The Uninvited Read Free Page B

short of the most excruciating thing that he had ever felt. The pain from his shoulder flowed in many directions throughout his body. Christy said, “Fuck you, you son of a bitch. We ain’t scared of you, damn it!”
    Steven tried to retort but was crying too intensely from the pain. The stranger knelt down next to him, patting Steven on the head, stroking his hair into a million different sweaty directions. The man made his first noise that he had since arriving, hushing him and caressing the side of his face. Steven looked up, even more confused, and the man continued to pat him on the head. When Steven finally thought that something good might happen to him, that whatever dark world this freak was in had left, was when things got worse. Much worse.
    The man stood, wiping the meat hook, and then brought it down with everything that he possessed. And from the size of the man, that was something to be scared of. He brought the meat hook into Steven's thigh this time, twisting it so that his torso and head would hang down like an animal in the barn being skinned. Christy yelled, “Baby, it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be fine. We are gonna get you help before it’s too late!”
    The man shook his head, slowly lifting Steven with both arms as he clawed and scraped to be freed. The stranger attached the meat hook to what he had put on the barn rope and began pulling on the pulley system. Christy yelled again and this time for her trouble got a hammer to the side of the head, leaving her unconscious on the gravel.
    Steven was not running out of tears but was lacking the ability to make as many as he needed to so that he could shed for what he was feeling both emotionally and physically. He stared numbly at Christy lying on the dark gravel path. Her eyes knew not where they were and Steven could see the blood pooling from the side of her head, making a path between the small rocks until it found a place to pool.
    Steven tried reaching for the man but was shy of it, for he already had one broken hand. He was lifted up until he was four foot in the air, far from reaching the dirt and gravel covered driveway. The man disappeared back into the barn and when he came out was carrying a mower blade that Steven kept many extras of. This one shined in the light when he came back out. He stood patiently hushing Steven and waiting for Christy to come out of her trance. When she did, Steven felt momentary relief, seeming to forever think she was gone. She was not…..at least for the moment.
    When she could focus again she stared at her husband and watched as the stranger brought the mower blade across his midsection, not hesitating or slowing down whatsoever. The white flab of his belly became red instantly; blood poured down into his chest hair. Christy tried to reach for him when the man ran the blade down each side of his abdomen, leaving it open for his guts to pour out of his stomach cavity.
    They fell to the ground, hitting and spreading across covering Christy. She screamed bloody murder until she passed out in the gravel. A grinding feeling began to wake her. When she opened her eyes, she saw the moon and the stars passing slowly above her. She went to scream, trying to wiggle her tongue but she felt nothing around her teeth, only a constant thudding in her mouth. She reached a hand up to her mouth sticking her fingers in her mouth and did not feel her tongue, nor teeth.
    When she started to try to scream the man stopped looking down at her and dropped a tongue on her face followed by a splash worth of teeth. Fresh tears began to fall down the side of her face as he dragged her back into the house.

Chapter 3
     
    Friday
     
    Traci sat at her desk googling the state parks and thinking of the long three-day weekend ahead. Her coworker Brandi came up behind her seeing the webpage. “Why, didn’t you just take a half a day off like all the other slackers? \You are doing about as much work as anyone.”
    Traci smiled and