Hid – story

Hid

“Where are they – come on dammit, where did you put them?”

“Ahh…so that’s what this is about? Them?”

“Amy? Amy where are you? Are you here? Amy have you seen your brother? Dave? Dave? I swear, ever since he turned sixteen he’s never around. If he isn’t out in his car he’s in someone else’s. Dave? Amy?”

The house is quiet and dark as she enters, the television strangely mute and dark like the rest of the place. A sound in the kitchen makes her jump and sets her heart racing.

“A…Amy?”

“Where are they you monster? Where did you put them? We know you have them, tell us and you may just get life you piece of shit.”

“Why do you even care? All that’s over with…don’t you want to know what else I did? What I am going to do? Oh, I have so much more to show you, more than you can imagine…”

“He’s fucking with us, throw him back in his cell and let him rot.”

“NO! He knows where our babies are, he knows…”

“Oh yes mommy, I know…”

“Please…”

“I hid them…”

Shaking a little but trying to control it she kicks her heels off and drops her purse and briefcase onto the floor. She turns on the hallway light but nothing happens. Dammit, another fuse. Ever since Dave had gotten his new stereo he’d been blowing fuses left and right with the thing. Well, this time he’d have to go down into the basement to change the fuses. Another sound from the kitchen, something like a sob and she begins to make her way towards the sound. Dave’s car was in the garage so he must be out with one of his friends because if the television wasn’t on, Dave wasn’t home. But where was Amy? The front door’d been unlocked, which was just like Dave but not like Amy so maybe she was up in her room. She and Dave had been fighting, well, a lot over the past few months and it tended to get pretty ugly. She needed to sit them both down and talk to them about it but she never managed to get home early enough or feel well enough to get into it with them. It didn’t help that Dave was different now, darker, quieter, and more secretive about things. And in this corner Amy was more emotional and insecure due to the number thirteen that was waiting for her on her next birthday. The very thought of all of it made her head throb. She passed through the entrance to the kitchen and a cold chill ran down her spine as she heard another sob. A million horror movie clichés ran through her head and she had to fight to keep them under control and to stand her ground.

“Amy?”

She moved forward a step and as soon as her foot touched the linoleum her stocking was soaked through with something thick and sticky. Jesus…what had they spilled in here?

“Shit…real nice kids. Someone spills some pop on the floor and nobody bothers to clean it up. That’s super. Is anyone in here? Amy honey, that you?”

“Mommy…”

“Where are they goddamn you, tell us, tell us!”

“Easy Matthew, remember where you are…”

“This sonofabitch is fucking with us Luke, look at him, he loves this shit.”

“Hmm, the children, now where did I put them? I can’t quite remember, though I don’t know why you’d want to bother with them. They weren’t very fun you know. Not really.”

“You sonof…”

“Please sir, we all know you are a very, very sick man and don’t mean to hurt people so please tell us where our babies are. Please, I am begging you sir. There is still time to help them, to help you.”

“I hid them mother, oh yes, I hid them. And I hid them very, very well. Would you like to know where?”

“Amy honey, is that you baby? Where are you, I can’t see a thing in here. Are you ok?”

“Mommy, I…I made a mess.”

“Well, I found that honey but it’s ok, we’ll clean it up as soon as we can get the lights back on all right? Nothing to get upset over, I was just startled by it and it’s been a really long day for me. Do you happen to know where your brother went?”

“Dave mommy…”

“Dave? What about Dave?”

“It’s Dave mommy…it’s Dave…”

“Honey I don’t, what…what happened to Dave?”

“…I hid your babies mother, I hid them. Would you like to know where I hid them? Would you? It’s a secret you know mother so if you do you’ll have to come a lot closer than that so I can tell you. A lot closer.”

“Jesus, this is fucking madness. Why are we allowing this fucking game to continue?”

“We are letting this ‘fucking’ continue sergeant because he has my children. Let him play his game, just so long as we get our babies back.”

“Mary, no, please don’t…”

“Miss, I know you want to find your children, we all do, but you shouldn’t do this, even if he is restrained. He isn’t safe.”

“No, I’m not safe at all, but I do know where the children are, don’t I mother?”

“He has my children, there’s no other way…”

“Yes, no other way. Now…closer…closer…closer…ok…now I can tell you…”

“Mommy I, I did something bad.”

“What honey, what did you do? What does this have to do with Dave?”

“I hurt him mommy. I hurt Dave.”

“You what? How did you hurt him honey? I don’t understand.”

“He…he touched me mommy. He’s been touching me for a long, long time only tonight he tried to touch me like…like a man. Like a man touches a woman.”

“Oh, oh Jesus…he…he what? He touched you honey? Where?”

“He’s been trying to touch me, and kiss me, and wrestle with me for a long time now mommy. A long time. And I let him ‘cause he said he was just playing. Only tonight he tried to touch me like a man and I…I hurt him.”

“Well, is, is he ok? Is he in his room? I need to talk to him Amy, is he in his room?”

“No…”

“No? Well, did he go out? Where is he honey, we need to find him and sort all this out…I need to…I need…”

“He’s here mommy, he’s here…I’ll show you…”

“I hid them mother, I hid them in the cupboards. You’d never imagine how many itsy-bitsy little pieces they could be cut up into…so many pieces…it’ll take a while to sort them all I would imagine and by then there’ll be others that you will have found that need to be put back together as well. I am surprised you didn’t find them yourselves actually but then you were all so busy looking for me that you may have just not bothered looking where I put them. If you want your children mother, if you really want them they are in your cupboards. I hid them in your cupboards…”

Amy clicks on a small novelty flashlight that’s shaped like a bear and suddenly her mother knows what is all over the floor and all over her daughter. The blood is everywhere. Amy looked like a doll sitting in that blood, naked, a screwdriver held tightly in her left hand.

“Mommy Dave is here…he touched me…he touched me so I hurt him and put him under the sink. Dave’s under the sink mommy. Dave’s under the sink.”

“No, no nonononononononono…”

“He touched me mommy, he touched me…”

And beneath the cupboard comes the slow, wet sound of something moving…

…c…