| "Extra Hours Cost More" Written by Nick Thomson AKA MinionZombie "King of the Undead" Copyright � - April 2002 The day was drawing to a quick conclusion, the sun setting like a blazing fire behind a sea of the hills surrounding the town of Great Waters. It was a peaceful and serene town that had never seen a bad deed done since the turn of the 20th century. It was one of the very few towns in the country in which everyone knew everyone and people left doors unlocked. The Grocers always knew your orders and delivered on time, the school was small yet one of the best in the state and the public services were second to none. It was the perfect town; perfect until it's happy fa�ade was scarred forever on one fatal night. That night was tonight. Having turned nine o'clock, Frank Black was just about to leave his home, his two happy and at that time sleeping kids, and his past life behind. He was going on a date with a woman he had met, Cassie, a couple of weeks prior in the public library where they were both looking up books on Sociology. "So it's five bucks an hour and then eight-fifty each hour after twelve right?" asked Frank as he stood on his own doorway in the cool summer breeze. "Yeah, that's right Mr Black, don't stay up too light with your lady friend," said the babysitter, Amanda Lee Sandford, cheekily. "I'll stay up as long as I want young lady, besides, you get more money the longer I stay out remember? I'd hate to see you selling used cars," laughed Frank as he handed over a small piece of paper with a list of numbers on it. "Got everything you need?" "Yes Mr Black, everything's perfect." "Okay, the kids are sleeping now, nice and deep, so they'll be of no hassle to you. Watch a movie if you want, I've got a stack of them in the study. Whatever one is fine with me. Have a nice night, don't study too hard!" "Oh, I'm sure I won't Mr Black, have a nice night yourself." And with that, Frank turned on his heels and scooted out into the fresh summer air over to his car. He leapt in and started the car up, driving off into the night to pick up his date, leaving his beloved kids behind with the sitter. He hadn't left his kids alone in years, ever since the divorce with his ex-wife anyway. Marie, his ex, was a bossy lady, always on the go, she worked out of town a lot and was never home most of the time. Needless to say the marriage broke down after a while and Frank was left with the kids, but he was glad of that. One night soon after the divorce, when Marie had collected her last belongings, her car took a nosedive off the cliffs near the beach. Frank didn't care anymore about her, but he had to explain it all to his kids, they still can't comprehend what happened, as far as they know they never had a mother, she did die when they were just three years old. Frank was everything to his kids and his kids were everything to him. The town often commented on how incredible it was that he could hold down a job, a house and two kids. He was an admired member of the community. As the sound of Frank's car disappeared off into the night, Amanda closed the door of the house and walked down the corridor towards the kitchen. Rummaging around the fridge, she soon came across Frank's six pack of beer hiding behind a stack of eggs and chilled left overs. "And that's where pappy keeps the booze," grinned Amanda as she lifted the six pack out of the cool fridge. Having fetched snacks of many kinds, she shifted herself into the living room, sitting herself down on the leather seats to watch the television. The first thing that came on was Halloween; she'd seen it before and was less than enthralled by it. In disgust, she turned over to MTV to sit and watch boy band after another mixed with teeny bopping top-heavy females sing their little hearts out about the soppiest of soppy things. Relaxing and sliding down the chair a little, Amanda sighed. This was a cushy set up she thought to herself. Amanda came from a lowly background with a good face in the town. Her family had no money all the time it seemed, but they kept plugging away. Her brothers and sisters working, when they weren't drinking or beating each other up or getting themselves killed in car wreaks. She had lost two of them that way. Her job was anything from secretary at the dentists at one point all the way down and back to babysitting. She was in a low employment area of her life right now, she'd take anything she could get. As she looked around the room, she could see Frank Black was a well off man. He'd worked hard sure, but he had everything her family didn't, she was jealous of that, but there wasn't much she could do about it anyway. She just didn't like sitting for snotty children and snotty parents as she saw them. She'd steal some money sitting around or do something to wreak a small bit of havoc on the people she sat for, whilst always maintaining her cute little image, despite the fact she was eighteen and far from innocent. She had organised for her boyfriend to come over that night. The cheesy and drone-like singers continued to prance around on screen as Amanda continued to down the beer and snacks she had fetched herself until a sudden tap at the door caught her attention. "This had better be you, Kurt," she muttered to herself as she hoisted herself out of the chair and over to the front door. She pulled the door open and sure enough it was her boyfriend standing in front of her. Tall and fit as he always was, a little sweaty, as he'd been working out in his garage, again. "Jesus Christ, Kurt! Don't you ever shower?" "Oh come on, you know you love a man's smell!" he replied as he grabbed hold of her, his arms high and open around her shoulders. "Oh get off me you smelly fucker!" "Nice to see you too," replied Kurt as he stepped inside, watching Amanda walk back into the living room. "So where are the brats?" "They're upstairs sleeping, don't make too much noise, they may be deep sleepers as dear old Daddy says, but you know kids. Little fuckers." Kurt closed the door behind him and followed Amanda's trail into the living room. "Quite a nice place you got for the evening here babe." "Can it, I'm trying to watch the music channels! Do something useful already." "Like what?" "You could try fucking me already! Geez! I been waiting for a screw for days!" grunted Amanda, the not so innocent for sure, as she slowly scratched her exposed and lean stomach. Her outfit was far from subtle. Dressing like a slut would get her more money from single men she sat for, or women, depended on whatever floated their boat; Amanda just seized the opportunity of having a good body. "Yes ma'am!" growled Kurt, he was desperate too. Without further a-do, Kurt made his way over to his seething girlfriend. "Where d'ya want it baby?" said Kurt. "First off, enough of this baby shit, it drives me insane, second off, the couch, now!" Kurt obeyed his mistress and hoisted Amanda off the soft leather chair and onto the equally soft leather couch. "Damn, this guy's got the money don't he?" said Kurt. "Less talk, more fuck!" ordered Amanda. "Yes ma'am!" Slathering their tongues over each other, the pair became entangled, Kurt quickly undressing as he was famed for throughout the young female sector of the town he'd visited, and was no sooner naked than he was getting Amanda stripped down too. Revealing the rest of her amply endowed form to the room, Kurt continued to slather himself all over Amanda, this was his idea of a foreplay whistle stop tour. "Slow down for God's sake!" ordered Amanda. But Kurt was far from into paying attention. He wrestled with Amanda as she liked to play rough, as most of his previous 'conquests' had done and he was getting steamed already. Kurt quickly got into position and made his final approach, Amanda grunting and panting louder and louder. "Quiet! What about the kids upstairs?" asked Kurt as he continued his epic conquest as he saw it. "Fuck 'em." "I'd rather not," replied Kurt, taking the comment somewhat literally. "Not actually fuck 'em you dull shit! Jesus Christ! Just make sure you do me good!" Kurt followed his orders and tried his best to fulfill her yearning, but it was over too quick for Amanda. As Kurt finished up he panted long and deep before he clambered off Amanda. "That it?" "Yeah, you can thank me later babe." "I said enough of this babe shit. And for the love of God! Now I gotta finish off a job another man can't finish!" "Huh?" "You really don't know anything about women do you?" "Jesus Christ babe, enough of all this back chat, it's not attractive you know." "Girls should just be objects that don't speak and always lie with both legs spread wide then, Kurt?" "Hell yeah!" "Right, I'm tired of you, leave now bitch," she order as she smacked Kurt on the back while he replaced his boxers to their original position. "God damn, you some feminist or some shit?" "Far from it, I'll see if I can fit you into my schedule sometime after you become a better lay." "Christ, babe, I've had enough of this shit from you, I'm gonna go find a girl whose a little less verbose than you." "Wow! Verbose, eh? Word of the day toilet paper is it?" "Enough of the mocking bitch," finished Kurt as he scraped himself off the couch, away from just another notch in his belt, of which he actually did cut notches that now numbered a fair many. The town was surprised he hadn't caught something by now, his exploits far from secret. Kurt left the room and exited the house via the same door he'd just entered minutes before. Amanda was far too mouthy for him and Kurt wasn't man enough for Amanda. "He'll be sorry," muttered Amanda to herself, an evil glare exuding from her eyes. She stood still unclothed and walked back to the kitchen. Pulling open the drawer next to the sink, she rummaged around amidst a vast collection of knives. As she looked around, her face grew ever enraged and ever excited. She was about a million miles away from innocent and sanity too. It's always those who you don't expect. She finally picked out a large bread knife and lifted it into the air a little, letting the light hit the blade slowly so it slid up and down the stainless steel. It was better than sex to her. The hallway was dark and anyone could hide easily in the shadows and see right into the kitchen. John, Frank's small son of eight years was hiding in the shadows. He wanted to catch sight of the babysitter, as he always did, he was creating a list of faces and names in his head to see if he could find the perfect babysitter. As he sat there in the shadows, he was bemused when he caught sight of her at last. She was naked and strutting around like she owned the place. Amanda was on the top of the list now he thought to himself. He was a quick bloomer as his father always said. But he knew he couldn't be caught, so he quickly scurried away and back upstairs, the wood in the floor creaking a little as he did so. It was just enough to tip Amanda off. Amanda looked out the door of the kitchen and glowered into the dark recess by the stairs in which little John had been hiding. Amanda was snapping like feeble twigs underfoot in the woods. Breathing slowly and padding back to the living room, Amanda gripped onto the knife tenderly, as if it was her child, but this knife was far from it. Slipping her clothes back on speedily, Amanda tied her shoes up and picked the knife up off the table in the living room where she had momentarily set it down. Amanda now stepped out of the room and into the hallway so that she faced the staircase that led up to the children's rooms. The end this way comes thought Amanda as she began to walk up the stairs quietly, the wooden boards only making the tiniest of squeaks as she proceeded further and further into the darkness of the first floor landing. Looking to her left and right, she could see the rooms of the two children, denoted by their name plaques that were screwed in proudly on their doors. First thing was first, little John's room. John was hiding in his bed, the covers hoisted over his head when he heard the door handle slowly rotate round, the moonlight glinting off it as it did so. With a sharp crack, the door began to open and as the moonlight traced the action, a figure, the figure of his babysitter came into his vision. Letting the door handle escape her clutches, Amanda stood in the doorway, illuminate by a single, sharp shaft of moonlight that struck part of her face, as the door drifted fully open. John was still hiding under his bed sheets, thinking that if he couldn't see whoever was in his room couldn't see him, but he was not going to be so lucky. Slowly, the sound of footsteps entering his room could be heard, the shuffling of training shoe rubber on thick carpet scuffing towards him until it grew very loud almost and then suddenly stopped. John's breath was baited anxiously, he kept telling himself in his head it was just a bad dream and that his babysitter was still downstairs, studying hard and not standing right beside him in the darkness. But then child-like curiosity struck and little John began to pull the covers back just a little so that he could just pop his eyes out for a quick look. As the surround of his room came into view, so did the towering figure of Amanda, standing there in the night with a large knife gripped firmly in her right hand. The blade was menacing, and as Amanda twisted it in the air the moonlight glimmered up and down the blunt top edge. Just before innocent little John could scream, the knife disappeared into the darkness, and for him, never came back into the light. It was some time later when Amanda left John's room to step back into the near pitch blackness of the upper landing. Her eyes were crazed and wild, her face spattered with glittering crimson and her hands firmly coated and now tacky with the sanguineous fluid she had come to love and bathe in over previous years in her seemingly sane life which was in fact a shambles, a bomb site of mental insecurity and unsound thoughts. Tonight it all came into practice. Amanda closed the door to John's room quietly behind her, it was soon approaching midnight, Frank would be getting home soon she thought, better make this one a quickie, she continued to think. The walk to Katie Black's room was slow and seducing but it all seemed to go past like the flash of a torch in your eye. Before she knew it, Amanda was standing in front of the door, then inside the room beside Katie's quiet form in bed and before Amanda knew it, Katie would be sleeping forever more. Amanda's chest heaved with exhilarated breath, her mind long since lost amidst a shower of abuse, taunting and lonely plotting over the years. As she stepped away from the carnage she had caused, she licked her lips slowly, tasting the blood that ran down her face, it was heaven to her, but it was pure horror in anybody else's world. Suddenly, the sound of a car pulling up in the driveway flooded into her head, the lights glowing through the thin curtains of Katie's once light pink room that was now redecorated. Pouncing like the most agile of felines, Amanda fleeted out of the room, closing the door behind her as she left before making her way down the staircase, dropping blood where she trod, smearing it on whatever she touched. She stealthily made her way to stand in the light of the hallway that faced the front door; this would be the sight to meet Frank Black on his return after a fairly successful date. Frank stepped out from his car and closed the door behind him; all was right and well with him for this moment. As he walked back to his front door, he smiled quietly to himself; tonight had been a good night for him, the best in a long time. Amanda waited patiently behind the front door, she could hear the footsteps coming up the pathway and stopping right on the other side of the locked door. She could hear the set of keys Frank held in his hands clattering as he found the right one. She heard the door unlock and creak open slowly, revealing Frank's form to her, illuminate from behind like a silhouette from the street lamps outside and from the front by the bright and glowing lamp above Amanda's blood caked face. As Frank entered his house and saw Amanda standing there in front of him, blood caked and wielding a knife, horror splattered across his face, his jaw dropped in shock, his eyes tracing up and down her lean and crimson smearing body. "Like what you see?" she said slowly. Frank's face sank in fear, fear for his children. He burst from the spot, pushing Amanda aside so that she crashed viciously into the wall next to her. It hurt and she flinched, but this only made her more angry as she watched Frank Black pound his way upstairs. Then the screaming started, the sight of bloody footprints on the floor leading from one room to the next filled Frank with the terror of closure on the matter. Fleeting to John's bedroom first, he kicked the door wide open, flicking the light on as he stepped into the scene. The sight of the mangled form of his son was like an atrocity never before seen by man, never before thought of as possible, especially in the quiet town of Great Waters, such an incident would go down in history, blackening the name and casting a forever morbid shadow over the green hills. Frank staggered back, the sight was too much to take, his eyes darted around the blood soaked room before he turned away gagging. His daughter, what about his daughter. His head was filled with swirling terror as he burst into her room the same as he had done John's. The action was the same and so was the sight he was greeted with. Screaming, Frank Black fell to his knees, the blood from the door handles smeared on his hands and then his face as he fell into his palms weeping and quivering in shock, fear, terror and anger. As he continued to weep for his murdered children, he could hear the cackling laugh of the babysitter who was still downstairs, but was now beginning to walk back up the steps to catch sight of the horror Frank Black was going through at that precise moment. Laughing maniacally, Amanda stood upright and proud of her work at the foot of the stairs. "How do you like it Mr Black?" She received no answer as Frank continued to sit there on his knees, weeping into his hands, but growing ever vengeful against her knowledge. "A real surprise huh?" Frank sat quivering in front of Amanda as she continued to laugh, caressing the knife she had used to kill the two innocent children. "Oh come on, say something you pussy!" Again she received no reply. "What's wrong with you, anybody would have thought your kids were dead!" she laughed, it was a cruel and twisted thing to say, maybe that'd get a rise out of Frank for her. Again, she received no reply from the shell of what was once a happy man with a happy family. His life was over as soon as he stepped in the door just moments before. "Come on you pussy! Come on!" wailed Amanda as she lunged towards Frank with her bloody implement raised high above her screaming head. As she charged forward, Frank continued to stay still, until the very last second when Amanda was about to strike down into his skull with her knife. Moving stealthily and sharply against an enemy's knowledge, as he had been taught when fighting in the Gulf War many years prior, Frank leapt out of his attacker's way, letting her collapse against the wall. Amanda dropped the knife on the floor as she clattered against a blood-spattered wall. "Fucking bastard!" she yelled in shock. Frank Black merely stood and watched her collapse onto the floor, clambering blindly for her knife. Her eyes were fluttering, her head was pounding and her rage was boiling. Finally, she found the knife lying in the shadows and grabbed hold of it. Screaming, she prepared to whisk it into the air and hopefully strike Frank, but she was too slow. Frank slammed his hefty boot down on Amanda's wrist, so hard that the sound of snapping bone and grinding cartilage rung out into the shadowy landing. Wailing in agony, Amanda grabbed hold of Frank's ankle and tried in vain to remove it from her broken wrist, but Frank merely forced down further and ground his steel capped boot on her arm. The burn was intense as her skin peeled, her blood beginning to ooze out from exposed flesh underneath the wall of tough rubber. "Bitch!" growled Frank, his animal-like war instincts flooding back to him. He had seen a kid get killed when he was fighting in the Gulf and the feeling he felt now was the same as it was back then, all those years ago, buried under therapy and revenge he blasted out of his system before he even met his wife and had his kids. He was a different man back then to what he had been just a few minutes before, but now he was that man again, on the edge and screaming for revenge. He now lifted his boot off Amanda's oozing and broken wrist to give her at least a fighting chance. "You wanna fight huh?" growled Amanda as she scuttled away from Frank a few feet to reassess the situation. "Come near me now and you'll regret it." "I'll just take that chance fucker!" Suddenly, Amanda burst into the air and lunged towards Frank again, this time grabbing hold of him, knocking him to the floor so that he banged his head quite badly. Groaning with the shock, Frank lay dazed for a few moments, just long enough for Amanda to grab hold of her knife again, to raise it above her head and to let it come crashing down into Frank's shoulder. Frank screamed out, his eyes wide and bloodshot. He grabbed hold of Amanda of threw her off him, but keeping her tied down to the ground with one of his arms, leaving the other one to pull the knife from his flesh. The pain was intense, but pain can be controlled. Using this, Frank grabbed hold of Amanda's other arm and pulled her up to his level before knocking her back down to the ground, kicking her into the wall after she landed. "Come on you fucker! Give me something new!" she screamed in frustration. She couldn't leave Frank alive, otherwise her and the family would be dug up and found out, all their devious deeds and ways over the past many years uncovered for all to see. They were a family of savages under a polished, working class veneer, respected for their hard work by everyone else and admired for their even tempers and good deeds in public. But this was just an image, an image that was all fake. In real life they were cavemen-like brutes, feeding off the weak as they saw it. "Come on!" she screamed again. Frank grabbed hold of her dazed and confused form and dragged her across the bloody floor, clattering down the stairs and through to the illuminated kitchen. For a moment, Frank dumped her on the floor so he could open the door to the cellar. "What ya gonna do fucker? Huh? What ya gonna do?" grumbled Amanda, her head throbbing. "Throwing you with the rats where you belong." Frank steadied the door and switched on the light so that the steps could be seen, dusty and worn, leading down to the filthy cellar. Frank had been meaning to clean it out one of these days, but his kids always took priority. But it was all different now. Pulling on her legs, Frank dragged Amanda to the door of the cellar before picking her up. "Did you ever learn how to fly?" "What the fuck are you talking about you bastard?" "Guess not." Before she knew it, Amanda was being lifted into the air as if in a swing before being let go. She flew through the air for a moment, but came crashing down to the ground, smashing off the steps, making the dust rocket into the air. Her bones cracked and groaned, as did she while collapsing down the stairs with force before coming to a dazed and semi-conscious state on the cellar floor at the foot of the stairs. Her head rung like a persistent phone and the clattering of Frank's boots down the steps echoed through the stonewalled cellar and through her brain. Frank glanced around the dimly lit cellar for some rope, quickly finding it; he pulled a coiled loop of it from a hook on the wall. Kicking Amanda in the back, which faced him, her figure curled up like a frightened hedgehog, Frank took hold of her arms and pulled them behind her back. He tied her arms together, the rope burned, but comfort was far from what he was wishing for her. Revenge and nothing else was on his now warped and crippled mind. Some people break down and cry when their kids are killed, some just bottle everything up and drive themselves over the edge, but there are those, like Frank, who just snap immediately. There is no such thing as fair trial or examination of the facts, everything becomes blurred and unreal, you feel like you're above the law and you have the right to exact revenge. This was Frank now. A large metal hook cemented into the wall was where Frank was to hang Amanda. Taking some more rope that looped around her collar bone, under her arms and round her back, this would enable him to hang her up much like a jacket on a coat hanger. With her ears ringing and everything happening so fast, Amanda drifted off before being rudely awakened by a firm slap across her face. With her lip now bleeding, she spat out the crimson into Frank's enraged face. "Go on, tell me what you're gonna do to me! Go on ya pussy!" she growled. "Wouldn't you like to know." "I know your sort, you sick fuck." "Oh I think you know less that you assume you do," replied Frank. "What the fuck are you talking about man?" "Stay quiet and all this will go much quicker, at least you can gleam some mercy from that." "If you're gonna rape me, just say so and I'll open my legs for ya big boy. Just don't mess with me." "Did I say anything about wanted to rape some trashy bitch like you? Oh no, I have something much more degrading and just for you," finished Frank before he slapped Amanda again firmly, this time it was enough to send her back into sleep. Frank now set about exacting his revenge by any means he could in the near vicinity. Knives, hammers and nails, anything he could think of that was brutish and punishing enough for the murderer of his children. His dearest children. He gagged Amanda throughout her sentence so that her screams were weak and muffled. Nobody would hear it; his house was separated from all others, enclosed by trees, far away from the open main road. Amanda wouldn't get out of this one. The morning broke and the sun slowly began its journey up and over the green hills surrounding Great Waters. For the townsfolk it was just an ordinary day, for now at least, but for Frank it was the end of his revenge. The morning broke him free from his vengeance and brought him back from his murderous side to his norm. That morning he would weep again for his dead children who still lay butchered in their beds and he would lie there for hours on the floor, he himself coated in blood with the tortured and now dead babysitter in the cellar. Frank's life was over, but he'd get an insanity sentence he thought. In the middle of the afternoon, Cassie came to Frank's house to see him after their date the night before. Frank had since forgotten about everything he had in his life before, everything was destroyed now, just one night had ended him. Cassie discovered the door was unlocked and she found Frank lying on the floor, blood caked and babbling incoherently. She found the kids and she found the sitter. The police were there in minutes afterwards, carting Frank away from the scene of murder, torture and mayhem to his holding cell. The story of it all hit the town like a meteorite, splashed all over the national newspapers. It was headline news and cast the darkest cloud of shadows over the town, darker than anyone could have imagined. "What would drive a man to this, Chief?" asked the Deputy of the police department as they paced around the disaster scene. "A man whose been through hell already comes back home one day in his normal life and finds the trusted babysitter has massacred his beloved family. He snaps, it's simple as that. Frank Black is just another nut in the bowl now," replied the Sheriff. |