The Beach House

by Chloe Young

  Megan knew that realistically she couldn’t get Kristi away from Damon. He seemed to want to drag out the punishment, really make Kristi’s suffering last. Chances were that she would have time to run over and get Horace before Damon was done. Seeing that Damon was fixated on the duo in the kitchen, Megan bolted out the door and made a run for Horace’s beach shack. The beach was completely empty and more dark clouds had filled the night sky.

  As Megan ran, she could hear rumbles of thunder from a distance. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning lit up the night sky. She could make out Horace’s home which appeared to be completely dark on the inside. She assumed that he must have gone to sleep. Horace had been telling the truth about Damon. She knew that now. If only she had known the truth sooner.

  Megan banged on Horace’s door. She could feel drops of rain beginning to fall from the sky. She couldn’t understand why he wasn’t answering. He seemed so willing to help them earlier. Maybe he didn’t really care after all. She turned the knob and the door opened. She peeked in and called out to Horace. She got no response.

  After a momentary pause she decided to go inside of his house. She wished that she had her cell phone from her suitcase, but there had been no way to go up to her room and get it now. Maybe Horace had some sort of a phone in the house. She found a light and turned it on. The living room was about as filthy as she had imagined. There were articles of clothing strewn around the couple of pieces of furniture that Horace owned. There was something directly in the middle of the floor covered with an old, tattered blanket. Almost afraid to look, Megan yanked at the blanket revealing Max. She let out a small shriek and threw the blanket back upon the dog.

  It was apparent that Horace was not home. She wondered where he had gone. The rain was coming down pretty hard out there now. There was no one out on the beach. She couldn’t understand where else he would have gone. She knew that if Kristi were to be saved, it was up to her to find a way. She continued to search the house for anything that might be of help.

  Outside, the thunder continued to rumble across the threatening sky.

  CHAPTER 35

  Kristi didn’t know what to say or what to do. She knew that her ankle was broken, but felt that she could limp to safety if the opportunity arose. She had watched Megan leave the house and was hoping to stall Damon long enough that her friend would come back with the police.

  Kristi looked at Damon and pleaded. “I love you, you know I do. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I want to be with you.” The words came out amidst loud sobs that stifled her ability to speak coherently.

  This was hilarious to Damon. Almost as funny as his brother trusting him out in the ocean during the night of his drowning. “I bet you do, babe. Too bad that you’re about to die. We really could have been something if you hadn’t been such a bitch.”

  Damon turned around to see that Megan was no longer standing by the door way. There was a chance that she would get some help. He knew the beach house on one side was vacant and the other side housed Horace who would be worthless to her. To find someone else in the storm, she would probably have to do some traveling.

  Damon approached Kristi and grabbed her by the hair. As she screamed and cried out for help, he dragged her back through Mark’s blood into the living room. He wrapped the chain that had torn through Mark’s flesh around her arms and torso. She sat in the middle of the room unable to move.

  Kristi had never been so scared in her life. Just earlier today, she felt that things would be okay. That Mark and her would have a real chance at happiness. Now she would be lucky to make it out of here alive. All she could do now was beg for her life. “Please don’t kill me, Damon. Please.”

  Her tears and fear meant absolutely nothing to him. He went to the kitchen and returned with a large butcher knife from one of the drawers. When Kristi caught a glimpse of it, she burst into tears. Her sobbing was uncontrollable. She didn’t want to die. She just wanted another chance to do things the right way. To be a good friend and a loyal girlfriend to someone. She had messed up, that was for sure. But she knew that she didn’t deserve to die because of it.

  Damon knelt down in front of her. He pressed the knife to her left cheek. Tears, still flowing, sat on the blade of the knife. “Stop crying and shut the hell up. You deserve this. You deserve to die.”

  Her continued crying irritated him even more. It reminded him of when Jonathan called out to him as he was being pulled under the water. He slid the blade of the knife across her cheek. Immediately, her skin opened and blood flowed down her face mixing in with her tears. She was in too much shock to really feel the pain. She knew that she had been cut though. She feared what would come next.

  CHAPTER 36

  Megan searched for anything she could find in Horace’s home that might be of use to her. It was obvious that he had no phone. She wouldn’t have time to run to the next occupied beach house and get back to Kristi. She would have to find a way to help her now.

  Horace had a lot of junk lying around so she knew there must be something useful in one of the piles. Just when she was about to give up, she decided to head into the kitchen area. She found rope lying on the floor, which she assumed was the rope used to kill poor Max. She grabbed the rope and a knife from the kitchen counter. It would have to do, it was Kristi’s only chance.

  With materials in hand, Megan was ready to head back out and face whatever was waiting for her.

  ***

  Sullivan pulled into the beach community. Only ten more minutes or so and he would be back at the beach house. He wished that he had pursued some of these issues earlier in the day. The truth was that he had no real evidence to tie any of them to the murder of Cliff. He did, however, have his gut insisting that Damon had lied about the events of that afternoon. If he were correct, then those people really were not safe in that house with him.

  He realized that there was a lot more to being a police officer than forensic evidence. Sometimes you had to follow your instincts, learn to evaluate people. From what he could tell, Damon was not the kind of guy who ought to be taken at face value. There was something more to him than meets the eye. He was ready to find out what the guy was hiding.

  ***

  All of Kristi’s regrets were running through her mind. She would die knowing that she had betrayed her best friend. Worst of all, she would die knowing that she brought them to this house with Damon to be slaughtered. Her only hope was that Megan had gotten away, maybe she would escape all of this. How could anyone lead a normal life, though, after witnessing the murder of a boyfriend and a friend?

  Her thoughts came to an abrupt end when Damon held the knife to her throat. Kristi was at his mercy, and he loved that. He loved knowing that her life was completely dependent upon his actions. There was no one to save her. He suspected that Megan had gotten away and would be trying to find a way out of here. Would she really come back to rescue the person who was cheating with her boyfriend? Megan was not a threat, and it didn’t matter to him whether she lived or died. Megan, after all, had not done anything to complicate his life. Kristi, on the other hand, had betrayed him and made him out to look like a fool. He didn’t have time for people who deceived him or took away what rightfully belonged to him. Jonathan had taken all of his parents’ attention, making him look like the incompetent brother who would be a failure at life. Poor Cliff had been a minor annoyance on his path to this destruction. Now Kristi would have to face her fate.

  Damon placed his hand on Kristi’s left cheek. He could feel the blood and wet tears across his hand. “You really are beautiful, you know that. You ruined everything. You’re just like Jonathan. You have to be the perfect one who can’t do anything wrong. You want all of the attention. No one cares about how that might make me feel.”

  Kristi’s sobs came to a stop. She couldn’t believe that he was actually looking for pity, but she thought that perhaps she could play along. “No, you have it all wrong. I do care about how you feel. I love you. I just thought that I wasn�
�t good enough for you.”

  Damon smiled at his former girlfriend. “I love you too, baby. Maybe we can go home, and find a way to make all of this work. Can you forgive me for all of this?”

  Kristi felt a sense of hope for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. “Yes, of course, I forgive you. I just want to be with you. Only you.”

  Damon got to his feet and put the knife down on the table behind him. “Let me get you out of these chains so we can go home.”

  He maneuvered Kristi onto her stomach so that she was lying flat on the floor. He picked up the oar that had been propped against the wall. With one hard strike to her healthy ankle, he heard the agonizing sound of bone splintering. Kristi let out the loudest scream yet. The pain throbbed immensely in her ankle and lower leg. She succumbed to the fact that she was about to die.

  Damon picked up the knife and raised it above Kristi’s neck. Just as he was about to bring the knife down, Megan ran back into the house screaming. “No, don’t kill her!”

  Megan charged at Damon with the knife she had taken from Horace’s house. Catching Damon off guard, she stabbed him in the top of his right shoulder. The pain of the blade going deep through skin and tissue caused him to stumble and drop the knife he was holding.

  Damon spun around and looked at Megan. All she had now was some old rope which did not seem to hold any promise of stopping Damon from carrying out his plan. He reached his right arm back and grabbed the end of the knife. He attempted to pull it out, but it felt as if it were stuck within his shoulder. He tried to tug at it, but it remained rooted within his flesh. The pain was like an adrenaline rush, and it only intensified his desire to bring an end to Kristi’s life

  He pulled at the knife again. This time twisting it back and forth to jar it loose. The serrated edge of the knife continued to tear at his muscle and skin as he forced it out. Blood was seeping from the open wound.

  Megan turned to look at her friend. Kristi was lying helpless on the floor. Between the broken ankles and heavy chain, she couldn’t move. Selfishly, Megan wondered if she should have even come back for her.

  CHAPTER 37

  Damon took the knife that had pierced his shoulder and held it high above his former girlfriend. With his blood dripping off of the edge of the blade, he drove it deep into Kristi’s back. She writhed around in pain unable to move from her position on the floor. Megan screamed, it was all she could do. She took a step back and bolted through the door from the house. She had never run so fast in her life. She contemplated going to the Jeep, but the rain was coming down so hard and she wasn’t sure where she would go to find help. There was still a part of her that thought she could save Kristi.

  Megan stood on the beach, lightning continuing to flash across the sky. She screamed with all of the energy that remained within her. “Help! Somebody, please! Help me!” Her cries for help were somewhat stifled by her sobs. She had never experienced such fear and panic in her life. This was like something from a movie. Not something that happened to people in real life. The rain drowned out much of her pleas for help. She wasn’t even sure that it would be possible for anyone to hear her.

  Damon could faintly hear Megan’s cries for help coming from outside. She had become too involved now. Now her death was imminent. He jerked the knife out of Kristi’s back and brought it down again. This time with greater force. He continued to pull the knife out and stab her in the back, shoulder, arm, leg; it didn’t matter. The violent stabs ripped apart her flesh, and her blood began to form a dark red puddle around her motionless body.

  Kristi knew that she didn’t have much longer left. She no longer called out for help or moved her body. Instead, she accepted her fate. She lied still on the floor while the blade of the knife continued to enter and leave her body.

  Blood was splattered all over Damon. His face was completely covered in her blood. Kristi, herself, looked like she had been through a meat grinder. Her flesh was torn and blood poured from all parts of her body.

  Damon knew that she was dead. She had long stopped moving. The desire to punish her had not yet stopped. He rolled her over so that he could look at her face one last time. She was a beautiful girl. Her beauty was even apparent after the slaughtering she had just undergone. She didn’t have to die. She chose this fate.

  He picked up the oar and brought it down hard upon her neck. The edge of the oar made a tear into her skin. He lifted the oar once again and brought it down harder upon her neck. Satisfied that her neck was broken, he continued to bring the oar down in the same spot. Each time, it cut deeper and deeper into her flesh. More blood poured from her body. Had someone entered the beach house, they would have thought that twenty people had been slain and massacred in that room rather than only one.

  The next blow from the oar completely severed her head from her body. She was dead. It was over. As he looked around the room and took in the devastation of his act, he heard Megan continue to scream outside.

  With the knife in his hand, Damon left the beach house.

  CHAPTER 38

  As Megan gave a final call for help, she could see someone approaching her from behind the beach house. The man called out to her. “Megan, it’s Detective Sullivan. What’s going on?”

  With tears running down her face, she ran to him. “I’m so glad to see you. It’s Damon. He’s killed them. They’re dead.”

  Sullivan realized that he had been too late. Two people had already died, and he felt largely responsible for their deaths. He wished that he had followed his gut more closely and had not left these people alone with Damon. The only thing that kept him focused in on the case was that Megan would be saved. At least he had not taken her life.

  Sullivan looked at Megan in the moonlight. The rain had completely drenched her. Her hair was soaked and her clothes clung to her tightly. Her hands and clothes were blood stained. She had been through a nightmare. And yet, she still looked beautiful to him. He felt the urgent need to protect her.

  Megan finally felt a sense of safety. Maybe she would make it out of this situation. Maybe Kristi was still alive. She could only hope at this point.

  Just as she was able to take a breath, Megan caught a glimpse of Damon coming out of the beach house. She feared that he had finished off Kristi and was moving onto her.

  Detective Sullivan watched Damon begin to approach them from the beach house. He withdrew his gun and aimed it at Damon’s chest. Damon continued to move towards them. Sullivan had never shot at someone with a gun. He knew that in this situation, there was no alternative. He fired the gun. The loud bang penetrated through the sounds of rain striking the water and thunder rumbling in the distance. The bullet hit Damon in the chest and he instantly dropped to the ground.

  Megan felt a great sense of relief. Damon was dead. It was over. She instantly thought of her friend. “Kristi! I have to see if she’s alive!”

  Sullivan watched Megan begin to run to the beach house. “Megan, wait! It may not be safe to go in there.”

  The detective ran after Megan. They ran around Damon’s body which was completely still in the sand. When Megan reached the doorway, she found herself too much in shock to utter a sound. It was worse than the most gruesome scene from a horror movie. Her friend’s head lay about half a foot from her body. There was blood everywhere. The floor appeared to be a shade of dark red. Not only was Kristi dead, but she had been tortured.

  Sullivan had never seen anything like this. He had no idea how a human being could commit such a violent act against another person. He entered the house and peered throughout the living room and into the kitchen. He caught the sight of Mark who looked to have suffered just as terrible a fate. He felt a sense of guilt that was unbeknownst to him until that point. The detective only wished that he had stopped Damon from committing this killing spree. His only comforts were that the murderer was dead and that he had saved at least one life. He knew he had to take Megan away from this gruesome scene.

  Sullivan put his arm around M
egan. “Let me take you out to my car. I need to radio for backup and then we can get out of here.”

  Sullivan led Megan around to his car and unlocked the door. She reluctantly got inside, shaken too badly to truly process what was happening at the moment. She could barely make out the words that Sullivan uttered as he radioed for back up. She was lost in a fog.

  The detective gently touched Megan on the shoulder. “I need to wait for back up to arrive. Won’t take long. You wait in here. There’s no one to hurt you now. I’ll lock the door and be back in about ten minutes.”

  Megan nodded that she understood his directions. Sullivan locked the door as promised and began to head back towards the beach. The rain had let up some, but was still enough of a nuisance to make the walk take longer than necessary.