A Grandmother's Touch
By T.L. Button
Chapter 1
"I am so fat!" Kerry shouted at herself. She stared at herself in the full length mirror. No matter how much she adjusted her stonewashed denim skirt it still made her hips look big. To make matters worse her mother had insisted that Kerry wear the oversized sweater Grandma had knitted as a Christmas present last year. It was three sizes too big and made Kerry's skin itch.
"Please Kerry," her mother had pleaded, "it would mean so much for your grandmother to see you wearing the sweater she made you. We have to do all we can to make her feel welcome." Kerry had been totally against the idea of her Grandma moving in and had made her thoughts very clear. Sure, maybe Grandma did deserve some sympathy since her house had burned down with her husband in it but wearing ugly old people clothes was going too far. She threw off the sweater and put on her favorite green turtleneck on in it's place.
While not totally happy with her appearance, Kerry let it go; it's not like she was vain or anything. Besides, it was a perfect opportunity to look for new clothes to buy! Kerry flopped on her bed and started flipping through the pages of this months Sassy. She checked of some new skirts she wanted and sweaters that would actually make her look good.
Kerry was lost in a world of fashion and beauty until she heard "Kids, you're grandmother is here! Come down and greet her!" from downstairs. She got up and checked herself out one more time. Her hips still looked big in the skirt.
"Ewwww, I still look fat."
"You're goddamn right you do." From the doorway Kerry's sister, Merry, sneered at her. Her died black hair fell in her face and her torn up jeans jingled with the sound of her wallet chain.
"Shut up Merry! You weigh more than I do." At 120 lbs, Kerry admitted she could stand to lose a few pounds but she wouldn't give Merry the satisfaction of admitting that. Besides, Merry must have weighed at least 135lbs; what right did she have to call her fat?
"Kerry! Merry! Don't keep your Grandmother waiting!" Their mother's voice had become more irritated. Merry sauntered off without another look in Kerry's direction.
"Sometimes I can't believe we're sisters," Kerry thought out loud. She looked at herself again in the mirror. "Maybe I should change my skirt..." she thought.
"Kerry! Now!" There was a hint of desperation in her mother's voice this time.
"Wow, mom can be so weird." With no other options, Kerry slid a white headband into her long blonde hair and went downstairs to meet her grandmother.
***
"Grandma's gotten really fat." That was all Kerry could think when she saw her Grandmother. It had been a few years since she'd seen her last and Grandma had gotten noticeably older but that was no excuse. The woman very well could have been close to 250 lbs.
"It's so good to see you mom." Kerry's mother was hugging Grandma, tears in her eyes. "The girls and I were so worried about you. Weren't we girls?"
Kerry nodded and agreed as earnestly as she could. Merry threw out an "Oh yeah, real worried."
It was at this point that Kerry's mother noticed she wasn't wearing the sweater her grandmother had knitted. She didn't say anything but her eyes widened and she mouthed something intelligible. Before the situation could escalate Grandma chimed in.
"Why don't my beautiful granddaughters give their grandma a hug?" She opened her plump arms as wide as she could.
Merry was first. She put her arms around the purple mu-mu wearing behemoth with as much affection as she could muster. It seemed enough for grandma.
"Merry, why don't you go out and get Grandma's things." Her mother then leaned in and hissed, "and I want to have a talk with you later."
Kerry smiled. She was going to get the third degree for not dropping that "angry chick" look for Grandma's arrival.
It was her turn to hug Grandma.
Kerry hesitated. There was the smell; that mix of dust, sweat, and cheap old woman perfume. Grandma's heavy jowls held her smile, waiting for Kerry's hug. Kerry saw her mother's expression of horror and anger. She shouldn't have wavered but there was something about Grandma that made her nervous. Something that scared her. She couldn't out her finger on it but it was there, tucked away in Grandma's fleshy folds.
"Kerry, hug your grandmother." There was a fear in her mother's voice. Kerry gave in and hugged Grandma.
It wasn't so bad. The smell was there and Kerry's arms could barely fit around the woman but she handled it. But when she pulled away after a few seconds Grandma didn't let go. She kept her hands on Kerry's shoulders, holding Kerry in front of her, smiling away.
"Such a pretty girl...such a pretty girl."
Kerry tried to wrench her self free but her grandmother's surprisingly large and strong hands held her still.
"Such a pretty girl." A rumbling came out of Grandma's chest, quickly erupting into throttled coughing. Kerry tried to get free but was held in place as her grandmother started to convulse and hack.
"Mom, are you ok?" Kerry's mother asked. Grandma answered by vomiting blood onto Kerry's favorite green turtleneck.
Chapter 2
Dear Diary,
Oh. My. God. I can't belive what happened earlier. Grandma puked on me. She puked blood. It was sooooo gross. Ewww! Ewww! Mom didn't even care about how I felt. She was all like "Mom are you ok?" She didn't even notice that it was ME that got wretched on. And my favorite green turtleneck is now completly ruined. Mom even got angry when I told her I needed a new one. She is sooooo selfish. Afterwards Grandma said something about how smoking is bad for you and how Merry and I shouldn't ever smoke because it makes your lungs go bad. I'm never going to smoke if it will make me hack blood like Grandma did. Merry said she would never smoke but I know for a fact that she does. Sometimes I smell it coming out of her room. It doesn't smell like the cigaretts the girls at school smoke. It smells different. Merry is such a liar and I hope she starts puking blood like Grandma did!
Kerry was going to write more but she was too tired. The day had taken a lot out of her and she was happy to leave her diary entry as was. If she wrote more it would have been about Grandma. Kerry didn't want to think any more about her.
Once Grandma had stopped coughing up blood she politely excused herself. Kerry had started screaming and ran off to the bathroom to clean her shirt. A few minutes later her mother came in and yelled at her for being rude. Kerry couldn't help but notice how scared she looked. She just kept saying "Don't you ever disrespect your Grandmother like that again! Don't you ever!"
Kerry cleaned herself off while crying her eyes out in the bathroom. Her mother was never this mean to her, only to Merry who deserved it. Afterwards Kerry had no choice but to change into that stupid, white sweater Grandma had made. She sulked in her room and wrote in her diary. She stayed there until her mother called her down saying dinner was ready. Kerry went to the table looking fat and feeling terrible.
Grandma was already seated, smiling at her granddaughter as she came down the stairs. Kerry noticed how Grandma's eyes never left her. She just smiled and stared until Kerry made her way into the dinning room.
"Oh my, you're wearing the sweater I made you." Grandma exclaimed in delight. "It looks positively stunning on you. When you get older I'm sure all the boys will be at your door."
"Ummm, grandma, I'm sixteen years old. I'm already dating." Grandma must have me confused with Merry, Kerry thought. Merry's the one who doesn't even care about boys. She's so weird.
"Oh Kerry, you and your tales!" Kerry's mother had just run into the dinning room form the kitchen, her eyes wide. She was smiling hard and talking a mile a minute. "Mom, Kerry doesn't date boys. She's far too young. Why I didn't even start talking to boys until I was eighteen. You made sure of that mom, yes you did. Right here in this house actually. That's where you taught me. Did you know that Kerry, I grew up in this house. Mom, why don't you tell Kerry about our house while I help Merry get dinner ready." With that Kerry's mother ran back into the kitchen.
Grandma took her daughter's cue and began about how she and Kerry's mother grew up on Fear Street. It wasn't easy, she said, being a single mother back then. That's why they had to move to the city. Grandma then went on about how she preferred this nice quiet neighborhood to the nasty city. They had no choice though. Kerry's mother went off to college, just as Grandma had told her to do, and made something of herself. Eventually she managed to save up enough money to buy their old house back.
It was a boring story to Kerry but she didn't want to make her mother angry again. Kerry did her best to make small talk. "Grandma, was Fear Street always as weird as it is now?"
"I don't know what you mean dear."
"Well, lot's of bad things happen on our street. Just last week some kids were having a party when the house mysteriously burned down with everybody in it. Before that Mr. Anderson went crazy and murdered his family with an axe. I was friends with his daughter you know. But she was kinda fat. That's not everything though. A few months ago all those Cheerleader were found dead with these holes in there heads. The police said some crazy man used them for something called "cranial penetr-"
Kerry's grandmother cut her off. "Don't worry that pretty little head of yours off." Grandma seemed rather casual about the subject. "Things like this happen all the time all over the world. There's nothing different about Fear Street." She paused. "Maybe we should move on to a more pleasant topic, don't you think?"
Whatever. It wasn't like Kerry really cared. "Ok Grandma. Whatever you say."
"That's my girl." Grandma smiled. "So Kerry, what cup size are you?"
Before Kerry could really appreciate what her Grandmother had just said her mother and Merry walked in.
"Dinner's ready!" Kerry's mother put a dish down and started to spoon it's contents onto Grandma's plate. "This is homemade Spanish rice, Merry's specialty!"
Merry had a sincere smile on her face. She always looked like that after she cooked something "She thinks she's so great." Kerry thought. "Her cooking isn't even that good."
Grandma's smiled had faded. She glared down at the rice. "Susan," she said addressing Kerry's mother, "You let your daughter cook 'Spanish rice?'"
Kerry's mother just stammered.
Grandma continued, now looking at Merry. "Merry dear, your mother must not have told you; this sort of food is only suitable for colored folk. You'll have to make something new." With that she took her plate and threw it against the wall.
Merry did not react well. "What the fuck is wrong with you, you crazy old bitch?" A few seconds later she had been dragged into the kitchen by her mother. The sound of shouts and slaps followed.
Grandma sighed. "Your older sister needs to learn some respect. In fact this whole house could use a Grandmother's touch...things will change soon enough my sweet little girl, things will change soon enough."
Joey Lawrence, Kerry's cat, hopped into Grandma's lap. "See, this is what I'm talking about. A clean house does not have vermin like this running around without repercussion." Grandma grabbed Joey Lawrence by the scruff of his neck and threw him against the wall where the plate had hit minutes before. He struck the wall with a sickening thud, fell to the floor, and lay still.
Chapter 3
Grandma just smiled. Kerry held her eyes with disbelief. Merry and her mother re-entered the room, both with tears streaming down their face. Merry bore a frown and a bright red hand imprint on her left cheek whereas her mother wore that same smile that had barely left her face in the few hours since Grandma had arrived.
"It seems like we had a little mishap with diner. I guess we'll have to go out. How's that sound everybody? Good? Good." Kerry's mother already had the car keys out in her hand, shaking violently.
***
Grandma had suggested that they go to a nice seafood restaurant. Both Kerry and Merry hated seafood; to the best of their knowledge so did their mother. But Kerry and Merry's mother said it was great idea, peeling out of the driveway so fast that she nearly ran over a young boy on his bike.
At the restaurant Kerry tried to order a salad, no dressing, and Merry tried to wait out in the car. Grandma said that neither actions would be acceptable.
"You're looking far too thin Kerry." Grandma said.
Kerry couldn't believe what she was hearing "Thin?' she thought, "Yeah right. Maybe when I'm down to 98 lbs. I'll call myself thin." Of course she didn't say anything out loud; the handprint on Merry's face was an all too visible warning. Kerry made do and ate a plate of fried shrimp, desperately trying no to throw up in the restaurant. That would have to wait for later.
As for Merry, Grandma looked at her in the car and asked "Do you know what happens to little girls who disrespect their elders?"
"Yeah I do." Eyeing her mother she said "Their mom's flip the fuck out and beat them. Isn't that right mom?"
Grandma did not allow her smiling but shaking daughter to answer. "No dear. Those little girls end up lying in dark places with needles in their arms."
Merry's mother burst out, "Merry's a very smart girl mom. That wont happen."
Grandma smiled in her knowing way and hauled her girth out of the car. Kerry and Merry's mother did the same. Before she got out of the car she heard Merry say to no one in particular. "Christ, they think I'm sort of heroin addict." For a second she got a far away look in her eye. Then noticing her sister was staring at her, turned it to a glare and got out of the car. Kerry followed suit.
***
The following week had not gotten any easier. Joey Lawrence, still punch drunk from hitting the wall when they got home, had runaway. Kerry's social life and Merry's sorry excuse for one had both become nearly nonexistent.
"Girls your age don't go out past sundown." Grandma had said.
Mom had gotten worse. Aside from strictly enforcing Grandma's law with a stern word or hand, she had fallen into the habit of wandering the house smiling and talking to herself. Kerry was happy for her mother's new found happiness. Before she used to frown a lot and comment on how hard it was to raise two teenagers by herself without their father. Grandma seemed to help. Merry said that things were worse for Mom. She said something about her being "mentally unstable" or one of those big words they used in the AP classes. She said Grandma should leave. It was just like Merry to be selfish and stupid like that.
That's not to say Kerry liked the new lack of interaction with the rest of the world, particularly boys. She just had be a little more clever about it. She had read an article in Sassy magazine on how you could see boys even if you weren't allowed to.
See if you can find a girl in your class with a cuter older brother. Try to have a "study date" at her house. Ditch your brainy "friend" first chance you get and start a smooch fest with her hottie older sib!
That made sense to Kerry. She knew this loser girl with a cute older brother who she tricked into a study date. At the last minute she said Kerry couldn't come over to her house but would be willing to come to Fear Street. Kerry was about to cancel, she didn't want Sandy O'Brien in her house trying to teach her stuff, but when she found out her older brother would be dropping her off she went through with it. She'd wear her cutest capri pants, her single shoulder strap shirt, and her butterfly hair clips. How could he not want to come in?
"Kerry! You're friend is here!"
Kerry would have to remind her mother that Sandy O'Brien was not her friend.
Kerry ran to the door and right past Sandy to her brother's car. Mike O'Brien sat there, eyeing Kerry with a huge grin on his face. His tight jeans and rugby shirt accented what Kerry thought was a hot bod. His dark brown hair was all tussled from the wind. Empty beer bottle clanked on the floor.
"So, you're Merry's kid sister?"
Kerry acted bashful. "Yeah..."
"She's like a lesbian or something, right?"
"I think so but I'm not. I like boys."
"I bet you do."
From across the yard Sandy shouted, "Ummm, we really should get some studying done."
"I'll let you guys get to it." Mike smiled. "I'll catch you around Cara."
As he peeled out Kerry shouted out, "It's Kerry! My name is Kerry!"
***
The study date had been worse than Kerry imagined. Sandy actually wanted to study. She didn't want to talk about boys our what her older brother looked like naked. After two hours of talking about Chemistry she finally said that she should go home. She called her father (apparently her mother had packed her things and left and her brother was passed out drunk). Kerry was grateful for when the man arrived.
She didn't walk Sandy to the door when her father came; what did Kerry care? As she was leaving she realized that she didn't get Sandy's number. It would be impossible to call Mike without it. She ran down the stairs after her but did catch her. Sandy was already waiting in the car but her father was still in the doorway. In the doorway talking to Grandma.
"It's been awhile hasn't it?" The fat, balding, middle aged man said.
"It certainly has 'Miss Muffet'"
Mr. O'Brien looked scared. "Don't call me that. That was a long time ago. I have a family now."
Grandma didn't say anything. Instead she forcefully took his groin in her large hand and kissed him on the mouth. Mr. O'Brien seemed to almost relax for a second but then composed himself and ran off to his car. He drove away faster than was necessary.
Chapter 4
"We need to talk." Merry stood with arms crossed at the entrance to Kerry's room.
Kerry sat on her bed, the new issue of Sassy in her lap. She was flipping through the celebrity address section, hoping this would be the time when Mario Lopez was revealed to have a summer home on Fear Street. She was far too immersed with the idea of Slater from Saved By the Bell living across the street to pay attention to Merry.
"Kerry! Are you listening? I said we need to talk."
Kerry looked up at Merry and rolled her eyes. She went back to Sassy.
Merry walked over and tore the magazine out of her lap. She threw across the room. "Just be honest with yourself and get a damn porno mag. Now, are you listening to me?"
Kerry now crossed her arms and pouted. "Fine, what do you want?"
Merry pulled a chair forward and sat down. She looked towards the open doorway; she would have closed it but Grandma said she didn't like closed doors in her house, something that infuriated Merry to no end. Merry leaned in. "I want to talk about Grandma."
Merry then began her near rant about the problems she had with Grandma. "That woman thinks she can tell us all what to do, she thinks she's got every bloody answer. And Mom! Mom just does whatever she says as though Grandma's word is the gospel." Merry was getting riled up. She stood and started pacing. "There's something seriously wrong with that old woman. She's always so goddamn calm, even when she gets violent. The other day I saw her backhand Mom. She sent her clear across the room. The whole time she was smiling that stupid fucking smile of hers. You'd think she was sitting on the porch listen to the oldies station or something. Christ, I think she's hit mom almost everyday since she's got here. The other day she tossed a chair at me because I was listening to The Sex Pistols in my room." Merry perhaps unknowingly rubbed the shoulder that was struck with the aforementioned chair.
"And Joey Lawrence. Don't forgot Joey Lawrence," Kerry piped up.
Merry was taken back for a moment. "Kerry, I got a hit with a fucking chair. I think that's a little more important than the cat." Merry then visibly softened. "But you're right. That was completely uncalled for." Merry continued on about the trespasses Grandma had made against her: the insults poorly masked as corrective criticism, the monitored phone calls, the invasion of privacy that resulted in a wealth of CDs, movies, and books thrown away. Merry was grateful she kept her birth control pills on her person at all times.
Merry sat back down when she was finished. "What about you? What have you seen?" This was perhaps the first time in as long as Kerry could remember where Merry actually cared about what she had to say.
"Well, there have been some things that I don't think you know about." Kerry thought about the reference to her breasts Grandma had made. It hadn't ended there. "The first night Grandma was here, when Mom brought you in the kitchen to 'talk, ' Grandma asked me what cup size I was."
"Why would she ask something like that?"
"I don't know. But she's kept it up. Every now and then I'll catch her staring at me. Sometimes when she's close enough she'll pat me...on places..."
"You mean your ass?"
"Yeah, and other places..."
"That's fucked up!" Merry's eyes showed she could barely believe it.
"That's not all!" To be honest, Kerry liked the attention she was getting for her usually distant older sister. It made her feel like she was in charge for once. She went on. "The other night when Sandy O'Brien's dad picked her up I saw Grandma talking to him. It seemed liked they knew each other. Grandma called him 'Miss Muffet' and then she grabbed him down there and kissed him. It was so gross."
"Jesus Christ! I can't believe it."
"I know." Kerry was equally upset. "Since Mr. O'Brien picked Sandy up I didn't get to talk to Mike again. You know him, right Merry? Mike O'Brien? You're both seniors."
"Mike O'Brien? Who cares about him? That guys a walking hard-on when he's not passed out drunk. It'll be a good day when he wraps that piece of shit car of his around a tree. Anyway, we have more important things to worry about."
Merry was quiet. After a while she started mumbling to herself. "I think I might have been wrong..."
"Wrong about what? Merry, what were you wrong about? Tell me." Kerry wanted to hear her usually confident older sister point out that she wasn't perfect. Because she wasn't. Kerry was sure of that.
"Well, I thought that maybe Grandma was acting all crazy because she was some sort of drug addict. You'd be surprised how many pills old people take. Maybe she's taking something she should be, or maybe she's stopped taking some anti-psychotics. I've wanted to go to the police for the past few days but when I ran it by Mom she flipped out. She said that she'd deny anything I said. Throw me out of the house." Merry turned dark for a moment. "Not that I'd mind that. I can't wait to get out of here. I just don't have the damn money. Christ, I steal it from the rest of you but it's only get me so far and I know Grandma and Mom would come after me. No, I can't do that. I wanted to prove to Mom that something's wrong. But it might go farther back than I previously thought..."
"What do you mean?" Kerry was a little disappointed. Merry's mistake wasn't as big as she would have hoped.
"Well Grandma said that she lived here with Mom for a long time. That thing with Mr. O'Brien makes it seem like she certainly has a history here. Plus, the few times I tried to talk to Grandma about our past, ask her if she knew our father, she either didn't say anything our went into one of her fits." Merry leaned in and whispered, "I think they're hiding something Kerry. Something fucked up."
"Well what are you going to do about it?"
"I'm going to find out what it is. They're downstairs now watching television. I'm going to go into Grandma's room and see if I can find something. Anything. I need you to keep watch. Can you do that Kerry?"
"I-I guess so." Kerry didn't want to get in trouble, especially since nobody had been yelling or hitting her.
"Good. Let me know if either of them comes upstairs." With that Merry went off to Grandma's room.
Kerry was anxious. What would happen if Grandma caught Merry in her room. Would Grandma figure out that she was keeping watch for Merry? What would happen to her then? It was one thing when Merry got hit, she wasn't that attractive to begin with but Kerry knew that a palm print on her face would take a lot of makeup to cover and even then the boys would know. If she couldn't flirt at school she'd have no where to flirt. She'd go crazy. Of course, Kerry couldn't say that she was happy with the changes Grandma had made. Did Mr. O'Brien tell Mike what Grandma had done? Mike already thought that Merry was a lesbian, if he knew what Grandma was like maybe he wouldn't want anything to do with her. Even though she had only talked to him once Kerry had really started to like Mike. He was cute, older, and he had his own car-
Kerry heard screaming.
She hadn't been paying attention.
Grandma had caught Merry in her room.
Chapter 5
Dear Diary,
I can't belive what's happening. Merry had some stupid idea about going into Grandma's room to find evidance or something and she got caught. She wanted me to keep watch and I did but I looked away for a second and Grandma snuck by and caught Merry in her room. I don't know what happened. All I heard was screaming and Grandma saying something about what happens to girls who "don't respect their elders." Mom ran upstairs and was crying the whole time. She stood in front of me so I couldn't see what was hapaning. She could'nt block everything and I saw Grandma drag Merry out of her room and down the stairs by her hair. There was more screaming and what sounded like fighting. I heard a door slam and everything was quiet. Mom told me not to leave me room until I was told I could so I didn't. I tottally don't want to get into trouble like Merry did.
Kerry put her diary down. She had been in her room for hours. She was really bored and had to use the bathroom but after what happened there was no way she was leaving without permission. Luckily for her that came soon enough.
There was a slight tap on her door before it opened. Grandma made her entrance with a certain flair that only a woman of her size could produce. She stood before Kerry, her smile fixed and subtle, her hair curled and molded into the standard issue old lady cut, and her dancing cat print gown slightly blowing in the wind. She began to speak but was overcome momentarily by one of her coughing spells. She regained her composure in due time, although, unknown to Grandma, a drop of blood and saliva hung at the edge of her mouth. She began again.
"Now Kerry, I'm sure you're a bit confused about what went on earlier tonight. I bet you're even a little scared." Grandma's low silky voice sounded legitimately concerned. "You have to understand though that I did what I did out of love. Love for you and your sister Merry. Why it just kills this old heart of mine to think what might happen to you and your sister if you didn't get the proper discipline, the proper guidance." Grandma smoothed herself out a seat on the bed next to Kerry. A little too close Kerry noticed.
A meaty arm went around Kerry shoulder. Pudgy fingers caressed Kerry's arm. "Some girls, like your sister Merry, just don't understand what it means to be a good girl. Why, they'll stay out 'till all hours of the night, drink, do the drugs, and run with some unscrupulous characters. If she were to continue on with this sort of lifestyle she'd end up a drug addict with some half-breed bastard child growing in her belly. And then where would she be? Where would we be?"
Grandma pulled Kerry close. The smell of old woman filled Kerry's nose and lungs. "But not you, sweet child. No, not you. You're a good girl. You do what your Grandma tells you. You understand what it means to be a good girl, what it means to love your family, don't you."
Kerry was scared but certainly didn't want to invoke Grandma's wrath. "Yeah, Grandma, I love my family."
Grandma beamed at Kerry. "Such a sweet, sweet girl. Now give Grandma a kiss."
Grandma leaned in and Kerry turned her head a little to allow Grandma to give her a peck on the cheek. To Kerry's surprise Grandma's lips fell right onto hers. They were there for only a matter of seconds, but still for too long. In that time Kerry swore she felt a dry, old tongue try and creep into her mouth.
Grandma pulled away and smiled. The blood that had been on her lips was smeared. Kerry was lucky she didn't realize it was on her lips now. Grandma stood up and began to exit the room.
"Umm, Grandma?" Kerry had questions that would sit with her if they weren't answered.
"Yes child?"
"Where's Merry?"
Grandma's face darkened just a shade. "I've grounded your disrespectful sister. She's not allowed to leave her room for a week. Understood?"
Kerry shook her head intently. She didn't understand a bit; Merry obviously wasn't in her room across the hall. Still, there was no reason to push Grandma.
"Grandma, I have one more question." Kerry was slow and hesitant. "Merry said that she had asked you about out dad. Since you lived her for so long with Mom she figured that you would, like, know something; tell us the stuff that Mom wouldn't. She said that you got really angry and didn't say anything. How come?"
The smile disappeared from Grandma's face all together. "You girls don't need to know anything about your father. He's not part of your life and he never will be. He was a weak man and I'm glad he's gone. So should you." And with that Grandma left the room with the lingering smell of age and Kerry with more questions than answers.
***
Kerry had come downstairs to use the bathroom and kiss her mother and Grandma good night. That was another one of Grandma's new rules, a proper goodnight kiss every night.
Kerry was on her way back up the stairs when she heard a scratching sound. She stopped. There is was again, this time more frenzied. Kerry, her heart pounding with anxiety over what she might find, followed.
It was coming from the coat closet next to the stairway. Kerry stood silent in front of the door. The scratching continued. There was a slight odor, sweet and rotten, coming from the other side. Kerry knew what was in there but asked anyway.
"Merry?" She whispered.
The scratching increased.
Kerry knelt down to look through the key hole. There, in the stinking darkness, was a frightened, bloodshot eye.
Kerry didn't say anything. She didn't know what she should or even could say. The scratching stopped. It turned to tapping. Kerry continued staring, the tapping getting louder the whole time.
"Merry, please stop. Grandma will hear you."
The tapping continued.
"Merry there's nothing I can do to help you."
The tapping stopped.
Kerry stood up to leave when from the corner of her eye she saw what her sister was trying to alert her to. On a little table right across from the coat closet was a skeleton key, lying out in plain sight.
Kerry stared at it for what wasn't very long and went back to the keyhole. The eye was huge and hopeful.
"I'm-I'm sorry Merry. I can't."
The eye glistened and then disappeared.
In the other room, unbeknownst to both of them, Grandma beamed in satisfaction.
Chapter 6
Dear Diary,
The smell has gotten worse. Before you didn't notice unless you went right up to the closet but now whenever you go in or out the front door it you smell it. It smell like a dirty bathroom but it also smells kinda like the dumpster behind McDonalds. Merry's been in there for three days now. The scratching stopped yesterday. I don't know if Grandma gives Merry food or water. I've never seen her do it. Maybe while I'm at school...
Kerry heard a car pull into the driveway. It was Saturday. That would Sandy O'Brien and (hopefully) Mike arriving to take Kerry to their house for another "study date." Kerry looked out and the window and to her disappointment saw that it was Mr. O'Brien driving, not Mike. Kerry ran down the stairs and out the door shouting hasty goodbyes and be back laters. It wasn't Mike she was running to but she was happy to be out of the house none the less.
***
"Kerry, you're not paying attention!"
Kerry had never noticed how annoying Sandy O'Brien's lisp was until she was forced to hang out with her for an extended period of time. They were in Sandy's room, Chemistry books spread over the bare wood floor, with some whinny folk music playing that Kerry couldn't stand.
"What are you listening to?" Kerry asked not bothering to hide her disgust.
"This is the Indigo Girls. Do you like them? I have some CDs you could borrow if you do." Sandy was way too excited about music that wasn't about boys or looking pretty, Kerry thought.
"No," Kerry flashed her fakest smile, "no, that's ok. I'll stick with my real music at home. You know, the kind that has more than one instrument in it." Kerry couldn't wait to get home to her BB Mack and Mariah Carry albums.
"Well, you're entitled to your opinion. Kerry. Now perhaps you should start studying if you don't want to get another F on our next test. I've been looking over these past tests you brought me and it clear that you don't understand even the basic principles of Chemistry. I mean, here where it asks what a mole is you answered 'cute' and drew a picture. If you want to get a pass-"
"Where's Mike?"
Sandy sighed. "I already told you; He's out at the bar with his loser friends getting drunk."
"When will he be back?"
"I already told you; I don't know. If we're lucky, he wont come back. Now if we could get back to-"
"Why can't we do this at my house then? If Mike's not here than at least we could find something interesting to do at my place."
"Once again, I already told you; we can't go to your house because my father has forbidden me from going there ever again. He was quite serious about that actually. In fact I had to argue with him all day just to let you come over."
Kerry finally registered how unusual that was. Moments later she was able to combine that with the incident between Grandma and Mr. O'Brien. "Why wouldn't your dad want you to come over to my house?"
"To be honest I don't know." Sandy seemed to be as equally interested in the subject as Kerry was. She put her book down and continued. "He wouldn't give a straight answer. He got angry when I pressed him on the matter."
"Do you think it has anything to do with my grandmother?" Kerry knew it did, what with her being so smart and all, but she wanted to know what Sandy knew.
"I don't think so. He hasn't mentioned anything about your grandmother. I did hear him talking to himself one night though. He was swearing up a storm in his office. It was kinda creepy. I think I heard him drop the name Alexander Mason."
Mason was Kerry's last name.
"Do you know an Alexander Mason? Is that your dad or something?"
Kerry didn't know. She had never even been told what her father's name was. There weren't any other Mason's in the area though, so if Mr. O'Brien was talking about a Mason, it very well could be her father.
"I don't know" Kerry was embarrassed to admit it. "I never knew my father. He left right after I was born. That could be him."
Sandy didn't say anything. She was deep in thought. Then, "I think we should find out who Alexander Mason is."
"Why do you care? He's not your father. He might not even be mine!"
"Whoever Alexander Mason is, regardless of whether it's your father or not, affects both of us. My dad obviously has a history with him and so do you since my dad never mentioned the man once before stopping by your house. This is about both of our families. Besides, don't you want to know the truth?"
Kerry had to admit, she did. "Okay, I'm in. I don't know where to start though."
"I do." Sandy seemed excited. She probably read those lame Nancy Drew books when she was kid, Kerry thought. Probably thought she was some sort of super sleuth. "I think we should go check out my dad's office. He keep a lot of his personal stuff in there; address books, things like that. Follow me." Sandy bounded out of her room with Kerry in half-hearted pursuit.
Mr. O'Brien did not got along well with his family, particularly his wife. This much Sandy had let on. It wouldn't be difficult to figure it out though. In the short time that Kerry had known Sandy she had been repeatedly prevented from going over to her house due to family troubles. When she was allowed over she often heard Sandy's father blow up at his wife and storm off. With Mr. O'Brien out somewhere his office would be empty.
"When my dad gets like this he can disappear for a long time. Once he didn't come home for a whole week. He's rarely gone that long but I'm sure he wont be back tonight. We can snoop all we want and not worry about getting caught."
"Snoop." It was obvious, Sandy had read those stupid books. She probably still did.
They let themselves into the office. Kerry had no idea what she was looking for but Sandy apparently did. She was going through her father's desk pulling out various books, flipping through, and putting them back disheartened.
"Alexander Mason isn't in any of these books." She slumped down in her fathers leather chair.
"Hey super sleuth, maybe there's a secret compartment, huh? Maybe you just have to reach under something an unlock it." Kerry figured she might as well point out how stupid Sandy was for thinking she could figure out who Kerry's father was just by going through her dad's office.
Sandy bolted up. "You know, you're probably right. My dad has always been into that secret sort of stuff. There's a safe behind that clown picture on the wall. Of course, why wouldn't he have something like that in his desk?" Sandy went about looking for it while Kerry marveled at the ugly clown painting.
"I found it!"
"You did?" Kerry didn't think there would actually be something hidden.
Sandy had unlocked the back of the bottom drawer in the desk and now it slid out an extra foot and a half. There, hidden away, was a little black address book.
Sandy scooped it up and began flipping through it. "That's weird, I know some of these people, but I didn't know my dad did. None of these are business associates or even friends...hey, here he is! Alexander Mason. Huh, that's weird, he's listed with a Steven Mason. And...and they're listed as living at 233 Fear Street. That's your address Kerry."
Sandy had just opened a new door into Kerry's past, but Kerry wasn't listening. She couldn't take her eyes of what was under the little black book. She couldn't take her eyes of the pile of gay pornography that Mr. O'Brien had hidden in his desk.
Chapter 7
In the blink of an eye, Sandy dropped the junior detective shtick and made her best attempt to cover her father's secret stash of guy on guy magazines and shove Kerry out the door. She accomplished both tasks, albeit awkwardly and slower than she would have liked, and quickly devised a reason to get Kerry and herself away from this new found source of shame.
"Let's go to the library!"
"Why would we want to do that?"
"We're going to the library! Come on!" The tone of Sandy's voice left little question as to what the girls would be doing. It was evident to Kerry that Sandy wanted to get out of the house. Sandy's painful grip on her arms as she dragged Kerry outside only encouraged that thought.
As they walked down the street, the fall sun low in the sky, Sandy either explained or convincingly lied about her desire to go to the library. "The library has a great many records on this town; who's lived here and when. There's plenty of stuff on file to figure out someone's whereabouts in the past few years."
Kerry was not impressed. "Yeah, so?"
"Don't you see, we can figure out who Alexander and Steven Mason are and why they're listed as living at your house."
"You know, my family didn't always live there. My Mom and Grandma had to move at one point. Those people must have lived there while my family was away."
"But my father has or had some sort of tie with them and he knew your Grandmother well. I think that the Masons and your Grandma are in cahoots."
"Cahoots?" Kerry thought. "What kind of nerd says cahoots?"
Sandy went on about various theories concerning the resident of 233 Fear Street while Kerry thought about which nail polish she should wear to go with her tank top.
The two arrived at the library before long. Inside they were greeted by a warm, smile and an even warmer "Why hello Sandy. How are you dear?"
"Hi Ms. Sloat. I'm good."
"Sandy is such a loser." Kerry thought. "You would have to spend like, a lot of time at the library for people to know you there." Kerry would frequent the library about once a year for all of half an hour; when end of the year research papers came around for her classes she had to get a book or two to write off as references.
As Sandy talked to Ms Sloat about where she would be able to find city records Kerry stared at the librarian and wondered at how a person cold look so much like a peanut.
"Come on Kerry, let's go." Sandy had apparently gotten what she needed from the bride of the Planters Peanut guy. Kerry shook away the image of Ms. Sloat wearing a top hat and monocle and followed Sandy.
Sandy began explaining to Kerry what they were going to do: Kerry was going to look at the records and try to find out when the Mason's had lived at Kerry's house. It was Kerry's job to look through the old newspaper article on something called "microfiche" and see if there was anything about the Masons or her family. Sandy went off to do her part and left Kerry to do hers.
When Sandy came back she found Kerry flipping through old copies of Sassy magazine. Kerry taking a quiz to see what sort of sexual advance would work the best on her secret crush. She was just about to find out if she should go with the ghetto queen or the spoiled princess when Sandy scolded Kerry and made her get to work. Now Kerry would never know.
Looking through the microfiche was a pain and it was very boring. Kerry knew that her family had moved out of there house soon after she was born, although neither she nor Merry remembered anything about it. They only remembered moving back in. Now that she thought of it, she never remembered Grandma back then either, although she should because Grandma was supposed to have been living with them for a short period of time before she moved to Florida. Also, Kerry's mother supposedly was going to school at the time, and there was no mention of Merry or Kerry being in the picture yet. The more Kerry though about it the bigger the holes became.
She closed her eyes and tried to think back to what it was like when she was a little girl. She couldn't find Grandma in those memories. She remembered her mother but barely, and she looked different then. There were many strange men coming in and out of their small apartment, although there seemed to be three that were consistently there. There was a little room that Kerry and Merry stayed in, there was laughter and crying from outside it. Angry men and what sounded like hurt women. Near the end her mother came in looking like she did now, but at the time Kerry didn't want to go to her...
"Kerry, wake up!"
Kerry shook herself back from where she was. Sandy was glaring at her.
"You know, we're not going to get anywhere if you keep goofing off like this."
"Whatever. I'm not feeling well, I have put my head down for a minute, why don't you look up the newspapers clippings."
"Okay, fine but I thought you'd be interested to know that your family's been lying to you."
"What do you mean?"
"I looked at the records. You're mother and grandmother never lived in that house until about sixteen years ago. Before that time some elderly couple lived there. Before them, Alexander and Steven Mason lived there for years."
Kerry's head swam. She then went over to a nearby table and put her head down to think. Sandy huffed but did go through the microfiche.
Kerry didn't remember falling asleep.
It was quiet. There large, dark shapes, silent with foul intention. They were men, naked men, their faces painted up with clown-like makeup advancing on her, arms outstretched, reaching for her with wet, red hands. Somewhere someone whispered "Come to mommy..."
Sandy thankfully woke her up before they could take hold of her.
She must not have been out long because when Sandy woke her up the sky through the window looked very much the same.
"Kerry, I think I've found something."
Kerry went over to the screen and looked at what Sandy had brought up.
Almost unreadable at the top of the screen was a headline that said "Officer Charles O'Brien resigns after investigation"
"Your dad used to be a cop?"
"That's not what I'm looking at!" Sandy snapped. "Here," she pointed, "read this."
A little below the previous headline there read "Police increase search for suspects in double homicide and kidnapping."
"What does this have to do with me?"
Sandy sighed, obviously frustrated. "Look at the date. This came out just a few days after the Masons, who you'll remember lived in your house when your family should have been, moved."
"So?"
"Look at the damn article you stupid twit!" Sandy was at the end of her wits. "It says that the main suspects were Alexander and Steven Mason!
Chapter 8
Kerry's head swam. Things weren't making sense. Alexander and Steve Mason lived at her house back when her Mother and Grandmother were supposed to be. They were suspects in a murder and kidnapping. Sandy's father, a former cop, had a history with Grandma and the Masons. Grandma wouldn't talk about Kerry's father. Merry was still locked in the closet....
Far away Kerry heard Sandy saying that they should bring this up with Grandma. Right now. This was a bad idea, Kerry knew that. Grandma would have a fit. She would hurt Sandy, she would hurt Kerry. Kerry knew this was a bad idea but she allowed herself to be lead by Sandy back to her house, back to 233 Fear Street. What did Kerry care? Nothing really made sense.
The sun was almost gone. Shadows hung heavy on the street. The wind was cold. Twisted tress lurched over the sidewalk that Kerry was being dragged down. They were gnarled and pointed, as old and accusing as an old woman's hands. Each one pointed at Kerry with a silent accusation, a knowledge of Kerry's trespass and foolishness.
The house was waiting for them. The door was even partially ajar. There was something heavy, something pregnant, some malignant waiting for them.
"Why's my dad's car here?" Sandy looked down the street to find another curious vehicle. "Why the hell is Mike here?"
Something old, something innocent stirred in Kerry. "Mike, the boy I like," she thought, "he's here to see me."
"C'mon. Let's find out once and for all what all this is about." Sandy dragged Kerry into the house, into damnation.
The first thing Kerry noticed was the smell. The look on Sandy's face indicated that she smelled it too.
"God, what is that stench?" Sandy also heard something that Kerry had become accustomed to; the scratching. "Do you hear that Kerry? There's scratching coming from the closet."
Kerry may have mumbled "No, don't," but Sandy didn't hear or heed it. She tried to open the closet. It was still locked of course. They key on the table nearby had not been moved. Sandy was a smart girl and figured out the puzzle to opening the door quickly enough. The key turned and the door opened.
Along with a wash of vomit, urine, and feces came a horrid memory for Kerry out of the closet.
"Do you know what happens to little girls who disrespect their elders? Those little girls end up lying in dark places with needles in their arms."
Merry spilled out onto the floor covered in her filth. Kerry saw her arms, red and black and green, crusty and weeping, all over, covered in needles that had been forced into her flesh against her will.
Sandy recoiled, Kerry collapsed. Once fiery eyes now watched the two girls through a glazed stupor. Merry laid there, dirty and confused, bits of waste creeping into her nose, her ear, her mouth.
All three waited as silence enveloped them. Given the horror they were witnessing it would have been relieving to drown themselves in that nothing but it only offered new terror.
From up the stairs and down the hall came muffled cries and screams.
Chapter 9
The screams were getting louder. They began as isolated incidents; a cry of pain followed by whimpering. In a matter of minutes they had melded together, a continual wail of fear and hurt coming from what Kerry thought sounded like two separate voices. Somewhere behind those voices Kerry thought she heard something else. Laughter?
Sandy, shaken yes, but still functioning better than Kerry, overcame her fear and began to follow those horrid sounds up the stairs. Her courage only went so far and she made sure to drag the near catatonic Kerry behind her for moral support.
Kerry's first step was molested as a hand weakly grasped her ankle. Looking down she saw Merry, her body and soul still poisoned but behind her eyes where there had not been one before was a small fire.
"Essss..." she hissed, "Essss." With her other hand it looked as though she was pointing behind herself, into the filth. Kerry might have saw a light orange bottle, but she couldn't be sure.
"Essss...tree...essstree....en....esstreeen..." She was making no sense. Sandy wrested Kerry from Merry's grip and they continued on. The hissing soon died.
With every step the smear of sounds clarified, every element starting to stand out on its own. Some of the screams and shouts were coherent words and not just sounds of anguish.
"...what's goin' on?"
"...I can't let you do this..."
"...I though you loved me..."
"...it hurts, oh God it hurts..."
"...please stop..."
"...you're not in control..."
At the top of the stairs the conversation that was going on behind the screaming became apparent. Sandy and Kerry inched towards the cracked open door at the end of the hallway; the door, somewhere inside Kerry heard screaming, that led to Grandma's room.
"I can stop you this time." a meek voice said. "I didn't before, but I can stop you now."
More screaming.
"Nonsense," a husky voice replied, "you like this and you know it." More screaming. "I still don't know what possessed you to run away way back when but the cock has come back to the roost, as it were."
"No way man!" Helpless, and the third voice knew it. It started to sib. "Please, don't, no more..."
More screaming.
Sandy had dragged Kerry all the way to the door. Sandy peered in
"That's it," the husky voice cooed, "That's my little Miss Muffet..."
"Dad!" She flung the door open. Now Sandy had what was left of her strength sapped away as Kerry had only moments ago.
With his hands strapped to the end posts of the bed was Mike, stripped both of his clothes and his dignity. He was bloody and bruised, the cruel implements of his torture laid out lovingly on the down comforter. The most vile instrument lay behind Mike's bent over body. Wearing crude and poorly applied makeup, wearing oversized women's underwear which were even now falling off, wearing the face of a broken and defeated man, was Charles O'Brien. As tears ran down both he and his only son's cheeks he continued to rape away any decency or hope Mike may have had for the rest of his life. No matter what happened from then on, Mike would never be whole. Mike would never forget the pain as his father violated him.
Behind them Kerry saw where the laughter was coming from. Orchestrating the violation was Grandma, a face of puffy ecstasy. The realization was slow, like how the initial shock prevents you from properly gauging how cold the water really is, Kerry did not right away realize that Grandma stood stark naked in front of her. Had she, the horrid information that finally clicked inside her mind might have given her the good sense to get out of the room before Charles O'Brien had the opportunity to close the door.
Grandma's naked, bulbous body was horrifying enough but in light of what Merry has rasped the repulsion and confusion all came together in one terrifying realization.
"Essss...tree...essstree....en....esstreeen..."
Between Grandma's blue-veined legs, under neath the thick red pillars of angry stretch marks, hung the remnant of manhood. A phallus struggling against the chemicals that wracked it's nature and purpose.
"Essss...tree...essstree....en....esstreeen..."
"Estrogen." Kerry said to herself.
Grandma, seemingly happier in the current situation, nodded in agreement. "Yes dear, that nosy sister of yours had found my estrogen pills. It was quite rude of her to go through my personal things like that."
Naked and repulsive as she...he...it might have been Kerry couldn't take her eyes away. Even as Mr. O'Brien manhandled his daughter, dragging her to the other side of the room, Kerry stood and stared, the gears in her mind slowly coming to another conclusion.
"Alexander and Steve Mason...lived here when Mom and Grandma were supposed to have...suspects in double homicide and kidnapping... 'You girls don't need to know anything about your father....He was a weak man and I'm glad he's gone....' Mr. O'Brien knew Grandma from before...had the Mason's listed in his little black book...kicked off the force...Grandma's really a man..." The thoughts rolled over one, a ocean of confusion until that crashed over Kerry and receded, leaving the horrible truth.
"You're Alexander Mason aren't you?"
The smile fell away from Grandma's face. It seemed that everything in the room stopped. Were there a record playing, it would have screeched to a halt. Grandma had not expected this.
"What did you say?"
"You're Alexander Mason." Kerry was outnumbered and outgunned but there was strength in the truth, strength she could trust in to get her through this. "You're not my Grandma, you're Alexander Mason. You killed my real parents and kidnapped Merry and me. You and Steve Mason did it. And Mr. O'Brien, he was in on it too, wasn't he? That's why he got kicked out of the Police Department...You're murderers! You're murderers and freaks! Where's Mo-" Kerry stopped. If what she had just said was true, then Mom wasn't her mom. She was a truth that no longer supported her. Kerry fell to the ground and started to sob.
"Miss Muffet, look what the brat of yours did." Grandmas voice had dropped to a deep baritone now.
Mr. O'Brien looked at Grandma in fear and disbelief. "What? No, no, not my Sandy. She would never have done this. She's a good girl Alexander. She would have kept her nose clean." Sandy sobbed and weakly struggled against her father's tight grip on her hair.
"Miss Muffet, Kerry is far too stupid to have done this on her own, trust me. Your honor roll daughter lead the way. It's a pity because I had great things in mind for Kerry. Of course there's no reason to split hairs; both girls will have to be destroyed."
Sandy's eyes widened and she began to scream as her father, with eyes full of tears, lifted a revolver from the nightstand next to the bed. Even now, somewhere in Sandy, she remembered it as the gun he had worn when he was supposed to have upheld the law.
"Alex..." The gun shook in Mr. O'Brien's hand. "Alex I can't. She's my daughter."
"It's a piece of meat, just like that boy bent over the bed. Destroy it and get it over with." Grandma waited. "Do not test me Miss Muffet. I own you and you will do as I say. Now, Little Miss Muffet will destroy the meat."
The shot rang out, only slightly muffled by being fired point blank. The back of Sandy's head erupted and flew against the wall. A dark red, almost black, streak of blood, bone, and brain hung heavy on the floral print wall paper. Mr. O'Brien feel to the ground only slightly slower than his daughter.
"You're aren't finished yet. Little Miss Muffet will destroy all the meat."
"I don't want to!" Mr. O'Brien sat in a pool of blood, cradling the remains of his dead daughter's head.
"Do it!"
Mike was so traumatized he barely saw it coming. Another shot, another cascade of gore, another dead child.
"That's a good Little Miss Muffet. You can expect to get your curds and-"
Yet another shot rang out. Mr. O'Brien slumped to the floor, a thin trail of smoke drifting up from his mouth.
Grandma for once looked shaken. "Little Miss Muffet?" it's deep voice now small asked. "Charlie?"
His nearly naked body lay between the shell shocked Kerry and the shaken Grandma. Despite the death all around them, they both looked down at the gun.
Their eyes met.
Kerry lunged across the bloody floor. Grandma did the same. Grandma probably would have reached the gun first but she had to stop to release a howl of pain. As Kerry wrapped her fingers around the revolver she looked to see Grandma wrestling to get a blur of fur and claws off her back.
"Joey Lawrence!"
The cat fought with grandma, tearing up her back, shoulders, neck, and face. The mammoth transsexual was too much for the feline and it soon found itself in Grandma's iron grasp. With a free hand, Grandma grabbed one of the large blades laid out on the bed a with it took the cat's head clean off. Grandma grimaced and snarled like an animal, covered in both her and the cat's blood.
"You killed Joey Lawrence!" Whatever pity or reservation Kerry might have had left her as her cat's head rolled over and rested at her feet.
Grandma might have taken the opportunity to say something, to defend herself and her actions, to explain, to apologize, to at least make peace with God. She might have had Kerry given Grandma the opportunity.
Kerry didn't.
The three remaining bullets tore through Grandma's girth, rending apart internal organs and shattering something load bearing. The rapid succession of force threw the large beast back and out the open window through which the noble Joey Lawrence had entered to sacrifice himself. There was the shatter of glass, the second of silence, and the inevitable heavy, wet, impact.
With much trepidation Kerry walked to the window and looked out.
Grandma had managed to land face first on the driveway. The force of the 250 lbs plus fiend had been enough to rupture the huge belly Grandma maintained. All around her the vast contents of her gut spilled out; a thick and pulpy halo mocking the angels she'd never see.
Grandma was good and dead.
Chapter 10
It quickly dawned on Kerry that everybody had not been accounted for. Her body was running on adrenaline but it was quickly wearing off now that the immediate danger had passed. With every step she took she found herself closer and closer to collapsing. She pressed on. She had to know the truth.
Down the hall Kerry heard water running. Someone had turned on the shower. It all the commotion Kerry had not noticed. She didn't know who was in there, but there was only one person it could be.
The curtain was closed. There was a rough outline of someone sitting in the tub.
"Mom? ...Steven Mason?" Kerry no longer knew how to address the thing behind the curtain.
"I'm not Steven." A voice, both similar and foreign responded.
Anger welled up in Kerry, keeping her on her feet. "Don't you lie to me! You and Grandma...you and that, that thing, you killed my parents!"
"Alex and Steve did it. Not me." The voice sounded far away.
Kerry began to explain the situation as she knew it but the voice cut her off. "Honey, Alex and Steve moved down to Florida to dodge the heat for awhile. Alex, Grandma, only came back when Steve became too much. They had a lovers tiff; he threatened to go state. Grandma went and burned the house down. Came back here to the only people she had left...and they didn't kill your parents, Kerry, they killed your mother and her stupid brother who didn't know enough to mind his own fucking business..."
"Then who..."
The curtain was flung open. There was Kerry's "Mom," naked with her wrists slashed. The blood and life washed out of her body and into the dark and dank of the drain. Between her legs there lay the same damnation and shame, the same terminal clue that would forever link Grandma to the crime.
"I'm so sorry Honey," Kerry's mother said, "I didn't want them to do it, but I loved Alex so much...you're mother would never understand...she never accepted me for what I was, what I could be..."
Try as she might, Kerry couldn't, wouldn't, let herself understand this new turn of events.
"Kerry, Honey, I'm your father"
Kerry finally collapsed. She curled up in the fetal position on the cold bathroom floor, thankful for the white noise of the shower that caressed her to sleep. She would not awake until well after her father died.
By T.L. Button
Chapter 1
"I am so fat!" Kerry shouted at herself. She stared at herself in the full length mirror. No matter how much she adjusted her stonewashed denim skirt it still made her hips look big. To make matters worse her mother had insisted that Kerry wear the oversized sweater Grandma had knitted as a Christmas present last year. It was three sizes too big and made Kerry's skin itch.
"Please Kerry," her mother had pleaded, "it would mean so much for your grandmother to see you wearing the sweater she made you. We have to do all we can to make her feel welcome." Kerry had been totally against the idea of her Grandma moving in and had made her thoughts very clear. Sure, maybe Grandma did deserve some sympathy since her house had burned down with her husband in it but wearing ugly old people clothes was going too far. She threw off the sweater and put on her favorite green turtleneck on in it's place.
While not totally happy with her appearance, Kerry let it go; it's not like she was vain or anything. Besides, it was a perfect opportunity to look for new clothes to buy! Kerry flopped on her bed and started flipping through the pages of this months Sassy. She checked of some new skirts she wanted and sweaters that would actually make her look good.
Kerry was lost in a world of fashion and beauty until she heard "Kids, you're grandmother is here! Come down and greet her!" from downstairs. She got up and checked herself out one more time. Her hips still looked big in the skirt.
"Ewwww, I still look fat."
"You're goddamn right you do." From the doorway Kerry's sister, Merry, sneered at her. Her died black hair fell in her face and her torn up jeans jingled with the sound of her wallet chain.
"Shut up Merry! You weigh more than I do." At 120 lbs, Kerry admitted she could stand to lose a few pounds but she wouldn't give Merry the satisfaction of admitting that. Besides, Merry must have weighed at least 135lbs; what right did she have to call her fat?
"Kerry! Merry! Don't keep your Grandmother waiting!" Their mother's voice had become more irritated. Merry sauntered off without another look in Kerry's direction.
"Sometimes I can't believe we're sisters," Kerry thought out loud. She looked at herself again in the mirror. "Maybe I should change my skirt..." she thought.
"Kerry! Now!" There was a hint of desperation in her mother's voice this time.
"Wow, mom can be so weird." With no other options, Kerry slid a white headband into her long blonde hair and went downstairs to meet her grandmother.
***
"Grandma's gotten really fat." That was all Kerry could think when she saw her Grandmother. It had been a few years since she'd seen her last and Grandma had gotten noticeably older but that was no excuse. The woman very well could have been close to 250 lbs.
"It's so good to see you mom." Kerry's mother was hugging Grandma, tears in her eyes. "The girls and I were so worried about you. Weren't we girls?"
Kerry nodded and agreed as earnestly as she could. Merry threw out an "Oh yeah, real worried."
It was at this point that Kerry's mother noticed she wasn't wearing the sweater her grandmother had knitted. She didn't say anything but her eyes widened and she mouthed something intelligible. Before the situation could escalate Grandma chimed in.
"Why don't my beautiful granddaughters give their grandma a hug?" She opened her plump arms as wide as she could.
Merry was first. She put her arms around the purple mu-mu wearing behemoth with as much affection as she could muster. It seemed enough for grandma.
"Merry, why don't you go out and get Grandma's things." Her mother then leaned in and hissed, "and I want to have a talk with you later."
Kerry smiled. She was going to get the third degree for not dropping that "angry chick" look for Grandma's arrival.
It was her turn to hug Grandma.
Kerry hesitated. There was the smell; that mix of dust, sweat, and cheap old woman perfume. Grandma's heavy jowls held her smile, waiting for Kerry's hug. Kerry saw her mother's expression of horror and anger. She shouldn't have wavered but there was something about Grandma that made her nervous. Something that scared her. She couldn't out her finger on it but it was there, tucked away in Grandma's fleshy folds.
"Kerry, hug your grandmother." There was a fear in her mother's voice. Kerry gave in and hugged Grandma.
It wasn't so bad. The smell was there and Kerry's arms could barely fit around the woman but she handled it. But when she pulled away after a few seconds Grandma didn't let go. She kept her hands on Kerry's shoulders, holding Kerry in front of her, smiling away.
"Such a pretty girl...such a pretty girl."
Kerry tried to wrench her self free but her grandmother's surprisingly large and strong hands held her still.
"Such a pretty girl." A rumbling came out of Grandma's chest, quickly erupting into throttled coughing. Kerry tried to get free but was held in place as her grandmother started to convulse and hack.
"Mom, are you ok?" Kerry's mother asked. Grandma answered by vomiting blood onto Kerry's favorite green turtleneck.
Chapter 2
Dear Diary,
Oh. My. God. I can't belive what happened earlier. Grandma puked on me. She puked blood. It was sooooo gross. Ewww! Ewww! Mom didn't even care about how I felt. She was all like "Mom are you ok?" She didn't even notice that it was ME that got wretched on. And my favorite green turtleneck is now completly ruined. Mom even got angry when I told her I needed a new one. She is sooooo selfish. Afterwards Grandma said something about how smoking is bad for you and how Merry and I shouldn't ever smoke because it makes your lungs go bad. I'm never going to smoke if it will make me hack blood like Grandma did. Merry said she would never smoke but I know for a fact that she does. Sometimes I smell it coming out of her room. It doesn't smell like the cigaretts the girls at school smoke. It smells different. Merry is such a liar and I hope she starts puking blood like Grandma did!
Kerry was going to write more but she was too tired. The day had taken a lot out of her and she was happy to leave her diary entry as was. If she wrote more it would have been about Grandma. Kerry didn't want to think any more about her.
Once Grandma had stopped coughing up blood she politely excused herself. Kerry had started screaming and ran off to the bathroom to clean her shirt. A few minutes later her mother came in and yelled at her for being rude. Kerry couldn't help but notice how scared she looked. She just kept saying "Don't you ever disrespect your Grandmother like that again! Don't you ever!"
Kerry cleaned herself off while crying her eyes out in the bathroom. Her mother was never this mean to her, only to Merry who deserved it. Afterwards Kerry had no choice but to change into that stupid, white sweater Grandma had made. She sulked in her room and wrote in her diary. She stayed there until her mother called her down saying dinner was ready. Kerry went to the table looking fat and feeling terrible.
Grandma was already seated, smiling at her granddaughter as she came down the stairs. Kerry noticed how Grandma's eyes never left her. She just smiled and stared until Kerry made her way into the dinning room.
"Oh my, you're wearing the sweater I made you." Grandma exclaimed in delight. "It looks positively stunning on you. When you get older I'm sure all the boys will be at your door."
"Ummm, grandma, I'm sixteen years old. I'm already dating." Grandma must have me confused with Merry, Kerry thought. Merry's the one who doesn't even care about boys. She's so weird.
"Oh Kerry, you and your tales!" Kerry's mother had just run into the dinning room form the kitchen, her eyes wide. She was smiling hard and talking a mile a minute. "Mom, Kerry doesn't date boys. She's far too young. Why I didn't even start talking to boys until I was eighteen. You made sure of that mom, yes you did. Right here in this house actually. That's where you taught me. Did you know that Kerry, I grew up in this house. Mom, why don't you tell Kerry about our house while I help Merry get dinner ready." With that Kerry's mother ran back into the kitchen.
Grandma took her daughter's cue and began about how she and Kerry's mother grew up on Fear Street. It wasn't easy, she said, being a single mother back then. That's why they had to move to the city. Grandma then went on about how she preferred this nice quiet neighborhood to the nasty city. They had no choice though. Kerry's mother went off to college, just as Grandma had told her to do, and made something of herself. Eventually she managed to save up enough money to buy their old house back.
It was a boring story to Kerry but she didn't want to make her mother angry again. Kerry did her best to make small talk. "Grandma, was Fear Street always as weird as it is now?"
"I don't know what you mean dear."
"Well, lot's of bad things happen on our street. Just last week some kids were having a party when the house mysteriously burned down with everybody in it. Before that Mr. Anderson went crazy and murdered his family with an axe. I was friends with his daughter you know. But she was kinda fat. That's not everything though. A few months ago all those Cheerleader were found dead with these holes in there heads. The police said some crazy man used them for something called "cranial penetr-"
Kerry's grandmother cut her off. "Don't worry that pretty little head of yours off." Grandma seemed rather casual about the subject. "Things like this happen all the time all over the world. There's nothing different about Fear Street." She paused. "Maybe we should move on to a more pleasant topic, don't you think?"
Whatever. It wasn't like Kerry really cared. "Ok Grandma. Whatever you say."
"That's my girl." Grandma smiled. "So Kerry, what cup size are you?"
Before Kerry could really appreciate what her Grandmother had just said her mother and Merry walked in.
"Dinner's ready!" Kerry's mother put a dish down and started to spoon it's contents onto Grandma's plate. "This is homemade Spanish rice, Merry's specialty!"
Merry had a sincere smile on her face. She always looked like that after she cooked something "She thinks she's so great." Kerry thought. "Her cooking isn't even that good."
Grandma's smiled had faded. She glared down at the rice. "Susan," she said addressing Kerry's mother, "You let your daughter cook 'Spanish rice?'"
Kerry's mother just stammered.
Grandma continued, now looking at Merry. "Merry dear, your mother must not have told you; this sort of food is only suitable for colored folk. You'll have to make something new." With that she took her plate and threw it against the wall.
Merry did not react well. "What the fuck is wrong with you, you crazy old bitch?" A few seconds later she had been dragged into the kitchen by her mother. The sound of shouts and slaps followed.
Grandma sighed. "Your older sister needs to learn some respect. In fact this whole house could use a Grandmother's touch...things will change soon enough my sweet little girl, things will change soon enough."
Joey Lawrence, Kerry's cat, hopped into Grandma's lap. "See, this is what I'm talking about. A clean house does not have vermin like this running around without repercussion." Grandma grabbed Joey Lawrence by the scruff of his neck and threw him against the wall where the plate had hit minutes before. He struck the wall with a sickening thud, fell to the floor, and lay still.
Chapter 3
Grandma just smiled. Kerry held her eyes with disbelief. Merry and her mother re-entered the room, both with tears streaming down their face. Merry bore a frown and a bright red hand imprint on her left cheek whereas her mother wore that same smile that had barely left her face in the few hours since Grandma had arrived.
"It seems like we had a little mishap with diner. I guess we'll have to go out. How's that sound everybody? Good? Good." Kerry's mother already had the car keys out in her hand, shaking violently.
***
Grandma had suggested that they go to a nice seafood restaurant. Both Kerry and Merry hated seafood; to the best of their knowledge so did their mother. But Kerry and Merry's mother said it was great idea, peeling out of the driveway so fast that she nearly ran over a young boy on his bike.
At the restaurant Kerry tried to order a salad, no dressing, and Merry tried to wait out in the car. Grandma said that neither actions would be acceptable.
"You're looking far too thin Kerry." Grandma said.
Kerry couldn't believe what she was hearing "Thin?' she thought, "Yeah right. Maybe when I'm down to 98 lbs. I'll call myself thin." Of course she didn't say anything out loud; the handprint on Merry's face was an all too visible warning. Kerry made do and ate a plate of fried shrimp, desperately trying no to throw up in the restaurant. That would have to wait for later.
As for Merry, Grandma looked at her in the car and asked "Do you know what happens to little girls who disrespect their elders?"
"Yeah I do." Eyeing her mother she said "Their mom's flip the fuck out and beat them. Isn't that right mom?"
Grandma did not allow her smiling but shaking daughter to answer. "No dear. Those little girls end up lying in dark places with needles in their arms."
Merry's mother burst out, "Merry's a very smart girl mom. That wont happen."
Grandma smiled in her knowing way and hauled her girth out of the car. Kerry and Merry's mother did the same. Before she got out of the car she heard Merry say to no one in particular. "Christ, they think I'm sort of heroin addict." For a second she got a far away look in her eye. Then noticing her sister was staring at her, turned it to a glare and got out of the car. Kerry followed suit.
***
The following week had not gotten any easier. Joey Lawrence, still punch drunk from hitting the wall when they got home, had runaway. Kerry's social life and Merry's sorry excuse for one had both become nearly nonexistent.
"Girls your age don't go out past sundown." Grandma had said.
Mom had gotten worse. Aside from strictly enforcing Grandma's law with a stern word or hand, she had fallen into the habit of wandering the house smiling and talking to herself. Kerry was happy for her mother's new found happiness. Before she used to frown a lot and comment on how hard it was to raise two teenagers by herself without their father. Grandma seemed to help. Merry said that things were worse for Mom. She said something about her being "mentally unstable" or one of those big words they used in the AP classes. She said Grandma should leave. It was just like Merry to be selfish and stupid like that.
That's not to say Kerry liked the new lack of interaction with the rest of the world, particularly boys. She just had be a little more clever about it. She had read an article in Sassy magazine on how you could see boys even if you weren't allowed to.
See if you can find a girl in your class with a cuter older brother. Try to have a "study date" at her house. Ditch your brainy "friend" first chance you get and start a smooch fest with her hottie older sib!
That made sense to Kerry. She knew this loser girl with a cute older brother who she tricked into a study date. At the last minute she said Kerry couldn't come over to her house but would be willing to come to Fear Street. Kerry was about to cancel, she didn't want Sandy O'Brien in her house trying to teach her stuff, but when she found out her older brother would be dropping her off she went through with it. She'd wear her cutest capri pants, her single shoulder strap shirt, and her butterfly hair clips. How could he not want to come in?
"Kerry! You're friend is here!"
Kerry would have to remind her mother that Sandy O'Brien was not her friend.
Kerry ran to the door and right past Sandy to her brother's car. Mike O'Brien sat there, eyeing Kerry with a huge grin on his face. His tight jeans and rugby shirt accented what Kerry thought was a hot bod. His dark brown hair was all tussled from the wind. Empty beer bottle clanked on the floor.
"So, you're Merry's kid sister?"
Kerry acted bashful. "Yeah..."
"She's like a lesbian or something, right?"
"I think so but I'm not. I like boys."
"I bet you do."
From across the yard Sandy shouted, "Ummm, we really should get some studying done."
"I'll let you guys get to it." Mike smiled. "I'll catch you around Cara."
As he peeled out Kerry shouted out, "It's Kerry! My name is Kerry!"
***
The study date had been worse than Kerry imagined. Sandy actually wanted to study. She didn't want to talk about boys our what her older brother looked like naked. After two hours of talking about Chemistry she finally said that she should go home. She called her father (apparently her mother had packed her things and left and her brother was passed out drunk). Kerry was grateful for when the man arrived.
She didn't walk Sandy to the door when her father came; what did Kerry care? As she was leaving she realized that she didn't get Sandy's number. It would be impossible to call Mike without it. She ran down the stairs after her but did catch her. Sandy was already waiting in the car but her father was still in the doorway. In the doorway talking to Grandma.
"It's been awhile hasn't it?" The fat, balding, middle aged man said.
"It certainly has 'Miss Muffet'"
Mr. O'Brien looked scared. "Don't call me that. That was a long time ago. I have a family now."
Grandma didn't say anything. Instead she forcefully took his groin in her large hand and kissed him on the mouth. Mr. O'Brien seemed to almost relax for a second but then composed himself and ran off to his car. He drove away faster than was necessary.
Chapter 4
"We need to talk." Merry stood with arms crossed at the entrance to Kerry's room.
Kerry sat on her bed, the new issue of Sassy in her lap. She was flipping through the celebrity address section, hoping this would be the time when Mario Lopez was revealed to have a summer home on Fear Street. She was far too immersed with the idea of Slater from Saved By the Bell living across the street to pay attention to Merry.
"Kerry! Are you listening? I said we need to talk."
Kerry looked up at Merry and rolled her eyes. She went back to Sassy.
Merry walked over and tore the magazine out of her lap. She threw across the room. "Just be honest with yourself and get a damn porno mag. Now, are you listening to me?"
Kerry now crossed her arms and pouted. "Fine, what do you want?"
Merry pulled a chair forward and sat down. She looked towards the open doorway; she would have closed it but Grandma said she didn't like closed doors in her house, something that infuriated Merry to no end. Merry leaned in. "I want to talk about Grandma."
Merry then began her near rant about the problems she had with Grandma. "That woman thinks she can tell us all what to do, she thinks she's got every bloody answer. And Mom! Mom just does whatever she says as though Grandma's word is the gospel." Merry was getting riled up. She stood and started pacing. "There's something seriously wrong with that old woman. She's always so goddamn calm, even when she gets violent. The other day I saw her backhand Mom. She sent her clear across the room. The whole time she was smiling that stupid fucking smile of hers. You'd think she was sitting on the porch listen to the oldies station or something. Christ, I think she's hit mom almost everyday since she's got here. The other day she tossed a chair at me because I was listening to The Sex Pistols in my room." Merry perhaps unknowingly rubbed the shoulder that was struck with the aforementioned chair.
"And Joey Lawrence. Don't forgot Joey Lawrence," Kerry piped up.
Merry was taken back for a moment. "Kerry, I got a hit with a fucking chair. I think that's a little more important than the cat." Merry then visibly softened. "But you're right. That was completely uncalled for." Merry continued on about the trespasses Grandma had made against her: the insults poorly masked as corrective criticism, the monitored phone calls, the invasion of privacy that resulted in a wealth of CDs, movies, and books thrown away. Merry was grateful she kept her birth control pills on her person at all times.
Merry sat back down when she was finished. "What about you? What have you seen?" This was perhaps the first time in as long as Kerry could remember where Merry actually cared about what she had to say.
"Well, there have been some things that I don't think you know about." Kerry thought about the reference to her breasts Grandma had made. It hadn't ended there. "The first night Grandma was here, when Mom brought you in the kitchen to 'talk, ' Grandma asked me what cup size I was."
"Why would she ask something like that?"
"I don't know. But she's kept it up. Every now and then I'll catch her staring at me. Sometimes when she's close enough she'll pat me...on places..."
"You mean your ass?"
"Yeah, and other places..."
"That's fucked up!" Merry's eyes showed she could barely believe it.
"That's not all!" To be honest, Kerry liked the attention she was getting for her usually distant older sister. It made her feel like she was in charge for once. She went on. "The other night when Sandy O'Brien's dad picked her up I saw Grandma talking to him. It seemed liked they knew each other. Grandma called him 'Miss Muffet' and then she grabbed him down there and kissed him. It was so gross."
"Jesus Christ! I can't believe it."
"I know." Kerry was equally upset. "Since Mr. O'Brien picked Sandy up I didn't get to talk to Mike again. You know him, right Merry? Mike O'Brien? You're both seniors."
"Mike O'Brien? Who cares about him? That guys a walking hard-on when he's not passed out drunk. It'll be a good day when he wraps that piece of shit car of his around a tree. Anyway, we have more important things to worry about."
Merry was quiet. After a while she started mumbling to herself. "I think I might have been wrong..."
"Wrong about what? Merry, what were you wrong about? Tell me." Kerry wanted to hear her usually confident older sister point out that she wasn't perfect. Because she wasn't. Kerry was sure of that.
"Well, I thought that maybe Grandma was acting all crazy because she was some sort of drug addict. You'd be surprised how many pills old people take. Maybe she's taking something she should be, or maybe she's stopped taking some anti-psychotics. I've wanted to go to the police for the past few days but when I ran it by Mom she flipped out. She said that she'd deny anything I said. Throw me out of the house." Merry turned dark for a moment. "Not that I'd mind that. I can't wait to get out of here. I just don't have the damn money. Christ, I steal it from the rest of you but it's only get me so far and I know Grandma and Mom would come after me. No, I can't do that. I wanted to prove to Mom that something's wrong. But it might go farther back than I previously thought..."
"What do you mean?" Kerry was a little disappointed. Merry's mistake wasn't as big as she would have hoped.
"Well Grandma said that she lived here with Mom for a long time. That thing with Mr. O'Brien makes it seem like she certainly has a history here. Plus, the few times I tried to talk to Grandma about our past, ask her if she knew our father, she either didn't say anything our went into one of her fits." Merry leaned in and whispered, "I think they're hiding something Kerry. Something fucked up."
"Well what are you going to do about it?"
"I'm going to find out what it is. They're downstairs now watching television. I'm going to go into Grandma's room and see if I can find something. Anything. I need you to keep watch. Can you do that Kerry?"
"I-I guess so." Kerry didn't want to get in trouble, especially since nobody had been yelling or hitting her.
"Good. Let me know if either of them comes upstairs." With that Merry went off to Grandma's room.
Kerry was anxious. What would happen if Grandma caught Merry in her room. Would Grandma figure out that she was keeping watch for Merry? What would happen to her then? It was one thing when Merry got hit, she wasn't that attractive to begin with but Kerry knew that a palm print on her face would take a lot of makeup to cover and even then the boys would know. If she couldn't flirt at school she'd have no where to flirt. She'd go crazy. Of course, Kerry couldn't say that she was happy with the changes Grandma had made. Did Mr. O'Brien tell Mike what Grandma had done? Mike already thought that Merry was a lesbian, if he knew what Grandma was like maybe he wouldn't want anything to do with her. Even though she had only talked to him once Kerry had really started to like Mike. He was cute, older, and he had his own car-
Kerry heard screaming.
She hadn't been paying attention.
Grandma had caught Merry in her room.
Chapter 5
Dear Diary,
I can't belive what's happening. Merry had some stupid idea about going into Grandma's room to find evidance or something and she got caught. She wanted me to keep watch and I did but I looked away for a second and Grandma snuck by and caught Merry in her room. I don't know what happened. All I heard was screaming and Grandma saying something about what happens to girls who "don't respect their elders." Mom ran upstairs and was crying the whole time. She stood in front of me so I couldn't see what was hapaning. She could'nt block everything and I saw Grandma drag Merry out of her room and down the stairs by her hair. There was more screaming and what sounded like fighting. I heard a door slam and everything was quiet. Mom told me not to leave me room until I was told I could so I didn't. I tottally don't want to get into trouble like Merry did.
Kerry put her diary down. She had been in her room for hours. She was really bored and had to use the bathroom but after what happened there was no way she was leaving without permission. Luckily for her that came soon enough.
There was a slight tap on her door before it opened. Grandma made her entrance with a certain flair that only a woman of her size could produce. She stood before Kerry, her smile fixed and subtle, her hair curled and molded into the standard issue old lady cut, and her dancing cat print gown slightly blowing in the wind. She began to speak but was overcome momentarily by one of her coughing spells. She regained her composure in due time, although, unknown to Grandma, a drop of blood and saliva hung at the edge of her mouth. She began again.
"Now Kerry, I'm sure you're a bit confused about what went on earlier tonight. I bet you're even a little scared." Grandma's low silky voice sounded legitimately concerned. "You have to understand though that I did what I did out of love. Love for you and your sister Merry. Why it just kills this old heart of mine to think what might happen to you and your sister if you didn't get the proper discipline, the proper guidance." Grandma smoothed herself out a seat on the bed next to Kerry. A little too close Kerry noticed.
A meaty arm went around Kerry shoulder. Pudgy fingers caressed Kerry's arm. "Some girls, like your sister Merry, just don't understand what it means to be a good girl. Why, they'll stay out 'till all hours of the night, drink, do the drugs, and run with some unscrupulous characters. If she were to continue on with this sort of lifestyle she'd end up a drug addict with some half-breed bastard child growing in her belly. And then where would she be? Where would we be?"
Grandma pulled Kerry close. The smell of old woman filled Kerry's nose and lungs. "But not you, sweet child. No, not you. You're a good girl. You do what your Grandma tells you. You understand what it means to be a good girl, what it means to love your family, don't you."
Kerry was scared but certainly didn't want to invoke Grandma's wrath. "Yeah, Grandma, I love my family."
Grandma beamed at Kerry. "Such a sweet, sweet girl. Now give Grandma a kiss."
Grandma leaned in and Kerry turned her head a little to allow Grandma to give her a peck on the cheek. To Kerry's surprise Grandma's lips fell right onto hers. They were there for only a matter of seconds, but still for too long. In that time Kerry swore she felt a dry, old tongue try and creep into her mouth.
Grandma pulled away and smiled. The blood that had been on her lips was smeared. Kerry was lucky she didn't realize it was on her lips now. Grandma stood up and began to exit the room.
"Umm, Grandma?" Kerry had questions that would sit with her if they weren't answered.
"Yes child?"
"Where's Merry?"
Grandma's face darkened just a shade. "I've grounded your disrespectful sister. She's not allowed to leave her room for a week. Understood?"
Kerry shook her head intently. She didn't understand a bit; Merry obviously wasn't in her room across the hall. Still, there was no reason to push Grandma.
"Grandma, I have one more question." Kerry was slow and hesitant. "Merry said that she had asked you about out dad. Since you lived her for so long with Mom she figured that you would, like, know something; tell us the stuff that Mom wouldn't. She said that you got really angry and didn't say anything. How come?"
The smile disappeared from Grandma's face all together. "You girls don't need to know anything about your father. He's not part of your life and he never will be. He was a weak man and I'm glad he's gone. So should you." And with that Grandma left the room with the lingering smell of age and Kerry with more questions than answers.
***
Kerry had come downstairs to use the bathroom and kiss her mother and Grandma good night. That was another one of Grandma's new rules, a proper goodnight kiss every night.
Kerry was on her way back up the stairs when she heard a scratching sound. She stopped. There is was again, this time more frenzied. Kerry, her heart pounding with anxiety over what she might find, followed.
It was coming from the coat closet next to the stairway. Kerry stood silent in front of the door. The scratching continued. There was a slight odor, sweet and rotten, coming from the other side. Kerry knew what was in there but asked anyway.
"Merry?" She whispered.
The scratching increased.
Kerry knelt down to look through the key hole. There, in the stinking darkness, was a frightened, bloodshot eye.
Kerry didn't say anything. She didn't know what she should or even could say. The scratching stopped. It turned to tapping. Kerry continued staring, the tapping getting louder the whole time.
"Merry, please stop. Grandma will hear you."
The tapping continued.
"Merry there's nothing I can do to help you."
The tapping stopped.
Kerry stood up to leave when from the corner of her eye she saw what her sister was trying to alert her to. On a little table right across from the coat closet was a skeleton key, lying out in plain sight.
Kerry stared at it for what wasn't very long and went back to the keyhole. The eye was huge and hopeful.
"I'm-I'm sorry Merry. I can't."
The eye glistened and then disappeared.
In the other room, unbeknownst to both of them, Grandma beamed in satisfaction.
Chapter 6
Dear Diary,
The smell has gotten worse. Before you didn't notice unless you went right up to the closet but now whenever you go in or out the front door it you smell it. It smell like a dirty bathroom but it also smells kinda like the dumpster behind McDonalds. Merry's been in there for three days now. The scratching stopped yesterday. I don't know if Grandma gives Merry food or water. I've never seen her do it. Maybe while I'm at school...
Kerry heard a car pull into the driveway. It was Saturday. That would Sandy O'Brien and (hopefully) Mike arriving to take Kerry to their house for another "study date." Kerry looked out and the window and to her disappointment saw that it was Mr. O'Brien driving, not Mike. Kerry ran down the stairs and out the door shouting hasty goodbyes and be back laters. It wasn't Mike she was running to but she was happy to be out of the house none the less.
***
"Kerry, you're not paying attention!"
Kerry had never noticed how annoying Sandy O'Brien's lisp was until she was forced to hang out with her for an extended period of time. They were in Sandy's room, Chemistry books spread over the bare wood floor, with some whinny folk music playing that Kerry couldn't stand.
"What are you listening to?" Kerry asked not bothering to hide her disgust.
"This is the Indigo Girls. Do you like them? I have some CDs you could borrow if you do." Sandy was way too excited about music that wasn't about boys or looking pretty, Kerry thought.
"No," Kerry flashed her fakest smile, "no, that's ok. I'll stick with my real music at home. You know, the kind that has more than one instrument in it." Kerry couldn't wait to get home to her BB Mack and Mariah Carry albums.
"Well, you're entitled to your opinion. Kerry. Now perhaps you should start studying if you don't want to get another F on our next test. I've been looking over these past tests you brought me and it clear that you don't understand even the basic principles of Chemistry. I mean, here where it asks what a mole is you answered 'cute' and drew a picture. If you want to get a pass-"
"Where's Mike?"
Sandy sighed. "I already told you; He's out at the bar with his loser friends getting drunk."
"When will he be back?"
"I already told you; I don't know. If we're lucky, he wont come back. Now if we could get back to-"
"Why can't we do this at my house then? If Mike's not here than at least we could find something interesting to do at my place."
"Once again, I already told you; we can't go to your house because my father has forbidden me from going there ever again. He was quite serious about that actually. In fact I had to argue with him all day just to let you come over."
Kerry finally registered how unusual that was. Moments later she was able to combine that with the incident between Grandma and Mr. O'Brien. "Why wouldn't your dad want you to come over to my house?"
"To be honest I don't know." Sandy seemed to be as equally interested in the subject as Kerry was. She put her book down and continued. "He wouldn't give a straight answer. He got angry when I pressed him on the matter."
"Do you think it has anything to do with my grandmother?" Kerry knew it did, what with her being so smart and all, but she wanted to know what Sandy knew.
"I don't think so. He hasn't mentioned anything about your grandmother. I did hear him talking to himself one night though. He was swearing up a storm in his office. It was kinda creepy. I think I heard him drop the name Alexander Mason."
Mason was Kerry's last name.
"Do you know an Alexander Mason? Is that your dad or something?"
Kerry didn't know. She had never even been told what her father's name was. There weren't any other Mason's in the area though, so if Mr. O'Brien was talking about a Mason, it very well could be her father.
"I don't know" Kerry was embarrassed to admit it. "I never knew my father. He left right after I was born. That could be him."
Sandy didn't say anything. She was deep in thought. Then, "I think we should find out who Alexander Mason is."
"Why do you care? He's not your father. He might not even be mine!"
"Whoever Alexander Mason is, regardless of whether it's your father or not, affects both of us. My dad obviously has a history with him and so do you since my dad never mentioned the man once before stopping by your house. This is about both of our families. Besides, don't you want to know the truth?"
Kerry had to admit, she did. "Okay, I'm in. I don't know where to start though."
"I do." Sandy seemed excited. She probably read those lame Nancy Drew books when she was kid, Kerry thought. Probably thought she was some sort of super sleuth. "I think we should go check out my dad's office. He keep a lot of his personal stuff in there; address books, things like that. Follow me." Sandy bounded out of her room with Kerry in half-hearted pursuit.
Mr. O'Brien did not got along well with his family, particularly his wife. This much Sandy had let on. It wouldn't be difficult to figure it out though. In the short time that Kerry had known Sandy she had been repeatedly prevented from going over to her house due to family troubles. When she was allowed over she often heard Sandy's father blow up at his wife and storm off. With Mr. O'Brien out somewhere his office would be empty.
"When my dad gets like this he can disappear for a long time. Once he didn't come home for a whole week. He's rarely gone that long but I'm sure he wont be back tonight. We can snoop all we want and not worry about getting caught."
"Snoop." It was obvious, Sandy had read those stupid books. She probably still did.
They let themselves into the office. Kerry had no idea what she was looking for but Sandy apparently did. She was going through her father's desk pulling out various books, flipping through, and putting them back disheartened.
"Alexander Mason isn't in any of these books." She slumped down in her fathers leather chair.
"Hey super sleuth, maybe there's a secret compartment, huh? Maybe you just have to reach under something an unlock it." Kerry figured she might as well point out how stupid Sandy was for thinking she could figure out who Kerry's father was just by going through her dad's office.
Sandy bolted up. "You know, you're probably right. My dad has always been into that secret sort of stuff. There's a safe behind that clown picture on the wall. Of course, why wouldn't he have something like that in his desk?" Sandy went about looking for it while Kerry marveled at the ugly clown painting.
"I found it!"
"You did?" Kerry didn't think there would actually be something hidden.
Sandy had unlocked the back of the bottom drawer in the desk and now it slid out an extra foot and a half. There, hidden away, was a little black address book.
Sandy scooped it up and began flipping through it. "That's weird, I know some of these people, but I didn't know my dad did. None of these are business associates or even friends...hey, here he is! Alexander Mason. Huh, that's weird, he's listed with a Steven Mason. And...and they're listed as living at 233 Fear Street. That's your address Kerry."
Sandy had just opened a new door into Kerry's past, but Kerry wasn't listening. She couldn't take her eyes of what was under the little black book. She couldn't take her eyes of the pile of gay pornography that Mr. O'Brien had hidden in his desk.
Chapter 7
In the blink of an eye, Sandy dropped the junior detective shtick and made her best attempt to cover her father's secret stash of guy on guy magazines and shove Kerry out the door. She accomplished both tasks, albeit awkwardly and slower than she would have liked, and quickly devised a reason to get Kerry and herself away from this new found source of shame.
"Let's go to the library!"
"Why would we want to do that?"
"We're going to the library! Come on!" The tone of Sandy's voice left little question as to what the girls would be doing. It was evident to Kerry that Sandy wanted to get out of the house. Sandy's painful grip on her arms as she dragged Kerry outside only encouraged that thought.
As they walked down the street, the fall sun low in the sky, Sandy either explained or convincingly lied about her desire to go to the library. "The library has a great many records on this town; who's lived here and when. There's plenty of stuff on file to figure out someone's whereabouts in the past few years."
Kerry was not impressed. "Yeah, so?"
"Don't you see, we can figure out who Alexander and Steven Mason are and why they're listed as living at your house."
"You know, my family didn't always live there. My Mom and Grandma had to move at one point. Those people must have lived there while my family was away."
"But my father has or had some sort of tie with them and he knew your Grandmother well. I think that the Masons and your Grandma are in cahoots."
"Cahoots?" Kerry thought. "What kind of nerd says cahoots?"
Sandy went on about various theories concerning the resident of 233 Fear Street while Kerry thought about which nail polish she should wear to go with her tank top.
The two arrived at the library before long. Inside they were greeted by a warm, smile and an even warmer "Why hello Sandy. How are you dear?"
"Hi Ms. Sloat. I'm good."
"Sandy is such a loser." Kerry thought. "You would have to spend like, a lot of time at the library for people to know you there." Kerry would frequent the library about once a year for all of half an hour; when end of the year research papers came around for her classes she had to get a book or two to write off as references.
As Sandy talked to Ms Sloat about where she would be able to find city records Kerry stared at the librarian and wondered at how a person cold look so much like a peanut.
"Come on Kerry, let's go." Sandy had apparently gotten what she needed from the bride of the Planters Peanut guy. Kerry shook away the image of Ms. Sloat wearing a top hat and monocle and followed Sandy.
Sandy began explaining to Kerry what they were going to do: Kerry was going to look at the records and try to find out when the Mason's had lived at Kerry's house. It was Kerry's job to look through the old newspaper article on something called "microfiche" and see if there was anything about the Masons or her family. Sandy went off to do her part and left Kerry to do hers.
When Sandy came back she found Kerry flipping through old copies of Sassy magazine. Kerry taking a quiz to see what sort of sexual advance would work the best on her secret crush. She was just about to find out if she should go with the ghetto queen or the spoiled princess when Sandy scolded Kerry and made her get to work. Now Kerry would never know.
Looking through the microfiche was a pain and it was very boring. Kerry knew that her family had moved out of there house soon after she was born, although neither she nor Merry remembered anything about it. They only remembered moving back in. Now that she thought of it, she never remembered Grandma back then either, although she should because Grandma was supposed to have been living with them for a short period of time before she moved to Florida. Also, Kerry's mother supposedly was going to school at the time, and there was no mention of Merry or Kerry being in the picture yet. The more Kerry though about it the bigger the holes became.
She closed her eyes and tried to think back to what it was like when she was a little girl. She couldn't find Grandma in those memories. She remembered her mother but barely, and she looked different then. There were many strange men coming in and out of their small apartment, although there seemed to be three that were consistently there. There was a little room that Kerry and Merry stayed in, there was laughter and crying from outside it. Angry men and what sounded like hurt women. Near the end her mother came in looking like she did now, but at the time Kerry didn't want to go to her...
"Kerry, wake up!"
Kerry shook herself back from where she was. Sandy was glaring at her.
"You know, we're not going to get anywhere if you keep goofing off like this."
"Whatever. I'm not feeling well, I have put my head down for a minute, why don't you look up the newspapers clippings."
"Okay, fine but I thought you'd be interested to know that your family's been lying to you."
"What do you mean?"
"I looked at the records. You're mother and grandmother never lived in that house until about sixteen years ago. Before that time some elderly couple lived there. Before them, Alexander and Steven Mason lived there for years."
Kerry's head swam. She then went over to a nearby table and put her head down to think. Sandy huffed but did go through the microfiche.
Kerry didn't remember falling asleep.
It was quiet. There large, dark shapes, silent with foul intention. They were men, naked men, their faces painted up with clown-like makeup advancing on her, arms outstretched, reaching for her with wet, red hands. Somewhere someone whispered "Come to mommy..."
Sandy thankfully woke her up before they could take hold of her.
She must not have been out long because when Sandy woke her up the sky through the window looked very much the same.
"Kerry, I think I've found something."
Kerry went over to the screen and looked at what Sandy had brought up.
Almost unreadable at the top of the screen was a headline that said "Officer Charles O'Brien resigns after investigation"
"Your dad used to be a cop?"
"That's not what I'm looking at!" Sandy snapped. "Here," she pointed, "read this."
A little below the previous headline there read "Police increase search for suspects in double homicide and kidnapping."
"What does this have to do with me?"
Sandy sighed, obviously frustrated. "Look at the date. This came out just a few days after the Masons, who you'll remember lived in your house when your family should have been, moved."
"So?"
"Look at the damn article you stupid twit!" Sandy was at the end of her wits. "It says that the main suspects were Alexander and Steven Mason!
Chapter 8
Kerry's head swam. Things weren't making sense. Alexander and Steve Mason lived at her house back when her Mother and Grandmother were supposed to be. They were suspects in a murder and kidnapping. Sandy's father, a former cop, had a history with Grandma and the Masons. Grandma wouldn't talk about Kerry's father. Merry was still locked in the closet....
Far away Kerry heard Sandy saying that they should bring this up with Grandma. Right now. This was a bad idea, Kerry knew that. Grandma would have a fit. She would hurt Sandy, she would hurt Kerry. Kerry knew this was a bad idea but she allowed herself to be lead by Sandy back to her house, back to 233 Fear Street. What did Kerry care? Nothing really made sense.
The sun was almost gone. Shadows hung heavy on the street. The wind was cold. Twisted tress lurched over the sidewalk that Kerry was being dragged down. They were gnarled and pointed, as old and accusing as an old woman's hands. Each one pointed at Kerry with a silent accusation, a knowledge of Kerry's trespass and foolishness.
The house was waiting for them. The door was even partially ajar. There was something heavy, something pregnant, some malignant waiting for them.
"Why's my dad's car here?" Sandy looked down the street to find another curious vehicle. "Why the hell is Mike here?"
Something old, something innocent stirred in Kerry. "Mike, the boy I like," she thought, "he's here to see me."
"C'mon. Let's find out once and for all what all this is about." Sandy dragged Kerry into the house, into damnation.
The first thing Kerry noticed was the smell. The look on Sandy's face indicated that she smelled it too.
"God, what is that stench?" Sandy also heard something that Kerry had become accustomed to; the scratching. "Do you hear that Kerry? There's scratching coming from the closet."
Kerry may have mumbled "No, don't," but Sandy didn't hear or heed it. She tried to open the closet. It was still locked of course. They key on the table nearby had not been moved. Sandy was a smart girl and figured out the puzzle to opening the door quickly enough. The key turned and the door opened.
Along with a wash of vomit, urine, and feces came a horrid memory for Kerry out of the closet.
"Do you know what happens to little girls who disrespect their elders? Those little girls end up lying in dark places with needles in their arms."
Merry spilled out onto the floor covered in her filth. Kerry saw her arms, red and black and green, crusty and weeping, all over, covered in needles that had been forced into her flesh against her will.
Sandy recoiled, Kerry collapsed. Once fiery eyes now watched the two girls through a glazed stupor. Merry laid there, dirty and confused, bits of waste creeping into her nose, her ear, her mouth.
All three waited as silence enveloped them. Given the horror they were witnessing it would have been relieving to drown themselves in that nothing but it only offered new terror.
From up the stairs and down the hall came muffled cries and screams.
Chapter 9
The screams were getting louder. They began as isolated incidents; a cry of pain followed by whimpering. In a matter of minutes they had melded together, a continual wail of fear and hurt coming from what Kerry thought sounded like two separate voices. Somewhere behind those voices Kerry thought she heard something else. Laughter?
Sandy, shaken yes, but still functioning better than Kerry, overcame her fear and began to follow those horrid sounds up the stairs. Her courage only went so far and she made sure to drag the near catatonic Kerry behind her for moral support.
Kerry's first step was molested as a hand weakly grasped her ankle. Looking down she saw Merry, her body and soul still poisoned but behind her eyes where there had not been one before was a small fire.
"Essss..." she hissed, "Essss." With her other hand it looked as though she was pointing behind herself, into the filth. Kerry might have saw a light orange bottle, but she couldn't be sure.
"Essss...tree...essstree....en....esstreeen..." She was making no sense. Sandy wrested Kerry from Merry's grip and they continued on. The hissing soon died.
With every step the smear of sounds clarified, every element starting to stand out on its own. Some of the screams and shouts were coherent words and not just sounds of anguish.
"...what's goin' on?"
"...I can't let you do this..."
"...I though you loved me..."
"...it hurts, oh God it hurts..."
"...please stop..."
"...you're not in control..."
At the top of the stairs the conversation that was going on behind the screaming became apparent. Sandy and Kerry inched towards the cracked open door at the end of the hallway; the door, somewhere inside Kerry heard screaming, that led to Grandma's room.
"I can stop you this time." a meek voice said. "I didn't before, but I can stop you now."
More screaming.
"Nonsense," a husky voice replied, "you like this and you know it." More screaming. "I still don't know what possessed you to run away way back when but the cock has come back to the roost, as it were."
"No way man!" Helpless, and the third voice knew it. It started to sib. "Please, don't, no more..."
More screaming.
Sandy had dragged Kerry all the way to the door. Sandy peered in
"That's it," the husky voice cooed, "That's my little Miss Muffet..."
"Dad!" She flung the door open. Now Sandy had what was left of her strength sapped away as Kerry had only moments ago.
With his hands strapped to the end posts of the bed was Mike, stripped both of his clothes and his dignity. He was bloody and bruised, the cruel implements of his torture laid out lovingly on the down comforter. The most vile instrument lay behind Mike's bent over body. Wearing crude and poorly applied makeup, wearing oversized women's underwear which were even now falling off, wearing the face of a broken and defeated man, was Charles O'Brien. As tears ran down both he and his only son's cheeks he continued to rape away any decency or hope Mike may have had for the rest of his life. No matter what happened from then on, Mike would never be whole. Mike would never forget the pain as his father violated him.
Behind them Kerry saw where the laughter was coming from. Orchestrating the violation was Grandma, a face of puffy ecstasy. The realization was slow, like how the initial shock prevents you from properly gauging how cold the water really is, Kerry did not right away realize that Grandma stood stark naked in front of her. Had she, the horrid information that finally clicked inside her mind might have given her the good sense to get out of the room before Charles O'Brien had the opportunity to close the door.
Grandma's naked, bulbous body was horrifying enough but in light of what Merry has rasped the repulsion and confusion all came together in one terrifying realization.
"Essss...tree...essstree....en....esstreeen..."
Between Grandma's blue-veined legs, under neath the thick red pillars of angry stretch marks, hung the remnant of manhood. A phallus struggling against the chemicals that wracked it's nature and purpose.
"Essss...tree...essstree....en....esstreeen..."
"Estrogen." Kerry said to herself.
Grandma, seemingly happier in the current situation, nodded in agreement. "Yes dear, that nosy sister of yours had found my estrogen pills. It was quite rude of her to go through my personal things like that."
Naked and repulsive as she...he...it might have been Kerry couldn't take her eyes away. Even as Mr. O'Brien manhandled his daughter, dragging her to the other side of the room, Kerry stood and stared, the gears in her mind slowly coming to another conclusion.
"Alexander and Steve Mason...lived here when Mom and Grandma were supposed to have...suspects in double homicide and kidnapping... 'You girls don't need to know anything about your father....He was a weak man and I'm glad he's gone....' Mr. O'Brien knew Grandma from before...had the Mason's listed in his little black book...kicked off the force...Grandma's really a man..." The thoughts rolled over one, a ocean of confusion until that crashed over Kerry and receded, leaving the horrible truth.
"You're Alexander Mason aren't you?"
The smile fell away from Grandma's face. It seemed that everything in the room stopped. Were there a record playing, it would have screeched to a halt. Grandma had not expected this.
"What did you say?"
"You're Alexander Mason." Kerry was outnumbered and outgunned but there was strength in the truth, strength she could trust in to get her through this. "You're not my Grandma, you're Alexander Mason. You killed my real parents and kidnapped Merry and me. You and Steve Mason did it. And Mr. O'Brien, he was in on it too, wasn't he? That's why he got kicked out of the Police Department...You're murderers! You're murderers and freaks! Where's Mo-" Kerry stopped. If what she had just said was true, then Mom wasn't her mom. She was a truth that no longer supported her. Kerry fell to the ground and started to sob.
"Miss Muffet, look what the brat of yours did." Grandmas voice had dropped to a deep baritone now.
Mr. O'Brien looked at Grandma in fear and disbelief. "What? No, no, not my Sandy. She would never have done this. She's a good girl Alexander. She would have kept her nose clean." Sandy sobbed and weakly struggled against her father's tight grip on her hair.
"Miss Muffet, Kerry is far too stupid to have done this on her own, trust me. Your honor roll daughter lead the way. It's a pity because I had great things in mind for Kerry. Of course there's no reason to split hairs; both girls will have to be destroyed."
Sandy's eyes widened and she began to scream as her father, with eyes full of tears, lifted a revolver from the nightstand next to the bed. Even now, somewhere in Sandy, she remembered it as the gun he had worn when he was supposed to have upheld the law.
"Alex..." The gun shook in Mr. O'Brien's hand. "Alex I can't. She's my daughter."
"It's a piece of meat, just like that boy bent over the bed. Destroy it and get it over with." Grandma waited. "Do not test me Miss Muffet. I own you and you will do as I say. Now, Little Miss Muffet will destroy the meat."
The shot rang out, only slightly muffled by being fired point blank. The back of Sandy's head erupted and flew against the wall. A dark red, almost black, streak of blood, bone, and brain hung heavy on the floral print wall paper. Mr. O'Brien feel to the ground only slightly slower than his daughter.
"You're aren't finished yet. Little Miss Muffet will destroy all the meat."
"I don't want to!" Mr. O'Brien sat in a pool of blood, cradling the remains of his dead daughter's head.
"Do it!"
Mike was so traumatized he barely saw it coming. Another shot, another cascade of gore, another dead child.
"That's a good Little Miss Muffet. You can expect to get your curds and-"
Yet another shot rang out. Mr. O'Brien slumped to the floor, a thin trail of smoke drifting up from his mouth.
Grandma for once looked shaken. "Little Miss Muffet?" it's deep voice now small asked. "Charlie?"
His nearly naked body lay between the shell shocked Kerry and the shaken Grandma. Despite the death all around them, they both looked down at the gun.
Their eyes met.
Kerry lunged across the bloody floor. Grandma did the same. Grandma probably would have reached the gun first but she had to stop to release a howl of pain. As Kerry wrapped her fingers around the revolver she looked to see Grandma wrestling to get a blur of fur and claws off her back.
"Joey Lawrence!"
The cat fought with grandma, tearing up her back, shoulders, neck, and face. The mammoth transsexual was too much for the feline and it soon found itself in Grandma's iron grasp. With a free hand, Grandma grabbed one of the large blades laid out on the bed a with it took the cat's head clean off. Grandma grimaced and snarled like an animal, covered in both her and the cat's blood.
"You killed Joey Lawrence!" Whatever pity or reservation Kerry might have had left her as her cat's head rolled over and rested at her feet.
Grandma might have taken the opportunity to say something, to defend herself and her actions, to explain, to apologize, to at least make peace with God. She might have had Kerry given Grandma the opportunity.
Kerry didn't.
The three remaining bullets tore through Grandma's girth, rending apart internal organs and shattering something load bearing. The rapid succession of force threw the large beast back and out the open window through which the noble Joey Lawrence had entered to sacrifice himself. There was the shatter of glass, the second of silence, and the inevitable heavy, wet, impact.
With much trepidation Kerry walked to the window and looked out.
Grandma had managed to land face first on the driveway. The force of the 250 lbs plus fiend had been enough to rupture the huge belly Grandma maintained. All around her the vast contents of her gut spilled out; a thick and pulpy halo mocking the angels she'd never see.
Grandma was good and dead.
Chapter 10
It quickly dawned on Kerry that everybody had not been accounted for. Her body was running on adrenaline but it was quickly wearing off now that the immediate danger had passed. With every step she took she found herself closer and closer to collapsing. She pressed on. She had to know the truth.
Down the hall Kerry heard water running. Someone had turned on the shower. It all the commotion Kerry had not noticed. She didn't know who was in there, but there was only one person it could be.
The curtain was closed. There was a rough outline of someone sitting in the tub.
"Mom? ...Steven Mason?" Kerry no longer knew how to address the thing behind the curtain.
"I'm not Steven." A voice, both similar and foreign responded.
Anger welled up in Kerry, keeping her on her feet. "Don't you lie to me! You and Grandma...you and that, that thing, you killed my parents!"
"Alex and Steve did it. Not me." The voice sounded far away.
Kerry began to explain the situation as she knew it but the voice cut her off. "Honey, Alex and Steve moved down to Florida to dodge the heat for awhile. Alex, Grandma, only came back when Steve became too much. They had a lovers tiff; he threatened to go state. Grandma went and burned the house down. Came back here to the only people she had left...and they didn't kill your parents, Kerry, they killed your mother and her stupid brother who didn't know enough to mind his own fucking business..."
"Then who..."
The curtain was flung open. There was Kerry's "Mom," naked with her wrists slashed. The blood and life washed out of her body and into the dark and dank of the drain. Between her legs there lay the same damnation and shame, the same terminal clue that would forever link Grandma to the crime.
"I'm so sorry Honey," Kerry's mother said, "I didn't want them to do it, but I loved Alex so much...you're mother would never understand...she never accepted me for what I was, what I could be..."
Try as she might, Kerry couldn't, wouldn't, let herself understand this new turn of events.
"Kerry, Honey, I'm your father"
Kerry finally collapsed. She curled up in the fetal position on the cold bathroom floor, thankful for the white noise of the shower that caressed her to sleep. She would not awake until well after her father died.