Louder Than Words (Short Story Anthology)

Caney

It had been a long day at the office, one of constantly dealing with the bickering of employees and the whining of a boss she would rather ignore. Coming home from the office had been a godsend, a safe haven where she could finally relax and let the stress of the day melt off of her.

Dahlia had just closed the door, locking the deadbolt into place at the same time she managed to kick off her god forsaken black heels. The instant relief her feet felt now they were free of those blasted torture devices was nothing short of heaven, a sigh leaving her lips at the blissful feeling. She had just dropped her bag to the ground and turned away from the door, nearly jumping back into the hardened barricade as she did so. A surprised gasp forced its way from her lungs as her eyes settled on the thing that had left her so startled. 

There, standing as silent as the dead was her twelve year old daughter. Eyes of ocean blue stared straight at her, yet it was as if the young girl was looking through her and not directly at her. It was like she wasn't even there to her daughter, which was both odd yet explainable. 

Dahlia assumed that her daughter may have been sleepwalking, which was dangerous to say the least since her father didn't seem to be around. 

"Caney, honey? You're supposed to be in bed right now." 

The blonde braids that dangled over the front of her daughter's shoulders and the pink short pajamas signified she had been to bed once already. Though, why she was up baffled Dahlia. . . other than the whole possibility of sleepwalking. 

Resting a gentle hand upon Caney's shoulder, Dahlia carefully escorted her daughter back upstairs to bed where she should have been. She didn't want to startle her and wake her from her walking slumber, so she took each step slowly so as not to do so. 

Upon making it up to the young girl's room, Dahlia took adequate care in tucking Caney in under the butterfly comforter the girl loved so much. She leaned down, gently smoothing back a few loose strands of hair that had fallen out of the braids and pressed a loving kiss to her forehead. A small smile graced the young mother's lips as she watched her daughter for the briefest of moments before leaving the room. She turned and bid her daughter goodnight one last time, watching her settle down into the comfort of her pillows. 

The reassurance of her daughter's safety and comfort was all Dahlia needed in that moment.  

Closing the door all but a crack, Dahlia left her daughter be for the evening to sleep in peace and went straight for her own room down the hall so she could finish getting ready for her own evening of relaxation. 

After a hot shower and a change into some comfortable pajamas of her own -which consisted of a simple tank top and shorts- Dahlia found herself already dozing off reading. However, that book was now resting upon her lap, her hands resting on the pages as if she didn't want to lose her spot despite drifting off into a quiet slumber. 

However, that peaceful slumber she had been wanting was shattered by the creaking of her bedroom door opening very slowly. 

Eyes opening, blurred by the sudden deep slumber she had been drifting into, Dahlia turned her attention towards the door itself. The blurred figure of her daughter stood in the hallway light, nothing but a shadow against the dark transitions of shadows dancing along the walls. It appeared she might have been carrying a stuffed toy with her, but Dahlia couldn't really make it out until her eyes adjusted to being awake once more. Until then, she believed her daughter couldn't sleep and just wanted to climb into bed with her for some comfort. 

"Caney? What's the matter baby?" 

Dahlia rubbed the sleep from her eyes, hoping to wake herself up some more while waiting for an answer from her daughter. However, instead of a simple answer as to what was wrong, Dahlia received what would be the most chilling, sickening and twisted words to ever come out of Caney's mouth; 

"While they slept in their home at night, 
Murdered while each was in their bed,"

"Caney?" 

Chills ran through Dahlia as she sat up, her eyes finally focusing on her daughter. Though, it was the object that her daughter carried in her hand that drew her attention, making her stomach twist in the worst way possible. 

A rusty old axe was being gripped tightly within the girl's tiny hand, the call of her name unheard as she stepped further into the room belonging to her mother. Her eyes seemed blank, void of any emotion that should have been there as if she weren't even present in her own body. 

"Found the next morn, a gruesome sight, 
Never solved was the grisly crime."

"Caney, stop this right now. What are you doing?" 

Fear and unrelenting terror clutched at Dahlia like the shadows dancing around her room, Caney coming ever closer to her frozen form. The axe was raised high in the air, her life flashing right before her eyes, questions as to what she had done wrong to deserve her daughter's unjust cruelty that was about to reign down upon her. The icy chill of death's bony fingers gripped at her soul tightly, reminding her that she was seconds away from a fate that made no sense to her at all. 

Dahlia was paralyzed in place, her body unmoving by the fear that tied her down to her bed. Every limb felt numb, heavy as if there were thousand ton weights resting on every single one to keep her in place. . . and there was nothing she could do about it. 

"Caney, stop. . . no! NO! DON'T CANEY!" 

Screams, blood curdling screams echoed throughout the house well into the early morning. They were only silenced when the cream colored walls became painted in nothing but dark crimson. A mangled pile of what looked like ground beef lay in the bed where Dahlia once sat. By the time anyone would find the horrifying slaughter, a single death would be recorded and a missing persons report filed. 

Caney would be gone from her home, disappearing into thin air as if she had been spirited away or never existed in the first place. 

Far into the present, the little girl with ocean blue eyes and blonde braids would remain missing. The axe that started it all, lodged forever in the wall above where Dahlia once lay, the house to forever remain vacant. That haunted night a dark stain on the memories of all those who lived around the area, who knew the young family. It would be a mystery to all that may never be solved.