When the dust settled, it was all clear on how two close families were tangled in all of this. 'The Hand of the Divine' is what they called them. The religious group who were out to cleanse the souls of sinners, usually by convincing them to sacrifice themselves to the Hand. The Thompsons and the Warrens were in dead in the basement of the latter's. Bryan Thompson, the nine year old son's eyes filled with tears and angst while he tried to cover the eyes of his best friend Patricia Warren. Walking up to their throat-slit parents wasn't a picnic for either of them. A large pool of mixed blood, a stench that could kill a janitor and the creepy texts scribbled on the wall created a lovely ambience. "All Hail the Hand" isn't something a nine year old kid should see above their parents' dead body. Well, the scribbling would be least of their concerns now.
The episode made Bryan and Patricia realise that they were all they got. Bryan's aunt didn't quite last there with them and left for her home. Now both 16, getting pity pats and sympathy smiles were long gone. The aggressive Bryan always had looked out for his only friend and the smiling, pleasant Patricia did the same. They were close yet had different lives. School was something they both liked. Classes, students, smiles and most importantly each other.
Patricia loved staying indoors and reading while Bryan worked at a nearby diner. An evening when Patricia had just finished up her book, Bryan gets in there all excited and exclaims, "pat, you have no idea what happened today!!! Alice asked me out!!". Patricia fashions a small smile and replies, "oh, it's about time. It's gross how much you stare at each other during recess". Bryan smiles and and goes up to his room to change and get ready for dinner and finally some sleep.
Some months pass by, Patricia gets up earlier as usual and starts on her day. She wakes Bryan up when he shouts at her for disturbing him. Startled, Patricia says, "why you yelling B? We're gonna be late to school.". Bryan wakes up fifteen minutes late to realise that she leaves without him. He doesn't think about it much and gets ready for school. He reaches school to find out that Patricia never arrived at the school. He gets a little confused and scared. He finds his other friends and they start looking for her. Bryan heads to the Head Mistress's office and calls up home. Patricia picks up the call and says, "sorry B, was a little pale this morning so I returned. I'll see you when you get back". Relieved, Bryan gets back to Alice and finishes his day at school.
Upon returning he notices a large crowd gathered at their neighbor's house. He ignores the commotion, and moves on to get to his house. He opens the door and gets in and calls Patricia, "hey Pat? I'm home, you there?". He waits for a couple of a seconds and then shouts again, "hey pat! Where are you?" And continues to speak, "I was worried sick about you. Where did leave off to this morning, huh? Pat?! You there or not?". A shrill voice rises from the near the hall, "Bryan!!! You're back, sorry I was just a little busy". He slowly moves towards the hall to look for Patricia. He suddenly stops when he smells something familiar, the same kind of stench. He calls out once more, "Pat, what are you there? You alright?". "Yes B, I'm fine. Stop being such a paranoid" she says with a chuckle following up. He keeps his fingers on his nose and moves to the hall and peeks into the bathroom. His eyes catch a glimpse of a pool of blood and she shouts, "PAT?! WHAT IS THAT?!" Pat with a calm and fun tone replies, "it's not a what silly, it's Billy from next door.". As she says that, Billy, the 6 year old kid with down syndrome screams at Bryan, "BRYAN!!! WHY IS PATTY IS TAKING MY FLESH??? MOM!!!! PLEASE COME TAKE ME, IT HURTS!!!"
to be continued...
