Shelia came in through the door in the garage. Two bags of groceries and her brief case in her arms. She almost dropped all of them.
“Billy? Can you come help me please?” She waited for him to come trotting into the kitchen but only silence answered her. Slowly she rested the bags on her knees and tried to duck walk them over the counter. Just as she raised them up one bag ripped on the side and spilled everything all over the floor. A can of tomato soup hit the top of her foot.
“Damn it!” she yelled. There would be a bruise tomorrow. After setting the full bag and her briefcase on the counter she hiked up her skirt so she could bend down to pick up everything. “Billy?” she asked again. Still no answer. She figured me must be over at Steven’s house. Sometimes he went over there after school rather than sit at home for 3 hours by himself until both her and Max got home from work. She had told him many times to either call her cell phone and let her know or to leave a note on the dry erase board on the fridge so that when she got home she knew where to call to get a hold of him. After getting all this stuff put away she would go look and see if he left her a note. If not he would not be a happy camper when he got home.
When all the groceries where finally on the counter she looked at the board and saw that it was blank except for the note NEED MILK that Max had posted yesterday. She was starting to get annoyed but then noticed the message light on the phone blinking. It seemed odd that Billy would leave a message on the house phone rather than call her cell but it was possible he had gone over to Steven’s house and called from there. She hit the blinking light and the machine started it robotic voice.
“You have three messages.” it said.
“. . .can get you a reduced credit rating now . . .” she hit the delete button. Automated telemarketers had been calling the house for awhile now. She wasn’t sure where their number had gotten onto their lists.
“Hey Max, it’s Kevin. Saw that the store was closed today and wanted to call and see if everything was alright. Can’t remember the last time you didn’t open the store. Just give me a call.” She was worried. Max had left this morning to open the store. She started to reach for her cell phone when the third message started.
“Hello . . . Shelia. I figured you were going to be home before your husband would because . . . Well because he is off being involved with something he really should have just stayed out of. But now that he’s involved he’s really going to be involved. And that does not bode well for you and Billy. Right Billy?” Shelia put her hand to her mouth and realized it was shaking.
“Mom? Where’s dad? Where’s he at?” Billy asked. It was obvious that he had been crying.
“See?” the voice returned. “Billy is worried about his dear old dad as well. Better hope he’s the one that gets home first.” Shelia’s mind was reeling. Who was this man and how did he get a hold of Billy?
“No!” Billy screamed in the background of the phone call. Just then she could hear the chiming of a clock in the message. It was obvious that it was the one in the family room. The call cut off and the message ended. They had been here in the house when the call was made.
She ran into the living room. No one was there. Into the dining room. Empty. She was at the bottom of the stairs and looked up wondering if she should call the police before checking out anything up there. But her mother instinct won out and she had to find her child before anything else would enter her mind. She climbed the first set of stairs and was on the first landing. She looked up the rest of the stairs and they looked a mile long. There was no sound in the house. Her adrenaline had kicked in gear and she felt that if there had even been a fly any where in the house she would have heard it. The silence unnerved her.
She started walking up the next set of stairs cautiously. She had to find Billy. This was the only goal After that she would figure out what to do next. When she reached the top she looked at the door to Billy’s room. It was slightly ajar. Sunlight was coming in his window as the sun was starting to descend. The light escaped through the ajar door and made it seem as if the room itself was aglow. She reached out and pushed the door open. A gasp escaped her as the scene unfolded before her.
The stepped into the room and saw Billy lying on his bed. His throat had been cut and the blood had spilled out on either side of him. It almost looked like he had angel wings. Her mind began to break down with all the information she had just taken in. Nothing seemed to make sense and everything had become very swimmy. The tears began to flow out of her as she took another step forward. She felt someone behind her and turned to look. Sitting in Billy’s desk chair was a man with a grin on his face.
“I said you had better wish your husband got home before you did,” he said. “But my, you are intoxicating.” He walked towards her and his knife glinted in the sunlight coming through the window.
