Savages (AHS: Roanoke)

Chapter 4

I paused it. Lawrence MacLean? I immediately put two and two together. Barbi and Sarah...they were his daughters, maybe? Definitely related, I know that.

"He is now dead, but he has two daughters. Both with bright red hair. You couldn't miss them." Yup, I got my answer. I continued to watch, listening carefully. This man was clearly NOT stupid. Just really crazy, it seems.

"They just moved out of this house three days ago. The two girls are orphaned now and live with their uncle. Before moving here, this house had previously been unoccupied for 15 years. The family before them included a father, a mother, two daughters. Had lived in the house only for a brief time before they suddenly vacated. They left all their possessions behind. They left no forwarding address. Just like the two girls taken in by their uncle. No one knows where they live now. They could be in the woods in a shack."

I paused it again, thinking to myself...why Sarah had stopped me in the middle of the road, woods all around us...just to get out with Barbi. It all seemed to be coming together. I continued to listen. I knew this had to do with those two girls.

"Fact: October 2, 2005, just a couple days ago, police were called by one of the little girls, frantic and crying, saying her parents were dead." Oh dear Lord...I...I knew that must have been a horrible experience...those poor girls, I thought at the time.

"I remember being called back here, I was staying here. I was out for the evening and left the girls alone. Thinking their parents would naturally take care of them. I c-come back, I see both bodies, of Lawrence and his wife, Kelly, b-being dragged out. T-They were struggling to put the bodies in bags to be taken away. I saw Lawrence was heavily butchered."

I immediately thought of that woman in colonial clothing. Could it have been her, somehow? It didn't seem to make a ton of sense to me.

"I couldn't even recognize his face. I ran to the little girls. The youngest one cried her eyes out, and the older one had completely flat affect. No emotions, consoling her sister in her arms. Before I knew it, I was out here, and they were gone. The house was put up for sale. They tried to make it presentable. They put in new carpeting, repainted all the walls. But it does no good. Strange things still happen. That house is now vacant. I haven't set foot in that house in days, but I'm going back in there. I don't know if I will survive, but I have to see exactly what it is."

I paused the tape and looked down at my jeans...I couldn't believe it. Barbi and Sarah BOTH lived in this same house I now own? And now they could have been living god-knows-where nearby. I asked myself 'Cole, you sure they're not the ones causin' trouble?'

"Did you think they were, Mr. Paterson?" the interviewer questioned. Cole just looked down and sighed, his face neutral to the question.

Well, I think it was a bit ridiculous, if that were the case. Like if they were watching me, or...like how would that idea explain Barbi being upset about her uncle's disappearance?

I didn't see them until later than expected, later that week, as I just said. They were too preoccupied with the disappearance of Martin. A few days passed, still no sign of him. I remember even driving to and from work at the lumber mill, seeing posters of his face posted up on trees and light posts, however many were in the area near my house.

They ended up finding him by Saturday. That was when I saw Barbi again. Seeing those tapes and seeing her, how beautiful she was, I actually started to feel terrible for her. I pitied her. Both of them, actually, even though Sarah was always there scaring me. There had been a knock on my door. I rushed to it, I remember it was Saturday afternoon. Before I could tell who it was, I felt small arms tightly hugging me. The first giveaway was the red hair. It was Barbi.