“CARL!” I scream into the black of night awaking the real Carl and the real mom and dad in the hotel room. Terror gripped my vocal chords and kept me from speaking anymore, all that came up was choked up sobs and moans of pain and fear. “What the hell?!” says my dad who was sound asleep, well “was”. He sheds off the coves and comes to my bedside, not to yell at me but to hold me.
It was unexpected, I honestly thought he was just going to yell at me and I was going o have to go back to sleep in a pool of tears. “Honey are you ok?” My mom asks as she grabs a hold of Carl from his crib and there he was in mom’s arms; perfectly fine and crying from being woken up by my shrill scream. She then comes to me with Carl in her arms.
Suddenly I am held close by both of my parents tears dripping from my eyes, cheeks red like fire. “It was so horrible! Carl, is he okay?” I ask frantically and almost hysterically. Then mom showed my Carl in her arms, safe and ok. Oh god that was such a relief, I have never felt so scared in my life. I – I don’t know what I could have done if that was real. If somehow Carl were to die so young, I would have never forgiven myself, and I would never in a billion years forgive Jacob. It was him I know it, he’s why all this is happening. All the nightmares. He needs to be gone, for good.
I suddenly find myself doing something that I never had done before. I quickly reach for Carl and hold him close while mom held him at the same time, gently cradling his head and body with my arms as well as moms for support.Never have I cared for Carl; I mean I guess I always loved him but this was the first time I actually showed it and I suddenly felt that I was no longer the forgotten child or the annoying brat I felt as though I was still mom and dad’s kid and there just so happenes to be this small fragile thing that needs me as much as I need him. And I no longer hated Carl, but loved him. And above all else I was afraid for him.
“Carl’s fine Sarah everything will be okay? Alright?” Mom tells me as she hugs me and Carl close together. No I don’t believe that, for some odd reason I feel as though that the dream was a warning, I don’t believe we are safe, not at all.
1 WEEK LATER…
It has been a week since I last heard from Jacob and I am starting to believe that I have finally gotten rid of him. He is gone and I was safe… Carl was safe.
This past week we have been spending in the hotel room, the police was still cleaning up what happened at the house and it became what they called a crime scene which means we can no longer set foot there until the case is solved or until a certain period of time passes. I minded the gruesome mess Jacob had left but I had not minded being able to spend all this time with Carl and my parents. We have been going out to places all week. For instance we went to go to the Kids museum on 6th avenue and boy was that fun, They had like learning centers in certain spots of the museum that were kind of like play centers with cool looking stuff. Then next we went to go see this really cool movie in 3-D, that was me and dad personally it was my first movie that I saw that was PG-13 but dad and I agreed to not tell mom. There was only like two bad words in it and was actually pretty cool.
Today however, we were going to the zoo at Reid Park. “Honey you got everything?” yelled mom from the bathroom as me and dad were packing stuff in a backpack and the diaper bag for carl. It was a cloudy day so we didn’t need sunblock and we didn’t need an umbrella because the forecast didn’t call for rain today. We were all dressed in shorts and casual shorts while Carl wore this cute shirt that read: “Rawr!” with a cartoon dinosaur printed on it. “We got everything!” Dad yelled back. “Are you sure we don’t need to bring an umbrella it looks pretty cloudy out there.” I asked dad. “No we are fine, this is perfect weather in Arizona. Relax.” I nod and place Carl’s rattle in the Diaper bag next to the back pack. Dad seems to notice this and nudges at my arm while chuckling. “What?” I ask as a grin formed on my face. “It just amazes me how you’ve grown. Your mother is proud of you honey.” I was curious as to how she was proud of me. “Why is she?” I ask. “Well… When Carl was born you seemed to show disinterest.” “Was it that obvious?” I ask feeling a little bad about how I have been acting toward Carl. “Yeah, but believe me I understand-“ I raised a questionable brow. “How?” I ask him.
“Well” He starts with a sigh. “When I was your age, your uncle Charlie was born, and I didn’t react too well to him being the new kid in the block, but come the next couple months- I got closer to him. That’s when I realized that he was my responsibility to take care of him and keep him safe. Trust me it was hard but you know what?” “What?” I reply.
“He’s my brother and I love him to death, no matter what Sarah, we protect our family and keep each other safe, not because it is our responsibility, but because we love each other.” In that instant I felt like I had a bigger role in Carl’s life and I was happy to know that I wasn’t alone in my position, that I wasn’t the only one going through what I was going through. And Jacob’s story could never have as much meaning as Dad’s and I was glad that Jacob was no longer a part of me. “I love you dad.” I say as I hug his pant leg and he lowers down to my level and hugs me as well. “I love you too, sweetheart.”
*
We finally reach the zoo after we face 20 minutes worth of traffic but it was worth it. It was super cloudy and cool and the animals were up and about, and best of all: no Jacob. The zoo was almost exactly like a jungle only with fences and warning signs telling us not to feed the animals. Behind us and in front of us were families and crowds exploring the zoo; few crowed the concession stand to our far right and the rest were families just like us headed toward their favorite exhibits.
“Hey honey we should go see the Elephants!” Mom says in excitement toward dad, for some reason they have always been mom’s favorite animal. And coincidently they were my favorite as well. We stood near the concession stand, Dad then looked to her with a smile and agreed. “Sure go ahead, I think Carl needs his diaper changed anyway.” Dad said nodding toward the stroller in which Carl sat uncomfortably in his wet diaper. He lets out a loud moan of discomfort and dad leans over in front of the stroller to pick him up. “You guys go ahead we’ll catch up.” I stood next to mom and tugged at her leg. “Let’s go see the Elephants mom.” I suggest. She looks to dad “Are you sure hun? We can wait.” Dad quickly replies: “No it’s okay, go ahead, me and the little man here will find you guys.” He says nodding toward Carl who coos in his arms. “Okay, love you.” Mom said. “Love you too.” Dad says as he snags a diaper bag out of the stroller’s undercarriage and takes Carl to the bathrooms nearby. Me and mom go with the stroller toward the Elephant exhibit since all of our water and stuff is in the undercarriage.
We finally get to the elephants, behind a giant ten foot tall chain-link fence was the elephant pit: a giant section of the zoo devoted to the elephants here; complete with a watering hole, a couple of giant beach balls and plenty of space for them to move around. There were two elephants there one was in the corner spraying water on itself and the other was closer to the fence playing with the beach ball. “Hey look mom!” I say in excitement as we approach the fence, “I see honey.” She says. We get closer and then we are finally up close along with several others lining against the railing before the fence.
I and mom looked on at the elephant as it did a balancing trick with the ball. It was at the tip of his trunk as he balanced it at the edge; it stayed there for like a whole ten seconds before he suddenly dropped it then looked at me and mom. The crowd was applauding him but he paid no mind, there was no reaction to the crowd but a great amount of his attention came to me and mom. Then the applause died down when we realized that it wasn’t doing anything, just standing there… staring at me.
“Sarah… “
Oh no not him! I thought I was rid of him! The fear in my eyes shows and my heartbeat becomes very loud. “Oh no.” I whispered.
“Don’t you like me anymore Sarah?” He asks, due to the sound I would say he was behind us and that he had gotten the elephant’s attention “Go away.” I whisper again hoping to God that he would just leave. Why doesn’t he just go away? He has done enough damage as it is. Protection or not, he wasn’t here to protect me he was here to make my life hell, I know it.
“How could you say that?! Why Sarah? WHY?!” He was growing louder and louder in my head and it started to hurt; I winced and sighed in pain holding my head as if I had a headache. “Sarah, what’s wrong?” Mom asks. The elephant then starts to charge toward the fence. “SARAH MOVE!” Mom says as she grabs me and moves out of the way ditching the stroller before the elephant could charge its way out of the gate. The gate suddenly comes crashing down and the elephant had already crushed the stroller along with injuring some people who stood close by as it escaped; it then shrugs off the pain and lets out a loud trump; his trunk swinging back and forth, the elephant was now on the walkway as people screamed in panic and run away. Me and mom quickly recover and stand up from our position ten feet away from the now destroyed fence.
We look toward the elephant that was now panicking for some reason. “FINE, PROTECT YOURSELF YOU FUCKING BRAT!” The rage in his voice shook my insides and racked my brain like a blunt object had struck me. “Evelyn!” Dad shouted Mom’s name from a few yards behind us. “Dad!” I shout still in pain. “Keith, keep the baby away!” Mom warns before dad could tend to us.
That’s when we heard snapping and tearing almost as if flesh was being torn apart. We look to the elephant and we see it still standing but stood disturbingly still. The elephant just stood there as blood started to pour from its neck as dark red puddles began to form from blood dripping from behind its ears as well. Then before my eyes I see claw like tears in flesh begin to form between the elephants neck and behind its ears; the gray rough skin now penetrated and tearing apart on its own. The tear soon spreads all the way around the neck and behind its other ear.
Mom gasps and stares in awe just as everyone surrounding us had done. “Jacob, no.” I whisper. But he no longer cared; this was him doing this, nothing else, nothing more. There was no protection anymore, there will be only harm.
With this thought the elephant’s head falls in a bloody thud off the body, blood now pouring like a waterfall out of the neck, covering the ground in red liquid, the squish of the elephants head rolling over in its own blood was enough to make mom throw up away from me and on the sidewalk we stood on and stream tears from her now red and exhausted eyes. I now stood there tears streaming down my eyes at the most traumatizing thing that I will ever experience, this coming from the girl who has seen every death known to man up to this point; seems pretty disturbing once you think about it.
The body of the elephant collapses in a loud thud in a puddle of blood, The PA system shouts for everyone to leave the zoo at once and to steer clear of the elephant exhibit, as to spare others of this trauma.
It was too late for us.
“It will be too late for you soon enough.” Jacob reassures me. I guess I was wrong; I wasn’t rid of him…
Not yet.
Hey Guys, HR here, letting you guys know that I apologize for taking so long with this one but as you can see I was contemplating whether or not the elephant’s head should fall off. Which was an easy decision… OFF WITH THE HEAD! JK lol but it was difficult to swallow such intense gore and disturbing images. I apologize if it seemed too much but It is all in the name of horror. Anyways I hope you like it 🙂 after this story I will present you with something a little less “gore-fest”. BTW We are close and as soon as we get five more followers I will starts a new blog and run this one at the same time: the new one will be dedicated to romance so if you like sappy romantic shiz you can go there, but don’t worry I “Hell’s Reject” Will still exist and will be able to fuel your need for fear and all things gore and goth. Stay awesome guys and tune in to the last two Frightful Fridays that will wrap up this series! 😀
Sincerely, HR
Hells Reject 