Here There Be Monsters (OLD VERSION)

Chapter 9: Corpses in the Closet

Fall 1993

Noah pressed his face up against the window, eyes scanning the living room as he searched for any occupants in the house, his breath crystalizing on the window. Eli shifted anxiously, still winded from the bike ride over to the raccoon's house, his breath visible in the chilly evening air. No lights from inside indicated his mom was working late again, but Noah always wanted to make sure.

"She ain't home?" He asked, a head shake from Noah confirming the news.

"You're sure we can't hang out at your house?" Noah asked, backing up from the window and leaning on the railing of the porch.

"My dad hates visitors."

"C'mon, it'll be fine man, we can just hang out in your backyard or something."

He hated having to say no every time Noah asked the question. Due to his mom's unpredictable hours at work, she often came home late into the night, and though she gave a spare key to Noah he seemed to always find a way to lose it. But he knew how much it meant to the raccoon to have someone to hang out with, it meant a lot to him too.

"That works, let's head over now before it gets too late."

Smiling, they both got on their bikes and began furiously pedaling toward Eli's house, flickering yellow street lights illuminating their path. Most of the houses on the street were quiet, lights shining between the drawn blinds as families settled into their evening routine.

It was a short ride, the freeing feeling of wind filtering through his fur seeming to end just as it began. Leaving their bikes once again in the driveway, Eli led the raccoon to the gate next to the garage that led into the backyard. The yard wasn't particularly expansive, but there was a basketball hoop laying discarded on its side that could be propped up and dragged out to the driveway. He turned to Noah.

"I'm gonna grab a basketball from my room, see if you can get that hoop out to the front, I'll be back in a minute." He said, and before waiting for a response he ran to the backdoor and finding it unlocked, bolted down the hallway and up the stairs, wooden steps creaking and echoing around the seemingly empty house. It only took a minute to grab the basketball sitting beside his dresser, and he was right out into the hallway again, this time more slowly though as he stopped to check his dad's bedroom to see if he was there. So far there had been no sign of the old wolf around the house, so it was safe to assume he was still at work. Racing down the stairs he swung around at the bottom and ran down the hallway, starting to feel a fatigue is his legs from so much exertion. He flung the backdoor open and with the basketball still in his hands, looked up. The first thing he saw was his dad, standing in the yard, his figure difficult to make out in the dim evening light but still recognizable. Eli's voice was full of surprise when he spoke.

"Hey Dad, I didn't realize you were..." The words seemed to dry up in his throat with each step he approached, the figure lying in the grass next to the basketball hoop becoming a familiar one. The shovel in his dad's hands registered in his mind now and a few paces away from his dad he froze, the picture painting itself in his mind with irrefutable but impossible-to-process clearness.

"I just got home from work and caught him trying to steal, raccoons are always a crafty bunch that's for sure." He said, heaving the shovel onto his shoulder and staring down at Noah like he was just another animal out in the forest, a fresh kill. At that moment a groan escaped through Noah's lips and his eyes opened. Before Eli could react, his dad brought the shovel down once again on the back of the raccoon's head, a crunch echoing through the backyard as the immense force of the impact ceased the groan, lifeless eyes staring into the grass where a grasshopper sat lazily.

Words did form in Eli's mind, but when he went to speak them all that came out was a pained sob, a choking sound that was disconnected from the rational part of his mind. He was able to control it enough to attempt speaking again.