6 Tales to Die For

THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED

YOU’LL JUST DIE TO GET OUT OF THE

HOUSE THAT SCREAMED

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CHAPTER 1

It was a cold, dry day as winter crept in. Fruit bats squealed as they flew near the old Victorian style house. The yard was covered with dead branches from unruly shrubbery. Huge tree branches hung precariously in front of the house. The ground was ashen and covered with dry leaves that crackled beneath the feet. A condemned-looking tool shed stood alone behind the house. It was once used by gardeners who tended to the upkeep of the yard. In the late evening and after dark, people dared not walk past the Livingston house. Old manila-colored shades were down in several of the front windows. The light through the shades gave the house an even sadder appearance. The second floor had one room which always had a light on in it. It appeared that no one occupied the other rooms.

Rumor has it that bone-chilling screams could be heard at night coming from inside the house, especially at around 8:45 p.m. just before the patients were given their medication. Dr. Barry Livingston and his wife, Judith, tended to ten or more psychiatric patients, all of which suffered some sort of mental illness.

The patients were considered dangerous and were not to be dealt with on a one-to-one basis. Judith Livingston was a loving young woman in her late thirties with light brown hair. She wore round lens glasses that rested on her somewhat flat face. Judith had sort of a perk in her lips when they were closed together. She always felt comfortable by herself when dealing with patients, despite being warned of possible dangers several times by her husband.

The yard was surrounded by tall, black iron gates that were always kept locked. Patients were at one time allowed to roam free in the yard. They mingled with the staff, including the gardener, Jose Mendez. He always hung around the tool shed where he sat on a tree stump with a large ax wedged in it that was used for chopping firewood. Closed circuit T.V.s were used to watch the yard and the patients. They were monitored by Dr. Livingston from his office. There were cameras in each room that the patients occupied. Dr. Livingston was always concerned about his wife’s safety. They had been married for fifteen years. She was his first wife.

The gardener, Jose, always kept himself armed. Jose and one of the ten patients, Billy Darwin, had become friends over a period of time, and Jose had come to trust him. Billy Darwin was in his late forties; his motor function was a little slower now from high doses of Thorazine and Haldor which kept him calm. Billy had a phobia of paper bags – they gave him flashbacks of how he had killed his wife and her boyfriend. At a young age, Billy had a violent streak in him. His childhood was an abusive one. Twenty years ago, on one very hot and humid summer night, Billy Darwin worked overtime. He would drive his black 4x4 pickup truck to and from his job. Returning at 10 p.m., Lorraine Darwin, his wife, normally would be asleep, except on this particular night she had a visitor – another man.

Their hot skin pressed against each other passionately in bed. Beads of sweat rolled down Sean’s back as he stroked Lorraine like a wild animal. Her head hung back as his penis, which was plugged into her vagina, held her. She grunted passionately as Sean continued to screw her. Her grunts grew louder as she peaked almost to a climax.

Billy Darwin drove up on his gravel driveway, stopped, and shut off the headlights and the engine. He noticed that the bedroom light was on. He thought how strange it was because usually she was asleep at this late hour.

Sean continued to hump on Lorraine, pushing her body deep down into the mattress. Lorraine’s cries of lovemaking drowned out the sound of the door slamming on Billy’s truck. Billy dropped the keys before opening the door to his house. After picking them up and letting himself in, he gently closed the door behind himself. He raised an eyebrow as he first heard the sound of joyous lovemaking. Billy walked quietly to his bedroom door, leaned toward the door, and listened. He began to fold in his bottom lip. He reached out for the doorknob carefully, making sure not to disturb the occupants inside. He cracked the door slightly and saw his wife’s legs wrapped around some guy’s back. Billy’s face quickly turned blood red. He closed the door, and while biting down on his bottom lip, he tried to compose himself, but he bit down so hard that a trickle of blood ran down from one corner of his mouth.

Billy walked down the hall to a closet and opened it. He reached way in the back of the closet behind old coats and jackets and took out a double barrel shotgun. Then he reached on the top shelf, feeling around to the back of the shelf. He found a few shotgun cartridges, and he opened the gun, loaded it, then slammed its chamber closed. He paraded back to the bedroom door.

He kicked the door open. The visitor, Sean Stephens, one of Billy’s best friends, turned his head while on top of Lorraine. She looked out from underneath, her throat became suddenly dry as she spoke, almost in a raspy voice. She cleared her throat then swallowed. Billy! I didn’t hear you! Lorraine was interrupted by her husband. He yelled, You two-timing [bitch]! Get up! Get up! As he aimed the shotgun at both of them, Lorraine pushed Sean away and wrapped herself with the covers. Sean tried to get dressed. There must be some sort of misunderstanding, Sean said.

Billy folded in his bottom lip then lowered the gun. I’ll be right back. Don’t move, he said, and he quickly walked out slamming the door.

Where do you think he went? What, is he gonna kill us? Sean excitedly asked.

Billy returned within less than a minute to find Sean trying to raise a window. I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Billy said.

Here, take this rope and shears, Billy angrily said.

What am I gonna do with it? Sean asked.

Tie the bitch up. Tie her legs and hands and tie them good and tight, Billy said. Billy kept the gun pointed at Sean while he cut pieces of rope and tied Lorraine’s legs and hands together.

Now what? Sean asked, with exhaustion in his voice.

There were several large brown paper bags from the food they had ordered earlier on the floor. Billy’s eyes looked like they were about to pop from anger. Pick that up, the big bag, and go sit on the bed.

Sean picked up the bag and sat down on the foot of the bed. Lorraine sat back against the headboard too frightened to speak.

What are you gonna do? Don’t kill me! Please! Look, maybe we can talk this out! Sean said, trying to reason with Billy.

Put the [bag] over your head! Billy demanded.

What are you gonna do? Sean nervously asked.

Billy raised the gun and aimed. Put the goddamn bag over your head, I said.

Lorraine broke from her silence. Please, Billy, don’t kill him!

Billy aimed for Sean’s crotch. I should blow your fucking balls off, Billy said now raising the nose of the gun. The paper bag shook on Sean’s head as he shook along with it.

Then Billy yelled, Motherfucker you! and fired.

The blast took off part of Sean’s head. Lorraine screamed as she was immediately covered in a spray of blood and brains. Brains were all over the bed and Lorraine looked like some kind of strawberry swirl and whipped cream with pieces of broken bone and paper bag mixed together. Billy stood there holding the smoking gun, not flinching the slightest bit.

Now you, Billy angrily said. Billy walked over to his wife and grabbed her by the arm. Come on, bitch. Let’s go.

She had screamed, Oh, sweet Jesus! Somebody help me!

Billy pulled his wife by the arm up to the window. He looked through the blinds, checking to see if any of the neighbors had responded to the sound of the gunshot.

Lorraine hopped to the window as she was pulled. Frustrated with himself and his wife, he snatched her one good time, causing her to fall. Billy dragged his wife into the living room and left her on the floor. He walked outside to his garage and stopped in front of the door. Billy looked paranoid, standing there holding a shotgun. He grabbed ahold of the garage door handle, violently threw the door up in the air, and walked inside, heading to his tool rack. Billy put the gun down and picked up his chain saw, then he changed his mind. His eyes wandered over an ax hanging on two nails. He grabbed it, walked outside, then pulled the gate down. Billy looked around and peered through the closed door. Billy returned to find his wife with the telephone between her legs. He cursed. You bitch! and snatched the phone, tossing it across the room. Billy suddenly raised the ax without selecting which limb to attack; he just came down with one swing, dismembering her leg from the middle of her thigh. Lorraine screamed!

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CHAPTER 2

Billy Darwin was sitting down on a rusted chair holding a half-filled Styrofoam cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other that had burned down to the filter. That was some story, Jose said.

Billy’s eyes blinked and he let go of the cigarette and took out another. He sat the cup down, picked up the filter, and lit his fresh cigarette off the filter, which still had a bit of fire and ashes. After Billy inhaled two drags of the cigarette, he sighed heavily and began to pace. He paced back and forth like he was in consideration of something. Billy turned around and looked up at the old Victorian house, eyeing each window, then he returned his attention towards Jose. Jose reached in his pocket and took out a box of Marlboros and lit a cigarette. After he exhaled, he smiled at Billy. Billy, my boy, would you go into the shed and bring me a flower box?

Sure, no problem, Billy said, tossing his cigarette to the ground.

As Billy walked toward the shed, he stopped and turned around, facing the gardener, Jose. Yes, is there something on your mind, Billy?

Billy’s face looked blank at that moment, then he said, I felt bad afterwards.

Bad? Bad about what? Jose asked.

When I couldn’t put her back together. She just kept falling apart, Billy said, smiling afterwards.

Jose repeated Billy’s comment under his breath. [Kept] falling apart, dumb ass. You chopped her up, Jose said, speaking in a normal voice. How about that flower box I asked for?

Billy put his hands in his pocket and walked into the shed. Then there was the sound of things falling, causing Jose to turn around and face the shed. Are you all right in there? Can you handle it? Jose asked.

Billy’s voice echoed outside. Oh yeah, I can handle it.

Jose turned around, giving his back to the shed.

Billy returned, carrying an ax with both hands. He raised it high behind Jose. It seemed that he made sure his arms were locked in place and came down hard, splitting Jose’s brain in two. Jose screamed holding the top of his head and fell over, dead.

Jose laid there on the ground, his forehead embedded in the ground, as his brain slowly oozed out of his head. Billy stood there holding the ax, his clothes were covered with splattered blood. He stretched his arms out, slightly turning, then examined them. He stared at his arm almost like it was his first time seeing blood. Billy suddenly snapped to consciousness and ran into the shed. He returned shortly afterwards with a shovel and began digging a hole behind the shed. All the while that Billy continued to dig, he would stare at every window to make sure there was no one watching him. Once Billy had dug a deep enough hole to bury Jose’s body, he dragged the body over to the hole, then pushed it in. He dusted his hands as if he had completed a task, then picked up the shovel and began filling the hole.

Thirty minutes had passed and Billy was still patting the top of the soil flat with the blade of the shovel. He noticed that one of Jose’s hands and arms was partially exposed. Billy beat the limb with the blade of the shovel until it was flush with the soil, then kicked some soil over it. Billy dropped the shovel and walked back to the house.

As he opened the door, Judith Livingston stood in the foyer with her arms folded, looking very much displeased. Look at you. You’re covered with blood. What did you do? What happened? Never mind, let’s get you out of those clothes and into some clean ones before my husband sees you, she said. Judith was very protective of Billy; she had faith in him, she had favored him above the others. Judith had no idea that her trust, love and concern for one of her husband’s patients would soon come to an end.

After Billy was cleaned up, instead of returning with the other patients, he went with Judith, who said she wanted him to help her hang some ferns throughout the large living room. A ladder was available, leaning against a wall. Billy opened the ladder and positioned it where he was told. Judith showed Billy how to cut small pieces of clothesline and wrap it around the hooks, then hang them.

Judith climbed up to the top of the ladder. It rocked a little as she reached the top. She then stepped down from the very top step and rested a knee on one of the rungs. Judith asked Billy to hold the ladder steady each time after he handed her a flowerpot. For every plant that was hung, the ladder had to be repositioned. Judith walked alongside the ladder as Billy carried it to its new position. Judith had just reached the center of the ladder when the telephone rang in another room. She exclaimed, Shoot! Just when I get up on this ladder, and she climbed down. Be right back, she said, walking quickly to another room.

Billy gave Judith at least two minutes before he scampered behind her to make sure she was on the telephone. He cracked the door open just a bit, then once he was satisfied, he gently closed the door and scampered back to the area where the ladder was. Billy was paranoid of the possibility that someone could be watching him. He grabbed up the remainder of the rope and ran upstairs with it. He ran down a corridor to an empty bedroom and opened the door gingerly. Before entering, Billy peeked in. Once he saw that the room was empty, he quickly entered and hid the rope under a bed and left, gently pulling the door closed. Billy ran fast, down the hall and down the long wide flight of stairs. When Billy was midway on the stairs, Judith was reentering the living room.

She immediately noticed that Billy had left the room. Judith looked around with a questioning expression on her face. As she walked across the living room, she gently touched the ladder and looked up at the ceiling as she passed. Judith had reached the end of the living room when she saw Billy, who looked like he was sliding down the stairs on the back of his heels. Oh my God, Billy! Are you all right? she asked.

Billy had reached the bottom of the stairs and grinned. He nodded his head at first, then he said he was all right.

Where were … Judith was about to ask of his whereabouts when Billy interrupted.

The bathroom. The bathroom, he exclaimed.

Why would you go upstairs? You know there are several down here, Judith said.

Billy looked up to the ceiling, searching for an answer. I needed the walk, he said.

Judith smiled. You needed the walk. Well, young man, you can walk yourself back over to the ladder and help me with the last few pots.

As Billy walked past Judith, she spanked him on his buttocks, kind of hard. He looked back and both of them smiled at each other.

It had become late. Judith and Billy had completed the hanging of the ferns. The smell of the fresh greenery was evident throughout the living room.

Upstairs in one of the usually empty bedrooms, there were two occupants, Judith and Billy. Judith and Billy had their clothes strewn across a chair, not far from the bed. Billy was on his knees over Judith screwing her hard in her rear end. Judith’s hands were clasped onto the headboard. The two rocked the entire bed and from out in the hall it sounded like someone rocking an old baby carriage that was badly in need of oil. Later on, Judith and Billy laid in bed staring up at the ceiling with its old sprinkler system that ran across the ceiling. You were wonderful, Judith said. Speaking of wonderful, I have a wonderful idea! I could hang … I could hang some plants on the sprinkler pipe. Don’t you think that would look nice? Judith asked.

Before Billy could answer, Judith’s name was called out. Judith, are you up here?

She panicked. Jesus! That’s my husband! Quick! We’ve got to get dressed.

Judith and Billy hurriedly put their clothes on. Judith waved for Billy to go behind the door and she opened it, then walked out into the hall where she met her husband.

Dr. Livingston squinted his eyes and stared at his wife with a harsh expression. What were you doing in there? That room hasn’t been used in years, he said.

Smiling, she took her husband by the arm and walked him away from the outside of the door.

I don’t believe I can remember what it looks like in there. What did you say you were doing? he asked again.

Oh! It’s a surprise! Judith said, then leaned over and kissed her husband on the cheek.

Billy had his ears to the door and while listening, he stretched a long piece of rope with each end wrapped around his hands. He yanked and became violent as he snatched the rope straight. He began to turn up his top lip and suck his teeth as he listened to Judith playfully toy with her husband.

Billy heard a bedroom door close down the hall. Bitch! he shouted then walked around the room in a chimpanzee-like manner, then stomped his foot hard and laid down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, still stretching the rope between his hands.

Billy had returned to his room. Judith and her husband laid in bed after their brief sexual encounter. Dr. Livingston fell off to sleep. Judith slipped out from under the covers, picked up a pink satin thin robe, and put it on. She tied the belt around her waist and sat down on the bed, then slipped her feet into some low heeled comfortable shoes and walked towards the bedroom door. Judith stopped before the door and looked upon her husband, then quickly exited the room, gently closing the door. Judith had checked on all of the patients – she saved Billy for last.

When Judith reached Billy’s assigned room, he was not there. She found that to be very strange. Where on earth could he be? she asked herself. She then decided to return upstairs, and upon reaching the top step, she heard noise in one of the rooms. Cautiously, she approached door after door, listening at each door until she was up against the door to the room that she and Billy were previously in. Judith reached out, turned the knob and opened the door. Billy was sitting on the side of the bed rocking. Judith quietly closed the door behind her.

How are you doing, Billy? I saved you for last. She had two pills clinched in her hand. She handed Billy some pills. Oh! Silly me, I forgot your paper cup. Judith turned to reopen the door and before she could open it, Billy had jumped up from the bed and had Judith Livingston in a chokehold, bear hug position. Judith struggled within his grip and pulled at his hands and arms. What are you doing? Stop! You’re hurting me. Gasping for air, she fainted.

Billy dragged her limp body over to the bed and dropped her like a lifeless doll. He picked up a small amount of coiled rope that he was sitting on and stood on the bed tying the rope around the sprinkler pipeline across the ceiling, making a hangman’s noose. Billy jumped down off the bed and slid the chair directly under it. He climbed back on the bed and picked Judith up and sort of flung her over one arm. She looked like a satin bed quilt was draped over his arm. Judith began to regain consciousness as Billy was putting the noose around her neck. She then grabbed at the rope and as she looked down, she noticed that she was standing on a chair. Judith tried to reason with Billy. In a choking voice, Judith said, What are you doing? What are you doing to me? Billy, let me down! Look! You don’t have to take your medication if you don’t want to.

Billy spit out two pills onto the floor and made the noose tighter. She began to gag and turn deep red. He got down off the bed and sat down on the other side with his back to Judith, who continued to fight with the rope around her neck. I wouldn’t do that if I were you. If you rock the chair and it falls, it’s all over for you, Billy said.

Judith tried to shout, Why are you doing this to me? Billy ignored her and opened an old dusty nightstand drawer and found a toenail clipper and began clipping off his fingernails.

After he completed four of his fingers, he began to pull the entire nail off his remaining fingers and he didn’t flinch whatsoever. While he held the nail clipper, he turned around and looked up at Judith, who was beginning to turn blue. He got up and walked over to her.

From the minute that Billy took hold of Judith’s hand with those nail-less fingers, it sent a chill up her spine, a chill that almost made her feel that she could die then. He smiled at her, then let go of her hand and stepped back away from the chair and suddenly kicked it. Judith jumped, then began to kick. She lost a shoe that fell to the floor, laying sideways. She struggled trying to free herself. She gasped for air, then died. Her trust of Billy ceased at the end of a rope.

Judith’s lifeless body swayed, and then began to turn slightly. Her eyes had rolled up in her head and looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets. Billy ran up to Judith and wrapped his arms around her legs and began to cry, then he screamed, No-o-o-oo! He looked around the room and his eyes set on an antique vase. Then he ran over to a table and snatched the vase up by the top and crashed it into a wall. Angered with himself at what he had done to Judith, he walked out of the room to return to his room with the other patients.

Barry Livingston suddenly sat up in bed. He stared around the room in a stupor-like state of mind. As his thoughts became clearer, he noticed that his wife, Judith, was not in bed. Dr. Livingston got out of bed and walked across the room to a chair where he picked up a black satin robe, which he put on. He tied the belt around his waist and then walked over to his nightstand, opening a small drawer where he removed a handgun, then quickly giving the drawer a push, closed it. Dr. Livingston walked out of the bedroom.

He crept down the hall, opening bedroom doors as he walked down a long corridor. Dr. Livingston, however, was disappointed to find each of the bedrooms empty. Then he thought of when he saw his wife come out of one particular bedroom earlier. He doubled back, and upon reaching it, he opened the door very wide. Judith! he cried, when he saw his beautiful wife hanging from a sprinkler pipe. Who did this to you? he shouted, as he ran to get her down. He climbed up on the bed, putting the handgun in his robe pocket. Dr. Livingston reached over, untied the rope, and just before he could catch her, her body fell to the floor.

He then picked up his wife’s limp body and held her in his arms while rage built inside him. Dr. Livingston rubbed his hand over his wife’s dress, smoothing out the material until he felt a thick, yet sticky substance that he quickly recognized and he muttered the word [bitch]. However angered he was, Dr. Livingston laid his wife across the bed and paraded out of the room.

He pulled the door together behind him and stood there for a brief moment, then he took off running down the hall. Dr. Livingston had reached the end of the hall and he stood at the top of the banister with a wild look in his eyes. He walked quickly down the stairs, holding onto the gun in his robe pocket. He walked down yet another flight of stairs that would lead to the basement, where he approached a door with a wire mesh window. Dr. Livingston patted himself for his keys to unlock the door to the patients’ room. He pulled out his gun and was about to fire when he noticed that the door was unlocked. He pushed the door open and stormed into a room full of patients. A group of four patients sat at a table playing cards.

Agnes Stone was the first person that Dr. Livingston accosted. He grabbed the blonde curly haired woman by the arm, snatching her up from her chair, and shouted, You crazy bitch! You killed my wife. As he marched her up against a wall, the others looked on in surprise. He tried to strangle her until the others jumped up and tried to pull him off. Dr. Livingston threw Agnes to the floor and quickly reached in his pocket, taking out his gun. He fired toward the ceiling, causing the other patients to scream and back away.

As he eyed each and every patient, one in particular kept his head down, twirling his hair between his fingers. Billy Darwin cut his eyes up at the doctor with a smirk on his face. I’m gonna find out which one of you sons and daughters of bitches killed my wife if it means I have to kill every last one of you, Dr. Livingston shouted and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him, then checking to make sure it was locked.

It was after Judith Livingston’s funeral that Dr. Livingston sought his revenge on each and every patient. Patients that were accustomed to certain colored pills were given different pills. He gave those without heart problems nitroglycerin. Every patient except Billy Darwin had been given the wrong medication, purposely poisoning them. The doctor removed each body and buried it behind the huge house, which had a cemetery with outdated headstones of his ancestors.

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CHAPTER 3

Dr. Livingston approached Billy Darwin early one morning saying, I know what you did to the gardener, and I know it was you that killed my wife, he said as they stood behind the house. Dr. Livingston was standing before Billy, wearing a dark blue pinstriped suit and a light blue shirt. As he picked a piece of lint off one of his lapels, he reached inside his jacket pocket and took out a gun.

He aimed the gun at Billy’s forehead and fired. Billy grabbed his forehead as blood rushed out over and through his fingers. He fell to the ground with blood pouring out from a smoking hole in his head and died. Dr. Livingston arrogantly called him a son of a bitch and kicked him hard in the stomach. A grave had already been dug for Billy that was covered with a green tarp.

Dr. Livingston reached in another inside pocket and took out a leather cased whiskey flask. He pushed the gun down on the side of his pants and unscrewed the silver cap of the flask, swallowing the equivalent of a shot, then he viewed the area of the unmarked graves. All you sons of bitches can go to hell! he shouted and took another swallow before he put the flask back in his pocket.

Dr. Livingston rolled Billy’s body into the grave and when he dropped it in the hole, it hit the bottom so hard that it sounded as though he’d dropped a sack of potatoes. When the grave was filled, the doctor leaned on the handle of the shovel and wiped sweat and dirt from his forehead. He then reached inside his jacket pocket and took out a box of Dunhill cigarettes. He shook one out and returned the box to his jacket pocket. After lighting his cigarette with an expensive lighter, Dr. Livingston exhaled the cigarette smoke, followed by a sigh. He let go of the shovel, causing it to hit the dirt, and then walked back to the huge house slowly, very tired from his grave endeavor.

Dr. Livingston had returned to his living room where he sat in a comfortable recliner chair. He leaned on his half-clenched fist, which he held up to the side of his face, while holding a drink in the other hand. Hours had passed and Dr. Livingston had dropped his glass and fell asleep. He began to dream. At first, he had pleasant dreams of the good times he and his wife had spent together.

He dreamed of his wedding day as he and his wife stood before the altar, listening to the minister say, Do you take Judith for better or worse, in sickness and in health? Dr. Livingston said, I do. The minister said, You may now kiss the bride. Dr. Livingston and his wife turned to kiss each other and he screamed when he saw that his loving bride was a skeleton in a wedding gown.

The dream ended and Dr. Livingston drew a blank until there was a loud crash in the living room, startling him. His eyes opened slowly. He tried to focus. Rays of moonlight illuminated part of the living room making certain pieces of furniture appear to look eerie. He rubbed his eyes, now trying to refocus on who the two silhouetted figures were that stood in the shadows of the room. They appeared to be darker than the corners of the room. Dr. Livingston felt a chill come over him, however, it wasn’t a chill at all, only fear. The room temperature had suddenly dropped to about 14 degrees enabling him to see his own breath.

A whitish, smoky mist began to rise from the tops of each grave behind the house. The mist metamorphosized into what looked like human figures, then each one quickly flew in through the outside walls of the house. The silhouetted figures began to approach Dr. Livingston.

Who’s there? he yelled. More silhouette figures appeared, standing in the shadows of the room. [Stop] where you are. I have a gun.

Two faces of the figures slowly emerged out of the darkness to be revealed by the moonlight. A pale blue face with parched lips emerged. Her eyes were rolled halfway up in her head. It was Judith Livingston. The second figure’s face slowly emerged from the dark of the room; a face covered with blood which was still bleeding, hemorrhaging, profusely from the forehead. It bore a gunshot wound on its forehead. It was Billy Darwin. Oh my God! Mary, Mother of Christ! he shouted. Stop where you are or I’ll shoot, he said, as he pressed one of his hands down for support, trying to rise from his chair to reach under himself for the gun. Dr. Livingston dropped down in his chair, still sluggish. I am warning you, stop where you are, he said, as they slowly continued to approach him. I’ll kill you, I’m telling you, I’ll kill you, he continued.

Judith Livingston spoke in a normal tone of voice. She spoke slowly and calmly. You can’t kill what’s already dead, dear.

No-o-o-o! he screamed.

Join us, she said.

Although they were moving extremely slowly toward Dr. Livingston, they appeared to be moving a lot faster as they grew closer. Dr. Livingston noticed that Judith was carrying a bloody ax.

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CHAPTER 4

A car pulled up just outside the front gates of the Livingston house. The driver got out of his car and walked to the back of his vehicle and opened the trunk. He removed a crowbar from the trunk and walked up to his front wheel and began to unscrew the lug nuts from the wheel rim. Dr. Livingston’s cries for help echoed in the air. There was such a blood-curdling cry for help that the man changing his tire dropped the crowbar. What are you gonna do with that ax?" Dr. Livingston asked. All of the bedroom doors had opened by themselves as wide as if the rooms had wished to listen to Dr. Livingston’s demise. Judith raised the ax and Dr. Livingston fired at her and Billy. He continued to fire his gun at Judith and Billy until he emptied the gun, then he threw the gun at them and tried to cover himself in the chair.

The stranger outside called the police and stood there staring at the house. Dr. Livingston’s screams were toe curling, as Judith Livingston’s ghost dismembered her husband. After Dr. Livingston was completely dismembered, a dead silence rang out, and the air was filled with a wine-like odor. All of the bedroom doors slammed, one after another, as if someone was satisfied.

Two sets of headlights were visible through the trees from the inside of the house looking out. Flashlights illuminated the narrow path leading to the house. As four officers approached the door, everyone’s eyes set on the huge gargoyle doorknocker with the sinister grin on its face. Officer Louis Robbs, tall and slim, had been with the small town’s police department for more than ten years. He was in his mid-forties and spoke with a youthful sounding voice saying, What the…? You know, shaking his head, I’ve heard so much about this house and seeing something like this, well, there’s no wonder people stay away from here.

Officer Gary Tucker, a heavy-set, pot-bellied man with a double chin chuckled, agreeing with his partner. His thin silver hair shined in the moonlight. He stood before the door holding a flashlight in one hand while his other hand rested on a 9 mm handgun. Gary has been with the department twenty years and