Chapter 3 - Episode 2

He was 25 at the time, and had his own small grocery shop, selling microwave food. A business that had worked out very well and 5 months he had started it, he could afford to buy his own house. The house that had made him the neighbor of Kate, Mathew and their 3-year-old son Benjamin. They were nice people, as he moved in it was the day before Benjamin’s third birthday and they were busy with the preparations of it as Mathew saw him struggle with his king-size bed. Without hesitation he’d come outside and helped him carrying the bed inside. Both Mathew and his wife had helped him the rest of the day moving and offered him dinner, as they had put it, going to the cafeteria around the corner was no way to start a life in a new home. That night he heard them continue the preparations of the birthday of their son.

Benjamin was a chubby little boy, probably a bit overweight, but always laughing. And in the months that passed he was babysitting the little boy every now and then, when none of the grandparents were able to do the honours. Benjamin liked it when the neighbor was babysitting as it would mean that he could eat all the hotdogs he wanted, watch Disney movies on video and they would play hide and seek. But that fall something changed.

Kate and Mathew noticed that their friendly neighbor was in trouble of some sort as they didn’t see him that often anymore, and he didn’t offer to baby-sit their son. One day they saw him sit on the front porch, hands covering his face and they heard him sob. Mathew went over to their neighbor and asked him if he would like to have dinner with them. But he knew what was going on and thanked him, but he had to take a rain check. But Mathew insisted and told him he and Kate wanted to discuss something with him. He agreed to come over later that night, but dinner was out of the question as he had to take care of some business. Later that night he went over and was greeted by Kate, who offered him a piece of cranberry pie, casually asking him what was wrong as she had seen him crying that afternoon. She was genuinely worried. Mathew came in just when he was starting to explain his grief. He told them about the dog he had when he was a kid, about that a car had killed his pet and that he just a few days back had seen a dog just like it getting hit by a car, his young master crying over the dead animal. He told him how his suppressed memories surfaced and he didn’t know how to deal with it. Today he had cried for the first time since he could remember and later that afternoon he went to his doctor. He now had Prozac, but he was reluctant to take them. Both Kate and Mathew were touched by his story, and offered him to join them on their holiday into the mountains. Mathew was going to teach Benjamin fishing and hunting and Kate would go hiking in the forest, taking home mushrooms and berries which would make a great meal together with the caught fish. He at first refused to take their offered as he explained that neither fishing nor hunting were his thing, but Mathew insisted that he would come along, he could stay in the cabin or accompany Kate hiking. He agreed after Kate had described to him how lovely the cabin and scenery were.

To be continued...

Chapter 3 - Episode 1

An uncomfortable feeling in his stomach pulled him back into the present. He looked up and saw that the sky had darkened it was soon getting night. He realized that he must have fallen asleep while remembering the events with Carla. He’d never seen his parents after the events and never felt the desire to see them. He was sure that they’d given up searching for him fairly soon after he was reported missing. He looked around him, but the scene was just the way it had been the past 4 days, no food and just a bottle of water, which he probably shouldn’t drink from. He was hungry that was the reason he his stomach was twitching. He stroke his abdomen and felt that his shirt was sticky. He looked at his hands. They were covered in blood. He look down and saw red stains in his shirt, fresh blood seeping through them, as he lifted his shirt he saw 6 holes just below his ribs. Holes the size of his fingers, gaping wide open. A small puddle of blood had formed besides him on the dirty floor of his shelter. As he realized that it hadn’t been hunger but these injuries that had woken him up he panicked for a second, than he removed his shirt. As he removed his shirt he felt that it stuck to his back as well, which meant that he also had wounds in his back, wounds that were healing, but wounds that had spilled blood nevertheless. He ripped his shirt and stuffed his wounds with it. This would stop the bleeding. He was sure about that, because he remembered how it had stopped the bleeding of Benjamin’s wounds.

To be continued...

Chapter 2 - Episode 3

He started to delve his hands deeper into her body, targeting her heart, as she was still alive. He owed her death as she had given him life the way it should always have been. Carla had shown him how to accept love and how to give love. She’d shown him with her long slender legs what it means to enjoy being with somebody, to give and to receive. He found her heart and removed it with the precision of a surgeon and placed it besides her had on the ground. Than he buried the girl that made him happy and left her heart for the animals. While digging he found the remains of the dog and put her with them in the same grave. He got up to his feet and walked away.

He didn’t come home that night and the police told his parents that missing people, even teenagers had to be missing for at least 36 hours before the police would start a search party.

To be continued...