Nightcrawlers: Reign of Terror

by Ron L. Carter

  Chapter 2

  Jed had become like a lost puppy after Chelsea passed away, he didn’t know what to do with himself. He left Dalton and Cooper with his Grandma during the day while he worked in the moonshine business. When he got home at night, he didn’t really know how to, or want to be a father. He tried in his own way to spend time with the boys when he would take them into his bedroom with him while he watched television. Deep down, he resented the boys because he felt like they were responsible for taking Chelsea’s life. He tried hard not to feel that way but he couldn’t help the way he felt. The more he tried not to let those thoughts affect him the worse it became. He found the best thing for him to do was just not think about them at all.

  A few months after Chelsea's death he was feeling lost and sorry for himself so he started sampling the moonshine while he was at work. A lot of the nights he would come home drunk and stumbling around. During those nights he would just come home and go straight to bed without saying a word to anyone, not even his boys. He wasn’t eating dinner and was getting skinny and undernourished. Bessie was worried about him and tried to sit down with him and talk to him about his drinking problem. After trying several times she couldn’t get anywhere with him. He was hell bent on self destruction and it was clear that he had become an alcoholic.

  By that time she'd become very attached to the boys and in fear that Jed would get angry with her for saying something about his drinking problem. She was afraid he would leave with them and never come back, just like Sherman had done some many years ago. For that reason, she didn’t press him about it. She allowed him to slowly continue to destroy himself. Because of her own fears and insecurity, she had become his enabler.

  Curtis would get upset with Jed for drinking on the job, but he knew he couldn’t fight with his mom about it. Every time he said something to her about Jed's drinking she told him to just leave him alone and mind his own business. When Bessie wasn't around he would take jabs at Jed and say hurtful things to him when he was drunk. It caused a lot of resentment between the two of them. Jed really wanted to leave and take the boys away from there, but he didn’t have any other place to go.

  As Jed's drinking progressively got worse, sometimes he would take off for a few days at a time and wouldn’t tell Bessie or Curtis where he was going. It was during those days that he would go into town and also find some drugs to purchase. If he didn’t have enough money for the drugs he would go break into a few houses and steal things he could sell or trade to get the drugs he needed. He would stay high as long as the drugs or alcohol would last and then make his way back home. He had become the person he swore he would never become.

  The boys were growing up without a father. They had their great grandmother, but they didn’t have that bond with Jed they both needed to help them grow up to someday be healthy adults. They were becoming like lost souls and if it hadn't been for Bessie they may not have survived during those younger years.

  As soon as they were able to sputter out words they developed a dialog that was all their own. Only the two of them knew what the other one was saying and it sounded a lot like "Parrot Talk," but it was a little different. As they got older, Bessie would ask them what they were saying and they wouldn’t tell her. They kept their communication to themselves because they didn’t want anyone else to know what they were talking about. Since she didn’t know what they were saying, she couldn’t very well discipline them for the bad things they might say. They also had the uncanny ability to almost know what the other one was thinking, like other identical twins sometimes do. Bessie didn’t believe in beating a child so she let them get away with a lot of mischievous activity that they shouldn't have.

  As they started getting a little older and going to school they found they could make fun of the other kids and say hurtful things about them right to their face in their secret language. They could do it without the kids even knowing what they were saying. After they made fun of them they would pretend they didn’t say or do anything wrong. When they got sent to the principal's office they would talk in a normal voice and say they didn’t know why the other kids had a problem with them. They didn't like going to school and being with all the other kids. They would've much rather stay home and spend time with each other. They had become very antisocial and did everything with each other. They were never separated from each other day or night.

  When they were only six years old they would make fun of Curtis and then laugh about what they said right in front of him. They would call him fat, ugly and other derogatory names and he never knew what they were saying. He just knew they were making fun of him and he didn't like it. When Curtis would go into one of his anger moods they would just laugh about it. They even made fun of their dad when he would come home drunk at night. They also made fun of Bessie because she was old and would sometimes forget things. No one was protected from their malicious little game they played.

  Curtis added to the problem when he would harass them by telling them they were skinny little runts and that they needed to eat something before they would just dry up and blow away into the wind. He also made fun of the way they talked to each other. He didn’t really like them and wouldn’t back down from them when they were making fun of him. His anger with them had caused deep seated hatred with the boys.

  By the time they were nine years old they had developed a sick and deadly hatred for most animals and especially cats. They were just like their Uncle Joshua and they hated them. They didn’t know that something was mixed up with their chromosomes just like Joshua. It was something that was deep rooted in their genetic makeup that made them the way they were and they didn't have any control over the way they felt. When they would see a cat out by itself they would throw rocks at it or chase it into the woods with sticks and try to kill it.

  On one occasion, they chased a cat into the woods and it ran up a hickory tree. They started throwing rocks at it until they hit it in the head and it came tumbling down. While it was dazed and trying to get to its feet, they starting pounding it with sticks. They beat it until every bone in its limp less body was broken and some of it guts were just hanging out. When they were through killing the animal they high fived each other as if they had just killed some type of dangerous beast from the forest. They were very proud of themselves for killing a defenseless and helpless little cat.

  Cooper got the idea that they should take the dead cat back to the old shed behind the house and burn it. Dalton went along with it because it didn't matter to him; it was just a cat. When they got home they took the cat and put it in the old shed. They kept it hidden until the next day when they had more time to plan their move on how to burn it.

  Staying hidden from Bessie, they got up early the next morning, went to the kitchen and grabbed a box of matches. They were talking to each other in their own dialog and laughing as they made their way to the shed. Once there, they took the carcass of the cat and laid it on some old dried up newspapers on the floor. They carefully wrapped the newspaper around the mangled cat and then lit it on fire. The flames shot up like setting fire to a dried up Christmas tree and some of the newspaper that was on fire drifted up and caught some other papers in the shed on fire. Before they knew it, everything inside the shed was catching on fire. When they realized what had happened they ran from the shed and hid in the woods. They watched the fired as it engulfed the building. Curtis spotted the fire and ran to get the water hose to try and put it out. They were laughing and jumping up and down with excitement as they watched it burn.

  After Curtis started fighting the fire the boys ran to the front of the house and through the living room to the kitchen. Bessie was watching Curtis fight the fire from the back door so they quickly put the box of matches back where they had gotten them and then joined her on the back steps. Cooper asked her how the fire had started and she said she didn't know. She said, "It's weird that it would just catch on fire lik
e that because that old shed has been there for years and nothing like that had ever happened to it before." Curtis tried his best to extinguish the fire, but it was too late and it wasn't long before the shed burned to the ground.

  That night at the dinner table Curtis had a real angry look on his face as he looked over at the boys and asked them if they knew anything about how the fire started. They had already talked about what they were going to say if anyone asked them so they both said, "No sir, we don't know anything about it. We were out in the woods when it started." Curtis looked over at Bessie and Jed and said, "You know that's a damn lie. That old shed has been there for over sixty years; why would it just all of sudden catch on fire without a little help?" Bessie immediately spoke up and said, "Are you saying these boys started that fire, Curtis?" He replied, "You damn straight. I think they're the ones that did it." Bessie said, "You can't just blame anyone you want for something like that. Do you have any proof they are the ones that did it?" Curtis lowered his head and said "No, Ma, but I know they had something to do with it." After that he didn't say anything else to anyone about how he felt. Even though he believed they started the fire, he knew he couldn't win, arguing with his mom.

  After dinner, when the boys went to their room, they were laughing about how spectacular the fire was and how they burned the cat and the shed at the same time. They were proud of themselves for what they had done. Cooper said, "Did you see how fast that thing went up?" Dalton said, "Yep, it was fast and we were lucky to get out of there before we caught on fire too."

  When they were only ten years old they went to visit one of their only friends to play video games. His parents were gone for the day and the boys were going to be there alone. They had been there only a few hours and enjoying their day playing the games when a cat came peaking in from the other room to see what was going on with them. It was their friend's family cat and it was fat, fluffy and overly friendly. It came into the room and tried to rub up against Dalton and he quickly moved his body away from it. It did the same thing to Cooper and he also was uncomfortable with it being so loveable and affectionate and moved away. Their friend was so busy playing the video games that he hadn't noticed what was going on.

  While their friend was playing the game Cooper nudged Dalton with his foot and then nodded his head toward the cat. Dalton instantly realized what Cooper wanted to do. They smiled at each other, and in their own dialog, Cooper said, "Ok let’s get it. I'll get it and then you come and join me."

  Cooper got up from the game and told his friend he had to go to the bathroom for a second. His friend was so deep into the game that he didn’t pay too much attention to Cooper leaving the room. On the way to the bathroom, Cooper went into one of the other bedrooms and pulled a pillow case from one of the pillows on the bed. He went back into the living room and lovingly picked up the cat and stuck it in the pillow case. He twisted it up tight at the top and tied it at the end with his belt. He took the cat into the bathroom and sat it on the floor. Thinking it might be playing a game with Cooper, the cat didn't make a sound as it just sat there. He then went back to the room and told Dalton he needed him for a second. Dalton told his friend they would be right back and followed Cooper to the bathroom. Dalton saw that Cooper had put the cat in a pillow case and had him wrapped up tight.

  They locked the door behind them as Cooper smiled and told him he was going to drown it in the toilet. Cooper took his belt off the pillow and laid it aside while he held the end of the pillow case. Dalton chuckled and grabbed the other end of the pillow case and they submerged the cat in the toilet. The cat immediately started fighting and scratching for its life. It was no use; they continued to hold it under the water until it stopped moving.

  When they were finished with their horrendous deed they smiled at each other and Cooper took the pillow case with the cat outside. He ran about a hundred yards into the woods and dumped the cat like a piece of garbage and then ran back to the house. While he was doing that Dalton went back into the room to finish the video game with his friend. On his way back into the house Cooper put his belt back on and threw the empty wet pillow case in the washing machine. Without a thought of any remorse, they had killed a loyal and beloved member of their friend's family.

  The following week, when they saw their friend, he was angry with them and didn't want to talk to them. When they asked him what was wrong he asked them if they had killed their family cat. He said that his mom and dad believed Cooper and Dalton stuffed the cat in one of their pillow cases from the spare bedroom and drowned it. His mom had found the wet pillow case in the washing machine when they got home that night. It had wet cat hair on the inside of the pillow case. Dalton and Cooper immediately denied doing anything to the cat but their friend didn't believe them and told them they were never welcome at his house again. It angered Cooper that they had been caught so he said, "We don't care, the only reason we went over there in the first place was to play the video games."

  When they turned eleven years old Bessie was beginning to get sick a lot and sometimes wouldn’t get out of bed until around noon. The boys were pretty much on their own and had a lot of time on their hands. On the week-ends, when they weren’t in school, they would pack a sack lunch and leave the house and be gone most of the day. They would roam the woods to see what kind of mischief they could get into.

  They were able to talk Bessie into letting them take out her twenty-two rifle when they went out into the woods. They told her it was to kill snakes, just in case one tried to bite them. Bessie always told them to use it only for snakes and try not to get hurt in the process. Before she gave it to them she showed them how to load it and how to sight it in on a target. She gave them several boxes of shells to use and told them to kill as many snakes as they could.

  She didn’t know that every time they went into the woods they would take turns shooting anything that moved. They killed squirrels, rabbits, snakes and anything else that was unlucky enough to cross their paths. It didn’t matter to them, if it was alive and it was breathing, they would kill it just for fun. Once it was dead, they would just leave the dead animal where they had killed it. The only animal they had any compassion for was dogs. They never would harm or kill any of the dogs around town.

  Bessie's was in her late eighties and her health continued to deteriorate. It wasn’t long after she showed the boys how to use the gun that she passed away during her sleep. She was the only mother the boys ever knew and also the only stabilizing force in their lives. They were lost when she died.

  Bessie had already planned out her entire funeral in advance, including the services so Curtis didn't have much to do. All of her family came to her funeral to say their last farewell. Jed’s other two uncles and families were also there. Over the past twelve years, Jed had gotten very attached to his Grandma and was saddened to see her go. They had talks that lasted late into the long hours of the night when he was sober enough to sit and visit with her. Out of respect for her, he stayed sober during the few days everyone was there and he made sure the boys were on their best behavior.

  Jed knew it wasn't going to be long before Curtis kicked him and the boys out of the house after Bessie passed away. He never liked them living there with him in the first place. It didn’t take long, only a few days after the funeral and everyone had left. Curtis went to Jed and told him that he and the boys had to move out. He told Jed that the house was his now and they weren’t welcome under his roof now that Bessie was gone. He told him that he didn’t want his disrespectful little brats living with him any longer. “Mom’s not around to protect your sorry ass anymore and I don’t want your drunken butt around me. I also don't want those mouthy little disrespectful runts of yours making fun of me anymore. They don't have any respect for anything or anyone.”

  Jed tried to tell Curtis that the house had also become his home for the past twelve years too and that he and the boys didn't have a
ny other place to go. He pleaded with Curtis to let them stay with him. He even told Curtis he would try to stop drinking if he let them stay. Curtis knew Jed could never stop drinking, but he agreed to let him work one more month so he could have enough money for wherever he planned to go. He told Jed he would give him that month to figure out where he was going, but that was it. “If you’re not out of here at the end of one month then I'll throw your things in the front yard and I'll lock all the doors and windows where you can't get back in. I'll even call the law and have them lock you out if you don't leave.”

  Jed knew he didn't want to get the law involved so he kept pondering over where he and the boys might be able to go. He had a talk with the boys and told them that his Uncle Curtis didn’t want them living with him now that Bessie was gone so they had to find another place to live. He told them to be ready to leave in a month because that was all the time Curtis was willing to give them. The boys weren’t very happy about having to leave their home. That was where they were born and they didn't have a clue what it would be like to live someplace else. They hadn’t even been out of the little town of Hickory since they were born.

  They never really liked Curtis and now they were really angry with him for making them leave. For the time they had left there, they started making fun of him every day and trying to harass him in any way they could. As the days went by Curtis got more and more agitated each day they spent there. He wouldn't talk to Jed and tried to ignore the boys when he was home.

  Jed finally sat down with the boys and told them he didn't have any other ideas about where to go so he thought they should go back to his hometown of Red Mountain, California. He told them they would go there and see if their mom's dad and brothers still lived in Randsburg. He thought if they did, maybe they would let him and the boys stay with them until they could find a place of their own. It had been twelve years since he and Chelsea had left and he wasn’t sure what he would tell them once he got there. He knew they would be angry with him because he hadn't let them know that Chelsea had died.

  Jed couldn’t make enough money working with Curtis and the moonshine business to be able to have enough money to drive to California so he started going out and breaking into houses and stealing things to sell, after he got off of work. The trip was going to take about four days so he needed enough money for gas, food for him the boys, and three nights in inexpensive hotels.

 

  Counting down the days before they were supposed to leave, the boys started making Curtis’s life miserable. At first, they just started misplacing his things that he used every day. They hid his favorite hat, his razor and some of his clothes he wore to work. They moved his keys from where he kept them on the rack by the back door. They put vizine in his coffee on a few of the mornings before he went to work, knowing that he would be on the toilet all day.

  The worst thing they did was that they went out into the woods and killed a skunk. They took some of Curtis’s clothes and rolled the dead skunk all over them. When they were finished, they hung them back up in his closet. They did everything they could think of to antagonize him. They continued to do it until it was time for them to pack their things and leave.

  After screwing with him until he snapped, he came roaring into the boy's bedroom. It was the skunk smell that did it, and he felt like they had pranked him once too often. He lost his temper and was in a fit of rage as he started screaming and cussing at them. He was huffing and puffing while he yelled out obstinacies and called them a few horrible names. He told them that if they were his kids he would take a strap to them and beat the hell out of them until they would behave themselves, like normal kids. They didn't say anything as they just sat there like innocent little boys and waited for him to quit yelling at them. When he was finished, they looked at each other and then laughed out loud. He was so angry with them that he just went busting back out of the room.

  That night Jed told the boys that he had enough money and they would be leaving in a few days. His patience with Curtis and what the boys were doing to him had worn real thin with him. He told them he couldn't take being in the same house with Curtis and that he had to get out of there before he ended up killing him. He didn't really mean he would actually kill him, but he was angry with Curtis for the way he talked to the boys and also the way they treated him. He told the boys to make sure they had everything packed and ready to go.

  When Jed told them they were leaving in a few days the boys decided they were going to pull one last prank on Curtis before they left. The next day they went into the garage and got a gunny sack, a few feet of rope, an empty five gallon paint bucket and found a long tree limb with a fork at the end. Once they had everything they needed they headed deep into the woods. They went to an area that had lots of large rocks on the side of a little hill. They had found this place when they were hunting with the 22 Rifle. There were a lot of rattlesnakes hiding in and around the rocks. They made up their minds they were going to capture some of them alive and take them back to the house.

  When they got there they were able to find a den full of the rattlesnakes that were just trying to stay out of the heat. They began to pull them out one at a time and put them in the bucket. When they caught twelve of them they put the gunny sack over the top of the bucket and transferred them into the sack. They twisted it around and tied the rope at the top of the gunny sack and then put them back in the bucket. The entire time they were catching the snakes they were talking in their own dialog to each other about what they were going to do with the snakes when they got them back home.

  The boys got up early the next morning and waited for Curtis to go to work. They packed everything in the pickup that they were going to take with them. Just before Jed was ready to leave the boys told him they wanted a few moments alone in the house, just to say good-bye. Jed was waiting in the pick-up and didn't know the boys had gone to their closet and pulled out the bucket of snakes. They had left the snakes in the gunny sack all night and they were real good and agitated when the boys started taking them out. They took five of the angry and deadly snakes and put them in Curtis’s bed, under the covers. They put two in his closest where he kept his boots and clothes. They turned the last five loose in Curtis’s room and closed the door behind them as they left. When they were finished, they laughed and high fived each other. Cooper said that he hoped one of them would bite Curtis and kill him.

  As they left the house, they were laughing and joking around with each other in their own dialog about Curtis and the snakes. Jed thought they seemed a little too happy to be leaving their home, but thought it might just be the expectations of going on a long road trip or it might even be the thought of a new place to live that excited them.

  As Jed and the boys made their way west toward California, it was just getting dark when Curtis got home from work that night. He walked around the house and saw that he was alone and that Jed and the boys had moved out. He instantly was in a good mood because Jed had done just as Curtis had demanded of him and left his home. He was even happier that he didn't have to deal with those little brats anymore. He made himself dinner and sat down and enjoyed his time alone before he went to bed.

  When it was time to go to bed, he did what he always had done as he went into his room, took off his clothes and laid them on the night stand next to his bed. Not paying attention to anything, he turned off the light and then lifted the covers to crawl under them. The weight of his large body unknowingly laid down on one of the rattlesnakes and it instinctively turned and bit him on the stomach. Knowing that he had been bitten by a snake, he immediately threw the covers off and started to climb out of bed. Just as he did that he heard the rattles of another snake that was right near his face. Winching from the pain of the first bite, he started to slowly move out of bed. Just as he moved, the snake that was near his face bit him in the forehead right above his left eye.

  When he got bit by t
he second snake he jumped the rest of the way out of the bed and when his foot hit the floor with a loud thud another snake that was laying next to the bed bit him on the leg. As he turned on the lights his bed and the rest of the room was crawling with snakes. When he saw them all he said was, “Those little brats stuck snakes in my bedroom." By the time he grabbed his clothes and boots he was bitten by yet another snake that was near his boots. He had just made it to the kitchen to call for help when he collapsed on the floor. The last thing he said was, "Those little bastards, they've killed me.”

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