I wasn’t sure why Emily’s father had arranged for Summer to spend the night here but I did agree with Emily that something was definitely not right. That man was up to something awful. I only hoped it didn’t involve Emily at all. I had only one thought about that. He could be trying to build trust with the girl and her mother in order to maintain a long term relationship in which to use one or both of them. That was the only reason I could think of for him to allow her to spend the night without laying a finger or any other nasty parts on her. Of course, Summer being here hadn’t helped Emily escape a visit from her father.
At least I had thought up the idea of skimming money from the produce stand for Emily to save up and she seemed to like the thought. That could help out at any time whether she ran away with her brother and sister or not. Hopefully she could save quite a bit of money that way and not get caught.
Her whole family must have forgotten about Emily’s birthday. Either that or Emily’s parents had purposely overlooked it. Either way, her birthday meant that she was one year closer to being free of this place and her lousy excuse for parents.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The next day I woke and went about my normal, everyday routine of making my bed, eating breakfast, doing the dishes, and beginning the other chores that I had been given. Our school lessons for the day were forgotten about since we had a guest.
I saw Caroline and her friend as they were getting ready to hop in our pickup with Dad to take Summer home. They both seemed happy and not in the least bit upset or hurt in any way. Maybe the ride to bring her home would change that.
I wasn't hoping that it would. I just found it very strange that for the first time ever we had a young girl as a house guest, invited nonetheless by my father, and she actually seemed to have enjoyed her stay.
I decided that for now things seemed to be fine and there was nothing that I could really do even if they hadn't been. So I sauntered on out to the garden to gather some vegetables for a macaroni salad. While I was picking a cucumber, Johnny came up from behind me. “What do you think about Summer?” he asked.
“What do you mean? She seems like a nice girl to me.”
He was standing next to me now. “I know that. I mean, what do you think Dad's up to?”
“Oh, that. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling it's something bad. I’ve had a horrible feeling about the whole thing ever since I first heard about Caroline meeting this new friend, Johnny. Do you have any ideas?”
“No. But I'm with you. I don't think anything good is going to come from this. Keep your eyes and ears peeled and I'll do the same. I had better get back to cleaning this chicken for supper before they get back.”
“Okay,” I said and turned my head to watch him walk away. I caught Mom watching us through the kitchen window. She moved away from it when she saw me look in her direction. I wondered if she would tell Dad that she had seen us talking with each other. Even if she did, she couldn't possibly have heard what was said and we could say that we were discussing just about anything.
I finished gathering the necessary vegetables for the macaroni salad and then took them into the house to wash and prepare them. Mom had already boiled the macaroni and had it draining in a colander in the sink.
Johnny came in with the chicken, all ready to go into a pan in the oven. Dinner was going to be delicious. At least tonight I could be certain of what we were actually eating. Mom let me finish putting the macaroni salad together. I really enjoyed cooking and I honestly didn't think she enjoyed doing much of anything anymore. If she ever did in the first place.
When it got to be around dinner time and Dad and Caroline weren't yet home, I started to get anxious. What could be happening? The unfortunate answer was: just about anything. That's what had me worried.
They arrived home while the rest of us were eating our suppers. Caroline seemed distracted and unusually quiet. She didn't look at any of the rest of us and just ate her food. Dad, on the other hand, seemed like he was in a fairly good mood. However, I did notice that he seemed to be keeping an eye on Caroline. What had happened while they were gone, I wondered?
The next day I tried to find an opportunity to talk to Caroline alone, but no chance presented itself to talk to either one of my siblings by myself. Dad kept us all busy doing various chores. I was certain now that he was keeping an eye on my younger sister too. Something had happened yesterday while they were gone that my father didn't want the rest of us to find out about. Why else would he be keeping such a close eye on Caroline?
My diary got a full rundown of my suspicions and possible ideas about what took place on Caroline and Dad's trip to take her friend home. I would need to find a new notebook to use soon, this one was filling up awfully fast.
Dad announced at breakfast the next morning that he was going to bring me and Johnny with him on his errands. I felt comforted by the fact that Johnny would be with me, but very uneasy about why we were both supposed to accompany our father. He never took more than one of us at a time with him anymore.
When he used to take more than one of us with him, it was always the boys and that was normally for fishing trips. I highly doubted that he had a fishing trip in the day's plans for the three of us. But with my father, you never did know what to expect. Normally it wasn't good. Expect the worst and if it didn't happen, it was a pretty good day. That was how I had lived my life so far.
During our ride my father explained what exactly it was that we were expected to do and how to do it. I was seated in the middle, between my father and Johnny. I looked at Johnny. He didn't look back at me. He just continued to stare silently out the window on his side.
I had been hoping for some sort of reaction from my older brother. I was seated too close to my father to speak out myself. I supposed he could reach Johnny too from where he sat, but Johnny's chances were better than mine. We couldn't just go along with our crazy father on this. We could all get into serious trouble if we did and got caught, not to mention I would rather do just about anything other than what we were about to do.
I was certain now that Emily’s father had lost his marbles if he ever had any to begin with. I didn’t know how he ever thought that he would get away with what he wanted to do. To involve his two oldest children, my Emily being one of them, in his insane plan just proved how crazy and cruel he actually was. Maybe he would get caught, that would be good. I thought that even if the police knew that Caroline and Johnny had been involved, they wouldn’t be punished because of the situation that they were in themselves with their father. Emily really needed to let me help her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
My father pulled the truck up alongside a sidewalk. I could see a playground from where I sat. I hesitated and my father urged me on by saying, “If you don't fuckin' do this, I swear I'll cut your brother's pathetic excuse for a man part off and feed it to you while he watches and bleeds to death.” I couldn't be the reason that another family member of mine got murdered by this freak. So I got out of the truck and headed slowly towards the playground.
There were several children running around and screaming happily. Some were taking turns on the slide and a couple of them were swinging. One little girl was being pushed by her mother. She had to be about three years old. I felt my stomach beginning to bubble. These were the people my father had told me to approach. I let the tears roll. I had to keep in mind that I was protecting my own family.
I was blubbering as I walked up to the young lady who looked so happy pushing her daughter on the swing. She only looked a little bit older than Johnny really and she was very pretty. She had long blonde hair and was tall and thin. She was wearing makeup: blue above her eyes and pink on her lips and cheeks. She probably didn't even need the makeup to be so beautiful.
Her little girl still had her baby chunk and was adorable. She had blonde little ringlets pulled up into pigtails on the top of her head. She yelled out, “Mommy, push me higher,” and then giggled, showing off a dimple on the right side o
f her mouth, as her mother obeyed.
Then I saw them as skeletons, the bigger one pushing the smaller, and this time the giggle sounded wicked. I shook the image from my head. The crying was good; it would make me more convincing. I just needed to do what I was told and get it over with. “Miss?”
“Yes? What's wrong?”
“I lost my puppy and I can't seem to find him anywhere. I thought I saw him run that way,” I pointed toward the road where our truck was parked. “Can you please help me?”
She looked around, as if trying to find someone else to pass me and my problem off to instead. I'm sure she just wanted to continue making her sweet little daughter laugh that adorable laugh. She probably wasn't sure how to help me either. Then her daughter spoke, “Mommy, can we help her find the puppy? Please?”
“Of course we'll help. Come on Michelle.” She lifted her daughter off the swing and set her on the ground. I began to notice how hot it was out and that I was actually sweating.
I lead the way towards the truck saying, “He headed this way.” Everyone on the playground was busy watching their own children, playing, reading, or other things of that sort. I couldn't help feeling a little jealous. If I had ever been to such a place, it was before I could remember.
We were pretty much out of view of the other people on the playground and very near to the truck. Dad and Johnny jumped out of the truck, Dad grabbing the woman from behind and sticking his handkerchief over her nose and mouth, and Johnny grabbing the poor toddler at the same time while placing a hanky over her nose and mouth. No one was looking in our direction. My job was done. I got back into my seat in the truck.
Dad and Johnny laid our new victims in the bed of the pickup. They were sleeping for now because of something Dad had poured on the handkerchiefs. I forget what he had called the stuff.
I felt horrible for these people. More than horrible, but I didn't know what word could describe such a low, rotten feeling. I tried to shut my emotions off from the situation by telling myself that maybe this activity would keep Dad content and he would leave our family members alone for a while. I didn't know these people and I owed them nothing. Except I felt like I should at least do something to help them. Instead I had played a major role in this horror and I wasn't sure that I was done helping yet.
Dad sped away from the happy, normal people enjoying their time carefree on the playground and away from town. I was a little surprised when we pulled into our own driveway. I had expected him to drive into the middle of nowhere. That had been the original plan according to Dad. Dad would drive out to the middle of nowhere where there was a forest of trees and he and Johnny would carry the victims into the woods, tie them up, and then Johnny could return to the truck with me. Dad had said that we wouldn't be leaving the forest with our unwilling hitchhikers.
Instead of a forest, we pulled around the back of our barn, up to the big barn doors. Mom started coming out of the door on the side of the house and Dad shouted out the window of the pickup at her, “I don't need your ass out here nosing around. Stay put in the house.” Then he directed his words at me, “You don't breathe a fuckin' word of this to anyone! Especially not your damn mother, hear me?”
“Yes.”
He continued, “If this shit gets found out we'll all be done for. Don't forget, you're the one who tricked them to get them to the truck in the first place. And Johnny's the one who actually took that girl.”
“I understand. I won't speak a word about it.”
“I don't want you going in the barn for any fucking reason anymore. Make sure your sister understands that too. But don't tell her why. I'll take care of your mother. If she needs anything at all from outside the house I want you to get it for her. You can tell the bitch that much. Now go, and remember, not a goddamned word.”
I headed for the house as Dad and Johnny were unloading the precious cargo of the truck. Dad lifted the young woman over his shoulder and carried her as he would carry any sack of feed. He had parked so that no one would be able to see them from the house or from the road. I could imagine what his plans were, but I preferred not to know.
I had no intention at all of telling my mother what had happened while we were away that day. Not after the way that she had reacted when I told her what our father had been doing to us kids. Or after what had happened to me afterwards because of it. For all I knew, what was taking place now might be one of the consequences of my telling Mom that day.
Emily is a very strong girl. She’s certainly stronger than I gave her credit for. For her to be able to deal with the things that she has had to deal with in life so far without my help is incredible. I thought for sure today that she would need me to take over when it came to luring that little girl and her mother to the truck. She didn’t though. That showed she still had more strength in her before she was truly broken by her father. Hopefully she’d never be broken by him, but I doubted that. I was certain that there would be a day soon that Emily would need me and I would be there for her, waiting to take care of things for her.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I walked in the door to find my mother sitting at the table. I told her what Dad had said, “If you need anything from outside, Dad wants me to get it for you.”
“Yes, I need a couple of zucchinis if you guys want any dinner tonight. What's he doing out there that's so secret anyhow? Burying someone?”
I actually laughed aloud about how close she actually was to the truth with that question. “No, he's not burying anyone. He said he'd tell you what's going on when he comes in. He didn't want me to tell you. I guess he wants to tell you himself.”
“Okay. Well, go get me those zucchinis. I want to make zucchini bread but I can't do it without the main ingredient.”
I went back outside to do what my mother asked. I picked the zucchinis and headed back for the house. There was a woman's scream from the direction of the barn. Separating myself from that situation was going to be a lot harder than I had originally thought. I hurried the rest of the way back to the house, trying hard not to hear anything else.
I laid the vegetables on the table in front of Mom and then asked if she needed any help. She said, “No. Caroline helped me earlier. All I have left to prepare for supper is the bread and the other chores are already done. The three of you were gone for quite a long time. You can go find something to do on your own until dinner's ready.”
That was easy enough. Then I remembered that I needed another notebook soon. I asked my mother, “Do you have another notebook that I can use for my stories? The other one got all wet and ruined somehow so I threw it out,” I lied.
“Yes, but do you need it right this minute?” She sounded a little frustrated.
“No, whenever you get a chance to get it is fine. Thank you.”
I went downstairs to my room and got my “ruined” notebook out. I wrote about the day's events and the guilt that I didn't think I'd ever be able to get rid of. And I didn't think I would ever be able to get that adorable little girl out of my head. Michelle. That's what her mother had called her. Her mother that so obviously loved and adored her. I would probably never be able to get the image of her mother smiling so lovingly while pushing her on the swing out of my head either. Why didn't I just tell the woman what my father was trying to make me do instead? I could have ran and hid from Dad and... and something. I could have done so many things differently today that didn't end with a toddler and her mommy being held prisoner in our barn.
My notebook was full. I shoved it down into the wall as far as I could and then replaced the brick. Just then I realized that I had forgotten to tell Caroline to stay in the house. I left the cellar to go find her. Hopefully she hadn't already tried to go outside. We'd both be in deep trouble if she had.
I walked quickly upstairs, trying not to seem worried. I asked Mom if she knew where Caroline was. She told me to look upstairs. I climbed the stairs that led up to Caroline’s room two at a time. The room that we used to share. She was in there p
laying quietly with her dolls on the hardwood floor next to her bed. I walked in and closed the door behind me.
“Hey Caroline. How do you like having this big room all to yourself now?”
“I hate it Emily.”
“What's wrong? What happened yesterday when you took your friend home?”
“Daddy said he'd kill me if I ever told anyone. You won't tell anyone I told you, will you?”
“No, of course not. You can always tell me anything. I told you that before. Now tell me what's bothering you.” I sat on the floor next to her and held her head against me like I always used to do until just recently when our parents started trying to separate us.
“Daddy made me wait in the car while he took Summer in to her mom. He was gone a long time, so I got out of the truck and went up to their apartment to see what was taking so long.” She paused to wipe snot from her nose with the sleeve of her shirt. “The door was open and I could see them both laying on the floor in a big huge puddle of blood. They were both dead Emily! Daddy killed Summer and her mom. He was on his way out when I got to the door and he yelled in a whisper for me to get back to the truck. Then on the way back home he told me that if I told anyone at all what I saw he would kill me. I don't want any more friends ever again Emily.” She cried hard against my shoulder while I held her.
Detached: Book 1 of the Fleischer Series Page 9