The Sociopath

Alex is six years old. Can a child really be born to kill?

THE SOCIOPATH
BY ZEBRIAL J. GOSSAGE




THE BEGINNING
    
    It was a summer in Oakville, Illinois that Christine Adhums would never forget.  Her son Alex Adhums was six years old. He was rather big for his age.  He sat playing with his toy trucks and action figures. The cheap ones you get at a dollar store. His mother was very cheap when it came to her son. His pet hamster Steve roamed freely on the brown carpet around him. His mother sat in the kitchen smoking her nasty home rolled cigarettes. They were menthol and smelled like a dirty ash tray.  She smoked like a f*****g chimney and drank cheap whiskey like no other. She walked into the living room just to vent a little bit.
“Alex, where the hell are my car keys?” She asked angrily. She had nobody else to vent to because Alex’s dad abandoned them before Alex was even born. This lead to her alcohol problem.
“Alex!” She yelled again, waiting for a response. Alex looked up at her blankly, wondering why she was screaming at him.
“What?” he asked in his cute childhood voice.
“Where are my car keys?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged cutely. How Christine could treat him so badly was a mystery. He was so innocent as far as the eye could see.
    Christine walked into the kitchen and grabbed her keys off the counter. She knew they were there but just loved bitching about the most ridiculous things.
“I’m running to the liquor store. Don’t be getting into s**t.”
“Okay mommy.” Alex smiled. He was used to being left alone, his mother was real s****y and didn’t know a thing about being a mother. But she sheltered him and fed him, and even bought him cheap toys so nobody could possibly know how bad she really was. Even his preschool teacher Mrs. Devin had no clue. Alex was smart but quiet and somewhat awkward at times but this didn’t give her any suspicion of Christine’s parenting.
    Christine headed out the front door that looked like it was about to fall in, while Alex kept playing with his toys and hamster. He began to hear a creepy noise coming from above him, the kind of noise that would make a kid run to his mommy but Alex didn’t run. He stared blankly above him. Alex began to interpret words out of the sounds.
“Kill……--”
“Kill?” Alex asked in a confused tone, but the noise had faded away.
    Alex continued playing with his toys for a moment but something shiny caught his eye from the kitchen. It was a steak knife laying on the counter. His mother told him not to play with the knives but he didn’t care, she wouldn’t know he thought to himself. He ran into the kitchen and grabbed the knife off the counter. He felt the blade, it was sharp but a little worn from being used so much. He liked the way it felt. Blood began to run down his hand, he had accidentally slit his finger. He didn‘t even know it, most kids would have cried, but he was different. He watched it bleed. He was intrigued. He looked into the other room at Steve and curiosity filled his growing mind. Not the kind of growing mind a six year old boy should have, but the growing mind of a monster becoming. He grabbed the hamster up and began to cut little slits into his stomach. Steve squirmed and fought but it did him no good. The blood gushing out of him was dark and thick. Moments later Steve was lifeless.
    Christine got home and walked in the door. Alex sat on the kitchen floor with blood all over him, knife still in hand. He was in some sort of daze.
“Alex! What the f**k?” She screamed. She almost puked at the site of Steve. She never thought such a little rodent could carry so much blood. She told Alex to go to his room but he was still off in his own world. She smacked him in the face. He looked at her blankly.
“Go to your room!“ He stood up and handed Christine the knife. He ran to his room quickly to get away from his moms yelling. He could tell she was upset. She wrapped Steve up in a paper towel and threw him in the trash can. Only a drink of her whiskey could calm her nerves. She poured herself a glass and began to gulp it down as if it were water.

    Shortly after catching a buzz, she began to feel guilty. She felt Alex’s behavior was her fault, she needed to be a better parent. She went into Alex’s room and sat beside him. He was reading a book, at least the words he could read, but more or less looking at the pictures.
“Alex why did you do that to Steve?” She asked.
“I cut my finger mommy and red stuff came out.” he showed her the cut.
“That red stuff is blood. Still why did you do that to your hamster?”
“Blood?” He asked.
“Yes blood. Now answer me damnit!” She began to get impatient.
“I wanted to know what his blood looked like.” He said, which was disturbing to Christine.
“Well you cant do that, it’s bad. Okay?”
“Okay.” Alex sighed.
    For the first night since Alex was a baby Christine kissed him on the forehead and tucked him in. She shut his light off and went back to the kitchen to pour another drink. The rest of the night she sat up worrying about Alex’s behavior, which was a surprise because Christine usually never gave a flying f**k about Alex’s actions. She called her friend David over to talk and have a couple drinks. They weren’t a couple but just liked to get drunk and f**k.
“He’s six years old, I don’t see this being a problem unless he does something like it over and over.” David stated after hearing the whole story.
“Are you sure? I think he’s a psycho.” Christine said.
“Now don’t be mean Christine, every boy has destructive curiosity when they’re younger. Which is why you’re here to show him right from wrong.”  He took a sip of his drink.
“If you say so.” Christine took a deep breath and let it pass, but she still felt guilty.
    The night ended with the two of  them in Christine’s bed f*****g like animals.
Christine moaned so loud it woke Alex. He got up and walked to her room. They forgot to shut the door and he could see them perfectly. Their clothes were all over the floor and he could see them moving all around the bed. Once they were finished Alex was already back in bed and they had no idea he was even there.

    The next morning Christine woke up hung over as s**t. David had already gotten up and left for work. He was a supervisor at the local factory. Christine didn’t work. She collected disability for her depression.  She’d only spend a little bit of the money on Alex. Most of his toys were free from distant family members on holidays or from a cheap dollar store.  
    She walked into the kitchen and brewed up some coffee. It was a German blend and it smelled real good. Alex was watching cartoons and being hyper like most kids his age. He was laughing at the sight of torture. Although they were just cartoon characters it still amused him a little more than normal. Christine lit up a smoke and walked into the living room and sat on the sofa. She monitored Alex’s behavior. It seemed pretty normal to her though.
“Mom where is Steve?” Alex asked randomly.
“He’s in heaven.”  
“What’s heaven?” Alex asked. Christine’s head thumped as she began to sweat out the alcohol from the night before.
“Heaven is where you go when you die.”
“What were you and David doing last night?” Alex asked. Christine began to feel nervous.
“When did you see David?” she asked.
“I saw you both in your bed.”
“We were-- wrestling.” She answered, feeling a bit of relief.
“Do people always wrestle naked?”
“Alex… Lets go get some ice cream.” She changed subject. Alex jumped up in excitement. He rarely got to have ice cream but he loved it. They headed up town side by side. People stared as they walked by. It was as if they were strangers. Christine hardly ever took Alex anywhere. She always left him home unless he was going to school.
    They got to the grocery store and walked inside. The cashier greeted them. Christine let Alex pick out some ice cream. He got some chocolate vanilla swirl, a special blend that he had never tried before. The cashier rung it up and smiled.
“That’ll be 5 dollars.” The cashier said. His name was Rodney according to his name tag. He had a scraggly long beard and long black hair.
“Thanks.” He said as they walked out the door.
    The walk home was rather interesting, Alex began to talk to himself. Christine didn’t find it unusual until he started singing “Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill.” Christine stopped him in his tracks.
“Why are you saying that, Alex?” She asked.
“Somebody said it to me last night when you went to the store. What is kill?” He asked. Christine felt a little spooked out when he said somebody told him that while she was gone.  She kneeled down  and got eye to eye with Alex.
“Who was at our house? Why didn’t you say anything?” She asked, getting upset.
“I don’t know. I couldn’t see them mommy. They were in the ceiling.” Christine grew confused and began to think hard, but she couldn’t grasp what it could have been. She stood back to her feet and they continued home. When they got inside the phone was ringing. Christine answered and David was on the other line.
“I got off work early. How are things going?” he asked.
“Not good. Can we talk?” She asked. He could hear the worry in her voice.
“Yeah, I’ll be over right away.”
“No, lets meet at the park.”
“Okay, see you soon.” He hung up and Christine told Alex they were going to the park. He wasn’t quite sure what the park was but he thought it sounded fun, so he got excited.

    At the park the sun was shining, two birds were chirping along a bush in the distance, Christine sat on the bench while Alex played on the slides by himself. He wasn’t having as much fun as he thought he would but he kept playing hoping for some sort of excitement. David showed up moments later and sat with Christine. He still had his work clothes on and smelled like a factory. He lit up a smoke and held his pack out to Christine, offering her one.
“No I got some.” She said.
“Well, what’s on your mind?” he asked.
“It’s Alex, he said somebody was talking to him from the ceiling last night, they were saying kill. I don’t know what to think about it.” She sighed.
“He was probably using his imagination, you need to get him away from the television. Start bringing him here more.” David said, calming Christine down a little bit.
“You’re right. Kids do have big imaginations.” She chuckled.
“See. Everything’s going to be fine. You just got to show him a little more attention and care. You know how things are.” Christine looked over at the slide and saw nobody playing.
“Where’s Alex?” Christine asked, standing up. They ran over to the slide where Alex was playing and yelled for him. He came walking out from behind the bush with blood on his hands.
“What happened?” Christine asked, running up to him.
“I fell.” Alex stated.  Christine walked him over to the bench and gathered her things.
“Lets go get this cleaned up.” She said. David watched, intrigued by Christine’s surprisingly new urge to care.
“I’ll give you guys a ride.” David said. They got in his truck and drove off. They had no idea that behind the bush were two dead birds, with their eyes gouged out by a stick. Alex had done it again and nobody had a clue.
    
    Christine invited David over for the night. After she cleaned the blood off Alex’s hand. She never stopped to think about the fact that there was not a single cut on Alex’s hand to cause the blood, just the slit on his finger from the night before. She continued on and made a nice hot supper and even switched over to iced tea instead of whiskey. David drank a beer but only one. They had barbecue chicken and mashed potatoes, Alex ate like he hadn’t eaten in days.
“I love mashed tatoes” He said in a real cute voice. Christine and David chuckled. They sat and ate quietly, carrying on small talk while they feasted.
“You ready for kindergarten, Alex?“ David asked. Alex shook his head up and down with a big smile on his face, his lips were glazed over with mashed potatoes and gravy.
“Who’s going to be your teacher?”
“Mrs.-”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Christine interrupted. Nothing more was said till the food was gone.
    After supper David helped Christine clear the table and clean up the dishes. Alex went back to his cartoons. David insisted Christine make him watch something else but Christine disagreed.
“A little bit of cartoons wont hurt him. Lots of kids watch cartoons.”
“I guess you’re right.” David agreed. The sky was turning dark and the sun was fading away, it wasn’t much longer and the moon had taken over and the night sky filled with beautiful stars.
    Christine tucked Alex in again and kissed him on the forehead. She shut his door so they could hear if Alex were to come out. She didn’t want a repeat of the night before. David was already in her bed, clothes off, ready for sex and ready for sleep. Christine joined him, but she wasn’t really in the mood. David sighed but pretended like he didn’t mind. They cuddled with each other and drifted into sweet dreams, the same didn’t happen for Alex though, he drifted into a nightmare. It wasn’t a typical nightmare either. It was filled with darkness. A creature ever so gruesome. It called itself Charles the Man Eating-Slug. He spoke of how he killed Alex’s hamster and how if Alex didn’t carry out his wishes he would be next.
“What is kill?” Alex asked.
“Kill is the solution. The answer.” Charles responded in his deep demonic voice that was hypnotizing to Alex.
“How do I kill?” Alex asked, but before getting an answer he began to have a seizure. He screamed at the top of his lungs, waking Christine and David both. They ran into Alex’s room to see him shaking, it was like an exorcist but only real life. Christine started crying.
“F**k you! F**K YOU! F**K YOU! KILL!” Alex kept screaming. His mother grabbed him and held him still, he began to calm down and finally awoken from his slumber.
“Mommy?” Alex said blankly. “What are you doing?” He sat up and wiped the sweat off his forehead. Christine couldn’t answer, she could only hug him.
“Why are you crying?”
“I can’t deal with this.” David stated, walking out of the room to get his clothes.
“David, don’t leave.” Christine begged. She didn’t want to let Alex out of her arms so she couldn’t chase him. She heard the front door slam and David’s truck starting. He left with no intentions of ever going back. Alex had problems and David couldn’t deal with it. He had enough stress in his life.
“Mommy, where’d David go?” Alex asked.
“He went back home honey.” She wiped the leftover tears off her face and took a deep breath.
“In the morning we’re going to find you a doctor, honey.”
“Doctor? For what?” Alex asked. He was confused.
“I think you might be getting sick hun, it’ll be okay. Mommy just wants what’s best for you.”
“Okay.” Alex sighed. He didn’t like doctors. All he knew was the last time he went to a doctor they gave him a shot, and it hurt really bad.
    Christine let Alex sleep in her bed till morning, she grew very worried about him. She didn’t like what was going on, it terrified her what Alex may have been becoming. He slept through the rest of the night and made not a peep. Christine laid awake and watched him sleep peacefully. Tears dripped down her face as she rubbed his soft little head, running her fingers through his brown silky-smooth hair. Her depression grew stronger so she went to the kitchen and took her pills. The half bottle of whiskey still sat on the counter from the night before. She threw it in the trash without a single thought of drinking it in her mind. She wanted to better herself and she wanted to better Alex. Drinking was not the answer.
    
    The next morning a psychiatric doctor agreed to see Alex right away. His name was Dr. Dawsonn, a specialist in child behavior. They had to drive to a nearby town called Ruggaport. They arrived at the office and Alex used the restroom. The building was nice and well decorated. They had an inpatient and outpatient unit. It was two floors dedicated only to children with psychiatric needs.
    They sat in the waiting room patiently waiting for there turn. Alex’s name was called and they entered the office and were seated into a room with a young nurse named Amie. She was very pretty with black silky hair. It shined with the lights above them. She asked them both a series of questions for medical reasoning.
“Dr. Dawsonn will be with you shortly.” The nurse stated with a smile on her face, leaving the room, shutting the door behind her.
“I want to go home.” Alex wined.
“In a bit, Alex. We just have to talk to the doctor.” She rubbed his head for comfort. Shortly after there was a knock on the door. A tall man with a big black beard entered.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Dawsonn. You must be Alex.” He held his hand out to shake Alex’s hand but Alex looked down at his feet. He didn’t want to be there. Christine shook his hand and introduced herself. The doctor sat down and began to ask a series of questions. After Christine gave him the answers he gave her a look of symphony.
“I’d like for Alex to stay a few nights as an inpatient. I would like him to be monitored. Only a few nights.”
“Don’t leave me here!” Alex started crying. Christine hugged him and looked at the doctor in distress.
“Is there something else we can do?” She asked. The doctor took a deep breath.
“I can see him twice a week, and we can find a proper diagnosis and possibly some medication. I think he’s got a schizophrenia problem but I’m not sure. Perhaps he has a sociopath disorder but I’m not going to point fingers, lets take it one step at a time.”
Christine felt  some relief and agreed to the doctors idea. They left the office and went back to there home. The whole car ride home was silent.

    When they entered their house something was wrong. There was  a cigar in the ashtray and a bottle of whiskey opened on the table. A man came walking out of Christine’s bedroom.
“Randy. What the hell are you doing here?” Christine asked. She hadn’t seen Randy in years. He was a tall handsome man, but he was an alcoholic. He had left Illinois to go be with his dying father in Florida years back. But by the look on his face his dad had died.
“I sat for eight years with that dying man. Watching him suffer. I’ve made so many phone calls to find you and everybody told me you moved away, far from this town. But here you are?”
“Randy, I didn’t think you were ever coming back. I’m sorry.” Tears began to fall from her eyes, and she leaned in for a hug but Randy pushed her back.
“You’re sorry?” Randy had a crazy look on his face. Alex was scared and ran into the living room to hide. Randy sighed
“Who’s the kid?” He asked.
“That’s my son, Alex.”
“Who’s the boys father?”
“Just a guy that I met. He left when Alex was born.”
“Boo-hoo.” Randy laughed. And pulled Christine in for a hug. Alex poked his head out when he heard laughing. He saw the man hugging his mother, he didn’t know why or even know who the man was though.
“Alex, come here.” Randy said in a loud demanding voice. Alex tiptoed slowly into the kitchen and looked at the man blankly.
“I’m going to be staying here from now on boy. I’m not your father but you can look up to me if you like. If you’re lucky maybe I’ll take  you fishing this weekend.” He grabbed hold of the bottle of whiskey on the table and took a straight shot. Alex walked back into the living room and turned on the TV.
“Drink?” Randy asked Christine, holding the bottle before her.
“No, I‘m trying to quit drinking.” she smiled, wiping the last few tears off her cheek. Randy laughed at her menacingly.
“I come back for the first time in ages and you wont have a drink with me?” This made Christine feel guilty. She took hold of the bottle and tipped it back. An hour passed and they were drunk. It was just only noon by this time. They found themselves in the bedroom getting undressed and getting naughty. Alex could hear everything they didn’t even acknowledge he was sitting in the living room. Their drunkenness had taken over. Alex heard what they were doing and could even see them if he turned his head but didn’t think nothing of it. Suddenly whispers came from the walls, flooding Alex’s ears. He wanted it to stop. He tensed up and tried blocking it out of his head but it didn’t work. He shut off the TV as fast as he could but all he could hear were the loud whispers. He couldn’t even hear the moaning and groaning of his mother and that drunken man he had just met. The whispers were hard to understand but he heard the word kill being repeated. It was driving him so mad he did the only thing he could think of. It worked last time so just maybe killing again would work this time. He ran into the kitchen and grabbed a hammer under the sink. He had known it was there because his mother put it there over a year ago and hadn’t touched it.
    He hurried into his mothers room and swung the rusty hammer into Randy’s head. The feeling was ungodly. He swung again because it was just some form of relief that nobody could ever understand. Before anybody could even scream Randy was dead. Christine’s mouth hung open but not a sound came out. She could see the carelessness in Alex’s eyes. It was as if she was staring at the devil himself. Everything had gone completely silent for Alex. Which was what he wanted. But he knew he was in trouble and he didn’t want to go back to the doctor. Christine grabbed the phone and called 911. While she was reporting the emergency Alex snuck out the door and ran toward the edge of town. Nobody had seen him and he had no idea where he was going, but he was going far away from there. Atleast as far as his little feet could take him.

    He made it out into the woods and stopped to catch his breath. He could hear sirens from a far. He knew they were at his house. He knew people would be looking for him soon so he didn’t rest for long. He ran deep into the woods. The whole area was huge it’d take a year to find someone hidden in those woods. He found himself along a creek bed and sat down to drink some water. He didn’t feel lonely, he didn’t feel as if he did wrong, he actually didn’t feel anything at all, except a little tired. He rested there till the sun went down, then he laid against a tree and fell asleep. Foot steps grew closer to him and he didn’t even know it.
“What do we have here?” A manly voice said. Alex woke up and screamed. The man grabbed him and held him still.
“Calm down. We wont hurt ya.” A female voice said. Alex calmed down.
“What do you want?” Alex asked.
“Well- What are you doing out here?” The man asked.
“If you must know I killed somebody. And I came out here to get away. Why are you here?”
“We came out here way long ago. We had to get away from society, everybody thought we was a buncha weirdos. My names Pa and her names Ma, we’re the Waldons.”
“I’m Alex.” He held out his hand in a mature manner, the Waldons thought it was cute.
“Want to live with us?” Ma asked nicely. The Waldons couldn’t have kids so Alex would be a great addition to the family. Ma was excited and hoped Alex would stay with them.
“For a little while. I guess.” Alex said. They walked a ways deeper into the woods and the Waldons led Alex into a tent. He couldn’t see because of the darkness but he knew it was a tent. They gave him a blanket and let him sleep on the cot. He was dead tired and had no trouble resting his head.
“Goodnight.” said Ma and Pa, still with big smiles on their faces.
“Goodnight.” Alex said, falling into a deep sleep
    He slept peaceful the whole night, as well as the Waldons. They hadn’t ever felt so complete. The next morning was going to be a new day for that family. They wanted to show Alex everything they knew.
    
    The sun rose high above the trees and Alex woke up to a good smell of freshly cooked fish. He got up and stepped outside the tent.
“Goodmorning sunshine.” The Waldons said happily.
“Goodmorning.” Said Alex, sitting on a log next to the little fire they had blazing.
“You fish or hunt?” Pa asked.
“Never have.” Alex stated. Pa smiled.
“You do now.” He handed him a sharp stick, a knife, and a fishing pole.
“Anything you see, kill it.”
“Kill it? Isn’t that wrong?” Alex asked.
“Not out here it’s not.” Pa explained. Alex felt good about the Waldons. He liked the idea of killing things, it helped his nerves a lot. Animals were an easy target for him as well. They were everywhere in the wilderness.
For years Alex feasted off the land and enjoyed his life with the Waldons. He learned how to hunt, fish, and kill just about any animal there is in the wooded area. Everything was great for each and everyone of them. Alex’s voices were gone as long as he kept killing. But how long till animals wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his needs? Only time could tell and time went fast for the Waldons. Time didn’t exist in their neck of the woods.
    

    Leaves had fallen off the trees. Alex always knew when winter was coming. He loved snow but didn‘t really care to much for the cold. His first winter with the Waldons he wondered how they would keep warm. It was quite disturbing to mankind actually. What they had to do was they had to cut open deer corpses and use them as a suit. They would cut out eye holes in the deer stomachs for vision. After a day the deer would begin to get cold. They had to hurry and find another. Alex took quick to winter hunting. He didn’t like being cold. He was a monster unleashed. He’d have a new corpse for everyone in 24 hours flat. He loved hunting. But winter wouldn’t last long. Just like the years winters flew by.

 

A NEW LIFE

    Back in Oakville Christine had led a new path. After such a tragedy David let her move into his house and help her get back on her feet. She hadn’t touched a sip of alcohol since that night and that was years ago. She went back to school and got a degree in nursing. She worked at the Oakville Nursing Center in town. She was still on anti depressants but she decided sitting at home wasn’t what she wanted any longer. Her and David had a baby girl. They named her Candy. She was 3 years old, had baby blue eyes and dark brown hair. Christine didn’t ever want to tell her about Alex but she knew someday it would probably come out.
    It was a sunny day, a Tuesday at that. Fall was always nice in Illinois. Christine was up and getting around for work. David was sipping on his morning coffee. Neither one of them smoked cigarettes. She poured herself a cup and sat down at the table.
“David, do you think its possible that Alex is still alive?” She took a sip from her cup. David took a deep breath.
“Christine, the winters here in Illinois are pretty extreme, there is no way he is alive. I’m sorry but it’s just how it is.”
“Well I just feel like he’s still alive. I’m worried he’s going to come back for me.”
David put his hand on her shoulder.
“Honey, he’s dead. You have nothing to worry about. He doesn’t even know where we live. It’s been years if he came back here he wouldn’t know where to begin looking.”
“You’re right.” She smiled and stood up. She gave him a hug and a kiss and let him leave for work. She finished her coffee and got Candy up and around for daycare. Her hair was sticking up in all sorts of different directions. It was cute.
    They arrived at the daycare center and little kids were laughing and playing everywhere. Candy loved the daycare. She kissed Christine and began playing with all the other little kids. Christine watched and was so happy for her daughter, she wasn’t shy or anything like Alex, but she feared maybe someday she could turn. She left the daycare and headed to the nursing home.
    Driving down the road she fell in some sort of trance. She looked in the mirror and saw the devils eyes looking back at her. It was her son, but only he looked older and grimmer. She swerved out of fear and landed herself into a ditch. The airbags didn’t deploy but she didn’t get hurt. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and called for to report the accident. They showed up right away and did a physical exam to make sure she was okay.
“Lucky you were wearing your seatbelt, you’d of been thrown out if not.” Stated the Sheriff Ripples. He was a tall broad man with a clean shaved baby face.
“Is the car totaled?” She asked.
“No. But there’s one hell of a dent in the hood. You got insurance?”
“Yes.” She nodded.
    Once everything was settled they got a tow truck and got her car out of the ditch. She had called David and he drove the banged up car home and gave her the truck so she could continue to work. She called the nursing home to let them know what happened.
“Are you sure you want to come in?” The lady on the other line asked.
“Yes. I’ll be there in a couple minutes actually.”
“Okay. See you in a few hun.” The lady hung up.
    She arrived at the nursing home moments later entered with a fake smile on her face. She greeted 3 old women as she walked in the door. She was a bit nervous because she didn’t want people asking her where she had been all morning, she hated explaining herself. The day carried on and nobody asked her once what had happened. The woman on the phone must of already told everyone.
    The home was a nice place, it was cozy and very home like. The only difference was it was bigger and smelled of coffee and anti bacterial soap. There were about 70 residents in the home and Christine knew and loved each and every one of them as if they were family. A call light went off and as usual Christine answered it. She entered room and found an old woman named Elliot laying in her bed smiling.
“I have to pee.” Elliot smiled. Christine smiled back and assisted her with much joy.
“How are you feeling today?” Christine asked. Making small talk.
“Fine, fine, as always dear.”
Christine sat the woman on the toilet and turned around to put some gloves on. When she looked up into the mirror something puzzled her. Blood was dripping from the old woman’s eyes. The old woman spoke but the voice wasn’t so sweet and soft anymore but rather deep and demonic.
“He’s coming. Oh YES! He’s coming.’ She began to laugh in a crazy voice.
“Who’s coming Elliot?” She turned around and bent down by her and the old woman’s eyes had turned a different color. The color of the devils that she saw in the mirror, and the color of the devils eyes she saw in her own sons’ eyes.
“The devil!” The old woman lunged forward and fell to the floor. She began to cry out in her own, sweet voice that she had before the demon took over.
“Help.” The old woman cried. Christine tied a gate belt around Elliot’s waist. And helped her off the floor. After getting her back in to bed she made sure everything was okay. Then she had to fill out a paper to report the fall. It was a lot of useless information but it had to be done.
    After the rest of the day ended Christine said her goodbyes to the residents and headed off to the daycare. She was feeling a bit paranoid about Elliot’s words, but she tried to stay positive in her head.
“It was a coincidence. Just a coincidence.” She repeated to herself.
    She arrived at the daycare with goose bumps still down her arms and legs. She entered the door with a smile, but the smile was fake.
“Mommy!” Candy yelled, running up to her and giving her a hug.
“I missed you.” Candy said, smiling.
“I missed you too.” Christine said, tearing up due to the happiness her daughter brought her.
“Then why are you crying? Be happy.” Candy gave her another hug and Christine squeezed her tightly not wanting to let go. After the moment passed, they headed home.
    Through town leaves were scattered everywhere. Candy loved seeing all the pretty leaves falling off the trees. Reds, greens, yellows, they were all her favorite colors. They arrived home and David was there. After the accident he didn’t go back into work. They walked inside and he sat in the chair being lazy. The house was a pig sty.
“You stayed home?” Christine asked.
“Yeah. Decided I could use a day off.” He chuckled. Christine began to clean up the house. Candy sat on the floor in front of the TV.
“Cartoons daddy.” She said cutely. He put it on some cartoon show with a mouse getting chased by cat. Candy cheered, she loved that show. Christine finished cleaning up and  sat in the kitchen at the table. It cluttered with newspapers, a magazine, and some cheap candles.
“David come here for a minute.” She yelled out. David came walking out from the living room and rubbed her shoulders from behind.
“Yes dear?” He asked sweetly.
“Today this old lady at work. She grabbed my arm and started screaming at me. It wasn’t her voice though. It was a deep voice. It said the devils coming to get me. Then it said it was my son--..”
“Honey it was in your head.” David interrupted.
“No, No-”
“Yes, Christine, you need to sleep. Did you hit your head when you crashed?”
“No!” Christine snapped, pushing everything off the table in rage. The candles shattered on the floor and left a huge mess. Christine looked into the living room and caught Candy peeping in at her. Christine began to tear up. She felt awful.
“I’m going to take a walk.” David said, walking out the door.
“David wait.” Christine begged. But there was no stopping him.
    Christine cleaned up her mess and took some of her medication. She sat next Candy to watch some cartoons. She felt it would make her feel better. Her daughter was like an addition to her medication. Candy’s smiles would make Christine smile. Candy’s laugh would make Christine laugh. The day grew to night and the two of them fell asleep in each others arms. David came home but tiptoed next to them and laid down. He gave Christine a kiss on the head and put his arm around her. She snuggled up with both Candy and David peacefully. They slept the whole night through. They were such a happy trio.
    
    


 
THE SOCIOPATH

    Alex Adhums was no longer a little boy anymore he was a teenager. A very big teenager at that.  Sixteen years old, 6 foot tall, and two hundred fifty pounds solid. He wasn’t fat by any means, maybe a little chub here and there but almost pure muscle and water. The Waldons had raised him well, he killed deer after deer, squirrel after squirrel, turkey after turkey, and had no problems doing so. He didn’t enjoy fishing as much as killing but he did it in his free time for extra food. He was always hungry, sometimes he didn’t even bother cooking his food, he ate it raw as if he were some kind of animal that hadn’t ate in days. The Waldons didn’t fear Alex but as time went on they noticed something evil in him.
“A dark curse.” As pa would say. But they still loved him.
    It was a sunny day and as usual they had got done hunting and were sitting along the creek casting lines. Ma was feeling sick and didn‘t go out that morning. She offered to clean whatever they killed though when they got back. Alex had done good that morning but something seemed different Pa noticed. Alex was acting weird. He looked bored and bland. He didn’t look sad or happy. Neither mad or lonely. He looked out of his mind.
“Something wrong?” Pa asked but didn’t get an answer. He sighed and went back to the tent.
    Alex sat staring blankly at the channels moving through the creek. He was remembering his mother, but he could barely remember. It didn’t feel like years had went by to Alex, but his memory sure went by with the time. Time didn’t exist in darkness. He barely had a grasp on his own reality. Animals were starting to grow old. They weren’t enough kill anymore. The voices would only get worse if he didn’t feed the Charles the Man eating Slug’s appetite. Alex didn’t speak of the slug anymore, or any of his voices at all. He barely even spoke his own voice, he’s was to lost in his head. Schizophrenia, sociopath, you name it, he’s got it. The only thing he doesn’t have is his own head.
    He stood in a rage, a vision had flooded his mind, his mother getting railed by Randy and the voice of the slug filling his head. He had to kill something, somewhere, someone…..
    He headed into town, he hadn’t been there in such a long time he barely recognized it. He planned to only take one victim. He saw a few people on the streets but they didn’t catch his attention, he wanted something that caught his eye. A police officer came from the distance after seeing Alex. It was officer Mikelson. He was suspicious who this newcomer was. He got out of his car and approached Alex. He was completely unaware that Alex was about to put a rock through his skull.
“Can I help you sir?” Mikelson asked. Alex snatched him up off his feet and put him to the ground. The fear in Mikelsons eyes was like no other. Alex hit smashed the rock into his face. Blood was gushing from his right eye instantly. To imagine such a site would take someone out of their own mind. Alex struck him with the rock again in the mouth, screams flooded the town, but nobody came, nobody heard.
    After a couple more strikes from the decent sized rock Mikelson was unconscious, blood everywhere. Alex left him for dead. He grabbed his wallet and headed back to his home in the wood. Ma and Pa were worried sick.
    “Where the hell you been boy?” Pa yelled.”
“We were worried.” Ma followed. Alex pulled out the wallet and handed it to Pa. Pa took out the sixty dollars in the sleeve and smiled hugely. He saw the name and the picture on the license.
“YEEHAW! Thank you Mikelson! I’m going into town and getting some whiskey for tonight, ma!”
“YAY!” Ma chanted. Alex sat watching them, he wanted the wallet back. He growled in anger. Pa handed him the wallet back but kept the money.
“You can have some whiskey too son. I’ll be back in a few.” He headed out into town and walked to the liquor store.
    He entered the store and Sheriff Ripples and two deputies stood at the counter. They had a picture of Mikelson. Stating that somebody had killed him. Somebody had seen Alex and gave them a description. There was a reward for anybody who could bring them that man. Pa bought some whiskey and got out of there as fast as he could. The sheriff noticed that Pa was acting nervous.
“Who was that man?” The Sheriff asked. The clerk shrugged.
“I have no idea. Must be from out of town.” he said.
“Well, if you see him again, get his name.”
“Okay.” The clerk nodded.
    The sheriff walked out and hopped in his cop car, the two deputies followed and did the same. Their cop cars weren’t as nice as Sheriff Ripples though. They drove off in different directions. Not one headed in the same direction as Pa though. He was already almost to the woods.
    When he arrived home he had a new intension. He wanted to turn Alex in. But he had to discuss it with Ma first. He didn’t want Alex to know it. He opened up the bottle of liquor and poured him and Ma a couple glasses they had stolen in town years back. They had a lot of stuff from the junk yard, and other various places. They got drunk and ended up making love in the tent. Alex sat outside in his head. Whispers began to fill his ears from the trees.
“Kill….” The whispers echoed. Alex began to squeeze his head. He had some love for Ma and Pa so killing them just didn’t seem right. He ran off into the distance to try and clear his mind. But only for a little while.
    In the tent Ma and Pa finished up and were talking over some things.
“We could be loaded ya know.” Pa said. Sitting up and putting on his socks. The socks were barely wearable. They had holes from top to bottom. Pa had calluses all over his feet due to his socks.
“How could we be loaded?” Ma asked. Very curious.
“There’s a reward for the lead to Alex. I think we should do it Ma. We’re getting to old for this.”
“….” Ma wanted to say no but she just didn’t know.
“Come on, we could have a nice house out of town and you could get some cats. You’ve always wanted them damn cats.” Ma was sold.
“Okay. But don’t tell him.” She hugged Pa. They walked out of the tent and Alex was gone.
“He must be down by the creek. I’m gonna head to town and inform the Sheriff.” Pa said.
“Okay, hurry back.” Ma replied.
    She waited patiently for minutes. Hoping Pa would hurry. It was getting late in the day and she hated being alone in the dark. She heard sticks cracking in the distance. She assumed Alex was walking back up from the creek. But what she didn’t know Alex had actually been out back of the tent and could hear them talking from a far. He had an old axe Pa kept for cutting wood. He greeted Ma with a blade through her head. She screamed but only for a minute. Her mind was gone so quick she couldn’t even see her life flashing before her eyes.
    Pa wasn’t very far and heard the scream. He ran back to the tent and found Ma dead. The axe wasn’t in her head anymore. Someone had pulled it out. He turned around and saw Alex standing behind him.
“You son of a b***h!” Pa yelled. He tried to tackle Alex but Alex was to strong. He put Pa on the ground and drove the axe through his stomach. Killing Pa and Ma was thirst quenching but not enough to soothe Alex’s voices. He needed to kill more. A vision of his mother appeared before him. Kill flooded his brain. He knew she would be quite pleasurable. He pulled the axe out of Pa’s stomach and set for town.




THE MASSACRE

    The Burgler family sat at their dinner table eating and chatting away. They were a very close family. They had lived in the Adhums house for about a year and a half. They had no idea of what went on in the house years prior to but they loved their home. Arial was the mother of their two kids and Mitch was the father. Eight year old boy, Mitchell was a little brat that loved attention. Dianne was the teenager that hated attention. But she was still very family oriented.
“Time to clean up for bedtime.” Arial insisted. The melodic tone in her voice was very soothing and angelic. Her dreamy blue eyes battered as she took her dirty dishes to the sink.  The family cleaned up the table with true delight. They were happy to help each other. It’s what kept them close.
    After they finished cleaning up the kitchen they all took turns in the bathroom brushing their teeth and washing their faces. The bathroom had been remodeled since the Adhums had lived there. It was much nicer now.
    Mitchell and Dianne shared a bedroom, which was Alex’s old bedroom. Something about it gave people the chills but the kids had grown used to it. They laid down in their beds and Dianne shut off the lights. She put her headphones in and listened to some rock music. She loved rock music. Mitchell watched cartoons on his little TV that sat on the stand at the foot of his bed. Cartoons helped him sleep. It only took a couple minutes and he was snoring like a light bulb. Shortly after Dianne began to snore as well.
    Hours later Dianne woke up to a noise coming from outside her window. She sat up and wiped the sleep from her eyes. She glanced out the window but nothing was there. She had no idea what the noise was and barely remembered what it sounded like. She walked out of the room to the kitchen to get a drink of water from the faucet. Little did she know right as she walked out something hovered over her bedroom window and stared in at Mitchell. As Dianne walked back in the room she caught a glimpse of the terror. It was a huge man. He looked very angry and very dirty at that. He walked away at the sound of her screams. From a far neighbors could hear the screaming. You could see lights turning on in their houses. Arial and Mitch charged out of their bedroom flipping lights on as they went, to see what was going on. In Dianne’s room Arial turned on the kids’ light but nothing seemed really wrong except Dianne’s tears. Mitchell was still lying in bed. He had no idea what was going on either.
“What is it honey?” Mitch said puffing out his chest.
“Some man was in the window.” She cried.
“What’d he look like?” Arial asked. Comforting her.
“He had scary eyes, and a very evil looking face. He was real tall and looked like he hadn’t showered since the stone age.”
“He was probably just some creep peeping in the windows.” Mitch stated.
“Get back to bed kids. You got school tomorrow.” Everybody laid back down and fell back asleep. Except for Dianne. She didn’t feel right. She decided to step outside for a breath of fresh air, and to sneak a cigarette. Her parents didn’t know she smoked but she did and had been for smoking for quite a few years. She was sixteen and started when she was twelve.
    She tiptoed out the door and stepped around back of her house and fired up her smoke. Her lighter had a bunny rabbit on it. She was dead tired and the cigarette relaxed her. She dozed off into a dream, still standing on her feet, cigarette burning between her fingers.

A bunny rabbit walked through the forest. He couldn’t find his family. Dianne sweetly helped the bunny find his family. It was a very happy moment till an axe was drove from one of Dianne’s ears, to another. Half her head fell to the ground and the rest of her followed. The bunny lighter was still in her hand and the cigarette laid burning beside her.

    The peaceful dream had turned into a real life nightmare. Alex was standing before her. He was the last thing she ever saw. Alex liked the way this girl looked. He lifted her up took her into a bush. He raped her for over and hour. After he did his dirty deed the voices began to get heavy. Kill was all he could think, hear, taste, or see. He pulled up his pants, grabbed up his axe and walked into the house. His unexpected entry woke the whole house up. Everybody walked out of their rooms in their pajamas and night clothes to see a disturbing man before them. But it wasn’t a man, he was only sixteen.
“What the f**k are you doing?” Mitch yelled.
“I’m calling the police.” Arial cried. Mitchell kept back and waited for a chance to get out the back door. His father charged toward Alex but only ended up backed into a wall getting the axe put through his chest. The axe went through the wall and Alex had trouble pulling it out. Mitchell took that as his opportunity to get the hell out of there. He ran next door screaming for help and the neighbors assisted him.
    Alex finally got his axe out of the wall and out of Mitch’s chest. He charged for the bedroom where Arial was calling the police. He grabbed her by the hair and ripped her clothes off. He began to rape her just like he did Dianne. She fought but it didn’t do her any good. He ended up choking her out and by the time he got his rocks off he drove the axe through her skull. It was a bloodbath in the Adhums house. Alex looked around but noticed his mother was nowhere to be found. This angered him. He left the house and headed out of town toward the wood. He got back to the tent and sat down to rest. He grabbed the old picture he kept of him and his mother and stared at it. He had a plan.
    
    The next morning was a stormy morning. Lighting struck, thunder rolled. It didn’t matter to Alex. He was used to s****y weather. He walked back into town and went into the town tab. He handed a redneck at the bar Christine’s photo. Being the dumb a*s the man was he gave Alex directions to David‘s house. Alex knew the town like the back of his hand, and he barely had ever walked around it. It was an instinct he had. He went back out the door and grabbed his axe that laid on the ground. He headed for her house.
    
    Christine sat at her table. Watching the news. The reporter spoke of the killings that went on in that house the night before, and the killing that had happened years before when she lived there. A hand drawing of a man was on the screen. She could see it in his eyes that it was Alex. She knew he had come back for her. David walked out of the bedroom with his work clothes on. He was getting ready to leave but he got a glimpse of the news and he froze in his path.
“Is that?”
“Yes. It’s my son.” Christine panicked.
“He don’t know where we are. We’ll just stay home from work and everything will be okay. I’ll grab my handgun.” David walked into the bedroom and got the pistol he kept under his bed. He loaded it and put it in his pocket.
    They got Candy out of bed and put her on the couch in the living room. They didn’t want to let her out of their site. A loud thunder hit causing a big boom. The house shook and the power shut off.
“Just great. Imagine that.” David bitched.
Christine heard a noise from outside.
“Is the door locked?” Christine asked. David looked at her and rolled his eyes. He didn’t see what good a locked door would do.
“I’ll go lock it.” He walked into the kitchen and locked the door. He noticed out the window a man was staring in at him in the distance. The man was soaked from the rain. It was Alex.  
“Christine. I think Alex is here.” Alex began to walk toward the door. Christine and Candy hid in a closet in Candy’s bedroom. David hid behind the door ready to shoot. They could hear the front door being kicked down. It made a loud breaking noise. David was shaking. Alex came through the bedroom door. He could smell the fear coming from Candy’s room. David aimed the gun at the back of Alex’s head but Alex was to quick. He turned around and snatched the gun from David throwing it to the side where Christine could grab it if she opened the door.
“Run!” David yelled, heading out the door. Alex caught him before he could get away. He put the axe into David‘s leg and knocked him to the floor. Christine opened up the door and grabbed the gun.
“F****r!” she yelled shooting Alex in the chest. Her son fell to the ground and stopped breathing. She pulled the axe out David’s leg and started talking to him.
“Are you going to make it?” She asked.
“Yes. Get me to a hospital.” Christine was crying like no other. She sat the gun down and hugged David. Behind her Alex stood up. David grabbed the gun off the floor and began taking fire. Just as quick as it all begun, the nightmare had ended.
    The power came back on, ambulances, and police filled the driveway. Gunshots had been reported from a neighbor. David was carried away on a stretcher and helped right away. Christine filled out a police report and held Candy on her hip.
“You’ll get the reward money for Alex next week. I just need your PO BOX number.” Sheriff Ripples said, delighted the nightmare had ended. Christine gave the police all the information needed and headed to the hospital to be with David. He had to get 20 stitches in his leg, but much better than being dead.

    The next day they were back home and could finally be at peace. Candy didn’t even know what had happened. She thought it was a dream. They spent the next couple years doing things as a family and taking Candy to see the world. The tragedy was in that town so they had to get away. They ended up getting a house in Missouri along the Ozarks. It was a beautiful place and Christine loved it. They both got new jobs and Candy was learning to swim. Everything seemed perfect. Until THREE YEARS LATER.
    Candy sat on the floor in the living room while David and Christine sipped on their wine. They weren’t big drinkers due to Christine’s past but they figured what the hell could one bottle of wine hurt. Candy began to hear a voice whisper through the walls.
“Kill…” It said. She ran up to her mother and father and asked Christine.
“Mommy, what is kill?” She asked. Leaving Christine got real irritated.
“Go to your room Candy.” She demanded.
“Oh my, it’s happening again.” She began to tear up. David put his hand on her shoulder.
Candy ran into her room. She was very upset. She grabbed a shoebox out from under her bed. Inside it she removed a giant bloody knife and a bunch of rat skeletons. It was a new nightmare about to unleash. A new  beginning of terror. A reflection of the past. A new sociopath.

THE END

Author's Note

"This is chilling -- I like the way it is presented and one of those stories that is a rare find for a PG rated story on the Den. You got a voice here that is looking to be published, you should try to send a story to Withersin Magazine if you can do one that's 3000 words. In fact I am doing an anthology of my own that is looking to send stories to the museum where the anthology I did previously is there."

Reviews

[Autumn T.]

This is a very chilling story... And, sadly, kind of spot-on as to how a sociopath is really started. I have a step-cousin named Richard who has no conscious, no remorse, and I'm terrified that this will happen to him, if it already hasn't. Not the whole running away part, but the sociopath part... So this really struck deep. I love the plotline of the story, but your writing I think doesn't flow as well as it could. You use a lot of short sentences when you could use more 'and's and commas and semicolons and stuff. But other than that, this is AMAZINGLY written. I absolutely love it!