Margaret

“I saw her again. Mom, I swear, she… she was right outside.”

The child had come home crying that day. School was always the same. Denise wished her son would show some backbone.

“It’s those horror movies' fault, Ross, you’re not paying attention to your tests.” The matriarch divided her attention equally between the kid sobbing to her and the dishes she was washing.

“They’re dad’s movies!”

“And there’s nothing wrong with a scare now and then. But when you’re this much of a crybaby, why should you be watching them in the first place? I don’t see how you can even like such things…”

Ross’ head shook. There was no easy answer.

“It’s the truth, mom. She was just outside. The window of the classroom, she- she looked at me!”

“Probably a classmate. Maybe you ought to talk to her.”

“She was a grown-up! Taller than you…”

“No self-respecting grown woman stalks middle schools in a hockey mask. Though I must admit, your imagination does impress.”

“It’s not my imagination! She’s gonna take me, mom… the note, it said she was gonna take me away forever!”

Being yelled at by her child for the first time in forever, she couldn’t help but throw the dishes down and grab the kid’s thin face, hard enough so it would hurt. 

“Ross. You’re a lonely boy. And who you are now, that’s who you’re always gonna be. There’s nothing more to this world than what you see.”

“What about God, mom?”

“Oh, so you’re religious all of a sudden. Well I’m sorry to have offended your sensibilities. Maybe if you went to church you’d make some friends and wouldn’t have to hallucinate genderbent Jason Vorhees breaking into our house to watch those awful movies with you.”

Her only child hated that she was probably right.

Ross spent the night watching all three Terrifier films for the fifteenth time, alone in the den with a stolen can of beer from dad’s stock. The outcome of the movies never changed, but that was alright. It made sense to see the girls get hurt, over and over again. That was how it always was, just like real life. They were a very touching set of films.

The crumpled note still laid next to the child’s backpack. Seizing it, the message hadn’t changed either- it was just as it had been, the only proof the kid was still sane.

THEY’RE ALL LYING

ALL THE ATOMS OF THE EARTH

BUT IT’S GOING TO BE OKAY ONE DAY

I’M GONNA TAKE YOU FAR AWAY FOREVER

Ross really, really wanted to believe that.

As the tears began to fall, a mumur poked in from the night.

ccccRrrrreaaaak….

A tree scraped against the window- or so the lone media eater thought. Turning around to the dark of night just outside, it was clear to anyone to see that she really was there.

The androgynous shape looked at him through her plastic mask, ax in hand, scratching at the window once again in her misfitting old gown she didn’t bother to zip up if she could.

It was no use to fight. She wanted inside.

Ross gently opened the door, only to fall to the ground under what felt like the immense pressure of something otherworldly.

Pant. Pant. Pant. The fear in the child’s veins made any movement feel futile… until the silent slasher spoke.

“You can do anything.”

Even drunk off fear and booze, her gospel-like words came out to him clearer than anything he had ever heard in his life.

“Do you want to see just how interesting this place can be?”

“W-What place?”

She held up the mother’s head like it was a trophy.

“Your old world’s dead. Come see the real one.”

Throwing the head aside, Margaret stuck out her hand to her new friend, and the two ran into the woods of madness together, ready to face anything that awaited them.

                  —HELLMURDER GIRLS—

     STORIES FROM THE VFOREST OF HORROR

                            SECOND VOLUME