What Happened to Him?

Part 3: She Didn't Follow The Rules

Iris and Brahms sat in the music room. Brahms refused to be still for his music lesson. It was Iris's third week as the Heelshires's nanny and now that she was homeschooling Brahms as well, he pushed the limits of his rigid rules more and more. She knew the punishment, but let the rod sit in its corner instead. Mrs. Heelshire wouldn't be home for another hour.

"Brahms, what if we cut music lessons short today?" He brightened at the possibility. "You can play with one toy. Go pick one and we can sit by the fire in the study." Brahms stood, never taking his eyes off of her and reached for her hand. Iris hesitated, but took his hand, clammy in hers, and let him lead her out of the room. As they passed his room, she paused, "Don't you want a toy?"

Brahms shook his head, "I have one already."

Iris paused, "What toy do you have?"

Brahms looked up at her, "It's downstairs."

When they got to the second floor study, Brahms let her hand drop and went straight for the fireplace. Iris ran after him, but he made it there before her and grabbed the stoker and plunged it into the fire.

"Brahms, you're not supposed to play with that. Give it to me." Brahms turned to her, more severe now.

"But you said we didn't have to follow the rules today." He turned the stoker in the fire knocking a log out of place. She took a step away from him.

"Brahms. This is not a game. Put that down and walk away immediately. Fire is not a toy." Her pulse quickened, but she knew she had to stop him. She started toward him and he pulled the stoker out of the fire and pointed it at her. "Brahms, put that back right now." With a smile, he ran at her - the stoker in hand. She stumbled backward to get away, but fell into a chair. He stuck her with the spear end, searing her side. She jerked her body away from the stoker.

Brahms pulled back to stick her again, but she kicked it out of his hand. Once he was looking away she jumped up and grabbed Brahms before he could get to the stoker. She half-dragged him upstairs to his room and locked him inside.

He screamed, loud enough for her to hear two floors down in the kitchen. Then, suddenly stopped. Every noise was amplified in the silence. She reached for the bandages when she heard something move behind her. She turned back and nothing was there. "Mice." She said to calm her nerves and turned back to the cabinet to find the bandages weren't there.

"You dropped this." Iris jumped and saw Brahms standing with them in hand. She stepped behind the counter to put space between them.

"How did you get down here?" She grabbed the bandage from him and fixed it to her side. Just then the front door opened. Iris took Brahms's hand and led him to the foyer. Mrs. Heelshire stood with bags in hand surprised to see them.

"What are you two doing down here?" She checked her watch. "Brahms should be studying."

"Mrs. Heelshire," Iris started, but was quickly interrupted.

"What's that on your side?" Margaret set her bags down and walked toward them. Brahms moved behind Iris.

Iris thought for a second, "We were reading by the fire and things got out of hand." Margaret reached for Brahms, who moved further out of her reach. Iris considered the burn, but decided it was better to save him from a worse punishment. She could talk to him tomorrow. "It's fine Mrs. Heelshire. It was an accident, wasn't it Brahms?" She looked at him and nodded.

Brahms looked between the two women and then blurted, "She didn't follow the rules! She didn't follow the rules and needed to be punished!" Iris grew impatient, but when she met Margaret's gaze, she quickly realized Brahms wasn't the one in trouble.

"We followed the schedule, Mrs. Heelshire...he was a little rambunctious after reading so I was going to move music, but..." Margaret cut her off again.

"There's a reason for the rules. If you can't manage a simple schedule then you certainly aren't fit to care for my son." Margaret stepped back to give Iris a clear path to the exit. She saw Brahms smirk at Iris's dismissal, but chose to ignore it for now. "We can post anything you've carelessly left behind." Iris hesitated for a moment then grabbed her bag and left.

"Brahms." Margaret turned to her son who quickly lost his smirk. "Just because someone else doesn't see the need for structure doesn't give you the right to do as you please."

He backed away slightly, "But, it was her. She didn't follow the rules! She needed to be punished, just like the others!" Margaret paused.

"What do you mean?"

Brahms avoided eye contact and said, "My pets."

"What pets, Brahms?" He shied away again, "Show me." He hung his head and gave plenty of space between himself and her as he walked outside. She followed until they were a few dozen feet inside of the woods behind the house. There, neatly arranged in a line were the semi-decomposed corpses of several animals. A few rats, one raccoon, and two cats. One of the cats hadn't started to decompose, but had been ripped open with the organs arranged next to it. She put her hand to her forehead unsure what to do next.

Margaret knelt down and grabbed the nearest fallen thin branch and held it high above her head. She swung at Brahms, but he caught it in his hand before it made contact with its intended target. "THEY WERE BAD! THEY HAD TO BE PUNISHED." He shouted over and over, until his face was red and he collapsed to the ground. Margaret abandoned the stick and grabbed her son, rocking him back and forth.

"Mummy's here." She said quietly to him. She knew there could be no more nannies. He needed better supervision.