by J. L. Hickey
“Okay,” Lydia nodded.
“He purposed after he landed the new job here in Michigan. Around the same time, my sister’s fiancé, who was an abusive asshole, put his hands on her. My dad attacked him, lost his job, Camille was scared and asked to move in with us out to Michigan. I said, yes. I was scared to move away from my family with Robbie, anyway. I told him I trusted him again, but it was a lie. I was afraid to live without him but hated living with him. To this day, I have no idea why he cheated. He claimed he still loved me and that it was a stupid mistake. But I could never trust him again. I was always jealous, checking his phone behind his back. I even thought, maybe...he and my sister…”
“Here,” Lydia pulled a Kleenex from her purse.
“No,” Haylee shook her head. “I won’t cry again. I’m stronger than that. I know my sister would never have done that. It was just me losing control of my reality.” Haylee rubbed her eyes, rolled her neck. It cracked multiple times. “We moved to Michigan. I was confused, still angry. My sister was doing well, and she landed a job right before she passed away. Robbie was thriving at work, working late ours again. We began fighting a lot at home since we moved. He started staying out late. He cheated once already. So, you know? My mind started wandering even more. We met our neighbors the Simmons within the first week. We had befriended them, sort of, it was more for me than Robbie. He didn’t care for them. But he saw I was struggling with the move. Until the murders...I had no idea about the sex dungeon? I knew Dennis and Nora well. More than I admitted to anyone. I was close with Nora, sure. We met weekly, talked almost daily. I know she had no idea about Dennis’ second life.”
“I read that he had a hidden sex dungeon in his garage? Hid it from his family? He had sex with men behind his wife’s back?” Lydia questioned.
“I had no clue, but, yes, it looks like he did. He had been for a long time. I didn’t know, and she didn’t know, either. It’s all his fault. He was a monster. An addict”
“Gary?” Arron questioned?
“No, Dennis,” Haylee corrected. “I didn’t know, I swear it. I felt bad enough as it was. I liked Nora, but Dennis? He was there, this older handsome man that had everything, and yet he still wanted me? I don’t know why, but I let him. Maybe to get back at Robbie? Maybe because I was confused and wanted to be wanted again? Maybe because I was losing control all around me with voices and shadows everywhere. Because being wanted like that, made me forget about the pain.”
“Wait. What?” Aaron’s mouth fell open.
“I thought I was the only other one. He never asked me into that place, and it was always when Nora was out. Or he would get a hotel room in the city, and we would meet for lunch. But then he left his laptop open afterward. He went to shower, and a message popped up on his messenger. It was a naked woman, younger, not illegal, but probably just in college. She was bent over, spreading herself for him. It was disgusting. I read the messages. She was one of his many girls in his messages. No men, only women. He must have hidden the men from his social media profile that he left open. He was sick.”
“Jesus,” Aaron was at a loss for words.
“He had issues,” Lydia spoke calmly, without judgment. “Sex is a human act, but when it controls our lives? When it becomes a necessity that hurts the ones we love? Then it defines us, and we lose control of it. He was losing that inner war. That’s evident. We can’t forget, he was human, just like you and I. We make mistakes, but they don’t define us. Not if we can learn and adapt from them.”
“There’s more. Part of the problem between Robbie and me was that I was told that pregnancy would take a miracle. Before I made the mistake, multiple times with Dennis, I had visited my doctor. I learned about Endometriosis, and what it was doing to my body, and why Robbie and I would never have our family.”
“Endo what?” Aaron asked.
“All I wanted was to be a mother. To pick up where my mom left off,” Haylee frowned. “Endometriosis, it’s when the egg becomes blocked. Basically, I can’t have kids. It hurt me so bad. I was spinning out of control. Another part of my life ruined, stolen from me. That’s when Dennis found me at my weakest. There was a comfort to be in a man’s arms who wanted me. I was broken in so many ways. At least he wanted me for something. Robbie did everything he could to not spend time with me. Not that that makes it right...I never even told him about it. He died before I could muster the strength.”
“I’m so sorry,” Lydia held her hand tight. “What about the woods?”
“Jesus,” Haylee’s knees trembled. “I was late. A miracle, I was pregnant.”
“What?” asked Aaron.
“I took a pregnancy test at home. It was positive. It was Dennis’, I know because Robbie and I hadn’t made love in months. I told my sister, I was panicking. I was in shock. I wanted a baby so badly. I wanted to be a mother, to hold my own child in my arms, to feel that love. What was Dennis going to say? What was Robbie going to do? I just...I broke down. Every day I felt myself losing it, slipping away from reality. Camille told me to getaway. Go see dad, get my head straight. I called him, set up a time to visit. But I never made it. I stayed in my room for two days. I was supposed to leave that weekend. On the second night, my stomach hurt so bad. Like a razor was shredding my insides. It was so painful; I was vomiting blood. Robbie was at work; Camille was out with friends. Everything went black that night. I had no clue how far along I was. I was afraid to go to the doctors. I had told myself I would when I got back home from Ohio after I visited my dad. After I figured out what I was going to do. But I never got to go, blackness. It’s all I remember. When I woke up, I was in the hospital. I was told my sister and Robbie came home, that the door was open. The followed the droplets of blood into the woods. They found me a few yards in. I had dug a hole, naked from the waist down. Blood everywhere, my hands, my crotch.”
“Jesus,” Aaron stood up. He began pacing throughout the room. Haylee avoided his eyes. Was he judging her? Did he hate her for the infidelity? About keeping it a secret?
“I lost the baby, a miscarriage. I crawled into the woods, my mind broke. I spent a week at a psych-ward, being evaluated. They thought I tried to kill myself, that I had slashed my wrists with something. I was able to go home with my sister and Robbie after a while. But it wasn’t like before. Robbie thought the baby was his, even though it couldn’t have been. I think he wasn’t able to come to terms with it. He decided I had been pregnant for longer, forcing it to make sense, I guess. We never spoke of it. I withdrew even more. I was only home a few weeks before I tried to leave for my father’s again. That’s the night when the snowstorm hit. When I returned home...and the madness.”
“Haylee,” Lydia’s voice was soft. Gentle. “Have you told anyone?”
“No, who could I tell?” Haylee managed to keep strong throughout the story. But her stomach was sick with nerves, her eyes thick with tears, and then she let it all go. All of the pain, the suffering, the tears poured down her cheeks. She sobbed. She sobbed harder than she had ever in her life. All the pain she had tried to hide away, tried to swallow down, the confrontation of the events, they spilled it out of her, like a gunshot wound, a gaping hole in her soul.
“I’m a mess,” her words wet with spit. Tears hit her hard, her nose and cheeks red, gasping large gulps of air in-between heart-breaking moans.
“Let it out, purge the toxins from within you,” Lydia pulled Haylee’s head back into her shoulder. She rubbed her back like her mother used to do when she got hurt as a young child. “There, there, darling. Release it all, cry it out.” Her hand rhythmically circled around her shoulders, soothing her.
Haylee breathed hard, tried to collect herself. “After the woods. The dreams started with the creature. The voices went away, the shadows too. All that was left was the visions
of that thing—the dreams with my sister, with Robbie. I see things now too, it’s like, it’s attached to me. I had visions of that Gary man killing the Simmons.”
“I see,” Lydia looked to Aaron. He stood in the corner, pale as a ghost.
“You said you were attacked by a man? The man who supposedly killed Dennis and his wife?
“Yes,” Aaron replied.
“How long ago was this?”
“Yesterday,” He replied.
“Did the man come into this room? Here in Haylee’s apartment?” she asked.
“No, he attacked me in my home. Next door.”
I need to get there. If it was just yesterday, I might be able to pick up on it,” Lydia stood up. “Take me there.”
“We can’t,” Haylee explained, wiping away her tears. “It’s a police crime scene.”
“I don’t care. I need to be as close to the person as possible. This is a must,” Lydia explained.
“Okay, I have my key. Follow me,” Aaron led the way-out apartment and towards his home.
“Let’s find out what we are dealing with Haylee. Follow me.” Lydia held her hand out, helping Haylee to her feet. “Time to conquer our fears. Time to take control of your life.”
“Okay…”
FORTY
Robbie needed to get out of the home. He and Haylee hadn’t stopped arguing since the move, and it had gotten worse since the incident in the woods. He had hoped with the new job, the new home, the proposal, that they would be able to put his infidelity behind them. Start fresh, start new. How stupid was he?
Why had he slept with that girl? He wanted to wish it away. Yet, things would never be the same.
He left the house, a beautiful winter evening, warmer than it should be. Robbie loved the woods. When his mind weighed heavy, he often hiked behind his new home. The forest behind them was a big selling point for Robbie. He’d grown up in the country and missed the isolation. He’d spent a lot of time hiking when he needed to get away from the stress.
He’d found an abandoned shed a ways behind their property, far back deep into the woods. He explored it a few times, wondered about the building, and he assumed it was an old hunting lodge. He was on his way back to the lodge when he came across the area where he and Camille found Haylee a week prior.
The site of her body was mortifying. They found her pantless, blood everywhere, she slumped over within deep hole, it looked to him like a grave. The ground was partially frozen, they think she dug it out with a rock and her fingers. Then she sat in the hole, tore at her wrists, passed out from the loss of blood.
Haylee remembered nothing.
Then, the miscarriage. But how? He was afraid to ask her in her fragile state. Who had she slept with? He played along, acted dumb, let her believe he thought it was his. But he realized the truth, that it couldn’t have been. He stood there, looking down at the shallow looking grave. Tears rolled down his cheeks. Warm, even in the winter air. Where had it all gone wrong?
Of course, the answer was right in front of him. He just didn’t want to admit it.
It went wrong when he met Amanda. A few nights of loveless sex. Pointless, not worth losing Haylee over. But yet it would not go undone. He had excuses, plenty of them—all bullshit.
This was his fault. How could he be angry with her own infidelity? Yet, he was. Bitter, angry, wasn’t even the right word. It was darker than anger. Worse than hate. He despised her. He couldn’t look at her any longer.
He left the hole. Wiped the tears away. Made his way back towards where he’d found the hunter’s lodge.
He heard a rustling from behind him. It startled him. Something following him? He snapped his head back to a thicket of fern trees. There, in the darkness of the wood, about six feet over the ground, hovered two red glowing eyes.
“Jesus…” Robbie whispered to himself.
The eyes, they fascinated him. They called for him, reached out to him. He wasn’t sure how much time passed as he gazed within them. Without his realization, he began making his way towards the eyes. Fear started to creep up. His brain was fighting with itself. Part of him wanted to flee, to turn and run. But his control over his body was limited, and something stronger was egging him forth. He couldn’t overcome the sensation. Why was he walking towards this thing? Jesus, he could smell it, the rank stench of death. It made his stomach retch. The thing’s body came into view. It was skinny, decrepit. Its head large, awkward, bobbing up in down as he approached. Its flesh was dangling from the bone, short antlers protruding from its head.
Robbie would become the first host. His humanity would be ripped from him. Buried, blurred, he would try and fight it at first. He would last longer than the future victims. He would keep it at bay, slowly going mad from the creature’s ethereal connection. It had poisoned him. Soon he would be completely overtaken.
FORTY-ONE
Gary was proud of himself, basking in the joy of the kill. His stomach was full of its fleshy splendor. The old woman was easy prey. He feasted for as long as he could. Once he had his fill, he searched the home.
Tools, he needed tools.
First, he needed to remove her head, keeping the eyes and brains for mother. He found a hand saw in the old woman’s garage. Old tools from a long dead partner. Dust was thick on them. Luckily the saw was still sharp. It proved to get the job done with ease. Next, he found a burlap sack and placed her head into it. Easier to carry, easier to hide.
Mother would be happy.
The sudden rush of blood between his legs made his knees weak. Even better than human flesh was the sweet milk from mother’s teats. He found his mouth salivating at the thought, his cock hardening.
It was both nurturing and sexual. He wanted it more than anything.
Finally, he needed a shower. Not because he cared for hygiene. Gary had to hide in plain sight, and foul odor would draw attention to his presence. His primary instinct was to hunt, kill, feed himself, and mother. He needed to stay undetected. He washed himself of the blood. He found scissors in the bathroom, and with them, he cut his hair as close to the scalp as possible. Next, he found an old razor, shaved himself bald. He searched for her bedroom. Photos of the woman and a man on her dresser. Probably a deceased husband. His clothes still hung in the closet. For how long? It didn’t matter; Gary’s clothes laid soaked in blood on the bathroom floor. He needed a change, and these would suffice. A bit large on his skinny frame, but he found a belt.
Gary left home with his prized possession, her head in the sack. He also found an old hiking bag in the back of the women’s closet. He filled it with tools, hammers, the saw, and other instruments he could hunt with. He would walk along the woods, hidden within its thicket, staying hidden enough from the edge to keep an eye out for people. He would pass a few homes, looking, watching, taking notes on future hunting opportunities.
Gary was eager to make it back to mother. Her hunger resonated deep within him, torturing him like some distant itch. It grew more intense the closer he got to Haylee’s old residence, where he and mother first met. The site of the home meant he was close to their new lair. He knew to turn deeper into the woods, travel north until he came across the isolated hunting lodge.
Haylee’s old home came into view, and to Gary’s surprise, a lone car was parked in the driveway. He stopped mid-track, curious as to the scene unfolding. He bent down, concealing himself further within the woods. He watched eagerly from afar. Someone was inside; someone was lurking around. Gary smiled, his mouth pulled wide, his blood-stained teeth showing. Today was proving to be primed for hunting.
He placed the burlap sack containing the old woman’s head inside a large bush to conceal it. He also grabbed the hammer
and hand saw. He would bring mother two heads to feast from. How lucky he was.
Good boy, he told himself.
He left the thicket of the woods and made his way to the home.
FORTY-TWO
“She is not answering,” Lydia frowned, this was her second phone call in five minutes to her partner, Jeanie. “I don’t understand why she isn’t answering. This isn’t like her at all. She knows to keep in contact during investigations.”
“Maybe she has bad cell service?” Aaron responded. He swiped away the police yellow tape from his doorstep.
“That house was terrible for cell service,” Haylee nodded. “Can we get in trouble for this? It’s still a crime scene, right? Like, is this okay?” she followed Aaron’s lead.
“Perhaps you’re right,” Lydia pushed aside the negative thoughts. “Cell service makes sense,” Jeanie would show up on time after she was done investigating the home.