"Do you see him?" Connor asked as he, Michelle and Mike came to a stop so they could catch their breath. It hadn't seemed like Sandy Claws had been chasing them but that wasn't exactly comforting, considering the fact that he had jumped out of nowhere to kill Bryan. "Do you see him do you see him do you see him?"
"No," Michelle replied curtly. "We don't."
"Are you sure?" Connor asked. He hugged himself tightly, completely missing the glares Mike and Michelle were giving him.
"If we saw him, we would be running." Michelle gathered up her long blonde hair and held it up in a ponytail so she could cool the back of her neck, which was covered in a thin layer of sweat. "Idiot."
Connor pouted and gave her an angry look. "Mean!"
Mike rolled his eyes. "Hey, at least she didn't lead that thing right to us!" He saw Connor's expression turn into one of confusion and that made him roll his eyes again. "YOU led that thing right to us you idiot!"
"I did NOT!" Connor denied. He shook his head emphatically to help make his point.
"You sure about that? That thing is after YOU! Way I see it, where you go, that thing is sure to follow."
"That's not my fault!" Connor balled up his fists and stomped his foot. "It's not!"
"We really don't care," Michelle informed him. She and Mike were both now backing away from him like he had a disease or something. "The further away we are from you, the safer we are from that thing."
"What-" Connor's eyes just about bugged out of his head completely when he realized that they were trying to leave him there by himself. "No no no!" He practically tripped over himself to jump in their way and stop them. "No no NO! You can't leave me here!"
"The hell we can't," Mike replied. He and Michelle tried to get around him but Connor jumped back in their way. "Hey! Retard! Get the fuck out of our way!"
"NO!" Connor shouted stubbornly. "NO NO NO! You can't leave me you can't-"
"Connnnorrrrrr…"
"Oh shit!" Michelle and Mike took off as fast as they could, leaving Connor rooted in the spot with fear.
"No no no no no," Connor shook his head and looked around. Sandy Claws sounded so close but he couldn't see him. He was looking all around but he couldn't see him anywhere. "No no no no no no no-"
"Connnooorrrrrr." The voice sounded closer than ever but the owner of it was still completely out of sight.
"Stop it!" Connor ordered. He wrapped his arms tightly around himself and shook his head. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing straight up and his heart was beating so hard and fast it was hurting inside of his chest. Tears were stinging the back of his eyes but they wouldn't come out. It was almost like he was just too tired to even cry. He was actually tired of all of this really. All this fear, all this torment; he hated it. It had completely taken everything out of him.
"Connorrrr-"
"STOP IT! Stop it stop it STOP IT!" Connor put his hands over his ears and shook his head. "I HATE you leave me alone!"
The voice didn't speak again. He kept his hands over his ears for a little longer, hesitantly taking them away when things stayed silent. The quietness was far from comforting. Even if Sandy Claws wasn't talking to him he could still feel the monster watching him. The thing was watching him from every direction and he tried to make himself as small as possible, which really didn't work at all. "What do you want?" he asked, his voice cracking in fear. "What do you WANT?"
The lights flickered slightly and he could have sworn he heard the thing breathing loudly. "Go away!" he moaned miserably. He was stumbling away blindly, the tears that had threatened to come out earlier finally leaving his eyes. "Please! Leave me alone! Leave-
Two strong clawed hands grabbed him from behind and he screamed. He felt the hot, putrid breath on his neck and in a panic he threw his head back hard, head butting the creature in the face. As the thing howled in pain he managed to get out of its grip and tried to make a break for it. He didn't get very far at all. Sandy Claws grabbed on to his ankle and violently yanked him down on the ground face first. He screamed and started kicking with his free foot while clawing at the floor desperately to try to get the hell away.
"Connor!" Sandy Claws grunted and pulled Connor directly underneath him. Connor managed to roll himself on to his back and got his hands so he could grab Sandy Claws's throat and prevent the thing from ripping out his jugular with his throat. The creature was snarling and snapping it's teeth, actually drooling on Connor it was so desperate to get at him. Connor was trying to get his feet under it so he could kick it off but there was too much weight on them and he couldn't do it. "STOP!" he begged, his arms starting to feel weak and shaky already. His chest had tightened up to the point where he couldn't even breathe. "STOP STOP STOP!"
His yelling had no effect whatsoever. It actually seemed to make the thing try even harder to rip his throat out. Sharp claws dug into chest and he screamed in pain. Sandy Claws started trying to dig into his chest even more and in a moment of blind panic he brought his own head up and sank his teeth into his tormenter's neck. Blood started to pour into his mouth but it wasn't like any blood he had tasted before. It was absolutely rancid and he quickly yanked his head back and pushed the bleeding Sandy Claws off of him so he could get up on his hands and knees and cough and gag until he threw up.
Sandy Claws made a gurgling noise and tried to reach for Connor yet again. Connor was able to kick its hand away this time though. The bite he had delivered wasn't the deadly one he had been going for but it had done just enough damage to allow Connor to scramble into the nearest room and lock the door behind him.
"Connnnorrrr…" it choked out weakly. "Connnnorrrr…"
"Stooooooppp," Connor whined. He rested his head back against the door and pulled his knees up to his chest. He didn't know what to hell to do. He couldn't keep running but he sure as hell didn't want to stay and try to fight. So what the hell did he do? "DADDY!" he yelled. His voice wasn't nearly as loud as he wanted it to be but he was trying anyway. "COOPY! HELP ME!"
…
"God damn mother fucker…" The rest of the curses Cooper were muttering were completely incoherent as he continued to struggle to get out of his binds. He had been making some progress but it hadn't been going as fast as he needed it to. The broken wrist was what was really slowing him down. If it weren't for that he would have more than likely been completely freed by that point. "Come on come on come on…" He doubled his efforts, his face white in pain because he was aggravating the hell out of his injury. It did pay off though because he was finally able to get his good hand free and with that he got the rest of himself free as well.
He got up to his feet and clutched his wrist tight against his chest, sucking in harsh breaths through his clenched teeth. He was free; the question was now what did he do next? He looked around the room he was in. It seemed harmless enough but he didn't trust it. He just wanted to find James and Connor get the hell out of there.
"Dad? Connor?" He left the room and looked around, creeped out by the empty hallway he walked into. "Dad? Connor?" No answer. He looked both ways, trying to figure out which direction he should go in. "DAD! CONNOR!"
"They can't hear you."
Cooper just about jumped out of his skin at the voice. "What the-" He turned to face Mary and glared at her while trying to ignore the way his heart had pretty much leapt right into his throat. "Where are they?" he finally managed to ask when he found the ability to speak again.
Mary looked down and started wringing her hands together at the question. "I'm not supposed to tell…"
Cooper growled. That hadn't been remotely close to the answer he was looking for. "I don't give a fuck about what you're supposed to do." He got down on his knees so he could look her in the eyes and she flinched at the absolutely murderous glare he gave her. "You tell me where they are NOW! You understand me?"
"I…I…she'll get mad!" She started to cry at the thought of that but Cooper felt no sympathy for her whatsoever. He didn't know what the deal was between her and Lucy and he didn't care.
"She is going to be the least of your problems if you don't tell me what I want to know." He didn't know what he could possibly do to a ghost but he would figure something out.
Mary let out a choked sob before rubbing her eyes with both of her hands. "S-s-she brought the bad lady back to scare your d-d-daddy." She sniffled and rubbed her eyes some more before putting her hands down and clutching at her dress. "But sh-sh-she can't control the bad lady."
"What bad lady?" He didn't get an immediate answer and his glare hardened. "WHAT BAD LADY?"
"I'm trying to remember her name!" Mary shrieked as she shrank back in fright. "Sh-sh-she's big and scary looking and…" her voice trailed off for a moment and her eyes widened as the name came back to her. "Caroline! That's what Lucy said her name was."
Cooper felt the blood drain out of his face. "Caroline?" James had never gone into details about all the stuff Caroline had done to him as a kid but really, it had never been necessary. The mere mention of his mother clearly did shit to James and Cooper could only imagine what was going on now. "She's with Dad now?"
Mary nodded.
"What about Connor?"
"Sandy Claws." She pointed down the hallway to their left. "He's hiding. Sandy Claws is going to get him though. He made him mad."
"Oh Jesus fucking Christ…" Cooper swallowed hard. He knew who he had to go after first. "Take me to Connor," he ordered. Whatever trouble James was in, Cooper was hoping he could handle it on his own for the time being. He had to go save Connor.
"But-"
"Take me to Connor NOW!"
…
"BOY!"
James's heart skipped about a dozen beats at that call. He had just snuck in through his bedroom window because he needed to get some stuff for him and Annabelle. They had been avoiding home as much as possible because Caroline had been on an even bigger war path than usual. They didn't really know why that was and knowing her, there probably was no one particular reason for it.
He tried to get out of dodge by climbing back out the window but he didn't move nearly fast enough. Caroline came bursting through the door and she managed to grab him by the hair and drag him all the way back into the room. "And WHERE do you think you're going?" she asked dangerously.
"I-ow ow ow ow!" He winced and tried to get her to loosen her grip somehow. Despite being fifteen and having a good half a foot on her in height, she still had the ability to make him feel not only like a small child but also tinier than a little piece of dirt. "Mom!"
Caroline's grip on him tightened even more. "That fat fuck Bearer called again." She had her face so close to his that the strong smell of scotch on her breath was making his eyes water uncontrollably. "You want to know what he said?" When he didn't answer fast enough for her she slapped him across the face. "YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HE SAID?"
"What did he say?" he asked reluctantly. His ears were actually ringing from how loud she had just yelled.
"He BITCHED about you for fucking EVER! All those "cute" little stunts you've been pulling…" She shook her head and let go of his hair so she could grab his throat. "You want to know what I have to say to that?"
Caroline watched in amusement as James's head rocked to the side from a blow nobody was giving him. Finger shaped bruises were rapidly becoming clearer and clearer on his neck. Whatever she had injected him with was not only making him hallucinate, but was making it so physical effects from them manifested on him. It was easily the most entertaining thing she had seen in years.
"Stop it. Mom stop-" He yelped, his head slamming back against the wall hard enough to make the picture frames on it rattle. "Mark did it not-" Before he could finish that sentence he went flying across the room, landing face first down on the ground.
"Oooh that's gotta hurt," Caroline said under her breath. Her lips were starting to twitch into a very very faint smile. The smile disappeared though when she saw him clutching at the scar on his neck, his blood spilling out from between his fingers. "Oh come on! That shit again?"
He didn't even begin to hear her. All the shit was he was seeing and reliving was assaulting him so fast it was all running together and leaving him barely functional.
Annabelle and Jacob were both screaming somewhere but James couldn't even begin to focus on them. He was too busy trying to crawl across the floor, desperate to get away from the kicks Caroline was raining down on him. What had started as a fight between her and Joseph had turned into a fight between her and him and when she had come at him the first time he had put his hands up and had actually popped her in the mouth. To say that had been a mistake would be an understatement. She had become completely unhinged and now he was legitimately scared that he wouldn't make it through the night. The kicks she was delivering had broken several of his ribs and blood was coming up from inside of him and filling his mouth. He was too afraid to spit it out on the carpet though. He had seen Jacob do that once and that had resulted it in her kicking him right in the mouth and knocking out two teeth.
"You want to hit me? Huh? You want to fucking hit me again boy?" She stomped on his hand as hard as she could. "Why don't you try it again? Why don't you fucking do it again?"
He shook his head and pulled his hand against his chest, using his other arm to try to scoot himself away. "I'm sorry!" Yes he was begging off. He fucking had to. She was a complete maniac and he knew she didn't have a problem with killing him. She had only made it clear that she would be happier if he was dead any chance she could. "I'm sorry Momma! I didn't mean it I'm sorry…"
"I'm sorry…I didn't mean it I'm sorry…Momma please…"
Caroline rolled her eyes as she knelt down right by James. "You're sorry? You're sorry? What the hell is sorry going to do for me? Huh?" She got right down in his face, smirking as he let out a short scream. "If you think you're sorry now, think how sorry you'll be when I get my hands on your brats."
"Connor! Cooper!" James was running blind through the darkness, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it was coming up through his throat. His mind couldn't focus on any real coherent thought. He was just moving, knowing that he had to find his boys before Caroline did.
"They can't hear you," Caroline informed him lazily. "They're not even here." She smirked. "If they were I would take the unofficial brat and beat his pretty little face in so badly that you would barely be able to recognize him.
"COOPER! CONNOR!" James was freaking even more. "BOYS!" He propelled himself forward even faster and ended up tripping and falling over something. "Fuck!" He winced in pain and looked back to see what he had fallen over. What he saw pretty much made him die on the spot. Cooper was laying there in a pool of his own blood, his face so badly bashed in that the only reason he recognized him at all was because of the clothes he was wearing. "NO!"
"Yes you stupid brat," Caroline sneered. She chuckled dryly as James gathered up his "dead" son into his arms, the blood staining his shirt and soaking right on through. "And then the mongoloid…" she chuckled again "well I think he should get the hanger treatment since he actually is your son.
Connor was screaming at the top of his lungs and James reluctantly let Cooper go so he could follow the sounds of the screams. "Connor!" His legs were completely weak but he forced himself to go faster, skidding to a stop when he saw Caroline letting Connor's now lifeless body fall to the ground, the wire hanger still stuck in his neck. "NO!"
"Oh yes." This was too much. Caroline felt like she was going to die of laughter. James was a complete mess. She couldn't even understand what he was saying anymore. He really thought what he was seeing was real and why not play along with it? It was too good to pass up. "Your boys are gone." She shoved him away as he tried to grab at her. "You got them killed. Congratulations James. You're just as worthless as a parent as you were a son." She slapped him upside the head and got back up to her feet, snickering to herself as she walked off to go find herself a bottle of scotch.