Hillary_Flesh and Blood (33 page)

“
No one ever believes me,
”
she said, with a hint of sadness in her voice,
“
why doesn
’
t anyone ever believe me?
”

“
It
’
s not too late,
”
Caleigh pleaded,
“
no one would blame you, you
’
ve been through a lot...you could
—”

“
No!
”
Hillary shouted angrily,
“
it
is
too late, they
’
d put me in jail for the rest of my life. I
’
m never gonna let that happen.
”

“
We could tell them it was someone else, say it was a burglar,
”
Caleigh said desperately.

Don
’
t listen to her, she
’
s a filt
h
y liar...she
’
d be the first one to testify against you....

“
You hate me, remember? You wouldn
’
t help me.
”

“
Yes I would, Hillary,
”
Caleigh cried
impulsively
,
“
I swear...I swear to God!
”

“
There is no God!
”
Hillary shouted, wiping away the stray
lone
tear
that snuck down her cheek
. In a huff she reached over to Caleigh and placed the tape back over her mouth. It flapped back down. Hillary tried again to secure the moistened piece of tape over Caleigh
’
s mouth. It refused to stay put.

Panicking, Hillary ran back upstairs. She had to find some other kind of tape to use. She left the basement door ajar. She could hear Caleigh
’
s wailing clearly from the hall. She ran up to her bedroo
m. She knew she had some tape
in one of her computer desk drawers. She searched through the draws quickly until she found a roll of masking tape. She knew it was nowhere near as strong as the duct tape, but it would have to do.

Leaving her desk drawers open, Hillary sprinted to the basement with the tape. Caleigh was still screaming and hollering. Hillary flipped the dangling piece of duct tape over Caleigh
’
s mouth and used the masking tape to secure it in place. She tore off multiple strips to reinforce the duct tape. By the time she was don
e,
every inch of the duct tape was covered and Caleigh
’
s noise was reduced to her familiar muffled whining.

Hillary exhaled deeply. It was an exhausting hour. She looked down at her shaky hands. She felt dizzy and nauseous. Was she getting sick? Had she tempted fate with her lie? She quickly placed the quilt over Caleigh and walked slowly upstairs. She sat on the couch to catch he
r
breath. Something was definitely wrong with her. She felt a sudden urge to vomit and barely made it to the bathroom in time to puke up her breakfast.

Maybe it
’
s just nerves,
she thought.

She had certainly been under a great deal of stress. She rinsed her mouth and slowly walked to the couch. She curled up on the cushions and fell asleep. The next thing she knew, her mother was hovering above her with her hand on her forehead.

“
Are you all right, sweetie? You
’
re not feverish, that
’
s a good thing.
”

Hillary stretched.

“
I must have dozed off,
”
she said and yawned,
“
I felt awful a little while ago, I threw up, but I feel
okay
now.
”

“
Maybe we shouldn
’
t push it,
”
Kathy said,
“
we can have it tomorrow instead.
”

“
No, I
’
m okay now, really. Let
’
s get everything ready, I
’
m starving.
”

Hillary stood up and grabbed one of the bags from her mother
’
s hand. She walked into the kitchen with Kathy and Joshua following behind her.

“
Did you get the cream soda?
”

“
Yep,
”
Kathy replied,
“
and some ginger ale too...just in case.
”

After Hillary and Kathy prepared the sandwiches, they packed everything in a picnic tote bag.
Kathy placed the drinks in a small, insulated
cooler
. She
grabbed extra napkins
and tossed them into the picnic tote
.

“
I think we
’
re all set,
”
she said.

“
Yay
…
picnic!
”
Joshua cheered on merrily as he clapped his
little
hands.

T
wenty
minutes later, the three of them were walking down the road toward the wooded area. Just before the
alcove
in the woods where Hillary had stashed the bags full of her father
’
s body parts, the path branched off to the right.

“
God, it stinks!
”
Kathy said, frowning.

“Yuck
y
,
stinky!
”
Joshua added.

“
Let
’
s go over here,
”
Hillary suggested, leading them down the path to the right.

The foul smell seemed to follow them down the
trail
.

“
Maybe we should go down a different path,
”
Kathy
suggested
, covering her nose.

“
Yucky, Mommy,
”
Joshua whined,
“
yuck!
”

“
It should be okay further down,
”
Hillary said, guiding them deeper into the woods.

The smell was pervasive and rank and
familiar
.
Kathy knew that smell. It was the same smell from Hillary
’
s room, just more
prominent
now.

A few feet ahead of her, Hillary stopped. Her heart pounded heavily within her chest.
Damn wild animals,
she thought. She knew that she should have just turned back, agreed with her mother that they should take a different path and be on their way. But it was too late now. Kathy and Joshua caught up to her.

“
What
’
s wrong, why did you
—”

“
Mommy, what
’
s that?
”
Joshua cried, clinging to his mother
’
s leg
fearfully
.

Kathy eyed the pile of bloodied, maggot-covered flesh on the ground in front of them. Her eyes were wide and full of disgust.

“
That explains the smell,
”
Hillary said, trying to sound nonchalant,
“
it
’
s just a dead animal.
”

“
What kind of dead animal is
that?
”
Kathy questioned.

“
Who knows? Well let
’
s not do an autopsy! Let
’
s get out of here.
”

Hillary cursed the animals that had t
orn into the g
a
r
bage bags and dragged her father
’
s remains out in
to
the open. She walked around the decaying flesh, grateful that there wasn
’
t anything in the pile that could be identifiable as human remains, or worse, her father.

“
No!
”
Joshua cried out, too afraid to step past the putrid pile.

“
C
’
mon Joshua, just walk,
”
Hillary shouted as she looked back to make sure that her mother and brother were still following her.

“
Hillary, maybe we should find another spot,
”
Kathy said, as she lifted Joshua into her arms. He was covering his nose and whining.

“
That
’
s what I
’
m doing, Mom,
”
Hillary said in frustration,
“
come on, we
’
ll find a spot up ahead.
”

“
But it still stinks so
awful
,
”
Kathy said as she looked down at
a large section
of Michael
’
s rotting thigh, amongst other parts. She opened her mouth in shock when she noticed course hairs on
the grey-tinged epidermal layer
of the flesh. It was clearly no animal. It was part of a
human.

Kathy gasped and thought,
Michael!
She began trembling.

“
What
’
s wrong, Mom?
”
Hillary asked sternly, her voice taking on a distinct edge.

“
I
—
I think I caught your stomach bug,
”
she said with a soft, nervous chuckle, as she stepped back,
“
I have to get back to the house.
”

Kathy turned and started to make her way back toward the house.

Shit!
Hillary thought, fearful that her mother had seen something damning.

“
Wait, Mom!
”
she yelled, as she turned and started walking to her mother. She paused momentarily to inspect the mound of maggot meat. Sh
e
didn
’
t notice anything that would cause alarm, other than the overwhelming stench. Maybe it had just turned her mother
’
s stomach. Yet, she knew her mother well enough to know that she was scared. Somehow she knew...she knew that it was part of her husband lying there on the dirt path.

“
Wait,
”
Hillary repeated as she jogged to catch up to Kathy.

Kathy continued to rush toward home. There were tears in her eyes. Hillary raced ahead of her and stopped, blocking her way.

“
What
’
s the matter, Mom?
”
Hillary demanded.

It was all too much for Kathy to process. She leaned forward, practically dropping Joshua to the ground, and threw up. Joshua began wailing, mostly as a result of seeing his mother get sick as opposed to feeling any pain from hitting the ground.

“
Are you okay?
”
Hillary asked when her mother was done retching.

Kathy wiped her mouth with her trembling hand then picked
her
now-hysterical
little boy
up.

“
I
’
ll be okay,
”
she said, hoping Hillary would move out of the way.

“
But wha
t
happened
back there
?
”
H
illary persisted.

“
I just felt sick all of a sudden,
”
Kathy said nervously,
“
I need to lie down.
”

“
Was it the smell?
”

“Yes, yes, the smell
,
”
she said, tears escaping her eyes.

“
Why
are
you crying?
”