Chapter 21

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Stellamounted the stairs and had to force her feet to move. The dim soundof the TV from the other room played at her back. But ahead of her,there was only a deathly silence. She peered up the stairway intothe darkness above. She wanted to turn back, but the same frightenedfeeling that made her anxious, also propelled her forward.

Halfway up thestairs, she noticed a smell.

In a way, the smellwas almost sweet. But too sweet. So sweet that it turned herstomach. Additionally, under the veil of the sweetness were othersmells. A metallic smell and another smell. Like pure unadulteratedfilth. The three smells were each so strong, they seemed to dancetogether like living creatures. She blanched, and clapped her handover her mouth and nose. Each step she took toward the upstairs madethe smell grow stronger.

Tears welled in hereyes. Something was definitely wrong. The smell obviously came frominside the house; and nothing like that should ever, ever be insideany place where living things dwelled. It upset her on a deep levelthat her conscious mind refused to acknowledge.

At the top of thestairs, Stella moved past her own bedroom door without as much as aglance. She'd lost all interest in grabbing a hoodie. Instead shekept drifting further into the reeking. At the very end of the hallshe came to a window. Stella stood for a moment looking out into therolling black expanse of starlit sky. She glanced down at thesparkling snow. Her parents were the sort who left the Christmaslights lit until February. She saw the reflections of red twinklinglights on the snow down below and the thought crossed her mind thatit looked like blood.

Stella took a deepbreath and turned to the right, where she took hold of her parents'bedroom doorknob. With trembling hand she turned the knob and pushedthe door open.

And there theywere, their bodies carelessly discarded in a haphazard pile on thefloor at the end of the bed. Her father was on the bottom, face downin a pool of blood that must have had a ten foot circumference. Hermother was splayed atop him, on her back. Her eyes bulged and thewhites had turned brown. Her tongue lulled out, swollen and blue. And, her throat was slashed so deeply that her head was only attachedby a sliver of skin.

Stella began toscream.

***

Madre Bar had creptup behind Stella. When she turned to blast out of the room, sheshoved right past Madre without even seeing her. Everything movedincredibly quickly. She saw Eric burst up the stairs and all hermind could register was to run to him.

But her incrediblylong braid lashed behind her, and Madre Bar grabbed it, jerkingStella to a halt.

Stella seemed notto even notice the woman yanking on her hair. And poor Eric had noclue what was going on. But he'd heard Stella's blood curdlingscream, and even in the shadowy darkness, he could see the malevolentlook on Madre Bar's face. He fumbled for his pocket knife even as heran for Stella, and without pause, he raised it high in the air andthen sliced it through Stella's braid, freeing her from Mrs. Bar'sgrip.

"Run!" heyelled.

She stopped foronly a second to look at Eric as he squared off with Mrs. Bar thenproceeded for the stairs. But halfway down, she heard the sound ofglass breaking and Eric yelling.

Shaking violently,Stella came to an instant standstill. "Eric?" she calledweakly.

"I'm afraidyou've gone and gotten him killed, Stella," Mrs. Bar called insome sort of odd tone Stella had never heard her use.

Tears streamed downher face. She knew she should run. Continue down the stairs, outthe front door, and just run until she could find another person. But, she couldn't bring herself to leave Eric. She had to know whathappened.

She turned slowlyand went back up to the hallway.

Mrs. Bar stood atthe broken hallway window that overlooked the backyard. Stellainched forward until she stood shoulder to shoulder with the womanlooking down.

Beneath the windowon the ground, there was a thorny rose bush. Even from her perch,Stella could see Eric's eye balls impaled on two sharp branches. Remarkably, he was alive. He held one hand over his face, bloodgushing out around it. He mewled as would a wounded animal and hestumbled toward the trees.

Stella opened hermouth to scream at him not to move, she was coming. But before shelet out one peep, she felt cold steel against the base of her skull.

"Don't,"said Madre Bar.

She gasped and herback straightened rigidly. Slowly, she turned her head to look atMrs. Bar.

"He'll crawloff into the woods, pass out, freeze to death and die, Stella. It'llall go very quickly so just don't worry about it. We're going to goget a bucket of hot water, go out, and clean up his bloody mess, andwithin a couple hours, the snow will cover the spot back up and allwill be well!" she explained cheerily, as though it all madetotal sense.

Stella weptinconsolably, but at the same time attempted to remain calm. "Andthen what?" she whispered.

"If you're agood girl, I'll tuck you into my car and take you home. If you're abad girl, I'll shoot you in the head."

Mrs. Bar promptedStella with the gun down the stairs and into the kitchen where theyfilled a bucket of water. They got on their coats and took thebucket outside where Mrs. Bar directed her to get rid of Eric'sblood. Stella strained to listen for him, and to peer into thetrees. He was gone, and she couldn't hear a sound.

She prayed he'dsomehow made it to safety.

Mrs. Bar pluckedEric's impaled eyeballs from the bush, and tucked them into herpocket. Stella cringed and her tears began all over again. She wasbrutally shoved toward Mrs. Bar's car. When they got to it, Mrs. Baropened the back door. Just as Stella leaned over to get inside, Mrs.Bar brought the butt of her pistol down on her temple, and Stellacollapsed on the back seat.

"Sorry dear,"Mrs. Bar murmured. "Can't have you trying anything funny."


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