The Remains

XXXVII - Samuel

Samuel, please. The argument can wait. This is important.

I dismissed the memory. How important?

Lionel growled. Something's gone wrong with Jess. She was screaming, and then, nothing. It just stopped.

How long ago was this?

Lionel sighed. I don't know. Maybe a quarter of an hour.

So, she doesn't talk to you for a day, then just starts screaming?

I called out to her, but, it was like she couldn't hear me. I can feel when people are ignoring me, but this was different.

I felt my stomach tighten. Lionel, I know this is bad news, but, there isn't anything I can do from here. I'm close to something important with these memories, I can feel it. Keep me updated, but please, I need a minute.

Lionel paused. Can I ask something before I go? Your memories? Can you remember every little bit of it at a moments notice, or it more like watching a screen?

I stopped for a second. I guess it's more like a screen. It feels correct, and lots of little details remind me of things that used to be in our house. But, it definitely feels like I'm being shown the memories. Why?

Just the way you always talk about them. Never mind. I'll let you know if I hear anything more from Jess.

We waited several days before calling Father in as missing. A week later, Police searched the house. They found him, floating just under the surface of the ice. Then the questions began.

Why did Jess have a fresh cast on her arm?

Why were we all covered in cuts and bruises?

Why did Sanders have broken ribs?

Why did Father have a cut across his face?

Why was the fire poker so impeccably clean?

They tore our story to pieces, one at a time. They interrogated Lionel first, making us sit downstairs with a guard the whole time.

Then they called Jess.

Lionel sat down with a sigh. We sat in silence. My mouth was dry. I felt sick.

Then the called Sanders.

Jess sat down next to Lionel, and hung her head. We had all agreed that our injuries were from a fight with each other, and that Father had just disappeared one day. It was plausible. He'd done that sometimes.

Jess leant over to Lionel, and whispered something in his ear. Lionel shook his head. She grabbed his leg, and murmured something else. Lionel sank back into his seat. He was sweating.

Then they called me.

I stood up, and began to walk up the stairs. I could barely move my feet.

Jess stood up. "I did it."

Everyone stopped moving. Lionel put his head in his hands.

Jess hefted her cast into her sling, and took a step forwards. "I killed that monster. And I would do it again. And again. I would do it again every single day of my life." Something crashed to the ground in the kitchen. Jess locked eyes with our guard. "Did you know he killed people? That he killed our mother? That he butchered people? You did nothing. So I made a choice. I made the decision. I made the right-"

The interrogator started walking down the stairs. "Arrest her."

The guard stepped forwards, and pulled Jess's arms behind her back. Jess gasped as he strained her broken elbow. They walked her out to the car, and slammed the front door shut. We weren't allowed to follow.

I turned to Lionel. "What did she tell you?"

Lionel didn't look up.

I grabbed him by the shoulders. "What did she say to you, Lionel? What did she whisper to you, just after she sat down?"

He looked up at me, and mumbled something.

"Louder."

"She said that they'd probably ease the sentence if they pleaded insanity, because of her depression."

She was right. They held the trial in a youth court, barely two weeks after they took her away.

Jess was sentenced to ten years in an asylum for the criminally insane. We weren't allowed to see her before they took her away. Wouldn't tell us where.

Eleanor gathered us up to take us back to the mansion.

A man in a purple suit clasped his hands onto my shoulders. "I'm sorry to hear about your Father. I worked with him on a few occasions, or more accurately, he worked for me." We glared at him.

He wet his lips. "Funny story is, we're related. I'm actually your cousin. Do you remember your Aunty? Rosia?"

Lionel unclasped the man's hands from my shoulders. "It was lovely meeting you, however-"

The man in the purple suit laughed. "What was your name again?"

Lionel cleared his throat. "Uh, Lionel."

The man nodded. "Right, right. Lionel." He rolled the word around in his mouth. "Lionel." He pointed at me. "And your's?"

I edged closer to Lionel. "Samuel."

The man smiled. "Samuel. Mmm. Which, just, leaves, you." He pointed at Sanders.

Sanders took a step back, and narrowed his eyes. "Sanders."

"And the girl up there, your sister?"

Lionel locked eyes with the man. "Jess. Her name is Jess."

The man smiled, and straightened his suit jacket. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all." Then he walked away.

Sanders took a step forward. "We gave you our names."

The man paused. "My name? You'll all know it soon enough."