Love Bites

So, it begins

    I'm eight years old. I live with my sister who is sixteen, my mother, and my father. Our home is on the edge of the woods, a part of a small town a few miles away. We are the only house here on the road. It's quiet that way. At least, it use to be quiet.

    There is a huge wooden fence across the road that spans far and wide. It is to keep our cattle. We don’t have the livestock needed to fill the area, but there is one section closest to the house that houses pigs, chickens, goats, and a barn for our horses. It’s always been my responsibility to take care of the smaller livestock and muck the barn. I also help my sister tend to the small garden we have behind the house. There are carrots, cabbage, corn, tomatoes, strawberries, and much more. It takes almost all day to do these chores, and there’s always something more that dad and mom have us do during the rest of the day.

    Life was simple, and it was familiar. We would rise before dawn, and rest after the sun set. We were always together, always taking care of ourselves. We were able to self-sustain our little home with home grown food, a small river that gave some electricity as well as a filtration system from it for water. It was the 20th century, the era of technological boom, but our home was old fashioned. It was handed through the hands of my mother’s family, generation after generation. To gain some money, at the end of each week, mom and dad would go to the market to sell the excess food. We never did need much money. We lived off of the land. It was a simple balance of give and take between us and nature. We were happy. And on the day my life changed, it was just like any other day.

    I finished milking the goats, picking the eggs out of the chicken coop, slopping the pigs, and tending the garden with my sister. After the morning chores were finished, I would sit down at the table and study with a tutor each day. My sister would go to a local study group, and study with a tutor and a lot of her friends. Mother and father were finally convinced to allow her to study in town after a month of begging. She had been walking the mile long road in front of our house, to the bus stop on the outskirts of town since she was 13. It has been three years of her making the trek, and she has made some excellent friendships because of it. It was all that she really wanted, friends and experiences. Every day she went to those classes, she was always excited when she left, and bubbly with positive residue in the evening. That evening, however, when she returned home. Sister didn’t know anyone was following her.

    It was late in the evening, nearly five. The typical time my sister would come home from her studies. When she opened the door and entered the house, she wore a gloomy expression. That was not common, she was typically very chatty with her family when she stepped in through the door. Almost every night, like clockwork, my sister could be expected to come in telling a tale of what she and friends did this evening. This time, she was quiet. We were a supportive family. Sister and I fought regularly, but that was average for siblings, especially for ones who are so far apart in age. Though, even I was creeped out by her sudden lack of enthusiasm. If she and someone were arguing, she would still be very chatty.

    I wasn’t the first one to notice my sister’s stress. My father was the first up to great her, ready to act if she happened to mention ‘some boy.’ I think my father has been ticking the seconds away by this point, knowing that a boy would sneak his way into his daughter’s anxious romantic heart soon. “Why do you look so depressed, Connie?”

    Sister looked up suddenly, as if she didn’t even realize she was home. Shaking her head as if to clear away the fog she was in, “I’m fine.” She gazes down at her feet with concern, “I just felt like someone was following me the entire way home. I kept looking around and listening, but I couldn’t find any person near me on the path home.”

    Father gently wrapped his big hands around my sister’s upper arms, lending his daughter his strength and giving her comfort. “I’m sure it was just an animal. Something curious about you, that’s all.” He smiles a warm gaze at her, waiting for her to relax.

    She smiled in return, her eyes brightening to their normal excited gaze. “You’re probably right, but I felt it even before I got on the bus.” Dad pulls Connie into a hug, and shuffled her off towards the dinner table, as mom called them in to eat. Dad was still mumbling something about how it was just her imagination. I could hear mom chime in on the conversation as I got up from my studying, catching only tid-bits of how woman are naturally intuitive, and how it is a sign of my sister entering in to womanhood.

    We all sit together, peacefully enjoying mothers cooking. After dinner, we all do the last bit of chores around the home before we get ready to sleep. I wash the dishes and clean the table. Sister puts away any odds and ends around the house. Father checks the livestock and the property. Mother finishes laundry. It’s all a seamless and well-oiled machine in this home.

    It is completely dark outside when we all finish, and my sister and I head to our respected bedrooms, retiring for the night. Mother and father sit on the couch in the living room, father sings and plays his Cello, while mother knits a blanket for their next trip to the farmers market. It is peaceful listening to father play, and mothers needles making light ‘ticks,’ every so often. I am nearly gone when I suddenly hear the animals outside.

    I can hear the animals every night, making some sort of noise. I’m use to it. This instance is different, though. The cattle are running, hard. The horses are whinnying from their separate pins in the barn. The chickens are rustling and clucking… Something is in the field… Something big.

    Father stops playing. I hear him stand, putting his Cello back in the corner of the living room. I hear a muffled, “Stay her.” I know he walks over to the wall holding his rifle before he walks through the front door.

    I suddenly hear and see my bedroom door open, it makes my heart leap into my throat for a brief second. Until I see my mom in the door way. “Hey Sweety,” she coo's. “There is some kind of animal getting the livestock in a tizzy, don’t be scared if you hear gunfire.” I give a visible nod, still shocked from her opening the door. Mother slowly backs out of the doorway, partially closing the door. The crack casts a flickering light of the candles burning in the next room.

    Sister comes out of her room, worried about dad. I hear mom calm her nerves a little bit, but my sister has still been nervous from her walk home. There was something following her, and now it is here. Now, it is out there with her dad. It’s something that felt very menacing to her, stalking her home. I hear my sister shuffle into the living room, ushered by our mother.

    A loud crack echoes suddenly in the night. I jump. I’ve heard gunfire a million times in my life, but this one felt eerie and ominous. I suddenly hear dad scream. He yells for help.

    I shoot up straight in bed. “Go back to your room!” Mom shouts to sister, as she grabs the pistols and a flashlight. I know my sister is fighting the urge to argue, to say she can help. However, she knows at this point she might be far more in the way. I hear her bedroom door shut with a thud. I swing my feet over the bed, shoving my feet into my work boots. I run into my closet and grab my own small rifle. I know I have to go out there to help. I am the other man in this family after all!

    I whip the door open to my bedroom, not wanting to let my nerves back me down. I am scared, but my family is out there and they need me. I am halfway across the living room when I hear glass break, and my sister give a blood curdling scream. I nearly piss my pants hearing it.

    I quickly turn, causing my feet to get tangled up with each other. I fall into a heap on the floor. The door to my sister’s room opens, then is quickly shut again with a BANG! I want to holler for her, but my throat has been glued shut by fear. Instead I fix my feet back under myself and rush to her door.

    I throw the door open, taking a step in as I level the rifle to my eye. Instead of pulling the trigger, I throw up all over my arm and boot. My heart explodes in my chest. I die upon seeing the mutilated body of my sister. I shake so hard my rifle falls to my side. I somehow don't pass out.

    Blood has completely doused my sister’s bed. Connie is up on it, being held up by a pair of ferocious hands. Her neck lolled off, looking like it is barely attached. The beast has its face completely buried against her. Blood pumps down her body, creating a massive pool underneath them.

    I throw up again. This time the beast looks up. Its eyes shine in the light, like a cat, the thought comes. I don’t move from the sputum I’m standing in. All I hear is screaming, I don’t even know if it is coming from me, my mind, or from somewhere else. My mind shifts between bright white, and the darkness of the room. The light that is cast into the room however, does not lie. My sister is dead, and she is being devoured by a humanlike beast. And… the beast is looking at me with shining cat eyes.

    The mouth of the beast opens, grinning sickeningly as my sister’s blood oozes out. Smacking its lips, the beast throws my sister to the opposite side of the room. The sound she makes as she hits with such force, almost causing me to throw up again. The beast straightens, “Sorry kid,” HOLY HELL, THE BEAST ACTUALLY SPEAKS! “It’s been a while since I’ve had an opportunity to penetrate such a beautiful young girl. Really got my blood pumping, if you know what I mean.” The impossible to be real creature winks, and takes a heavy step off the bed, dropping with a loud thunk. Now that it is closer to the light, I can now see that this thing is a man.

    The man-beast leans his head back in satisfied amusement, dragging the back of his arm against his mouth, smearing the blood away. A tongue licks away more from his mouth. “Don’t be jealous though, little man. I like you boys too. Let me have a bite, huh?” I can’t even understand what the beast is saying, all of this scene is just too impossible. The only thing I do know for sure is, this beast killed my sister, and it needed to die. With a sudden step forward by the beast, my trance was broken. A loud shot rang in the house.

    I had whipped my rifle back up to fire, and as soon as it was up high enough to make a proper shot, the monster was already close enough to grab me. The blast knocked the man away from me. I took the opportunity to c**k my gun, and fired once more. This one, in-between his eyes.

    I stood in the doorway for just a second, ensuring the body would not be moving. I thought about going to my sister, but remembered my parents were outside. There may be more of these creatures around. This may be what my parents are fighting. They may still be alive. I may be able to help them.

    With that, I painfully cast a glance at my sisters still bleeding crumpled body, and dashed back towards the front of the house. I could still hear screaming. That might actually be a good sign.