House 257

Warning: Language

“ Because I can’t do it anymore, Henry! The robbing, the running from the police, the gunshots- I can’t deal with that shit anymore!”

“ Why? Because of the very small chance that you might make it into a good college? Do you even know if mom and dad can afford that shit?”

“ It doesn’t matter- I told you I got full rides from everywhere that I applied to!”

“ Full ride doesn’t mean free,” Henry raised an eyebrow. “ It just means mostly free. We still have to buy things for your dorm, your food, possibly a plane ticket-”

“ Why the fuck do you care, you’re not paying for any of that shit!”

“ Mom and Dad will- and you know they barely have the money to feed us!” Henry said, “ Whether you get accepted or not, there’s no way they’ll let you go.”

“ I know they’ll try,” Jazmine raised an eyebrow herself, “ Because they love me, and care about me, and want me to have a future outside of this bum- ass city! Why can’t you do the same?”

Thunder cracked and echoed through the kitchen. Right before, three bolts of lightning struck through the large window that was in the center of the kitchen above the sink.

“ I am doing the same.” Henry said, “ By telling you to cut the bullshit now and getting rid of your letters before you get disappointed. Plus, how can I be happy for you when you’re taking away the only thing that makes this family money over shit that won’t make any difference?”

“ And why won’t me getting into college make a difference?” Jazmine hissed.

“ C’mon Jazmine- don't play with me- we both know you wouldn’t pass a single class up there.” Henry laughed, “ I mean, come on now.”

Jazmine looked at him with crossed arms and with dark eyes that burned through Henry’s head.

“Plus, even if you could, you would hate college! Everyone there is so entitled and got into college because their rich, white parents pay so much for them that they don’t have to work a day in their lives! The food is gross, and everything there costs more than what we steal in a year!”

“ I don’t care!” Jazmine shouted, “ I’d much rather be there than with a brother who hides my admission letters behind my back, and wants me to be with him all the time like we’re still five years old!”

“ Fuck you, Jazmine- I was looking out for you.” Henry waved her off before turning around to walk away.

“ No, fuck you. I don’t need you to look out for me! Not before, not now, not ever again!”

Henry stormed out of the living room and out the front door, before throwing his hood over his not-too-tall hi-top, the hi-top that he had just gotten a few weeks prior.

But he didn’t care. He needed to do something to distract himself now.

He didn’t need her. He didn’t need anyone to help him do what he needed to get done.

He looked up at the dark, rainy sky- and at the neighborhood that the lightning fell over. It was full of two or three-story houses. With a couple in the distance that was under construction.

It was the perfect candidate.

He did as he always did with Jazmine, either taking the bus or driving their parents' car around neighborhoods, then finding one that only one person lives in and has valuable stuff.

Since Jazmine wasn’t helping him this time, he decided to take the bus to the perfect neighborhood in the distance.

When he got off the bus next to a convenience store, he saw a sign made out of a rounded slab of granite that entered into the rich cluster of blue and white colonial houses.

On the slab, the sign read, “ Cedar Ridge”.

Perfect. He thought.

He flipped his black hoodie over his head and walked past houses with hands in his pockets, using his mostly empty backpack as a means to not look suspicious.

He completely ignored any houses that had more than one car parked in the driveway. For the rest of them, he looked for other details. Ramps at the doorstep, toys in the front lawn, unruly grass flowing through the front lawn- anything that could indicate whether or not more than one person lived there.

After taking many twists and turns, and walking blocks past the hundreds of houses- he found a small green park. Thankfully, with not much around besides a few benches littered around the rounded edges of the field.

He sat at one of them, and took out a notebook and pen before writing down house numbers that were possible candidates. Thanks to his photographic memory, he remembered them all perfectly.

The next thing he had to do was to double-check if any of the houses had security systems. This meant he had to check that there were no signs on the front lawns indicating protection.

After crossing a couple more numbers, he got down to one candidate.

House number 257. With the white Toyota on the front lawn.

The thing was, Jazmine and Henry had already done all the research needed in order to break into the house before tonight. It was normal for them to double-check that there weren’t other options before breaking in, and to find the car that belonged to the house’s owner.

Now that Henry had both, he could probably rob the house tonight.

He double checked his black backpack, and checked the time on his watch:

10:30 p.m.

It’s still too early, Henry thought. I’m gonna have to come back.

So at 4 a.m., when the convenience store closed for the night, it was go time.

He went down the alleyway behind door 257 and approached the brick wall that led him into the backyard. He climbed over it, and it was beautiful.

Unruly grass that went up to Henry’s hip, with nothing else in the yard. With- more importantly- all the lights off in and outside of the house.

Which Henry found slightly odd, since most people would at least have lights over their front or back lawn. But this house didn’t have either, making the whole area pitch black.

Good thing I brought my flashlight, Henry thought.

He took out a small black flashlight and brought it up to the lock on the white back door of the house.

Then he took out a long silver tool from his backpack. A tension wrench that he stole from his father, who worked as a locksmith. As little money as he made, it made Henry incredibly lucky in his line of work.

Once he put the wrench through the lock, it opened like a charm.

When he snuck into the house, it was pitch-black and quieter than a ghost town. The only thing that kept Henry company was the multiple shadows that took all kinds of shapes around him.

He turned on his flashlight and pointed it at the hardwood floor, which he used to guide his steps. He did that until he drifted into the dining room, where there was a very large cabinet.

When Henry put his flashlight over it, he saw that it was fine china behind glass doors.

Bingo.

He slowly opened one of the two double doors while opening his backpack, and took one of the plates into the mouth of it-

Something moved fast behind him. So fast that Henry could feel the breeze from whatever moved.

He turned his head around and flashed his flashlight- but there was nothing.

Was it a bug? He wondered as he shone the flashlight onto the hardwood floor again.

But the floor was clean, and there wasn’t a single pest to be seen.

He turned his flashlight towards the case of fine china, while wearing his backpack on his chest.

He looked in the drawers for anything else valuable, and found a couple of golden forks and spoons, along with a vintage painted egg that was wrapped in plastic. When he lightly knocked on the egg, it had a hard, hollow feel similar to glass. So the egg was also fine chin-

He felt something move behind him.

This time, not right behind him, but more so from a distance. It gave Henry the same feeling when he sensed someone walking into a room.

He shone his flashlight into the living room behind him. Nothing.

He suddenly felt a shiver down his spine and a sinking feeling in his stomach.

I should probably hurry up, he thought to himself.

He closed his backpack and headed into the next room- the living room.

There shouldn’t be anyone here, he thought. There wasn’t a car in the driveway.

He used the flashlight to guard his steps again into the living room. There wasn’t much by living room standards besides the basics. There was a couch, a TV, a TV stand, and a coffee table. The only thing that stood out was a table on the side of the living room that had a large photo above it, in a glass frame. The photo was of a blond-haired man smiling with a little girl with blond strands in front of her face to match.

The only thing on the table itself was a large, wooden jewelry box.

Hell yeah. He thought.

It was close enough to where Henry didn’t need the flashlight, and thanks to the photo, the shapes that made up the table were distinguishable enough for him to see them in the pitch-black darkness.

But not long after, he tripped and fell over-, preparing to land on his face.

But he didn’t simply fall onto the hardwood floor of the living room. Right before he landed, the whole floor where he fell collapsed into a huge, dark hole before he could stop himself.

That- is when he fell and landed. As soon as he did, he hit his head and saw nothing but black.

When he woke up again- he was tied up in a chair. Which he knew because no matter how much he tried to move, his arms remained folded in front of his chest.

Everything was still pitch black, and he was still in the living room. The only difference Henry noticed right away was the huge hole in front of the photo that hung on the wall and the table underneath it. It had sharp wood on the edges of the hole, sharp enough to stab someone-

He heard a voice.

A hoarse, soundless voice, that said, “ I can’t… believe I caught you…I’m so hungry…”

A figure crept slowly into the living room, biding its time with every step.

Henry could tell that it was a person, and by the squareness of the shoulders, that it was a man.

As the man slowly drew closer, he put one hand on his side and spread out his fingers. Which seemed odd, because the rest of his body was completely slumped, like he had to drag the rest of his body.

With each step closer he got to Henry, not knowing how close he would get, more chills went up his spine.

“ Please, don’t hurt me. I’m really sorry for breaking in, my family can’t afford to eat! I can give you all of your stuff back!”

“ I…would say…sorry.” The man continued, his eyes now glowing red in the dark, “But…you…asked…for…this.” ,

The man crept closer…and closer…until he stood not even a few inches in front of Henry. Who whimpered and whose eyes were filled with tears.

The man bent down so that they were eye to eye. His eyes were completely black except for his pupils, which almost blared in Henry’s face.

Faster than light, he grabbed Henry’s neck and sank his long, sharp nails into Henry’s umber skin. Making blood slowly seep out.

Then the man bit his neck, sinking in two sharp knives that cut through like butter.

Henry felt completely frozen, his sight became blurry, and even though the pain was like nothing he had ever experienced, he somehow was…calm. As if…he didn’t want to move.

So calm…that after a while…even though he couldn’t control it…he drifted back into a pitch black darkness, one that was much, much darker than the room that he was in.

……

The next time anyone had seen Henry Bolte was a few days later.

Back at the very house where it all started- his own.

He was hungry, thirsty, and unbelievably tired.

His black hoodie had stains that reeked of garbage, and his pants smelled like sewage.

But he didn’t care.

He needed to find his sister, Jazmine. He wanted to tell his whole family that he was back, of course- but especially Jazmine.

His twin sister.

His only sister.

The one person that he never should’ve driven away.

He looked into the large window at the front of the house- the one that led into the kitchen.

All the lights were on. And he heard laughing through the curtains that were shut over the window.

He knocked on the screen door.

No one answered. And the laughter stopped.

Henry knocked again before he shouted, “ It’s me, Henry! Open up!”

No one answered.

“ Please, it’s me! Momma, let me in!”

Still, no one answered.

He looked into the peephole and saw absolutely no one in the living room or the hall in front of the peephole.

After knocking and calling for his mother several more times, he finally gave up.

He turned away and walked towards the city.

He did this a few more times- before he was invited in by his mother.

But he ran away again when his mother threatened to call the police, frightened at what she claimed wasn’t her real son. That no real son of hers would ever become a bloodthirsty creature of the night. Which she concluded after he failed to show up in a mirror’s reflection.

When Henry realized what her mother did, he ran so fast and so far away that he almost collapsed in exhaustion by the time he stopped, not looking or caring where he was running to.

That was the last time that anyone would ever step into House 257 without being invited.

And the last time that Jazmine ever saw Henry.