Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jenny had been sent to bed early that night. She’d been punished for some silly thing or another. She couldn’t remember what, really. They were always doing that to her. They didn’t want her around. They wanted her out of the way so they could be alone with their bottles. She didn’t mind. They were fighting again. Her mom furious at her dad for spending too much money on something or other. He hadn’t gone to work that morning, which had made her mom even angrier. Jenny knew her father had stayed in bed half the day, after her mother had gone to work waiting on tables. Jenny knew he’d had another one of those mysterious headaches he got when he drank too much the night before.

When her mother had come home a little while ago, she hadn’t been too happy at seeing him and the shouting had begun. Jenny could have recited by heart the scene that was to follow. It was always the same. Clever Jenny, she knew to stay out of their sight, out of their range of fire.

So she sneaked outside and hid beneath the window, until night came. She grew frightened of the dark, though, which was full of whispers and danger, and crept past her battling parents to her room.

That’s when she’d made her mistake. They were busy throwing things at each other and there was so much noise. It was worth the risk because ever since that boy Timmy had been killed, Jenny imagined this monster out there in the woods who loved to eat little children. That’s what had happened to poor old Timmy…the kid-eating monster had him for dinner. She wrapped her arms tightly around her body and tiptoed through the kitchen and into the darkened hall. She could see her parents in the next room yelling at each other. Her mother’s face was red and angry and her father was pretending not to hear. They were right by the door. She’d never get past them to her room, where they thought she was sleeping.

Silently, she slipped back into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator enough to get her hand inside. She didn’t want to open it so wide that the light would alert them. She was hungry. They’d sent her to bed without supper again. Spying two wrinkled apples on the rear shelf she reached for them. Better than nothing, at least they’d stop her stomach from hurting.

She was tired of being hungry. Jeremy was so lucky he didn’t have two parents. All they did was fight and send you to bed without supper. There were times since she’d met Jeremy, she wished she was his real sister. That she could live with him and his mother. Then she remembered where they lived. No, not in the haunted house. She shuddered, unsure what she’d do about that the problem. Well, it didn’t make any difference, she wasn’t one of them. She went back to the door, the apples tight in her hands. Her parents were throwing stuff at each other now, she sighed and slid down to the floor by the door to wait. Sooner or later they’d pass out. Then she could slip into her room and go to bed.

A long time went by. She devoured the apples and waited. She catnapped against the wall whenever the shouting subsided. Finally, they calmed down, turned the television up and got interested in some show.

Jenny made her move. All she’d have to do was slink around the corner behind their backs and burrow into her room. It should have been easy since their eyes were glued to the television set, but nothing seemed easy for Jenny these days.

“Now what’s this? What are you up to, brat?” Her mother turned and caught sight of her as Jenny got half way across the back of the front room. She jumped up and grabbed her by the scuff of the neck like some wayward kitten. “Got ya! Where have you been?” Her mother’s speech was slurred, hateful. Her eyes told Jenny she was going to get it now. She’d get a beating no matter what she said or did. She’d better accept it and get it over with. At least, afterwards, she could cry herself to sleep.

Her eyes slid towards her father for help, but there was no help. He didn’t even seem to know what was going on, much less care about it. He smiled a mindless smirk at her over her head and Jenny knew she was lost. Her mother, irate and drunk, was far worse than her father.

“You little sneak!” Her mother slapped her. Jenny’s eyes slammed shut and she tried to protect herself as best she could until the rain of blows were over. It was all she could do. “Naughty child, running all over the neighborhood like some little thief. What have you been up to? No, good, I bet.”

“I haven’t done nothing, Mama,” Jenny whimpered and fought to keep from crying. Her mother liked it when she cried and would beat her worse if she didn’t. Yet Jenny had little of anything left but pride. So she kept the tears inside and bore a beating until her mother released her.

“You need to be taught a good lesson. Get some discipline in ya, or else you’ll grow up just plain bad.” Her mother let go of her but continued to glare at her.

Jenny lowered her eyes and tried to steal away. Please, let her forget me like she usually does. She tried not to hate them. They had so many troubles and that was why they drank too much. When they weren’t drinking they weren’t so bad. After all, they were her parents. But there were times, more frequent lately, when they didn’t seem to know when to stop hurting her, when they’d beat her too hard and draw blood. She could almost forget not to hate them then.

“She needs to be taught a lesson, George. A good beating with the broomstick. That’ll set her straight. Imagine her stealing out of her room like that. I’ll teach her,” she heard her mother threaten from the other room as Jenny cowered in her bed, sniffling. Her arms and back ached from the beating and suddenly she was more afraid than she’d ever been.

She waited in the dark room for her mother to come after her with the stick. She’d been beaten once with it and it was bad. It wasn’t going to happen again. She wouldn’t let it.

“Ha, here’s the stick. I’ll show that brat who’s boss.”

Jenny scrambled from her bed and scurried to and out the window into the waiting blackness without a moment’s hesitation or a glance back.

What had she done that was so wrong? She stayed out of their way, but somehow it wasn’t enough anymore. They hated her. They wanted her dead. There was no other explanation. She felt as if she was a tiny caged animal who was beaten over and over. The cage was open so she ran.

Into the warm summer’s night, pausing as she heard her mother in her empty room screaming for her to come back and take her punishment. Then her mind settled on a destination. Jeremy’s house. Haunted or not, it was where she was going. She knew Jeremy and his mom would take care of her. She flew down the driveway and across her yard, panting, so afraid they’d catch her before she could get to her friend’s house. They would be so mad at her if they caught her.

She darted down the vacant streets and through the darkened yards that lay hushed in the night world. It was a long way to Jeremy’s house, though, and she was already tired and bruised from the beating.

She’d have to go through part of the woods. It was shorter that way.

By the time she’d gone half-way she was limping. Her foot slipped and she stumbled, twisting her ankle. It hurt like the dickens, but she knew she couldn’t stop in the woods, alone, and at night. There was Timmy to think about. He’d gone out and never come back.

Only sheer desperation could have gotten her out there alone at night. There were scary trees everywhere glaring down at her, and it was so dark she couldn’t see her hands in front of her face.

Yet, she kept on running.

The trees! They were everywhere. Moving. One of them seemed to be loping clumsily, slowly separating itself from the other surrounding shadows. It was coming directly towards her. Its huge leafy arms reached for her as if it wanted to embrace her.

She stood there gaping up at it in shock, and as it came nearer she heard the growls it was making and its laughter on the night air. Jenny screamed. Too late, she tried to run away, but it grabbed her and lifted her like a twig from the ground.

Up…Up…So high she couldn’t see the ground. Then it dropped her.

Her left leg snapped and she dragged it behind her as she tried to get away. Instinct told her there wasn’t any use in wasting her breath pleading with whatever had her. She needed her energy to get away from it. What it was or why it was doing this to her she didn’t dare think about. A vague thought flitted through her mind, this was what had happened to Timmy.

It got her again and lifted her up. This time she didn’t recover from the fall. She didn’t hear the laughter and didn’t feel the claws or the teeth. She felt nothing. Jenny would never feel anything again. Her grave was dead leaves.

* * * *

It loomed over the girl’s broken body. Something as big as the sky, with fangs and claws and crimson embers for eyes. She’d died too easily.

It had been robbed of its sport.

It was so angry.