I hurried to get my little brother ready for his first day of first grade, struggling to pull his shirt over his head. He didn't want the scrambled eggs I made or the Pop tart I eventually shoved into his backpack. I made sure he had his lunchbox and ushered him into the car. I was going to be late to help my friend Tori pick up her car, but my brother took precedence.After unloading my tired six year-old brother and handing him off to his understanding teacher, I started the drive. I had to get to Charleston by nine. My group of friends was going to have breakfast together for the first time in a few months before we helped Tori. Her car had broken down after a night out three weeks ago, and the city had been threatening to tow it if we didn't figure something out.I listened to music until I arrived, getting out and hugging them. We had a great breakfast, downing a few mimosas and catching up on each others' lives. Tori had gotten a promotion at work, Lily had a new boyfriend, and Ansley quit her job a few days ago. I was proud of them, but the only new thing I had to offer was my brother's first day of first grade."That's not so bad," Lily said. "How's the little man doing these days?""He's good! He's not as angry at the world," I laughed. Our parents had died in a car wreck while they were going to visit my aunt two years ago. Someone hit them head on. The cause? Texting while driving. No one in either vehicle survived, and it had been hours before another driver found the wreck. My friends had helped me out when they could, babysitting my brother and sister and loaning me money for bills when I was in a tough place. My little brother had taken it the hardest, lashing out at anyone who tried to comfort him. He had calmed down at this point. I showed them pictures of my siblings.Breakfast ended quickly, and we were on the way to take Tori's car to a shop. As the only person with an SUV, I towed her small two-door to the nearest shop. They said it would take a few hours to fix, so we found a mall for window-shopping. Ansley found a cute top, and Lily bought some new shoes. Tori and I just looked; we couldn't afford to spend too much money these days. The four of us met another friend for lunch before we headed back to the shop to check on the status of Tori's car.The car would take another two hours. It was raining at this point, and I needed to get back home to clean the house before I picked up my brother. I had let it go for a few weeks now. Today was my only day off this week, so I decided to get as much done as I could. I hugged them goodbye."Let us know if you need anything, okay?" Ansley said."Seriously," Lily added. "I miss taking care of your siblings.""I will," I said. "Thanks, you guys."I did the math in my head: it would take an hour to get home, and that meant I would have two hours to get some cleaning done for once. I put on some music and drove on autopilot the whole way. There was so much for me to get done today. I pulled into the garage and saw my sister's car. She was home early, I knew, because she was doing dual enrollment this year. Today was one of the days she didn't have those classes. She came out to greet me."How's Tori doing?" she asked.I sighed. "We got her car to the shop, but they said it would be a while.""That's good. Cleaning day, right, Sam?""Yeah, we have to clean up today."I sat in my car for another moment. I really wasn't looking forward to cleaning up the house, but it needed to be done. I took a deep breath before grabbing my phone and my purse. I looked at my sister, who was unusually quiet, but she was looking past me. Her face was a mask of fear and confusion. "Sam..?" she whispered.I followed her gaze to the other side of the car. A man, tall and gaunt, stood looking through the passenger side window. His hair was pale and thin; I could see his scalp. He wore a disgusting grin with spaces where his teeth should be. Sores covered his skin. The moment I met his eyes, he held up a needle filled with a thick liquid and a plastic baggie with a white substance in it. "You two...should try...my latest batch," he grumbled at us, his voice muffled by the car's windows."When I start moving to the door, you run and get inside, Carmen," I whispered to my sister."My name's Kirk," he said, still grinning at us and brandishing the drugs. Why an addict would be so determined to share, I couldn't comprehend, but I wasn't about to put my sister at risk. Don't drug addicts usually stay inside? I didn't understand what was going on."Now, Carmen," I shouted. She ran to the door and opened it for me. I slammed my car door shut, locking it behind me. The man pursued much quicker than I expected. He was around my car just as I stuck my foot through the door. His hand was around my wrist, but all I could see was the whites of my sister's eyes. I turned to him, preparing a punch but settled for clawing his hand off of me. I kicked him in the chest, which seemed to disorient him a little bit. It was just enough for me to get through the door so Carmen could shut and lock it."You bitch!" he growled, beating on the door. I remembered the back doors and heard his feet slapping the ground as he ran out of the garage."This door is locked, but we need to shut the garage and lock the other doors. Can you help me do that?" I spoke quickly, trying to draw my sister out of shock. "Carmen, come on!"I pressed the button to close the garage and ran to the back porch to lock the screen door. Carmen followed me in a haze, and I could see on her face that she hoped it was over.I made it to the screen door at the same time as the man. Carmen jumped as he burst through the door. He had dropped the bag, but he still gripped the needle. His rotten smile grew as he saw Carmen's fear. He turned to me and said, "You stupid, stupid bitch. I hit...my head on the ground...I'll have these scrapes forever.""Good," I snarled at him. I looked frantically for anything I could use to defend us, but there was nothing of use out here. That's when I spotted them: two large metal crayons. We used them to decorate for our little brother's birthday party over the summer. They were kind of flimsy, but they were sharp. I still had a small cut on my hand just from handling them.Carmen seemed to snap out of it a little bit and catch on to what I was thinking. We both lunged for the crayons. The man cackled. "Pathetic. Crayons? You think two crayons...will save you?" He crept towards us with his needle in front of him. "All you have to do...is try...one time.""Hell no. You don't get to demand anything in my house," I said, trying - and failing - to sound tough. My voice sounded small in my own ears. I thrust the crayon at him. "Please just leave us alone."His sores glinted in the afternoon light. His hair now stuck to his head from the rain. I could see more clearly just how rugged his clothes were. He growled at us and sprung at us, hands wide. The needle flew out of his hand.He ran straight into the crayon I held, making an impact that threw me backwards a few steps. Somehow, he was uninjured. He turned on Carmen. "You're a pretty little thing, aren't you?""Don't talk to her," I said, recovering my stance. He lunged at Carmen, but she couldn't hold the crayon straight. He grabbed her by the hair, and met my eyes victoriously.He shook her, and she whimpered. "What are you going to do now, bitch?" he said to me. She struggled against his grip, but he just shook her by the hair again. "Quit that!" he barked, roughly putting her into a headlock. "If you move again, I'll just kill you," he mumbled into her ear. All I could do was watch, horrified.Carmen made eye contact with me and drove her elbow back and down. The man was tall enough that her effort met his groin. He released her and grunted, doubling over with a huff. He wheezed for a moment as Carmen fled and picked up her makeshift weapon again. I knew she wouldn't let go of it this time. She didn't have to worry about that, though.I drove my metal crayon into his neck while he was trying to catch his breath. The sharp tip met with fragile flesh and dug in deep. The man sputtered as he began choking on his own blood. He twisted his head to look at me. "Fuck you," he said as he finally went down.I heaved a breath and ran to hug my sister. We watched the man's body twitch as the life inside him bled out onto the concrete floor. Carmen's silent tears soaked my shirt. I held her close until the man's body stopped twitching. "Carmen," I said seriously. "I'll take care of this, okay? It's going to be okay. We can't tell anyone about this."She nodded and wept freely. Our brother was due to be picked up soon, but I would not allow him near a crime scene. I sent Carmen to get him while I moved the body. I had a plan for it, but I needed to scrub the blood out of the concrete first. I stood over the stain for a moment while I Googled how to remove blood from concrete. In my frenzy to prevent further trauma to my brother's young mind, I settled for a bleach mixture.It was almost gone when I heard my sister's car pull into the garage. The body was stashed in our crawl space for the time being. I continued to scrub until my little brother came bouncing in."Sissy, guess what I did today!" he said excitedly."Don't step in that, okay? What did you do today, buddy?"My sister loomed in the doorway while he told me about the new friends he made and the game he won on the playground. Carmen remained silent the whole time. The excitement filled my brother's little body. He couldn't help but jump around, startling our sister with each movement."That's great, buddy!" I smiled at him, giving him a quick hug. "Carmen, why don't you fix him a quick snack and set him up in the living room?"She nodded obediently and went to the kitchen. My brother followed, hesitantly looking at the concrete. I shook my head. "Just an art project sissy was working on early. Go get your snack!"I scrubbed until even the dirt staining the concrete was gone. I heard the TV come on, and Carmen came back. "It's almost like it never happened," I said proudly."Where's the body?" she whispered, the blood leaving her face."I think," I began, "that under the circumstances, you don't need to be concerned about that. I'll take care of it, remember?"She nodded, still pale. I moved to hug her, but she backed away. "How long do we have to live with the smell?""I don't know," I sighed. "But soon, we won't have to deal with any of it."Over the next few days, I set up my butcher's station underneath the house. I rolled out plastic, bought a few large knives, and made sure to wear old clothes any time I went under the house. Any time my siblings were at school and I had time to spare between jobs, I went to work dividing the man's body into manageable pieces. I knew I needed to work quickly before the flesh began to rot, though he had done a good job speeding up the process already.When every last part of his body was secured in an individual bag, I replaced the sheet of plastic under the house and arranged the unfortunate number of bags on top of it. I devised a plan to dispose of the body with our garbage. I would put one bag in our garbage can every other week until they were all gone. I made another plan to dispose of our bills and any incriminating evidence some other way.It took weeks, but I changed up my plan halfway through. I began taking some bags of trash to the recycling center on my way to my second job. I wasn't sure which landfill it all went to, but I hoped it wouldn't be the same one.The problem with these plans was that I was constantly on edge. Every knock at the door, every phone call, every loud noise outside of the house: it all made me increasingly jumpy. Carmen had begun to unwind, slowly forgetting about the incident. She even had friends over more often, which was a problem in itself. I was afraid they would somehow find the body during a midnight conversation on the patio. Knowing it was a little unreasonable and accepting that were two different things. Even passing cops while I was driving made me sink deeper into my seat.After several months had passed, the body was completely gone, but I remained restless. I continued looking over my shoulder in the grocery store. My friends were beginning to wonder why I stopped answering their phone calls. Even my brother noticed. I reassured them all that it was just work stressing me out a little more than usual. Carmen knew better."Alright, Sam," she said one day. "You have to chill out. You're starting to get wrinkles on your forehead." I knew it was a joke, but I hurried to the bathroom to look."I don't know what to do. It's taken care of," I confessed.Carmen thoughtfully looked at the ceiling. "What if we moved away?""Carmen! We don't have the money to do that," I told her. "We would have to sell the house and get rid of Mom and Dad's things.""So let's do that. I'll even get a job.""No," I said. "I don't want you do have a job while you're still in high school, Carmen.""It's okay," she replied, "I don't really have that many friends. I won't miss anyone here."I hugged her and tried to reassure her that we didn't need to move, that I would be fine, but the next day she sought out jobs. The day after that, she was hired at some fast food restaurant. She made good on her promise. She kept twenty dollars from her paycheck to buy food when she went out to eat, but the rest of her money helped me pay for bills. We started a savings account under her name, and I put the money I could spare into that account. Before the end of the school year, we had enough money to put a down payment on an apartment in a city hundreds of miles away.I put the house up for sale and began selling our parents' clothing. Every cent went into the savings account. I kept the house clean for any showings for potential buyers. It still took a while for someone to take interest, but within four months of putting the house on the market, we had a buyer.The three of us packed our things into boxes, donating anything we didn't need or want anymore. My friends stopped by spontaneously on one of my off days and saw the boxes. I stiffened."Sam..." Lily started."When were you going to tell us?" Ansley asked, a hint of heat in her voice. Tori stood there in silence.I tried to shrug, but the tears and pressure overwhelmed me. "I'm sorry," I whispered."What happened, Sam?" Lily demanded.They watched as I collected myself and prepared to speak. Ansley shook her head."It looks like we may need something stronger than wine for this story," Tori said.We got out my bottle of vodka and poured shots for each of us. When we were done, Ansley began mixing drinks at the counter while the rest of us sat at the table. The tears still flowed down my cheeks and Lily rubbed my back. Ansley brought the drinks two at a time and settled into her own chair. I sipped at my drink for a moment before sitting back and sighing."It's a long story," I began."We've got time," Ansley said, her voice sharp now.And so I confessed everything that had happened over the past year, starting with the man attacking me and Carmen after we go Tori's car to the shop and ending with Carmen's savings account. I even told them that the house was sold already.Tori was the first to move. We drained our glasses and began to pack again. No one spoke for a couple of hours. They each helped me sort and pack more boxes until Ansley spoke. "Remember when we took this picture?"We all laughed and began reminiscing as more boxes were sealed and put aside. Soon only the essentials were left to pack in suitcases. My brother and sister were at friends' houses, and I would have to call them home soon to help finish packing."Why didn't you tell us what happened?" Lily asked. It was the one question everyone wanted to ask."I honestly don't know," I mumbled."You know we would have helped you, girl," Tori offered. Ansley and Lily nodded in agreeance."I know. I guess I didn't want anyone else involved. Carmen is already traumatized by all of this. She tries to put on a fake smile, but I can see that it still affects her every day," I said."And you think it did you any good to handle it by yourself?" Ansley looked at me with fire behind her eyes. Her hands were on her hips. I couldn't help thinking that she looked like her mother, with her fiery demeanor lit with an inhuman affection for others.I shrugged successfully this time. They all hugged me. "It's okay...You don't have to handle it alone anymore...We've got your back, Sam..." They helped me load my car and the U-Haul I had rented that morning. We were leaving the next morning, as it was a week long break from school for my siblings. My sister showed up as the last of the boxes made it into the U-Haul with my brother in the back seat.My friends left us to finish packing, letting me know I could call them if I needed anything else. The three of us packed our suitcases, eager to get the drive over with.My sister Carmen graduated the next year, and my brother was more eager to go to school. My friends did their best to visit once every other month. I had found a better job, so I no longer needed their help with bills. I even had a boyfriend now, a young man named Chester who loved my little brother and happily played with the trucks on the floor of the living room while I made dinner most nights. I had a new set of girl friends who came over every once in a while for wine and a movie after my brother has been put to bed. It felt like a real fresh start. I barely remembered the chaos that led me here.That is, until I got a phone call from Lily one day after work. "Hey, Lily. What's going on?""Are you near a TV?" Her voice was full of panic."No, but I'm heading home from work. What's up?" I asked, confused and a bit scared."Turn it to a news station as soon as you can. You might want to see this." She hung up. The fear bubbled up in my chest. I sped home, begging the cops not to stop me on the way. My sister was already sitting on the couch with my brother watching cartoons when I burst through the door."Find a news channel, Carmen."She flipped to FOX News quickly. We both watched, terrified of what we would see. We should have been.Black bags spread out in a parking lot. Yellow numbers beside each one. A shot of the landfill. Images of bones and rotted flesh flashed across the screen. My brother stared in wonder; my sister and I watched in shock. I found my way to the couch beside them, eyes glued to the screen. A field investigator questioned a cop and the landfill manager. Carmen and I exchanged a look, fear clear in our wide eyes.I had been so careful. It was only a matter of time before they began looking into it all further. I thought we would be safe.But we weren't. And we never would be.They had found the body. They would be looking for more evidence.I looked for the boxes we used to move here a little over a year ago. Carmen helped me piece them together.And we began the process all over again. via /r/nosleep https://ift.tt/3mSCJij
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