Family Night (11 page)
Authors: Tim Miller
Epilogue
Allen, Texas Six months later….
Heidi Higgins was late getting home from work. Her husband, David would be working late, so she had plenty of time to start dinner.
She pulled in to the driveway and grabbed her purse from the car. She had called earlier to check on the kids. Kendra, her babysitter said all was well. Kendra had been a great find.
As a senior in high school, Kendra loved coming over right after school to look after the kids. The kids all loved her and she was cheap, so it worked out for everyone. She didn’t know what she would do without her. As she got out of the car, her phone rang. Heidi pushed the “answer” button as she put it to her ear.
“Hello?” She said.
“Hi, Heidi?”
“Yes?”
“This is Mrs. Williams, I’m Kendra’s mom.”
“Oh hi! I’m just getting home, so I’ll have Kendra back to you in a few minutes.”
“Ok. Is everything ok there?”
“As far as I know, why?” Heidi asked.
“Well, Kendra isn’t answering her phone. I’ve been trying for the last half hour or so.”
“Wow, well I haven’t gone inside yet. But I just talked to her like an hour ago.”
“She usually always answers.”
“Ok, well I’m going in the house right now.” Heidi said as she turned the key in the lock. Stepping inside, her nine year old daughter, Candice was on the couch watching TV.
“Hey mom,” Candice said.
“Hey, where’s your brother?”
“He’s not my brother mom.”
“Candice, we talked about this, he’s just as much a part of the family as the rest of us.”
“They’re in his room. Kendra said they were going to play some stupid game.”
“Ok,” Heidi said. “You hear that?” She said into the phone. “I’m sure everything is fine.” She walked to the back. When she opened the door to Johnny’s room, she dropped the phone. Blood was everywhere. There were little blood handprints on the walls, bloody footprints on the floor. Heidi tried to catch her breath as she looked and saw Kendra’s body on the bed.
She had been cut open down the middle of her torso. Her skin
was split open and displayed her ribs and abdominal cavity. Intestines and entrails were strewn about the bed, dangling to the floor. Behind her, Johnny looked up smiling. He was holding a large kitchen knife, his face and arms were covered in blood, and he was chewing.
The End
Special Preview of Tim Miller’s Upcoming Novel
Chapter 1
Robby hated this drive. In their entire trip to and from California, the longest and most boring leg was between San Antonio and El Paso. Hundreds of miles of nothing, not even cell phone reception for much of it. The only radio station that came in was some weird talk radio from God-knows-where. Perhaps being from San Antonio, he was too liberal. But if there was a way to reach in and punch these radio clowns, he would have.
Thank you for joining us on Texas Talk. Now before the break, Burt, you were just explaining your run-in with some spics in the city?
That’s right. Not that there’s any shortage of spics in El Paso, but these ‘uns were a special kind of messed up. They had bandanas on they heads and one had a switch blade. Sumbitch was gonna rob me blind.
That’s no good at all Burt, obviously you made it out ok. Did they rob you then?
Hail no. I had my Colt 1911 on me. I pulled that bad boy out and cocked the hammer back. You shoulda seen them beaners run. You’da thought someone rang the taco bell for ‘em.
Haha! That is great! I tell you Burt, they just keep letting the spics and faggots take over in this here country. I never thought I’d see this here in our great state, but here it is.
“Isn’t there something else to listen to?” Diana asked from the backseat. The four of them weren’t too crowded in the Jeep Wrangler, but the thing rode bumpy as hell.
“This is the only station that comes in,” Robbie explained.
“Don’t you have satellite radio or something?” She whined.
“No, I got my CD’s.”
“No!” Everyone shouted. For a road trip from San Antonio to California and back, Robby had brought a whole four CD’s. Two CD’s were top 40 mixes of songs that had already been overplayed in the last three years. The other two were Tejano music, of which Robby was the only fan among them.
“Just turn it off,” his girlfriend, Misti said as she leaned forward and switched off the knob.
“Oh come on now. What kind of Mexicans are you guys?” Robby asked.
“The kind that don’t like that shit.” Jorge said from the backseat.
“No kidding,” Misti said. “He just started listening to it a few months ago. Some ‘get in touch with his roots’ shit.”
“Whatever.” Robby said.
“Where are we anyway?” Diana asked.
“Somewhere between El Paso and San Antonio. It will be a good, long while before we see much of anything.” Robby explained.
“Is that a house back there?” Jorge said, pointing out the window. Most of them but Robby looked to see a tiny house or shack way up among the rocks and hills. “How do they even get up there?”
“Why? You wanna go visit?” Diana said.
“No way. This area freaks me out. It’s like some Hills Have Eyes shit out here.”
“What’s that?” Diana asked.
“Nevermind,” Jorge said.
“Quit trying to freak me out,” Diana replied.
“No one is freaking out shit.” Jorge answered.
“Cool it lovebirds,” Misti said. “I think we’re all ready to be home. This trip is making us all pissy.”
“I heard that,” Diana said.
“Jorge? Can you drive for a while?” Robby asked.
“Sure, man.” He answered.
Robby pulled the Jeep to the shoulder and climbed out. He’d forgotten how long he’d been sitting in the Jeep’s air conditioning. As soon as he stepped out, the hot blast of humidity hit his lungs like a hammer. It took him a moment to catch his breath. Jorge hopped out of the back seat, walked into the grass along the shoulder and began urinating.
“Jesus Christ dude! You couldn’t wait till we got to a gas station?” Robby said.
“Here’s as good a place as any man. My bladder was about to burst anyway.”
“Yeah yeah.” Robby said.
Misti and Diana had gotten out to stretch their legs as well. Misti was holding up her cell phone playing with it.
“This sucks. I haven’t been able to check my Facebook for hours.” She said.
“Oh God forbid. You might have to talk to…ohh! People!” Robby said waving his hands.
“Shut up, asshole.” She said as she put her phone away. Robby pulled her to him and kissed her.
“Get a room you two,” Diana said. “And I got shotgun.”
“You can have it.” Misti said, as they all climbed back into the Jeep in their new seats. Jorge strapped himself in and pulled back onto the highway.
Coming in 2014
Also by Tim Miller
Hell, Texas (Coming soon)
About the Author
Tim Miller has studied various religions, as well as psychology and has worked in several fields involving the study of human behavior. After serving four years in the U.S. Marines, Tim spent six years working in corrections and social services. He currently lives in San Antonio, Texas with his wife and their children.
Tim became a fan of horror as a teenager. At the age of fourteen he would often read Stephen King books while listening to Iron Maiden on his head phones. He would write short stories to entertain himself and his friends. You can visit Tim's website at
http://timmiller.org
