Welcome To The Family

I'm Done

Jenny and I were inside drinking tea when we heard the screaming. Jared was asleep in my arms. The boys were all outside working, but this was a higher pitched feminine scream. Jenny stood and hurried over to the back door. She held her hands behind her back as she watched outside.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Someone has come onto the property," she said.

She stepped back and opened the door. Dylan and Taylor were carrying an unconscious man's body. His head was rolled back against Taylor's chest. The corner of his temple was bashed in and blood was rushing down the side of his head. They dropped him on the floor so that his head was resting against the tiles and the blood was swirling into the drain.

"How many are there, boys?" Jenny asked.

"Three," Dylan said.

The back door burst open and Jimmy and Tommy were fighting a girl who was screaming and kicking. She woke up Jared who began to cry in my arms. I bounced him and cooed at him to try and console my baby. Taylor pulled out a chair and set it next to the drain. Jimmy and Tommy threw her into the chair. Tommy held her down as Dylan passed Jimmy a couple coils of rope. Jimmy tied the woman's limbs to the chair. Tommy let out a deep breath and stretched his arms over his head.

"Please!" the girl cried. She looked to only be a few years older than myself. The strands of her dark hair stuck to her face from tears. "Please! Don't do this!"

Gabe came into the house backwards holding a body. Noah had the other end of the body. It was another man. Blood was trickling off of his body and onto the floor. The woman screamed louder when she saw the man's unconscious body. They dropped him onto the floor beside the other man.

"You've killed them!" she screamed.

"Not yet, sweetheart," Noah said to the girl.

The girl rolled her head back as she sobbed. She fought against the restraints binding her to the chair. My heart tightened in my chest as I watched her. It's been almost three years, but it did not get easier to watch. I had to remind myself that they were doing this to protect me.

The door opened again, and Charles walked in. He was wiping the bloody blade of his pocket knife on his jeans. He smiled when he looked at the sobbing mess of a girl.

"Who first, Uncle Noah?" Tommy asked.

Noah let out a deep breath and stretched his arms up over his head. I bounced Jared in my arms as I tried to silence his crying. Gabe looked at us and came away from the drain and over to Jared and I. He slipped his arms around my waist and leaned down to press his forehead against mine. His warm breath fanned against my face.

"Are you okay, Linds?" he asked.

I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. I closed my mouth and nodded. Gabe's lips pressed into a smile and he kissed my temple.

"Remember that I love you," he said.

The girl resumed screaming. I looked over Gabe's shoulder to see Tommy had a handful of man whose head was bashed in hair in his fist. He flicked the blade out of his knife and held it against his throat. I had managed to silence Jared for a moment, but the girl's screaming upset him and he was crying again. Tommy pushed the knife into his flesh. Blood sprayed the tiles around the drain.

Dylan held his hands over his ears as he walked over to the oven. He pulled off the dish towel and rolled it up in his hands. He went back to the woman. Her mouth was open from screaming, and Dylan shoved the towel into her mouth and tied it behind her head. It muffled her screams.

"I hate it when Jared cries," Dylan said.

Gabe chuckled. Jared's face was growing red as he kicked his arms and legs out. Gabe placed his hand on top of Jared's head and ran his hand along his thin hair. He kissed the top of Jared's head before turning to walk back toward the bloody scene.

Tommy stood up from his kneeling position next to the man's body. Dylan and Taylor were standing beside him. I looked to the side to see Jimmy taking a step back. His eyes avoided the crying girl and were locked on the floor.

"Boys, can you get the other one hanging?" Jenny asked. "He's already ruining my floor."

A pool of blood was forming under the one man's body. I knew that Jenny and I would be on our hands and knees scrubbing that all day tomorrow.

Taylor pulled down the hooks dangling from the ceiling. Tommy and Dylan each grabbed one of the man's legs and lifted him. They buried the hooks deep into the flesh of the man's thighs so that he was suspended and hanging upside down. A slight groan escaped the man's lips and I realized that he was not completely unconscious. Blood was trickling off of his body and dripping into the drain below.

Noah was standing behind the boys. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was tapping his foot. Charles was standing next to him with a smirk. It disappeared when he looked over his shoulder at Jimmy.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Go help your brother and cousins!"

I could see Jimmy swallow hard before nodding his head. He balled his hands up at his sides as he stepped forward. Tommy rolled his eyes and passed his crimson soaked pocket knife over to Jimmy.

"You can finally help," Tommy said.

"Shut up," Jimmy snapped. "I always help."

Tommy chuckled and held up his hands.

"Whatever you say," Tommy said. "But we all know the truth."

Jimmy gritted his teeth and had the knife in a tight grip. The man's shirt had fallen victim to gravity and was exposing his stomach. Jimmy closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. He swung his hand back and shoved the blade deep into the man's abdomen. The man let out a garbled cry. Jimmy pulled the blade down, causing him to slice an opening in his stomach. Blood spray across the tiles and Jimmy. I gagged as I watched the man's intestines tumble out of his body.

Taylor, Dylan, and Tommy all cheered as they watched Jimmy. The girl let out a muffled shriek. Taylor patted Jimmy on the back and was smiling.

"Way to go, Jim," Taylor said.

Jimmy shook his hair out of his face to reveal the red splatters of blood against his skin. He wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand, but this caused the blood to smear in a streak. Jenny passed him one of the old stained towels and Jimmy cleaned his hands.

The girl continued to cry as she tried to contort her body off of the chair. Tommy chuckled and crouched down in front of the girl. She flinched as he reached forward to push a tear-soaked piece of her hair out of her face.

"Now, what are we going to do with you?" he asked rhetorically.

The girl shuddered before hanging her head low. Her body was clearly too exhausted to keep up the fight against the restraints. That or she gave up the fight and accepted her fate after watching her friends be killed.

They're doing this to protect you, I repeated in my head.

Jared had quieted down in my arms. An eerie silence fell over the kitchen as the only sound was the girl's faint sobs and the blood trickling off of the man's body.

"Listen here, sweetheart," Tommy said to the girl. He cupped the side of her face with his hand. "We're going to have a lot of fun with you."

"Just kill her and get it over with," Jimmy said.

"Why don't you do it then?" Tommy asked, looking over his shoulder at his brother. "Why don't you kill her like you just did that man? What was he to you, sweetheart? Friend? Brother? Boyfriend?"

Jimmy flipped the blade into the handle of the pocket knife and passed it over to Tommy. He wiped his face with the towel and smeared the blood across his skin. Charles had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot as he watched his sons.

"I'm done," Jimmy said. "I'm going to take a shower."

Charles shook his head as he watched Jimmy go up the stairs