Disclaimer: Contains extreme violence and mature situations. If you don't like those kinds
of things, please don't continue on. Thanks.
Chapter 15
1127 Marigold Drive
...one month later
The neighbors in the next house over weren't home.
If it weren't for the moonlight up above the scene would be as dark as Cameron DePalma's soul. In
the backyard they sat on the grass Indian style holding hands in a circle as their leader sat in the
center, sharpening the knives against a rock.
They were so self-absorbed they probably didn't even realize they were gone. He spoke in his clear
even toned voice. There was no need to be hysterical especially when they were all outside on
someone else's property.
"My children, Before we go in there and sacrifice the sinners so we can ultimately save the children
you need to know what we will be facing. What's in that house is not mere sin. For it were mere sin
I could just let it go. They had every chance to repent, but they chose to mock me, their Lord and
Savior. They must be sacrificed to set an example. You know me to be a kind and gentle Lord.
If someone drops a gum wrapper on the ground would I waste my time as your Lord and Savior
and punish that person? No, I would not. We can feel their sin in this very air. It is seeping out of
every window, door, and open space. For if we don't make a call to action the children will not be
saved," Cameron stood up with the knife block in his hands, "We use their own knives as a symbol
that they brought the evil inside their perfect house. They need to be reminded that they are not
perfect. When we sacrifice these three sinners, millions of children will be saved. That will be a
glorious moment of salvation! The light will come out of their flesh and millions of children will be
reborn! There might be a struggle as you help them over to the next life, Jaguar and Panther when
you are done with Daddy you help Hydrangea and Butterfly with Mommy—Firefly it is up to you
take care of Sibling. This is a powerful evil force we are about to encounter. Don't let them win!
Leave your weapons in them and I will call for you to rejoin me. Unlock your circle, my children,"
He handed each of his flock a knife. It amazed him how there were five of them and five of the same
sized butcher knives.
"My children, line up for the blessing and your special nighttime "vitamins."
Each member got on their hands and knees in a single file line as Cameron DePalma put his palm on
each of their foreheads their reiteration of "I love and worship you, Lord Cameron" filled his senses
with power.
"Now be very quiet, my children. I will lead you to the back entrance. After the front door closes
you may start the holy revolution."
"Yes, Lord Cameron."
The person who had lived and grown up here treated it like it was an ordinary night.
It was 2:35 a.m. when there was a knock on the front door. There were no lights on in the living
room only the stale glow from the television.
Walter Nichols dressed in his blue and white striped pajamas, a Christmas gift from Audrey, was
taken aback to find Cameron DePalma at his front door.
The scent of buttered popcorn was in the air.
"What are you doing here?"
He had the "I'll call the cops" look in his eyes. Which was amusing to the self-described Messiah as
the phone lines were cut and their cell phones were in his van.
All they had were their screams and it wasn't going to be enough.
"I'm here to tell you I've brought our son back to you. I pray for your family, Walter Nichols, but I
don't doubt that you won't be saved someday."
"WHERE IS DRAKE?!" Cameron expected such last minute grandstanding and was able to stop
Walter from harming him, by pinning him against the wall.
"I told you, I've brought my son back to you. I do still pray for your family. There will come a time
when you will be saved."
"Leave my house, you son of a bitch!"
"As you wish."
The door didn't close and as long as there was no signal his sons and daughters wouldn't have
started the revolution.
The people inside wanted to die.
The revolution was being filmed for the world to see that the sinner brought them in to do God's
work.
Cameron smiled when Walter slammed and locked the door. He wasn't even off the porch when he
heard the cries of, "How dare you mock OUR Lord!" and the father of three fell to the floor in a
quick thud.
Yes, the revolution had begun inside the all-American house in the San Diego suburbs.
"Lord Cameron is love. Lord Cameron is light." Panther said when he delivered the fatal piercing in
Walter's heart.
Audrey was in bed reading one of the many anti-cult books she could purchase off and check out of
the local library.
They had to find Drake. They just had to.
She heard a thump from downstairs and then it sounded like someone was coming upstairs. She was
wearing a white flannel nightgown one of those old-fashioned ones with the scalloped edging on the
bottom because the room was cold and she loved the soothing fabric on her skin.
"Walter?" She opened the door to find Butterfly and Hydrangea on the other side. She noticed her
wedding set knives in their hands.
"We are here to save the children." Hydrangea said as Audrey walked backwards.
Maybe, she shouldn't have been a liberal Democrat who believed in gun control, because there was
nothing in this room that she could defend herself with.
"and to rid this house of its sin." Butterfly replied as she walked towards Audrey.
"P—please G-o-d, n-o…WALTER! JOSH!"
"It is useless to plead for help. Lord Cameron is love. Lord Cameron is light."
Butterfly lunged her knife at Audrey who turned on the bed. She only jabbed her shoulder blade.
She kicked Hydrangea in the process as she ran out the door.
"Run, bitch, run!"
"HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
She screamed into the night with a fleeting joyous thought that her youngest child's life was spared
because at the last minute she gave her permission to sleep at her friend Katie's house.
Panther and Jaguar living up to their reborn names pounced out of the darkness. Audrey was spared
the site of seeing her dead husband in the living room as she made her way out of the house. The
similarities between Audrey and another notable victim of a similar cult attack decades prior didn't
register in anyone's brains as her shrill screams filled the night air.
Jaguar put his hand over Audrey's mouth, while Panther held down her kicking legs while Butterfly
and Hydrangea took turns stabbing her to death, the last conscious thought she had was that she
loved her children even though she was a bad mother.
Josh thought the screaming was a nightmare when he opened up his eyes and saw his brother
straddled on top and holding a knife above him.
He knew the nightmare he thought he was having was real.
His brother returned home.
But, yet this figure above him with the malevolence in his eyes was NOT the Drake Parker he knew.
They came here to murder him and the rest of the family.
The tears poured out of his eyes and inside his pajama pants the urine dripped down his legs.
"Drake," he spoke gently, "You don't want to do this."
What about all the times they shared? When Drake taught him to be cool and introduced him to
some really great music. It seemed like a different lifetime ago that Josh taught him not to be
self-centered and that it was okay to say "I love you" to your sibling.
"Lord Cameron is love. Lord Cameron is light." He raised his hand up higher and Josh used his free
hand to hold him from bringing the knife down.
"I love you, you are my brother!"
"I am here to save the children."
"Dr—don'---", He felt the blood start to drip out of him, there was only one thing he could do to
save the brother that he loved so much.
"I-if I have to die tonight, it's NOT going to be by your hand."
This alone was going to make the headlines of all the papers on the west coast, quite possibly the
whole United States—but Cameron DePalma wanted something that would reach the world's
masses. He was in a raw ecstasy state surveying every inch of the Nichols and Parker house and the
three dead sinners.
"My children," Cameron said when he gathered all of them into the living room, "I am very pleased.
OH JOYOUS NIGHT! We battled sin and WE WON! However, we are not done. Firefly, you
take out all the knives and give them to Panther who will put them in a trash bag."
"Yes, Lord Cameron."
"Jaguar, Hydrangea, and Butterfly bring all the bodies to me on the living room sofa."
"Yes, Lord Cameron."
If he wanted this to be shown on CNN and other mass media outlets then they needed to finish their
warped message to the public.
He would describe on his microcassettes later on
"how beautiful and peaceful" the whole family looked, but right now he gave his instructions on how
he wanted the bodies displayed for what was to be the law enforcement interpretation of the
workings of Cameron's DePalma's perverse mind.
9 a.m.
Megan waved to her friend Katie and her father as the minivan drove out of sight. She had her
rolling suitcase with her so she figured it best if she entered through the back way instead. She didn't
notice the blood that was on the grass.
She was quite looking forward to her special once a month
"me time" with her mother.
Maybe, they could go to the new Chinese place for lunch?
"Mom, Dad, I'm home," and then she looked up, and saw the horrific display that would take years,
if at all, to recover from.
"MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Audrey was held up by piano wire as the floor was covered in flour and blood. Megan paid no
attention to the scene that was presented for the world's benefit as she ran into the living room and
saw more blood as she viewed Walter with one hand propped up on his chin, his eyes open, the
other hand on the television remote control.
There was a painting of a golf tournament glued to the TV screen.
"WAL—DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
By the door was Josh being held up by broomsticks and mops.
His backpack at his feet while holding one of his textbooks. His eyes were also kept open.
"MY GOD!!"
She spun herself around to notice her mother wearing her best little black dress and shoes.
The eyes open. A wire whisk was in her hand and a bowl was on the counter filled with flour and
eggs along with the now dried blood that was dripped from her body. The edges of their mouths
were taped to force a smile effect.
The choker pearl necklace was soaked with blood.
They put black stockings on her.
She noticed the mound of glue on top of their heads which was connected to more piano wire and
criss-cross sticks made from the thin tree branches outside made to look like marionette handles.
These were not dress-up dolls.
They were not puppets.
These were her family members—and they were all DEAD!
This could NOT be happening.
She was only 12 years old!
The anti-cult book that Audrey was reading was placed on a cookie sheet and put in oven which
was open.
Pots and pans were cluttered on the stove and she noticed the vacuum cleaner that was in the center
of the room.
"MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Megan clutched at her stomach and almost fainted.
No, she had to stay moving; the blood was everywhere, the floor, the carpets, and the stairs.
What in fucking Hell?
Her family was butchered and for what?
She was still in shock when she finally picked up the living room phone.
"Damn it!"
The phone line was dead.
She ran into the kitchen and opened up her rolling suitcase, items flying everywhere, in her clumsy
attempt to get her cell phone.
"HELP! I NEED THE POLICE! My whole family was murdered," She bit her lip, "and although I
don't know why. I know exactly who did it."
No matter where he was, he was now officially dead to HER.
Evil Minds
"These children that come at you with knives. They are your children. You taught them. I
didn't teach them. I just tried to help them stand up. . . ."
Charles Manson
November 20, 1970
"We saved the children, by ridding the world of
its collective sins."
Cameron DePalma, 2007
The night of the Marigold Drive murders.
12:00 a.m.
Now Megan was going to be living with Aunt Barbara in Van Nuys. Two hours and ten minutes away
from HER HOME in San Diego, California. Right now they were all in a Best Western because her
house was now a crime scene and she wasn't allowed inside and the relatives she rarely saw; who
she was supposed to suddenly care about, didn't want to make another trip into San Diego.
All she was allowed to do was pack a few small suitcases of clothes and anything that wasn't part of
the investigation.
The only brother she had was Josh and he was gone.
Her Mom and Dad were gone. And why were they?
Because Drake joined a crazy religious cult and decided one day to kill her family as if it were a
walk in the park.
"I hate you, Drake!" she screamed into her pillow for the umpteenth time. "Oh, how I HATE you!
You sick bastard!"
Megan sobbed uncontrollably for the first time in her life she feared the unknown.
Her young life was now over the way she knew it to be as she felt her cycle renew itself again.
THE END
To be continued in a 'T' rated sequel.
This was a very difficult story to write due to the subject matter.
Thank you to Midie for reviewing a story about a very heavy and serious topic and offering
me help with the plotline for this story.
I appreciate it.