Consumed

“Come in,” Suzanne called out — she hoped that, whoever it was, they’d be able to have more success in calming Tammy down.

Johnny pushed the door open, “Can I come in?”

Suzanne nodded. Johnny stepped into the room and shut the door behind him, after a quick look to make sure his father wasn’t nearby.

“Are you okay?” he asked Tammy. He had partly felt responsible for what had happened. It had been his idea to tell their parents what Tammy had done — not that they had had much of a choice. She didn’t respond. “We need to do something about him…” It didn’t matter that Suzanne heard him. He knew she had suffered at the hands of Robert too. They all had. “We shouldn’t have to live like this… In fear of him…”

“It’s not him,” said Suzanne.

“Bullshit, who else is it?”

“You know who.”

“No, I don’t believe in that. And you don’t either,” he retorted.

“Maybe we should,” she continued.

“Believe in what?” asked Tammy, wiping away the tears from her cheeks.

“You don’t remember the stories dad told us as we were growing up?” asked Suzanne.

She shook her head.

“Don’t even start, Suzanne… None of it… It’s not true. It’s just stories. Some little tribes in North America… Around that area… Stories to tell their children… To scare them away from what we have grown up enjoying…”

“Tell me,” Tammy insisted.

“I don’t think our dad is always himself,” said Suzanne. “He used to tell us of a legend… Told by… I think… Algonquian people… The legend of Wendigo…”

“Why are you telling her this? You don’t believe in it… You said so yourself.”

“Maybe I was wrong. We were wrong.” She continued, “A malevolent spirit that could possess humans. People who were… People who liked… What we like… Flesh… Human flesh… We are more at risk.”

“Then why haven’t we been possessed?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps because he has been doing it for longer. They say that, when possessed, you’d become violent and obsessed with eating human flesh… You know how hungry he can get… You know how violent he can get too.”

Tammy started to cry again, “But… I couldn’t stop myself either.”

“What do you mean?”

“I knew I shouldn’t have done what I did but I couldn’t stop myself. From the moment they got here… I knew what I wanted and, at the first opportunity, I took it.”

“It’s not the same,” said Suzanne. “You were just hungry. We all are. It’s been months since we’ve had a good meal. A proper meal. Other meat just doesn’t satisfy the cravings as much. You are not like him, though. None of us are. We wouldn’t hurt each other… We wouldn’t. How many times has he hurt you?”

“I forgot.”

“I try to too,” nodded Suzanne. “Too many times to count. Too many times to forget. He isn’t our father anymore. He is something else.”

“So you agree we need to do something then?” Johnny butted in.

Suzanne nodded, “What about Stephen and mum though?”

“They’re either with us or against us.”

“And what about our guests?” Suzanne enquired further.

Johnny smiled, “I’m sure we’ll work up a hunger.”

* * *

“Who’s that?” asked Joel with a hint of fear in his voice. He was tied to a chair with ropes around his wrists and ankles. Unbeknownst to him, in the same position behind him was Lara.

“Joel? Is that you?”

“Lara?” Joel tried to turn his head to see her but couldn’t. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she replied — the same fear in her voice. “I just woke up here. What happened?”

“I’m the same. Just woke up. Can you see anything?” he asked.

“No.”

They were sitting in one of the house’s many rooms — not that they knew that as all the lights were off and there appeared to be no windows to let in any light or glimpse of their surroundings.

“I’m scared,” Lara whispered.

Joel wanted to tell her that everything was okay. He wanted to tell her that he’d protect her from whoever did this to them. He wanted to say it but didn’t because he knew it would’ve been nothing more than a lie — a lie which would have been easy for anyone to detect.

“Me too,” he whispered back.

“Where are the others?”

Again, he didn’t answer. Lara didn’t expect him to. It was more of a rhetorical question. After all, in the position he was in, there was no way for him to know where any of their friends were. He startled to struggle against the ropes which had him locked to the wooden chair.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Can you get your hands free?” he replied as he still battled against his restraints.

“I don’t know,” she started to fight against her ropes too. “They’re tight,” she moaned.

“Fuck!”

“What is it?” she asked.

“Nothing. I cut myself on the rope. Fuck!” he said again. “What the fuck is going on? Where are we?”

“I don’t know!” said Lara. She started to cry as fear took hold of her senses.

“Lara, it’s okay. It’s okay. Just try and remember. Do you remember anything before waking up here?” he asked. “Anything at all?”

“I just remember that we were waiting for dinner. The old lady… She gave us some drinks and we drank.”

“The lemonade,” Joel suddenly realised what had happened, “it was drugged.”

“What? It couldn’t have been. She wouldn’t have!”