Blood and Picket Fences

Milky White: Karoline Chapter 9

"It's going to be fine," Benzion's hands squeezed their shoulders supportively. He gave them both a smile that Kara could almost believe was genuine if the circumstances weren't so grim.

"In and out. The front door is locked, Ida..." He paused looking at Kara sympathetically. "Is not a problem," his words come out as a whisper. The three of them huddled in a circle on the back lawn. The oppressive heat and humidity of Florida in summer making Kara's palms sweat, a tiny droplet sliding down the side of her face. They had been out here listening for a while, Benzion taking careful looks over the top of the tall wooden fence.

She was used to the sound of lawnmowers, car doors slamming, screaming children playing in sprinklers or dribbling basketballs in driveways. Today there was none of that. No noises to indicate life.

The gunshots of yesterday were gone, even the screams had stopped. The street was dead, but it wasn't empty.

Kara swallowed hard hearing the scraping of something dragging against the sidewalk, she could hear a chorus of moans dancing on the breeze. She could smell the magnolia blossoms of the Kessler's tree mixing with the waft of something more sinister. It reminded her of the time her father had forgotten a bag of groceries in his car. That first overpowering wiff as she'd lifted the trunk lid her senses assaulted with the stench of rotting meat, which had baked in the heat of the summer sun.

Kara wiped her hands off on the scrub pants she'd borrowed from Leora. The scrub pants she was probably bleeding all over. Joys of womanhood as Ida used to say. Ida.

Kara swallowed hard, fighting the urge to clear her throat or release a torrent of air anything to relieve the tension in her chest.

Looking up she shielded her eyes from the bitter rays, watching as birds flew by as if it was a regular ordinary day. Scheiße.

Stupid birds. "Kara?" Grayson was looking at her weird again.

She blinked looking over to watch Benzion poke his head one last time over the fence before pulling himself up and over. It wasn't necessarily quiet, his sneaker kicking at the wood in a way that made Kara's heart beat faster even more so when he pitched over the side quicker than she'd expected.

He didn't cry out though, but for all they knew that was because he cracked his head on the ornamental boulder on the other side. Gray and her ran quickly to check, Kara pulling herself up easily to peer down on the other side not caring that her upper body would be visible from the road. He had hit the ground but looked more embarrassed than anything, thankfully he didn't look hurt. She watched as red splayed crossed his freshly shaved cheeks, waving her concern off.

"I haven't climbed a fence since I was you kids age," he grimaced a quirky smile slowly coming to his lips. The muddy grass staining his jeans as he got up, wiping his hands off on his Tshirt leaving a smudge of hand prints and grass stains.

She let out a sigh looking to check that they were still safe that no one from the street had seen the climb. She adverted her eyes from the skeletal remains of the dead dog. Poor Rosie. She'd been picked clean, flesh and muscle torn from her body leaving nothing more than bones and forgotten tendons behind in a large stain of pink on the sidewalk. Kara was glad her dad had told her no to a dog in that moment, as she thought about the countless pets on her street who's owners might have done the same. Or worse the ones trapped inside unable to get out.

Lowering herself back down she suppressed a shutter. Turning to Gray to help give him a boost. Her hands clasped together as she squatted to give his foot a place to step on. With a suppressed grunt he was up and over much more fluidly than his father. Kara going to throw over the bags to the other side. It had been agreed that Kara would wait over here. That she wouldn't have to see what lie inside her house again and for that she was thankful. She wasn't sure she could bear it.