Punish the Wicked
When I woke up the next morning the house was strangely silent. I wasn't sure if Mother's midnight visit had been a nightmare, I hoped it was.
I got dressed and went downstairs to get a cup of coffee and a bagel. I ate alone, a sense of doom overwhelming me and causing me to lose my appetite. I went upstairs to see if Grandma was awake. As I walked through the hall I thought I heard a scratching noise, which spooked me even more then I already was. I opened the door to Grandma's room and bit my fist to keep from screaming. Grandmother was hanging from the ceiling fan her feet scraping against a stool. While the method of death screamed suicide, the scene didn't. It was obvious there had been a struggle, and the claw marks around Grandma's throat that were obviously made in an attempt to loosen the noose were a testament that this was not a suicide. On Grandma's Vanity mirror was written 'Punish the Wicked.'
I closed the door and ran back into my bedroom. I picked the phone up off my vanity to find a busy signal. I hung it up and slipped across the room into Vincent's room. He appeared to be sleeping but I knew he wasn't. He had been knocked out and tied to his bed. I walked over to the bed and quickly started to undo his bindings while trying to wake him. It was no use, he was out, and I soon knew why when I spotted the small hypodermic needle lying on the nightstand.
I slowly walked down the stairs, careful not to make a sound. I had just reached the bottom when something heavy and blunt struck me in the back of the head. The last thing I saw before I passed out was my mother, her hair wild with blood staining her dress.
When I woke up I had a killer headache and I couldn't move my arms or legs. At first I was convinced that I was paralyzed, but then I realized I couldn't move because I was bound.
"Rise and shine!" my mother called in a merry voice. "Oh, I've waited so long for this Emaleth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled," Mother said, a strange glint in her eyes. She pulled out a small dagger she had been hiding and unsheathed it.
"Mom wait, please don't do this. What did I do that was so wrong, what did Grandma do, and what of Vincent?" I sobbed
"You committed a grave sin against God when you tried to take your life by your own hand. Your grandmother is just as evil. She would have stood in the way of God's servant. Emaleth, I'm just doing what's best for you. Your soul is in great danger, maybe this way you will have a chance to be cleansed.
"Mother, did you kill my father?"
"Of course," She said in a matter of fact tone. "Killed him and Elizabeth. They were both guilty of the sin of lust and adultery. God judged them unfit to live on His earth."
"No," I said. "God didn't judge them, you did. Just as you judged Grandma and are now judging me. What gives you the right? You're not God. You used God as an excuse to enact your revenge. Anger is a deadly sin and so is jealousy, you've committed--"
"No!" she screamed, "I'm good! I didn't do anything wrong. I am doing what God told me to. I--" She stopped her tirade suddenly and looked at me with murder in her eyes. "I don't want to hear another word out--" she stopped suddenly and her eyes grew wide she turned around and behind her stood Vincent, a grim look on his face. Mother fell to her knees and I could now see the butcher knife in her back.
"Your just like him, Emaleth, just like him," Mother said before collapsing.
"Let me untie you. We should call the police or something," Vincent said in a somber voice as he untied me.
"We can't, Mother tool a phone off the hook somewhere in the house. Who knows how long it will take to find it."
"Well then we can go to a neighbor's house and use their phone," he said.
"No way, I've seen way too many scary movies where you leave the body and when you come back with the authorities it's gone. There is no way I want my mother on the louse," I said determined to get my way.
"Well it doesn't matter cause I think I found the phone," he said. He pointed towards Mother's old-fashioned ivory telephone, which was off the hook. I was still a little dizzy from the blow to the head, so Vincent called the police for me.
After what seemed like hours, but in reality couldn't have been more than ten minutes, the police arrived along with an ambulance. They loaded Mother on a stretcher and took Vincent and I to the hospital.
When I woke up the next morning the house was strangely silent. I wasn't sure if Mother's midnight visit had been a nightmare, I hoped it was.
I got dressed and went downstairs to get a cup of coffee and a bagel. I ate alone, a sense of doom overwhelming me and causing me to lose my appetite. I went upstairs to see if Grandma was awake. As I walked through the hall I thought I heard a scratching noise, which spooked me even more then I already was. I opened the door to Grandma's room and bit my fist to keep from screaming. Grandmother was hanging from the ceiling fan her feet scraping against a stool. While the method of death screamed suicide, the scene didn't. It was obvious there had been a struggle, and the claw marks around Grandma's throat that were obviously made in an attempt to loosen the noose were a testament that this was not a suicide. On Grandma's Vanity mirror was written 'Punish the Wicked.'
I closed the door and ran back into my bedroom. I picked the phone up off my vanity to find a busy signal. I hung it up and slipped across the room into Vincent's room. He appeared to be sleeping but I knew he wasn't. He had been knocked out and tied to his bed. I walked over to the bed and quickly started to undo his bindings while trying to wake him. It was no use, he was out, and I soon knew why when I spotted the small hypodermic needle lying on the nightstand.
I slowly walked down the stairs, careful not to make a sound. I had just reached the bottom when something heavy and blunt struck me in the back of the head. The last thing I saw before I passed out was my mother, her hair wild with blood staining her dress.
When I woke up I had a killer headache and I couldn't move my arms or legs. At first I was convinced that I was paralyzed, but then I realized I couldn't move because I was bound.
"Rise and shine!" my mother called in a merry voice. "Oh, I've waited so long for this Emaleth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled," Mother said, a strange glint in her eyes. She pulled out a small dagger she had been hiding and unsheathed it.
"Mom wait, please don't do this. What did I do that was so wrong, what did Grandma do, and what of Vincent?" I sobbed
"You committed a grave sin against God when you tried to take your life by your own hand. Your grandmother is just as evil. She would have stood in the way of God's servant. Emaleth, I'm just doing what's best for you. Your soul is in great danger, maybe this way you will have a chance to be cleansed.
"Mother, did you kill my father?"
"Of course," She said in a matter of fact tone. "Killed him and Elizabeth. They were both guilty of the sin of lust and adultery. God judged them unfit to live on His earth."
"No," I said. "God didn't judge them, you did. Just as you judged Grandma and are now judging me. What gives you the right? You're not God. You used God as an excuse to enact your revenge. Anger is a deadly sin and so is jealousy, you've committed--"
"No!" she screamed, "I'm good! I didn't do anything wrong. I am doing what God told me to. I--" She stopped her tirade suddenly and looked at me with murder in her eyes. "I don't want to hear another word out--" she stopped suddenly and her eyes grew wide she turned around and behind her stood Vincent, a grim look on his face. Mother fell to her knees and I could now see the butcher knife in her back.
"Your just like him, Emaleth, just like him," Mother said before collapsing.
"Let me untie you. We should call the police or something," Vincent said in a somber voice as he untied me.
"We can't, Mother tool a phone off the hook somewhere in the house. Who knows how long it will take to find it."
"Well then we can go to a neighbor's house and use their phone," he said.
"No way, I've seen way too many scary movies where you leave the body and when you come back with the authorities it's gone. There is no way I want my mother on the louse," I said determined to get my way.
"Well it doesn't matter cause I think I found the phone," he said. He pointed towards Mother's old-fashioned ivory telephone, which was off the hook. I was still a little dizzy from the blow to the head, so Vincent called the police for me.
After what seemed like hours, but in reality couldn't have been more than ten minutes, the police arrived along with an ambulance. They loaded Mother on a stretcher and took Vincent and I to the hospital.