FLOORBOARD
The small dark hiding place below the floorboards now gapes like a pit waiting to swallow the unwary. Darkness seems to crawl from within the hole, spreading like a cancer to the floorboards around it. You shudder, but steel yourself to reach in and pull out the journal. Surprisingly, you find a small note as well.
The journal belongs to young Virgil, Elsie’s older stepbrother. It’s full of the type of prose and poetry that’s come to be expected from adolescence.
A few pages appear to contain drafts of a threatening letter eerily similar to the wording found on the note left behind at the scene of Rose’s kidnapping.
You hear a cough of disapproval from over your shoulder. You settle back to meet Virgil’s eyes, and find him glaring at you, fear and anger harshly combined on his young face.
“You’ve got the wrong idea!”
“How should I know? Everyone always talks like I’m supposed to be her keeper, just because mom married Charles. I’m not! And I don’t know what happened this time either! She was here, then gone, the end. I know Charles thought I had something to do with it then, and I can tell that you do now! I know everyone always thinks I’m always the bad guy, like my dad. And… I guess I’ve done some bad things, like letting those boys pick a fight cause I knew I’d get to hurt them back. But I didn’t hurt Elsie. She just a dumb harmless kid. Who would do anything to her?“
“Once we got back to the house, everyone was here, in the main room, except for Elsie. I saw the neighbor, Birdie, run up to my mom and start yelling about something. It must have been about the missing gnome I had taken. I remember that it was cold from the rain, and we were a little wet. Mom had made some hot cocoa so I grabbed a cup and ran to my room to make sure the gnome was well-hidden, just in case. When I got back to the family room… they were all dead! Jane was in the chair, and the salesman was on the floor. My mom… she was on the floor too… they were all dead! I ran into the hall and nearly tripped over the body of Birdie. I looked over and saw Emmett emerge from his room holding his stomach. He collapsed right then and there and I knew he was dead too! I ran back to the family room and hid in the corner… then I tasted it. The worst taste I’d ever had… like I had unfurled a roll of pennies in my mouth. My stomach ached, and I got dizzy. And then… and then I think I died.”
“Oh. Look, you’ve got the wrong idea. Yeah, I wrote that, but it was just a joke! Like I said, everyone always wanted me to play with Elsie more, and I’d been teasing Rose and Elsie about the dumb curse everyone always talks about. We were playing hide-n-seek, and I had found a great tree to hide in. I left the note, and was going to wait until the kids started to get worried, then jump out! You know, like that Tom Sawyer book? Well then everyone was really scared, and I realized they were shouting about Rose. That man in the hat must’ve… But then there were police and reporters, and I was too scared to admit to the letter. No one was supposed to believe it anyway! It was just some silly family story to spook kids with…”
“The all-seeing eye
believes it true,
That seconds fly,
and half are through.”
It’s certainly no Cecil Day Lewis, but it’s interesting none the less.
A few pages appear to contain drafts of a threatening letter eerily similar to the wording found on the note left behind at the scene of Rose’s kidnapping.
You hear a cough of disapproval from over your shoulder. You settle back to meet Virgil’s eyes, and find him glaring at you, fear and anger harshly combined on his young face.
“You’ve got the wrong idea!”
“How should I know? Everyone always talks like I’m supposed to be her keeper, just because mom married Charles. I’m not! And I don’t know what happened this time either! She was here, then gone, the end. I know Charles thought I had something to do with it then, and I can tell that you do now! I know everyone always thinks I’m always the bad guy, like my dad. And… I guess I’ve done some bad things, like letting those boys pick a fight cause I knew I’d get to hurt them back. But I didn’t hurt Elsie. She just a dumb harmless kid. Who would do anything to her?“
“Once we got back to the house, everyone was here, in the main room, except for Elsie. I saw the neighbor, Birdie, run up to my mom and start yelling about something. It must have been about the missing gnome I had taken. I remember that it was cold from the rain, and we were a little wet. Mom had made some hot cocoa so I grabbed a cup and ran to my room to make sure the gnome was well-hidden, just in case. When I got back to the family room… they were all dead! Jane was in the chair, and the salesman was on the floor. My mom… she was on the floor too… they were all dead! I ran into the hall and nearly tripped over the body of Birdie. I looked over and saw Emmett emerge from his room holding his stomach. He collapsed right then and there and I knew he was dead too! I ran back to the family room and hid in the corner… then I tasted it. The worst taste I’d ever had… like I had unfurled a roll of pennies in my mouth. My stomach ached, and I got dizzy. And then… and then I think I died.”
“Oh. Look, you’ve got the wrong idea. Yeah, I wrote that, but it was just a joke! Like I said, everyone always wanted me to play with Elsie more, and I’d been teasing Rose and Elsie about the dumb curse everyone always talks about. We were playing hide-n-seek, and I had found a great tree to hide in. I left the note, and was going to wait until the kids started to get worried, then jump out! You know, like that Tom Sawyer book? Well then everyone was really scared, and I realized they were shouting about Rose. That man in the hat must’ve… But then there were police and reporters, and I was too scared to admit to the letter. No one was supposed to believe it anyway! It was just some silly family story to spook kids with…”
“The all-seeing eye
believes it true,
That seconds fly,
and half are through.”
It’s certainly no Cecil Day Lewis, but it’s interesting none the less.