Daddy?

Chapter 7

She invited me in her house. Still in shock I walked in. We sat down in two chairs. "B- but? How? Why?" She shushed me and started explaining. Just like she told me those stories about this house, were they real? I always thought it was just her imagination. "When I gave birth to a son, your father, I felt like the luckiest mother in the world. He was just perfect. But when he grew up I noticed he was a little different than the other kids, he played more... Ruff than others. And when he became your age he turned into a problem child. He smoked weed during breaks and never went to his classes. I just assumed he was hanging with the wrong people and I tried to talk to him about it for many times, but he just wouldn't listen to me or anyone else. I bought this house in the middle of nowhere when he turned 18 to see if he just needed a place to go to. He drived there many, many times, mostly alone. The times I did go there with him he always told me to not go to the loft. So I never went there. I thought it was a place for him where he had like a secret hobby like painting he didn't want to tell people. I respected his privacy, so I never did." She took a sip of her tea.
"About eight years later he met your mother. She was the sweetest woman I've ever met. Always put others before herself and they were so happy together. Two years later your mother went out take a walk in this forest, but she never returned. There was an entire search with the police, one day a police officier rang the doorbell. He told me that they had found her body. Her heart was cut out of her chest and the murderer hid her body in a hollow tree." My brain was  blown. "But mom isn't dead. She was just- " suddenly it all made sense. The floating. How she didn't want to be touched. How everybody always ignored her, even on grandma's funeral. How her feet never touched the ground. How she didn't want to be introduced to my friends. She was a ghost! But why was I seeing her?
Grandma continued: "Your father's heart was broken. He spent weeks in this house and didn't want to see anyone. One time I visited him for a cup of tea. I needed to call him on his phone for him to open the door because he didn't hear the doorbell since he was in the loft. I couldn't hold my curiosity in anymore. I just needed to know what was there. I went to the house when he wasn't there. I went straight to the highest level expecting a room full of things, but when I got there I was in a small empty space, the only thing there was a lonely chair next to a huge freezer. Inside the freezer were a couple bags with ice and eight bags with names written on it like Mariah or Joseph or Hannah. One had your mother's name on it. I opened it and was completely shocked by what I saw. It was her heart. The other bags contained more human hearts. I couldn't believe it. My son was a serial killer. I followed my heart and went to do declaration at the police station. They did some research but somehow your father heard I told the cops and managed to hide all the evidence. The police told me I was crazy and put me in the hospital. And that's the story." I looked at her with open mouth. I didn't have much time to process this mess because we heard footsteps coming our way. "Quick, hide, it's your father." In our hiding spots we saw him walk inside through the little cracks of the closet door. He had a enormous kitchen knife in his hand, it had blood on it. In his other hand he held another bag. "When the police stopped coming here, he put the freezer back" she whispered. "It now contains 17 bags... 18 now." He had this creepy smile on his face as he walked towards the stairs. We couldn't see him anymore. We gave each other a look and we went out of the closet. We went out of there as quiet as we could. As grandma tried to open the lock she let out the hardest scream I ever heard. Her hand loosened of the key. As a reflex I looked her way. She laid on the ground with her eyes open and saliva dripped out of her mouth. She had a knife in her throat. A hand grabbed the handle of the knife and pulled it out. Steady and slow. I followed the arm and saw my father standing there. He had this indescribable look in his eyes of insanity, I didn't recognize him anymore.
"You really think I didn't hear her whisper?" He pulled his fist back to hit me. A sharp pain followed by darkness.

When I woke up I was in the same chair as before. My head felt like it could explode any second. Dad was sitting in front of me. My wrists and ankles felt like they were on fire. I looked at them and he tied them to the chair. My eye was closed and I couldn't open it anymore. "I assume she told you. That's okay. Spares me some effort. I don't know how you ended up here but we should just- " He couldn't finish his sentence because the door flew open. Alice and Esmee bursted in almost tripping over grandma who was still laying there in the entrance. They took one look at me strapped to the chair and I pointed at my dad with my eyes. Esmee ran up to him from behind and jumped on his back kicking him in the legs while Alice ran up to him from the front to hit him in the stomach. I was screaming and encouraging them as hard as I could. I didn't know they had such great power and bravery. Dad let out some air and grabbed his belly when Alice hit him. For a second it looked like they were winning. But then it was dad's turn. He pinched Alice's neck until her muscles stopped working and she fell on the floor. "NOOOOOOO!" I screamed out the top of my lungs while my eyes started watering. He put his arms back with force so Esmee fell on the ground. You could tell she was terrified by the look in her eyes. She tried to crawl backwards but dad grabbed her and threw her across the room. She hit the closet and fell knock-out on the hardwood ground. Dad gave me a smile. "I'll put them next to you, so you won't be lonely." He put two chairs next to me. One right, one left. He lifted Alice and put her on the chair left of me. She was still sleeping. He tied her ankle to the chair leg. Then he walked towards Esmee and put her in the other chair next to me. As he tied her ankle to the leg I saw a piece of bone piercing her red, puffy skin coming out more as he pulled her leg back. I felt like I was about to throw up. I waited for it to be ready, then turned my head to dad who was just done tying her hands after her back. I opened my mouth and threw up all over him. And I made sure it got everywhere. He didn't like that. "Stupid child" he mumbled as he slapped me on the cheek. It hurt a lot but he didn't deserve my tears. I smiled at him.

Alice is awake now, but Esmee is still sleeping. Dad is casually reading his Top Getar like nothing's out of the ordinary. Esmee's eyes slowly opened. 3 seconds later she screamed out of the top of her lungs out of pain. Her leg must hurt a lot. Dad smirked of joy. She stopped screaming when she saw him smiling. I saw her remove the knot after her back. The 12 years of scouting finally came in handy. She suddenly stopped. Dad took a sip of his coffee and stood up. "I'm going to the toilet real quick. Don't go anywhere." He laughed out loud. Esmee pulled the last string after her back her hands were free. She gently lifted the chair and pulled her legs down so her legs were also free. She limped towards my chair and removed the rope around my wrists and Alice's and we copied her chair move. I ran towards the door but he was already back. We heard laughing behind us. We looked behind us and saw him pull out a gun out of his back pocket and shot Alice through the head. He slowly walked towards us as we were shaking in fear. Then the door opened! I don't know how but it opened! I ran out as fast as I could but Esmee tripped and screamed in pain as she landed on the floor. I hid behind a bush just in time before his ugly head peeked out the door. "Come out now!" He angrily yelled. He put pressure on Esmee's leg. Her eyes watered as she bit her lip. He didn't deserve to see her cry. "Come out now if you want your friend alive." I couldn't move, I wanted to but my body just refused. "Don't, don't come!" Esmee said towards a different bush. She knew where I was. A gunshot was fired. I didn't see anything because my eyes were clammed together. I opened them when I heard the front door close. There was a trail of blood to the door. I grabbed my knees and started crying.

I was disturbed by some hands around my waist. My reflexes hit the person in it's face. "Oooow" I heard someone whisper. I recognized the sweet voice. I turned around. "Dzjhessie! O I'm so glad you're -!" I loudly whispered. She put her hand on my lips. "He can't hear us." "But why are you here?" "I led your friends here by the picture you sent me. They went inside to search what you meant but I stayed inside. "I'll stay here so if anything happens you have a backup" I said, but I was just too scared" she started to tear up. I hugged her. We made a plan.

I stood by the big tree just in front of it. I yelled for my dad until his face appeared in the window. He put on his creepy smile again. I hated it. He slowly walked towards me giving me the silent treatment with his stupid smile still stuck on his face. He leaned in to grab me but I dug away just in time. Now Dzjhessie came in action. She took the bloody rope from my wrists and tied it around the tree around my father's neck. I helped her tie it as tight as possible and we ran away as fast as we could from my father's choking sounds.