sibling rivalry

its been awhile - my writing has lagged a bit this last month. life keeps getting in the way but i need to push life aside and remember that writing comes first. it is my passion.

here is my entry for NYC midnight short story competition

I heard the slow and almost silent slide of the bedroom door graze along the plush pink barbie carpet that father had nailed into the hardwood floor upon my earnest request years ago. Along with several other small round carpets that he had sequentially nailed to the floor there was a path directly from my bed that would keep my feet warm in the cold winter nights until I could reach the carpeted hallway.

My head was half buried under the comforter and turned away from the door. I snuck a glance across the room at my sister Alexandra’s bed to see that she was fast asleep. Her almost white blonde hair cascaded softly around her head like a halo in the night. Not a single strand, even in her sleep, was astray or haphazardly placed. I gritted my teeth in envy at how even in the dead of night her impeccable beauty was untainted. Her perfect hair, her perfect skin, her perfect teeth, her perfect breasts. Everything about her was annoyingly perfect.

The sound of heavy breathing near the foot of my bed caused my heart to lurch abruptly inside my chest. I immediately froze, goosebumps growing rapidly all over my body. I could see my Hello Kitty clock on the nightstand beside my bed flicker the numbers “3:13”. The moon was full and cast shadows in our room thru our old victorian lace curtains. Dancing with the soft breeze that blew thru our partially opened window.

The sound of a loud clack upon the hardwood floor echoed thru out the room. It was deafening in the stark silence that followed. The thing, whatever it may be, paused. Alexandra snorted and chuffed as she rolled over. I could hear the heavy panting of whatever was in the room with us. Fear began to crawl over my skin like a snake wrapping itself around my body. Slowly tightening its grip on me. The panicked knowledge of uncertainty crept deep within my bones and I involuntarily shuddered. My head was still buried under my comforter and as such my vision was greatly limited to the head of Alexandra’s bed, but I knew without any doubt that whatever was in our room was standing at the foot of our beds, weighing heavily his next move. Any movement I made would most certainly be met with repercussions beyond imagination.

Slowly, it lifted his foot up sliding it lightly along the hardwood floor. The sound resembling nails on a chalkboard. Alexandra stirred softly in her sleep and I fought against every urge within my body to not cry out in frustration and slap my hands over my ears. Tears formed at the corners of my eyes as it slowly set its foot down on one of the carpets. It proceeded onwards, step after step muffled by my cherished carpets, making its way closer to me. My body began to tremble and my heart was pounding so loudly I was surprised that it didn’t wake everyone in the house. My lower lip trembled and my fingers quivered as their grip tightened on my comforter.

It came to a stop directly in front of me. It’s legs were covered in shaggy, reddish brown fur like it was wearing fur pants. Its torso was bare and muscles rippled in the broken moonlight. I closed my eyes as I felt his warm, sticky and sour breath draw closer to me. It leaned down, hovering over my head and snorted. I could feel a strand of my hair be lifted from my forehead as it leaned in and kissed me softly just above my eyes. Just as quick the breath was gone and I could hear the clacking of his feet upon the floor as he moved away from me.

I opened my eyes slowly and saw that he was approaching Alexandra. Unable to look away I watched as he slid the blanket off of her bed and tossed it carelessly onto the floor. At this point my mind could barely register what I was seeing. His feet were cloven hooves, much like a horse’s and protruding from his backside was a long tail. The rest of its body was dark black laced with hints of red streaking thru it. Atop its head was a mop of black hair and two large red horns.

I watched as with one hand it rolled Alexandra over and the other slide up her shirt. Her eyes abruptly snapped open with surprise and confusion. Before she could even scream it slapped a hand over her mouth. It talked softly, making cooing noises as it sat down beside her. Stroking her hair with its free hand while the other held her mouth firmly close.

Before I had realized what had happened I found myself on the floor beside my bed and scampering underneath it. Part of me knew that I should try and run out of the room. To get help. But I was mesmerized with the horror in front of me and no part of my body would listen to logic. My legs were rubbery, my breath was lost and my eyes wide.

Like many things on my side of the room, my bed was adorned with a girly and lacy bed skirting. From underneath I could make out a fairly good, albeit broken view of Alexandra’s bed. I could see that her hands were now tied to the bed frame and her mouth gagged. She was struggling violently, fighting against its wandering hands. Her eyes were frantic and filled with tears. Yet even in a moment of distress she still looked perfect I grumbled to myself. Forgetting for a moment what was happening. In that same moment I realized that I was lying on something other then the floor. I lifted my stomach up and pushed whatever was beneath me closer towards the lace skirting where the moonlight could be seen.

I forgot about what was happening to Alexandra as I moved further down to better examine what I had been lying on. Thru the trickles of the moonlight I could make out a Ouija board. On it, crudely drawn, was a pentagram. I traced my fingers along it gently, making out the small bumps on it. I scratched at the bumps with my broken and rough fingernails. Candle wax I thought to myself and wondered how I knew that or why it was under my bed. Vague memories tickled the back of my brain with a smirk as my eyes began to grow wide. I could hear the soft squeaking of bedsprings penetrate my thoughts.

I crawled back towards the lace and looked towards Alexandra’s bed. Her pyjama shirt was pulled up high and her breasts were exposed. Their milky whiteness glowing softly in the moonlight. I could see her legs held up high and the furry beast was in-between her legs, rocking gently. I stared at the two of them, lost in the moment of them rocking back and forth.

The beast suddenly turned to face me, his green eyes glittering as he looked my way. I could swear he could see me within the shadows beneath the bed. His lips curled up in an ugly sneer as he thrusted hard into Alexandra. I gasped loudly and tried to jump in fright only to succeed in hitting my head on the bed frame above. My head screamed loudly as it lolled from side to side. My vision grew blurry as I watched the two of them rocking back and forth. My head rolled to the side, off my arm and onto the Ouija board as blackness enveloped me.

A month prior to that night I had stormed off into my room in a rage. Alexandra had yet again gotten a perfect mark on her test, making my 91% look like yesterday’s news. As such she got to choose our family night activity. Again. I had protested, fought and argued that the rule was 90% or higher got to choose the family night activity and that she always got to choose it I should get to this time. It was my first time getting a score that high. But no. Perfect, family favourite Alexandra always got her way. Not only had she refused to let me choose but she picked ice skating, my least favourite thing to do. Just to spite me.

I threw a fit. Screaming and yelling at them all before locking myself in our bedroom. I refused to go with them. Unsurprisingly it didn’t take long for them to ‘admit’ defeat and leave me behind. In fact, they hadn’t really tried at all to convince me to change my mind. They didn’t care about me. They only cared about their perfect Alexandra with her impeccable beauty, her endless brains and her never ending kindness. I hated her so much.

When I heard the car back out of the laneway I came out of my room and raced out to the garage. Inside, far in the back where father never looked, I had hidden several items. An Ouija board, candles, salt, dirt in a plastic sour cream container, water from a nearby stream and a couple of dead frogs. I hadn’t the courage to kill anything bigger then that. I had put them in plastic bags and tied the bags shut. Letting them slowly asphyxiate. I had wanted to just take the frogs from science class but had read that the person performing the ritual had to do the sacrifice themselves.

I brought everything up to the bedroom and laid it out on my bed. Following the instruction I had found I first drew a pentagram on the Ouija board. Then I lit the candles on it, scattered the earth between them and trickled the water on top. I placed the frogs on the dirt and then using hair from Alexandra’s hairbrush I dropped it over the frogs. I read the incantation then picked up her hair from the pile and dropped several strands into the flame of the each candle.

The lights in my room flickered briefly and the candle flamed danced and snapped. Then I heard the slamming of car doors. Either I had lost track of time or they had come back early. I blew the candles out quickly and moved them onto my nightstand. I brushed the contents atop the Ouija board into the garbage bin between our beds and had barely managed to shove the Ouija board under my bed before Alexandra, carried by our father, was brought into the room. She was crying softly as father set her down into bed. He kissed her gently on the forehead as he tucked the sheets in. He then looked at me sternly and told me to be nice to my sister as she had taken a tumble on the ice. He then left the room without kissing me or even saying goodnight. I could see her smug smile in the moonlight and as I crawled under the covers any guilt I had about summoning a demon to punish her quickly evaporated.

My eyes rolled back into my head as my eyelids slowly opened. I groaned softly as I put a hand gingerly onto my head. I rolled to my side curling into a ball, remembering where I was. I looked over to Alexandra’s bed but she was alone, her arms still tied up. I listened for a moment to the silence in the room before sliding out from underneath the bed. I got to my feet and walked over to Alexandra. She was naked lest her pyjama shirt riding high up onto her shoulders. There was a spattering of red on the sheets below her vagina and several small slashes on her torso. Her neck was covered with rough, red marks that looked like fingerprints fading away slowly. Her eyes were open but they stared at me blankly. The floor behind me creaked and I whipped around, my eyes flying wide open. I held my breath as I looked from side to side seeing nothing in front of me. A laugh from behind made me whirl around. Alexandra’s eyes were suddenly filled with rage and her mouth open in a silent scream. The floor behind me creaked again and laughter filled the room. Alexandra began to slowly sit up, her mouth creaking in silent motions.

Unable to scream I stumbled on my feet as I turned and darted for the door. I slammed hard into the beast. I fell backwards and landed roughly on the floor. I pulled myself up to a half seated position as he turned to face me. He knelt down, leaning in close to me and roared loudly. I screamed. It laughed at me as it began to drag its cloven feet along the floor towards me. I scampered backwards, my hands tripping over clothes and other knick knacks until I hit the wall. It grabbed me by the neck, pulled me to my feet and then slid my body up the wall with its inhuman strength. My feet dangled and kicked beneath me and my hands fought furtively trying to pry its hand off of my neck as I gasped for air. The beast man was as tall as the room was high and the moonlight glistened off his now blood soaked body. His black hair was now matted down over his face, hiding his features from me. I could see nothing more then green glittery eyes staring me down. It gave me a toothy grin before smacking me on the side of my head and letting me drop. My world again, fell black before I could even hit the floor.

I awoke to the wailing cries of my parents as they embraced a dead Alexandra and a strange woman standing above me. I scrambled to my feet, pushed past the woman and towards my bed. My parents, surprisingly, took me into their arms and began to console me. Abruptly I began to cry. They held me tight, stroking my hair. I began to apologize over and over again. Telling them how sorry I was. That I hadn’t wanted her to get hurt. That I didn’t mean for this to happen. Over and over again I apologized for bringing the furry beast into our home.

They didn’t hear my words, but the strange woman had. She knelt down in front of me and assured me that they had the man that had done this in custody. She pulled out her phone and showed me a picture of a shirtless man with mousy, matted down black hair and green eyes. I shook my head violently from side to side, curled in tighter into my parents arms and wailed.