Sushi (gxg)

Chapter 55

"Sister, dear, how nice of you to join us!" Case called out jovially. I looked him over and wasn't impressed. He was ten years older than me, but his hair was thinning and greasy, while his figure seemed to have shrunk. Had he been this way for a while? I hadn't seen him since my father's funeral, but he wasn't this bad then. The only good thing was that the gun he had looked pretty small, not that it couldn't kill someone, but it wasn't a shotgun or anything. Even better, my mom wasn't tied to the chair, she was just sitting in it. But with Case having the gun, she wasn't moving. Maybe me driving up the little road so fast prevented him from getting her tied up again?

"Case, what the hell are you doing? This is crazy!"

"Is it? Dad said it was all real. He meant the book, Nat, the book! This woman, your mother, isn't human! He had her skin, and now I'll have it!" His eyes were wide and feverish as I got closer to him. "And you'll give it to me, I'm sure you know where it is."

I guess I had two options here. Either try to convince him she was human and that he was acting crazy or try to appeal to his humanity. Based on his appearance and his actions, both were long shots. "Case, are you listening yourself? Do you really think she has a weird skin somewhere? What's next, vampires and werewolves? This is all nuts! None of this is what dad meant!"

"You know, I did a lot of research over the last few years," he said, completely ignoring me. "I talked to people all around the globe, trying to find out if Selkie's were real. Almost all of them laughed at me, except for a fisherman up in Alaska. He said he'd seen them, a whole bunch of them, and even sent me a video of them changing back into seals. I read the book, and I know that is what dad meant. It is real. She is a seal person. She still looks good too, and I want her."

"What do you think the cops are going to think when they hear this story? You're kidnapping mom, and threatening her, and acting like a lunatic."

"Your mom, not mine. And the cops won't do a thing, because I'll have her skin by then and tell her what to say to them. If not, she'll be dead, and they won't do a thing for me killing a seal, because it will have just been an accident. Have you ever heard of what happens if a Selkie's skin is destroyed?"

"What? What are you talking about?" I couldn't even imagine what that would do to my mom, but I doubted it was good! The skin was a part of her, and destroying it would probably hurt her beyond belief, if not kill her.

"Her skin. If it gets destroyed, then so does she. Now, we both know that the skin is somewhere in that house, and you're going to get it for me, or I'll destroy it. In that case, I may not get her, but I'll kill the woman that drove dad insane. And I know you don't want to see that, so you better get it fast." He was twitching now, which I didn't think was a good sign.

"Why would I do that?" I asked. "If all of what you say is true, why would I let you take her as a slave, when dad already did that to her for 17 years? He was disgusting!"

"He was my father! And he was perfect before she came!" he screamed, pointing the gun at me. "You know nothing! She came here and warped his brain! She wasn't a slave, she took him and wrapped him around her figure so she could have a freak of a kid. I'll treat her the way dad should have!"

I could see tears pouring down my mother's face now as she was reminded of the past she'd had to endure. "Don't do it, Nat. I'd rather be dead than endure that again."

Case growled and pulled what looked like a garage door remote out of his pocket. "Fine. If that's the way you want it, then it can be arranged." He pressed a button, and there was a low whoomph sound that came from the house behind me, and flames quickly started billowing from the kitchen window. "I guess being an electrician paid off!" He was cackling now, and I started to panic.