Electrick Children: Another Side of the Story

Cassette 1

Cassette 1

Hello. I am Mr. Will. I am the priest of the Mormon church in my hometown. My father was the priest before me but he died suddenly.

But let me start from the beginning.

My dad married my stepmom who had a baby, Rachel. Rachel was one and I was three.

Skipping past most of our childhood, I must stop on her fifteenth birthday. On every fifteen year old's birthday, they must have an interview with the priest to ensure that they believe in, honor, and follow the Mormon church. I was there with my dad and Rachel because I was helping him work the cassette tape recorder.

At the end of the interview I took the cassette player and cassette to the cellar to keep it safe for God's purposes only. Rachel followed me and insisted I show her but I refused.

That night I woke up to strange sounds coming from the cellar so I got up to see what was going on. I got to the door and heard crying so I opened the door a crack and saw dad on top of Rachel. His hand was over her mouth, which muffled her crys and his hand was up under her night gown. I started to run away but instead hid in a bush near the door. It seemed like forever before my mister of a dad left the cellar and when he did, Rachel didn't leave with him. I ran into the cellar and closed the door. In the middle if the floor, curled in a ball, was Rachel with blood stained on her gown. She saw me and wiped the tears from her face. "Mr. Will...I-I was sleepwalking and must have ended up here...and the blood...I guess it came early, I-" I walked over to her and sat down next to her. "I'm sorry..." I said. I didn't know what else to say. She realized that I knew and started sobbing and grabbed me in a hug. She sobbed into my shoulder and I asked her if she wanted to hear what she sounded like. She smiled and I got the cassette and the player and showed her how to work it. "That's what I sound like?" She asked. "Yeah, you sound like a kid." I told her. "we should go back to bed...but, Mr. Will...please don't tell."she whispered. I looked at her in shock. He should be exiled! , I thought. But I nodded my head and helped her up. We snuck back into the house and went back to bed. I closed my eyes and saw my dad on Rachel and couldn't sleep. I looked out the window at the stars and prayed to God to help Rachel, and to give my father the punishment he deserved for his sin.

The next morning mom woke up and found the blood on Rachel and her bed. Rachel somehow passed it off as her period but I knew the truth and it took so much effort not to scream it to mom that my father, a monster, did this to Rachel.

The rest of the day was normal until that night when I heard something in the cellar. I got up and opened the door and saw Rachel dancing around with the cassette player playing music. "What are you doing!?" I asked her. She jumped when she heard me and fumbled around with the cassette player to put it away. I walked over to it and noticed the cassette was gone. "Where is it!?" I asked. If mom or dad found out we would be dead. I saw her hiding something behind her so I grabbed for it but she dropped it. We both dove for it and I had to wrestle her for it. I sat on her and held her hands above her head and wiggled it out from her fingers. Someone cleared their throat and we both jumped when we realized that it wasn't one of us. I looked behind me and saw mom in the doorway. "What is going on here!?" She asked. I jumped off of Rachel and realized that it must have looked really bad from her perspective. Mom brought Rachel into her room and I heard her ask if I did anything wrong to Rachel. No, I thought, but you husband did. I put my head in my hands and mom left Rachel's room and closed the curtain. She turned and looked at me and said, "It looked really bad, but I don't think you did anything wrong. Don't let anything like that happen again."

And both things disappeared for a while, until...