GENETITECH/BIOENG. confidential file
SUBJECT: --GOLDMAN, David
A.U. No.: --NC 654 55 D
S.C.I.D. No: --7474HHD
SUPERVISING DOCTOR: --Dr. Terrence LYNCH
ITEM: --Transcript of recorded testimony regarding subject's current condition. File for ASSESSMENT/INFO
[cont.]
And then there were five...
Everything was kind of blur after Carolyn killed Randy. I vaguely remember her using the paper towel from the meatloaf to scoop up Randy's crushed remains and carry them to the bathroom, where she flushed them.
Julie was clinging to me, sobbing with her face pressed against my shoulder. But I was too stunned to even try comforting her. All I could think about was that I had chosen Randy to die.
Mr. Nichols was on his hands and knees, heaving up nothing but air. Chad and Denny hadn't move, and were still staring at the damp red spot on the carpet.
Jesus. You can't even begin to imagine...
Carolyn had killed again, right? Only this time, it had been intentional. Utterly premeditated. And she sure as [EXPLETIVE DELETED] wasn't feeling any remorse.
She was suddenly there, looming over us as we stood on the dresser. We stood stock still, terrified by the prospect of drawing her attention. There was nowhere to run, no way to escape. We were utterly at Carolyn's mercy, and that mercy was in short supply.
She glanced down at us, but didn't say a word. She reached past us to open the jewelry box. That horrible "Angel of the Morning" song plinked away, and Carolyn began to hum along with it as she lifted the top tray.
She reached for Mr. Nichols. He cried out in terror as she plucked him up and placed him in the velvet-lined compartment in the bottom of the jewelry box. Still humming, she grabbed us one by one and put us in the box, forcing us to lie among the scattered chains, pendants, and earrings.
I looked into her massive face for any trace of humanity, but her eyes were cold and her smile was detached and cruel. Still humming, she pushed the top tray back down into place. Then she shut the lid and latched it, leaving us cramped together in utter darkness. There was a vertiginous sense of movement as the box was lowered into the drawer. And finally, a jarring thud as the drawer was slammed shut.
***
Complete and total darkness. Absolutely no way to mark the passing of time. There was no room to stand, and barely any to sit up. For the most part, all we could do was lie there and listen to each other as we sobbed in the dark.
I couldn't shake the feeling that I had been responsible for Randy's death. Not only had I been the one to put Carolyn in such a foul mood in the first place, but I had singled him out for punishment at Carolyn's command.
The others tried their best to comfort me. Julie kept insisting that I had no choice, and that it was Carolyn's fault, not mine. Denny claimed I couldn't have known what Carolyn had in mind. But the truth is, I think I did. I think we all did. None of us knew exactly when it was going to happen, but we all knew it would. From the time Carolyn had hurled Eddie against the wall, we had known we were living on borrowed time.
"It should have been me," Mr. Nichols said melodramatically. "You should have selected me, Dave."
I let out an exasperated sigh. "Why the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] would I do that?"
"I'm a liability," he said. "When we get around to making our escape, I'm only going to slow you down."
For a moment, nobody said anything. And then, suddenly, Denny was snorting with laughter.
"What the hell, dude?" Chad said.
"When we get around to making our escape?" Denny said, still laughing. "Dude, you're like Mr. Power of Positive Thinking or something."
"I just think..." Mr. Nichols began.
"Dude, don't sweat it," Denny said. "If we're smart enough to figure a way out of this [EXPLETIVE DELETED] mess, I guarantee you we can, like, figure out a way to get you down the stairs. Right, Dave?"
"Piece of cake," I said, with far more conviction than I felt.
I felt Julie's hand reach for mine in the dark. My wrists were still cuffed together. I felt her fingers run along my wrist, feeling for the handcuffs in the dark. There was a click, and the handcuff snapped open. Julie felt for my other hand and uncuffed my other wrist.
"Thank you," I whispered as she gave my hand a gentle squeeze.
"Piece of cake," she repeated softly.
***
The botched escape plan had been Mr. Nichols brainchild. However, Randy had been the one to rush off half-cocked and put it into motion.
Mr. Nichols had proposed using water from the shot glass to dampen the cardboard so they could dig through it more easily. Then they could use the sweaters to climb up to the gap along the top of the drawer, and fashion a rope out of the towels and blankets in the shoebox to climb down the other side. And then, free of the drawer, they could explore the inside of the dresser until they found a gap or weak spot in the plywood back panel.
Julie had been opposed to the escape attempt from the beginning, fearing harm might come to me if Carolyn found them gone. Of course, Randy didn't give a [EXPLETIVE DELETED] what happened to me. And Mr. Nichols was quick to point out that Carolyn considered me her "special little guy," and would probably be reluctant to hurt me too badly. Denny had promised Julie that, once they were out, he would help her find and rescue me. Which is why Julie had the handcuff key in her pocket, in case you're wondering.
It wasn't a perfect plan--hell, it wasn't even a particularly good plan--but they finally agreed to give it a shot. Randy wanted to go right away, but Mr. Nichols was afraid too much time had passed and they'd be cutting things too close. He suggested waiting until the following morning so they'd have more time. Julie, Chad, and Denny concurred.
Not that it mattered. Randy went off on his own, soaking the side of the shoebox and punching his way through. The others knew they'd catch hell from Carolyn if she caught them with the hole in the box, so they had no choice but to forge ahead and hope for the best. Denny and Chad tied the towels and blankets together, and the five of them made a break for it.
Unfortunately, Mr. Nichols had been right. They'd barely made it as far as the back of the box when Carolyn came in and caught them. Randy had paid with his life.
***
Hours? Days? Time had no meaning inside that [EXPLETIVE DELETED] jewelry box. I waited in vain for my eyes to adjust, before I finally realized it wasn't going to happen. The darkness was simply too complete.
We were hungry. Even worse, we were thirsty. Carolyn had provided us with no water. So far, Mr. Nichols had been the only one to feel the call of nature, so to speak. Rather than soil ourselves, we decided to designate one of the corners to serve as our toilet. He had crawled over there noisily and relieved himself. The smell had been pretty pungent at first, but we'd quickly gotten used to it.
Occasionally in the dark, I'd see a glimpse of my family cheerfully welcoming me home, or I'd watch Randy die in agony beneath Carolyn's sandal. I didn't know if these were dreams or hallucinations. Half the time, I wasn't sure if I was awake or asleep.
So I had no idea how much time had actually passed when we felt the drawer open. The jewelry box was lifted into the air, coming to rest on the dresser with a thump. The latch snapped, and the lid opened. As the tray was lifted up, we were all bathed in blinding light. We screwed our eyes shut and threw up our arms to ward it off.
"Filthy little things," Carolyn said. "Smells like a [EXPLETIVE DELETED] hamster cage in there."
As our eyes adjusted to the light of the bedroom, we stood on trembling legs. "Angel of the Morning" plinked merrily in the background. Carolyn set a white twist-off bottle cap in the jewelry box and filled it with water from the shot glass. All five of us scrambled towards it, stumbling over the scattered jewelry to reach it. Chad and Denny actually tried to knock each other out of the way, much to Carolyn's amusement.
We thrust our filthy hands into the water and cupped it to our mouths, drinking greedily. Carolyn stood over us, watching with that cruel smirk on her face. Her gaze fell on me, and she leaned in close.
"What the hell are you doing out of your handcuffs?" she asked.
I gulped down my mouthful of water. "I'm sorry, Carolyn," I said, startled by how weak and hoarse my voice sounded.
"Not as sorry as you're gonna be," Carolyn said. "Put them back on."
I rummaged through the jewelry in the bottom of the box until I found the discarded handcuffs. I walked over to Julie, who helped me snap them on my wrists. I held up my hands to show Carolyn I was, once again, duly cuffed.
"You got the key?" Carolyn asked, and Julie nodded. Carolyn reached into the jewelry box and picked her up by the waist. She was too weak to struggle.
"Show me," Carolyn said. Julie held up the tiny silver key. Carolyn closed one eye and leaned in for a close look.
"Don't take them off again without asking me," Carolyn said. "Next time, I'll take a lit cigarette to both of you. Got it?"
Julie nodded frantically until Carolyn set her down. As soon as she was free of Carolyn's hand, she scurried over and drank another handful of water.
We waited eagerly, hoping Carolyn would drop some food into the box as well. Instead, she ducked out of sight to poke around in the drawer. When she reappeared, she held her hand over the jewelry box. Clutched between her finger and thumb was the knotted rope of towels and blankets. She dangled it above us for a few seconds before finally dropping it into the box with us.
"Get those things untied," she ordered us. The music was still plinking away, loud and maddening inside the box. We stumbled over to the rope and went to work on the knots.
"Still can't believe you little [EXPLETIVE DELETED] tried to escape last night," Carolyn muttered. "I ought to squish the whole lot of you, be done with you once and for all. Little [EXPLETIVE DELETED] are more trouble than you're worth."
"Last night?" I asked. "We've only been in here one day?"
Carolyn scowled and smacked the side of the jewelry box with her hand. The violent movement sent us all sprawling amidst the mismatched earrings and tangled chains.
"Did I say you could talk?" Carolyn snapped, leaning in close so that her face all but filled the opening at the top of the box. Her breath was a warm miasma of wine and cigarettes. "Did I?"
I was afraid to answer out loud, so I just shook my head.
"I don't want to hear a word out of any of you tonight," Carolyn said. "If I hear just one little peep, I'm gonna stomp the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] out of someone. Understand?"
We all nodded silently and went back to unraveling the knots. With all five of us working on it, it took about ten minutes to separate the towels and blankets from each other. During that time, the annoying music dragged to a crawl and finally stopped altogether.
I glanced at Julie, and she offered me a nervous smile. "Thank [EXPLETIVE DELETED] God," she mouthed silently.
When we were done, Carolyn took the jewelry box in both hands and lifted it from the dresser. We stumbled and fell about inside as she carried it across the room and set it on the floor. She knelt beside us and, one by one, she plucked us out of the box and set us on the carpet.
The spot where poor Randy had met his demise was coated with a layer of white foaming cleaner that was still hissing and bubbling. A blue bottle of Fantastik stood on the floor nearby, towering above us.
Carolyn reached into the box and picked up a handful of the towels we had just united. She dropped them on the carpet next to us.
"Y'all get to scrubbing," Carolyn ordered us. "I want all that blood out of the carpet."
From our vantage, we could still see traces of blood on the individual fibers of the carpet's pile, as well as stains that had seeped down to the pad. The smell was an uneasy mix of chemicals and flowers, and the fumes were enough to make my eyes start watering.
The five of us went to work, using the towels to scrub the carpet fibers. It was slow and laborious, and we had to breathe through our mouths to keep from choking on the fumes.
Carolyn stood up and paced around us for a few minutes, that infuriating smile on her face. Finally, she stepped over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it to watch us work.
She was waiting for us to say something, to make any kind of noise, so she'd have an excuse to punish us. But we were truly afraid for our lives, which was a powerful motivator to keep our [EXPLETIVE DELETED] mouths shut.
Carolyn cleared her throat. When we looked up at her, she pointed at Mr. Nichols and said, "You. Tubby. Get your ass over here."
Poor Mr. Nichols went pale. He approached Carolyn slowly, stumbling across the carpet on quivering legs. Carolyn placed her sandaled foot directly in front of him, just inches away, and wiggled her toes playfully.
"I've got a special job for you, Tubby," she said. She lifted her foot slightly, keeping her heel on the floor. The bottom of her shoe loomed over Mr. Nichols. There was a large, dark smudge on the leather sole that had been left behind by Randy.
"I need you to get under there and lean that mess off my shoe," Carolyn said. "You don't mind, do you?"
The rest of us exchanged nervous glances. Mr. Nichols was terrified, but knew better than to refuse. Trembling, he climbed beneath Carolyn's foot and touched his towel to the sole of her sandal. With shaking hands, he dabbed gingerly at the stain.
"What the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] are y'all staring at?" Carolyn asked us. "Y'all afraid I'm gonna squish him or something?"
She lowered her foot as she said this, pressing Mr. Nichols against the carpet. He squirmed weakly beneath her sandal, but didn't make a whimper. None of us did.
"It's so tempting," Carolyn said, shaking her head. She flexed her enormous toes. "It would be so easy, wouldn't it, Tubby? I could just squash you like a little bug if I wanted to. And you couldn't do a thing to stop me."
She looked directly at me and smiled cruelly. "None of y'all could."
She mashed down ever so slightly, and Mr. Nichols gasped with pain. Carolyn lifted her foot from him. He was lying on his back, struggling for breath, his eyes shut tight. His face was beet red, and tears streamed down his fat, flushed cheeks.
Carolyn snapped her fingers and pointed at the stain. "Y'all get back to work. I want that mess cleaned up in ten minutes."
Mr. Nichols climbed awkwardly to his feet, picked up his towel, and began lumbering back over to join us. He let out stifled, mewling cry when Carolyn suddenly placed her foot in his path and, once again, lifted it slightly.
"Where do you think you're going, Tubby? Get that [EXPLETIVE DELETED] cleaned off my shoe or I'll stomp you."
***
When the carpet and Carolyn's sandal were cleaned to her satisfaction, she scooped us up and dumped us in the jewelry box. She ordered Julie to remove the cuffs from me and put them on Mr. Nichols, who would be spending the night with her. And as bad as I felt for Mr. Nichols, I was just relieved it wouldn't be me.
Carolyn pushed down the tray and slammed the lid, latching it shut. We felt the vertigo of being lifted and moved, and finally the jarring thud of the drawer being closed.
And so went another night in the box. We talked briefly of escape, but nobody had any ideas on getting out of our prison. There was no false bravado, no courageous talk. We were hungry, exhausted, and too miserable to bother being brave.
I made a feeble attempt to mark the time by counting the seconds silently, but I eventually dozed off and lost track.
I dreamed I was in a maze, desperately trying to find my way out. Only instead of running, I was driving in my convertible. Juice Newton was singing on the radio.
"I hate this song," Eddie said, suddenly in the passenger seat. "But it was always Carolyn's favorite. You know, Debbie sang it at our wedding."
"I know. You told me," I said impatiently, concentrating on the winding passages ahead. I had no idea where I was headed, but I was convinced if I just kept moving, I'd eventually find my way out of this labyrinth.
"I did?" Eddie said. "When did I do that?"
"Must have been before you died," I said. Eddie was silent, and when I glanced at the passenger seat, I saw he was gone.
But I saw light at the end of the tunnel. I mashed the gas pedal to the floor and sped down the corridor, my heart pounding as I raced towards freedom.
Until Carolyn's foot came down in front of me, blocking my path...
***
And so it went, the days running together with only half-hearted conversation to interrupt the long stretches of tedium. And just when it seemed things couldn't get any worse, we'd feel Carolyn open the drawer and lift the jewelry box, and we'd find ourselves squinting painfully in the glare of the light.
When I was a sophomore, I had a history professor named Dr. Lavallee who had done a tour of duty in Cambodia, and he once described combat as "long stretches of boredom punctuated by brief moments of sheer terror."
That was life in the jewelry box.
Each morning and evening, Carolyn would pour some water into the plastic lid. It was barely enough for us to drink, and we didn't dare waste it on anything luxurious, like washing. Despite our best efforts, the jewelry box really was starting to smell quite rank.
One night--I think it might have been Sunday--Carolyn dropped some pieces of shredded bread into the box, and we fell on it like animals. Crouched in our own filth, we gnawed on the bread and thanked Carolyn for her generosity.
Some nights, Carolyn would select one of us to spend the night with her. And since time with her meant a bath and time out of that [EXPLETIVE DELETED] jewelry box, we found ourselves begging to be chosen.
Is that [EXPLETIVE DELETED] up or what? I think back on it now, and I just cringe with shame. But at the time, I so desperately wanted things to go back to how they had been. More than anything, I wanted to be her "special little guy" again.
***
She finally picked me one night, and I was ridiculously grateful. I let Julie put the cuffs on me, and I stepped willingly into Carolyn's hand. I even planted a submissive kiss on her finger as she lifted me out of the box.
"They're driving me crazy, Davey," Carolyn confided in me as she carried me into the bathroom. "I don't think they're ever gonna go home."
She held me over the sink, dabbed soap on me with her fingertip, and rinsed me off under the faucet. Then she buffed me dry with a washcloth.
Once in bed, she put me to work on her nipple while she fingered herself beneath the covers. She praised me for my enthusiasm, and rewarded me by rubbing me against her foot and along the underside of her toes until I finally climaxed.
I was trembling with pleasure as well as exhaustion when she pressed me to her mouth and kissed me.
"Don't worry, Davey," she whispered. "We'll get through this. I promise."
***
I spent the night tethered to her wrist by the golden chain. But she needn't have bothered. I wouldn't have dreamed of wandering off. Just the thought of leaping onto her nightstand as I had once done filled me with dread. So I crawled into her hand as she slept and curled up in her palm like a good little pet.
Another dream, incoherent and dreadful. I saw Carolyn kneeling and peering into a dollhouse. And when I knelt next to her, I saw the two of us inside the dollhouse, peering into an even smaller dollhouse. And I was terrified to look behind us, because I knew I'd see our monstrous faces peering in through the window.
***
I awoke when Carolyn shifted her hand. Her fingers closed gently around me, and she lifted me to her face and smiled sleepily.
"Good morning, little guy," she said. "Did you sleep good?"
I nodded and kissed her index finger.
"Did you have fun last night?" she asked.
I grinned. "Yeah, I did."
The sad part is, I wasn't playing along with her or anything. I was completely sincere. Pathetic, right?
"You still like my pretty toes?" Carolyn asked playfully.
For the briefest of moments, the sight of Randy dying beneath her sandaled foot popped into my mind. I willed it away, desperate to cling to the pleasantness of the moment.
I nodded. "I love them," I told her. "I love you."
She sighed. "Poor Davey. I shouldn't have locked you in that little box with the others. I was just mad, you know? I wasn't thinking straight."
"It's okay," I said, stroking her finger. "I understand."
"No, it's not okay," Carolyn said, sitting up. "I mean, they were the ones who tried to escape. But you didn't. I shouldn't have punished you like that."
"When this is all done, and your parents go home," I said, "can we go back to living in the dollhouse?"
"Of course," Carolyn nodded. "I mean, you can. I still haven't decided about the others."
She touched me to her lips, then slipped out from under the covers and got out of bed.
"You don't have to go back in the box if you don't want," she told me. "You can just stay with me today, like you did last week. Either on the necklace or in my pocket."
"I think I'd like it in your pocket," I told her. "If that's all right."
"Sure, sweetie."
***
Carolyn decided to skip her shower that morning, since she was planning on working in the garden. She slipped into her white shorts and gingham shirt, and tucked me in the breast pocket.
"Better get those little [EXPLETIVE DELETED] some water," she muttered. We went into the bathroom and she filled the shot glass with water. Then back into the bedroom. She set the glass on the dresser and knelt to open the drawer. She lifted the jewelry box with both hands and set it down on the dresser. And maybe it was my imagination, but she seemed to be treating it a little more gently than usual.
She popped the latch and opened the box, which was still mercifully silent. She pulled up the tray and gazed down at the others.
"Good morning," she said, which was more than she usually said when she opened the box. She picked up the shot glass and stuck her hand inside the jewelry box to pour water into the plastic bottle cap.
"Just so you know," she said, "Davey will be spending the day with me. If you guys keep behaving yourselves, maybe we'll see about letting you out of that box for a bit."
Just then, the door to the bedroom opened. Carolyn let out a frightened squeal and fumbled with the jewelry box, forcing the tray down and slamming the lid.
"Who are you talking to, Carolyn?" Cecile asked.
"Mom, what the hell?" Carolyn was obviously flustered. I could feel her heart pounding through the fabric of her shirt. "Why don't you knock? I could have been naked!"
"I'm your mother, Carolyn. I've seen you naked." She paused a moment, then asked, "What's in that box?"
"Nothing, Mom. Just jewelry." I could feel Carolyn shifting nervously, but her voice was even and unconcerned. Lying came easily to Carolyn.
"You keep your dope in that box?" Cecile asked. "Is that it?"
"I don't take dope, Mom. I'm taking valium that was prescribed by a doctor. It's over there on the nightstand, if you want to check the label."
"That stuff's no good for you, Carolyn. I don't care what those idiot doctors tell you."
"What about you, Mom? You take like thirty pills a day!"
"Those are for my blood pressure and my heart," Cecile said defensively. "That's different."
Carolyn sighed. "Did you want something, Mom? Or did you just come in here to stage an intervention?"
"I'm doing the laundry, and I came in to get the sheets off your bed," Cecile said.
I felt Carolyn step forward. "I'll get them and bring them down to you."
"Don't be silly, Carolyn. I might as well get them while I'm up here."
I was bounced around slightly as Carolyn and Cecile pulled the sheets off the bed.
"So," Cecile said, "I heard you talking when I was in the hall."
Carolyn's heart was pounding, but her voice betrayed nothing. "Really," she said casually. "What was I saying?"
"I don't know, baby," Cecile said. "I just heard you talking, that's all. I thought you might be on the phone or something."
"Just talking to myself," Carolyn said with a chuckle. "Didn't realize it was out loud. Just imagining what I'll say to Eddie if... when I see him again."
"Oh, baby," Cecile said. I was suddenly mashed between the two of them as Cecile hugged Carolyn tight. "You know I've always worried about you, even before this whole mess began. I'm not surprised you're talking to yourself."
Carolyn pulled away. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You've never had a lot of friends, Carolyn. Always spent your time alone, or hanging out with Linda and her friends. You never had anyone of your own."
"I had friends," Carolyn said petulantly.
"Your daddy and I were just so afraid you were going to be alone your whole life," Cecile went on. "It was a prayer on our hearts that you'd open up to people and stop being so..."
"Being so what?" Carolyn demanded.
"Difficult," Cecile finally finished. "We were so happy when you got engaged to Eddie, but he turned out to be worse than you. Living out here in the middle of the woods like the damn Unabomber or something."
"Mom, it wasn't like that."
"And now Eddie and Linda are gone, and all you do is sit around in this big house all alone, talking to yourself. That can't be healthy, baby."
"I'm fine, Mom."
"No wonder you have to take dope just to get through your day."
"It's not dope, Mom."
Cecile sighed melodramatically. "Carolyn, I think you should come back to Sweetwater with me and your daddy. Stay a while, until this mess gets settled. Or at least until we hear something about your sister."
"Mom..."
"Your daddy and I are heading back tomorrow," Cecile said. "Just promise me you'll think about it."
"Fine," Carolyn said wearily. "I promise."
***
After a week, Carolyn and her parents had run out of things to say to each other. Raymond kept offering her tips for getting rid of the grasshoppers in her garden, or reminding her she was due for an oil change according to the Kwik Oil sticker on her windshield. Cecile would occasionally mention the name of somebody in Sweetwater, claiming they had asked after Carolyn and would likely be excited to see her again. In between these sporadic conversations were long, awkward periods of silence as they sat and watched TV.
Carolyn finally excused herself to go work in the garden. I was excited by the prospect of being outdoors and was hoping Carolyn would let me roam free. Unfortunately, Raymond insisted on accompanying her. He sat on the patio, chatting with her as she worked. Naturally, I stayed in her pocket for the duration.
After a couple of hours, Cecile called the two of them in to lunch. The three of them ate their sandwiches in silence, except for Raymond's occasional words of wisdom regarding different methods of grasshopper extermination. Carolyn finally stopped him midsentence to announce she was going upstairs to grab a shower. Raymond offered to drive her to Wal-Mart when she was done to pick up some Semaspore bait.
"One more day," Carolyn kept muttering to herself as we made our way upstairs. "Just one more day." Despite her minor frustration, she was still in pretty good spirits. Tomorrow her parents would be on their way back to Sweetwater and she'd have us all to herself again.
Things would be back to normal.
She carried me into the shower with her and set me on the floor while she shampooed her hair. When she was done, she looked down at me and smiled as she played with me with her bare feet. I found myself enjoying the game, and I offered no resistance when she grasped me between her wet toes.
"Now I've got you," she said gleefully. "Naughty little thing." She wiggled her toes, mercilessly grinding me between them. I finally came with such ferocity that I almost passed out. With a spasm, I fell limp between her toes. I lay my head on her wet flesh and kissed her just below her red toenail.
I loved her. I was her special little guy.
***
After the shower, Carolyn set me on the vanity so she could towel herself off. When she was done, she scooped me up and gently dried me with a washcloth. She was still dabbing me dry when we heard Cecile's sobs from the bedroom.
"Oh [EXPLETIVE DELETED]!" Carolyn shouted as she bolted through the bathroom door, still naked. The bottom drawer of the dresser was open, and the jewelry box was sitting on top, wide open. Cecile was staring in horror at the figure of Chad, who squirmed in her gnarled fingers.
"Mom, what the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] are you doing?" Carolyn demanded.
Cecile turned to her, tears running down her flushed cheeks. She looked at me in Carolyn's hand, and her eyes went wide. "Oh my God, Carolyn. What have you done?"
"Mom, I can explain," Carolyn said. For once, her voice lacked the confidence and conviction that had come from decades of lying. For once, she sounded like a little girl who had been caught misbehaving.
"Is it true, Carolyn?" Cecile asked miserably. "Did you really kill Eddie and Randy? Did you kill your sister?"
Carolyn sat me down on the dresser and took her robe from the back of the chair. "Mom," she said as she slipped it on. "Just listen to me, okay?"
"Just answer the question!" Cecile shouted. "Is it true?"
Carolyn held up her hands to quiet her mother and glanced nervously towards the open bedroom door. Her face fell when she heard her father coming up the stairs.
"Mom, just put him down and come downstairs with me," Carolyn said. "I'll explain everything."
"I'm not going anywhere until you answer me!" Cecile shrieked. Chad yelped with pain as Cecile inadvertently pinched him between her finger and thumb.
"What are you two fussing about in here?" Raymond asked as he came into the bedroom. He spotted the tears on his wife's face and rolled his eyes. "Oh, God. What now, Cecile?"
Cecile pointed a finger at Carolyn and shrieked, "She killed them! Linda and Randy and Eddie! It was her!"
Raymond snorted. "What?" He turned to Carolyn. "Pookie, what is she on about?"
"Look!" Cecile shouted, thrusting out her hand to display Chad. He dangled helplessly in her grasp.
Raymond leaned in and squinted as he peered at Chad. His mouth fell open and he jerked back.
"Jesus," he croaked. "Is that... is he... alive?"
"He says Carolyn did this to him," Cecile sobbed. "To all of them! And he says she killed Linda and Eddie and..."
"He's lying!" Carolyn shouted. "I didn't kill Linda, okay? Eddie did!"
"She's dead?" Raymond asked, his voice quavering. "My Lulu's dead?"
"Carolyn, what have you done?" Cecile repeated.
Carolyn was flustered and in a panic, which was something I had never seen before. And for the first time since she had captured me, I felt hope. Not the vague hope that hinged on some convoluted escape plan, but real hope. Carolyn had been caught. Her secret was out. She wasn't going to worm her way out of this one.
Call it a moment of clarity, if you will. An epiphany. A brilliant moment of insight. But for the first time in as long as I could remember, I saw Carolyn as she truly was.
Had I really been so willing to submit to her, to be her pet? God, my stomach was turning at the very thought. She was no longer a goddess to be placated and pleased. She was a sad, frightened woman who had dug herself into a horrific hole and was now desperately trying to claw her way out.
"Mom, Dad," she said, struggling to keep her voice calm. "Just come down stairs with me, and I'll explain everything. I swear. If you don't believe me when I'm done, you can call the police yourself."
"God, Lulu," Raymond said, shaking his head. A tear ran down his leathery face and he wiped angrily at it. "I can't believe she's really gone."
"You didn't kill your sister?" Cecile said, with the faintest trace of hopefulness in her voice.
Carolyn shook her head. "No. I swear. Just put him back in the box and come downstairs with me. There's something in Eddie's lab that will answer all your questions."
"Don't listen to her," Chad screamed. "She's lying! She's going to..."
But Cecile had already stopped listening. She dumped Chad in the jewelry box and walked over to Carolyn.
"You swear?"
Once again in control of the situation, Carolyn shifted into lying mode with ease. "I swear, Mom."
"You didn't kill Linda?"
Carolyn actually smiled. "Of course not."
"Or Eddie or Randy?"
"No. Come on. I'll show you."
She escorted Raymond and Cecile to the door of the bedroom, then stopped and turned. "Hang on a second," she said. "I'll be right there."
She ran back into the bedroom, snatched me up, and dropped me in the box with the others. She flicked Chad in the head with her finger, knocking him backwards. He flew several inches backwards and landed with a thud. He sat up, gasping for air as blood ran down his nose.
"I'll deal with you later, you little [EXPLETIVE DELETED]," Carolyn whispered through gritted teeth. Then she slammed the tray down and closed the lid.
***
I guess you don't have to be Nostradamus to figure out what happened next. When Carolyn finally returned and opened up the jewelry box, she held the tiny, fragile figures of her parents in her hand.
They both lay still, naked and damp from being rinsed off under the faucet. I looked up at Carolyn. Her eyes were red and tearful, but her face betrayed no emotion.
She placed her hand inside the box and gently tipped it, letting her parents slide onto the velvet. She gingerly touched her father with her index finger, then withdrew her hand.
"Get them covered up," she told us, leaning in close. "Try not to scare them too badly when they come to."
She sighed and raised back up. "I have to go take care of their car."
***
It was Julie who first noticed that Cecile wasn't breathing. Chad and Denny, ever the Boy Scouts, rushed over and tried to administer CPR, but it was no use. Cecile had not survived the process.
Eddie's machine didn't actually shrink things, you see. It disintegrated them and then created a tiny copy. The process wasn't gentle. I had puked and pissed myself when Carolyn had zapped me. Others had suffered similar fates, or even voided their bowels.
But poor Cecile had a bad heart, and it had obviously given out during the scanning process. Her tiny copy had been dead when it was created.
"Poor Raymond," Julie said as she covered Cecile with a blanket. "I don't know how we're going to break the news to him."
I felt bad for Raymond, but at the moment, I was actually more worried about breaking the news to Carolyn.
***
Raymond eventually stirred, and Julie carried him water in her cupped hands. He moaned, then awoke with a start.
He sat up and glanced around. Carolyn had left the jewelry box open and on top of the dresser, because I guess she couldn't bear the thought of her parents waking up in the dark.
He looked at the velvet walls and the monstrous jewelry scattered all about. He craned his neck to gaze up at the ceiling, impossibly high above us. He looked at me, then at Julie.
"She did it, didn't she?" he said softly. "Whatever she did to you, she did to us too."
I put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Raymond."
He pulled away. "I don't even know you. Any of you." He looked around nervously. "Where's Cecile? Where's my wife?"
Julie approached him and knelt, taking his hand. "She... I'm afraid she didn't make it, Raymond. She's gone."
His mouth opened and closed, but at first he didn't make a sound. Finally, he whispered, "No."
He climbed unsteadily to his feet and made his way over to Cecile. He pulled the blanket down from her face and stared. Then something broke inside him. He wailed loudly, like a wounded animal, as tears ran freely down his weathered cheeks. "Cecile," he sobbed. "Oh, God, Cecile!"
He was still sobbing over her when Carolyn came back into the room. She peered into the box, and her mouth fell open.
"What happened?" she demanded. "What the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] happened?"
"You killed your mother," Raymond roared, glaring up at her.
"No!" Carolyn said. She leaned in and poked her mother's lifeless body with the tip of her fingernail.
"Leave her alone!" Raymond shouted. He grabbed an earring and hurled it as hard as he could at Carolyn. It fell well short of the mark, landing with a clatter among some other jewelry. "You killed her!"
"I didn't," Carolyn insisted. "I mean..."
"I'll never forgive you for this," Raymond said.
Carolyn reached down and gently picked her father up. He screamed and thrashed in her grip as she lifted him out of the jewelry box.
"Put me down, you bitch!" he screamed. "You [EXPLETIVE DELETED] monster!"
"Dad, please don't be like this." The words spilled from Carolyn as she desperately tried to placate her father. "It was an accident. I didn't mean for any of this to happen, but I didn't have any choice. Things just keep getting out of control, and every time I try to rein it in, everything just spirals. I swear to God, I didn't mean to..."
Her father was sobbing, no longer paying attention to her pleading. Carolyn placed him back in the jewelry box and touched her finger to his face. He pulled away and screamed, "Get the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] away from me!"
Carolyn's hand moved over to her mother. She reached down and gently scooped her into her palm, blanket and all.
"I'll go bury her in the garden," she told Raymond. He offered no response.
Carolyn turned and hurried out of the bedroom, but not before she started crying.
***
Chad got a reprieve of sorts. With everything else that was going on, Carolyn sort of forgot all about him.
That afternoon, she carried the jewelry box into the bathroom and set it down on the counter. She turned the water on and let it run for a minute or so before she pulled up the stop. She let about an inch of warm water run into the sink before turning off the faucet.
"Davey, go ahead and get out of those handcuffs," she said. "Y'all get undressed, and I'll let you get cleaned up."
Over the past week, most of us had shed our filthy clothing and taken to draping ourselves with blankets or towels when modesty prevailed upon us to do so. We disrobed and, one by one, Carolyn lifted us up and gently set us in the sink. Her father was the only holdout, refusing to remove his towel or even acknowledge her. Carolyn finally gave up and just left him in the box.
I didn't really need the bath, since I'd just showered with Carolyn a couple of hours before. But I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity, especially given how rare they had been over the past week.
She left us alone while we bathed, which was something of a welcome respite. No massive fingers roughly soaping us up. No fists holding us under the tap. Just a long, leisurely soak. It was almost enough to make me feel human again.
After twenty minutes, Carolyn came back in. She lifted us one at a time from the sink and dried us off before slipping us into the pocket of her bathrobe. Raymond was the last, still draped in his blanket and squirming defiantly in her grip.
When she finally pulled us out of her pocket, we were back in the guest room. The dollhouse sat on the dresser, completely empty. Carolyn placed us inside it gently, setting us on the plastic floor of the living room.
The first thing she put back in place was the portable toilet in the upstairs bedroom. Next was the shot glass, full of water, in the kitchen. She took the cardboard box from the closet and opened it, tossing the lid on the bed. Rather than dump its contents out, she reached in and gently set each piece of furniture in its proper room. And, to our delight, she deposited a huge pile of clothes on the floor in front of us.
As Carolyn helped us resettle, we scrambled to dress ourselves. Only Raymond refused to participate, standing in the corner of the dollhouse and glaring at his daughter as she arranged the furniture.
***
Dinner that night was shaved turkey, sliced cheese, and saltines. It was a feast, and we all tucked in with enthusiasm. Except for Raymond, who simply stood to the side of the paper plate with his arms crossed, bitterly watching his daughter.
While we ate, Carolyn sat down on the edge of the bed with the cardboard box sitting on the floor next to her. She reached into the box and pulled out Mr. Nichols' Honda Civic and gave him a playful wink as she set it on the floor next to her bare foot. Next was Denny's beat up Escort, with it missing fender. Finally, she set down the silver Lincoln Town Car that belonged to Raymond. She looked to her father for some kind of response, but he just turned away from her.
Carolyn shook her head sadly. "Your car is still downstairs, Dave," she said. "I'll bring it up later."
She hadn't produced Eddie's pickup or Linda's little Toyota, which were obviously still in the box. Instead, she placed the lid back on and put the box in the closet.
When we had eaten our fill, Carolyn didn't even chide us for wasting food. She picked us up one at a time and deposited us in the dollhouse. Her father was last. She held him for a second, stroking him with her index finger. He squirmed and pulled away from her, but said nothing. Shaking her head sadly, she slipped him into her pocket. Finally, she bent down to pick up the paper plate.
"Goodnight, little guys," she said. "It's going to be better from now on. I promise."
And with that she snapped off the light and left, closing the door behind her.
Denny turned on the light in the living room, which did little to illuminate the vastness of the guest room. I was still standing at the edge of the dollhouse, staring.
"What's up, dude?" he asked, coming up behind me. "Deep thoughts?"
"Always," I said, grinning. "But check that out."
He looked out into the darkness as well and saw what I had been looking at.
The door to the guest room was closed. But a tiny sliver of light shined underneath it. The barricade was gone.
"Dude!" Denny said. "The Great Escape is on!"
I nodded. It wouldn't be that night, obviously. Even if we could figure out a way down off the dresser, we'd be leaving poor Raymond at Carolyn's mercy. I wanted to believe even someone as monstrous as Carolyn wouldn't harm her own helpless father. But Carolyn had recently proven to be capable of atrocities we'd never imagined.
So no, it wouldn't be that night. But soon. Very soon.
***
Giantess World
Summer Job by Cayce