Red Ribbons on Her Wrists

Believing the unbelievable

Smith: Landon, you can't be serious. My words come out as whisper, the temperature felt like it dropped twenty degrees. For the first time I notice he's a bit blurry around the edges, not a lot just enough for me to notice. My hands start shaking and I concentrate on when I met him, that was real it had to be real. If not how am I sitting in this apartment above the butchers.

Young: You've rented the place, it hasn't been mine for two years. Since I went missing. I saw you moving in, and I couldn't resist trying to reach out to you. I made you believe that you came here because of me, your mothers involvement with the spiritual really helped me. I suck in an icy breath and look around me, it is my furniture, my decor, even pictures of my family. The only thing out of place in my apartment is Landon young and his jar of teeth. I literally shiver from the fear, not of him, no at how easily I had forgotten. He made me believe so easily, how I thought. It wasn't hard. He said reading my mind. I just projected what I wanted you to see, you're a journalist it's your job to get lost in the stories of others, and yet mine isn't complete. Are you ready to go on?

Smith: I- I don't know if I want to anymore.

James: oh come on, you've gotten this far haven't ya? And besides he's finally getting to the good part. Thalia had appeared out of no where, she was as beautiful as he had described and I felt a twinge of jealousy as she draped her arm around Landon's shoulders. She seemed almost annoyed at the whole situation, like she had somewhere more important to be.

Young: Jesus Thal, you're gonna give her a heart attack. And you could be a bit nicer, she's the one that's gonna help us move on.

Smith: how? How am I gonna do that? How did you die Landon? Wheres your body? Who killed Thalia and hid those teeth there?

James: I'll handle this baby, you take a break you look drained. When I saw the teeth I remembered, I remembered everything from that day and I told Landon. He knew what had happened up until I left my house. I had gotten bullied for being a slut, I was sad my parents weren't gonna pay for school, my abusive ex boyfriend did try to get back together with me and my older brother raped me for probably the thousandth time. He knew all that, you know all that but only I can feel in the last piece.

My dad walked in on Abe raping me and ripped me out from under him, he told Abe some bullshit like we love you son, we'll get you help and then he dragged me to the living room. Once there he threw me to the floor, and screamed that he was sick of me corrupting my brother, that he was sick of me mooching off of him and my mother. That he never wanted a daughter, he was fine with just Abe but my mother had to try one more time. He said they'd tempted fate and got the polar opposite of the perfect child they already had and he regretted my existence every time he looked at me. Then he punched me, as hard as he could. I had been backing away from him almost crab walking toward the door and when he hit my head flew back and smashed into the door, I was out cold.

When I came too, I was naked, my wrists were bound and I was dangling from a butchers hook. You know the one they hang the pig on to drain the blood. I started screaming but he had music blaring, led zeppelin muffled my cries for help from the outside world. Across from me my father passed back and forth, he seemed confused and hesitant. He looked at me several times, shaking his head or nodding, inwardly arguing and approve his inner dialog. I dangled there and I cried out to him knowing he could hear me.

T.J. Daddy please let me down, I promise I'll be better. I won't go to school, I'll lock myself in my room and only come out to work. I'll make my own money to feed myself and I'll give the rest to you, please daddy let me down.
Mr.J. Shut up, you have no idea how hard this is for me. Do you think any father wants to do this to their child? Do you think I'm happy? I'm devastated but I must deliver this world from the evil I created in it. I started to cry and he advanced on me, holding a long butchers knife. It was sharp and it glinted off the light. When he was finally right in front of me I could see tears in his blue eyes and then he drug the blade down my wrist, and then he did the other one. The pain was bad for only seconds. Then a coldness settled over me and finally I stepped out of my dying body fully dressed the way you see me now.

After my blood had drained and he'd emptied my bladder and bowel, he laid me on a table and wept. After two hours of crying and pounding the table and throwing things, he started to hack me apart, he packaged my meat and then he ground my bones and added it to pork sausage. He pulled my teeth and burned my skin and hair after keeping a lock of it wrapped in a red ribbon he found around my wrist. He then sold me to his few customers and hid what he kept of me in the apartment upstairs. He reported me missing two days later. The cops never suspected him once, hell after I forgot what had happened I never suspected him once.

Smith: I'm so sorry Thalia. I can't believe he'd do that to you. Why would he do that?

James: well it's like my brother told Landon, he had a lot to gain. It solved the incest problem, the money for school problem and eventually it brought him a shit load of money. He never liked me really anyways, he told me all the time. I wasn't really a loss.

Smith: ok, Landon what happened to you?