House of Darkness House of Light Read Free Page B

Perrons had been restored to a one-big-happy-family status. Andrea started smiling again. When they pulled into the driveway Roger immediately noticed that the door to the sun porch was wide open. His mother had been watching over their house and he assumed when she last came, had forgotten to close or lock it. Then Carolyn saw something lying limp on the picnic table. By the time she could intervene, Andrea was already out of their car, running to greet her normally frisky kitty, Scrunch. Andrea called her by name. There was no response. No movement. The child could not believe her eyes; the gruesome discovery dropped her to the knees. Her precious cat had been brutally killed…murdered. Her skull was crushed; every bone in her body, shattered. It is unnecessary to describe what ensued. Carolyn comforted her while Roger removed the stiffened carcass. He then entered their house to find that it had been thoroughly ransacked; food from the kitchen cupboards poured all over the floor, their furniture overturned, mirrors shattered. A freezer full of food was open, provisions saturated with motor oil. All the cats were missing. With a frantic phone call Roger learned that his mother had been there only a few hours before their arrival and had indeed locked the house. She left their Siamese cats inside and let the other two out to play, as the weather was fine and her son was expected home later in the day. As Roger searched their house, utter despair turned into wild rage. The freezer in the basement, fully stocked with meats, was destroyed beyond repair. Nothing could be salvaged. He peered inside at all the food intended to feed his family, trembling with justifiable anger. The police were there for hours, surveying and documenting extensive damage done; a loss sustained. Their normally rambunctious neighborhood fell eerily silent; a conspicuous absence of movement and sound from the three boys who occupied the house next door. One peered reflectively out his bedroom window.
    Carolyn later found Juliet, mother of Scrunch, hiding beneath thick shrubs. The cat had been brutalized but apparently escaped her captors; surviving the ordeal she’d obviously endured. Both Siamese cats were gone. Within a few days a tortured soul arrived at their door. A boy from the next street over had witnessed, if not participated in this horrific attack. With tears in his eyes as the tremendous burden of some unspoken guilt weighed too heavily for the youngster to bear, a conscience dictated this confession. He told Mrs. Perron what had happened and who did it. Apparently it was a twelve-year-old boy who lived next door. He had planned the scheme then initiated the break-in, and when he and his thug buddies were finished destroying their house, they held Scrunch down inside a pothole in the road then beat her to death with a baseball bat. Juliet fought back and finally escaped. One of their cohorts stole then sold the Siamese cats to an unscrupulous woman who never bothered to ask any questions. Carolyn called the police. They went directly to the house and confronted the mother of this boy. She denied everything; lying to cover for her mini-criminal. The officers seemed unwilling to pursue the matter any further then discouraged Carolyn from acting on her own, but she refused to let this rest in peace. She later went back to their house, against the advice of law enforcement, speaking firmly with a woman hell bent on protecting her own. The terse conversation deteriorated into argument and accusation as the responsible party emerged from his bedroom; both arms visibly scarred with scratches, evidence of a cat fighting for her life. His mother instantly ordered him back into his room, wedging her bulbous body between the door frame to block the view but Carolyn was convinced of his guilt; there was as much metaphorical blood on his hands as residual scars on his serrated arms. The next day she and Roger went to the Cumberland Police Department,