Most of Me (18 page)

I jolted upright as six o’clock rang out, stretching and disorientated as to where I was. I checked my watch whilst rubbing my blurred eyes. “Its time.” I went down to the basement and rummaged around for a shovel. I’d seen one lying against the hole so I used that. I left it near the rear door entrance and then returned to the hallway and up the stairs. The house was in total silence as if all the children were sleeping, but I knew that wasn’t true. They were watching, and so was the shadow, probably suspicious of me by now. I entered the bedroom and climbed into bed. I inhaled deep meditated breaths, cleared my mind, and thought about where I wanted to be.

There was no waking up on the grass or under the tree like I was expecting. Instead, I was just there, standing randomly on the back lawn with the house looming over my shoulders. It was autumn, and dying leaves littered the grass in shades of brown. I’d hoped for a little sunshine, but the sun was hiding behind grey clouds and set the mood for the work ahead.

I had never seen the rear garden before, but apart from a change in seasons, it was just as pristine as the front. Immaculately well kept given the fact that nobody had taken care of it. The apple tree was in the far corner taunting the house with it’s wavering branches. There were apples clinging onto their last threads of hope, but most were rotting on the grass.

I walked back to the house, leaped up the steps and slowly opened the door. I was expecting the hinges to protest with a squeak, but it opened like any other well-oiled door. I collected the shovel I had left leaning against a shoe rack. As I checked the time, I listened for the children and heard only silence. I knew they must be around. They were watching, as curious as children were. I reset the alarm on my watch, returned to the tree and began to dig.

***

“Where do you think he went this time?” Sam said, as he watched over the sleeping body.

Isabelle crouched by the side of the bed, stroking the hand that hung limp over the side. “Wherever he is, don’t you think he deserves to go?” she responded.

“I just like to know where he goes.” He was hiding his hands in his pockets and looked out of the bedroom window to the front of the house. He let out a
Pff
and threw back his head. “I don’t like it. Father doesn’t, either.” He spun on his heels, looking at his sister as though waiting for an answer.

She looked back at her brother, sticking out her neck in defiance. “Well, I don’t mind. I say let him go. After all, he thinks that he’s taking care of us, when all you want off him is to allow Fathers passing through the mirror.”

Sam placed his hand on Isabelle’s shoulder. “
We
want this, Isabelle. Just you remember that. We are family.”

“Oh…yes…I meant to say
we
.” She reached over for the dark haired doll that Daniel must have placed on the drawers. She patted down the black nylon hair, and then ran her palm down her own hair. She smiled at Daniels body.

Sam stole the doll off her. “Unless you feel different?”

She flinched. “Give it back!”

“What? He gave it to you!” He threw the toy at Daniels. It bounced off his head onto the floor.

She took the doll back, embracing it in her arms like her child. “I like it…its mine.”

“You’re changing, Isabelle. Father won’t like that. You feel different.”

“No…no…I don’t,” she stammered. “Really, I don’t.”

“Because if Father heard your words,” he warned, “you know what would happen?”

“It was a slip of the tongue, Sam.” She got up and walked to the toy box. “Don’t be so silly. And besides, Father is in no state to harm us.” She picked up another doll and straightened up it’s clothing. She peered over her shoulder expecting her brother to be watching her, but his attention was on other issues. She smiled at the toy, dropping back into the box, and carefully lay Daniels gift next to it.

She was different. She did like Daniel, and didn’t want him hurt. She didn’t like lying to him, either. She wanted him to know the truth, but that would mean being punished, or exiled; and that was a far worse outcome. But for the moment, her loyalties belong to her brother.

“He can’t harm us, yet, sister,” he said. “When he’s here, though, there will be change.” He approached the bed with a clear distaste for the body that lay there. “Where are you, Daniel? Where have you gone?” He poked the body in the stomach hard enough to leave a bruise.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “You’ll wake him!”

“Nothing…” He sighed and spat liquid hatred in Daniels face. “I don’t like him,” he confessed. He started to push his finger into Daniels eye.

“Stop! You don’t like anyone, Sam. You didn’t like Carl; you didn’t like Jack, either.”

He shrugged as if he didn’t really care, but retreated his finger. “Because they’re not like us. They reek of humanity, of flesh and bone; their vulnerability it sickens me. They’re all so weak, they make my skin crawl.”

“But they are not so vulnerable, are they? Having contact with three of these human is nothing too go by, is it?” she sniggered. “Your vast experience overwhelms me, brother.”

“Don’t mock me!” he shouted, punching the mattress to the side of Daniels head. He strolled toward her. “When Father arrives, do you know what will happen to you?” He stood behind her. Her head was down looking into the toy box as he twisted her hair around his fingers like a pair of chop sticks.

“I know what will happen to me,” she muttered. “My role here is as clear as the duty given to our sisters. We are to be your mate; to give you child; a product of a pure breed.”

“Yes…of pure breed…the purist of any breed living on this realm. And we shall continue to breed within each other, keeping our blood line pure. We will blend in with society, growing in size, becoming stronger.” He breathed down the nape of her neck as if his lips wanted to caress her skin. Then he tugged back a fist full of her hair, pulling her head backwards.

“Yes, brother,” she tried not to scream out, but couldn’t help herself. She hummed as though making this sound would keep away to tears.

“But you show defiance again, little sister, and I swear to you, I
will
cast you aside, and I
will
kill you myself.”

She fought back beads of wet that were threatening to fall from her eyes. She needed Sam to leave so she could be alone. She kept humming, fighting away those tears. “I understand, brother.”

The twin sisters emerged through the wall. She left twin frowned, looking worried over her sister. The right twin went over to Sam and whispered words in his ear that seemed to shock him.

He glanced over at Daniel. “Are you sure?”

She said, “We don’t know; we can’t see him, but we can hear something from the kitchen.”

“Something?”

“Outside…in the garden,” the twin confirmed, and she turned to Isabelle in distaste.

Sam looked at Isabelle. “You hear that, sister? Apparently, your Daniel is in the garden.”

She shook her head helplessly. “He’s not my…”

“And why do you suppose,” he broke in, “he is out there? Could you tell me that!”

Isabelle couldn’t answer, but reached back for the dark hair doll, more as a distraction.

“Sister?” He waited for a response and was angry when it never came. “
Isabelle!
” he shouted.

She was nearly sent out of her skin, and the doll crashed into the box. But she refused to turn around. She was terrified of him, and even though he couldn’t harm her now, she knew that as soon as her Father passed through the mirror, this would change.

“What did he tell you? He must have said something…anything.”

She acted as if she was recalling what he had said. She cocked her head to the side as if by thinking. “
Erm
…no…I don’t remember. I promise, Sam…nothing. I would say…I would tell you.” She looked at him. “Please believe me,” she persisted.

He approached her, played with her hair again, like a mother would with her daughter. He caressed brown strands tucking them behind her ears, judging her as he did. “I believe in you.” His fingers squeezed her chin and he moved it so they faced each other. He kissed her on her tightly closed lips. “I believe in you, sister. I really do.” He pushed her away like a lover who had been betrayed. He returned to the body lying limp on the bed. “But, surely there are more interesting places to visit than the back of the house. So, what are you doing in the garden, Daniel? What are you playing at? If only I could step out and see for myself, but you know I can’t; you know I can’t follow you.” Then, he stepped away from the bed as though he had figured out his reasons, and glanced at the twins. “He knows.”

The twin stare at each other, confused.

“He’s digging; he’s trying to find the bodies.”

The twins said in unison, “But…there are none,” a monotone sound that was neither aggressive nor evil, but could chill the skin and bone just by listening.

“I know,” he confirmed. “And once he realises that also, he will know that we have lied to him. And with the lie, we lose his trust.” He looked satisfied at Isabelle.

“Isabelle? You know what that means, don’t you?”

The twins glided smoothly over to the foot bed as if they floated and didn’t walk, and each of them produced a nine inch long carving knife that dropped from their white cotton sleeves. The left twin went around the left side of the bed and the right twin went to the right side. They stared each other in the face, smirking as if they would really enjoy participating in what was about unfold. They patiently awaited for their brothers instructions like animals ready to pounce on their prey.

Isabelle didn’t want him to die; she
really
did not want him to die. But what could she do? Showing no remorse, she said, “If there is no other way, then it has to be done.” She turned her back on them. She didn’t want to see the murder; she didn’t want to hear it, either, but at least he was sleeping and would feel no pain. “No…wait!” She spun around. “Is there no other way?”

“None that I can see,” Sam grinned. “It’s all over, sister. We need to make plans and move on to the next candidate.”

“But Daniel can do this,” she urged. “He will pull through. It will take too long to select another. You know that, brother. And Father will be displeased. He will not like it!”

“But he will no longer trust us; how can we continue if its broken.”

“Bridges are built, we just need to work hard to rebuild them.”

“I’m not so sure…perhaps it is you who are compromised,” Sam said.

“Thats a ridiculous accusation,” Isabelle yelled, possibly in an attempt to wake Daniel, or perhaps to alert him from the garden.

He leered at her before turning to the twins. He told them, “Continue,” and at the same time they raised their knives above their heads and thrust them into Daniels chest, again and again, slicing through with unusual ease considering it was children executing this crime. But they were no ordinary minors. They were the Devils children, and although they were minors physically and in strength, mentally, they were different. They showed signs of rage that shouldn’t be received from children of that age. The blades sliced through his flesh and hit bone, and they resumed stabbing him like a factory production line, slicing clothes and puncturing his stomach, breaking his ribs, striking his pelvis with a crack. Blood flowed into the sheets underneath, bubbling from wounds that resembled fish guiles. And still, the twinned attacked Daniels body with so much anger, Isabelle pleaded for them to stop. They did, panting at the mess beneath them. They stared down on it as if they were making a mental recording, proud of their work. They moved to his face, one of the twin drawing lines of crimson down his pale cheeks with the back of the blade. They looked at one another, nodded courteously, and still recovering from the first attack, they thrust the blades into his face, slicing through his jaw and striking his neck and skull.

Isabelle gulped as if she was about to vomit, and appeared to swallow it down.

“Thats enough,” Sam instructed, holding up his hand.

The twins were delirious, and continued to execute Daniel.

“Sisters!” he shouted. “
Sisters, enough!
” And he pounced forward, ready to push them away from the body.

They stopped, looked up at Sam, and angrily parked the knives into his chest cavity, and stepped away from the bed. Their white dresses were mostly red, blood splattered and speared across their faces.

Skin hung from his torso like raw bacon and merged with the shredded sheets until it was hard to make out which was which. His wounds like open mouths spoke of the pain he would have felt if he was awake.

Isabelle battled to keep back her tears, but she tried not to show signs of weakness, and perhaps vulnerabilities over Daniel. But he was dead. There was no doubt about it. No one could survive that level of attack, loose that much blood, and still wake from his sleep.

Sam approached the bed, studied the lacerated corpse, and looked up at the twins in horror. He had to step away, because it was too much. He glanced at Isabelle as though he was somehow sorry for his actions; she ignored him and left the room through the door.

“Well…its over,” he muttered as if it was only meant for him. His forehead was cold and clammy. He patted it with the back of his hand and sighed, briefly losing his balance before disappearing through the wall.

The twins grinned at Daniel, relishing blood from their hands and fingers. They watched the body a little longer, listened to the blood bubbling from his wounds, before following Sam through the wall.

***

I checked my watched. I had only fifteen minutes remaining until the alarm shouted it’s warning. I heard something from the house about twenty minute ago. I don’t know what it was, but I wasn’t too concerned. I feel the sun getting warmer; I feel it on my face, but I feel cold inside and start to shiver as though flu is tip toeing into my immune system.