Both Diana and James looked at the plate that had only meat on it and then at each other. They shared a small smile before James’ faded. He bit his lip.
“There is nothing to be scared of,” Diana said again, returning to her meal.
Clinton was deflated now. The excitement of being in a murder house, a crime scene, was waning because his mother was being so reassuring. He went back to his food.
_____
Robyn
If she were still alive, Robyn’s heart would break at the sight of this loving family. They were different from the other families that had lived here. For a long time, Robyn believed the house was cursed and that it only attracted broken families, but this one was a clear indication that it wasn’t so.
What worried Robyn as she stood off to the side, watching them enjoy their quiet meal, was that at the mention of the Butcher’s name, Robyn saw him. He wasn’t strong enough to be visible to Charlie, thank God, but he was present. A shadow. A darkness that hung between the twin boys and Robyn knew he was eager to make his move - whatever that was.
Would he kill one of them? Both of them? If he grew strong enough? Perhaps, or perhaps he would get them to kill each other by driving them insane.
Whatever his plan was, she had to stop him, and she had to start now. She walked out of the dining room, through the kitchen and down the stairs off the landing. She made her way to the circuit breaker for the house and, with all the energy she could muster, she short-circuited the power.
The house plummeted into darkness. Charlie screamed, so did James, and Robyn quickly made her way upstairs again.
“Probably just tripped,” Robbie was saying as he stood up, using his phone as a torch. “I’ll go check it out.”
“Okay, honey, we’ll all just sit here and wait,” Diana said.
Her voice was soothing, but Robyn could see Charlie was shaking. It took more energy for Robyn to conceal herself from Charlie before she started tipping objects off of the nearby bookshelf. The dull thud of the heavy ornaments hitting the floor elicited more screams from the already terrified children. The only one who didn’t seem scared was Clinton. Even Diana looked like her hackles were raised.
“It’s nothing,” she said to Charlie and James. “Just the wind blowing things over.”
Robyn moved to the wall directly behind Diana and, while she was still soothing Charlie, she lifted a picture off the wall just enough that the frame crashed to the floor, shattering the glass into tiny shards.
More screams sounded.
Now Charlie was crying and on her mother’s lap. Even Diana screamed when the glass shattered, and she called out to her husband to hurry.
A moment or two passed, and the lights came back on, much to the relief of Charlie, James and Diana, but Clinton was gone.
“Clinton,” Diana called. “Clinton, where are you? This isn’t funny.”
The toilet flushed, and Clinton came out of the nearby bathroom, adjusting his pants to get more comfortable. “What?”
“That wasn’t a funny thing to do.”
“What wasn’t?” Clinton asked, genuinely confused.
“Pushing the ornaments off the shelf and shattering our family picture.”
Clinton shook his head. “It wasn’t me. When daddy went downstairs, I went to the bathroom.”
“That’s enough. I think it’s time we all went to bed,” Diana said, setting Charlie on her feet and moving to clear the plates. “Off you three go, and I don’t want to hear anyone is having nightmares tonight because of you, Clinton.”
Clinton rolled his eyes and went upstairs just as Robbie entered the room. Robyn watched as he approached the table.
“What’d I miss?” he asked, and Diana shook her head angrily, stomping to the kitchen.
_____
Chapter Three
Robyn
She continued to terrorize the family through the next week, but still, they stuck it out. Diana was stubborn and explained they had nowhere to go until they found a new house to buy, that nothing weird was happening; it was an old house and things were bound to fall and break, and that the family just had to be as careful as they could be.
But Robyn knew she was getting to them. The problem, though, was that the fear they felt, the fear she was feeding them to drive them out of the house, was also feeding him. Typically by now, the family would have left, especially with what Robyn was throwing them. Vivid images of deathly shadows, waking the kids up in the middle of the night with cold drafts and moving toys, even scaring Robbie into believing he was making love to her instead of Diana.
Still, they didn’t leave.
He was getting stronger, and he liked to hang around the twins. He left Charlie alone because she was too little to do anything, but Robyn had a sneaky suspicion that The Butcher was ready to make his move soon. He was going to possess Clinton, she knew it for sure, and once he did, he would be free to start reigning his terror on the world once again.
She couldn’t let that happen, so she kept a close eye on Clinton, hardly ever leaving his side. Sometimes she saw his shadowy figure hanging around Clinton’s shoulder. Sometimes he wouldn’t show himself, but she could feel his presence close by nonetheless. Once he attached himself, there would be nothing she could do to stop him.
Clinton himself was a dark child, so she knew he had chosen well. The boy was fascinated with death, torture devices and skinning animals. He had several books on the topics, especially about medieval times. Although Diana seemed worried about him, they allowed him to bring home animal skins and to cut them up and sew them into braces and shoulder guards.
Those were the only times Robyn saw Clinton treat anything delicately. He seemed to really know what he was doing. Clinton made sure to scrape off any remaining bits of meat, veins and sinew that got stuck on the pelt. He did this outside in the garden, taking the ‘leftovers’ back to the forest behind their house and leaving them there for scavengers to finish off. He would then work the skin into his various creations.
The kid was dark, Robyn got it, but she was surprised he was allowed to do this without anyone saying anything.
It wasn’t until their fourth week there that it all made sense.
Robbie was a hunter, and he had taught Clinton everything he needed to know to survive in the wild. That was where the fascination came from. Robyn learned this by accompanying them on a short hunting trip into the forest on a Saturday morning. Robbie encouraged Clinton to hunt and skin animals, and cook them over an open fire.
Clinton was the hardest to scare out of the entire family, but Robyn still gave it her all. She would move his things around, hide his tools while he was busy with them, and shift his skins.
Once she took a fresh skin and hung it up on the wall above his head, and that had gotten to him. He had woken up and looked up to see the skin above him. He ran for his parents’ room, and Robyn had quickly placed it back where she had found it.
When Robbie came in to check, they found everything was normal and said that Clinton just had a bad dream, that maybe he was spending too much time in his room skinning animals and needed to get out more. Clinton went back to sleep, but Robyn could see it was a restless sleep.
Robyn could tell she was finally starting to get to Clinton, and she only hoped she could manipulate the rest of the family enough before it was too late. They needed to get out of the house.
_____
Diana
The strangest things were happening around the house and Diana honestly didn’t have an explanation for her children, other than it was an old house, and old houses had quirks. They didn’t seem to believe her, but then she didn’t really believe it herself.
The only one who seemed to be settling in was Clinton. He loved the fact he could hunt squirrels and rabbits in the forest behind their house, and then skin them. She could curse Robbie for teaching him to hunt, and she let him know all about it when they had been in the house a month, and Clinton wandered in with three ra
bbit pelts hanging over his shoulder.
Robbie didn’t see a problem with it at all; in fact, he was proud that Clinton had learned from him and he wished James would do the same. Diana wouldn’t have it. She knew James, knew his love of animals and knew he hated that his brother and father liked to hunt.
One night, when Robbie was working late, Diana was in the shower. She had spent the entire day unpacking boxes, a task which seemed to never end despite the fact she unpacked almost every day. Granted, she unpacked, stopped to play with Charlie, checked in on the boys, carried on unpacking, and so the cycle continued.
She enjoyed the feeling of the hot water hitting her skin and loved the bathroom steaming up. She paused while she washed her hair, feeling as though someone was watching her. She rinsed the shampoo from her face quickly and opened her eyes, looking around.
She didn’t see Robyn standing there, staring at her.
Exhausted and sore from lifting the heavy boxes, she was probably just responding to twitchy muscles, for there was nobody there. Today she had unpacked the last of her study gear and the desk and the computer.
She had just put the children to bed and resolved to enjoy her long, hot shower. Beads of hot water rolled over her muscles and enticed them to relax. She tilted her head to the left, felt it click, and then repeated the process to the right. She stretched her arms up; water sluiced over her breasts as she stretched, and she felt her back ‘click’ as well. Sighing her pleasure, she dropped her arms.
By the time she was done the bathroom was so steamy, she could barely see what she was doing. She opened the door to let the vapour out and wiped the mirror with her hand. She then picked up her toothbrush and, as she looked into the mirror to watch herself brush her teeth, she jumped, her toothbrush landing on the floor.
Standing outside the door, in the hallway, was a girl in a black leotard. Her face was painted like a skull. She turned and started to walk towards Charlie’s room.
Diana quickly swung around, saying, “Hey! Who are you? What are you doing in my house?”
As she left the bathroom, the towel wrapped around her lithe form, she saw Charlie’s bedroom door was open, but saw no sign of the girl.
She moved quickly, running into Charlie’s room only to stop dead. Charlie was not in her bed. She was, however, floating mid-air above it, as though she was sleeping in the air. Diana put a hand to her chest and blinked, shaking her head. She reached out and ran her hand under Charlie’s body, but there was nothing there, nothing holding her up.
Grabbing Charlie from the air, she hugged her daughter to her body, looking around fearfully.
Charlie stirred as Diana carried her back to her and Robbie’s bedroom, checking on the boys as she did. James was still awake, reading in his bed, and Clinton was fast asleep, a book about hunting open on his nightstand.
Diana told James to go to sleep and carried Charlie to her their bedroom, setting the sleeping girl on her and Robbie’s bed. She glanced around again, feeling as though someone was watching her.
Quickly putting on her pajamas, she slipped into their bed, shaking her head. She must have imagined it because there was no one else in the house. In fact, there could be no one else in the house.
And yet, Diana couldn’t sleep. She lay there with Charlie in her arms, staring skittishly around the room. Sometimes she would stare at a spot and then look at the door sharply to see if anything was there, moving outside of her vision.
_____
She was terrified by the time Robbie got home, and he found her sitting up in bed, all the lights still on, and Charlie sleeping against her. Diana had moved James and Clinton to sleep on her bedroom floor as well, just for good measure.
“What happened?” Robbie whispered, clearly concerned for his family’s safety. He checked on the boys and then sat on the bed.
“I saw … I saw someone in the house, Robbie,” she explained softly. “I can’t explain who it was, but there was a girl all dressed up like she was going to a Halloween party and she went to Charlie’s room and … well, she disappeared.”
“Disappeared? People don’t just disappear. Why didn’t you call the police?”
“Because I didn’t think they would believe me.”
“Why not?” Robbie asked.
“Because, I found Charlie–” Diana looked at her daughter, pausing to gather herself before going on. “I found Charlie floating above her bed. Nothing was holding her there; she was just floating above her bed.”
Robbie stared at her. “Is this a joke to you?” he asked, suddenly angry. “I thought there really was someone in the house, Diana.”
“There was, Robbie.”
He stood up, going to scoop Clinton into his arms. “You have probably scared the kids terribly with this.”
He didn’t listen to her as he carried Clinton back to his bed. Diana didn’t say another word as he carefully took James and then Charlie back to their own beds as well.
“I can’t believe you,” he said, no longer whispering, “What has gotten into you?”
“Robbie, I know what I saw,” Diana retorted, now angry with her husband. She crossed her arms as she felt shaky. “I saw that girl in the house, and I saw Charlie floating. I snatched her from the air, for Christ’s sake.”
“Sure you did, babe.” He was condescending, and he knew it.
So did Diana and it did not serve her mood.
While Robbie showered, Diana went to check on the children and found nothing out of the ordinary. She hugged herself, feeling like she was going insane, but knew she was not. Diana knew she had snatched her baby from whatever had her floating in mid-air, and it scared her. Robbie, however, was not in the mood to talk about it now and she would have to speak to him tomorrow about speeding up the process of finding a more permanent home.
For now, though, she would just have to settle into an uneasy sleep. At least Robbie was home, and he made her feel safe. At least for tonight, she might get some rest.
_____
Chapter Four
James
There she was again. That annoying girl that sang every day as she walked by their house. James didn’t know where she was going, but every morning she was there, singing some stupid pop song, and woke him up. It was too early for him to be awake. They didn’t start school for another three weeks, which meant he could sleep in. No, she had to walk past singing loudly.
James sighed and got up, moving to his window and opening the curtain. There she was, her blond hair swinging in the wind as she bounced along the pavement.
He went to the bathroom and washed up, brushing his teeth before he got dressed. Sitting on his bed, he wondered what he should do with his day. His mother was taking Charlie and Clinton shopping for school stuff, but he didn’t feel like going. He just wanted to be left alone.
Clinton had been finding more and more dead animals lately, and it had started to stink. When they got back from the shops, their mom would make Clinton clean it out, but now the smell drove him out.
James went downstairs and through the back door. He sat on the grass and watched the trees, their leaves swaying in the light breeze. Putting his hand in his pocket, he withdrew some seeds and nuts, placing them in a pile in front of him.
And then he sat.
Absolutely still.
The squirrel came to investigate the food cautiously. It didn’t trust the boy that sat there, even though he was motionless. He came a little closer and a little closer still. Then he took a nut and turned to leave, but before he could even think of escaping, the knife came out of nowhere and went through his body.
James watched as the squirrel, pegged to the ground, twitched slightly before it didn’t move at all. He pulled the blade out and wiped it clean on the grass before inspecting the dead animal.
“Does your family know you kill defenceless animals?”
He jumped at the sound of Lincoln’s voice behind him. “What are you doing here?” he asked, glaring at the boy.
/> “I saw you from my bedroom and came to see what you were doing.”
James remained silent. He’d been caught, and he didn’t know how to get himself out of this.
“I won’t tell anyone,” Lincoln said, “but, I mean, there has to be something in it for me.”
James got up and asked, “What do you want?”
“Clean my room.”
“What?”
“You heard me,” Lincoln said. “Clean my room, and I won’t tell your family what a twisted little puppy you are.”
“My brother hunts squirrels all the time,” James said.
“Does he hunt dogs and cats, too?” Lincoln asked with a slightly morbid and evil smile.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” James retorted.
“I’ve seen you,” Lincoln said, crossing his arms. “And maybe I have pictures, but even if I don’t, I can just tell the people whose pets you have killed.”
James, worried now, quickly conceded, “Fine, I’ll clean your room.”
He followed Lincoln into his house, a plan already formulating in his mind. He looked around as Lincoln led him through. “So where are your parents?” he asked.
“My mom works at the hospital, she’ll be back later on, so don’t worry, no one will interrupt us,” Lincoln said, opening the door to his bedroom and going to lie on the bed. He picked up a comic book and waved James on. “Get cleaning, I want to be able to eat off the floor by the time you’re done.”
James acted quickly. He made as though he was going for the dirty laundry on the floor and, while there, he pulled out his pocket knife. He swiftly turned and stabbed Lincoln in the throat.
Afraid and mesmerized all at the same time, he watched as the blood gushed out of Lincoln’s throat as he tried to scream. James realized he must have cut his windpipe because every time Lincoln tried to scream a bloody gargled sound came out the hole his knife had made.
The Butcher Box Set Page 27