THE UNDERTAKER and other Macabre Tales

THE WATCHER PART IV

It's time to talk about Brian. Brian had always been an obnoxious neighbor to James. He used to live in the next lot over, the only other house in sight. He was a drunk, and he would often stumble his way over to James' house and go off on drunken rants. Brian never hurt them, but sometimes he would pound on James' front door and shout things at them. The cops were called more than a few times. Anne was scared of Brian, James was just annoyed. Of all the neighbors in the world, he got stuck with this one. Brian was the only downside to an otherwise perfect new home.

One year, Brian decided to crash Anne's yearly party. That time he got violent. He beat a woman and was sent to jail for a few months. Those months were some of the best of James' life. He and Anne finally had some peace.

But it didn't last. When Brian finally got out of jail, his wife took off and left. Things got even worse for Brian. He started drinking everyday. The bottle was all he had left. He returned and began harassing James and Anne outside their home, sometimes late into the night. Anne grew anxious. Like she had to take medication anxious. It changed James' whole marriage. They didn't feel safe. Anne gave James an ultimatum. He had to make it stop, or they had to move.

James bought a gun. He liked his new home, and he wasn't about to let Brian ruin it for him. He and Steve took Brian out into the woods to give him a good scare. That's all they were going to do. Only Brian didn't see it that way. He assumed their intentions were much worse. As soon as Brian saw the gun, he attacked James, and James did the only thing he could think to do in that moment.

He pulled the trigger.

It didn't take long for Brian to bleed out and by then it was too late. James helped Steve move the body into Brian's home. They debated for hours what they should do. Should they turn themselves in? No, then their lives would be over. Should they just leave him? Someone was bound to find Brian eventually, and everyone in town knew the feud that James and Brian had. They could get rid of the body. Yes, that seemed like the best idea. But how? They had to make it look like an accident.

Steve had been a volunteer firefighter in high school. If he had learned anything, it was that once a fire began, it was very difficult to figure out how it had started. He and James set to work, covering the floor of the house with gasoline. They watched it burn from down the road. James even called the fire in himself. It was too late by then, of course. James had made sure he covered Brian's body in gasoline as well. He had to make sure the gunshot wound wouldn't show up in the autopsy. Assuming there was even any body left to find.

No one was really surprised when they found out Brian had died. He was a drunk, after all, and drunks were apt to do all sorts of crazy things. Even accidentally burning their own house down. Eventually, people forgot about Brian and things settled down. James and Anne had their lives back. Anne stopped taking the medication. That was the best year of James' life.

Until that thing showed up. This thing that no one else could see. This thing that he could tell no one about, because if he told them, then he'd have to tell them about Brian, and about what he had done.

He couldn't do that. No, he couldn't do that at all.

CONTINUED IN NEXT PART...