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Around 1967, I went missing for a few hours. This could have been me, luckily not. The Jersey Beast reigned terror on the island for 11 years, and was caught in 1971.

It was a terrible mistake.

He assumed Portia had it covered, and she assumed Stewart had it covered.

Neither had it covered, as they discovered when Portia came into his home office and asked the question that propelled them into hell.

“Honey, where is Rhea?”

At first he looked at her quite blankly, his mind had been so far away conjuring up images of his new secretary with her, long blonde, honey hair and china blue eyes, bent into various seductive poses, that it took a good few seconds to come back down to earth and his erection to start subsiding.

He put his hands into his lap.

“Rhea? She's with you?”

“No, you said you would keep an eye out for her while I finished the letter to Mum”

He shook his head. Had he said that?

“I thought you had Rhea, darling”

His wife's face changed, similar to a bright blue sky being overtaken with black storm clouds, lines began to appear as deep creases. She pondered his words, as if the process was hurting her.

“So where is she?! I've been downstairs nearly an hour!” Portia whispered

If Portia had been honest with herself, she would have known her mind had also been elsewhere.

It had been three days since Seth had called, telling her the affair was over. Stewart was his best friend, and he was finding the lies a struggle, his wife had already become suspicious after a receipt for a hotel had been found when his suit went into the dry cleaners. He had managed to blag that one, but he felt it was a matter of time before the s**t hit the fan, and he wanted to put a stop to it before people got hurt. Or they got in too deep.

Portia had not taken it well. She loved the sex, she loved being loved. She thought she might love Seth.

Since the birth of Rhea four years ago, Stewart had become less attentive towards her, love making was snatched in between naps, and that was if the couple were not collapsing from exhaustion from a baby that rarely slept. They talked less. They cuddled less. Eventually, they came to the conclusion that having a child changed things, and both escaped to places where secrets were held.

The one common thread that ran through both Stewart and Portia's mind was the Jersey Beast.

The beast that snatched up children and raped them.

Portia flew out of the door shouting for Rhea, Stewart could hear her heels clattering at great speed down the wooden stair case, and followed.

They frantically searched the house, every wardrobe, cupboard, under the bed, all Rhea's little hiding places.

As Portia entered the kitchen she felt the breeze on her face, enveloping her hair, the smell of cut grass still fresh danced lightly in the air.

She noticed the back door open, the cat sitting on the porch looking thoroughly bored, and screamed

“Stewart!”

Sobbing, she could smell the rubber mask of the Jersey Beast, feel his nail studded wristlets graze against her skin, and the full horror of all the circulating stories came crashing down upon her while Stewart reached for the phone.

Reviews

[Lauren Xena Campbell]

This has chilled me. The thought of it is terrifying. Losing a child would be a terrible thing. The fear that you would never see them again but that fear must be made worse when there are reports of such criminals near by. This is a shocking and horrifying concept, may no one ever have to go though it again.

[Psycho-delic Shawn]

So used to reading your poetry that I had to do a double take to find out who created this enthralling realistic story. I think you should write more short stories, Bubo. You have a knack for them.

[Randall Andrews]

A very realistic view of events that could have happened to this family. A bit disturbing and I thought it could have been a little longer, but you wanted to get the true sense of terror in the characters. The description of the killer was precise and the conflict between husband and wife was real enough. I would like to say that it brought to my attention the importance of honesty in a marriage so things like what happened in this particular story would not happen over time.

[Miss Coral]

Nicely written story, though I'd desperately been wishing for a happy ending. :o
There were a couple comma splices, but I think everything was fine otherwise. Love the character development. Nicely done.


-Coral-

[{A}]

I like the plausible realism to this; it was too lightly written to make much of an impact and I feel that the ending was too short.

[KL]

This was a really good piece of writing. Grammatically correct, spelling flawless and punctuation punctual... unlike so many 'stories' on this site. I thought it a bit humorous at first, then was slapped in the face with the ending paragraph. Like something out of Stephen King, haha, well done Bubz.

[Rain (YouoweYoupay)]

The events and situations of both couples were explained in a compressed, yet sufficient piece of space. I felt the killing suspense from the sentence: His wife's face changed, similar to a bright blue...etc until the very end. Awsome write. Thanks for sharing.

[Gary H]

I think you have a good story but there is a confusion in the points of view being used. Are you reporting what has happened, looking partly through someone's thoughts and feelings or noting one persons reactions. Chosing one of these 'voices' would streamline the whole structure.
The start of the piece would be more frightening with 'Honey, where is Rhea?' as the opening. This quickly draws the reader in wanting to know where or what has happened to Rhea. 'It was a terrible mistake' sounds too vague as though the writer is unsure of what's coming next.
Hope this makes sense as it's an important piece of work to get viewed.

[Orlando Furioso]

Oh how we do drift, love fades, and we become distracted by others' youthful pulse. Of course it's life in all it's forms, in the love, marriage and parenthood, in the younger woman who can't help being young and beautiful, in the man's lust for life ... and in the beast, too, in his own wrong-headed way. The key thing is how reliable our moral circuit-breakers are. Strong morals wld have prevented the young woman reaching for forbidden sex with a MM, and wld have prevented the MM from straying from the bosom of his family -- literally, and, had the beast had them, wld have prevented him from indulging his vile lust. Yet morals do not seem in fashion now. The focus is on individualism, self-expression, experimentation, thrill-seeking, hedonistm, materialism in all. We have forgotten how beautiful morals are, and the wisdom of saying 'no' to our inner ugliness, for that is what such weakness is, ugly, ugly, ugly. But who says no these days? Your story makes me think and shows how 'our little slips' may lead to terrible, life-wrecking consequences.

[Matthews Reggie]

terrifying both the pic and the story... amazing work.... enjoyed it..

[Ladysue]

This was a very good story. I was captivated from the start. A horrifying thought for any parent...you penned well....