“You can feel this, though” she said quietly, whispering the words as if to bring them in sync with her gentle touch.
Caleigh shut her eyes, bracing herself for the pain. Hillary didn’t disappoint her. She dug the long, rough fingernail from her right index finger into one of the long cuts on Caleigh’s face. She broke through the scab and watched as blood rushed to the surface, fleeing from the damaged skin.
Caleigh screamed out in pain, turning her face away instinctively. Her quick head movement resulted in a longer, deeper gash across her cheek.
“Yep, you can feel it,” Hillary giggled, “but I’m running out of room on your face to hurt.”
“Just leave me alone,” Caleigh cried.
“You’ll have plenty of time to be alone soon.”
“I thought you loved me....”
“I thought I was loved too...turns out, people who love you can hurt you the most. I know…it’s crazy. Go figure!”
“Please don’t hurt me anymore,” Caleigh pleaded sadly, nervously.
“Oh, Lee Lee, you’re so silly sometimes,” Hillary said playfully, “how ‘bout a game of tic tac toe?”
With the same long, sharp, jagged nail, Hillary scratched a tic tac toe grid across Caleigh’s forehead. Caleigh winced but kept still as she sobbed softly. She barely felt the pain from the scratches over the torment engulfing her heart. She would never see her mother again. Her mother was dead. Her father was dead. Her sister had killed them both and would be killing her soon enough. Caleigh gasped slightly.
What about Joshua, she thought, fearing for her baby brother. She was afraid to ask but just had to know. Had Hillary killed little Joshua as well?
“Joshua,” she cried out, her voice unsteady.
“What about him?” Hillary asked as she scratched an X within the upper left box on the grid.
“Is he...is he....”
“Is he what?” Hillary asked, toying with Caleigh. She knew what her sister was wondering...what she was fearing. She smiled impishly as she scratched an O in the box beneath the X.
“Did you...hurt him?” she whispered worriedly.
Caleigh held her breath awaiting her sister’s reply. Hillary’s crazed eyes and wide grin were not reassuring.
“You didn’t hear him?” she asked excitedly, “he called for you, he begged for you.”
One of the lines from the X Hillary drew next, in the center square, began to bleed.
“What did you do?” Caleigh asked sadly, ignoring the pain on her forehead and breathing heavily as her eyes filled with fresh tears.
“Lee Lee,” Hillary shrieked, pretending to imitate her brother, “help me Lee Lee.”
“What did you do to him?” Caleigh repeated anxiously. It was growing difficult for her to breathe.
“First I cut off his little itty bitty thing then I made him eat it.”
Caleigh squeezed her eyes shut as she imagined the horrors and pain that her poor little brother must have endured.
“Is he...is he....” Caleigh’s voice trailed off in a piteous squeak. She couldn’t bear to say the word.
“Dead?” Hillary said it for her, with a big smile across her face. She scratched a final X on the lower right box then ran her sharp, rough nail from the upper left of the grid to the bottom right, digging in deep so that the blood that accompanied the long cut resembled a red line.
“I won!” Hillary exclaimed happily as she brought her bloodied finger to her lips and sucked the blood from underneath her nail.
“Please, no,” Caleigh begged, “say you didn’t....”
“But I did...and he cried for you. It broke his poor little heart that you weren’t there to protect him.”
“No, no,” Caleigh cried. She had loved little Joshua even before he was born. She had practically raised him that first year, always there to feed, change and bathe him. It was like having her very own living doll. Now he was just her dead brother.
“Where is he?” she whimpered, “I need to see him.”
“Nope,” Hillary said abruptly, “I chopped him up too...his body parts are all mixed up in a bag with Mom’s...unless, you want me to bring part of his body to you, I can—”
“No!” Caleigh yelled. Her eyes were still shut so tightly that her tears could barely escape.
“Lee Lee, help!” Hillary teased, mimicking Joshua’s pained pleas.
“Shut up!” Caleigh screamed.
Hillary laughed loudly. It was almost as much fun mentally hurting Caleigh as it was physically hurting her. Almost....
Hillary’s close-mouthed smile stretched across her face as she thought about hurting Caleigh. Fun, fun, fun...there was lots of fun to be had while her mother was away and she didn’t want to waste another precious second.
“I’ve changed my mind,” she told her sobbing sister. “I’m going to get you some water.”
Caleigh didn’t believe it for a second. Was she going to poison her? She didn’t think she would even resist. At least then she could die and be in heaven with her family. She could hear Hillary’s footsteps growing fainter as she walked away from her. She heard the creaking of the basement door and Hillary trudging upstairs. Then it was silent again, except for her mournful whimpering.
They’re all dead, she thought sadly, they’re all dead.
Caleigh gasped several minutes later when she heard Hillary’s steps on the basement stairs. Before she knew it, Hillary was back, standing over her. She kept her eyes closed. There was no longer a reason to open them.
“I have some water for you,” Hillary said softly, “You’re still thirsty, aren’t you?”
Caleigh’s heart began pounding heavily within her chest as she grew progressively more apprehensive.
“Well?” Hillary said agitatedly, annoyed that Caleigh didn’t affirmatively respond. She had been whining about water and now she was acting aloof and ungrateful.
“Fine!” Hillary yelled, carefully dropping to her knees and hovering closely above her sister’s limp body. She had a mug in her hand which she slowly moved toward Caleigh’s head. Caleigh’s eyes were still closed and her head was turned on its side. Hillary lowered the mug inches above Caleigh’s face and tilted it. The boiling hot water within the mug dripped onto Caleigh’s face as her sister cried out in pain and moved her head to avoid the scalding liquid. She turned her head and the water slipped down into her left ear. Hillary laughed maniacally while her sister shrieked in pain, her face splotched with bright burns against the dark bruises.
“Still thirsty?” Hillary asked sarcastically as she emptied the remaining water over Caleigh’s scalp.
Caleigh was in too much pain to respond. She felt feverish as she pictured her head smoking like embers. She wondered just how hideous she must look, between the slashes on her face, her broken nose and now the burns. She knew that within hours, she would have blisters on her already-injured face. The flesh over her cheeks felt tight and tingly. It was a most pestering feeling, far more bothersome than an itch that could not be scratched. It only added to her lengthy list of woes.
“How’re you feelin’ now, Lee Lee? I brought my camera...say cheese....”
Hillary took a few steps back then snapped a couple shots of her sister suffering in misery. She looked like a freak from a horror movie.
“Should I call Andy? Should I show him these great pictures?”
Caleigh moaned in pain, her diminished will to live dwindling fast.
“I hate when you ignore me,” Hillary shouted, “can’t you just talk to me?”
Hillary stepped forward, leaned down and grabbed her sister by her hair.
“Look how pretty you look,” Hillary said, shoving the camera in front of Caleigh’s face with her other hand.
Caleigh kept her eyes shut. The last thing she wanted to do was see how awful she looked.
“I said look,” Hillary shouted, yanking her sister’s hair hard enough to make her grimace.
Caleigh groaned loudly as she opened her eyes sl
owly. She squinted to make out the image. It was hardly recognizable as a human face. A horrified sound escaped her mouth as tears rolled down her face, renewing the agony from her cuts and burns. She was a monster. A paralyzed, orphaned, terrified, suffering monster who wanted nothing more than to die. She knew it would do no good, but she couldn’t help herself...she begged Hillary to kill her. Hillary’s cold and callous laughter matched her sister’s face—a hideously monstrous laughter that made Caleigh’s stomach lurch.
“Not yet,” Hillary whispered eerily, “I still have some time to play.”
While Caleigh screamed in pain, Hillary played for another half an hour, introducing Caleigh to unimaginable levels of pain until her sister could no longer tolerate it. Caleigh’s eyes rolled up behind her eyelids as her head lolled forward. Hillary placed her head to her sister’s chest to make sure that she was still alive. She was pleased to feel the shallow heaving, pleased to know that her fun was only temporarily suspended. She would be back as soon as she could to play some more.
Hillary slowly flipped the tape over to cover Caleigh’s mouth. She cursed aloud when she discovered that it would not stick on so well. It had gotten wet from the water she had poured over Caleigh’s head. She didn’t have any more duct tape. Without it, Caleigh would surely scream and get their mother’s attention.
Cursing under her breath, Hillary held the tape firmly down over Caleigh’s mouth for several seconds. It just had to stick. She pressed her hand on it, swiping it from left to right. It seemed to stay, but Hillary knew any slight movement of Caleigh’s mouth would send it flapping off to the side. She hoped that Caleigh wouldn’t notice the difference. If she thought her mouth was properly taped, she wouldn’t waste her time screaming. Besides, who would she yell for? She believed that her mother and brother were both dead and she knew for sure that her father was dead. That left only her big sister. Would she really want to call out for Hillary?
Feeling confident, Hillary properly concealed Caleigh’s body then grabbed her camera and the mug on her way out. She walked up the basement stairs, closing the creaky door behind her. She walked into the kitchen, placed the mug into the sink then grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator. Torturing Caleigh had made her thirsty. As the cold, wet liquid made its way down her throat, Hillary thought about her sister’s dry lips.
Poor thirsty Caleigh, she thought facetiously, as she chugged the rest of the water from the bottle.
She wants to play some more, the voice whispered to her.
Hillary nodded. Tomorrow would be a new day full of more fun and games with Caleigh.
She walked over to the butcher block and pulled out one of the remaining knives. She carried it with her as she walked up to her bedroom, thinking about all of the fun she would have with her sister. She couldn’t wait for her mother to go back to work. She had some work to do, too. She didn’t have any tape left and she had to make sure Caleigh didn’t scream for help. She looked down at the knife in her hand. It was small, but it would serve its purpose.
Cut it off....
“Yes,” Hillary said, mesmerized by visions of her cutting out Caleigh’s tongue. “Yesssss,” she repeated, stretching the word to sound like a snake. Tomorrow she would take her sister’s tongue. She knew just what to do with it.
~11~
Hillary was none too happy the next morning when she learned that her mother had taken the remaining two days of the week off. Not only would she be around, but Joshua would be there too. Her mother saw no reason to take him to nursery school since she would be home to care for him.
“I don’t understand why you have to take the time off,” Hillary whined.
“Hillary, your father and sister are gone. Do you think I’ve accepted that? That I’m fine with that? I can’t even think straight. There’s no way I can focus on work right now.”
“But it’ll be a good distraction,” she argued, “if you stay here, you’ll just drive yourself crazy thinking about it.”
“Nope, I feel like I need to be here, to stay close to the phone.”
“Why? If they were going to call, they’d just call your cell phone.”
“Why are you so against me being here?”
“Because it’s not good for you.”
“I can’t help but feel that there’s something going on with you...that you’re hiding something from me.”
“See what I mean,” Hillary said with a sigh, “you have too much time on your hands here—you overanalyze things.”
“Hillary, did you...are you being completely honest with me?”
“Of course I am...I’m not hiding anything. You’re just being paranoid. Maybe you need to catch up on your sleep, you don’t look so good.”
Kathy stared at her daughter trying to determine if she were being sincere. She felt so unsure of everything. Yet Hillary was definitely right in one regard, she was seriously sleep-deprived. She got even less sleep last night than the night before. Her mind raced as if she had overdosed on stimulants like a methamphetamine addict. Not only did it show in the dark circles under her eyes, but in her attitude as well. She was irritable and high-strung. She had snapped at Joshua earlier just for repeating his request for milk. She didn’t know how much longer she could continue this way. She was at her breaking point.
“I’ll be just as distracted here. I have tons of housework to catch up on.”
“Really, Mom, is this the best time to take off? Now that we don’t have Dad’s paycheck—”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Hillary,” Kathy interrupted, raising her voice.
She couldn’t think of Michael, of where he was, of what might have happened to him. She had his cell phone with hers. He had gotten another call from him boss earlier that morning. Wherever he was, he was not reporting to work.
Hillary knew it was futile to try to persuade her mother to return to work. She could tell by her mother’s atypical demeanor that she was completely stressed out and would not budge. She didn’t want to push her too far and make her do something foolish, like call the police. So far, she was still within Hillary’s control. Everything was relatively peaceful. It wasn’t time to rock the boat. She didn’t want to have to obey the voice of reason, to do what it said to do. She wasn’t ready to go that far yet. But if her mother got out of control, if her mother forced her hand, well...she would have to do what she had to do.... In the meantime, she would just have to figure out a way to work around her. Somehow.
The day dragged on. Hillary had hoped that her mother would leave to go shopping or to the library or anywhere, just to give her a chance to check on Caleigh. It was nearly a full twenty-four hours since she had last visited her in the basement. She wondered how her sister was doing and whether the duct tape was still covering her mouth. What would she do if she started screaming? Maybe she wouldn’t scream for her mother, since she believed she was dead, but she might still cry out for food or water. Hillary knew she had to think of something.
Dinner consisted of a tossed salad and spaghetti. Hillary hated pasta. She wondered whether her mother had purposefully prepared it to spite her. She frowned as she ate it slowly. Joshua loved spaghetti, even if he still couldn’t pronounce it. He ate everything on his plate—making a huge mess in the process—then asked for more ‘skegetti.’
Hillary eyed him with disgust. He was a miniature version of her nasty father. The sound he made slurping up the long strands reminded her of the sound her father’s lips made when he anxiously and noisily kissed and sucked her various body parts. Thinking of him made her shudder as if she’d stepped out into the snow without any clothing. Her right hand trembled slightly as she held the fork. She fought the urge to plunge the stainless steel prongs into her brother’s throat.
“Hide and seek?” he asked her with a mouth full of food when he noticed her staring at him.
“Soon,” she hissed, looking away from him quickly and down at the food left on her plate.
“Where Daddy goed?” he a
sked Kathy.
“I don’t know, sweetie,” she replied sadly.
“I want Daddy!” he complained, throwing his little fork on his plate.
“He’ll be back soon,” Kathy promised, trying to soothe him.
Hillary scowled. “Yeah, right,” she said under her breath.
“When?” Joshua pestered.
“Soon.”
“With Lee Lee?”
“With Lee Lee,” Kathy said, nodding.
“With Storm?”
Kathy’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Storm. With everything going on, she had forgotten about the dog. She was the love of Michael’s life. Surely he wouldn’t just take off and leave her behind. It was too late to call the animal center now, but she would try calling them in the morning to see if Storm was still there.
“Maybe,” she said doubtfully.
“I want Daddy!” Joshua yelled, banging his little fist on the edge of his plate. The plate tilted and tipped over on his chest.
“Joshua!” Kathy shouted angrily, rising from her seat. Joshua broke out in tears and began crying heavily. Kathy roughly grabbed a hold of Joshua and lifted him out of his chair. Holding him away from her to avoid getting spaghetti on her clothes, Kathy quickly carried him upstairs as she scolded him harshly. Hillary heard at least two expletives over Joshua’s cries.
Good for him, she thought coldly, but more importantly, good for me....
Her opportunity had finally come. While her mother was giving Joshua a bath, she would have a few minutes to sneak downstairs and check on Caleigh. She still wouldn’t be able to carry out her plans, but at least she could make sure that she was alive and miserable and quiet.
Without wasting a second more, Hillary raced down to the basement. Caleigh’s eyes opened when she heard the basement door creak open. She was instantly filled with dread and terror not knowing what horrors Hillary had in store for her. Though she had grown hungry and was still so thirsty, she hadn’t dared to call for Hillary during the long hours in her absence. She preferred being left alone and forgotten to being tortured by her insane sister.
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