"When is Eric gonna be home?" Julius yelled while chewing the last morsel of the delicious roast meat his mom cooked for dinner. "He's supposed to help me on my assignment."
Mrs. Tudor disregarded Julius' remark. At that very moment, she thought of her new boyfriend, who's supposed to be a doctor, with a Ph.D. Ever since the death of Mr. Tudor, the family never had been the same. Julius' mom didn't have the quality time for her two sons, always being positive that they were "good boys". It was almost as if she didn't have children anymore. All she cared about is her newly found freedom. Although she spent most of her time at home, she rarely notices her children anymore, not caring about what they do anymore.
She turned on the TV to the local news. As usual, there were the routine robberies to the grocery stores, murder, and those sorts of things. She found nothing unusual. There was a new one though, rape and homicide. There are usually no cases of rape here in this little town, but still the cops found no evidence of who the killer was, or perhaps they were just being as neglecting as Mrs. Tudor.
On the other side of town, Jenny's parents were traumatized by their daughter's death. Jenny's mother, Mrs. Givens was on the brink of turning psychotic. Her father wanted revenge impetuously, feeling loath and hatred towards people, and even to himself, feeling that he had ignored his daughter too much.
Joanne, Jenny's older sister, was the person much affected of her sister's death. Knowing the way her sister died was nightmare enough for her. The reports showed that after inserting several bottles of beer into Jenny's insides, she was butchered; cut into several pieces that you could not tell whether she was human or not. She wished so hard that it should've happened to her, not her little sister, who was so innocent, so pure. She loved her sister so much; they were best of friends. Only now has she felt deserted in her whole life.
Joanne was still working late, counting the bags of meat on the counter. Every time she sees a young man in the grocery, she feels the rage inside her, picturing the boy raping her sister, taking the very core of her integrity, stripping her of her humanity. She hated boys from now on. She loathed so hard that every boy should burn in hell, that all of them would suffer the death her sister suffered.
It was already half past twelve and Julius was feeling already quite drowsy. He didn't bother to make his homework because he figured that he didn't quite know the answers. He never was given the chance to believe in himself anymore since his father died. So he went to his room, and he didn't even bother to brush and take a bath.
Mrs. Tudor was still watching the news when the unexpected shriek of the phone rang.
She got up from the couch, feeling excited that her new doctor boyfriend would ask her out on a date. She dropped the remote and rushed to the phone on the living room. She picked up the handset, but she only heard a very faint whisper. Knowing it was a prank, she hung up the phone.
But again the phone rang, a little louder than normal.
"Who is this?" she demanded. "If this is a prank, then fuck you."
Then there was the redundant whisper again.
"Listen, you under-educated son-of-a-bitch," but she was interrupted.
"NO! YOU LISTEN!" Mrs. Tudor was held back. The angry scream on the other line was unrecognizable, she couldn't tell whether it was of a man's or a woman's. All it showed was anger. But anger for what?
"Who is this?" She asked again, feeling her voice quiver a bit.
"Little boys like your son should be punished," the voice became a little relieved.
"I said WHO IS THIS," she was annoyed by the nonsense that the caller was talking about.
"Your son's still not home am I right?" the voice asked, showing that she knew something about the whereabouts of Eric.
"How did you know that?"
"I was with him," the voice said.
"Who are you?" Mrs. Tudor, perhaps for the first time in three years, felt concerned about her son.
"Just a check-out counter girl who made a mistake earlier," the voice paused for a moment, and it seemed that it was taking a breath. "The meat you ordered earlier was supposed to be taken to my home, to be cut into pieces and to be thrown to the dogs where they would eat it."
"I'm sorry, we already ate it, bitch," Mrs. Tudor was uptight, but she felt that something was holding her to hear what the girl has to say. "And the dog-food tasted delicious. Sorry."
"OK," the girl said calmly. "I understand, my dogs should have loved it, anyway, do you wanna know where your son is?"
"Where is he," she paused. "He's going to be busted by the time he gets home." Mrs. Tudor realized that she cared for Eric now more than ever. She turned on the speakerphone, as she was feeling a little uneasy of the handset.
"Actually, he's now home," the girl said.
"Are you playing with me?" Mrs. Tudor demanded.
"No, he's really home."
"OK, let's play your little game," she said impatiently. "Where at home is my son?" She sounded a little bit impetuous.
"Don't you know what kind of foods you eat?"
Feeling stunned, Mrs. Tudor ran hysterically to the kitchen and she found the 'blue dirt' that she threw before cooking the 'meat'. She realized that the dirt was her son's iris.
And then she heard laughter, long wailing laughter. At first little whispery-like laughter, but in a moment, turned to wails. But she already hang up the phone, so it couldn't be the girl on the other line.
Mrs. Tudor screamed. She screamed so hard, so hysterically. Then she fetched the butcher's knife and started stabbing anywhere without looking.
Just then, an unfamiliar figure revealed itself to Mrs. Tudor. It was a girl, about eighteen, but she didn't have the organized thought to realize that, mainly because the blinding flicker of a butcher's blade paralyzed her.
"I really don't wanna do this, but the dogs have to eat something."
The End
Copyright 2001 by Dominic Sanchez.
Feel free to comment the author.
