THE CROOKED HOUSE

Axton Useli stood outside of his family cottage and just took in the scenery. It was a warm summer's day in the village today, the birds were singing, the sun was shining down, It was the kind of day that made Axton not want to finish his chores and instead run off with his mates and play. Perhaps go swimming in the creek, or climbing the apple tree and getting something sweet from it. But alas, he still had his morning duties to do and his parents were very strict about such things. A frown came across the young boy's features. He was going to be 11 soon enough, he was practically a man now he would say to himself. He should be out having adventures not doing the chores that his parents didn't want to do. He huffed a sigh and headed around back where his father was chopping wood.

Axton's father Willbroad was a large man with a thick graying beard. He ran the local mill and was highly respected by his peers. A swift chop of his axe and a rather hefty looking pillar of wood was split asunder. It would take Axton five or six swings surely to even almost split such a huge chunk. Willbroad wiped his brow and looked out to see his son. His arm raised and beckoned his son to him. Axton knew better than to keep his father waiting and so approached immediately. "Have you done your chores, boy?" His father asked in that deep burley voice of his.

"Not yet Pa-pa, still working on them." Willbroad looked at his son and then out to the scenic day that was around them. He let out a faint noise that could almost be classified as a chuckle. Axton's father was not a man known for his sense of humor.

"It is a handsome day out indeed boy. What chores have you left?"

"I have to beat the carpets, take out the chamber pots, and then help mum in the garden Pa-pa."

"I see." Willbroad said, stroking his beard as he thought. "Tell you what, if you take out the chamber pots then I'll finish up the rest for you. You can go out and enjoy the day. Smells like rain coming in, don't want to miss it." Hearing this made Axton light up with excitement. His father rustled the boy's head of blonde hair and sent him inside with a smile.

Axton did so detest taking care of the chamber pots for obvious reasons. He knew that this was his father's way of teasing making him do the most unpleasant of tasks before being given his freedom. Or perhaps it was because Willbroad didn't want to do it either. Whatever the reason, young Axton did as he was instructed and emptied the chamber pots out in the ditch that had been made for the stuff and then went down to the creek so that he could wash them out. The water was crystal clear, fish swam freely through the light current. Down the river Axton spotted children playing and splashing about in the water. He so longed to join the others and soon enough he knew that he would.

"Lo Axton." A familiar voice called to the young man. Turning around, the boy saw another lad around his age. He was a redheaded child with freckles adorning his face like the stars in the clear night sky.

"Lo Cleve!" Axton said with a wide grin. Cleve was Axton's best mate, they'd known each other since they were very little. Though Axton's parents weren't too thrilled about the friendship. Cleve had a bit of a reputation for being a trouble-maker and there were several times in the past where Axton's buttocks was beaten raw for following rambunctious Cleve's lead. "Your parents let you out of your morning chores already?"

"Course not. Told me folks that I was going to market to get some supplies. Did a little whatstheword? Detour." Cleve grinned, his two front teeth missing and the buds of the adult ones only slightly starting to poke out.

"Your pop is gonna give you a walloping if you don't get back with something then." Axton said, trying his best not to gag as he rinsed out the chamber pots.

"Come off it Axton, me da will have had the drink take him by the time I get back." He chuckled. "And me mum well, she'll be in the Chaplin's company won't she till late?" Hearing Cleve talk about his family so carelessly made Axton uncomfortable. With the way his family acted, it was no wonder Cleve was the way he was. "Me and a couple others are gonna be going into the Western Woods in a bit, there's a weird old cottage back there and the blokes think it's haunted." That made Axton's blood run cold, he got distracted from what he was doing and almost let the chamber pot get carried away with the current.

"Haunted cottage?" Axton asked, quickly grabbing the pot that had slipped from his fingers. "How far into the woods?"

"So far you can't even see the village anymore. You should come along Axton."

"I uh...still got chores to do?"

"So? Just skip out on em like me. Unless of course you're scared." Cleve's toothless grin widened.

"I am not!" Insisted Axton though in truth he was. Not just of the ghosts but of his parents retribution if he were to abandon his last duty. "I just gotta get these back home and then I can meet you and the lads here." Suggested Axton. "This way, I can come and not have to worry about me Da getting angry with me." Cleve shrugged his shoulders.

"Suppose that'd be fine then." Cleve said with a sigh. "You ain't here in an hour though I'm gonna have to tell the lads you chickened out." The prospect of the other boys thinking he was a chicken upset him greatly. Axton assured Cleve that he would see him again soon, picked up his chamber pots and quickly headed back for the cottage.

He placed the chamber pots in the bedrooms of the cottage and then was getting ready to bolt out back outside when a calloused and muscular hand gently grasped onto his shoulder. "Thank you boy." Axton's father said, a smile almost hidden beneath his facial hair. The young one only nodded his head. "I want you back home for supper boy. Mother will get mad, and then I will get mad. Do you understand me boy?" Axton nodded, his buttocks suddenly feeling a stinging warmth grow, a herald of things to come should he be late. And with that, an understanding between two men Axton was off.

After a short hike back to the creek, young Axton saw Cleve with three other boys around the same age if not a little older than he. The close knit organization of the village meant that each of the boys were familiar with one another. There was Daulton, a skinny lad whose head was far too large from his tiny frame, Earline, a rounder lad who very much seemed to enjoy sweets, and finally Bentlee, the oldest of the boys. He was the son of the Chaplain. He was a serious lad of 13 summers and 14 winters. His brown hair curled like the devil's and there was an unearned sense of pompousness from this one. "Ah, there he is like a good chap." Cleve said with a clapping of his hands. "Glad you could join us Axton. Bentlee here thought you weren't gonna come. Now he owes me a sixpence."

"Eh, you got lucky Cleve." the Chaplain's son said with a roll of his eyes, reaching into the pocket of his trousers and flicking the coin towards Cleve who caught it in the air. "You're not going to be too scared are you Asston?" Axton did so detest that nickname that Bentlee had picked out for him.

"No Bentlee, I'm not going to be too scared. How about you? Doubt that cross is gonna protect you." Axton said, putting his hands on his hips.

"Are you questioning the Lord?" Bentlee asked, getting red in the face.

"Only your faith in him." Before things got too out of hand, Cleve separated the two of them. "Now now chaps, come off it eh? We are all mates here. We're burning sunlight so I suggest we all get a move on hm?" Bentlee and Axton shot one more dirty look to the other before falling in line with Cleve's suggestion. And so, the boys headed west to go exploring and find something that would bring some excitement in their humdrum life.

The weather was absolutely perfect for this sort of thing. It had rained the night before, leaving a beautiful glistening sheen to everything. It also made things just a little sludgy, on more than one occasion Earline's stump-like foot had sunk into the mud and the other boys had to help pull him out. Of course, the larger boy would never thank his comrades. Perish the thought, it was the ground's fault for being too uneven. As they continued to trek, the skinny lad Daulton was asking a series of questions about where it was they were going. This was something Axton wanted to know as well but didn't want to be perceived as a worry-wart. He was more than happy to let the others think that of Daulton however. It was here that dear Cleve began to regale the group with a tale.

"Long time ago there was this kid like us aye? His name was Camdyn Graeme. His parents were mean bastards, letting the demon drink take their minds and replace em with nothin' but hatred. They'd beat on him for any small thing, didn't matter to them. Camdyn could do no right. Well, one night whilst the mister and missus were in the thralls of each other after a night of 'eavy drinkin' right? Camdyn went outside and grabbed the log-splittin' axe. He'd been fed up wit the mistreatment from those whose was supposed to love 'im and so if he wouldn't be freed the square way, he was gonna get free another way."

"W~what'd he d~do with the axe?" Earline asked, getting a little shaken now by Cleve's story. That was when the red headed child stopped in his tracks, pulling out a dagger from his back and put it up to Earline's throat.

"He chopped em up into lil bits and fed em to the pigs! Best meal the damned beasties ever got!" Cackled Cleve, Earline wasn't laughing however. The boy's cry echoed throughout the woods and a small dribble of liquid started to come down his leg. Daulton pulled Cleve off the larger boy and then swiped the blade away as well.

"You steal that from you Da?" Axton asked his friend, amazed. Before he could answer, the larger boy marched right up to Cleve. His face even redder than the boy's hair and pointed one of his sausage like digits at him.

"Trying to do me in are ya?" Earline asked, wiping the tears off his rounded cheeks and shaking out his leg to remove any congregated moisture. After a moment of silence, Bentlee's laugh broke it. He was clutching onto his gut and nearly falling onto the floor.

"You fat bastard, you should've seen the look on your face!" Screeched the Chaplain's child. If his father had heard him speak like that, no doubt his face would get a good swift crack. "There was no Camdyn whatsever." Bentlee explained, wiping his own tears from his eye. "My father told me about what happened for real." A devious smirk crossed over his lips. "But I don't want you babies to go and piss yourselves more now." By this point, all the boys even Earline were getting closer to Bentlee. They each wanted to know the story behind this place that they were going to.

"My dad said that there was an old man who lives in the cottage out in the Western Woods. He was so skinny he was like a skeleton with skin stretched around the bones. He was tall too! Tall as a small tree" Bentlee began to explain. "He lived alone except for a cat that he always kept with him. The man was apparently a satanist and could control his kitty-cat. He'd use the cat to lure little kiddies to the cottage and then do horrible things to them. Until, he'd cut them up and eat their organs all for the glory of Satan!" This sent a shiver right down Axton's spine. His mother would tell him bedtime stories about monsters out in the woods like witches and other such things. But this skeleton with skin luring children to kill them? Now there was a real monster.

Back at home, Axton's mother Kendal was preparing food when her husband came into the kitchen. She was a respectable looking woman, the wrinkles of age only slightly starting to take their toll. She was never the most gorgeous woman but she was far from homely either. Her blonde hair was done up neatly so it would not get in the way of her work. "Ah dear, have you seen Axton? It's getting a bit late."

"I gave the boy the rest of the day off, with specific instructions to be back before dinner."

"That was kind of you, but the sun is starting to set."

"He will be here or he's going to be sorry." He nodded to her.

Meanwhile, all five of the boys had stopped dead in their tracks. Through the clearing of trees they had spotted it nearly in unison. Their eyes wide and their throats getting dry looking upon it. A dilapidated structure stood before them. It was pointed and leaned heavily on one side. No signs of life other were visible. But, no sign of nature attempting to reclaim it either. It seemed as though nature itself was avoiding the ruined cottage. It had three floors it seemed from the outside. At least there was a pair of windows on either side of the nearly destroyed door, then a single window going up on each floor. The first floor appeared to be the widest but as it raised up it only seemed to do so on the right side.

"Is this the place?" Axton asked finally, causing the other boys even the older Bentlee to jump slightly as the silence was broken.

"Y~yeah I'm pretty sure." Bentlee said with a slow nod of his head. The other boys swallowed dryly the umps that had been forming in their throats.

"Well, let's go lads shall we?" Cleve said with a grin, seemingly pulling confidence out of thin air. He marched right up to the front door. Though in truth he was just as afraid as the rest of them, he wasn't about to be shown weak in front of the others. No, he was the troublemaker after all, he had a reputation to uphold. He now stood in front of the rotted door. There was only a moment of hesitation before reaching for the handle on the door and giving it a tug. Something came undone at that moment. It was the door itself. It fell and partially crumbed due to the force of Cleve's pull. He was feeling quite strong at that point but the truth of the matter was that a good strong breeze would likely have taken that door down.

The boys approached and then stopped dead in their tracks when the door collapsed. Cleve was waving his hand in front of him, trying to clear the dust that was around him. At that moment, the red haired boy felt an intense chill coming from inside the house. Despite how warm it was outside, it was like a cold winter's day inside. Cleve could even start to see his breath in the doorway. Now the rest of the boys were standing in the doorway and their heads craned a bit trying to make sense of what it was they were looking at.

Everything inside was old and covered in dust, no paint ordained the walls; it was a solid gray mass. But the strangest thing of all was how askew everything was. Nothing was flat on the ground like it should be, the whole of everything was crooked somewhat. Like a good breeze had gone and knocked the house up onto itself and was now leaning to one side. This made all the boys feel a chill now. "Sh~shall we then lads?" Cleve asked, now putting his hands on the back of Axton and Earline who were on his sides and pushed them in through the threshold of the cottage. The two tried to fight against it but it was too late. They both tripped over the line and the impact of cold air hit them hard. They were both suddenly clutching onto themselves and their breath was very visible like their souls trying to run away from whatever stupid thing they were planning on doing.

The other three boys soon followed after them. Being inside didn't help the feeling of vertigo that they had while looking in. Everything was on an incline it seemed. But no, upon closer inspection the furniture itself was made to be crooked. Why? What was the point of that. Everything at an angle that made you feel like you were just a step away from sliding down some incline into oblivion. There was a staircase right in front of them that obviously led to the higher levels. "Earline and Dauton, you lads stay here. Cleve, Axton, and myself are gonna go explore upstairs. Do some digging down here." Commanded Bentlee. The two boys who couldn't look any more different if they tried were shivering now not only from the cold air but also from the fact that they no longer had safety in numbers. With that, Bentlee put his fingers into his mouth and gave a whistle for his two teammates to follow him.

The stairs were made of old wood that groaned with each step they made upon it. To say that the steps were unstable would be an insult to instability. Still, the three of them braved the stairs that angled from left to right again and again in a spiral formation. The whole thing was making Axton sick but finally they made it back to level ground. What kind of person would choose to build their house in such a way that it hurt your head to even look at? These thoughts quickly left Axton's mind when Cleve and Bentlee turned to him. "We're gonna check out this floor. You keep going up." Bentlee again gave the command. The thought of continuing on alone made Axton's heart start beating out of his chest. He quickly shook his head in defiance. "Oh no, he's scared. I knew it." Bentlee cackled. Cleve sighed and put his hand out onto Axton's shoulder.

"Don't you worry none mate. Nothin's gonna get you. We're gonna explore this floor and then we'll be right up to meet you eh?" Cleve gave that toothless grin. "Unless you really are scared lad?"

"N~no! I'm not scared! I can do it." Axton gave assurance and then continued his ascent up the nearly sideways stairs. Bentlee and Cleve gave each other a rather devious look. Meanwhile, down on the first floor the two other boys were exploring the strange crooked architecture when they came across a door. This door wasn't like the front door, it was much sturdier and creaked loudly when it opened. It was so loud that Daulton swore it could wake the dead. Inside the door there was another case of stairs, this time it was going down as opposed to the one up front. The two boys gulped whatever lump was in their throats as they looked down into the seemingly endless darkness. In that darkness they imagined all manners of monsters and horrors that could be lurking within it. They decided it best to wait for the lads to regroup before exploring the dark expanse.

Axton found a tilted door at the top of the stairs. It was perfectly aligned with the way the stairs were but not level at all with himself. He had to bend his body far to the right just to be able to get in. After going through the door he saw a bit of light peeking through, the dirty window they had seen from the outside was now at the far end of the room. There wasn't much at all in the room except for the wooden floor, walls, ceiling, and of course the window. Because there was so very little in this space, it made it all the more obvious that something was in the middle of the floor. Approaching slowly, Axton saw that it was made out of wood. Unlike the rest of the monochromatic cottage, the rex box part was painted in a deep red color. And above that was a circular shade of some sort. Axton recalled seeing something similar to this when his parents had taken him into the city a few months ago. He couldn't recall what it was called but he knew what it was. There would be music that would play when the crank was turned and images would seem to move. It captured his attention when they had gone but alas they didn't have the money to purchase one at the time.

At that moment, any feeling of uneasiness had melted away as Axton fell to his knees in front of the device. Eager hands reached for the small red lever and once a hand was clasped around it he began to turn it. The music began in soft notes, and the circular part spun. Within, there was a lanky figure holding what looked like to be a twisted umbrella. The motion of the circular part spun around so fast that it appeared that the little figure was walking along. And that's when the small device started to sing. Axton didn't even know that it could do that. But, the voices of young girls chimed in with the music and they sang a rhyme. Something that Axton's mother used to sing when he was much younger as she tucked him into bed.

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile.

He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.

He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,

and they all lived together in a little crooked house.

"Do you hear that?" Asked Cleve, stopping in his tracks. Sounds like a bleeding music box." He said, turning around. The sound seemed to be all around them making both he and Bentlee a little more on edge than they already were. And then, it stopped almost as quickly as it began. "Bugger." Cleve said, shaking his head.

"Now do you hear that?" Bentlee asked. Cleve stopped to listen and then shook his head. "Exactly. There's nothing. No noise at all." Bentlee and Cleve both stopped and observed this. The silence was almost oppressive, they could hear nothing, not even the sound of their quickening heartbeat. Was this what death was like? Just pure and utter silence.

MEOW

The sound shattered the quiet and made the two boys jump out of their skin. A big black and white cat came strolling over from a darkened corner of the room. It's green eyes, a stark contrast to the dull colors of both the cat and the house itself. "Fucking thing." Muttered Cleve.

"Now who's the chicken?" Bentlee chuckled, "Here puss-puss." The older boy said, leaning down and rubbing his fingers together trying to get the cat to come closer. "Good puss." Bentlee said now in a sing-song voice. Cleve was amused by how much of a sucker the jerk was for a cute animal. Now, closer to the thing Bentlee noticed that the cat had something in its mouth. "What've you got there puss hm?"

Reaching down lower, Bentlee scooped the feline up and looked at it. The animal showed no signs of struggling or anything of the sort. Holding the creature closer Bentlee tried to get a better look at what was in its mouth. It appeared from a distance to be some sort of old and moldy sausage but upon closer inspection…IT WAS A HUMAN FINGER!

Bentlee felt his heart skip a beat and then it was only made worse when the damned thing twitched. He screamed far too high-pitched for his liking and threw the cat back into the shadowed area of the room with the cat shrieking. There was a thud, and then a laugh. "Oi, you alright Bentlee? Mean old kitty-cat scratch ya or somethin'?" Cleve teased but stopped when he saw how visibly shaken the older boy was. "What?" Bentlee's face was frozen in sheer terror. His arm raised and he pointed towards the corner where he'd thrown the cat. Cleve's head turned to look where he was pointing and he quickly realized. The cat was being dragged across the floor by the finger coming from its mouth. But wait, there was another finger now, and another, and another, and another...it was a whole hand. The cat's body twitched and crackled. The feline was peeled away as the digits for another hand reached out and onto the roof of the cat's mouth. The two boys stood frozen at what they were bearing witness to.

As the cat was peeling away it got bigger, much much bigger. Red began to pour out from the inside of the cat but it wasn't blood. No, it was cloth. Cloth that was attached to the hands and was revealing the visage of whatever was causing the cat to rapidly expand and be climbed through. When finally the cat, now the size of a large tiger was finally left an empty husk the figure was finally revealed. A tall and inhumanely skinny figure ordained in a red pin-striped suit towered over the boys. The hands of the creature were too long, like giant hairless gray spiders instead of actual hands. In its hands was a big red umbrella that was bent in several different places along it with a sharpened point at the end that was silver and also bent. Most of its face was obstructed by a matching red bowler cap with spectacles on top of the rim. Twin holes were burned in where its eyes should be. What could be seen of its features made the boys wish they couldn't see anything at all. On the paled and wrinkled flesh of its head was a black lipped mouth filled of jagged and razor sharp teeth. The mouth was upturned into a wide and disturbing grin as it stared down with no eyes at the boys. A cracking laugh seemed to come from the creature that shook the entire room. Then, it pulled its long spindly arms backwards. With one utterly quick movement, the pointed end of the creature's umbrella was stabbed into the forehead of Bentlee. He stood there, his eyes crossing as he looked at the pointed end embedded into him. A slow trickle of blood that looked black in the dark room began to roll down his features. With another pull, the umbrella was removed and down went Bentlee like a sack of rocks. The thing then turned to look at Cleve who had snapped out of his shock long enough to make a run for the door.

Back down on the main floor, Daulton and Earline were discussing what the strange music was when they heard some kind of commotion going on upstairs. When they heard the cackle that seemed to shake the entire floor they knew they had to get out of there. It was only emphasized when they heard something loud and heavy be dropped. They didn't care anymore whether or not they looked like chickens. Better to be a chicken than be dead. The two boys ran for the front door but something was wrong. The door wasn't just gone, there was no signs that a door had even been there to begin with. Their hearts were beating so very fast that it almost drowned out the sound of slow and intentional footfalls descending the staircase behind them.

"When I get my hands on Axton I swear I'll..." Willbroad mumbled as he sat out in front of his cottage, pipe in his mouth. Axton disobeyed his orders and missed dinner. "Must be that damned Cleve. I'm gonna have a sit down with his Pa one of these days and have him set that boy right. Or, I'll do it maself." The large man said, his knuckles cracking from the clenching of his fists. "Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do." Huffed Willbroad.

Axton stood alone on the top floor of the crooked house. He had heard the commotion going on below and was rightfully concerned. But, the young boy wasn't going to be made a chicken. No, certainly not. "Whatever game you're playin' Cleve it ain't funny!" He yelled out at the door. Then he heard it, footfalls on the rickety stairs coming up towards him. He felt cold sweat start to bead down his forehead. His hands got clammy and his mouth run dry. Slowly Aton approached the door, if this was a prank the child was not at all amused. Then, the door swung open rather violently and Axton screamed as he fell onto his butt rather hard. When he looked up it was Cleve. He was white as a ghost.

"We n~need t~to g~get out of h~here...N~NOW!" The boy usually so confident with his words stuttered out.

"Come off it Cleve, this aint'..." Axton suddenly found a hand clamped around his mouth. Cleve was shaking beside him trying to keep him quiet.

"Bentlee's dead…" Whispered Cleve. There was no faking the sheer amount of terror that was coming off of his voice. Axton knew at that very moment that there was no prank going on here. And that notion shook him with fear to no end. Back downstairs, Daulton felt something wet drop onto his cheek. He winced as he reached up and touched the viscous fluid.

"The fuck?" He asked as he pulled away his hand and the gel like fluid came right with it. Turning around, the very skinny boy saw something that was far worse than he. Standing at twice his height the grinning figure looked down with a pleased growl coming from the thing's throat. Reaching over to the larger boy Daulton tugged at his sleeve. The other turned and his mouth dropped as his eyes widened. His eyes were glued to this inhuman, spider-like creature that he didn't even notice Daulton's mouth start to be filled with blood and leak. The figure leaned in right to the large boy's face, its breath smelled of rot and carrion. It made the boy want to gag.

"The Crooked Man stepped forth and rang the crooked bell. And thus his crooked soul spurred into a crooking hell."The creature creaked out of his maw as one of its large hands slowly wrapped tenderly around the large crying child's head. Through tear soaked eyes he watched as the figure had stopped smiling and looked actually concerned.

"Please...don't hurt me." Earline whimpered out. The figure seemed to coo to the boy in response. The lanky thing hushed the boy, gently stroking his messy black hair. And then, the grip was no longer soft. His hair was gripped hard, so hard it made the boy cry out more. For a moment he was afraid that the thing would rip off his hair but no, holding the umbrella up the boy's head was slammed violently into the pointed end. Over, and over, and over again. Each time more blood rushed out and his body twitched until there was no more twitching to be had. The boy's body was dropped beside where Daulton's body should have been. But, he had begun to crawl away across the floor. This amused the Crooked Man. With just one stride of its long legs it was atop the skinny lad. A large foot came down onto the small of Daulton's back to hold him in place.

Axton and Cleve slowly made their way down the staircase. There was no avoiding the noise they were making. If whatever it was that was stalking them didn't already know where the two boys were, it did now. "Jesus Christ." Cleve said, pointing as they got to the bottom of the stairs. There were Daulton and Earlne's bodies leaned up against where the front door should have been. Their eyes had been poked out and their mouths cut into smiles. Axton threw up at the sight of it. Cleve took note that their fingers were pointing. A message was written in blood above the boys.

3 Crooked Boys have met their end.
Soon followed by their Crooked Friends

"Oh my God, we're gonna die. It's gonna get us too!" Cried out Cleve. It had finally gotten to him. Axton walked up and smacked his mate right across the face. Perhaps a little too hard. After all, it was Cleve's goading that had gotten them into this situation to begin with. But regardless, they needed to get out somehow. The door was somehow gone, maybe the windows could be broken? There were two on...no, the door was gone and so were the twin windows on the sides of it. They were trapped, trapped like rats in a cage. The Lord of the Manor had set the trap and they had sprung it gloriously. And like rats, they were being led. Axton took note of a trail of blood that was made from the boys corpses and deeper into the house.

After some tugging, Cleve joined Axton in following the trail. It led to a door that when opened revealed the staircase leading into a black void of darkness. There was uncertainty on whether or not they should go down or face their chances on the main floor. The debate was settled by a pair of large pair of hands gently nudged them in a direction that sent them tumbling down into the pit.

"Darling, are you coming back to bed?" Kendal asked, her eyes tired from a day of chores, cooking, and worrying about her boy Axton. Her husband was still sitting outside the cottage with a pipe in his hand. He was going through the tobacco at an alarming rate.

"Not yet, not until Axton gets home so I can give him a piece of my mind."

"You'll be no good not getting some shut-eye. You could always beat him in the morning?" Kendal suggested, hoping that her words would influence him. But, her husband sat there resolute. "Alright, I love you. Goodnight." She gave him a kiss on the top of his head and then headed back inside to go to sleep alone. The two of them having no idea the horrors that their son was currently facing.

Axton awoke in total darkness, pain was coursing through his entire body. He could hear something that he couldn't quite make out as his senses were still coming back to him. He shook his head which he thankfully could and tried his best to focus. RIIIIIIIIP, TEAR, CRUNCH. That's what he heard. The wet noises of something loudly being chewed upon were followed by those. RIIIIIIIIIIP, TEAR, CRUNCH. Again it happened. The noises were sickening. If Axton had already emptied his stomach after seeing his mates butchered he would have thrown up again just from the disgusting sounds that were going on. They seemed to be coming all around him. He felt warm wet drops falling onto his body. He struggled to move but didn't have the strength for it.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIP, TEAR, CRUNCH. Then the chewing. He wasn't sure what was worse, the sound of the violent ripping or the loud and gurgling chewing. "How rude. I've forgotten my table manners.." A voice came from the darkness, or the voice as the darkness. "Should always chew with your mouth closed lad."The voice cackled with dark glee. "And I haven't even offered my guest anything. I beg your forgiveness lad. It has been soooo very long since I've entertained guests." The voice explained but hearing those words just made Axton sicker. "Allow me to get the light for you lad."There was the sound of a flicker. Light slowly began to fill the room from a candle. Horrid shadows painted the walls, but they were only a fraction of the horrors that Axton then bore witness to. The spidery creature in the red pin-stripe suit was seated in a chair right in front of the boy. In his lap however was what was left of Cleve. Axton's mouth hung in silent horror as he watched the long arms of the Crooked Man lift up the bloody mess that was once his best mate and then,;RIIIIIIIP, TEAR, CRUNCH. The figure's large mouth unhinged like a snake, sinking those horrid teeth into the meaty bits of Cleve's remains and then tear away and chew on what was in his mouth. Chunks of fleshy bits fell from the black maw of the beast who then looked down at Axton with that inhumanly large grin. He then lowered a meat covered hand to the boy.

"Here, have a nibble lad. Growing boy like you needs his meat."