FictionPress.com - let the words flow| FictionPress.com - let the words flow |
| Home Just In Communities Forums Beta Readers Dictionary Search | Login Register Extras |
Summary: Death is only the beginning … as far as revenge is concerned.
Rating: Teens
Warnings: Character deaths, slight language, scenes of a mild sexual nature
Author’s Notes: I wrote this story at least a year ago, and my writing has definitely improved since then. I’ve been through and corrected any grammar mistakes and such, but am not 100 happy with the overall quality of the writing. I am a perfectionist though, so it should be good enough for most of you. I intend to someday release a book of short stories, in which this – probably an improved version – will feature, but that will not be for a long time yet. When the book is released, I will delete this from my account.
This started off as an outtake from a story I’m writing professionally. I turned it into a short horror and now it’s completely unrecognisable, so it’s not a spoiler.
Beth’s original name was Sophia, but for some reason I changed it. I can’t remember why, and I can’t be bothered to change it back yet. this accounts for why she has a Hebrew name when she is apparently Italian. I intend to do something about that at some point.
The Long Game
By Alexannah
Beth Timmons turned and buried her head deeper into Nicholas’ neck, breathing in the early morning air. Nick was moving restlessly in his sleep, but she ignored it, keeping her eyes squeezed tight against the bright yellow light streaming through the windows she’d forgotten to close. She knew Nick would have to leave soon, courtesy of her boyfriend Sam, but couldn’t bring herself to ruin the moment.
Nick Sirrell stirred and opened his eyes. A door slammed somewhere.
“Beth! I'm home!”
“Shit!”
Beth and Nick scrambled over each other to get their clothes. Unfortunately, the door opened before Nick could get away.
Sam’s cold grey eyes swept over the scene, from the crumpled bedclothes to their (fortunately covered) bodies.
And he exploded.
The grandfather clock struck the quarter hour, making her jump. She remembered she’d given Kyle a five-minute warning over half an hour ago.
She rapped softly on the cold glass and beckoned him in. His face fell and he began to pick up his toys.
“Beth?”
She yelped as she realised she wasn’t the only one in the room. Nicholas was watching her warily.
“Are you all right?”
She pulled herself together.
“Yes, I’m fine. Really,” she added. Nick was pulling on his jacket, preparing to go out. “I was just thinking how quickly time goes.”
He nodded slowly. “I know what you mean.” He leaned over to kiss her. “Will you be okay while I’m gone? I don’t like leaving you at this time of year …”
“I’ll be okay. I’ll … get Kyle to distract me, play a game or something. You won’t be long.”
“That’s the spirit. Just wanted to make sure, cause if you’re not, I can always work from home …”
“No! You go. I’ll see if I can fix the heating when Kyle’s gone to bed, so you’ll have a nice warm house to come back to.”
“Lovely.”
Nick opened the door and their son sidled into the room, trying (and failing) not to look guilty. His dad laughed at the look on his face and kissed him goodbye.
“Be a good boy for your mother, okay?”
Kyle stuck out his tongue jokingly.
“Very funny. I’ll see you in the morning.” Nick kissed them both one last time and strode out into the hall.
“Beth, have you seen my -”
She handed him his keys.
“Oh. Thanks. See you later!”
“Bye!” they both called.
The door shut and they heard the keys in the lock. Beth turned back to the window. Ten years ago, the police had found Sam’s suicidal body and she and Nick had been hauled in for questioning. The case had been closed when the police had found evidence proving Sam was the murderer of a colleague at work, and his death had been passed off as guilt over his crimes; and Beth, after being charged with hiding police evidence after she’d found out what Sam had done, had moved in with Nick. The old house they’d found was cold, dank and pitifully empty, not to mention falling apart, but it was the best they could do. There was minimum furniture, particularly in the drawing room, so Beth didn’t spend a lot of time in there. The only reason she was there tonight was to think over what the day meant in peace.
“Mum? Are you okay?”
Beth started and shook herself mentally. She was being silly, this manky excuse for a house may give her the creeps, but she was being paranoid. Sam was around no longer, and she’d moved on. The anniversary of his death meant nothing.
“Of course I am, Kyle. Stop worrying.” She leaned over and grabbed him, and he squealed as she tickled him. She kept this up for several minutes, then relaxed her hands and he wriggled out of her grasp and stood up.
“Mum, can I play with you? Please?”
Beth sighed heavily as though she wanted to do something else, but Kyle knew her too well – that sighing meant she was giving in.
“Yay!”
“All right. What do you want to play?”
“You choose!”
“Oh … okay. I choose … hide and seek!”
Kyle grinned; it was a favourite game of his.
“Yeah! You count, I’ll hide!”
Beth brightened at her son’s enthusiasm. “Go on. I’ll count. A hundred far enough?”
“Two hundred!”
“That’ll take all night!” she exclaimed, but gave in, and turned to face the wall. Covering her eyes and began to count.
“One … two … three …”
She blocked at the sound of the floorboards creaking and smiled.
“Eleven … twelve … thirteen …”
The clock caught her off guard, chiming. She dropped her hands and glared at it, then turned back to the wall, and did a double-take.
The time wasn’t half past yet. Barely five minutes could have passed since the last time. She peered up at the hands.
They spelt twenty past. Frowning, she listened to the chiming. It had struck the hour and was now counting the dongs. Thirteen! Beth shuddered. She really was paranoid now, she must have miscounted. But the clock hadn’t gone silent on the thirteenth chime, it was now chiming a sound no other clock she’d heard had done: a cold, sinister tune. It made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. What on earth was happening?
I’m hallucinating, she told herself. She’d been shut in this house too long. Either her imagination was playing tricks on her, or the bloody clock was broken – a much more likely explanation.
A creaking noise grabbed her attention. She froze listening to the silence – the clock had gone quiet. She gathered the noise had come from the hall. Beth hesitated, then opened the nearest door and crossed the threshold.
The front door was open several inches. Beth frowned; she could have sworn Nick had shut the door behind him. Locked it too, she remembered hearing his keys in the lock …
The wind whipped around her, making her cringe. She strode boldly forward and shut the door firmly, drawing the strong bolts across. Maybe the lock was broken too, and the wind had made it swing open.
She turned and walked a few paces.
Crreeaak.
Beth froze, and turned slowly on the spot.
The front door was open about half way. Really starting to feel scared now, Beth banged the door shut again, locked it, drew the bolts and pulled the hall table across behind it.
She turned.
CRASH.
The door had been blown open with such force, the lock and bolts were shattered and the table was in bits against the wall. Beth was now terrified out of her wits. She wasn’t staying here. She grabbed her coat, knocking Kyle’s off in the process.
Kyle. How could she have forgotten? It was obviously him doing all this; he was incredibly bright and always got up to all sorts of tricks nearing Halloween. She replaced the coats and shut the door, staring irritably at the bust lock. Now they’d have to get it replaced – more expenses – and until then they were vulnerable to being burgled.
Remembering their game, she walked back to the drawing room, intent on finding him soon and ending the game quickly so she could give him a piece of her mind. She stopped dead in the doorway. Kyle wasn’t in there, as far as she could tell. There was only one possible hiding place in the room.
She still felt scared. She didn’t know why. Maybe she’d just shut herself in the room and call Nick, asking him to come home. She didn’t know what other tricks her son had planned, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Beth shut both doors, bolted them firmly, and turned to the phone. It wasn’t in its usual place, but lying on the floor beside it. She smiled. So that’s where Kyle was hiding -
He was peering out the keyhole, but the only part of the room he could see was the corner in which the grandfather clock stood. He wondered why his mother had stood staring at it for so long. She’d never liked it, and it hadn’t even been chiming.
A crash in the hall made him start. Mum, he thought. Bet she’s broken something. But something about the crash had scared him. Maybe he should give up waiting and come out. He had an uneasy feeling.
He heard hurried footsteps, and sensed his mum in the doorway. She moved around the room. He could almost feel the nervousness coming from her. Should he show himself?
She turned to face the trunk, and smiled. He could see a corner of her face through the keyhole. She moved forward –
THUD.
Beth let out a little cry and fell to the floor. Kyle was nothing short of terrified now. He put up his hands to lift up the lid, but his mum cried out in Italian for him to stay put. He froze, only more scared. He’d been brought up bilingual, but his mother only spoke her home language to stop anyone else present knowing what she was saying.
Kyle was shaking. Beth was screaming, though with pain or fright, he couldn’t tell. Minutes passed, and then it stopped. He crouched for a while, then lifted the lid.
The room was empty. It showed no sign of a struggle. His mother must’ve escaped to another part of the house –
Then he saw. The doors were locked and bolted – from the inside. The window had been painted shut for as long as he could remember, and was untouched. But somehow, Mum was gone … and so was whoever had been here with her …
The hall table was smashed to bits behind the door. All the doors around it were locked and bolted, including the drawing room.
He forced his way in and stopped. The room was empty, except the blasted grandfather clock and the trunk on which the phone normally lay. The phone, however, was on the floor. He smiled, and reached forwards –
MURDER IN SOUTH KENT HAS POLICE BAFFLED
The former lover of murderer Samuel Oliver was found dead last Saturday, 19th October. Her body was found in the Thames River in London, at just gone nine in the morning. Beth Timmons, 27, was living with her partner Nicholas Sirrell (31) just outside Ramsgate, who was also found dead the night before. The house was clearly broken into, and their only son Kyle, who appeared to be the sole witness to his father’s murder, is still in terrible shock and refusing to speak. Neither victims were financially well off, and friends say the only likely suspect was Timmons's ex-partner Oliver. However, Samuel Oliver took his own life ten years ago the night Sirrell was killed, after his guilt over the death of his colleague …
The fifteen-year-old stopped reading and crumpled the rest of the article. Throwing it into a corner of the room, he left the room without looking back and hurried downstairs, where his family looked up as he entered the kitchen.
“Where’s Dad?” he asked, reaching for the orange juice.
“Still in bed,” the woman at the sink huffed. “Go and drag him out, there’s a dear…”
He left the room and retreated back up the stairs, stopping outside his parent’s room. He could hear the noise of his family chatting downstairs. He thought of the newspaper article and shuddered at the thought of his family being taken. He knocked on the door, and, when there was no answer, turned the handle and entered.
A mangled body lay in the far corner of the room, clearly dead. The boy ran over, screaming for his mother, as he collapsed on his knees next to the body, recognising it immediately.
Something wet dripped on his head. He looked up, and his insides turned to ice.
Written on the ceiling, in a strange red substance, was a chilling message. Kyle Sirrell looked from his foster-father’s body at the words:
THINK YOU’RE SAFE NOW?
FIN
A/N: Please r/r!
