The Deadly Alphabets

Chapter 10

****J****

It was 3 am when Joshua awakened from his slumber with a jolt so violent that it startled his wife beside him. There were beads of sweat covering his body, and his heart was pounding in his chest. He quickly shook his head trying to shake away the horrible images that occupied his mind. It was the fourth night that week sleep had forsaken him .

"Are you having that nightmare again honey?", his wife asked. He looked into her brown eyes and sniffed her brown hair. He didn't want to tell her the truth because he knew how much she would worry.

"It's nothing. Go back to sleep ",he said with a fake smile before he started nibbling on her ear. He knew his whiskers tickled her skin.

"You're a terrible liar",she squealed. She wiggled away from his nibbles and gave him a serious look. "You need to talk to him honey. Clear the air and let it go. It's the only way."

"How do you suggest I do that? You know he blames me for our father's death. "

"That was years ago. Besides, who took on the responsibility of taking care of you and Jacob when your father was killed? You did. Josh, he's your brother and you should talk to him," she kissed him lightly on his cheek. "So we can get a good night's sleep around here," she smiled, rolled over and went back to sleep.

Joshua loved his wife. She was the type who spoke her mind, but she wasn't a nag. And she always gave good advice. He knew he needed to talk to his brother but they hadn't seen each other in so many years. Thanks to his wife, he now had an address, and he planned on using it the following day. But he hadn't figured out exactly what he would say to Jacob once he arrived at the address. For hours, he thought about how he was going to mend the relationship with his brother. By 5am, he decided to go to take a nap and visit Jacob when he woke up.

He had just drifted off on a cloud of total relaxation when the visions started. He dreamt of huge, faceless men who blew deadly vapors from their mouths. He was running and trying to find a place to hide from these monsters, when he stumbled upon a little boy crying. He had to be about 6 years old. The boy had blood all over his hands. Almost up to his elbows.

Assuming that the boy was hurt, Joshua picked him up in an attempt to save them both from the men. While in Joshua's arms, the boy morphed into one of the faceless monsters and blew the vapors directly into Joshua's nostrils. Right before he fell to the ground from inhaling the toxin, he saw the faceless killer morph back into a little boy. Suddenly out of nowhere, his brother, Jacob, appeared and approached the little boy. Joshua wanted to warn his brother that the boy wasn't who he seemed. He wanted to tell him about the faceless men pursuing them. But oxygen burned as it traveled through his lungs which made breathing painful and talking an impossibility. Joshua wanted to save his younger brother from the same horrible outcome that was killing him, but he was now paralyzed by the pain. He tried with his last twitch of life to relay the urgency of his message to Jacob, but Jacob never looked at him. In fact, Jacob patted the little boy on the head and called him "Tiger".

This shocked Joshua out of his dream state, right into reality. He tried to make sense of the dream, but he didn't want to spend too much time pondering over it. He came to the conclusion that he was just nervous about seeing Jacob again. All he wanted to focus on was how he was going to get his brother to forgive and love him again, not his crazy dream. So he decided it was no time like the present and headed out the door to see his sibling. His wife was in the kitchen making him breakfast, he could smell the cheese in the air. Cheddar. His favorite. But he continued on his journey, and didn't even kiss her goodbye.

***************

When Joshua arrived at the address, he was more than a little disappointed. The place reminded him of the "hole in the wall" he and his brother grew up, except this place was worst. From the outside it looked abandoned, and a large part of Joshua hoped that it was. There was broken glass and trash littering the lawn. There was a wooden board replacing window in front of the house. Yes, he wanted this place to abandoned. He didn't want to see his brother living in such conditions. But another part of him wanted Jacob to be here, only because it was the one address he had for him. If Jacob wasn't here, Joshua would be back at square one.

The front door was open a crack, so Joshua helped himself inside the dark and dusty house. Surprisingly, there was no furniture or debris inside, but the air was filled with a certain aroma. And smell was putrid. It made Joshua gag and his nose twitch. He called out for Jacob, secretly hoping he was at the wrong home. Then he heard a loud rumbling sound quickly approaching from the next room. It was a boy on skates. When the boy saw Joshua standing in the house, he screamed and lost his balance. The boy fell on the floor so hard, his skinned his elbows. Joshua could see the blood from where he was standing. The boy started crying, and in that instance Joshua's heart dropped to the floor harder than the boy sprawled on it.

Visions of his latest nightmare invaded his mind, and to make matters worst, there were heavy footsteps coming up to the porch. Joshua's first instinct was to run. He followed that instinct all the way to the next room. Too scared to breath, he peered around the corner to get a look at the reason he scurried. A large man came in the house with a white mask covering his nose and mouth and a name tag that read "Leonard". He picked up the crying boy and sat him outside. Joshua couldn't believe that his dream was playing out in front of his eyes. And he decided he had seen enough. So he ran across the room and hid in the closet.

He heart had returned from the floor to his chest, and now was trying to escape horizontally. The air in the closet was rancid...intensified. Joshua tried to hide in the back of the closet when he saw him. Jacob. Dead. Stiff. Eyes literally bulging from his head. And the apparent source of the smell in the house. Joshua couldn't control the tears that soaked his face. All he wanted was to have his brother in his life again. And he realized that now it wasn't going to happen. Not in this life. Suddenly the closet door swings open, and all Joshua can see is a white mask and the name tag. He knew his time was up, so he laid down beside his brother and closed his eyes.

The closet began to fill with a gas that choked Joshua. His lungs seized trying to gasp for air. His heart was slamming against his chest , but he could catch his breath to slow it down. Seconds felt like hours. His throat closed and his head started to hurt. Joshua knew he was dying, and he grabbed his brother's cold hand. He tried to tell him that he love him, and he was sorry that he let so many years pass before he told him that. But no sound came from his mouth. The only sound in the closet was the sound of his eyes popping out of his head.

****J is for Joined (?)****

"How's it feeling Tiger? " Leonard asked when he went back outside to check on his son's elbows.

"OK, I guess. But can we get ice cream anyway?" Tiger bargained.

"Sure. Get in the truck."

"Daddy?"

"Yes"

"Did you kill the mouse in the living room?"

" You know that's part of my job right?" Leonard asked, but he could see the disappointment in his son's eyes. He knew he had to say something to erase that look. "You wanna hear something weird?"

"What?"

"He didn't run. Nope. He laid down and closed his eyes before I did anything."

"Wow. Really?"

"Yeah, it was like he wanted me to do it", Leonard added.

"Can I help you clean houses next week Daddy?"

"We'll see"

****J is for Janitor (?)****

Sorry for the long delay. But the Alphabets are officially back!