Tainted: Origins of a Psycho

Surprise Guests

Vincent:

Three hours have passed by since Dad left and my  mental anguish was becoming worse with each passing moment. Katherine ran away from home and it was all my fault. She trusted me enough to tell me why she was afraid of Dad, and all I could do was act like I didn't believe her.

What if something bad happens to her out there?

It will be all my fault!

I sat down on the couch and put my head in my hands. "What is taking so long? Dad should have been back by now."

Violet muted the television and sighed. "You need to stop worrying. I'm sure your precious Katherine is already back at home. She just wanted attention."

"You don't know that!"

My outburst startled her into silence for a moment, then she smiled and joined me on the couch. "Why are you so fascinated with that girl anyway?" She wrapped her arms around my neck and whispered in my ear. "I'm much more interesting than she is."

"Ugh, what is wrong with you?" I pried her arms off of me and scoot further away. "You're acting weird."

She brushed off my words and scoot herself closer to me again. "I'm just trying to get your mind off of your worries for a minute. Is that so weird of me?"

I looked away from her and she laughed, returning to the recliner with a smile on her face. "You're so uptight, baby brother. I was just kidding around."

"Well, your humor is creepy."

She laughed again and turned the volume back up on the television. We watched a rerun of The Golden Girls until we heard the sound of a car pulling up into our dirt driveway.

I immediately hopped off the couch and opened the front door, my eyebrows raising when I saw Dad looking in the backseat of his car and waving his silver pistol around. What on earth was he doing?

His eyes landed on me and he climbed out of the car, sticking the pistol into his pocket.  Violet stepped out to the porch and crossed her arms.  "Where have you been?  We didn't think you weren't coming back."

I nodded in agreement.  "Yeah, we were starting to worry.  Is everything okay?  Where's Katherine?"

"What is this?  The third degree?"  He laughed and popped open the trunk, completely brushing off our questions.  He reached inside and pulled out a large pink suitcase.  "Take this into the house."

"Ummm, sure."  I grabbed the handle of the suitcase and tried to lift it off of the ground, but it was almost to heavy to pick up.  "Geez, what's in here?  Bricks?"

Dad's lips curled into a smile.  "You'll see."

Violet jumped up and down in excitement.  "Oooh, is it a surprise?  I love surprises!"

"You're gonna love this."  Dad answered, his eyes twinkling as he watched me lug the heavy suitcase on to the porch and into the house.  He followed me inside and folded his arms over his chest.  "Why don't you open it up and see what's inside, son."

"Awww, I wanted to open it."  Violet pouted.

I rolled my eyes at her childlike protest and slowly began to unzip the suitcase.  My eyes widened in horror when I saw that it was Katherine inside. 

Her body was twisted up and she wasn't moving.

"What the hell have you done!?"  I shoved Dad on to the floor in a violent rage, my fists trembling by my sides as I stood over him.  "You killed her!"