by Ian Woodhead
I planted the containers next to the man's legs, a couple of inches away from the wet mess spreading around his body. I took one glance at his slack face, not giving a shit if he was alive or dead anymore. My gaze settled upon the living room door frame and the steps beyond.
If I had followed my instincts, I knew for a fact that I wouldn't remember any more of this night. I picked up the first container and poured a small amount of the pale yellow fluid into the man's open cavity. Judging from the sizzling noise and the rising white smoke, this stuff, whatever it was, could be acidic. I no longer cared, as long as it burned.
I emptied the full contents into the gaping wound then picked up the next bottle and repeated the action. As I emptied the last of the white spirit, there was this humming noise buzzing in my ear. It took me a moment to realise that it came from me. I was humming the same song that I heard in that stupid movie.
The man had stopped moving a few moments ago but I don't think he had yet to expire. I hoped not anyway. I wanted him to feel this. I picked up my tools, dropped them in the bag, grabbed the camera and slowly backed out of the room. Once I was past the threshold, I took a box of matches from the bag, lit one and tossed it towards him. My eyes and his watched the tiny flickering light gracefully arc into the inside of his guts.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I had exclusive front rows seats for the biggest event to occur on Bailey street for over seventy years. Apparently, my fire had finished off what the German bombers had failed to complete during the war. His house had gone up like a Roman candle. The flame was obviously hungry as they spread outwards, engulfing the entire row before the first fire engine could arrive on the scene.
Dozens of firefighters, as well as a few rubberneckers from the surrounding streets, passed my car but none of them looked inside, nor did I expect them to. Their gazes were firmly fixed on the burning houses, fake concern surrounded them like stagnant water as they eagerly waited for the authorities to pull another black and crispy body out of the gutted remains.
I guess I should be thankful that the fire had directed their bovine gaze away from the interior of my car as I sat the unclothed with my camera and tripod clutched against my chest. I shivered but I wasn't cold.
It was a further several hours before I found myself at my front door. I knew I drove home but I can't really recall the journey. This wasn't like before, it wasn't a memory loss. I just felt that now familiar malaise settling upon my head and shoulders. I know I should have been angry but I honestly couldn't give a fuck.
My bed beckoned me and I knew that I would not be able to resist its seductive caress for long, so I had to make sure that all my tasks were complete before I gave in to the calling. Donnie was fine if a little hungry. I soon sorted that by raiding the fridge. He ate the strawberries, tub of coleslaw and cocktail sausages like a man who hadn't eaten in days. It was good to see that his appetite had returned.
It wasn't until I reached the bottom of the stairs when I realised that I still hadn't dressed. I shrugged, it was nothing he didn't have. Nevertheless, it did remind me that the bag still needed emptying.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered a small collection of building blocks in the bottom. I smiled to myself, knowing that Donnie would simply love to play with these. I cleared away the rest of the gear, intending to watch my masterpiece in the morning. I even slipped on some clothes before taking the toys up to the boy.
I couldn't believe it when the cunt burst into tears when I threw them on the bed. For his ingratitude, I decided to make him watch my latest movie when I awoke. That would show him. Consequently, I climbed into bed, in a foul mood.
---
Almost a year had passed since the girl had run away and we threw Tommy's body into the pond. David now believed that Tommy and the girl both escaped the house and we're now fucking each other every night while giggling at David's lack of intelligence. I confess that with only the big idiot to annoy, I might have gone a little over the top with trying to mould him to my liking
My conditioning had not exactly gone to plan but that hadn't been my fault. Convincing the idiot about Tommy leaving only took a few weeks. Explaining that I should have the larger food portions took a little longer. David always expected the most food. He thought it was his right because he was the first. Despite his seemingly unshakeable conviction, the big idiot was no match for my silver tongue.
Perhaps, he might have lived a bit longer if mum hadn't decided that it was now time for David to start wearing clothes and to begin the foraging initiation. She announced that David was no longer a boy, that he was no longer evil.
From that point, my everyday life became almost intolerable. The promotion went straight to his head. The fucker's bad behaviour even regressed to the time from before, when the fat cunt used to beat the shit out of me every day, much to the amusement of the woman. I had no intention of allowing him to disrespect me. I knew something would break, sooner rather than later.
I had no idea that it would be him who'd make the first move.
Why I awoke at such an early hour was a complete mystery. I opened my eyes and saw the dawn light struggling to shine through the heavy Brown curtains. My first instinct was to close my eyes and tell my stupid mind to wake me up at a more reasonable hour.
Seconds later, I was praising my mind instead of cursing it as the sound of heavy breathing coming from above me pushing my instinct of self-preservation into high gear. I rolled out of my bed and scrambled to my feet and ran for the bedroom door.
Before running out and into the hallway, I looked over my shoulder to find David leering at me. He had shed every item of clothing and judging from his excitement, the big fat cunt was just about to fucking rape me.
A deep bear-like growl left his throat before David came after me. I shot down the stairs and ran into the kitchen, intending to get out of the house. I heard his heavy footsteps before I reached the door. I'll admit that for the first time in ages, I was scared, as well as angry. The very thought of me running from that brain-dead bastard made me burn with shame.
The keys were not in the door, nor were they on the brass hook by the side of the door-frame. I wildly looked on every surface, desperately biting down on the panic as the sound of the huge boy's feet echoed along the hallway.
His shadow appeared before his. By this time, I knew I wasn't going to get out of here so I pulled open the cutlery drawer, intending to grab the largest knife. I couldn't fucking believe it when I found it completely bare. My hands dropped to my side and my heart jumped into my throat when David entered the kitchen. His trademark giggling now caused me to piss myself in fear.
The big boy looked down at the dark wet patch spreading across my crotch. His giggling stopped. “You are supposed to do that in the toilet.” David's fist encircled his solid cock. “I'm going to enjoy splitting you in two, James.”
He moved forward two paces and started to giggle again when I picked up the kettle.
“Oh, that's funny. That's fucking hilarious. Are you going to make me a cup of tea or hit me with it?” David snorted. “No strawberries for you, James. Did you like my little trick?” He reached down and picked up something from behind the hallway door.
I didn't believe this. I had run straight past the door keys!
The mocking face changed back to the one of lust. He ran at me. I threw the kettle as hard as I could. It hit his shoulder and just bounced away. It didn't even slow him down. I screamed when he grabbed my shoulders, his hard fingers sank into my flesh before he spun me around.
He slammed my head into the kitchen top then pulled down my pyjama bottoms. “I'm going to fuck you, I'm going to fuck you hard, little boy.”
David kicked my legs apart.
“No!” I moaned. “Please don't do this. Stop!” I yelled out mum which got me another head bounce off the counter surface.
“She isn't going to help you, James. I've already done her. I've been fucking her all night. She's too soft now. In fac
t, I might have made her stop breathing. Not sure about that. Don't care either way. I have you now.”
I had seconds left before I suffered more pain than I had ever lived through. It would make the time from before feel like a fucking picnic! “Wait, David. Wait. This is going to hurt.”
He laughed out loud. “Course it's going to fucking hurt, that's one of the reasons why I'm doing it.”
David managed to spread my cheeks with one hand. I almost passed out in shock when I felt his cold, slimy hardness press hard against my clenched hole. “No, it'll hurt you, David!” I screamed. His hot breath tickled the hairs on my back as he tried to push that rod further inside me.
“Remember Tommy?” I screamed. “Oh God, please, come on, David. Remember Tommy. It wouldn't go in, we had to make it all slippery for you. That was fun, David.” I managed to turn my head and forced out a painful grin. “Remember how you enjoyed that? You had fun there, didn't you!”
The big man ceased his attempts. He frowned. “You used a big word and yeah, you cut him and made it easier!”
“We can do the same again. You got rid of all the knives because you are way smarter than me now but I'm sure we can use something else.” He let go of my head. It looked as though something had become lodged inside that great big empty, brother raping head of his. “What about tomato sauce? That's the same colour and just as slippery.”
David balled up his fists. He stared straight at me. Something in there had indeed become unstuck.
“You told me he went away. You said they both went away.” He paused. “Only they didn't. You killed them. You killed them both!” David roared.
Before he could do any more damage, I smacked him. This time, my aim was true. My open palm slapped that huge, slimy cock. He roared again and reach for me. I wrapped my fingers around his shaft and gave it a savage twist before throwing my body between his legs.
The dropped keys were only a couple of inches from my outstretched fingers. I reached for them only to find his large paws had managed to grab hold of my ankle and this time, it didn't matter how hard I kicked him with my free leg, the fucker would not let go of me.
David pulled me across the kitchen tiles and back through his legs, he was going to try to put me back in the same position. His mumbling and snot filled growls made me go utterly cold. He was going to fucking kill me now!
Cold metal brushed against my fingers. I didn't even ask how they could be within my grasp, I just reached for them, curled my fist around them before blindly lashing out. The Yale key caught the back of David's ankle. He yelled out and I felt drops of his warm blood splash onto my thigh. It didn't stop him from pulling back. I yelled myself before slamming that key into the hole I'd already tore open.
This time, the bastard did fucking stop. He spun his top half and reached for my head. His sausage-sized fingers were inches from my face when I gave that key a savage turn before ripping it out.
He staggered into the edge of the kitchen top before his bare feet slipped on the pool of blood pissing from the leg wound. I managed to get clear before the giant crashed onto the tiles. He'd fallen but he sure as hell wasn't out. I knew from experience that David could take a huge amount of punishment, meaning I could ill afford to crawl into a corner and wrap my arms around my folded up legs, which is exactly what I wanted to do.
I needed to get out of the house!
Coming to grips that this monster beside me was no longer the big dumb brute whom I could control hurt me far more than the superficial pain caused by David. As I jumped over his groaning form and hurried over to the locked door, I honestly believed that despite mother's fucking dabbling, I could have still brought my pet back under heel. That will never happen, not now. The situation had gone too far.
I pushed the gore covered key into the lock and turned. There could only be one outcome now. David had to join Tommy. I felt such sadness over this decision, mainly because it felt as though I had failed. I should have foreseen that his chemical imbalance would eventually overpower what little logical thought he had in that head of his.
The warm air hit me in the face when I pulled open the door. I turned around and sighed at the sight of David managing to get onto his elbows. He looked straight at me but there was nothing in that expression that came close to recognition.
I decided that killing David with the axe, stored in the garage, was probably my best option. Apart from the old shovel, leaning against the side of the house, there was nothing else I could use to end his life. There was some rope in there as well. That would come in useful as I sure as hell couldn't move his body without help.
I walked around the side of the house, enjoying the heat from the flagstones warming the souls of my feet. It felt good to be outside. In the past few months since killing Tommy, I think I could count the number of times that I had left the house on one finger. There were times when I did miss the goon. We spent a lot of time in the garden before the arrival of the girl fucked up everything.
I had to pass by the lake to reach the garage. This was a task that I did not look forward to. Even though I'd left the house since his death, I haven't been anywhere near his final resting place.
Instead of looking straight ahead, I turned my gaze upward, towards the top window and found myself looking straight at our mum. I almost turned around and ran back to the kitchen until I saw that she wasn't looking at me at all. She was staring at the lake. Curiosity overwhelmed me and I lowered my head.
The no rain and the hot summer months had turned our lake into a shallow bowl of black mud. Bloated bodies of frogs and fish lay close to the edge while in the middle, crowning this grotesque mud cake was Tommy, at least, what was left of him. Wildlife and weather had not been kind to his rotten, stinking body.
That is what had drawn her attention. She must have been aware of it for some time as well. It did make me wonder why nothing was said. Her eyes flickered to me. She held my gaze for a full ten seconds before looking back to Tommy.
Even now, after his death, that mad old cow still preferred Tommy and David to me. This made me burn up with hatred for all her and for those two selfish, ungrateful bastards. I was glad that Tommy was dead. I was glad that David would soon join him.
I left the witch to staring at his corpse, intending to give her something else to stare at pretty soon. This was the burden of being the middle child. Mum should have stopped at me.
It took me moments to get the axe and to dig out the rope. I even gave her a little wave as I passed her window on my way back.
David had not moved since I left. He hadn't died though, I could see his chest rise and fall. This was good. Although I did want him to die, I wanted him to last a bit longer. He groaned when I entered the kitchen and just for that second, that fear returned. This upset me and pissed me off as I believed that I had put all of my extreme emotions back to bed. I approached the giant, turned the axe head around and hit him on the forehead with flat end. A loud satisfying crack sounded like music to my ears. He would not be getting up now.
I made a loop with the rope, put that over his ankle and pulled. His body slid across the tiles like it was on castors. “The big word, you dim cunt, was lubrication and it is what I'm using to transport you to your grave.”
The difficult part lay in front of me, or behind me, as dragging this heavy load to where I wanted it would be no easy task. I reached the door and was able to pull both his legs through until the metal runner snagged the tops of his thighs.
I refused to give up. Just behind me was an ancient oak tree. Tommy and I always used to climb up into its boughs and hide from David. I sighed in fondness for that brief time when I was actually happy. Still, this didn't mean that I couldn't be happy again. First, I needed to get this job done. I wrapped the rope around the tree's thick trunk then pulled with all my might, grinning in triumph when I heard David's body flop out and onto the path.
There was more blood and upon closer inspection, I saw that the edge of the metal runner had
cut into the back of David's arse cheek. Not that I gave a shit about that. All that mattered to me was the hard part was out of the way. I pulled his naked body along the path inch by inch, idly wondering if there would be any skin left on the underside of his body by the time I had finished. I turned around to find that I now had an audience of one and she had finally begun to show some emotion. This pleased me immensely. Once I reached the edge of the lake, I untied the rope from David, opened up the loop and threw that towards the wrapped up body.
It took several attempts but eventually the loop caught on one of the rocks I'd used to tie down Tommy. She was banging on the window now. I ignored her while I pulled Tommy through the wet mud. I even started to whistle the theme from one of the cartoon shows that I was allowed to watch.
Once the body was on the edge of the lake, I made one final adjustment before finishing. I took the axe, placed the edge it against David's mouth, picked up a brick and hammered it down. Most of his front teeth shot down his throat but this didn't bother me too much as I only wanted to make sure that the big idiot couldn't shut his mouth.
I dragged the wrapped up body over to David and managed to place it over his naked body. It sure did feel really weird, like Tommy's flesh had turned into a semi-liquid, slid off the bones and sloshed around inside the blanket. I would soon find out.
I lifted up the thickest bit of the lump and dropped it on David's face before picking up the axe and slitting the fabric open.
The stench that burst from that hole threw me back. It was strong enough to burn the skin inside my nostrils. I retreated to a safe distance, held my hand over my mouth and nose and watched all that black, lumpy, foul smelling gunk slither down David's throat.
I left them like that and went back to the house. I decided to bury them together somewhere in the garden but that could wait until I had caught up on my sleep.