Demented (Sinister Tales Book 1)

by Anna Gallegos

  Martha then got off the couch and checked on what her mother was up to, hoping it would be a distraction from her thoughts… thought that threaten to drive her off the deep end.

  She walked through the house, checking each room as she went looking for her mother. Finally, she found her in the basement, where she usually was.

  “Hey, sweetie. You’re here just in time to see my finished work,” Laura said as she saw her daughter walking down the stairs.

  Martha didn’t see what was on the canvas until she reached the bottom of the stairs. It had a black background, with the bones of the fingers they cut off from their victims making a shape of a tree. The bones were glued to the paper, connected together to make the trunk of the tree. Crushed up pieces of the bones scattered on the paper, making up the leaves.

  “You used the bones to make a tree?” Martha looked at her mother with a questioning look.

  “I call it the Tree of Life.” A smile appearing on Laura’s face, admiring her art work.

  “So you’re a comedienne, too,” Martha mumbled, continuing to stare at the tree.

  Her mother stared back at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I’m just saying, it’s kind of funny you name it the Tree of Life when people had to die so we could get these fingers. Is this really what we’re doing all these for? Art?” Attitude came out in her voice, stunning her mom for a second.

  When she found her voice again, she responded, “I thought you understood my creativity, but I guess not. Something has changed in you, Martha. I don’t like it.”

  Martha sighed and moved to sit on the stairs as she looked at her mother’s creation. “I’m sorry, I’ve just been really on edge lately. Those kids I killed, I can’t shake the feeling that the cops are going to find us. Their mom knows what I look like. She knows what you look like. They’re gonna find us mom, and I’m not ready to go to prison. I’d be killed within the first week.”

  Before Martha could continue with her babbling, her mother shushed her. “Stop talking. We’re not going to get caught. I need more bones for my next project, so go give Hensley more fingers. She loves them.”

  Martha scoffed, “If she loved heads, would you cut off the heads of our victims and give them to her?”

  Without missing a beat, Laura replied. “Yes, I would. She’s my little girl and she deserves the best.”

  Martha felt a twinge of pain in her heart. “What about me? I’m your daughter, too. Doesn’t it matter what I want?” She stood up, ready to go upstairs.

  Laura walked over to her daughter, cupping her face in both her hands. “Of course it matters what you want, but Hensley is little. Little kids need attention. You, you’re not needy,” she paused, looking at her daughter. “At least I thought you weren’t.”

  “I’m not needy.” She yanked herself from her mother’s hands and marched upstairs, feeling frustrated.

  Martha walked into the kitchen, opening a red cooler filled with ice. She brought her hand inside, numbness spreading over it as she pulled out some fingers. The cold pieces of flesh rested in her hand as she walked towards her sister’s room. She didn’t bother knocking or warning her that she was coming in. She just straight away opened the door. Hearing her door open, Hensley turned around with a look of excitement as she saw the fingers in Martha’s hand.

  Martha put the fingers on Hensley’s desk, where she was siting. “Mom needs more bones for her work, so be quick and don’t chew through the bone.” Then she turned and started walking towards the door.

  Before she made it out of the room, she felt arms wrap around her waist. Martha didn’t have to turn around to know it was her sister hugging her. “Thank you,” the little girl said. Then she let go and started gnawing on a finger as if it were candy.

  Martha left the room and walked back down to the basement. She could hear her mother talking.

  “I don’t know what to do. She’s getting paranoid and I have to act like everything is fine. I already took the TV away so she wouldn’t see.”

  Martha walked farther down the stairs. Her mother was holding a phone to her ear, frantically pacing the length of the room. “See what?” she asked, as she sat on the basement stairs.

  Laura jumped, whipping her head to look at Martha with a concerned expression. She didn’t say anything until her breathing returned to normal. “I don’t want you to worry.” By that time, she had already hung up the phone.

  “I’m already worried, and you saying that makes me even more nervous.” Martha’s mind raced with bad thoughts, and the feeling of paranoia worsened. It seemed as if nothing could distract her from it, and on top of that, her throat felt as if it were closing up.

  “Just go to your sister’s room and stay there. You’ll be okay.” Laura said, trying to persuade her to leave the basement.

  “No.” She stood up. “You have to tell me now. I’m a part of this and I have a right to know.”

  “Go upstairs,” Laura demanded. When Martha wouldn’t budge, she gave up. “Why did you have to inherit my stubbornness?” She shook her head, and walked towards a table with two chairs.

  Martha followed her cautiously. As she took a seat in one chair, Laura moved to sit in the other. Then Martha gazed up at her mother. “I’m waiting,” she spoke calmly.

  Laura hesitated at first, unsure how to put into words what she was about to say. “I don’t know where to start.”

  Hearing those words, Martha was getting impatient and Laura could see it on her face.

  “The mother of the boys did call the police and give them a description of the both of us.”

  Her daughter’s eyes widened.

  “We’re basically on every news station in the country. People are searching for us and it may only be a matter of time before someone finds us.”

  And for once, Martha couldn’t speak. It was as if a vacuum had come and sucked up all the words she was going to say. Then her stomach started to feel queasy, and she made a run to the nearest trash can. Laura came up to her, pulling her hair back as she continued to heave. When she was done, she looked up at her mother and muttered, “Thanks.”

  A few minutes later, the two returned to the table after they got Martha all cleaned up.

  “You look pale. You should go lie down,” her mother suggested.

  “I’m always pale,” she said without looking up at her. “What are we going to do now?”

  Laura pulled her in for a hug, running her fingers through her daughter’s hair. “Don’t worry, I have it figured out.”

  “You do?” Martha looked up at her mother, still in her embrace.

  But Laura didn’t look down, instead she stared off into the distance, seemingly in a world of her own. “I hope so,” she blankly said.

  Hearing her mother’s answer, Martha felt both comforted and uneasy at the same time.

  Then, Hensley suddenly screamed from the living room. “Mom!”

  Martha and Laura wasted no time in checking out what she was screaming about. They hastily entered the living room and saw Hensley standing near a window, but not looking through it. “Be careful when you look, there are policemen out there,” the little girl warned them.

  What her sister said made Martha feel sick to her stomach again. Fortunately, this time she was able to keep it down. Cautiously, Martha peeked through the curtain, looking outside. Their once empty yard were now overrun with police cars and people. Men and women in uniform were holding guns, pointing them at their house. And one man held a megaphone.

  “What do we do now?” Hensley asked, looking at them.

  Laura grabbed both of her daughters and ran to the basement. “Stay here until I say it’s safe. Don’t worry, everything is going to be just fine, okay?” Martha and Hensley nodded, and their mom ran back upstairs.

  While in the cold, quiet basement, they could hear the man with the microphone. “We know you’re in there. Come out now and we can talk about this. But if you and your daughter don’t come out, we’
ll be forced to come in. You’ve got a few minutes to cooperate or else we’re going to take drastic measures.” Then, there was silence.

  Hensley wept as her arms wrapped around her sister. Martha didn’t push Hensley away, instead she held her, too. “I don’t want them to take us from each other.”

  “They won’t,” Martha assured her, even though she wasn’t certain that what she was saying was true. But it calmed down her little sister, and that was all that mattered.

  Gun shots fired and echoed through the air just as black vans pulled up to the house. Men and women spilled from the vans and fired at the police. Hearing gunshots being fired at them, the police turned around and tried to fire back. Unfortunately, the assault caught them by surprise and it was a bloodbath. One woman shot an officer in the leg. When he went down, yelling in pain, she came closer and put him out of his misery by shooting him in the head. All of them made sure to aim for the head. One by one, bodies fell to the ground, blood splattered on the white police cars. And then there was silence as they realized they already took out every police officer who came.

  “Get them and hurry. We don’t want to stay long,” a man ordered some of his companions. As they ran inside, he looked at the others. “Someone get me that megaphone. I like it.”

  Meanwhile…

  Inside the house, Laura watched the scene unfold as her friends took out the people who kept her from leaving. A smile grew, as she watched the officers go down, dropping like flies. And after a few minutes, it was all over.

  “Girls, it’s safe to come up now.” She watched outside, looking at her friend, Tony, giving orders to people.

  Martha and Hensley walked to the living room, looking frightened. “What happened? We heard gunshots.”

  “Our friends came to help us with our problem,” was all Laura said before some of the strangers came into the house and ushered them out.

  “We need to leave now,” one of the women, Lissa, told them. She had sleek blonde hair, and wore dark clothing. “Tony’s outside waiting for you guys.”

  Laura grabbed both of her daughters, and ran outside to the vans. It was the first time the girls had seen what had really unfolded outside. Carefully, they stepped around making sure not to step on anyone.

  “Are they dead?” Hensley looked down at the bodies.

  “Yes, sweetie. They were bad people who deserved it,” her mother explained to her.

  They got in one of the vans, greeting some of the people who saved them. “Thank you so much,” Laura said appreciatively to Tony.

  “Anything for a friend.” He smiled, and they drove off the property.

  “Mom?” Martha whispered to her mother.

  She looked down at her daughter. Martha looked exhausted and her eyes were trying not to close.

  “Yes?”

  “Are we always going to be on the run?”

  She thought about it for a second. “I’m not going to lie to you. We’re always going to be hiding. But this is the life we chose, so we have to deal with the consequences.”

  “Just wondering…” Her voice trailed off. “Am I always going to be this paranoid?”

  “Possibly, but you’ll get used to it with time.” She rubbed her back.

  “Is that even a good thing? Getting used to being paranoid?” She looked up at her mother.

  “It’s either get used to it or lose your sanity.”

  “I know, it just doesn’t seem very normal to get used to the feeling that everything and everyone is an enemy,” Martha mumbled as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

  Laura brushed the hair out of her daughter’s face, grinning to herself. “Well, we’re not a very normal family.”

  Lockdown

  When Tara agrees to go to a lockdown at the school, she doesn’t expect anything exciting. But when weird things start to happen, she must expect the worst.

  “Remember, students, the dance lockdown starts tonight at eight o’ clock,” Principal Shepherd announced over the intercom to the students of Wilken High. “No foolishness is allowed. If you’re caught doing something you aren’t supposed to, we will call your parents and escort you off the premises immediately.” His voice was full of authority.

  Rose turned to her friend, Tara, to whisper, “What’s the point of this whole dance and lockdown thing?”

  Tara shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure I even want to go,” she confessed.

  Rose’s mouth gaped. “You have to!” she exclaimed. The entire class stopped what they were doing to look over at the pair of friends. Rose began to use her inside voice again. “You have to. Ted is going to be there and so is Jacob.” Rose poked Tara’s side, smiling as she did so.

  “So what if Jacob is there?” She tried to act as if it were nothing important.

  Rose narrowed her eyes at her friend. “Every time you guys are around each other it’s like a flirting contest to see who can flirt the most.”

  Tara gave Rose a weird, scrunched up look. “We don’t flirt that much.”

  “You're such a bad liar.” Rose turned around in her chair to talk to Tara.

  “Rose Saunt!” their math teacher, Ms. Daily, yelled across the room. Her eyes peered over her thick glasses, staring at Rose and Tara. “Turn around and do your work or else you will be banished from lockdown,” she threatened them. It was enough warning for Rose, and so she a she quickly turned back around and pretended to do her work, but actually secretly writing Tara a note.

  She tossed it over to Tara’s desk when her teacher wasn’t looking. Tara took the note carefully, opening it slowly to not attract any attention, especially from their teacher. As soon as the paper was opened, she read what it said:

  So do you want me to tell Jacob to not look forward to seeing you tonight?

  Tara bent her head back, running her fingers through her hair. She took a minute to think of her response before she put her thoughts into words.

  If I decide to go, would you agree not to bug me for the rest of the day until lockdown?

  She tossed the folded piece of paper and watched her friend open it up while watching Ms. Daily. Rose wasted no time replying. She sent the paper flying over to Tara’s desk. Tara banged her hand on her wooden desk as she stopped the paper from landing somewhere further from her desk.

  Ms. Daily, along with other curious students, focused their attention on Tara. “Ms. Hatly, is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class?”

  “No,” Tara declined quietly while lowering her head, keeping away from any awkward eye contact.

  “Sounds like you’re practicing your drum solo,” she sneered.

  Tara could feel the heat rise to her cheeks out of the embarrassment she felt.

  “We’re starting a band together. Would you like to join? We’re in need of an annoying teacher,” Rose spoke up, having a stare down with Ms. Daily.

  “That’s it, Rose! If you do not shut your trap, I will be sure to take the lockdown away from you.” She used the same old threat again, thinking it would put Rose in her place.

  But Rose kept on talking. “I don’t like the way you talked to my friend. You got a stick up your ass or something?”

  The classroom burst into fits of laughter after Rose’s comment. Ms. Daily’s face turned red as she slammed her fist on her desk. “No lock——” she was interrupted by the sound of the bell.

  “I’m sorry, what was that?” Rose said as she quickly went for the door. “I can’t hear you, maybe you can tell me on Monday.” She smirked at the teacher and walked through the door.

  As the two girls walked through the halls, Tara smacked her friend in the arm.

  “Ouch! What was that for?” Rose rubbed her arm.

  “You could’ve gotten in serious trouble,” Tara explained.

  “But I didn’t. I was saved by the bell. Plus, she was picking on you, I couldn’t let her push my best friend around.” Rose stopped at her locker to pull some books out. “I’ll see you later here for lockdown?”r />
  “Yep.” Tara nodded then headed off to her next class.

  Later that day…

  “Mom, we have to go in ten minutes,” Tara shouted to her mother, all ready for the school dance lockdown. Her mom didn’t respond. “Mom!” she called out once again.

  “Calm down Tara,” her mom responded, as she entered the living room to see her daughter waiting impatiently by the door. “Well, we need to leave now anyway. The hospital really needs me.”

  Tara didn’t say anything, just picked up her cell phone from the table and walked to the car with her mom. She hopped in the passenger seat, and sat there in silence the first few minutes of the ride.

  “Why does the hospital really need you?” Tara finally asked her mom.

  Her mom didn’t take her eyes off the road as she answered her question. “Just a lot of sick people coming in. Not your common cold kind of case either. This is different.”

  “Different? How?”

  Her eyes remained glued to the road. “When I figure it out, I’ll let you know,” she said calmly and pulled in front of the school. “Have fun! Don’t cause any trouble with Rose. Call me if you need anything.

  “Rose isn’t that bad, she’s just misunderstood.”

  Tara’s mother laughed at her. “Yeah, I’m sure she is. Just try to stay out of any trouble.”

  Tara got out of the car, peering her head into the car before heading off inside the school. “I make no promises.” She could hear her mom chuckle as she closed the door.

  “Tara!”

  She heard Rose shout, but couldn’t see her. Her eyes looked around, trying to find her petite redheaded friend in the darkness. “Boo!” Rose came up from behind Tara, making her jump.