“Why are you telling her this? You don’t believe in it… You said so yourself.”
“Maybe I was wrong. We were wrong.” She continued, “A malevolent spirit that could possess humans. People who were… People who liked… What we like… Flesh… Human flesh… We are more at risk.”
“Then why haven’t we been possessed?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps because he has been doing it for longer. They say that, when possessed, you’d become violent and obsessed with eating human flesh… You know how hungry he can get… You know how violent he can get too.”
Tammy started to cry again, “But… I couldn’t stop myself either.”
“What do you mean?”
“I knew I shouldn’t have done what I did but I couldn’t stop myself. From the moment they got here… I knew what I wanted and, at the first opportunity, I took it.”
“It’s not the same,” said Suzanne. “You were just hungry. We all are. It’s been months since we’ve had a good meal. A proper meal. Other meat just doesn’t satisfy the cravings as much. You are not like him, though. None of us are. We wouldn’t hurt each other… We wouldn’t. How many times has he hurt you?”
“I forgot.”
“I try to too,” nodded Suzanne. “Too many times to count. Too many times to forget. He isn’t our father anymore. He is something else.”
“So you agree we need to do something then?” Johnny butted in.
Suzanne nodded, “What about Stephen and mum though?”
“They’re either with us or against us.”
“And what about our guests?” Suzanne enquired further.
Johnny smiled, “I’m sure we’ll work up a hunger.”
“Who’s that?” asked Joel with a hint of fear in his voice. He was tied to a chair with ropes around his wrists and ankles. Unbeknownst to him, in the same position behind him was Lara.
“Joel? Is that you?”
“Lara?” Joel tried to turn his head to see her but couldn’t. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied — the same fear in her voice. “I just woke up here. What happened?”
“I’m the same. Just woke up. Can you see anything?” he asked.
“No.”
They were sitting in one of the house’s many rooms — not that they knew that as all the lights were off and there appeared to be no windows to let in any light or glimpse of their surroundings.
“I’m scared,” Lara whispered.
Joel wanted to tell her that everything was okay. He wanted to tell her that he’d protect her from whoever did this to them. He wanted to say it but didn’t because he knew it would’ve been nothing more than a lie — a lie which would have been easy for anyone to detect.
“Me too,” he whispered back.
“Where are the others?”
Again, he didn’t answer. Lara didn’t expect him to. It was more of a rhetorical question. After all, in the position he was in, there was no way for him to know where any of their friends were. He startled to struggle against the ropes which had him locked to the wooden chair.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Can you get your hands free?” he replied as he still battled against his restraints.
“I don’t know,” she started to fight against her ropes too. “They’re tight,” she moaned.
“Fuck!”
“What is it?” she asked.
“Nothing. I cut myself on the rope. Fuck!” he said again. “What the fuck is going on? Where are we?”
“I don’t know!” said Lara. She started to cry as fear took hold of her senses.
“Lara, it’s okay. It’s okay. Just try and remember. Do you remember anything before waking up here?” he asked. “Anything at all?”
“I just remember that we were waiting for dinner. The old lady… She gave us some drinks and we drank.”
“The lemonade,” Joel suddenly realised what had happened, “it was drugged.”
“What? It couldn’t have been. She wouldn’t have!”
“She wouldn’t? You don’t even know her.”
“And you do? She seemed nice. They all did.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” he pointed out to her. “Obviously there’s some fucked up family shit going on in here and we’re slap bang in the middle of it.” He started to fight against the ropes again, despite the damage they were doing to his wrists.
“What are you doing?” asked Lara. The more Joel fought against the ropes, the more he was bumping into her back.
“We can’t just sit here and wait for whoever it is to come back. We need to get out of here. And now.”
“What about the others?”
“They’re probably trying to get out too,” he pointed out. “If they’re even alive.”
“What?!” another flood of panic rushed through her body.
“Nothing. I’m being dramatic. Come on, we need to get out of here. Can you get your hands free? Anything? If one of us can get out… We can help the other…” he continued. “Before they come back!”
Light flooded into the room as the door suddenly opened — giving both Lara and Joel a view of their prison; a derelict room. No carpets, just wooden floorboards. No wallpaper, or even paint, just bricks. There was nothing. When Lara’s eyes adjusted to the sudden light, in the room, she noticed Stephen standing in the doorway.
“Hi,” he said. “Can I get you guys anything to eat or drink?”
“Quick!” whispered Joel, when he realised it was Stephen standing in the doorway. “Undo the ropes.”
Stephen laughed, “Undo them? It took me ages to do them up — why the Hell would I want to undo them?”
“Please…” said Lara.
“Oh ssh now!” said Stephen. “I came here, in good spirits, asking you if you fancied anything to eat. I didn’t come for an argument. Now, are you hungry or not?” He stepped into the room.
“Of course we don’t, you sick fuck. We want to go home… What are you playing at? What do you want?” shouted Joel.
“Okay, for your own sake, I’d stop shouting… You don’t want to disturb my da….” Stephen was cut off mid-sentence as the door slammed behind him plunging them all into darkness. “What the hell was that?” The door’s lock clicked shut. “Great!” He twisted the door handle but the door, unsurprisingly didn’t budge, “Okay, very funny… Come on… Let me out…” He pressed his ear to the door and listened as, whoever had closed it, walked further away from them. He banged on the door but the fading footsteps on the other side didn’t falter. “Brilliant!” he muttered.
“Let me out,” said Joel as he seized the opportunity, “we can force the door together… We can all get out.”
“Seriously… I’m in a good mood… It’s probably just my brother mucking about… Don’t ruin my good mood. Shut up!” Stephen warned.
Joel fell quiet.
On the other side of the door, Johnny quietly crept away — back down the hallway he had previously snuck up, to catch his brother unaware. He turned the corner and bumped into his sisters.
“Well?” asked Suzanne.
Johnny held the key up that he had used to trap his brother.
“You didn’t talk to him?” asked Tammy.
“Even if he agreed with our plan — we don’t need him. It’s easier this way… We’ll deal with him afterwards…”
“He might be angry,” said Suzanne.
“And we’ll deal with him afterwards!” Johnny snapped. “What would you do if he didn’t agree with us? Back down? Carry on living as we are now?” The girls didn’t answer. “This is easier. It’s better,” he pointed out. “trust me. This is for the best of the family. How long before his temper… His greed… How long before he decides he’s permitted to snack on his kids?” They knew he was right. “Look… Let’s just get this done, yeah? You want it too, right?”