find him out here. Even if they did, it was no matter. The Mask feared no one.

  Jeffrey was still sleeping on the loveseat. The farmhouse didn’t have any beds, just some couches and some beanbags he’d brought. Brandi wasn’t on her couch though. He looked in the kitchen and checked the other rooms, but nothing. Looking out the window, he saw her, in her mask and everything walking back from the warehouse. She was carrying something in her hand. What…the…hell? He ran outside and met her halfway across the yard.

  “What did you do?” He asked.