My father's a taxidermist. A really successful one. He specializes in creating these obscure fantasy monsters out of the animal remains. Our house is completely decorated with his creations. There's a beaver mount with three heads by our fireplace, and each of the faces are replaced with those from baby dolls. There's a mergoat with the wings from a large bird hanging from the ceiling as if it's flying. And, a bunch of rats sewn together to look like a centipede in the middle of the dining table.
It shouldn't be shocking to find out I'm a vegan. Despite being born into a family of taxidermists, I find the craft cruel and disturbing. It's safe to say I'm the black sheep of the family. My younger sister Carly, on the other hand, is the golden child.
Even though she's 12 years old, she dreams of being just like Dad and wants to take over the family business one day. She's a smaller version of Dad, so we don't really get along too well. But, every year my father goes on what he likes to call a "business trip" for a few weeks with my uncle and gran-dad. They all go hunting, get piss drunk, and do other fun redneck activities while I'm stuck watching Carly.
She's pretty low maintenance at least. I rarely interact with her besides when I have to feed her. She just plays with her abominations Dad likes to call "toys". Right after dinner she ran off to her room as usual. I turned on the TV, lit a blunt, and tried to ignore all the dead eyes of the mounts staring at me.
"Check it out!" Carly yelled from the hallway. When I lifted my gaze to see what she wanted, the most horrible monstrosity stood before me. "Meet Wesley Jr.!"
It's body was created from animal remains and pieces of fabric crudely sewn and glued together. Sharp teeth from one of the mounts Dad must've given her scattered all over a large crooked smile. It was long, about 6 or 7 feet, with lifeless limbs dragging across the floor. The more I examined it, the weirder it looked.
Is that supposed to be me? I frowned at the thing in front of me. There were green pieces of hair in clumps barely sticking to it's scalp. Is that my hair?! This was the most disturbing thing I've ever seen her do.
She told me, she took a piece off my head, and took the rest from my hair brush.
She's even worse than Dad. It was like a giant voodoo doll. I was incredibly creeped out. I told her to get rid of it. Honestly, I wanted to burn it, but she begged me to leave it alone and let her keep it. She was so proud of it.
She said, whenever I'm busy or don't want to play with her, she can just play with Wesley Jr. So, I gave in. At least it'll keep her entertained for the remainder of time we're stuck together. I figured she'd just be cooped up in her room with Wes Jr. and I wouldn't have to be bothered by either of them.
But, I was wrong.
She was so attached to Wes Jr. that she brought it everywhere. She talked to it, dragged it around the trails outside, and even brought it to dinner. It sat right across me. Being so close to it, I could smell it's putrid stench. I realized she stuffed it with random pieces of meat, straw, and animal bones. You could see them staining and poking out from cracks in the fabric.
I couldn't eat with it staring right at me. So, I just watched Carly eat her dinner and attempt to feed Wes Jr. The food fell out of its mouth, and dripped down its body. It was unsightly and uncomfortable.
But, being that Wes Jr. was made of pieces of meat and some other questionable, but perishable substances. He began to rot. Within the next couple days, his stench became unbearable. Carly played with him outside in the summer heat, which sped up the decay.
One evening, she came to me crying. She told me she thinks Wes Jr. was dead. I went outside to look at it, and saw maggots crawling between the fabric seams. At this point it was garbage. The scent was rancid. We had to get rid of it.
