GOOD GIRLS AND SERIAL KILLERS

EIGHT

Louis (past-5 years old):

-"Dad?"

   He was sitting alone,in the kitchen, and it was the middle of the night. Dad didn't work this late.

-"Hey buddy." He flinched slightly at the sound of my voice. "Why are you up?"

-"I heard the door open...I got scared someone broke into the house." I muttered,not wanting to wake mom up.

   Mom was tired and she needed to sleep. Because she worked too much. For the family.

-"And what were you going to do?" Dad laughed. "Hit him with a plush or something? Go back to bed Louis."

   A hand rested on my shoulder, warming me up,giving me all the comfort I could have ever asked for. Because mom was always there for me. She was my best friend.

-"Yes Lu, go to bed. I will talk with Dad okay?" She ran a hand through my hair, and her blue eyes locked on my similar ones.

   I nodded.

-"Goonight Dad."

-"Night."

    I went upstairs, and looked behind me once,only to see Mom and Dad staring angrily at each other, their voices low while talking. I entered my bedroom, closing the door behind me and hoping into bed. I had no one in this world. I was a killer's son, and grandson. The niece of the missing girl from all these years ago. No one wanted to talk to me. No one was friends with me. Only mom.

  I heard heavy footsteps outside the room, and Mom yelling Dad's name, but the door to their room had already closed. And I don't know who remained outside, because I chose to clamp my hands over my ears, and not listen again.

    Some days later, I was sitting on a bench in kindergarten, waiting for Dad to pick me up. Some kid came up behind me, pulled my hair, called me a freak. No one told him anything. Not even the teachers. But that was okay,because I was used to it. People did that a lot. They'd hurt me a lot.

  Another kid kicked my leg. Hard. But again,it was okay, because I could only stand there and pray Dad would come and he would scare those kids off.

   But two hours passed, and he didn't show up. I was left alone sitting in that bench. Until a teacher passed by.

-"Louis, where's your mommy or daddy?" She asked and looked around.

-"Don't look around miss. It's pointless. Mom is at work. Dad was supposed to come. He didn't."

  She sighed and called my mom. She was here in fifteen minutes, mad, but not at me. Mad at Dad. When we got home, she started calling him, dialling his number multiple times and it always went to voicemail. I wondered where he was, if he was in work, and maybe he was too busy to answer her calls. Yes, that was it. He was probably to busy to answer.

   He came home with a smile, and it faded the minute his eyes fell on his five-year old son and his wife,sitting across from him with arms crossed.

-"Where were you?" Mom said, trying to keep her voice calm.

   He sighed and threw his head back.

-"How many times do I have to tell you, I was at goddamned work."

-"Work? You forgot to pick our son from school Jack!" Mom yelled now. I flinched.

-"Will you really do this in front of the kid?" Dad asked, looking briefly at me.

-"This is about the kid Jack! What type of parent forgets to pick his own kid up from school! He's five years old, what if something happened to him!?"