A Deadly Summer Day

by K T Rose

I twisted the lock vertical and pulled the door open. I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me up the driveway. The evening heat muddled the air, hitting me with a humid warmth.

  I ran, searching the houses nearby. The lights in the small house next door were off, and from the direction I sprinted, the only car I saw was the beat-up conversion van from earlier parked off the highway.

  “Hey!” Biv said from inside.

  A house across the street sat alone on several acres. No telling when the next house or neighbor was. But I kept going up the middle of the highway, following the twilight of the city which only lit up the horizon from where they’d taken me.

  “Help!” I screamed a cry that scraped my throat. “Help me!”

  A thick, sharp pain tore at my calf. I tripped over my feet and fell face-first into the gravelly road. I yelped a desperate cry. I put a hand on my thigh and looked down. Blood poured from my leg, soaking my knees and the ground. The end of an arrow stuck out, whereas the arrowhead was buried deep in my flesh. I buried my elbows into the ground and pulled myself forward. “Help!” I cried.

  Footsteps approached me. “All right. I get it. You can’t wait any longer.” Biv picked me up and put me over his shoulder.

  “No!” I kicked and twisted. But his burly grip wouldn’t let up. It tightened.

  “It’s all right. I know you’re anxious to meet Him. I prefer waiting until the witching hour but…”

  “No! Help!” Drool ran down my chin and mixed with the blood leaking from my cracked nose and stinging scratches on my cheeks and forehead. “Help me!”

  He snickered. “What did I tell you about saving those pipes? You’re going to need them.”

  The smell of rotten meat, or a basement full of skeletons, met us at the door. But this time, he carried me upstairs. The basement steps drifted further away as I tried clawing at the threshold. The kitchen was covered in dishes and old food, adding to the sour smell. We passed the living room where they’d set up a drum set and a guitar stand in front of a wall mounted TV. The screen was frozen on a band with flailing dark hair, mid strum on their guitars.

  He carried me up the hallway where I kicked and screamed and tried getting loose to no avail. My leg constricted with a sharp ache when it hit an ajar door, flinging it open.

  “Screaming and crying isn’t going to help you.” He laughed. “Those people you thought were going to help you ain’t home! In fact, if you looked hard enough, you’d find they were keeping you company in the basement.”

  A small glow lit the room in a soft orange color. The walls were plastered in pentagrams and photos of black goats. A mantle sat in the far corner. On it, a hairy goat head with long, curled horns. Inside its open mouth, two candles flickered flames that barely lit the room.

  He threw me down on a stone table as big as my body. “I’m going to need this back.” He snatched the arrowhead from my calf.

  I shrilled at the ripped muscle as blood soaked the table underneath me.

  He held my neck down, bringing my screams down to a hoarse yelp. “Nick, get in here!”

  Nick rushed in and glared at me.

  “Help me strap her down. And get the tape. I’m sick of hearing her.”

  Nick plastered my mouth shut with a silver tape as Biv strapped my ankles to the table.

  As the straps tightened around my wrists and legs, I felt the fight fleeing from my veins. I cried. I’d never see my mother again. Dad. Nyla. Even worse, I’d cease to exist. And for what? For a couple witches to gain fame or prove a point? For Nick to get his revenge? I only wanted to help him. I didn’t know my help turned him into…this.

  “You see, I’ve been doing this for a while.” Biv started. “See this blood stain on here?” He scoffed. “Well of course you can’t. Anyway, this was when I shoved a dagger in Ms. Riley’s chest when she thought about calling the police on my band during a practice session. Apparently, the old fool wasn’t enough for my Lord as a trade, so I had to get creative.” Biv rounded the table. “Here is when my band mate thought he was going to leave because he felt the direction wasn’t clear. Are we alternative or hard? Boho or screamo? I couldn’t have him asking questions. I just needed him to play.” He paused and glared at the space next to my forehead. “Apparently, sending a doped-up Gympie to the dark Lord was also out. So I figured, why not try sending family? Then here is when Mom was sacrificed. It got a spark out of Him. I got three gigs. All went well, paid well, but then the well went dry. I sacrificed Josie and the old man across the street, Mr. Dougie. But nothing ever came of it. So I had to…you know…use a different breed. I figured a young girl with a big heart would be perfect. One that’s pure. Innocent.” His eyes caught mine. “You’re only half those things…you know…with the lying and all. So there’s a chance this won’t work. But at least there would be some retribution. Nick, go get the cloak. She’s ready.”

  Nick left the room and headed up the hallway.

  “No!” I screamed. But my plea stuck stopped short of the tape. I went to move my legs, but my calf seared in spasms. Panting, I pulled my wrists up, but they were bound tight to the cold stone tabletop under me.

  I’d never see home again. Mom would worry herself to death looking for me. Dad would be simmer in guilt. Me? My body would end up in the grave at the bottom of Nick’s house.

  A knock on the front door. I threw my glance to the open room door and watched the dark hallway. My eyes widened and I let out another muffled scream.

  “Who the fuck is that?” Biv hissed.

  Nick came rushing in with white sheets in his hands. “It’s a cop!”

  “Shhh! Shut up. Why the fuck is a cop here?”

  “I—I don’t know.”

  Biv looked down at me. “What the hell did you do?” he growled.

  My throat strained. Nyla. She must’ve heard the struggle when they took me and told the cops Nick was responsible for it. When I saw her, I would kiss her and get her all the weed and pink berry she wanted. I’d even spend the rest of the summer with her, living out her many punishments for sneaking boys in the house alongside her.

  “Fuck,” Biv said. “Stay in here with her. Under no circumstances will you open the door, hear? You still got the video queued up on the TV?”

  “Yeah. I never turned it off.”

  “Good.” He patted Nick on the head like an owner would do to their dog. “I’ll be right back.” Biv closed the door behind him.

  Nick pressed his ear to the door.

  I could barely hear what was going on.

  “This is all your fault,” Nick said. “The police never come here. They never had a reason too. And now, Biv is going to be mad at me!”

  I frowned. Lost. That’s it. No words or pleas could fix this. The brothers were half gone in the head, just as Nick had always been since we went to school together. He didn’t need help. He needed release.

  He looked over at me, hatred ingrained across his face. The flickering light could’ve reflected the fire in his dark eyes. “I hate you. You ruined my life,” he hissed.

  I shook my head and tried to respond.

  “There’s nothing you can say, Joyce. You’ve said enough.”

  “Officer,” Biv said just outside the door. “I guarantee you, it’s nothing but a witch hunt. I have nothing to hide and my brother is out at the gym. You know how fragile he is, that’s if you have experience with the mentally impaired.”

  “Well,” a deep voice responded, “I understand and I’m truly sorry about this, but a concerned friend of the girl who’s missing said your brother had a special interest in her. I figured it’d be best to eliminate him as a suspect right away. Not only that, but from what the girl’s family is saying, we have probable cause to do so. I appreciate your cooperation.”

  “It’s totally fine, sir.”

  Nick stepped back when the door flung in. I lifted my head and screamed as hard as I could when I met the cop’s eyes. He scowled and went f
or his pistol. An arrowhead shot through his chest. Blood spurted out as he fell forward.

  “Dammit,” Biv yelled as he pressed a foot to the cop’s back and pulled at the end of the arrow. “If she didn’t work, then he probably would’ve. “

  “Oh my God, what are we going to do?” Nick asked between hurried pants.

  “About what?” Biv asked, pointedly.

  Nick pulled his own hair. His eyes went wide and wild. “There’s a dead cop in our house!”

  “Nick, calm down. He’s no different from the sick fucks in the basement. He only has a badge. That’s it. Now you keep watching her, get her ready while I take care of his car. Can you do that?”

  Nick gave a hesitant nod. His cheeks shook between breaths. “I can’t—I can’t go back, Biv.” He sobbed. “I don’t want to go back!”

  Biv pulled the arrow free. The cop’s body thudded against the floor. “You’re not going back. I’m gonna make sure of that.”

  “I can’t—I won’t—”

  “Hey, hey, hey,” Biv said. He approached Nick and put a hand on his cheek. “Look at me. I won’t let them take you, all right?”

  “I—”

  “Shh. I won’t. You trust me?”

  Nick nodded.

  “All right.” Biv turned to me. “We gotta hope this works. If it does, you won’t go anywhere other than LA. We’ll be living the life we deserve.”

  “What if it doesn’t? You—you sure we can’t still use him?”

  “We need a pumping heart to sacrifice.”

  “Yeah. You’re right,” Nick said with a gleam of discontent in his eye.

  Biv ran a hand over Nick’s head. “Don’t lose faith in me now. I need you. All right? I’ll toss him in the basement while you get her ready. Deal? I’m going to take care of this.”

  Nick nodded and watched Biv drag the cop off into the hallway. He closed the door behind him, leaving Nick to stare at the back of it.

  “Nick,” I stifled under the tape. “Nick.”

  “What?” he snapped.

  “Please,” I said. I rolled my eyes to the ceiling.

  He spun around and huffed. I could sense the fear in his stance.

  “The tape,” I said in a muffled mess.

  “So you can scream and Biv will get mad at me?”

  I shook my head.

  His face crumbled.

  I frowned and mumbled.

  Nick smacked his teeth and said, “I can’t—hold on.”

  He disappeared into the hallway. A man screaming over a harsh guitar solo filled the house. He trotted back into the room and shut the door behind him.

  I tensed when he approached me and snatched the tape from my mouth. My lips and cheeks stung.

  “What?” He asked sharply.

  “Please, Nick I—”

  “I’m not letting you go! You keep asking me and I keep saying no. What the hell aren’t you getting? You already tried to leave and it almost messed up Biv’s plan! This is happening. Now just lay back and accept it.”

  I frowned. “You think I deserve this?”

  He huffed and stepped back until his back met the door. “Oh hell yeah you do. You see what you put me through? I missed out on high school because of you! People think I’m a freak! My own mother couldn’t look at me let alone bother to come visit me. And now you want me to keep disobeying Biv, the only one who gives me a chance? Fuck you, Joyce! That’s what I say! Fuck you!”

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that—I’m so sorry.”

  “You ought’a be! All I wanted was to love you. To have a friend. To be more than a poor freak. But you couldn’t see that. None of them could. No one wanted to.”

  “I never thought you were a freak.”

  “Then why’d you have them send me away?” he shouted. “Do you know what it’s like in there? To live with a bunch of empty husks? No one has a personality. All they have is a chemical high that does nothing but keep them breathing and their eyes open. And when the drugs wore off, the hospital was filled with desperate cries from people who didn’t know how to be human no more. The only thing that made them human was when they slammed their heads against the concrete walls just to see how much it could bleed before the drugs flooded their bodies again, taking the dark thoughts from the front of the mind and mixing it with the sickening delusions of being unaware. Every day for four years, that was my life. I don’t even remember what birthdays are like.” He shook his head. “I—I don’t even know how old I am, Joyce.”

  I gulped. Then sighed. “You’re seventeen.”

  “What?”

  “Remember when we were in the third grade? When I found you crying in the hallway?”

  His lips quivered.

  “You left the class to go use the rest room but had been gone for over an hour. Ms. Patterson sent me to the office to have someone come watch the class while she went to find you. I found you balled up next to your locker, crying. I asked what was wrong, and you said your birthday was the day before, March 15th, and no one gave you a present or a cake. No one even wished you a happy birthday. I took your hand, led you back to class, shared my lunch with you, then brought in a cupcake for you the next day. I remember that. It was March 2011, we were nine.”

  “That was the day I fell in love with you…"

  “I never meant to hurt you or send you away. I just wanted you to stop hurting yourself for me. You have to understand that. I love you, Nick. I always have.”

  He scoffed and shook his head. “You don’t do things like that to someone you care about. Stick them in that hellhole. You don’t know what it’s like. No one knows what it’s like,” he growled.

  “No. I don’t. I didn’t mean for that to happen. I swear. My mom saw the letters and made me tell her who they were from,” I lied. “I thought it would be good though. They were supposed to help you. I didn’t know they were hurting you. I swear I didn’t want you to go away. I missed you so much while you were gone. You have to believe me.”

  “Why didn’t you come visit?”

  “My mom wouldn’t let me.”

  “Bullshit.” He wiped the tears from his face. “Fuck you, Joyce.”

  I was losing him. So I dug deep into the dark past that I’d hidden along with memories of Nick. I recited, “Your caramel eyes make my heart flutter and your soft touch brings me warmth. You are my sustenance. The shimmering dust I breathe. My will to live. Forever. My blood runs black but my heart beats for you.”

  His eyes lightened and ears perked. “You read them.”

  “I think about them every day,” I whispered. “Just like I thought of you every day. I needed you, but my parents kept us apart. Now that I’m here with you, I—”

  “If you love me so much, why are you trying to leave?”

  “Because I don’t want to die. I want to live. How can we be together if…if you’re going to send me to Satan?”

  “I don’t want to.” He shook his head. “I—I never wanted to. Biv wants too. But I can’t. I won’t do it. I’ll get you out of here. Why didn’t you just say so?”

  I shook my head. “Because of Biv. I’m scared of him. And you should be too. He doesn’t want you happy. He doesn’t want you at all. “

  “You don’t know Biv, he wants the best for me. That’s all he ever wanted.”

  “You see what he did to your mother? You see what he’s making you do to me? If you guys don’t make it after killing me, I’m afraid he’s going to offer you next. Don’t you see that? He wants you miserable. And who’s to say if it does work, that he won’t leave you behind? Or even worse, pin all the bodies on you? It’ll be easy to convince a jury that you did it all when you got out or before you went away. They’ll agree and send you back. That’s what they’ll do.”

  “No.” He panted. “I can’t go back. I don’t wanna go back!”

  “Then you have to get us out of here.”

  “How?” he blurted.

>   I watched his eyes. “I love you, Nick. I always have. And I want what’s best for us. Biv’s not going to let us be together and I know for a fact that he’s going to kill you or send you back to that place. I don’t want either of those things to happen. I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”

  He gave a stiff nod.

  ***

  The music came to an abrupt stop.

  “Nick. You ready?” Biv said. His heavy footfalls echoed across the hardwood floor. I hugged my knees as I crouched underneath the table. The flickering flames lit Nick’s face as he stood behind the door with the stance of an ultimate fighter: one foot forward, fists balled at his sides, a dagger clutched in his right one.

  “You hear me?” Biv said. The doorknob turned and Biv let himself in. His eyes searched the stone table. “Nick?” he called out.

  The door flung forward, slamming into the opening. Nick sprouted forward, knife up and eyes stern. He brought the thing down so hard, that he lost his footing when Biv side-stepped.

  Hands out, Biv snarled and backed away, avoiding every slash and potential jab, successfully dodging Nick’s blade.

  “You crazy fucker!” Biv yelled. He charged for Nick, grabbing his arms and hoisting them up.

  Nick grunted when Biv launched him into the wall, pinning his arms to it.

  Biv pulled Nick’s arm away from the wall and slammed it back. Nick cried out on the third bang, allowing the dagger to fall free from his battered hand. I watched as it slid across the floor, stopping underneath the table. I snatched it up and moved back.

  “You stupid, boy?”

  Biv pulled Nick from the wall and wrapped his arm around his neck. Nick smacked at Biv’s arm as he croaked and groaned.

  “I try to help you and this is what you do?” Biv yelled. “I hope she was worth it!”

  Nick gasped as his feet shuffled. It was almost like he was trying to run but Biv’s grip squeezed his neck tight.

  “But what can I say? You were always the fucked up one!”

  Biv released Nick. Nick fell forward, landing on his hands and knees. He coughed into the floor and let out small groans.

  “You ain’t got a lick of sense in you, Nicky,” Biv said between pants. “I can’t have someone like you around.”