horrors2

Ghost_Hat.Character_.tex

  1\chapauth{Ghost Hat}
  2\chapter{Character Sketch}
  3
  4
  5
  6I frowned as I looked at the crime scene. The lawn had been well
  7kept once, but now it was all wild. The grass had been green once,
  8but now it was all brown from the blood. The blood was from a
  9corpse named James McDaniels. He was ten years old. He was murdered
 10here last week in front of his house. James McDaniels' father
 11had hired me to find out who killed his son{\ldots} or what.
 12
 13
 14
 15My name is Luke Bavarius. I'm a private eye. I'm whom
 16they call when the police can't handle a case. Or if they
 17don't want to. This is one of those cases because James
 18McDaniels' father, James McDaniels Senior, is a crime boss
 19for the mafia and the cops don't like him. I don't like
 20him either, but I'm a desperate man.
 21
 22
 23
 24I looked around and inspected the white chalk circles from where
 25his body was found. There were two. One for his body and one for
 26his head. The kid had been decapitated viciously. Just thinking
 27about it made me taste vomit in the back of my throat. At first the
 28police had suspected the kid's father. It makes sense. The
 29crime boss's case of alcoholism was publicly known. But he
 30had an alibi in his frightened wife and anyways it didn't
 31make sense since he hired me to investigate his son's murder.
 32A guilty man wouldn't do that.
 33
 34
 35
 36It might have been a rival gang, or even a cop trying to get back
 37at McDaniels Senior, but I didn't think so. The crime was too
 38violent. The force used to tear off the kid's head, the
 39distance it had been thrown, the amount of blood{\ldots} it had to
 40be personal.
 41
 42
 43
 44I didn't like to think that another kid could do this. I
 45didn't even know how since to rip even a kid's head off
 46you would need at least the strength of a gorilla. But I
 47couldn't dismiss a lead until I followed up on it. An
 48investigator follows his instincts and mine said I was on to
 49something fishy here.
 50
 51
 52
 53At the school I questioned everybody. Everybody who could have had
 54contact with James McDaniels. As I talked to more and more people,
 55I started to draw a picture in my head. The picture was one of
 56James McDaniels, and soon the picture got more and more detailed.
 57He was sent to the principal a lot because he picked on other kids.
 58He would torture, beat, and steal from anyone smaller than him. He
 59was a bully of the worse kind, just like his dad. I guess
 60it's true that the apple really doesn't fall far from
 61the tree.
 62
 63
 64
 65``Is there anybody James really picked on? More than everybody
 66else?'' I asked a little boy during lunch. He was maybe a
 67third grader, and he didn't seem too unhappy about his late
 68tormenter being dead. Who could blame him.
 69
 70
 71
 72The boy looked thoughtful for a moment and then pointed to a dark
 73corner in the cafeteria. He said with a mouthful of hamburger,
 74``Tommy. James hated Tommy because Tommy was never afraid of
 75him.''
 76
 77
 78
 79I thanked him gratefully and looked over in the corner. A boy was
 80there and it was strange. Every other kid here was eating lunch and
 81laughing with each other. But not this kid. Not Tommy. He was alone
 82and hunched obsessively over a bunch of papers. I think he was
 83drawing, though I couldn't see what from here. I knew I had
 84to talk to this kid.
 85
 86
 87
 88``Hey Tommy, what are you drawing?'' I asked carefully,
 89sneaking a peek at his masterpiece. It was a picture of the
 90cafeteria and all the kids in it. I figured it'd be a
 91child-like scribble, the sort of stuff normal kids do, but I was
 92surprised to see that it was pretty good. ``Hey, you're
 93better than I am,'' I joked.
 94
 95
 96
 97``It's just practice,'' Tommy mumbled, covering the drawing with his
 98hands. He looked away from me and stared hard at the wall.
 99
100
101
102I paused hesitantly. I don't talk to lots of kids in this
103line of work, but I knew that I had to try. ``Tommy, I need to
104talk to you about James McDaniels, okay? I'm trying to catch
105the guy who murdered him, and I need a big guy like you to help
106me.''
107
108
109
110Suddenly the school bell rang and all the kids got up to leave.
111Tommy shot up like the red plastic of the kid's chair he sat
112on had burned him. He grabbed his backpack. ``What can I do?
113I'm just a kid,'' he snarled angrily as he shoved past
114me, rushing off to math class.
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116
117
118I blinked as I watched him go, and then I squinted down at the
119papers he had left. He was going to be in a lot of trouble if any
120of this was homework, but as I pushed the papers around I saw that
121there weren't any words on them, just drawings. Some were of
122nice things, but most of them were grotesque and disgusting, blood,
123flesh, and vomit so realistic it turned my stomach. One of them
124caught my eye in particular and I picked it up.
125
126
127
128It was a creature all shadowy and dark. Its tail looked vicious and
129I could feel the terrible expression on its face in my very soul.
130But what caught my eye the most was the head it held in its hand. I
131recognized that head. I recognized the house behind it. It was
132James McDaniels' head and that was his house too!
133
134
135
136That night I staked out Tommy's house. The sky was as stormy
137as my mood. The clouds turned and swirled around as viciously as
138the insides of my stomach. Even the lightning made me feel like
139vomiting, but I smoked a Marlboro instead. It calmed me down enough
140to think. I didn't know how, but I knew that Tommy was a
141murderer. I needed to prove it somehow and get him put away, maybe
142put away for life.
143
144
145
146The broken clock radio flashed 12:00 A.M. in glowing green light.
147All the lights in Tommy's house were off. Strange kid. All
148alone, but he ain't scared of the dark. Tommy's parents
149had gone off to a fancy party hours ago. Tommy's dad wore a
150tux and his mom, a nice looking dame, wore a sleek little number. I
151didn't expect them back any time soon.
152
153
154
155The rain pattered on the top of my beat-up Oldsmobile like hundreds
156of little mice feet. The lightning flashed and Tommy's house
157was lit up in black and white, like some old horror movie. I
158wasn't scared, but I reached inside my jacket and stroked my
159Beretta. Thunder grumbled like a monster, a hungry one at that. My
160imagination went a little wild as I thought of all those pictures
161Tommy drew. That kid could draw all right.
162
163
164
165The rain kept pattering away. Pattering away like thousands of
166little mice feet now. But suddenly, with a loud thump, something
167huge landed on the roof! It shook the car and I bounced inside and
168looked up in surprise. The surprise turned to horror as I saw a
169huge indentation above me. That was no mouse! No, I doubted it was
170even a really big rat!
171
172
173
174I pulled out my loaded Beretta and aimed at the roof above me and
175fired three rounds in quick succession. I know I missed it though
176because I felt the thing leap off the roof and land on the street
177outside the car. Nothing but rain came through the holes, good news
178for my seat cushions but I wouldn't have minded the cleaning
179bill. It was too dark with night and rain to see outside the
180window, so I opened the car door and leapt outside, squeezing my
181pistol blindly into the air. The thunder cracked then, even louder
182than my gunshots and I heard a scream louder than them both
183combined.
184
185
186
187I peered into the wetness and saw a dark figure clutching at the
188side of its neck. Thick black blood oozed from between its fingers
189and as it screamed again, more vomited from the creature's
190mouth. I moved closer, clutching my Beretta with white knuckles. I
191was staring at the creature's head, but I realized what a
192mistake that was when I recognized that horrid expression on the
193monster's grimacing face.
194
195
196
197I leapt back. Just in time as a whip, faster than a speeding semi,
198struck right where my skull would have been. It was the
199creature's tail. This thing. This man that was more monster
200than human was the beast from Tommy's drawing. My brain was
201struck with awe, but luckily my hands didn't care about what
202my brain thought. My fingers squeezed at the Beretta's
203trigger over and over again, filling the creature full of holes.
204Black blood sprayed out from all over the creature's body,
205mixing with the pure rain, like mixing demon urine with holy
206water.
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208
209
210The creature gave one last angry garble as it lurched towards me. I
211could have sworn it said something in English but I don't
212know what. My brain was on automatic as I fired my semi-automatic,
213the barrel spewing out bullet after bullet. Finally the beast
214staggered and collapsed, right at my feet. Its tail gave one last
215feeble lash and subsided. Up close I could see how truly hideous it
216really was, with pulsing black veins and oozing pustules all over
217its body. I licked my lips and tasted salt, which surprised me
218since rainwater is fresh. I was crying.
219
220
221
222I knew I couldn't stop now. My hands shook with the
223nervousness I had felt from the assault of Tommy's monster,
224but I reminded myself of whom I was. I was Luke Bevarious. I was a
225private investigator. I had faced down lots of tougher situations
226than some kid with a coloring book.
227
228
229
230I went inside the house. It was much quieter inside the house than
231it was outside. The water dripping off my coat sounded loud in my
232ears as I went from room to room, searching for the boy I knew must
233be there. Finally I found him.
234
235
236
237It must have been his bedroom. I spotted a bed and dresser out of
238the corner of my eye, but mostly I saw the drawings. Hundreds and
239hundreds of drawings stuck all over the walls and the ceiling, the
240floor and every bit of furniture. And in the middle of the floor
241was Tommy. He sat beside a flickering candle and didn't
242bother to look up at me when I opened the door.
243
244
245
246Tommy was drawing.
247
248
249
250``Put down the pencil,'' I said, my voice sounding harsh
251and gravelly. ``I got a pistol pointed at your head, boy. My
252fingers have minds of their own sometimes, I can't promise
253anything if you don't.''
254
255
256
257``You're just in time,'' Tommy said with a soft
258smile. I was surprised when he did what I told him to do, tossing
259the pencil playfully off to the side. But something was off. His
260smile was more than just a regular kid's smile. My eyes
261widened in horror as I bolted forward and snatched up the
262just-finished drawing. I gazed at it with terror as I turned around
263to face the door I had just used.
264
265
266
267Yes, it was just like the drawing. The kid was good. Really
268good.
269
270
271
272The End.
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