The Boy – Day 4

“So, exactly where was she laying?”

“Right over there.”

“Show me.”

Tommy walked through the crumbling outer door, back into the shawdowy interior. He hadn’t been back here since he found the body. He was afraid of it, but it was a bit weird.

Tommy walked into the room. He stepped over the rotting boards and around the broken glass. He didn’t notice the lady hanging back. He didn’t notice the tears forming in the lady’s eyes. He didn’t notice the rusty pipe the lady was holding behind her back.

“Here. She was laying right here.”

There was enough light filtering through the broken window panes to see where the blood had pooled. It was still obvious where the trash in the room had been moved around by the emergency crew that had responded to the body call.

The lady moved past Tommy, actually bumping him out of the way. She knelt down by the blood pool, and slowly, almost hyponitically reached down and touched it. The blood had long since dried, but she raised her fingers to her face as if they were covered in red. She gently brushed her fingers with her lips and remained motionless for quite some time.

Tommy figured it was time to go. He turned around and started walking toward the opening that use to be a door.

“Hey. Stop.”

Tommy stopped.

The lady turned away from the blood spot. She moved slowly toward Tommy. Tommy finally noticed the pipe she was holding as she was bringing it out from behind her back.

“Don’t move.”

Tommy stared at the lady. He stared at the pipe. And he stared at the door, which seemed to get farther and farther as the lady got closer to him.

The lady pulled the pipe up over her head and started a strong arch directly at Tommy. Tommy knew it was too late to move, so he just put his arms over his head and waited for the blow to fall.

The pipe whizzed through the air until it connected solidly. Rusty iron met hair, skin, and muscle. The rusty iron won, bursting upon its target -- pieces actually springing out of the twitching body which soon went limp.

There was moment of complete silence, finally broken by Tommy’s loud voice: “Jesus lady. You scared the crap out of me.”

Down at Tommy’s feet was the biggest rat he had ever seen. The lady just stood there, the bloody pipe dangling from her arm.

“Bye lady.” Tommy almost ran out of the wreck of a house. No one had shown up to play ball, so Tommy just went home. He didn’t mention anything to his mom about the house, the lady, or the rat. This doesn’t mean he didn’t think about it.