Demi Mondaine: Volume One

by N. R. Mayfield

  She could hear the crack of simulated gunfire in the next room over, and Kevin swore at someone on his headset. Personally, Amy didn’t get videogames. She’d always been content to focus on school, at least until her mom had married Kate’s dad, Pete. She still got mostly decent grades, but she spent more time getting high with her stepsister than studying these days. She wasn’t sure Kevin had looked away from the TV long enough to realize their parents had been divorced and remarried. He certainly didn’t notice the way Kate pursued him, always standing a little too close, a little too undressed.

  The front door was flanked by thin rectangular windows on both sides, with another set above the threshold, and Kate slunk towards the door. The doorbell chimed, sending a brief musical note through the house. Kate dashed away from the porch, disappearing into the dense landscaping at the side of the house. The gunfire ceased abruptly, and Kevin apologized to someone.

  He stumbled into view, his hair a mess of tangled curls. Amy stood safely out of sight, her palms flat against the wall. Kevin approached the door, mumbling something unintelligible, and Amy threw herself out at the exact moment Kevin opened the door. She froze, completely exposed while he stood with his back to her, staring out through the glass storm door in search of whoever had summoned him from his online massacre.

  Her heart thudded in her chest, and the plan that had seemed so simple when she and Kate had concocted it on their bedroom floor now seemed impossible. Kevin would turn at any moment, and she’d be caught. She knew Kate would feign ignorance and let her take the fall all by herself too, which made it even worse.

  To her left was the living room, a box of half-eaten pizza and a dozen empty soda cans littered the area around Kevin’s low-sitting ergonomic gaming chair. To her right was the formal dining room, a seldom-used space reserved almost exclusively for her mom’s wine-fueled dinner parties. Kevin’s hand reached behind to scratch his back, and he opened the storm door and leaned outside, the hydraulic door-stop and chain rattling with the motion. The railings to either side of her were sturdy hardwood, and with a surge of adrenaline Amy took advantage of the noise of the door, nimbly rolling her slight frame over the railing.

  She hung from the other side, dangling just a foot off the ground, willing herself invisible. Kevin pulled his head back into the house, letting the storm door close with a drawn-out whisper. He closed the main door, and when he turned, his line of sight swept over her. All it would have taken was his eyes to rest on her through the slits of the railing for even a second.

  “Dude, come on,” a voice hissed over his headset back in the living room. “Where are you?”

  “Coming, coming,” Kevin muttered, hurrying back into the living room. Amy moved her hands down the railing, inch by inch until her toes were able to touch the ground. She let go, breathing a sigh of relief. Yes, she was only sneaking around her own house, but her body was shaking like she’d just limboed through a maze of lasers on a jewelry heist. She held her fingers up like a gun, blowing smoke from the imaginary barrel and reveling in her own badassery. Kate would probably call her a dork, but she would never know, now would she?

  The door to the basement was built into the wall just a few feet to Amy’s left. Pete kept it locked, because that’s where he and Mom liked to go drink and smoke in what they thought was privacy. But Amy and Kate knew what was up, and they’d surreptitiously stolen and copied a key for themselves months ago, returning the original before it was even missed. Now they had an all-access pass to a bar so well-stocked that no amount of missing booze ever went noticed.

  Amy quickly slid her key into the lock and slipped into the stairwell, tiptoeing all the way down in the darkness. She flipped a switch at the bottom of the steps, and dim red lights illuminated her mom’s sex dungeon. The room was filled with poles, tilt-tables, and even a swing anchored into the ceiling above. Amy wasn’t even sure what all of it was for, aside from that Mom and Pete came down her nearly every night.

  Kate had snuck a couple boys down here, and Amy had contemplated doing so too, although only in an academic sort of way. The older she got, the less interested she became in the opposite sex. In fact, she’d found herself slowly intrigued with Kate, her stepsister’s futile attempt at seducing her brother slowly taking hold on her instead.

  Her stepdad’s bar was long enough to serve twelve people, and a massive liquor cabinet occupied the wall behind it, stocked with hundreds of bottles of every imaginable spirit. Amy ignored them, sinking down to her knees behind the bar and opening a cabinet that held a dozen identical bottles of vodka. She grabbed one, knowing it was Kate’s favorite. Amy had different tastes though, and she moved to the cabinet at the far end where her mom kept the absinthe. She rounded the collection out with a bottle of over-proof rum, and crept back to the light switch. She held the three bottles tight against her tummy, and the room plunged into darkness. She moved slowly towards the door of the storage room.

  The afternoon sun filtered through dingy storm windows to illuminate the unfinished room. The furnace and water heater were located down here, but most of the space was occupied by wooden shelves piled high with old boxes and crates Mom had acquired after Amy’s great-grandfather died years ago. She’d always wanted to go through it, but Mom had never allowed it, and by the time they’d moved here, she’d nearly forgotten about them.

  She set her bottles down at the foot of the wall beneath the storm window with the clearest access to the side yard. There was no sign of Kate just yet, but they’d agreed she would give Amy ten minutes to get the window open, and it had barely been five since Kevin had gone to check the door.

  She sat down on an old wooden chest, frowning when she realized her bare thighs had picked up a thick coating of dust. She stood back up, wiping her legs with her hands. It was actually a really nice chest, she realized, dark, hand-carved wood with an elaborate metal lock. She tugged at the lid, but it was firmly secured. That only got her curiosity going, and after taking a deep swig of absinthe, she found herself kneeling in front of the chest, jimmying the old lock with her hairclip and wondering what was taking Kate so long.

  The locked opened with a cooperative click, and Amy coughed at the stale air that escaped from within. She raised the lid, only to find the chest virtually empty aside from a large handbound book and a small wooden box. Not a box, she realized, picking it up—an old metronome. It was nearly pyramidal, but with a flattened head. It had a small plaque on the bottom, and while its inscription was in German, she did at least recognize the numerals 1835, which told her that whatever else these things were, they were very old. Upon inspection, the book was also in German, and while she didn’t know a word of that language, she could tell the text was handwritten as if by quill and ink, the pages filled with a sweeping cursive hand.

  Amy was mostly Puerto Rican, but she had some German in her from her mom’s side. That was where her great-grandfather had lived, although Amy had never known him. She supposed it made sense—Germans liked their music and hand-cranked mechanizations, after all.

  “Oh, sweet!” she heard Kevin exclaim in the distance. “They left it unlocked!”

  Amy winced, red light shining beneath the door to the finished section of the basement, and Kevin’s feet pounded down the stairs. Had she really forgotten to lock the door behind her? How stupid could she be?

  On the other side of the door, Kevin touched something, and porn began to blare loudly from a TV on the wall. It was a rookie move, one that Amy had made herself the first time she and Kate had snuck down here. While she was as curious as the next teen, the videos down here were largely homemade, and while Kate was perverted enough to watch their parents getting up close and personal for hours on end, that wasn’t really Amy’s thing.

  The moaning outside didn’t go away, and Amy realized Kevin must have been as transfixed by the media as Kate usually was. Gross, she thought, looking back up to the storm window—no sign of Kate.

  Taking another gulp of absinthe and lettin
g the warmth surge through her, she picked up the metronome again, studying the old contraction. She turned a key at the base of the steep wooden pyramid, and a panel opened up, revealing a needle and scale. Amy turned a small metal crank beneath the key, and the needle began to rock back and forth, emitting a steady click. Tick-tick, tick-tick, tick-tick. She frowned, fearing Kevin might hear. But the moaning outside was louder than ever now, and Amy shook her head in disgust, wondering how long it would take her idiot brother to realize he was watching their mom. Or maybe he was like Kate and just didn’t care.

  Kate pounded on the window, and the moaning outside ceased instantly. Amy’s throat tightened, and panic gripped her, the metronome still in her hand. She stared back up at Kate. The other girl waved impatiently, like it was Amy that had been taking her time.

  The door to the storage room flung open, and Kevin wore a triumphant smirk across his face. Amy’s mouth made an o-shape, her entire body numb at the thought of an entire summer vacation spent grounded. All she could hear was the ticking of the metronome beneath her chin. Tick-tick, tick-tick, tick-tick.

  “Hey, loser,” Kevin said. “Unless you want Mom and Pete to hear about this, it’s going to cost you… big-time.” He yawned and stared at her, his eyes going distant. “What… are you… doing?” he asked sleepily, and Amy held the metronome up defensively. Kevin’s eyes followed its needle back and forth, enthralled by its movement. His shoulders slumped, and he stood there, stock-still and unblinking. The metronome ticked relentlessly in Amy’s hands. Tick-tick, tick-tick, tick-tick.

  “Bro?” she asked, waiting for him to leap forward and scare her. He remained still, his only movement the twitching of his eyes as they continued to follow the needle.

  “Not funny, okay?” she said, cradling the metronome under her arm. She walked up to her brother, mentally prepared for the inevitable jump-scare. To her surprise, his eyes stared right past her. “Hello?” she called out, snapping her fingers in front of his face. His head went limp, and he just stood there silently.

  “Stop it,” she said, snapping her fingers again. His head shot back up, and his eyes connected with hers. There was something off about him though, like he was half asleep.

  “Okay,” Kevin said, his voice flat and lifeless.

  “What did you do to him?” Kate asked, rushing into the storage room through the basement, her eyes darting between Amy and Kevin.

  “I… I don’t know,” Amy said, looking down at the ticking metronome. “He just looked at this and got all weird.”

  “Let me see that,” Kate said, grabbing the device away from Amy. The blonde held it up in front of Kevin, and his eyes went wide. “Where did you get this?”

  “It was in a box,” Amy said. “I don’t know where it came from.”

  “Who cares?” Kate asked, holding the metronome up in triumph. Its needle continued to click back and forth. Tick-tick, tick-tick, tick-tick. “You hypnotized him!”

  “I… what?” Amy asked. Her eyes focused on the movement of the needle, and her vision went blurry. The world went gray and dim around the edges, all the light in the room coalescing around Kate and the metronome. Her stepsister’s eyes glowed with a gray light, and Kate stared right at her.

  “What’s the matter?” Kate asked, her voice slow and deep. “Feeling sleepy?”

  Amy stumbled towards her, pushing the metronome aside. The light in Kate’s eyes vanished, and the room returned to normal. “What the hell?” Amy demanded. “Were you trying to hypnotize me too?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Kate said, turning back towards Kevin, the metronome still in hand. “This thing just works really well. Do you think he’ll do whatever we say?”

  “Jump,” Amy said, but he just stood there motionless.

  “She said jump,” Kate hissed, and Kevin hopped a few inches off the ground. “Guess he knows who his queen is,” she said, smirking at Amy.

  “That’s not it,” Amy said, putting a hand on the metronome. “Jump!” This time, Kevin tucked his feet behind him and leapt into the air. “See?” she asked. “He obeys whoever has the metronome.”

  “You mean we have to hold this dumb thing all the time?” Kate asked. “There’s got to be an easier way.”

  “There was a book that came with it,” Amy said.

  “Like an instruction manual?”

  “Maybe,” she agreed. “But it’s in German.”

  “Oh my God,” Kate said. “Why do we even have this in our basement?”

  “Don’t ask me,” Amy said. “What do we do with him?”

  “I can think of some things,” Kate said. “Kevin, kiss me.”

  “Hold on,” Amy said, grabbing the metronome. Kate refused to let go. “You’re not making out with my hypnotized brother!”

  “Ugh, you’re so boring,” Kate growled. “Okay, let me try something else.”

  “You’re not making him get naked either,” Amy warned.

  Kate rolled her eyes. “That wasn’t what I had in mind.”

  “Then what?” Amy asked.

  “Just watch,” Kate said, frowning. Kevin continued to stare, blinking only once every few minutes. “If you’re really under our control, call your mom and tell her we’re being good.”

  Kevin pulled out his phone without hesitation and put it to his ear. “On speaker,” Kate added, and he complied.

  “Kevin?” Mom answered. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yes,” Kevin said, completely robotically. “Amy and Kate are being good.”

  “Are you okay? You sound funny.”

  “Tell her you were smoking!” Kate whispered.

  “I was smoking,” he said.

  “And you deserve to be punished!” Kate hissed.

  “I deserve to be punished,” Kevin said flatly.

  “And not my sisters,” Amy said with a snicker. Kevin repeated the words verbatim.

  “Who are wonderful, beautiful, and victims of my bad example,” Kate said, and Kevin faithfully conveyed each syllable.

  “Stay where you are,” Mom declared. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.” She hung up the phone, and Kevin stood up straight. He put his phone away and stared off into space.

  “Oh my God,” Amy said as the reality of the situation sunk in.

  “You know what this means?” Kate said, grabbing her by the arms.

  “That we’ve got to learn German?” Amy asked, still thinking about that mysterious book.

  “No!” Kate said. “Well, I don’t know, it’s probably a good idea now that you mention it. But I meant that we can make him do anything!”

  They had barely made it back to their room—the metronome in Kate’s hands while Amy clutched the book to her chest, Kevin following them in a robotic stupor—when they heard the sound of tires squealing in the driveway, and seconds later the front door slammed. “Go to your room!” Kate hissed, and Kevin complied, leaving them alone. Heavy footfalls pounded up the steps. They could hear Mom screaming at the top of her lungs in the next room over.

  “Hey, girls,” Pete said, sticking his head into their room. “Mind if I come in?”

  “Sure, Pete,” Amy said, and he closed the door behind him. If he noticed the relentless tick-tick of the metronome, he didn’t mention it.

  “I hear the pot wasn’t your idea, was it?” he asked.

  “No, daddy,” Kate said in the overly-cute voice she used whenever she wanted to get her way. “Kevin made us. He said it would help us study.”

  “And you didn’t rat him out?” he asked. “You should have told me, honey, but I have to say, I’m impressed. I know this whole blended family thing has been rough for all of us, but it makes me proud you kids would stick together like that.”

  “So… we aren’t grounded anymore?” Kate asked, her huge, round eyes growing even larger.

  “That’s actually what I’m here to talk to you about,” he said, sitting down on Kate’s bed.

  “Wait,” Kate said, holding up the metronome. “I want to show
you something.”

  “Where did you… get that?” he asked, trailing off sleepily as he stared at the swinging needle. “I’ve never…”

  “Do you feel relaxed, daddy?” Kate said. “Just listen to our voices.”

  “What are you doing?” Amy demanded, flailing her arms in bewilderment. “We can’t hypnotize your dad!”

  “Why not?” Kate asked. “I don’t want to be grounded ever again, do you?”

  “No,” Amy said. “But… oh, whatever. Listen to our voices.” She put a hand on the metronome. Pete stared forward, his breathing deep and regular, in time with the metronome’s beat. Tick-tick, tick-tick, tick-tick. “When I count to three, you will be under our control. One… two… three!” She wasn’t sure if three seconds was all it would take, but it hadn’t taken much longer with Kevin.

  “How do you feel, daddy?” Kate asked. He stared off blankly for a moment.

  “I feel fine,” he said finally.

  “Are we your masters?” Kate asked, her smile stretched widely across her face.

  “You’re… my masters,” he said, nodding absently.

  “It worked!” Kate exclaimed, setting the metronome back down and hugging Amy. The blonde leapt up and down in joy, pulling Amy with her. This wasn’t how she’d imagined the night would go. She just wanted to get blackout drunk and forget about being grounded, about having a crush on her stepsister, about getting a C in geometry. She didn’t understand how any of this was possible, how there could have been a magic metronome in her basement, how Kate could have taken to it so gleefully.

  “Come on, sis,” Kate purred, sliding up against her. Amy’s stomach tensed, willing Kate’s body to come closer, the other girl’s sweet perfume sending her eyes rolling back with pleasure. She’d never wanted to kiss any boy nearly so badly as she wanted to kiss Kate right now. But her stepsister had other plans.

  “Make him do something,” she said, her words hot on Amy’s ear. Kate pressed the metronome into Amy’s hands. “Whatever you want. Don’t you wonder why your mom likes making all those movies?”