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I hoped up and went back to the front of the shed. As I walked in I said “Hey Edith, I guess we aren’t going to be having our lessons today.” And laughed a little. Of course I wasn’t expecting to hear a response but it was a little funny to imagine it “No Michael, I think I’m going to need a couple days off, I’m not feeling well.” I grabbed her by her ankles and dragged her out of the fort.
She didn’t feel heavy this time. My muscles tensed under my sweaty skin as I dragged her the fifty feet or so from the spot that we had played to the hole. It was putting off a ton of heat now. This should work perfectly. I pushed her up to the edge and yelled “Geronimo!” as I pushed her over the edge. Her body tumbled down the side of the hole and landed on the pile of embers and sticks that where burning. When she came to rest her arms and legs where a contorted mess and her dead empty gaze pointed straight up out of the pit.
I went straight out to the woods to find more sticks, this time bringing back about twice as many and throwing them into the pit as I went. By the time I felt satisfied you could barely tell there was a body under all the brush I had filled the hole with. I, carefully this time, poured the rest of the gasoline into the hole making sure to aim for the body. Black smoke billowed out of the hole as the trash burned down. I stood next to hole and thought about the future and about how I needed to come up with a better way of handling this process.
A vision passed over me of the clearing, one side filled with small grave markers. The other end of the clearing, where my fort should be, there was a cinder block building. The building was only slightly larger than my fort. I couldn’t see any windows or doors but I also couldn’t see the entire building. Then the vision was gone and I knew that I needed to build this place. I needed to make somewhere I could be more creative.
I stood there and watched as the fire swallowed Edith whole. I would let this burn down until there was no more flame, then assess what was left and decide what to do from there. I had a feeling it would burn for the rest of the day so I headed back to the fort to finish cleaning up before going back to the house.
Although trying to keep everything clean I could tell that I got carried away. The fort was a mess. There was blood all over the place. I wasn’t too worried about it though. I wanted to get the tools cleaned up and get my rabbits foot back home. I thought my clothes are probably not salvageable. I took my pants and underwear off and grabbed the shirt that was balled up on the floor and through them in the fire. The piece of flesh ripped off of Edith’s stomach was still sitting on the table next to the drill. I wanted to keep it. I grabbed the little blob of flesh and the hammer I had used to break through Edith’s rib cage and nailed it to the wall.
Gathering all of the bloody tools in the wheelbarrow I started back to the house. Looking back over my shoulder as I walked into the forest out of the clearing I saw the smoke pouring out of the hole and through the smoke on the opposite side of the hole I saw a large hooved creature standing what seemed like ten feet tall. It had huge hooves and the legs of a powerful horse. Just above the waist it shifted into a lizard scaled torso. Its arms and stomach where very muscular and a dark green color. Its head was tilted down and seemed to be looking into the hole. The head was also very lizard like. It hid small beady black eyes on the top of its head. It looked up toward me and when it saw me looking back it bowed at the waist and then jumped into the pit. Embers and flame shot up out of the pit and there was a loud cracking sound. “I don’t think I have to worry about any remains.” I said to myself and anyone else who wanted to hear as I started into the woods.
I emerged from the woods by the shed and walked over to the garden hose attached to the side of the shed. I carefully ran the cold water over all of the tools making sure to get every little bit of blood and sinew off of the drill bit and the hammer. The wheelbarrow hadn’t seen any blood so I didn’t have to wash it. It dawned on me that I was standing here at the side of the shed, completely nude except for my sneakers and socks. I briefly looked around forgetting how all alone I was out here. Then finished my project and headed inside leaving the tools in the wheelbarrow sitting in the sun to dry.
Walking through the house nude was a little liberating. I walked the halls thinking about how different things are. Feeling like I have grown so much over the last few months. My mind turned to Sarah, I need to start concentrating on nourishing that relationship. My voice in my head said that we had big plans for her and possibly her boyfriend. While thinking about all of this I had wondered upstairs and was walking down the hall to my room.
Back in my room, I looked all around taking in the colors and smells like it was the first time I had ever been here. I kicked off my shoes and grabbed some shorts and a t-shirt out of my dresser. I sat down at the computer to reach out to Sarah and start drawing her into my trap. Just as I flipped on the monitor I heard a noise. I stopped everything and sat perfectly still listening. Then it came again, there was someone in the yard. I jumped up and shot to the window. Scanning the yard back and forth looking for anything that could have made that noise I didn’t see anything. But I heard it again, and this time I knew what it was.
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