Costly Obsession: Animalize

by Sasha Pruett

  Chapter Sixteen

  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator,...

  Romans 1:24-25

  “Aaron, you’ve got to hear this. This man was nuts.”

  “What man?”

  “The man that wrote this book, Saul. This is his journal and for lack of a better word at the moment, spell book. It’s actually very well written and thought out. On the left is a journal entry and on the right is either a ritual or spell. Most of the spells are more along the lines of ‘potions’ or what’s nowadays called herbal medicine although I don’t know how valid they are and for the sake of whoever he used them on I hope they weren’t effective since most of them were meant to harm or even kill. Now his journal entries are a little more cryptic but boy was this guy into some strong stuff, Satanism, witchcraft, you name it, it looks like he was into it, and the entries were short, they had to be to fit on only one page at a time. You know if there ever was such a thing as an evil person he was it. Seems he was furious and vengeful at an entire town for; get this quote, ‘driving him from his rightful place’. From what he was into though I wouldn’t blame them; I wouldn’t want this guy living next door to me. In fact, he claims to have cursed someone ‘with the rage and fury of the wolves from the fires of Hell as punishment for theft of the heart. Soon he would be hunted down for his future and in turn would pay for the thievery of his beloved.’ I’d hate to be on this guy’s bad side.”

  Sitting Indian style on the couch like before with her glasses sliding slowly down her nose, Wendy prepared to read the curse aloud to her husband, “I haven’t completely translated this yet but listen to the curse.”

  “Wendy I…”

  Suddenly a piercing scream flooded through the Kinsington home. Aaron’s words fell short and Wendy abandoned her research. The delicate book with all its wonders flung to floor forgotten as the couple raced to the stairs and up to the locked door between them and their shrieking son. The only intelligible words from the room beyond were, “It’s coming! It’s coming! It’s coming!”

  “Jeremy, open the door. Jeremy this is your father, unlock the door son. Jeremy what’s going on? Jeremy!” but the only response was the cries of terror that were growing more urgent and horrifying with each howl. Wendy and Aaron pounded relentlessly on the door, but still the door remained locked. Frustrated and scared Wendy turned to her husband, “Break it down Aaron, break the door down!” Aaron put his shoulder to it and shoved. Again and again he threw himself at the obstacle until it finally gave way and flung itself against the dresser, ripping the hinges from their homes. Unconsciously Wendy shoved past him, eager to save her son, but was stopped dead in her tracks as she beheld her only child sitting on his bed, huddled against the wall, eyes wide with terror staring into space seeing something that no one else could. Jeremy’s face was colorless and beads of sweat rolled from his brow onto the sheets that were already drenched and entangled around his limbs. Finally finding herself, Wendy closed the gap between her and her son in two gigantic steps.

  “Jeremy, wake up. Come on, wake up son. There’s nobody here. Jeremy? Jeremy, listen to me, there’s nobody here, you’re safe! Jeremy please you’re scaring me!” His mother was growing frantic and began shaking him in a desperate attempt to free him from the terror that had seized her son. His own concern growing, Aaron, who had been quietly standing behind his wife praying, spoke up.

  “Jeremy, son, snap out of it! Wake up, now!” Immediately, Jeremy jerked away from his mother flinging himself against the window behind him alert yet confused. His arms braced his body firmly against the glass, his eyes still wide as the realization of where he was finally submerged in his mind allowing him to relax.

  “What’s going on? Mom? Dad? Are you alright?”

  “That’s what I was about to ask you. You scared your mother and me to death with that nightmare of yours.”

  “Nightmare?”

  “Yeah, and quite a doozy by the look of it. What was it about?”

  “I… I don’t know. I can’t remember. I’m sorry I scared you guys, but I’m okay, really.”

  The three let out a sigh of relief almost in unison, but still concerned Wendy went into full mother mode, “Well you don’t look alright. Let me feel your forehead.” Jeremy thought of putting up a fight, but he was too tired to go head to head with a worried mother especially his.

  “You do feel a little warm. I think you ought to take some medicine just in case you’re coming down with something.”

  “Not the liquid, anything but the liquid. I can’t stand that junk.”

  “What about the cherry flavor? That’s not so bad now is it?” Wendy replied with a coy smile playing her lips.

  “Not bad? Are you nuts? Have you ever tasted that junk? They should be sued for calling it cherry flavored. I know what a cherry tastes like and that’s about as far from cherry as you can get. Don’t make me gag. It’s the caplet things or nothing I mean it.”

  Wendy couldn’t help but laugh at her son, he was right of course, but it was still funny. “Alright, you win caplets it is. Aaron would you get them out of the medicine cabinet?”

  “In our bathroom?”

  “No, the upstairs spare. Thanks.” The two watched as Aaron exited the room and Jeremy’s eyes seemed to bulge when he caught sight of his door. “Don’t worry; you’ll get your door back. It’s just the hinge screws that’s all.” With another crisis avoided Wendy turned back to her son. “So that was some dream you were having. You kept yelling ‘It’s coming’ over and over. Care to talk about it? It helps, or so I’ve heard.” She paused to feel the air before diving any deeper. “You don’t have to worry, I won’t laugh I promise, and I won’t think you’re weird or anything either. Dreams can seem extremely real; they scare even the toughest of people.”

  “It’s not that mom,” Jeremy struggled to recall what had brought such terror into his heart, but all he could see was darkness, “I just can’t remember that’s all. Really, cross my heart.” An odd silence began to settle in the room. Each knew that their relationship had changed over the years, it was only natural but neither knew how to pick up again. Both wanted to say something to take that first step, Jeremy was still a little frightened though he didn’t know why, and Wendy wanted so much to discover what had happened and prevent it from ever troubling her child again. Before either could speak a word Aaron appeared in the now very open doorway.

  “I think we’re out of pills, all I could find was the liquid. You’ll just have to hold your nose and gulp.” His face was straight and serious, but Jeremy wasn’t falling for it and gave his dad the typical teenage ‘yeah, right,’ look. “Okay, okay, I give. Put that smirk back on the shelf son here are the caplets and some water.”

  He took the two green liquid-caps and popped them into his mouth, followed by three fourths of the water to drown any residual tastes. He placed the glass on his desk and suddenly realized what a mess it was in and flinched. He hoped his mother wouldn’t notice. Which of course he knew was impossible, she was a mother after all and could spot a mess at sixty paces, or that at least she wouldn’t make a big deal over it, not now anyway.

  Sensing her son’s unease she said nothing, but smiled at him conspiratorially. Greatly appreciated he smiled back almost sheepishly, “Thanks.”

  Naively Aaron piped in, “You’re welcome. Now get some rest okay.”

  The two coconspirators held back their chuckles while Wendy winked her welcome not wishing to confuse her well-meaning hubby. Then she switched into fussy mommy mode and began straightening the covers while Jeremy began to settle in for what he hoped would be an uneventful evening. Although he felt fine, other than a little worn out from the night on the beach teamed with the restlessness of his nap, he relaxed and let his body team up with the medicine to annihilate any infectio
n crawling inside.

  “I’ll meet you downstairs, Wendy. I’m going to the kitchen to raid the fridge. After all it’s 7:39 and I crave sustenance.”

  Wendy hollered after him, “I’ll feed my Neanderthal in a few minutes, don’t go messin’ up my kitchen.” With the two of them alone the odd silence took reign, but only for a moment when a determined Wendy broke it with three simple, but full words. “I love you. You don’t have to say it back, though when you do it means everything to me. I just want you to know that no matter how much things change between us, and I know they will, I will always love you and be here for you.”

  Jeremy glanced toward the open door, a part of him wished he could bolt right through it, getting away from this touchy feely moment, but still there was another urge deep down inside his heart that wanted, or needed to stay and connect with his mother and it was that will that won the battle.

  “You’re making your own choices now and I respect that and I trust you. You’re a wonderful young man, and no one’s perfect. I know you’ll make mistakes, the Lord knows I’ve made plenty and I still make them, but I’ve learned from as many of them as possible as you will. I’ll do my best to give you advice and to steer you in the right direction but in the end the ultimate decision is yours and yours alone. You know that there are consequences for your actions, that is something your father and I have tried to teach you from the beginning, and if you keep those possible consequences in mind you’ll be fine.” A pang of guilt over sneaking out began twisting his gut and he could no longer look her in the eyes. Wendy noticed his reaction, but she had started this and she was going to finish.

  “Whether it’s school, stress, fighting, drugs, sex, friends, drinking or any decision I’m here. Now I know there are some things that you’d rather talk to your dad about and I’m glad. He always feels important when you go to him with anything, big or small, but if you ever want or need a woman’s point of view I’m here. Believe me when I say that no question is stupid when it comes to the opposite sex, your father’s a wonderful husband, but let’s face it everything that he knows about women would barely fit a thimble at times.” That did it; a smile rose on Jeremy’s uncomfortable lips and the gap had begun to close. He had sat there stone faced almost the entire time as his emotions pulsed. ‘It was his life he didn’t need her approval or permission. He was old enough to take care of himself. It was none of her business… but to hear her say that she was proud of him, and to know and feel that she really did love him sent a feeling of warmth through him that he never wanted to go away and he fought to suppress another smile. He didn’t need her approval, but it felt good that he had it. His conscious was clear and he didn’t have to fight with himself over whether or not he had done right, and last night he hadn’t. He hadn’t even asked. Of course they would have said no, but maybe they could have worked something out where he still could have seen Katherine. It wouldn’t have been the perfect night that it was, but that could have happened another night, she would have understood. Maybe that’s why they really had those nightmares, maybe it was guilt over sneaking out when for the first time it was more serious than just being a school night.’ Jeremy fought with himself and the truth, should he tell, how much trouble would he be in, what if he just stayed in the next few times and forgot about the whole thing, what if they found out, back and forth he volleyed until reality won out. His mom would find out one way or another, if Katie hadn’t been caught then Michael might blab, either way it would be much worse for him when the time came.

  “Mom?”

  “Yeah, sweetie?”

  His courage failing he sped through his confession in an effort to get it all out before the doors shut on him, “I know you’re gonna be mad at me and the only reason I’m telling you this is because I know you’re gonna find out, you always do somehow it’s like a curse not being able to get away with anything, anything big anyway, so here it is… I snuck out last night and went to the beach, but I fell asleep and didn’t get back till morning, but if it’s any consolation I had a really bad dream so it’s kind of like I’ve already been punished… but you’re not gonna go for that are ya?” Wendy slowly shook her head with a grin of ‘no way on earth’.

  “So that’s where the dream came from… guilt.”

  “No … well yeah.”

  “You’re right son. You are in trouble. I’m guessing by this admission you realized how dangerous it was sneaking out last night compared to all the other times,” the astonished and fake innocent look on Jeremy’s face was priceless and had Wendy not been so furious she probably would have burst with laugher, “and yes I know about the other times, we both do. Why do think that tree was taken down? Your father and I aren’t complete morons.”

  “But how come?”

  “We didn’t punish you before?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Your father and I snuck out when we were your age too. For most kids it’s a part of growing up. We really didn’t bother with it because around here there’s not much for you to get into. You are after all a pretty good kid. The town’s pretty safe and we know you can protect yourself.”

  “So that’s why you let me sign up for self-defense!”

  “Ah, you finally caught on to that huh? We didn’t punish you for the same reason we stopped enforcing your bedtime. After you grew up we had to start giving you your space and as long as there was no danger to you, you weren’t becoming public enemy number one, and as long as it didn’t interfere with school we wanted you to make your own decisions.”

  “Then what about the tree?”

  “I told you we’re here to guide you. We knew that things were going to get tougher in school and so we took away some of the temptation to sneak out. The tree just made it too easy, that and it was starting to fall apart and…”

  “I know, Dad didn’t want it falling on the house.”

  “No smarty. We didn’t want it giving away with you in it. We knew the stability of that tree was the last thing on your mind. Besides if you wanted to sneak out now it would be a lot more difficult and you’d have to think about it a little harder. Of course it seems like that theory worked like a charm.”

  Now it was Wendy’s turn to be sarcastic.

  “I know it was stupid, but it was special.”

  “Well I bet I can guess who you snuck out with.” Jeremy realized his mistake and a whole new flood of concerns surfaced. Fortunately his mother had calmed down.

  “I promised to try not to fly off the handle and I’m going to try to stick to that, so here’s the deal…. Until further notice you are grounded, no phone, TV, games, computer, zip. It’s solitary confinement, understand? You will be allowed one phone call to Katherine for two minutes informing her of your punishment and that she has one last chance to come clean before I call her parents if she hasn’t already done so or been caught on her own. I am going to tell your father about this and we will discuss how long your punishment will last. Although we will allow you a little bit of the summer left before school we’ll see how much.” The medicine had begun to take effect and Jeremy’s eyes began to take on a life of their own.

  “Right now you need to sleep, so I’ll go fix dinner. If you get hungry later come on down and we’ll find you something.” Wendy paused and switched gears not wanting to leave as the evil punishing tyrant. “I still love you, and even though I’m disappointed in your decision I’m proud of you for telling me the truth. Besides if you hadn’t you’re right, I would have found out somehow and you wouldn’t be leaving this room until the first day of school, when you either walked there or took the bus because your bike had been impounded. Good night son, and don’t worry I’ll still make sure your father fixes the door.” Wendy smiled as she turned off the light and tried to close the door as best she could behind her then she remembered one last thing. “Jeremy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “That old book that you had on your desk, the one we were talking about earlier, where’d it come from?”


  “Oh that, I thought you’d like it. We found it when we were in the caves by the lake last Friday. I had it when the storm started so I just brought it home with me.”

  “Who’s ‘we’?”

  “You know, the guys. I probably would have ended up with it anyway.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “They wanted to know how much it was worth and since they know you go in for that kind of stuff you might know something about it. So you like it huh?”

  “…yeah, it’s interesting.” She smiled, but she knew for some reason she really didn’t ‘like it’ at all.

  “Jeremy did you read from it?”

  “Some, but I couldn’t understand a word of it. How about you?”

  “Working on it. You get some sleep okay; I’ll tell you about it later.” With that she slid around the door to the steps and to the kitchen where her Neanderthal awaited.

  Jeremy rolled over, but he fought the desire to doze. He didn’t know why, but what he did know was that he didn’t want … no, he couldn’t fall asleep.

  Wendy, her work and the book all but forgotten, entered the kitchen to find Aaron’s head buried in the fridge. “Didn’t I tell you not to stand there with the fridge open like that?” she said standing so close behind him that he could have knocked her over with a nudge. Fortunately for her he had heard her footfalls on the stairs and after her nagging him about the fridge for eighteen years he knew her actions as well as she did.

  “Then how’s a person supposed to find what they want to eat; telepathy?” He still held his hunched food hunting position in front of the icebox.

  “How about I treat my man to Chinese tonight?”

  Aaron swung around and rose to his full height, a full foot above Wendy and let the fridge door close shut. “Sounds great, but it’s after eight.”

  “So, The Wok doesn’t close until eleven.”

  “Yeah, but the curfew went into effect about twenty minutes ago.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah, oh.”

  “I forgot about that and after grounding Jeremy too. I’m getting old.” Wendy scrunched up her face in a pout of disappointment and playful frustration.

  “What’s this about Jeremy?”

  “I’ll tell you after we eat. How about you make a fresh pot of coffee and I’ll make three cheese chicken rotini? Is it a deal?” Aaron’s face lit with famished excitement, but quickly changed to his usual puppy pout causing his wife to burst with laughter.

  “But won’t that take all night? I’m hungry now, and I can’t wait. I crave sustenance!”

  “Hey down boy, it won’t take that long. I’ve got my ways. Remember, I’m just as starved as you are.”

  “Yeah, but I’m bigger than you are, I need more to keep this fine figure of a man going.”

  “Oh ho ho, ‘fine figure of a man’? And you thought a quick dinner was a stretch?”

  “Uhh.” The playfully hurt look he gave was priceless and adorable and made her fall in love all over again.

  “Now extremely fine form of a man, that’s what you should have said. You sell yourself short.” Aaron wrapped his arms around this feisty woman that he adored, temporarily forgetting the hunger for food and paying heed to the hunger for her, but only temporarily.

  “If I weren’t starving right now you’d be in trouble.”

  “Well how about getting on that coffee and letting me get to cooking so that we can continue this later.” He kissed her then turned back to the coffeemaker performing his usual show of machismo when he switched from filling one cup from the fresh stream pouring forth from the coffeemaker to a second cup without spilling one drop. It had taken him many years and quite a few first degree burns to perfect his technique, but the bragging rights had been well worth it. His peacock was at full strut replacing the pot beneath the flow of hot liquid without a spill when Wendy ran him out of “her” kitchen back into the dining room to await his dinner. Yelling after him, “You know I think I’m going to replace that old thing with one of those that only fills a cup at time and doesn’t have a burner that ends up scorching the coffee.”

  “Oh no you don’t, I won’t be able do my switch up with one of those. There’s no challenge.”

  “I know; there’s no mess to clean up after you’ve been fooling around either. Why do you think I want one?” She laughed and returned to the task at hand.

  In all actuality he didn’t bother her while she cooked, she liked having the company at times, but this time she just didn’t want him to know how fast she really could cook when she had to. She had spent years convincing him that a good meal took a long time to prepare, while behind the closed kitchen door she would sit and read, listen to music, surf the net, watch a movie, or play a game while keeping a casual eye on the victuals. That and it allowed for many dinners out or delivery nights when he just couldn’t wait. Wendy threw a few frozen chicken breasts into the lightly greased skillet with a few seasonings and covered it with her favorite glass lid, heated the pasta sauce, poured a small box of rotini into the newly boiling water, set the timer, grabbed her cup of coffee, then rejoined her husband in the dining room. She couldn’t help but chuckle at the look of joyful excitement and the utter disappointment as she stepped into the room without a plate of chow.

  “I’m fast, but not that fast.”

  “Well you can’t blame a guy for hoping.”

  “You got me there.” Wendy sat at the end of the four chair dining table with her back to the kitchen and Aaron to her right cradling the mug of hot java her hands. Even on this warm summer evening her hands were cold and she let the steam engulf her face as she inhaled deep the contents of the cup. Then deciding it was time to break the news of their son’s late night escapades to her husband she took a sip and spilled the beans. “Your son’s grounded for the rest of the summer or at least part of it.”

  “What do you mean he’s grounded? What for? And how is it when he’s done something wrong he’s suddenly my son? If I remember correctly you were there for the delivery and the conception. At least I think it was you?”

  “Ha ha, wise guy. You do the same thing.”

  “Guilty. So what’s he done to merit losing his summer?”

  “He snuck out last night, of course he really didn’t have to do much sneaking, we were so caught up in that book we didn’t even notice him walking right down the stairs and out the back door. I give you three guesses who he was out with until about six this morning, but you should only need one.”

  “Ah yes, the big date. So he didn’t cancel that after all did he, the little weasel. They didn’t do anything did they? I mean I don’t think he’d tell us if they had, but…”

  “He said they just fell asleep on the beach and that other than a couple of nightmares nothing happened. So far he’s been pretty adamant about abstinence and as far as I can tell he’s serious about waiting. There wasn’t anything in his voice or his eyes that said otherwise so I guess we have to trust him. Of course every parent wants to believe the best and trust their kids when they say they’re not having sex, or doing drugs, or any one of the other million things that they shouldn’t be doing.”

  “So that’s where the bad dream came from, guilt.”

  “I guess so; he said they were talking about the murders just before they fell asleep.”

  “How mad is he?”

  “Not very. He felt so bad about it he confessed without any questioning. He was shocked to learn that we already knew about the other times, and about the tree, but he realized that last night was different than the other times. Or at least he said so, but I believe him. He’s still a pretty good kid, his grades could be a little better and he could be a lot cleaner, but that’s just part of him.”

  “What’s the total punishment?”

  “Room arrest, no entertainment other than books, one call to his co-conspirator to warn her before I call, and no bike.”

  “Ooh, that’s rough. Tough Mama! How long?”

  �
�I told him we’d have to talk about it first, but I told him he might have some of his summer left. He was about to fall asleep by then though so I don’t think it all registered.”

  “That’s okay; we’ll let him sweat it out for a little while first. I’m disappointed, but not surprised. He seems really serious about this one.”

  “I know, I feel the same way. Scary isn’t it. It seems only yesterday he was learning to ride a two-wheeler and now.”

  “Has he mentioned anything about how he feels?”

  “Not really, but I noticed the picture of his favorite swimsuit model was in the trash along with a few others and they were replaced with pictures of Katherine. The one on his wall is still there but it’s all but completely covered with other pictures now. I can’t say I’m disappointed about that though. Of course I think the only reason that most of those posters are still up is to keep me out of his room as much as possible. Has he mentioned anything to you?”

  “Ah, grasshopper is learning. He’s said a few things, and asked a few questions. I get the feeling he wants to open up more but he’s holding back. I guess I need to have a talk with him.”

  “I thought you did that years ago?”

  “I did. This is the ‘What are your plans for the future?’ talk.”

  “Ah. That one. Good luck.”

  “Thanks, I have a feeling I’ll need it. Something tells me that explaining the birds and the bees and convincing him to wait was easier. Now to change the subject to something just as important,” Wendy looked at him confused as to what was on her beloved’s mind now. “You may think I’m being silly or stupid but this feeling has been growing more and more and I can’t ignore it any longer. It’s about that book. There’s something that just doesn’t seem right about it. In fact just having it in the house gives me the willies.”

  “You’re right. I do think it’s silly.”

  “Just do me a favor and don’t repeat any of those incantations or whatever they are. Especially out loud, for me, believe me I know how ridiculous I sound and I’d be thinking the exactly the same thing you are right now if the tables were turned but I just can’t shake this feeling that we’re dealing with something… well… I’ll just say it… with something evil.... So please do this for me as a favor for your favorite husband?”

  “You’re in luck that you just happen to be my favorite husband. Of course that might have something to do with the fact that you’re my only husband, but since you feel so strongly about it I promise not to read any of the incantations out loud or even under my breath.” No sooner had Wendy finished her vow and sat down her mug than the buzzer sounded causing both of them to jump. Embarrassingly they smiled at each other, “I guess that’s my cue.” As she reached the kitchen door, she turned to glance back at Aaron deep in thought. Should she tell him of the feelings that she’d had been having as well? Could there really be something to that mad man’s diary? Or could it all be a coincidence because of the tragedy that had befallen their quiet town the past few days? She had no idea, but somehow she knew that it wasn’t over yet. The phone rang, pulling her from her own mind with a start.

  “I’ll get it; you just get the food on the table.” Aaron hopped from his seat in a search for the cordless as Wendy followed orders, but when he returned to the dining room, his face was ashen. Wendy hadn’t even the chance to ask what was wrong before half in a trance Aaron said what she already knew in the back of her mind; they’d found another victim. “They found Sheriff Marshall’s body earlier today on his family’s road. He was… mutilated.”