Sawyerville: Horror Short Stories From Another Earth Vol.3 (4 page)

As quickly as she could, she ran out of the bedroom and toward the closet door just as she heard their front door give in to the crowd's incessant banging. She heard them walk into their hallway as she slid as quietly as she could back into the closet. She locked the closet door from inside and willed herself to be still. It was pitch dark.

Stay calm now, Gail,
she thought.

But she didn't know what else to do.

She was trapped.

Chapter 7 - Moonshine

Gail couldn't call to Pip to get him to push the stairs down, so she simply sat on the bare floor and pointed the rifle at the closet door.

Anything that comes through, just shoot it,
she thought to herself.

She began to listen to the group of people moving about outside. She heard footsteps coming up the stairs, doors being opened and shut, and some furniture being turned over. Some of the people were chuckling and bantering, and one of them was whistling an old tune.

Sweat trickled down the side of Gail's face as she concentrated on keeping the rifle steady. She inhaled and exhaled slowly and as quietly as she could, afraid her mere breath could draw their attention.

Then, she heard someone trying to open the closet door.

"Ooh, I think someone's in here!" It was a young woman's voice.

She braced herself to shoot as soon as the door opened.

But she never got the chance because at that instant, she heard a commotion coming from outside. The person who was trying to open the door had given up and she could hear the woman's footsteps walking away from the closet and going down the stairs.

Gail heard the sound of a moving vehicle that seemed to have entered their front yard. She heard some men shouting, then several gunshots. Her heart skipped a beat as she heard Sheriff Farce's voice.

"Get back! Get back all a' yeh!"

More gunshots. It sounded like three or more guns were being fired. She wanted to come outside, but just before she made the decision, she heard the hatch that led to the attic move. A bit of light from the attic caused her to squint as she looked up.

It was Shaney.

Gail watched her push the stairs down. Her sister's eyes were wide, and Gail saw that she was grinning again.

Gail slid the strap of the rifle through her right arm and began to climb up the attic stairs. Shaney had gone farther back.

"Shaney, wait."

As soon as she entered the attic, she pulled up the stairs again.

The attic had round glass windows with the moonlight flooding in through them. At the far end of the attic, Gail could see Pip lying, face down, on the floor.

"Pip?" she called out softly. No response. Shaney was sitting cross-legged next to Pip. Gail felt a hard lump on her throat as soon as she saw the pool of blood surrounding Pip's thin body.

"No!" she cried. She turned Pip's dead body to face her. She could see that his eyeballs had been gouged out carelessly, and all that was left were gaping, bloody, fleshy holes.

She could barely breathe as she turned to face Shaney, who was rubbing her own eyes vigorously.

"Shaney..." she croaked. "Shaney... Why..."

Shaney stopped rubbing and stared at her. She began to grin again.

"No one leaves..." Shaney said in a singsong voice. "No one should ever leave..." Then she lunged at Gail. Her bloodstained fingers aimed for Gail's eyes, but Gail used the butt of the rifle to push her sister back. She had aimed for Shaney's chest, but it landed on one side of her head, knocking her sister unconscious.

Gail was still sobbing and cradling her sister's head on her lap when she heard Sheriff Farce calling her name from below. She heard someone fumble with the hatch, then pull the attic stairs down. It was strangely quiet now, except for the sound of the sheriff's voice from downstairs along with his officers.

But what made her lift her head up was her pa's voice.

"Gail! Is your sister alright?"

"Pa!" she cried out. "Oh, Pa..." She then wiped her tears from her face with the back of her hand. She lifted her head to say something to her father, but when she saw her pa, she gasped.

In the moonlight, she could clearly see Pa's pale gray eyes staring at her.