Vocabulary Insanity

Chapter 1 - Twisted Perceptions

Vocabulary:

dilapidated (adj.): reduced to or fallen into partial ruin or decay, as from age, wear, or neglect

squalor (n.): filth and misery; disgusting dirt and filth

penchant (n.): a strong inclination, taste, or liking for something

negation (n.): the act of denying

oblivious (adj.): unmindful; unconscious; unaware

augment (v.): to make larger; to enlarge in number, size, strength or extent

clandestine (adj.): secret and concealed, often for illicit reasons

Story: Twisted Perceptions

            The house stands in the depths of the forest, its dilapidated and unkempt condition speaking of the terrors that had occurred there so long ago. It was the summer of 1972 that Old Man Lentry had decided to rent the home out. Back then it had stood as a pinnacle of glory, evidence of all that a summer cabin could be. One particular young man had discovered a particularly strong penchant for the building, and offered Lentry twice his asking price.

            "He has paranoid eyes," Lentry told his friends at the bar. "But he's got an honest wallet. The rest he can keep to himself."

            And so Lentry did not question the man's motives for renting a cabin in the woods. His daughter drew up the three-month lease, and together they helped the young man move in.

            "What do you plan on doing here?" Vanessa Lentry asked the man as she unpacked jangling boxes from the back of his truck.

            "Just relaxing for the summer," he offered, sending her a charming smile. He took the boxes from her and walked them into the basement, while she turned to her father.

            "Papa, I'm not so sure I trust that man." 

            "As long as he pays his rent, I don't care why he's here." And as the young man's payments were prompt, Lentry remained oblivious to the goings on at his cabin. Only his daughter began to suspect the young man's motives when suddenly women from town began to go missing in the woods, and the young man requested permission to augment the basement.

            "Did he say why, Papa?" she questioned concernedly.

            "Why should it matter?" he responded stubbornly, not giving his daughter's delusions another thought. And still more girls disappeared, and still Vanessa's suspicions could not be calmed by her father's negations.

            "Why," she pleaded, "would a young man rent such a clandestine household? What sort of a man hides away like that?"

            But her arguments fell on mulish ears, and the months passed on.

            The week before the lease expired, Vanessa decided she had heard enough of her father's denial. Done with listening to the claims that her head was full of nonsense, she drove down to the house to settle the discussion once and for all.

            The spare key was under the mat, as they had left it, so she let herself into the house. She crept quietly through the halls to the staircase to the basement. Slowly she crept down the stairs, careful not to set off the squeak of the wooden steps. She turned slowly, reaching through the darkness and flipped on the light. Her breath caught in her throat.

            A blood-stained bed stood in the middle of the floor, chains wrapped around the head and footboards. A stench of rotting flesh overwhelmed her nostrils as she watched rats with red-stained noses scurry around the squalor. Terror gripped her, as she began to back up, until she saw a body chained to the wall.

            She gasped, and the face of the young man looked up at her in fear. Although his hands were bound and his mouth gagged, he jerked his head forward towards the staircase. His warning hit her with a sudden force, but before she could turn and run she felt a painful crash against the back of her head.

            When she awoke, she lay chained to the bed and gagged, a woman sitting atop her torso. Her lank ratted hair tumbled over her face, its once blonde color now matted with dirt and grime. Blood covered every inch of her, as if she hadn't showered in months.

            "He gave you a key. He cheated on me, and gave you the key to our house." She whispered, pain fluttering through every word. Vanessa looked up at the headboard, where the woman sat with a long knife, carving into the wooden surface. "Leaving me alone, flirting with all those girls, chaining the doors shut to keep me out. I could forgive him for that. It was just fear of committing to me. But cheating on me, in the very house we were supposed to come back together in?"

            Tears spilled from her eyes, landing on Vanessa's cheek. When she glanced down that pain turned to fury.

            "You!" The woman hissed. "You stole him from me!"

            She raised the knife into the air, aiming for Vanessa's throat. Unable to look away, Vanessa watched in horror as the knife flew through the air towards her.

            "No!" The young man yelled, his gag falling to the floor having been shaken from his face. The knife stopped inches from Vanessa's throat, as the woman looked at him in shock. "No, I didn't cheat on you. Brittney, she's the landlord's daughter. She probably has the spare."

            Vanessa watched as Brittney inched the knife away from her neck. The young man looked into her eyes and pleaded with her.

            "If you just let both of us go, you and I can be together." Brittney stood, walking towards the young man. She smiled and touched his face.

            "You mean it?" Clasping his face in her hands, she searched his face.

            He flashed the same charming smile he had sent Vanessa when she had questioned his motives.

            "Of course I do, babe." Brittney squealed in pleasure, dropping the knife and releasing the chains from his arms.

            "I love you." She wrapped her arms around his neck, as he grabbed her waist. Vanessa watched as his hand moved from her waist to the knife on the ground. Tears fell from his eyes as he lifted the blade into the air.

            "I love you too," he whispered. Then the knife fell, piercing Brittney in the back. She jerked backwards in shock, disbelief seeping from her eyes. She fell, slicing through the air like the knife still in her back, finally clattering to the ground. 

            The young man stood, limping to where Vanessa lay terrified. He unchained her arms and pulled the gag from her mouth, exhaustion stiffening every move he made. Vanessa sat up tears coursing down her cheeks.

            Suddenly he was yanked by the ankle. Vanessa jumped up to see Brittney pulling him to the ground, the bloody knife in her hand once more.

            "Run," he yelled. Vanessa scrambled to the door, as Brittney dragged him to the floor. She shoved the knife into his chest, and watched as the last of his energy left him. She laid her head against his chest.

            "Now we can be together." She smiled and stopped breathing.