Thomas stared at the door. He wanted to open it. He wanted to run.
He stepped across the red pool, reached for the knob, but couldn’t touch it. His fingers hovered an inch away. Open it!
Thomas gripped the knob carefully, terrified that whatever was on the other side of the door might try to hold it closed. He slowly pulled open the door.
Kevin fell out, collapsing in a lifeless heap at Thomas’s feet, his dead arms thrown around Thomas’s legs.
His throat was slashed, his head lolling on white bone; the horrible second smile was locked in silent laughter.
His eyes were open.
Thomas screamed.
JENNIFER
Jennifer listened at her door, pressing her ear to the cold wood, hoping to hear Kevin return. He only had to go down the hall to reach Thomas, but he was taking so long that she feared Mars or Dennis had interfered. Her stomach knotted and she pressed her fists into her belly in a useless attempt to make it stop. The knife hidden in the waist of her pants pricked her skin, making her gasp. She rearranged the blade to make it more comfortable.
The hall outside her door creaked.
Kevin!
She heard the nail being pulled from the doorjamb. She was excited and happy and ready to run. She wanted to see her father again! She wanted to hug Thomas so tight that he squirmed! She wanted her Mommy!
The door swung open, and Mars stepped inside, tall, wide, and massive as a bear. She jumped back so fast that she almost fell.
His smile made her think of bad boys burning ants. He said, “Were you expecting someone else?” She backed away from the door, wishing that Kevin would come back right now because Mars was so awful and gross. She forced herself to meet his eyes without looking away.
“I’m not expecting anyone except the police.” Mars nodded agreeably.
“They’ll be here soon. You probably don’t have long to wait.”
She cursed her smart mouth; she didn’t like anything he said or how he said it or his expressions. She just wanted him to leave.
Mars stepped into the room and pushed the door shut. He held the big nail that they used to wedge the door. He tapped it absently on his leg, tap-tap, tap-tap. Jennifer didn’t like that he closed the door. She didn’t like that he tapped the nail. She crossed her arms protectively over her breasts.
“What do you want?”
Mars watched her with bright nervous eyes that didn’t match with his slack-jawed expression. It was as if he wasn’t in the room with her, but was on the other side of a glass wall, here but not here, outside looking in, in his own horrible world.
“What do you want?”
“Kevin left without you.”
She felt herself flush. Her arms tightened so fiercely that her nails dug into her flesh, and she wanted to scream.
“He wanted me to tell you. He thought about it and decided it was just too risky to sneak past Dennis with you and your brother, so he went by himself. He said to tell you he was sorry.”
Jennifer shook her head, not knowing what was real and what wasn’t, what he knew or what he didn’t, or if her only hope of getting out of here had slipped out the door without her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mars came closer.
“No? Well, it doesn’t matter. All the lights are almost off.”
“What are you talking about?”
Mars seemed to grow as he got closer, filling the room. Jennifer backed away.
“Good boys turn off the lights so that no one can see them doing bad things in the dark. My mother told me that.”
Jennifer’s rear end bumped into her desk. She had gone as far as she could and now Mars was very close. He touched the nail to her chest, tap-tap.
“Don’t touch me.”
Tap-tap.
“Stop it.”
Tap.
“Kevin’s gone. Dennis is gone. Your father is gone. The little fat boy, he’s gone, too. Now we can have fun.”
He pressed the nail onto her chest, a steady pressure that hurt but did not break her skin. Jennifer tried to lean away, but there was nowhere to go. Mars raked the nail slowly down between her breasts. Jennifer stared into his eyes, watching him watch her, her vision blurred with tears. His eyes were black pools, their surface rippled by secret winds. He knew he was doing something bad; he knew he was being naughty. He didn’t watch the nail; she sensed that his pleasure came in seeing her fear. Jennifer slid her hand down along her belly. She worked her fingers beneath the waist of her pants, searching for the knife. He pushed the nail harder. He was breathing harder. She wanted to scream.
“Do you like this?”
Jennifer jerked the knife free and stabbed, striking out blindly, trying to force him away. The stiff short blade struck something hard. Mars grunted in surprised pain, like a dog coughing, as they both looked down. The knife was buried high on his chest in his left shoulder.
Mars whimpered, a pathetic moan, his face knotted with pain.
Jennifer pushed at him, screaming, trying to get away, but he didn’t move. He grabbed her throat, squeezing hard, pressing his hips into hers to pin her to the desk.
He grabbed the knife with his free hand, whimpered again, then pulled out the blade. A crimson flower blossomed from the wound.
He looked back into her eyes, then brought the knife to her face. He squeezed harder, cutting off her breath.
“You’re going to enjoy this.”
Jennifer felt herself fainting.
DENNIS
The scream from the rear of the house cut through the alcohol, surprising Dennis more than startling him. It was high-pitched like a girl shrieking, followed by bumping, slamming noises that came from the far side of the kitchen near the garage. Dennis pulled out his gun, shouting.
“What the fuck was that? Who is that?”
It couldn’t be Mars, who had just left, or the two kids, who were both upstairs unless that chickenshit Kevin had taken them. Maybe Kevin had returned.
“Kev? Is that you, you asshole?”
Dennis turned on his flashlight and swept the light beam across the kitchen. No one answered and nothing moved.
“Goddamnit, who’s there?”
No one answered.
Dennis flashed the light toward the French doors, paranoid with the notion that the police were tricking him.
“Talley?”
Nothing.
Dennis pushed the gun ahead of him and eased through the kitchen toward the garage.
“Is that you, fat boy?”
Nothing.
“Kevin, if that’s you, say something, goddamnit. Mars said you left.” Nothing.
Dennis stepped into the pantry, shining the light through into the laundry room beyond. The floor was covered with a growing red stain that oozed toward him. Dennis frowned, not understanding. He took a step closer, then another. He saw his brother on the floor. Dennis lowered the gun, and straightened.
“Kevin, what the fuck? Get up.”
A deep trembling started at his center, filling him, growing until his entire body shook and the light beam danced mindlessly around the small room.
“Kevin, get up.”
Dennis walked on mile-long legs without feeling. It was hard to keep his balance. He stopped at the edge of the pool of blood and shined the light on his brother. He saw the open neck, the grotesque white bone within the flesh, the wide, staring eyes. Dennis turned off the light.
The fat boy and the girl could not have done this.
Mars.
Mars lied.
Mars killed Kevin.
Dennis backed out of the pantry into the kitchen, then ran for the stairs.
“Mars!”
He took the stairs two at a time, intent only on finding Mars, killing him. Halfway up, he heard the girl scream.
“MARS!”
Dennis slammed into the girl’s door, shoving it open so hard that it crashed against the wall. Mars had the girl by her throat, pinned against her desk. Dennis aimed his gun.