by Skye, Mav
Henrietta quietly opened her door and tiptoed past Tony’s room. She could hear him snoring loud as ever. She passed through the living room and opened the sliding glass door to the deck.
She heard the noise once more, and she tiptoed outside. She didn’t see anyone around the lake, so she walked down the porch stairs to the side lawn, wishing she’d put on her shoes as her toes touched the ground. With fire ants, goat heads, and mesquite thorns, the ground in Texas was as vicious and mean as a rabid dog.
Her curiosity drew her, and she tiptoed around the edge of the house. She spotted a trail of clothes. They led up to an old oak tree where she discovered both Aunt Jenn and Father Wraith in their birthday suits, baptized in starlight. The oak spread its limbs over them as a protective umbrella. Moonlight slipped through its leaves, bathing the father’s broad shoulders as he knelt before his angel, clutching her hips, kissing her sex fervently as a prayer.
Henrietta felt her cheeks heat, she knew she should turn around, but their beauty captivated her. Jenn’s long black hair draped over one of her shoulders, her breasts heaving with shallow breaths, skin glowing white as heaven. She dug her hands into the father’s hair, her head and shoulders thrown back in ecstasy against the oak. The father then stood, and picked Jenn up. Jenn wrapped her legs around his hips as he dipped his face to her breasts, his lips climbed to her throat and then to her lips. He thrust into her, pushing her against the tree.
They both moaned.
He thrusted again, and again, faster and faster, both of them moaning until they collapsed into each other and fell on the blanket spread on the grass beneath them.
Henrietta covered her mouth, spun on her heel, and scuttled away. She ran up the porch steps, glided over the deck, and slipped through the sliding glass door. Inside, she sprinted to her bedroom and slammed her window closed, then dived underneath the purple comforter and pressed her face into the pillow.
That was something she wasn’t supposed to see, shouldn’t have seen. But she did.
Men had done things to her before. Made her do things to them. It hurt. But, Aunt Jenn didn’t look like it was hurting. She enjoyed it. And she was beautiful.
Henrietta crawled out from beneath her covers. She hopped off the bed and walked to the mirror above the dresser. She slipped her nightgown over her head and examined her body in the same moonlight she had seen Jenn’s.
She cupped her tiny breasts, and then spread her fingers over her hips, feeling the curves of them. Tina had always felt ugly inside and out, but Henrietta saw herself differently. She didn’t look like Aunt Jenn, but men had lusted after Henrietta’s young body. She was still young, almost twelve years old, but in some ways, Henrietta felt old as the wind that blew across the lake.
She recalled Aunt May’s voice from before, Henrietta can choose when to remember and when to forget, when to feel, and when to let go.
And then: To survive, you must become.
Henrietta chose to remember this night. She’d know what to do with it in the future. She slipped her nightgown back on and lay back in bed. Her mind was still troubled about Tony and the promise Aunt May had made her make: No matter what happens. You survive. You protect your Aunt Jenn.
But that was a problem she didn’t have to deal with tonight. Aunt Jenn was happy and though Henrietta knew she’d never be capable of this same happiness, it was enough to let her slip into a deep, dark sleep where she lay in the belly of the monster. The monster who ate all the stars.
22
Happily Ever After
The dark seeped away. The gentle call of mourning doves awoke Jenn’s consciousness. She could feel Simon’s strong hands curve around her naked hip and clutch her hair. His flesh cupped around her like a spoon.
The smell of lovemaking filled the sheets, and she thought she could lay in his heaven forever.
She pushed her backside into Simon’s hips, and though still asleep, he moaned and his body immediately responded. She opened her eyes and spotted May. She was in a leather cowboy hat, a red bikini top, and boot cut jeans. She folded her arms and leaned against the bedroom wall. A long piece of grass stuck out of her mouth. She pulled it out and said, So, I’m guessing sex with a dirty priest is pretty hot.
Jenn pursed her lips feeling a grin spread across them. She mouthed the words: Get out of here, whore child.
May put her hands on her hips. You’re the one seducing a priest! You make me sick, Twisted Sister! Get on your knees and confess to the Father.
Jenn glared at her.
Fine, May pouted and stuck the grass back in her mouth. She waved. Laters. Her image popped and disappeared like a bubble.
May was right. Sex with an ex-priest was hot. And she couldn’t wait to do it again.
Jenn considered waking up Simon by blowing more than just his mind. But then she recalled dinner the night before. She’d noticed the thick dark lines about his eyes, his pale skin. She was worried he might be ill.
He needed his rest more than anything at the moment. And that included hot sex.
Besides, she didn’t want the kids to catch them in bed. Tony was understandably raw and upset from their... experience. Somehow, he blamed Simon for it.
Maybe breakfast would pep Tony up. She was going to make May’s favorite: French toast and bacon.
Jenn gently inched away from Simon’s body, tucking her warm pillow under his arms. She kissed her fingers and gently touched his cheek. She mouthed the words I love you. He breathed deeply and tightened his arms about her pillow.
She wiggled into her dry jeans and the red t-shirt—she’d need to go clothes shopping again soon!—and grasped the knob softly and turned.
Simon whispered, “I have to tell you something.”
She turned and looked at him. Dark circles still clung about his eyes like goth makeup. His eyes were mysterious and haunted as ever.
She walked back and kissed his mouth. “Sleep in. You can tell me later.”
His eyelids slipped back down, and his breathing became steady once more. He frowned in his sleep, uneasy. Jenn hoped the extra sleep would help.
After a quick trip to the bathroom, she crossed the living room into the kitchen, frowning at the deer head above the fireplace. She’d have to ask Simon to take that down. Her reaction to it had been immediate. She had wanted to yell, See May? Now, that’s a deer head.
Which made her think of Tony. He had claimed to hear the moose head whistling in the cabin, their home. How had he found it? She frowned as she set a frying pan on the stove, turned the burner on and pulled a mixing bowl from the cupboard. She broke an eggshell over it. The night after Fat Bastard’s house had burned down, she and May had returned. The moose head had been mysteriously untouched by the flames. She had wrapped it in a blanket the shelter had given her and tied it on her back. Why had she brought the moose head on her travels that led to the priest’s cabin?
Because, it told you to.
“May?” Jenn turned, but no one was there.
Icy chills spider-legged up her spine. She glanced around the kitchen, and then walked into the living room. No one else was awake.
She glanced at the deer head. The dark eyes blinked. Jenn jumped back, almost falling on the couch.
“That’s it. You’re going.”
She went to the kitchen, retrieved a chair, and put it before the fireplace. She yanked on the deer head’s snout, then on its horns, but it refused to budge.
“Shit!” Was that smoke she smelled from the kitchen?
She jumped off the chair and ran back into the kitchen. She scooped the burned toast from the frying pan and tossed it into the trash. She decided to put the deer head from her mind and focus on breakfast. The scent of brewing coffee filled the kitchen. It soothed her as she flipped a fresh batch of French toast. She put them on a plate to keep warm in the oven as she started on the bacon.
What about the syrup?
“May?” It sounded like May’s voice, but she didn’t see her.
&n
bsp; But syrup, how could she have forgotten it?
Everyone was still asleep; she had plenty of time to race up to the little grocery store. Jenn placed the bacon on a plate and slid it into the oven next to the French toast. She snatched the keys off the counter and slipped out the front door. She breathed in the warm, humid air and bounced to the car.
She’d buy real maple syrup. It was May’s favorite. Besides, Jenn didn’t think the kids had had real maple syrup before, just the stuff she’d made with water and sugar on the stove.
She thought of them all waking up to the smell of French toast and bacon, and smiled.
It wasn’t just going to be a good day—it was going to be a good rest of their life.
23
Born of Nightmares
Jenn handed cash to the cashier and squealed when a gecko scuttled over and behind the counter.
The cashier, a graying elderly woman with bright green eyes and a lovely beauty mark just below her cheekbone, said, “No matter what we do, darlin’, can’t get rid of those little critters. You know what I mean?”
“I’ve never even seen one before.” Jenn glanced down at her flip-flopped clad feet. She’d picked the shoes up at the store the night before.
She hoped the little critters weren’t on the floor. Maybe she’d put her boots back on when she got back to the house.
The grocery lady paused, “You’re not from around here are you?”
Jenn shrugged casually.
“Well, you be sure to put some sun block on that pale skin of yours, darlin’, or the sun will fry you like an egg this time of year.”
“Even in the spring?” asked May.
“It’s either sun or rainy season around here. And right now it’s the sun season.”
“Oh, so when is the rainy season?” Jenn held her hand out as the grocery lady counted her change into her palm and handed her the grocery bag.
She laughed, her eyes dancing merely and said, “When it rains, of course.”
Jenn smiled back, a bit confused and left. She eyed the walls looking for geckos as she walked out of the store. She didn’t spot one, and she wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or glad. Either way, she hoped the kids saw a lizard before the week was up.
She took her time driving back. Bowie was on the radio again, and she sang along to the Starman lyrics, then when another tune came on, she flipped off the radio and hummed the tune to herself.
A feeling suddenly came over her, a chill cold as death. Something was wrong.
She turned down the gravel drive leading to the cabin and gunned it, her thoughts racing. Perhaps Tony was having one of his headaches. Or worse, perhaps the father had a heart attack! As she grew closer, she saw something dark sitting in the drive.
It was a black Lexus SUV. Her heart sped up, and suddenly she felt time slowed down, and she was swimming through water. Every movement she made was in slow motion.
She slammed on the break in the driveway beside the SUV. No one was inside. She jumped out of the car and spotted Henrietta on the front porch steps.
“Rietta!”
She ran as fast as she could to the girl, but time had slowed, down, down, down. It felt like a million years to bolt from the car to the porch steps.
Henrietta wrapped her arms around her knees, and she rocked back and forth.
Then, Jenn saw something else. Crimson splattered over the girl’s nightgown.
A familiar dagger lay at her feet. The unicorn dagger. How had Henrietta gotten a hold of it? It had been carefully stowed in the duffel bag in the closet at the ca—Tony. Tony had taken it.
The unicorn dagger had been the key to her survival at Fat Bastard’s mansion. Here and now, it was the key to hell.
Jenn grabbed the girl by her shoulders and shook her. “What’s happened? Where are they?”
Henrietta looked right past her face. She kept rocking as if she didn’t hear a word.
Jenn picked up the bloody dagger and ran into the house. “Simon? Tony!”
Blood splattered the white kitchen cabinets and curtains. French Toast and Bacon sat untouched on the kitchen table. The oven door was open. Two men lay on the kitchen floor, their bodies littered with bullet holes, no longer a threat. Two rifles lay in a puddle of blood next to them. Beside the rifles was Simon’s duffel bag.
“Simon!” She ran into her bedroom. The sheets were rumpled on the bed. The father was gone.
She ran out of the room, down the hall through the living room (the deer head lay on the floor) to Tony’s bedroom.
Inside, she found the priest on his back, his abdomen and torso butchered. He’d been stabbed countless times. A cry left Jenn’s mouth, and she dropped the unicorn dagger.
She fell to her knees by his side, pushing away the black bear picture that had been knocked from the wall and lay against his head. “Simon, Simon, honey, talk to me.” She put her mouth over his, feeling for his breath. And pressed her fingers against his wrist.
She gazed into his open eyes, waving her hands in front of them and finally hugged his head to her stomach where she rocked and cried. She looked around to find something to cover his torso with when she spotted Tony.
He lay face down on his bed. Other than the lack of movement, he appeared untouched.
“Tony!” Jenn leapt from the priest to the boy. She flipped him over. The wolf mask hid his precious face. Jenn ripped it off. Tony’s eyes were closed, but no breath came from his lips.
She felt a tap on her shoulder. “May, not now. I’m saving him…”
May tapped again, and Jenn turned. May shook her head, tears dripped in her eyes.
“You’re wrong May. You’re fucking wrong. He choked on something, he’s still alive.” Jenn leaned over, pinched Tony’s nose, placed her mouth over his and exhaled air into his lungs. She then leapt off the bed and placed her hands on his chest and pumped. “Please come back to me, please. May, bring him back to me.”
She thought of Tony’s sweet voice, the voice that brought her up from the dark womb after the man with the wolf mask had attacked her. When you wake up, Auntie Jenn, I’m going to find you a kitten—no, a whole box of kittens. They’ll make you happy, and you’ll laugh. And then you’re going to feel just fine. A whole box of kittens will make you happy again. I know it.
She cried, breathing air into his mouth again and pumping her hands against his chest. “Wake up, Tony. Please wake up. I promise to get you a kitten. A whole box of them. And then,” she sobbed into his chest. She slowly stopped pumping her hands, and instead wrapped them around the boy’s thin waist. “And then you’ll be happy.”
But he didn’t wake up. Tony breathed no more.
She hugged the boy and cried until the sun faded into twilight. And then, she crawled over to the father. She closed each eye and kissed them. He looked peaceful as a prayer, and then she curled under his stiff arm and slept.
* * *
Henrietta picked at her fingernail polish. “So, where are we going?”
Jenn swung the SUV around a loping hill, not bothering to stop at Utah’s famous arch as she passed it and threw her cigarette butt out the window.
“It depends.” She took off her movie star sunglasses, wiped at the circles under her eyes, and put the glasses back on. She must have aged ten years in the last two weeks.
“On what?” Henrietta tugged out a cigarette of her own and lit up, blowing the smoke out the open window.
“If you’re going to tell me what the hell happened that morning.”
“What mor—”
“Don’t be stupid, Rietta. You know what morning I’m talking about. And you know what you did.”
Henrietta opened her mouth, closed it, opened. She shrugged. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Stop the bullshit, Rietta.” Jenn held her hand out to Rietta, and the girl handed her the cigarette. Jenn sucked deeply on it, then blew out smoke. “When you finish telling me, I’ll tell you where we’re going.”
“We aren’t goin
g back to Texas, are we?”
“For all you know, we are fucking going over the next cliff I see.”
Henrietta sighed. “No, you wouldn’t.”
Jenn lifted a whiskey bottle to her lips and chugged, then pressed her foot on the gas. The SUV sped, and she curled around another curve, the car almost skidding off the side of the road to the icy river below.
“Fuck, Aunt Jenn!”
“You better start talking now, girl. Or it’s game over.”
“Fine. Fine! I’ll tell you.”
Jenn lifted her foot off the gas and tossed the cigarette out the window. A blaze of fire lit up in the dry grass behind them.
“You’re going to burn the park down.”
Jenn yelled, “The whole fucking planet can burn for all I care!”
Henrietta rolled up her window. “Jesus! Calm down. Listen, I’ll tell you what happened. Just promise me we won’t go back to Texas.”
“No promises. You keep your part of the deal. I keep mine.” Jenn lifted the whiskey to her lips again. “This shit all tastes the same.”
“Aunt Jenn, I thought it was against the law to drink and drive.”
Jenn stepped on the gas. “Start talking, Rietta.”
To be continued in Ghost of a Chance due out 2017…
* * *
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Excerpt of Wanted: Girl Clown Hatchet
Her Fear Diary
January 15th, 1990
I saw the clown in the woods today, just outside of Mama Nola’s garden. He crouched behind a stump, his face barely popping up over it like he was hiding from me, the torn pink bunny ears slightly blowing in the breeze. That awful lightning bolt splits his face into two halves: half white, half black. If Mr. Jingles is just in my head like everyone says, why would he hide? Why doesn’t he walk right up to me with that shiny hatchet of his and cut me in half, or even…say hello? Anything would be better than his face in the woods when I look outside or walk home from school. I mean, sure, there will be weeks or even months when I won’t see him—years, even—but then he’ll just pop up behind the living room window one day. Or I’ll see him across the schoolyard when I’m switching classes. Sometimes, he holds a red balloon instead of the hatchet. He holds it out like he wants to give it to me.
