An End to a Pain
He looked in the box as he frowned. Odd. A weird picture of water pipes. Oh well, he'd go. The kids needed bedtime. But just three hours later, he saw it again.
Confused, he looked at the picture. Normal. He would ask about it later.
Two and a half weeks later it was Christmas and he soon knew why. Seeing Jacob tie tinsel round the tree base, his body limp and confused. Why was Jacob doing this?
Jacob then pulled on the cart as the man began flying upwards. Kicking his legs in the air, he tried escaping as he hit the brick fireplace. Some of the others were as well. But then, it was ending. His pain was over.
She looked at the strange reel in the box. Christmas '64. She wondered who left it there. Some reels had been brought over for some home movies but now she was confused. The four children were watching TV but she had little time. After watching it though, she need time to calm down. It was…just a sick joke.
#she didn't think that four days later when she was on a chair, after having had dinner, half-asleep. Her vision blurred as she saw Mark walk round the table, throwing liquid over them. Then she saw. Petrol. What was the boy doing? She was so sleepy she almost didn't care. But then she saw the girl's alarm clock by the boiler room, connected to the door with matches. Then Mark smiling as he walked out.
Her pain was over.
***
he looked at the strange projector and two reels in the box as the dog walked out. But he knew this wasn't fun. Some sick person had put these together. That cold February afternoon, he walked out and saw little Milly standing there. "What you got there?" she smiled. "Not for children."
Sometime later, as he sat on a deckchair, his eyes beginning to open as he saw blurs going past each chair, he remembered the green drink at dinner. Outside was unbearable in February, especially up here, but he struggled. He could hear the dog barking and also saw the girls next to him. He saw the first two were twitching slightly, their fingers and toes slowly moving up and down, like they were having a seizure. Then he saw Milly come to him. She said, "Sorry Mr Robinson, but Larua says I must."
His pain was over.
***
he had been happy. Needed to stay happy for the children on Easter. But he had shown Bella the videos and she had argued. She'd said, "Listen, I don't know what kind of sicko would do this, but we're calling the cops!" "Bella, if we tell them after the Easter party, the children won't be upset that a bunch of police came round." "I suppose. Just get it sorted."
And now, when they were all sitting down at tea, little Fall talking to Bunny, he had been sleepy. He looked over at the others. They all seemed disorientated. In fact, as he picked up his cup and saw green drink underneath, he looked at Fall. She was holding an old-looking camera.
"Don't worry," she chirped, "it'll be over soon."
Now, he was looking up at the March night sky, almost asleep. He could see one of the girls lying next to him on a cart, an Easter basket propped up at the edge.
He could see Fall with the camera by her eye, filming it. Then she grabbed the cart handle and began pulling. He wondered what she was doing but then he felt himself fall. He looked over and saw the girl still asleep, face-down. Then he heard Fall wheeling another cart, before he saw a car light, whoever it was, please God, stop!
Bit now. They didn't stop. He tried struggling, but then heard the others being dumped. He could hear murmurings from the others, trying to scream as they tried to get out. Then he saw Fall with a shovel.
Please, god, no!
But then, he saw Fall throwing the dirt in. so that was covering the older girl. Thank God she was still unconscious. He couldn't say the same for the others. He tried struggling but saw Fall keep on throwing.
And there was someone standing by her as she threw dirt in. someone in a black cloak. "Mr Larua, I'm going as fast as I can." She said to him. What was this sicko?
"Fall," an almost robotic voice, accent less, hissed, "you're doing well. Use my strength to help."! Fall then threw dirt in the victim's eyes. He blinked several times, but it was deep in. and then by his nose. He could barely breathe but soon he gave up the struggle.
His pain was over.
***
she tried hard to be happy. A good happy hot August day. But she had seen the videos. Old weird videos. And now she was unhappy. Dakota and Reba were lying on the towel nearby, sunbathing.
The videos had scared her. Especially the last one, the Easter one. It had been giving her nightmares.
But now, catching the ball as she ran along the sand, she thought life might get better. She hadn't had nightmares for days and it may get better.
Sipping some cola as she sat down, Ken felt sick. Maybe it was the cola. Maybe it was really out of date. But now she was really tired. Maybe it was the weather. She just lay down on the towel and began to go to sleep, as the multi-coloured ball bounced along.
When she woke up, she could see the water coming closer. She tried moving and then found she was completely stuck. She saw him there. But why? Was why he killing them? She had most of her neck and mouth underwater, as it began spreading to Dakota.
She kicked and struggled, trying to move, as the water rose higher, getting in her nostrils. She choked, and began choking on her fluid as her mouth was taped closed. She could see him walking away with an odd camera to Dakota and Reba, filming them dying.
Her pain was over.
***
As he stepped out of the door, he wondered. BB was being rather odd lately and said he saw bright pictures. But now he looked. BB had come out in a little ghost costume, smiling. Over the last few days, BB had been happy.
He wondered as he walked with the chattering children to the first house. He'd been wondering what on earth the reels were in the box. He'd seen horrible videos – people being killed. He'd just assumed it was some silly prank, they obviously had to be, and the blood didn't look real. But he'd been a bit unnerved. Whoever had filmed this, they'd got great actors.
Now he just walked along. "BB is everything fine?" he nodded. "Yeah." "Well, remember to get enough sweets later for after tonight." "Sure."
Now the man stood in the kitchen as the children had gone upstairs to bed. He looked at the cup he was holding. It had green liquid at the bottom. A Post-It note read Night-night Mr Hadsham. Now he looked up. BB, in his ghost costume, overalls on top, held an axe. "I like the extended endings, Mr Hadsham." He said as Mr Hadsham felt faint. "But they take them out."
The next thing Hadsham knew was he was lying beside some of the others. But now they were very still. And there was a small dippy cup of red paint in. hadsham worked out what the red paint was when he saw it trailing them the others. A crude picture of a pumpkin was being painted on the wall by BB with a paintbrush.
Hadsham struggled, but it was too tight. As Bb came up and raised the axe, he told him, "Don't worry Hadsham; you're going to a better place. But I'm not. Not for about fifty years anyway." Then Mr Hadsham closed his eyes as it swung down.
His pain was over.
Rick looked at Floss as Larua had begun. Handing Floss some matches and starting up. Rick struggled round and saw Carmen's eyes fluttering open. She was looking right at Rick, just sleepy. As Rick saw Floss begin to try and strike the matches, he began shifting over to Carmen.
Pulling a hairpin out from her hair, he began stabbing at the tape round his hands. Pulling himself up, he threw her back the clip as he leaned forward, ripping the tape from his ankles and mouth. He stood up, to the surprise of Floss and Larua, and asked, "Why?"
Larua simply repeated, "Why? Because it's how I survive. Oh, children today are so ignorant! When I was worshipped, children would either be slaving away ion houses or fields or spending time beaten at school. And that's if you were boys."
Rick asked, as Carmen quickly began trying to prise the tape off her hands with the hairpin, "But why?" "because living off orphans is the only way I can be satisfied. I used to simply have them and give the stupid pagans what they wanted in return. A good harvest, a good year, a popular reign for a king. But even though they gave sacrifices, if I simply didn't want to, I'd let them suffer. So they gave more. It's a little trick the supernatyurl use.
"Well, Rick, I trust you'd actually use your tiny brain cells that modern western children have and actually think.
"I used to have wax tablets, in case you wondered, after I came to Rome. I'd grab at one orphan house in Italia, that's the old word for Italy, and when an orphan I liked the look of was about to go, or if the child was over thirteen, the age of adulthood in the ancient world, I'd simply" he stroked Floss' hair, "pick the youngest."
Rick asked, so he tried to walk back toward the door, "So why haven't you gotten more kids? I mean, wouldn't there be hundreds?" Larua laughed. "After a half century, I don't know why, they simply vanished. I come from beyond the curtain between your world and mine. They worship me, obey me, without attention. But after half a century, they simply vanish. They go to…well…wherever dead people go. Because they were brainwashed, your gods look kindly on them and make them go to a happy afterlife. Since none of my "children" are actually truly dead, just after the curtain for a long time, they finally "die" after some time here, and their figures seem to rot like a dead corpse. It takes…about a number of seasons. They liked seasons in old time. Three, four, the most is five seasons.
"Oh Rick, you are such a strange boy. But let me tell you a bit more before I decide to burn you alive.
"After the wax tablets, I decided on tapestries in early to mid-medieval Europe. Of course, the borders so close, the Italian orphans soon moved on to French ones. And after that, the Germanic and Austrian ones. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries were fun. I went all over the place. As time grew on, and with the invention of the printing press in 1450 AD, I saw some orphans, especially in charity and church orphanages, were beginning to write. So I made them at least draw the pictures of the dead ones. When film was invented, I chose this lovely 8mm camera. It adds atmospheres, don't you think?"
At this stage, Carmen had pulled the tape off her ankles and mouth but still hid behind the pool table. Tyler, his eyes now open for some time, hardly winced as Carmen began pulling his hands free.
"Tyler, stay quiet. There's a Lonnie trying to burn us." She hissed as she looked above. Larua didn't seem to notice they were awake or free.
"Listen Rick," larua began as a light breeze began opening the doors, pushing aside anyone, "my children worship me." At the door were two rows of children. The first row had Bb and Fall with Mark. Behind them, left to right, were Jacob, in his pyjamas, the boy from the beach, the tallest and oldest, and Milly.
"Come here, children." Larua told them, and then to Rick's surprise, they vanished. He turned and saw them standing by larua, his arms round BB and Milly. "there's no escape, rick."
Then little Floss looked up. Rick began to see she looked different already. Her eyes started getting bags under them and her skin was cracked. She answered, in a hissing tone like Larua, "Rick, accept the fact you are now a sacrifice."
Carmen and Tyler watched, helpless. But Carmen quickly pointed. "the doors are open, there's a chance. But we're going to be in plain sight." Tyler said, m "Fireworks?" Carmen frowned, disagreeing. Then she asked, "What about going round the sofas? The table's so big it covers the sofas." Tyler smiled, as Carmen got on her hands and knees, looking round to check, and then began crawling round.
By now, a few of the others were beginning to stir. Faith's eyes were fluttering and Johnny was moving. But Carmen and Tyler had managed to get out of the den. Running down the hallway to outside, Carmen asked, "What do we do?" "I don't know, right?" he sounded frustrated. Carmen looked round, "I have to go back! Lilly and Tee are in there." "Carmen, we're lucky we managed to get out. We have to leave or we're dead. And maybe they won't sacrifice unless all of us are there."
Maybe he was right. But Carmen still felt there was some way to get in.
Before either of them knew it, there was an explosion inside the den.
Glass flew everywhere, a few alarms went off and Carmen swore the pool cues had flown out. Screaming, she tried running forward, but could only see smoke.
Crying, she just looked away. But she couldn't hear any screaming, loud or muffled. She got confused, turning round. Rick was leaping through the window and headed to them.
***
By the time police, fire and ambulance arrived; Rick had said that they'd been broken into. He said to Carmen that when larua looked up and Floss was about to set the firework on his leg on fire, Rick had thrown one of the matches right by the window where the table and laptop were, as far away from anyone there. It had completely shocked Larua and made him and the children, apart from Floss, disappear. Getting his phone out of his pocket and calling 999, he'd jumped through the broken window after ripping the firework off, and had waited.
He'd said he'd hated doing that, because it meant some of the residents would be in danger. But he said he had definitely made sure because there was at least a foot between the table with the laptop and the mattress. He'd also been sure before he left to knock a bottle of water on the floor.
By the time police had questioned them all, taking everyone else to hospital for checks, Rick had said some weird cult people had come in and tried to abduct Floss for some ritual. It wasn't far off but it made the police set up a massive search for anyone suspicious. It could last a long time.
The ones in hospital didn't remember much but Mike had said he remembered his drink being tainted. He also put the cult down to the goat head drawings, especially with Lilly adding evidence about the stuff she'd found.
Mike did say something about the reels, although by now they'd vanished and police guessed the cult took them as evidence. Although they did say it was some closure to what had happened to other orphanages.
The newspapers kept trying to come round and ask about the incident but Mike always shut the door on them.
Rick, sometime after it happened, lay on his bed thinking. They'd been so close to being fried. And what exactly had happened to Larua? Was the cycle broken? He just knew it was unlikely to affect Elm tree any more.
In Harrison orphanage, now a mental asylum, a small box of reels lay down in the attic. A projector with some reels. Christmas '64. Happy new year '74. Valentine's Day '82. Easter '99. Summer Holiday'08. Halloween '11. And Bonfire Night '13.
Just for anyone who may come in and decide to look at reels.
A/N: thank you so much for reading and reviewing. Also, Larua is Latin for bogeyman. And I hope it's scary enough.
Sweet dreams.