by Shawn Inmon
It’s the laboratory of the damned in here. But how did he get the skulls so clean? Is he boiling the flesh off, then bringing them back here?
Talk about questions I didn't wake up today expecting to ask myself.
A skittering movement near one of the heads answered his question. Thomas leaned forward and focused the light without getting any closer.
Beetles. Flesh-eating beetles, eating whatever's left. I think I'm about to puke. Thomas clamped a hand across his mouth and looked away. His first instinct was to turn and run for something resembling normal civilization. After the urge faded, he flashed the light around the cave some more. Then, at last, he saw what had made the sound that had brought him there.
A pet carrier and a small tool box sat in a corner. Inside the cage was a cat, snarling a low, threatening growl at Thomas. He took two steps toward the cage, mumbling softly, “It’s okay, it’s okay, everything is all right.” The cat wasn't buying it. It made itself small against the back of the cage, growling louder.
“Poor thing. It’s okay. It’s all right. I’m going to get you out of there.” Thomas paused. Am I going to get the cat out of there? Is that smart? When Michael comes back, he’ll know someone’s been here.
Screw it. I am not leaving this cat to suffer the same fate as…as that. He didn't take another look at the small, disemboweled body on the plywood.
Thomas approached the cage and noticed a small mound of dry cat food in the front of the cage.
He came to feed it. He'd only do that if he was thinking long term.
Serial killers don’t just wake up one morning and say, “I think I’ll kill someone today.” This is his training ground. Worse, his playground.
He looked closer at the tool box. Most of the original red was faded and rusty. The words “Property of Ed Gein” were scratched across the top. The madman who inspired Norman Bates and Leatherface. Great. A serial killer with an ironic sense of humor.
I hate to think what's inside, but I have to look.
To his immense relief, the box contained no tiny bodies or bones. He found an old pair of leather gloves, a pair of pliers, a small hacksaw, and a box cutter. Only the box cutter looked newish. The other tools looked like something picked up off a junk heap.
Okay. Let’s get you out of there, Morris.
Thomas reached out and fidgeted with the cage door mechanism. The cat leaped forward and slashed at his hand, catching his middle finger.
“Son of a bitch!” Thomas pulled his hand back. He put the finger in his mouth and sucked, tasting his own blood. The cat retreated to the back of the cage, eyes flashing.
“I guess I can’t blame you. Not gonna give you the chance to do that again, though.” Thomas thought of the gloves inside the toolbox. The idea of putting them on—sharing a second skin with Michael Hollister—revolted him. The thought of getting his fingers ripped up was worse, but worst of all would be to leave the cat to death by torture. Grimacing, Thomas slipped the gloves on.
As he squeezed and twisted the lock mechanism, the cat slashed at the gloves. This time, no damage. Finally, Thomas pinched, then turned the metal the right way. The door sprung open, but the cat didn’t move.
“I don’t blame you for being freaked out, but let’s get you out of there.”
The cat flattened itself against the bottom of the cage, eyes locked on him. Thomas reached in, intending to pluck it out and free it. Instead, it sprang forward and bit through the thin leather glove and into the meat of Thomas’s palm.
“Goddamn it!” Thomas roared. He yanked his hand out and peeled off the glove, shining the light to inspect the damage. The cat sprang forward in a grey blur and vanished toward the mouth of the cave.
Thomas took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Two small puncture wounds were seeping blood. He cursed again under his breath. No good deed goes unpunished. Now what? Now, what the hell do I do?
The cage sat empty on the ground. Thomas nudged it onto its side with his toe, hoping that Michael would think a predator—a coyote, maybe—had come and eaten the cat. He laid the gloves carefully inside the tool box, then returned it to what he hoped was its original position. As for you, little fella, he thought, looking down at the mutilated animal on the plywood, there's nothing I can do for you. Wish there was.
He turned away from the death cave and used the flashlight to pick his way back to the entrance. Now that his eyes had adjusted somewhat to the darkness, the entrance was easy to see. He set the flashlight down near where he'd first kicked it, or so he hoped, and emerged, blinking, into the fading light of day. Holy shit. It’s getting dark. Zack’s going to leave without me, for sure. Thomas set off at a steady jog in what he hoped was the right direction.
It feels good to be able to run and not be out of breath after two steps. If I ever pick up another cigarette, I hope God strikes me dead. Unless I’m already dead, and this is one big existential mind game. In which case, carry on, God, carry on.
I should have left the flashlight on. Crap. That would use up the batteries, and next time he comes back to play sicko, he wouldn't be able to see until he brought some more.
A five-minute run carried Thomas to the nearly-empty parking lot, breathing hard, where Zack was pacing beside the Camaro.
“What the hell are you doing, twerp? What were you doing out in the woods? Are you out there getting stoned?”
“No, no, no." Huff, puff. "I missed the bus, so I decided to go for a walk, then lost track of the time. Sorry I made you wait.”
Zack gave his brother a doubting look. “Sure you did. Okay, you don’t want to tell me what you and your little friends are doing out in the woods, fine. You’re lucky I saw your homework on the seat, or I would have left without you. I almost did anyway.”
“Thanks for waiting for me, Zack. It’s been a bad day. Walking all the way home wouldn’t have made it any better.”
“Just get in. We’re going to be late for dinner.”
*
I know I'm glad to be here when I'm even happy to sit down to tuna noodle casserole with my brother and my mom, thought Thomas. After Zack's death, Anne had quit cooking regularly, and sit-down dinners had become things of the distant past.
“So…why were you boys late?” Anne said, scooping tuna and noodles onto a plate and passing it to Thomas.
Zack and Thomas exchanged a quick glance. Zack: “Oh, coach kept us after practice for a few minutes to go over assignments for the meet this Friday. Can you make it?”
“Friday afternoon? Probably not. I’m on the schedule then. If someone can switch with me, I’ll be there. Is it a big meet?”
“Nah, not really. Just a couple left before Districts, though. I’m going to push myself in the 880. I think I can get the best time in the state this year. That guy from Pendleton is two tenths of a second ahead of me, and he’s already committed to going to Oregon. Can’t let a friggin’ Duck have the best time, can I?”
“Oh, no, that would be disastrous.” She couldn’t quite keep a straight face. “And don’t say ‘frigging’, especially at the dinner table.”
Zack rolled his eyes, but said, “Yes, Mom. I’ll remember not to say, ‘friggin’.’’ He looked at his plate and whispered to himself, “At least, not when Mom’s around”.
“That’s right. At least not when Mom’s around.”
“Nothin’ wrong with your hearing, is there, Mom?”
“And don’t you forget it,” Anne said, but with a smile.
Thirty minutes later, dinner was done, the dishes were done, and Thomas lay across his bed trying to finish his American History essay. This is killing me. What in God’s name do they think I’m going to learn from an assignment like this? How to be a corporate drone that completes the most boring assignments without a complaint? Probably. I’m already seeing how much of what they’re pitching me in school is propaganda. The Vietnam war just ended, if I remember correctly.
No amount of brain-numbing reading, though, could cleanse the cave
's images from his mind. If he’s already torturing and killing animals, can people be far behind? Maybe he didn’t become the West Coast Strangler until 1978, but what if he made a few practice runs first? Most every town has unsolved murders. Any of them could be Michael Hollister.
He slammed his history book shut and chewed on the end of his Bic.
This is beyond my problem-solving abilities. What can I do?
If I were Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger, I'd just blurt out a little quip, then blow the future serial killer away, saving the world the bother. But I'm not, and I don’t have it in me to kill someone, even if they need killing. There isn’t anyone I can talk to about this. I can see it now: “Hey, Billy? I’m really from the future, and that weirdo Michael Hollister is going to grow up to be a mass killer. Wanna help me take him out?”
For the first time since waking up to find himself in 1976, Thomas thought it might be nice to have a drink. Just one, to soothe his nerves.
Mom’s gotta have a bottle somewhere. What would one drink hurt?
He rubbed his hand across his mouth, an old gesture from his previous life. He shook his head.
Nope. Been down that path. That will soothe me all right. Soothe me back into oblivion.
Thomas rolled off his bed and meandered out into the kitchen. Maybe a Coke. Not a rum and Coke. Just a Coke. He opened the refrigerator and poked around inside. There was no Coke, just his mom’s Tab. Gotta be better than nothing, right?
He popped the can open and took a long drink. The hideous chemical taste of saccharin awoke from wherever his mind had buried it. Oh, God. I was wrong. That is definitely worse than nothing. How does she drink that shit?
“Oh, ho, so you’re the one that’s been sneaking my Tab, huh?”
Thomas jumped, a guilty expression replacing the revulsion. “Doesn’t anyone in this house make noise when they walk? Jesus!”
“Just teasing, Honey, and don’t take the Lord’s name in vain. You can have one once in a while. Just don’t make a habit out of it. I don’t want you addicted to them, or,” she said, taking a Viceroy out of the pack and lighting it, blowing smoke toward the ceiling, “these. I don't want to pass on my bad habits, understand?”
Right. Aside from almost forty years of alcoholism, no bad habits here.
“Right, Mom. You got it. Can I talk to you about something?”
“Of course, Honey. Come on, come sit down on the couch. Talk to me.”
Shit. Now I’ve done it. Why don’t I ever think before I speak?
“Here,” he said, handing her the almost-full Tab. “You better take this. I don’t want to get hooked.”
“It’s kind of awful, I know, but you get used to it.”
“I’m gonna let you be the one that’s used to it.”
She flicked off some ashes, sat down on the couch, and patted the cushion beside her. “Okay, what’s on your mind?”
Thomas looked around. “Where’s Zack?”
“He said he was going over to Jimmy’s. Where he actually went, I have no idea.”
He tried to look shocked at the implication, but couldn’t pull it off. “Okay, I’ve got this English assignment, and I need a little help.”
“Hmm. Okay; that was more up your father’s alley than mine, but he's not around, so I’ll do what I can.”
I’m already regretting this, but it’s too late now.
“Well, I got an assignment from Mr. Graves today,” he lied. “We have to write a short story to turn in on Friday. I got the idea to write about a guy that travels back in time from the future. But, instead of traveling way back to when dinosaurs were around, he just goes back to when he was a kid.”
His mother nodded. “Interesting idea. Okay…”
“But, I’m a little stuck on it. So far, I’ve got him going back and missing all the things that he had in the future, like computers that you carry around in your pocket and flying cars and stuff. But, then, I was wondering…what if, when he went back, he saw things that were wrong?”
“Wrong, how?”
“You know, just wrong. Like, people being mean to people, and he knew it was going to turn out bad, like maybe someone teases some girl, then she kills herself because of it.”
“That’s a little over-dramatic, but go ahead.”
If you only knew. “Then, in the story, he runs into a guy that he knows will eventually become a serial killer.”
“A what?”
“A serial killer? You know, like…” Thomas paused. Who would she know in 1976? Ted Bundy? Later. Son of Sam? Almost, but not yet. Wait… “Like the Zodiac Killer in California. Do you remember that?”
She shook her head. “No, not really. Maybe I read something about it in Redbook? It’s not all housekeeping tips and recipes in my magazines, you know.”
“Anyway, he sees someone who is still a kid, but is going to grow up and kill a bunch of people. So, what would he do? I know it would be easy to say that this kid would just kill him, but I don’t think this kid’s got the guts for that—he’s just a kid. But, he wouldn’t want this guy to grow up and kill a bunch of people either. So, what would he do?”
Anne took a long drag on her cigarette, then blew it out the side of her mouth.
Damn. That cigarette looks good, but I don't feel the physical pull, just an emotional one. This younger me isn’t an addict. Wonder what she’d say if I asked to bum one?
“I don’t know, Honey. I think that maybe he would try and make things better for people. Isn’t that what you would do? If you can’t figure out how to do that, maybe you should write a different story?”
That's my chance. “You’re probably right, Mom. It’s kind of a stupid idea, I know.”
“No, it’s not stupid,” Anne said. “You just might need to work on it a little more.”
“Okay. Thanks, Mom. I’m gonna go write my History essay.”
*
The next morning, Thomas’s eyes flew open before Zack’s alarm went off. Still here. He rolled on his side, watched Zack’s even breathing and sleeping face. Alive. He’s alive. He rubbed a hand across his eyes.
I have no idea how I got here, or why I’ve got this chance, but I’m not going to blow it. I will not let him die again. I am going to change things. Problem is, I don’t remember much about what’s supposed to happen. What the hell happened in 1976? Did Elvis die? No. I think that was ’77. Jimmy Carter’s going to be elected President in November, unless I’ve changed everything already, and Gerald Ford wins instead. The Bicentennial happens this summer, with the fireworks and tall ships sailing into New York harbor, but what else? I need to figure out a way to test how much I can change things. Other than keeping Zack alive, how much do I want to change things?
An hour later, after a shower and a cup of his mom’s leftover coffee, Zack and Thomas pulled into the Middle Falls High parking lot. Billy’s getting his braces on, so I’m on my own today. I think I can survive the day without him.
Thomas shouldered his backpack and walked into the teeming mass of teenagery that was Middle Falls High before first period. He skipped going to his locker and went straight to homeroom, so he could watch as everyone filed in. Carrie Copeland was next to arrive. She walked with her head down, looking at the floor.
Thomas turned and looked at her. In his memory, she had been ugly, but now she just looked carelessly groomed. Dishwater blonde hair hung limply down to the middle of her back. Her bangs curtained her eyes. Her red sweater covered a shapeless blouse tucked into a long brown skirt.
If Carrie noticed he was looking at her, she didn’t let on. Her eyes didn’t move from the book in front of her.
Why did we make fun of her? She’s not ugly. If you got her hair done, and dressed her like other girls, she’d look like any other girl in school. Did we pick on her just because she’s quiet, or because every ecosystem needs someone to pick on? Whatever it is, it’s bullshit. I’m gonna do something about it.
Thomas glanced at the clock, then stood an
d walked over. He sat in one of the empty desks surrounding her. “Hi, Carrie.”
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t look or answer.
“I’m Thomas. Sorry, I mean, Tommy Weaver.” He paused. Still nothing. Some other students had arrived, and he felt their eyes on him. Because no one ever talks to Carrie. I'm being a weirdo.
Yeah, fuck all of you. I didn't make this rule, that Carrie was an outcast, and I don't have to obey it. Whether he did or not, Carrie did, so Thomas forged on. “Hey, I know we don’t know each other very well, but we have a couple of classes together, and I was wondering if...maybe it would be all right if I called you at home some time, so we could talk?”
Her eyes widened again, and she gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head.
“No? It’s not all right if I call you at home?”
She cleared her throat, blushed a bit. In a voice so quiet Thomas had to lean forward to hear, she said, “My Dad.” She cleared her throat again. “My Dad won’t let me talk on the phone.” For just a moment, she raised her eyes and met his before looking down again.
“Oh, okay. That’s cool.” Thomas glanced over his shoulder. His conversation with Carrie looked to be the most interesting thing likely to happen in class that day. “Uhh…” Hadn’t really planned on her not wanting to talk to me. But, why would she? Aside from the fact that I am breathing, what exactly do I bring to the table?. Thomas swallowed hard. “Well, how about I talk to you at lunch, then. Would that be okay?”
Carrie’s eyes flitted off the floor. She glanced quickly over her left shoulder, then back down. Her cheeks had blushed up to a blotchy red.
C’mon, Thomas. You want to help this girl, not make her die of embarrassment. Just give up and move on. Thomas pressed his lips together in a failed attempt at a smile. Anthony Massey mock-whispered “Shot down in flames!” as Thomas slunk by. The room, suddenly full, burst out in laughter.
Anthony was always a horse's ass. Still is. Still was, anyway. Or still will be? God.
Mr. Burns strode into class and laid his black briefcase down on the desk at the front of the room. “Nice to see everyone so full of good humor on a Tuesday morning. Let’s keep that excitement going with a pop quiz.” The laughter immediately changed to groans of protest.