Hillary_Flesh and Blood (28 page)

“
Still thirsty?
”
Hillary asked sarcastically as she emptied the remaining water over Caleigh
’
s scalp.

Caleigh was in too much pain to respond. She felt feverish a
s she
pictured her head smoking like embers. She wondered just how hideous she must look, between the slashes on her face, her broken nose and now the burns. She knew that within hours, she would have blisters on her already-injured face. The flesh over her cheeks felt tight and tingly. It was a most pestering feeling, far more bothersome than an itch that could not be scratched. It only added to her lengthy list of woes.

“
How
’
re you feelin
’
now, Lee Lee? I brought my camera...say cheese....
”

Hillary took a few steps back then snapped a couple shots of her sister suffering in misery. She looked like a freak from a horror movie.

“
Should I call Andy? Should I show him these great pictures?
”

Caleigh moaned in pain, her
diminish
ed will to live dwindling fast.

“
I hate when you ignore me,
”
Hillary shouted,
“
can
’
t you just talk to me?
”

Hillary stepped forward, leaned down and grabbed her sister by her hair.

“
Look how pretty you look,
”
Hillary said, shoving the camera in front of Caleigh
’
s face with her other hand.

Caleigh kept her eyes shut. The last thing she wanted to do was see how awful she looked.

“
I said
look,
”
Hillary shouted, yanking her sister
’
s hair hard enough to make her grimace.

Caleigh groaned loudly as she opened her eyes slowly. She squinted to make out the image. It was hardly recognizable as a human face. A horrified sound escaped her mouth as tears rolled down her face, renewing the agony from her cuts and burns. She was a monster. A paralyzed, orphaned, terrified, suffering monster who wanted nothing more than to die. She knew it would do no good, but she couldn
’
t help herself...she begged Hillary to kill her. Hillary
’
s cold and callous laughter matched her
sister’s
face
—
a hideously monstrous laughter that made Caleigh
’
s stomach lurch.

“
Not yet,
”
Hillary whispered eerily,
“
I still have some time to play.
”

While Caleigh screamed in pain, Hillary played for another half an hour, introducing
Caleigh
to unimaginable levels of pain until her sister could no longer tolerate it. Caleigh
’s
eyes rolled up behind her eyelids as her head lolled forward. Hillary placed her head to her sister
’
s chest to make sure that she was still alive. She was pleased to feel the shallow heaving, pleased to know that her fun was only temporarily suspended. She would be back as soon as she could to play some more.

Hillary slowly flipped the tape over to cove
r
Caleigh
’
s mouth. She cursed aloud when she discovered that it would not stick on
so
well. It had gotten wet from the water she had poured over Caleigh
’
s head. She didn
’
t have any more duct tape. Without it, Caleigh would surely scream and get their mother
’
s attention.

Cursing under her breath, Hillary held the tape firmly down over Caleigh
’
s mouth for several seconds. It just had to stick. She pressed her hand on it, swiping it from left to right. It seemed to stay, but Hillary knew any slight movement of Caleigh
’
s mouth would send it flapping off to the side. She hope
d
that Caleigh wouldn
’
t notice the difference. If she thought her mouth was properly taped, she wouldn
’
t waste her time screaming. Besides, who would she yell for? She believed that her mother and brother w
ere both
dead and
she
knew for sure that her father was dead. That left only
her big sister
. Would she really want to call out for Hillary?

Feeling confident,
Hillary properly concealed Caleigh’s body then
gra
bbed her camera and the mug on her way out.
She walked up the basement stairs, closing the creaky door behind her. She walked into the kitchen, placed the mug into the sink then grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator. Torturing Caleigh had made her thirsty. As the cold, wet liquid made its way down her throat, Hillary thought about her sister
’
s dry lips.

Poor thirsty Caleigh,
she thought facetiously, as she chugged the rest of the water from the bottle.

She wants to play some more,
the voice whispered to her.

Hillary nodded. Tomorrow would be a new day full of more fun and games with Caleigh.

She walked over to the butcher block and pulled out one of the remaining knives. She carried it with her as she walked up to her bedroom, thinking about all of the fun she would have with her sister. She couldn
’
t wait for her mother to go back to work. She had
some
work to do, too. She didn
’
t have any tape left and she had to make sure Caleigh didn
’
t scream for help. She looked down at the knife in her hand. It was small, but it would serve it
s
purpose.

Cut it off....

“
Yes,
”
Hillary said, m
esmerized by visions of her
cutting out Caleigh
’
s tongue.
“
Yesssss,
”
she repeated, stretching the word to sound like a snake. Tomorrow she would take her sister
’
s tongue. She knew just what to do with it.

~11~

Hillary was none too happy the next morning when she learned that her mother had taken the remaining two days of the week off. Not only would she be around, but Joshua would be there too. Her mother saw no reason to take him to nursery school since she would be home to care for him.

“
I don
’
t understand why you have to take the time off,
”
Hillary whined.

“
Hillary, your father and sister are gone. Do you think I
’
ve accepted that? That I
’
m fine with that? I can
’
t even think straight. There
’
s no way I can focus on work right now.
”

“
But it
’
ll be a good distraction,
”
she argued,
“
if you stay here, you
’
ll just drive yourself crazy thinking about it.
”

“
Nope, I feel like I need to be here, to stay close to the phone.
”

“
Why? If they were going to call, they
’
d just call your cell phone.
”

“
Why are you so against me being here?
”

“
Because it
’
s not good for you.
”

“
I can
’
t help but feel that there
’
s something going on with you...that you
’
re hiding something from me.
”

“
See what I mean,
”
Hillary said with a sigh,
“
you have too much time on your hands here
—
you overanalyze things.
”

“
Hillary, did you...are you being completely honest with me?
”

“
Of course I am...I
’
m not hiding anything. You
’
re just being paranoid. Maybe you need
to
catch up on your sleep, you don
’
t look so good.
”

Kathy stared at her daughter trying to determine if she were being sincere. She felt so unsure of everything. Yet Hillary was definite
l
y right in one regard, she was seriously sleep-deprived. She got even less sleep last night than the night before. Her mind raced as if she had overdosed on stimulants like a methamphetamine addict. Not only did it show in the dark circles under her eyes, but in her attitude as well. She was irritable and high-strung. She had snapped at Joshua earlier just for repeating his request for milk. She didn
’
t know how much longer she could continue this way. She was at her breaking point.

“
I
’
ll be just as distracted here. I have tons of housework to catch up on.
”

“
Really, Mom, is this the best time to take off? Now that we don
’
t have Dad
’
s paycheck
—”

“
I don
’
t want to talk about it, Hillary,
”
Kathy interrupted, raising her voice.

She couldn
’
t think of Michael, of where he was, of what might have happened to him. She had his cell phone with hers. He had gotten a
nother
call from him boss earlier that morning. Wherever he was, he was not reporting to work.

Hillary knew it was futile to try to persuade her mother to return to work. She could tell by her mother
’
s atypical demeanor that she was completely stressed out and would not budge. She didn
’
t want to push her too far and make her do something foolish, like call the police. So far, she was still within Hillary
’
s control. Everything was relatively peaceful. It wasn
’
t time to rock the boat. She didn
’
t want to have to obey the voice of reason, to do what it said to do. She wasn
’
t ready to go that far yet. But if her mother got out of control, if her mother forced her hand, well...she would have to do what she had to do.... In the meantime, she would just have to figure out a way to work around her. Somehow.

The day dragged on. Hillary had hoped that her mother would leave to go shopping or to the library or anywhere, just to give her a chance to check on Caleigh. It was nearly a full twenty-four hours since she had last visited her in t
h
e basement. She wondered how her sister was doing and whether the duct tape was still covering her mouth. What would she do if she started screaming? Maybe she wouldn
’
t scream for her mother, since she believed she was dead, but she might still cry out for food or water. Hillary knew she had to think of something.

Dinner consisted of a tossed salad and spaghetti. Hillary hated pasta. She wondered whether her mother had purposefully prepared it to spite her. She frowned as she ate it slowly. Joshua loved spaghetti, even if he still couldn
’
t pronounce it. He ate everything on his plate
—
making a huge mess in the process
—
then asked for more
‘
skegetti.
’

Hillary eyed him with disgust. He was a miniature version of her nasty father. The sound he made slurping up the long strands reminded her of the sound her father
’
s lips made when
he
anxiously and noisily kissed and sucked her various body parts. Thinking of him made her shudder as if she
’
d stepped out into the snow without any clothing. Her right hand trembled slightly as she held the fork. She fought the urge to plunge the stainless steel prongs into her brother
’
s throat.

“
Hide and seek?
”
he asked her with a mouth full of fo
od when he noticed her staring at him.

“
Soon,
”
she hissed, looking away from him quickly and down at the food left on her plate.

“
Where Daddy go
ed
?
”
he asked Kathy.

“
I don
’
t know, sweetie,
”
she replied sadly.

“
I want Daddy!
”
he complained, throwing his little fork on his plate.

“
He
’
ll be back soon,
”
Kathy promised, trying to soothe him.

Hillary scowled.
“
Yeah, right,
”
she said under her breath.

“
When?
”
Joshua pestered.

“
Soon.
”

“
With Lee Lee?
”

“
With Lee Lee,
”
Kathy said, nodding.

“
With Storm?
”

Kathy
’
s eyes narrowed at the mention of Storm. With everything going on, she had forgotten about the dog. She was the love of Michael
’
s life. Surely he wouldn
’
t just take off and leave her behind. It was too late to call the animal center now, but she would
try calling
them in the morning
to
see if Storm was still there.

“
Maybe,
”
she said doubtfully.

“
I want Daddy!
”
Joshua yelled, banging his little fist on
the
edge of his plate. The plate tilted and tipped over on his chest.

“
Joshua!
”
Kathy shouted angrily, rising from her seat. Joshua broke out in tears and began crying heavily. Kathy roughly grabbed a hold of Joshua and lifted him out of his chair. Holding him away from her to avoid getting spaghetti on her clothes, Kathy quickly carried him upstairs as she scolded him harshly. Hillary heard at least two expletives over Joshua
’
s cries.

Good for him,
she thought coldly,
but more importantly, good for me....

Her opportunity had finally come. While her mother was giving Joshua a bath, she would have a few minutes to sneak downstairs and check on Caleigh. She still wouldn
’
t be able to carry out her plans, but at least she could make sure that she was alive and miserable and quiet.

Without wasting a second more, Hillary raced down to the basement. Caleigh
’
s eyes opened when she heard the basement door creak open. She was instantly filled with dread and terror not knowing what horrors Hillary had in store for her. Though she
had grown
hungry and
was still so
thirsty, she hadn
’
t dared to call for Hillary during the long hours in her absence. She prefe
r
red being left alone and forgotten to being tortured by her insane sister.

The first thing Hillary noticed as she walked over to Caleigh was the smell. Her heart skipped a beat as she feared that her sister had died. Yet it wasn
’
t the same smell that had invaded her room when her father
’
s body had been left in her closet. This was a more famil
iar smell. It was n
asty and foul, unmistakable. It was the smell of feces.

Hillary shoved a container out of her way for easier access to her sister. As she hovered over Caleigh, she plugged her nose.

“
Yuck, Caleigh, what did you do? Did you shit your pants?
”

Caleigh didn
’
t reply, but she didn
’
t have to, it was obvious enough.
Caleigh
was lying in a puddle of her own filth, both feces and urine.

“
What am I going to do with you?
”
Hillary said quietly, annoyed.

Hillary waved her hand in front of her nose, fanning the air. She could tolerate the stench of death
—
her own handiwork, but Caleigh
’
s human waste was another story.

There was no time to clean up Caleigh
’
s mess before her mother was done bathing Joshua. Hillary exhaled deeply as she thought about her mother entering the basement to do the laundry. Surely she would smell the stench of crap and investigate the source. Hillary had to think of a way to keep her out of the basement. But how? She knew her mother well enough to know that she would wash Joshua
’
s clothing now that his shirt was covered in spaghetti sauce. She
’
d be on her way down to the washing machine minutes after giving Joshua his bath.

“
Well?
”
Hillary said aloud, seeking suggestions from the voice of reason, her savior.

The voice was silent.

Caleigh, believing that Hillary was
talking to her, bega
n muttering something.

Hillary slowly pulled back the duct tape, leaving the left side hanging over Caleigh
’
s mouth.

“
I couldn
’
t help it,
”
Caleigh said softly, afraid that Hillary would lash out.

“
You
’
ve been nothing but a thorn in my side,
”
Hillary replied bitterly,
“
I should have just killed you.
”

“
Then kill me,
”
Caleigh said sadly.

“
You wish,
”
Hillary spat,
“
I
’
m not done with you yet.
”

“
I
’
ll die anyway, on my own.
”

“
That
’
s what
you
think...you
’
ll die when I let you die, and it won
’
t be
painless
.
”