One More Bite
by Jennifer Morris

    Dragging his left leg behind he made a dirt trail through the gravel driveway. The driveway curved through a dense forest. At the end was an ancient house, where he lived. The wooden steps creaked under his weight and the split wood porch swayed. He opened the door. Creak.

    "Honey, I'm home!" he called out into the vast darkness.

    The room smelled of mold and dust. He hadn't cleaned in years- there was no reason to clean he never had vistors. The visitors stopped coming years ago when he had become handicapped in a car accident. His left leg dragged and his right eye was missing. The only reminder of the eye was a ghastly purple scar that ran across his face. Life was lonely. His only friend was his dog, Spartacus.

    "Spartacus? Where are you?"

    The sound of dog tags rattled from in the kitchen. A muffled voice followed. He shut the creaking door behind him and headed into the kitchen. Expecting to see Spartacus running to him, but he didn't, he couldn't, he was dead. The man fell to his knees and rubbed his dog's head while sobbing. His dog had been shot in the gut. A shotgun lay by the corpse. He touched it, it was icy cold.

    He wiped salty tears from his eyes and remembered what he had heard. The voice. Had he imagined it or was someone in the house?

    "Is someone here?" he said as he grasped the side of the door frame and pulled himself up. "Hello?"

    Another muffled voice, coming from the basement. The man kneeled and picked up the shotgun. The shotgun that killed his dog. The shotgun he was going to kill Spartacus' murderer with.

    He tip-toed to the basement door and put his ear up to it. He listened. Quiet. Sweat beaded up on his forehead. Gripping the door knob he opened it slowly. It groaned from lack of use. The man pulled the light switch string, the halo of light cut through the darkness illuminating the stairs.

    "Is someone down here?" the man descended the stairs and stood at the foot.

    "Yes," sounded a deep voice from behind him. "there is."

    The man turned around in time to see an axe coming at his head. His head fell off with one chop and rolled off his shoulders. His limp body fell to the floor and a pool of blood began to form.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    "Hurry up, we don't have all night!" Doug said.

    "Relax! I'm coming!" Kim grumbled. "The party doesn't start for another hour."

    "This is going to be the best Halloween party ever! We are going to have the best costumes too, Road Hogs. Besides I like to get there early to.."

    "I know why you want to get there early! You want to get drunk." Kim took off her helmet and her hog nose. The smell of the pink makeup on her face made her gag.

    "You got that right baby!" Doug laughed and leaned in to kiss Kim. She pulled away. "Whats wrong?"

    "Your whats wrong." Kim distanced herself from Doug, she didn't want to be near him. "It's your fault we're out here in the woods, you should have filled your tank."

    Doug shrugged his shoulders and walked ahead of Kim. They had been walking
on a gravel road for about a quarter of a mile. They rounded a turn and spotted an old house. Doug was kicking up gravels as he walked. He had such a bad temper. That's why she had decided to break up with him tonight. Doug knocked on the front door and Kim stood at the foot of the stairs.

    "Anyone home?" There was no answer. "We just wanted to use your phone."

    "Doug I don't think anyone's home. Besides this house looks old, they might not even have a phone."

    He turned his back to the door. "Don't be stupid. Everyone has a phone."

    An owl hooted from deep inside the forest. Kim flipped her head around to look in the woods. A light was shining.

    "I see a light in the forest."

    Doug walked over to one of the dusty windows. He wiped off the glass with the sleeve of his coat and peered in.

    "You see a light?" Doug turned around and looked at Kim. "Why don't you go and see if there is someone out there?"

    The sound of shattering glass filled the silent night air. The window from where Doug had been standing was broken. Doug was being pulled in by two bloody arms.

    "Doug!" Kim shouted as she ran up to the window.

    Doug was grasping the air desperately. She clamped down on his feet as the rest of his body disappeared into the darkened house. Kim neared the window. To her horror saw a man covered with blood stabbing Doug with an axe. Doug's feet jerked up in the air with every swing. She let go of his feet and stumbled backward.

    "What are you doing to Doug!" she choked out through tears.

    Kim managed to get to her feet and started down the stairs. Her eyes fixed on the broken window. The man raised and lowered the axe a few more times then stopped. He appeared at the window.

    "Well, isn't it obvious? I'm killing him." the deep voice said.

    Kim gasped, turned and ran into the forest. Branches tore at her clothes and scratched at her face. Warm blood ran freely down her face, stinging her eyes. Without realizing it she was headed toward the light. An enormous house loomed up before her. Music blared out of the open windows. A party! The party had been here. She stopped running as she approached the open front door. Doug must have planned all of this. He must have had his friends do that back there! She laughed then entered the open door.

    "Kimmy? What happened to you?" Laura asked her.

    "Yeah like you don't know! Oh by the way nice costume Laura." Kim swatted at her faux angel wings and laughed again. She walked past Laura and into the living room. "Okay. Where's Doug?"

    All of Kim's friends stared at her with their mouths gaping. The music stopped and everyone became very quiet.

    "Doug's not here. Kim what happened?" Tim asked as he approached her. "You look awful."

    "Oh he must still be at the house then."

    "What house?" Dave asked. A few of Doug's friends came over and stood behind Dave. They were all dressed as corpses, how appropriate. "We'll go down there and get him."

    "Don't bring him here on my account! But, if you want to go anyway- go left through the woods. The house is straight through there you can't miss it."

    Doug's friends thanked her and left to go find Doug. Tim put his arm around Kim and lead her into the kitchen.

    After they exited the living room the party started up again.

    "Did Doug do this to you?"

    "What do you mean? You know what happened. I was running through the woods and got these scrapes."

    Doug moistened a towel and blotted her forehead. "You look just awful. Why were you running?"

    Kim's mouth curved into a smile. If everyone was going to keep playing these games she would just go along with it. She definitely had a great excuse to break up with him now. He was immature- but Tim wasn't. She gazed into Tim's sparkling green eyes and forgot all about Doug. Even as Frankenstein he still looked adorable.

    "Lets go in with the others, this is a party isn't it?"

    Tim laughed took her arm and led her into the living room. They danced for a few songs and then Tim asked about Doug again.

    "I guess he's still at that old house down the road. Probably getting drunk with the guys."

    "What old house? Kim what are you talking about?"

    "You know the trick he pulled on me. I'll admit he got me." Kim giggled then quickly stopped when she saw the confused look on Tim's face.

    "Kim, what trick?"

    A few minutes after she told Tim what happened they were on his motorcycle  heading to the house. They had to check on Doug. Tim drove his motorcycle up the gravel driveway and parked it in front of the house.

    "There's the broken window." Kim pointed to the window Doug had been pulled through. They both stood on the shards of glass and looked into the window. Doug wasn't on the floor. A pool of dark blood gathered on the floor. Kim was just about to tell Tim she wanted to go when she heard the sound of crunching gravel. They turned around and saw the murderer.

    The man rushed at them with such speed they had no time to react. He was on them in seconds. He swung his axe and landed it on Tim's shoulder. He screamed out in pain and fell to the rotting floorboards of the porch. The man put his foot on Tim's chest and extracted the axe. His eyes were filled with rage and he pulled his dry, cracked lips into a wicked smile. Revealing sharp, yellowed teeth. Kim jumped through the broken window and slipped in Doug's blood. Her head hit the floor with a sickening thud. She couldn't get up and everything was fading into blackness. The last thing  she saw was an axe coming down toward her head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Sirens filled the air. The police stormed into the house. A call had been placed minutes ago by a teenager at a nearby house. The caller was attending a party and heard a scream next door. Blood was found on the porch and on the floorboards in the house. They ran down into the basement. A man was down there. He was sitting by a stack of partially eaten dead bodies. The man was picking his yellow teeth with a toothpick. His arm rested on top of his swelled belly. He raised his eyes to the police
officers and grinned. He wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

    "What kept you guys? I couldn't eat another bite."

© Jennifer Morris

January 2000 HofP