Uncle Charlie.

The hole.

         He closed his eyes as he laid there in throbbing agony. Trying to calm himself from the unsuspected drop.
    
"What ya doin?" the little girl asks peering her blonde head over the edge.
    
"What's it fucking look like I'm doing!" He screams, kicking the side of the hole in frustration.
   
  "Cursing is a sin Uncle Charlie, and I heard the B-word too," she states, giving him an accusing glare.
 
    He chuckles in anger, frustrated he cannot believe his luck; he has landed in her grave.
 
   "Is this the hole you were looking for Uncle Charlie?" She asks.
   
  "I'm not your fucking Uncle!" He screams loudly in continued frustration.
   
  "But this, IS the hole you were looking for. Right, Uncle Charlie?" She asks again.
   
  "Uuuugh, just leave me alone!"

     Minutes go by and the pain subsides, and he is able to think clearly again.
   
  Where'd she go? He thinks. I better find her.
 
  He is about six feet tall, but in his current state, he could not climb out of this hole even if he wanted to. Ironically because he dug this one deeper than the rest.

He pulls himself up until he is standing, the pain is almost too much to bear but he forces himself to do it. Once he is standing, he rests his sore ankle, leaning against the side of the hole. He knows one thing for certain; he must get out of this hole, his survival depends on it.
    
"Little girl!" he yells.

     "Yes Uncle Charlie," she replies looking back over the edge of the hole.
   
  "Go get me a ladder from the house?" He asks nicely.
    
"I can't Uncle Charlie, it's too big and Im scared to walk in the woods alone, I could get lost like you did." she explains.
   
  "Or fall in a hole..." he whispers to himself.
 
   "I'm not that stupid Uncle Charlie." she replies looking at him from the edge.
    
"Go get me the ladder or I will shoot you," he says pulling a gun from his back pocket.
   
  "Well that's just rude Uncle Charlie," she replies.
   
  "Go get it!" He demands.
 
   "Not until you apologize."
    
"You have got to be fucking kidding me! Go... Get... The ladder!" He screams at the top of his lungs.
   
  "No," she says defiantly crossing her little arms. Which are still covered in black and blue bruises.  
    
He pulls the gun around  taking aim at her, but she just steps back from the edge of the hole where he cannot see her.. but can still hear her.

His frustration reaches a new level, and he attempts to climb out of the hole anyway, but the pain of the exertion is too much. He falls back against the side of the hole in utter desperation.
   
  "Why do you kill little girls Uncle Charlie?" She asks from above.
    
"Shut up!" He yells covering his ears.
    
"Why do you do these bad things Uncle Charlie?" She asks.
 
   "Shut up! Leave me alone!" He demands.

    "You need to be punished Uncle Charlie you've been bad."
   
 "I know, but I cant stop Nicki... I cant stop," he reveals.
   
  His desperation gets the better of him, and as silence fills the air around the hole he buries his head in his hand. A lifetime of tears flow through his fingers, and fall to the ground as he sobs uncontrollably.
    
"You finally remember my name Uncle Charlie," she says.
 
  "I remember everything now, I can't believe what I've done, I didn't mean to kill you. You were my niece, I loved you," he says pounding his fists into the earth.
 
    "Did you love the other girls Uncle Charlie?" She snaps back accusingly.
    
This question seems to hit home with him, and what fight remains in him drains away. She wasn't a one time thing that sparked a serial child killer, she was just one of many. He gave her no more importance than any other of his victims.
 
   "No I didn't love them, I don't know what love is..."
   
  He looks up at her wanting to ask forgiveness knowing he does not deserve it. With a tear in his eye, he puts the gun to his head, and without hesitation he pulls the trigger.

He falls in a heap to the bottom of the hole. His body resting against the cold damp earth. Slowly, very slowly becoming one with it.
   
  "Good bye, Uncle Charlie," she says and then disappears into thin air. All while the last synapse of his brain fires the memory or spirit if you believe in such things of his niece Nicki.
    
The police show up days later, find the body of the girl in the basement, and then find the rest buried out in the woods, even Charlie.
   
  Charlie's property sits vacant, boarded up, and overgrown. Cautious stories keep locals away except on Halloween. But to this day, in those woods, they say a voice can be heard from time to time calling for Uncle Charlie.

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Oh my goodness I can't believe I've finally finished my first story. I absolutely love getting feedback about it, so if you'd like just leave a comment or vote. It really does make a world of difference. Thank you all for reading.❤