୧ ‧₊˚ 🥩🦴 ⋅

Growing up William had always cut his hair, along with his brother’s, Jackson’s. It’s not that they didn’t trust barbers or anything, but Mama used to do their hair. The nearest town was at least a fifteen to twenty minute drive, so she had opted to just cut her boys’ hair.

Even after Mama’s passing, the routine still stuck with William and he took over Jackson’s hair cut as well. So, once a month William would spend about thirty minutes in a mirror just cutting his hair with scissors lying around the house.

However one day when William was cutting his hair, he had somehow lost control of the scissors and it cut a big chunk off of his hair. He had panicked a bit but had swooped his hair over into a side part, and ever since then the style had stuck, even into his twenties.

On top of cutting the brothers’ hair, Mama would wash it for them. This is one of the only things that didn’t carry over into their adulthood, especially Jackson.

Look at the state of their house, their personal hygiene isn’t going to be much better. Most of the time William’s hair is greasy from how much he sweats doing outside work. Jackson’s hair is just stinky.

———

However, this neglect from the brothers would change drastically in many months. When you had stumbled onto Cottonwood Farms in need of directions, you weren’t expecting to stay long at all.

William’s hesitance to let you go made you rethink your decision to leave despite the condition of the house and brothers’ mental states.

Both were extremely damaged in their own ways. You always managed to attract people in dire need of help, and they definitely needed it.

So, you made a deal with them: you’d call home and let them know where you were in exchange for cleaning the house.

After a bit of convincing, they let you call home to let your family know you’re doing alright and then you got to work.

Perhaps you shouldn’t have seen those shows of free house cleanings; but you knew that beneath the layers of grime and dirt was a beautiful antique home waiting to be brightened up again.

It took multiple weeks to get the house to not look like one on a hoarder show. Throwing out useless junk and trash combined with scrubbing floors, walls, even ceilings took longer than expected.

You weren’t the only one cleaning, however, the brothers did help when they were able to. Mostly Jackson helped you out, since William did all the ‘blue collar work’; but he helped when he could.

Cleaning with Jackson went how you thought it would: horribly. Seriously, you would have rathered cleaning without him at this point. Having to reteach two adults how to clean was a bit annoying but sad at the same time.

It made you wonder how they grew up, and how their parents raised them. How could they let their children be this way? Perhaps they were absent.

After weeks of hard work, it had paid off to see the house turn into a home; to watch it shine in all its glory. (You’re not even THINKING about touching the outside garden..)

Since you’d thrown out a lot of things, their decor had grown a little sparse now. Looking around while sitting on a newly clean couch, you think that you’ll bring them to a furniture store of some sort later.

——

During the weeks of cleaning, you had noticed William’s odd behavior around you. He was already a weirdo to begin with, but this was almost next level. To begin with, he would stare at you an unhealthy amount.

Then it was the gestures and gifts, like lending you a coat or giving you pie; those were cute but the staring was a problem.

You’d also gotten to know them both better, especially William. On the weekends, you guys would have a ‘movie night’. Picking out one of their VHS tapes and watching it on their old tv while eating homemade popcorn.

One night you had fallen asleep on the couch next to William. When you awoke, your head was on his shoulder and his head was on yours. There was also a blanket you were now sharing despite it not being there last night.

Your conclusion was that he had a little crush on you. Every interaction you had with him led to a more personal and close relationship.

Eventually, you had baited him into confessing to you once you’d realized he wasn’t going to anytime soon. Going out and pretending to almost die had done the trick.

Having William as a boyfriend is a lot like owning a cat that was once stray. First he was weary and not trusting, but later became more unguarded and showed himself.

——

This had resulted into where you currently were now: hunched over a sink uncomfortably with William’s head under the faucet. Cleaning the house wasn’t enough, you also wanted to help the brothers not be so nasty as well.

Forcing Jackson to take daily showers was extremely difficult. He was also like a cat, except if it was feral and loathed being in water.

Putting some shampoo on your hands, you put them into William’s dark brunette hair, lightly scratching his scalp to get rid of buildup. He let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes, surprisingly not putting up a fight against you.

Continuing that for a few minutes, you turned on the faucet to lukewarm and put his head towards it, letting the water go through his locks. Careful not to get any soap in his eyes, you put your hands through his hand to get all the shampoo out.

You repeated that process two more times, once for the second shampoo and the other for conditioner. You straightened up to get a towel for his newly clean hair before coming back to put it on his head.

Drying his hair a bit and combing it out, you made William sit on the closed toilet seat so you had better access to his hair. Grabbing the scissors off the counter, you stepped a bit closer to him for a better angle.

In doing so, you stepped between his spread legs and began your work. While you were focused on his brunette locks, William had looked up at you, quietly examining the look of concentration on your face.

Being up closer to him allowed you to smell the faint fragrance of the woodsy and bourbon shampoo you’d washed his hair with. Clearing your throat, you lifted up the scissors and a section of his hair, snipping it shorter.

Furrowing your eyebrows, you cut the front and sides of his hair into the way he had always styled it. As you were doing so, you felt something touching your hips which made you lost focus for a second.

Looking down to see what was touching you, you’d found the person guilty; or, rather, their hands on your hips. Guess you’d started to bore William, because now he had a slightly content look on his face while lightly squeezing your hips.

He didn’t notice you look at him, just carried on with his thoughts and actions. Shrugging, you did the same, carried on with what you were doing.

Neither of you said anything, a comfortable silence filling the air along with the distance crackle of a radio station Jackson had put on earlier.

Speaking of which, you figured Jackson was out of the house since you hadn’t heard his loud voice in a while. He will probably be back soon though.

Finally finishing up, you did some final touches to Willam’s cut before being officially done.

“Alright, I think that’s good, what do you think?” You asked him while holding up a nearby hand mirror.

“Hm. Could be worse.” Is all he says, but you know he likes it deep down, he just doesn’t want to admit it.

William’s eyes spoke more than his mouth, saying everything he couldn’t or didn’t want to. If you had no idea what he was thinking, just look in his eyes and they’ll be a dead giveaway to his emotions.

You smiled down at him, stepping back and putting your supplies back. “I’m glad you like it, Will.” He stayed on the toilet seat, once again watching you in the admirable way he always does.

Once you were done cleaning, you stepped closer to him again and crouched down, giving his cheek a light peck before walking away. However, as you did you heard the quick steps of William close behind you.

Smirking a little to yourself, you went to the living room and sat down on the couch, knowing he was following you very closely after you’d given him a bit of affection.

As expected, once he arrived not long after, he sat down somewhat close to you and reached for the TV remote, clicking on a random channel.

You on the other hand grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch, putting it over your laps and getting a bit closer to William. Letting out a huff, you put your head on his shoulder and look at the TV.

He reciprocated, putting an arm around your shoulders as he watched the TV. It wasn’t long before you had slowly started to drift off to sleep, you’d had a day full of work beforehand.

Just as you were at the cusp of unconsciousness, you felt a soft press of lips against your temple and words muttered into your ear by a deep voice, “Thank you for everything.”

—————-

Author’s Note: If this is the first work of mine you’re reading, please consider reading my short story: Keys, Pies, and Bullets! 😊

The sound of a rooster crowing awoke you from your deep slumber on top of the rickety old couch. At first you were a bit disoriented, forgetting how you got there and where you were until the memories came back to you.

Right… William put you here and gave you food and drink; along with icing your twisted ankle. Speaking of William, he was no longer present in the room, neither was the glass or plate you had used prior.

You must’ve slept like a baby for a while, because when you woke up it was now night time. Your ankle was also feeling a bit better; it wasn’t as swollen when you’d taken off the now thawed out peas from it.

Standing up, you put the bag of peas on the couch and stretched a bit, debating your next move on getting off this strange property. Then it hits you- both weapons you had earlier were gone.

Patting yourself down, you confirmed your suspicion of their absence. They weren’t anywhere near where you slept, either. This day is just getting more and more odd as it drags on.

That determines your next move, finding the gun and knife once again in this maze of a house. Or maybe you’d dropped it outside after…

Oh. Right. Anthony’s dead..

The thought of his clumsy yet persistent resolve to escape this place had dimmed your mood a bit. You were missing his lively jokes and over-use of ‘dude’ every other sentence.

It unsettled you, knowing his headless body and guts were outside; rotting away and becoming one with the soil.

Looking down, you notice that you’re still in the clothes soaked with Anthony’s blood. His blood makes you extremely comfortable, he was a good friend to you, despite your friendship being short lived.

You could’ve been great friends had he still been alive. You decide that after finding your weapons, you’re going to give Anthony a proper burial, one he deserves and give him the respect that he’s owed.

So, you begin the search for your gun and knife.

—————

Going down a hallway, you notice a door that’s cracked, and leads to the outside. Opening it, you’re met with total darkness. Darn it! You can’t see a thing even if it were a foot away from you.

However, luck seems to be on your side, as a flashlight is right by the door on an old antique chair. Picking the flashlight up, you turn it on; and after a couple of smacks to the old thing it shines light.

It’s dim, but it’ll have to do. Taking a deep breath, you walk out into the dark abyss; full of unknown things. In the distance you hear… Chickens?

It makes sense that there’s more animals, they do have a farm. Heading straight, you walk through an iron gate before walking into another one to your right.

In front of you is a shed that is filled with light inside. Your stuff has to be in there. Twisting the door knob, you’re met with an absolute stench that punches your sinuses.

“Ew!”, you exclaim while grimacing and waving your arm to cut through the smell. All around are jars full of.. green hearts?

… What the hell is going on here!?!?

Deciding your stuff probably isn’t in the shed full of rotting things, you close the door and walk away, heading to your next destination.

And for some reason, you figure the hearts aren’t the weirdest thing you’re going to witness on this farm..

——-

You trail back to where you began, except you stayed close to the house this time. Eventually you’re met with stone stairs, leading to what seems to be the basement.

If there shed smelt that and, you can’t even imagine what the basement holds for you.

You’re met with yet another door, this one made with iron. Creaking the door open, it’s pure black inside. Stepping in, you notice all the animal bones and parts inside, covered with moss (?).

You’re getting bad vibes already, but you continue on. Walking down the short hallway and to the left, there’s a bathtub in the middle of the room..?

Beyond that bathtub in the corner, however, is the most unusual and horrifying thing you’ve ever seen. A pig’s body, with a woman’s head attached to it.

You have GOT to get out NOW. You have to turn around, out the door, and out of this far-

“Bless the Lord and all he’s done for this family…”

Did it just talk?? All of a sudden, that thing turns around and starts walking, if you can even call it that, to you.

You’ve never turned around faster in your entire life. Sprinting back to the door you came out of, you realize that somehow it closed behind you. Jiggling the knob, you realize that it’s locked.

You’re going to die. This is your final moment. And the last thing you’re going to see is an absolute abomination.

No! You can’t die! “HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!”, you shout with your entire lungs, banging extremely hard against the door repeatedly.

“William.. is that you, dear? Have you finished your homework..?”

… Why does it know William’s name? Nevermind, not important! “HELP ME! PLEASE!”

The second thing she said was much closer to you than the first thing, you’re running out of time. Tears start filling your eyes, sobs cutting up your breaths.

“It’s so dark.. so cold..”

There’s nothing you can do, you close your eyes and put your forehead against the cold door, accepting your fate…

Except, it never comes. Instead of a cold door, your head lands on a warm surface that smells like dirt and musk. Your body is pulled through the door and it’s closed behind you.

After your near death experience, the tears flow out and the sobs become more frequent. Out of fear, you latch onto the warmth in front of you in a search for some kind of comfort.

Said warmth freezes up however, but after a few seconds puts one hand on your back while the other one cradles your head.

You both stay like that for a few minutes until you calm down a bit. Coming out of your sort of delirium, it hits you that you don’t know what or who you’re clinging to..

Looking up, it’s none other than William himself. His face is light dusty pink, with a dirt smear; but it’s still undoubtedly him.

He’s looking anywhere but down at you, trying quite hard not to make eye contact.

“… William?” You ask, your eyebrows furrowed a bit. Your question seems to catch his attention, as his gaze locks with yours.

“…That’s my name.”, he dryly replies back, coughing a little.

“How did you hear me? What were you doing?”, you ask curiously.

“… I was watering the plants.” He answers hesitantly.

“At night?” You look at him with a deadpan.

“Yes.” He looks away as he says it, almost like he knows that you know that he’s lying straight through his teeth.

“Hmm.. William, what is that.. thing.. in your basement.. It knew your name.”

Out of nowhere, he looks sort of offended. “She is not an it. Mama isn’t a thing. She’s beautiful, and she’s very well alive. Just the way the Lord intended her to be.” As he says this, he pulls away from you a bit, putting distance between you two.

You look at him like he’s crazy, because he is. What does he mean that’s his mother? And she is definitely not alive. They’re just mutilating corpses at this point. Even if it was their mother, she doesn’t deserve this.

“… William, your Mom doesn’t deserve this if it is really her. You attached her head to a pig body. You’re disrespecting her corpse and memory by doing that.”

At this point, he does not look happy. And not his normal ‘grumpiness’. “Shut up.” he grunts and frowns.

You put your hands on his shoulders, trying to get him to look at you again. “You know it deep down too, don’t you?”

William looks at you, in your eyes, nose, and even lips; still with a frown and furrowed eyebrows though. He doesn’t acknowledge what you said, just examines you. He has a distant look in his eyes, almost like he’s fighting a war with himself.

Coming to the conclusion you’re probably not going to get another answer out of him, you sigh and drop your arms from his shoulders. Then, you change the subject, “Thank you for saving me. I was truly terrified. I didn’t think I would survive that.”

William seems to appreciate the change, as his features lighten up slightly. “Hm. You’re just lucky I was outside.”

You smile a bit and reply, “Sure. I guess I am.”

The corner of his mouth twitches a little as well, his way of a smile you suppose.

You both stand in silence for a little, just being in each other's presence. Then you get the idea, you can just ask William where your things are!

“Hey William.”

“Hm.”

“Do you know where my knife and gun is?”

“…”

“…William?”

“…Hm.”

“My knife and gun?”

He pats down his pockets, shakes his head, then shrugs at you, “I don’t know where it is.”

You look a bit unconvinced, “Well, you had to have been the last one to see them, you brought me inside.”

He sighs. “They must have gotten lost somewhere, I haven’t seen them.”

You’re still very skeptical of him, but decide to ‘believe’ him nonetheless. “If you say so..” Looking away from him, you notice that you’re both still at the bottom of the stairwell.

Not just that, but you also realize two things; this is the longest conversation you’ve had with William, despite it being mostly one word answers from him; and two, you fell into his arms and he didn’t seem to mind it.

“Interesting.”, you say as you lightly scratch your chin. “What?”, he asks, confused on what you could possibly be talking about.

“Nothing, I just figured out something.” He merely grunts in response. Guess you’re not going to get much more out of him.

“… Anyhow, it was nice talking to you William, thank you for saving me. I have to continue looking for my things, especially my car keys.”, you say as you begin your ascent up the stairs.

William doesn’t move for a few seconds, but his footsteps are heard behind you not long after. “… I wouldn’t do that if I were you, unless you want to be ripped to shreds.”

That makes you stop in your tracks. “What do you mean?” You turn around towards him again.

“It’s late, and you don’t know where you are. Dangerous things are out now…” He looks at you with a slightly darkened look, almost like he disapproves of the idea that you want to leave.

“I think I’ll be okay, I’ll just be extremely careful and not wander far..”, you say crossing your arms with a slight frown.

“No. Wait until morning.” He is definitely trying to stall you at this point.

“I can handle myself, I’m a grown woman.”

His frown deepens and he subtly puts his hand behind him, “If you’re so grown, how did you end up here then?”

That comment baffles you, to say you’re shocked is being modest. “What did you just say to me?”

His hand returns to his side, this time holding his wrench. He scoffs, “Are you deaf now too?”.

You have no idea where all of this attitude is coming from, one moment you’re smiling with him and the next he’s insulting you. This is giving you extreme emotional whiplash.

“Wh- are you joking with me right now?” Your eyes narrow at him, your tone reflecting the irritation growing inside you. As you look at him in disbelief, you notice the wrench in his hand.

“I don’t joke, people like you don’t ever get my jokes.” He grips the wrench a little harder.

Is he going to hit you with that thing?

“What’re you going to do William, hit me with your wrench?” You make eye contact with him, his eyes unreadable.

“…” He takes a small step towards you.

“William. Answer my question.” You back up a step. You’re starting to get scared now, he might actually strike you with it.

Complete silence from his end, but another step to you.

You don’t want to get hit again. One more impact to your head and you’ll start experiencing brain injuries.

So, you turn around and run again. You don’t know where to, but you need to get away from William. No, this insane weirdo!

Yet, you hear his footsteps chasing after you. It seems he is not willing to give up that easily, you have to somehow get him off your tracks.

Going towards a wooden gate, you jump over it barely making it. You hear the blood pumping in your ears, adrenaline filling your bloodstream and to your brain.

The gate seems to slow him down a bit, but not by much as he’s still on your tail. You need to find a place to hide quickly. Navigating through the forest at night without a flashlight was harder than anticipated.

Getting a bit ahead of him by shoving your way through bushes, you see another wooden gate, jumping over this one too.

Crouching down, you hide behind a huge array of bushes and trees near the gate. You hold your breath as you hear William open the gate and walk through. When he doesn’t see a sign of you he quietly curses under his breath before walking into the field and away from your hiding spot.

Once you figure he’s far far away and you can’t hear him anymore, you get up from your spot and walk slowly towards the right, looking for a spot to lay low.

Not to your surprise, another wooden gate it presented to you. This time, there’s an abandoned trailer home on the other side.

Opening the door to it required a bit of strength and patience but you managed to get it open; but the inside looked much worse than the outside.

This thing must’ve been neglected for what looks to be years, there’s a bed with growth on it to the left and to the right is what used to be a kitchenette. There’s gross things crawling around, these brothers don’t seem to have a single part of their lives that isn’t disgusting.

You let out a heavy sigh, something you seem to do a lot these days, and try your best to get the growth off the bed with a rusted kitchen knife you found. You’re wondering if it’s even worth it, but there wasn’t much to remove luckily.

It was the same case with the creepy crawlers, there weren't many of them, or many that you could see. After you’re satisfied with your job on the bed, you sit down on it and put your elbows on top of your thighs, resting your chin on your hands.

Now you have no choice but to wait until morning to look for your missing items, considering William is searching for you. Not only that, but he’ll probably have Jackson get on the hunt to find you as well. Once you can see again you’ll have a better chance at finding what you’re looking for.

Deciding it’s settled, that you’ll resume in the morning, you lay down on the bed after locking the trailer door.

In a few thoughts before sleep takes you again, you still can’t determine what was the weirdest thing you’d witnessed today: the Frankenstein-like creature being held captive in their basement, or William’s inability to properly express what he thinks and feels.

You figure you’ll get the answer to your question later…

————

Author’s Note: I hope all that made sense and was somewhat paced alright… let me know! I’m still new to this whole writing thing. 😊

In the morning, when Anthony and yourself had gotten a sufficient amount of sleep, you set off to continue looking for the garden key again.

Before your search, you’d decided to split the weapons for the most defense, you with the gun and Anthony with the knife.

The cows were still lurking around, scaring the crap out of the both of you when one came a bit too close and groaned.

You were also lucky you hadn’t run into the brothers again, they were quite easy to hear from far away due to their constant snapping at each other.

The base floor didn’t seem to have the key anywhere, it could be on a different floor, or even worse, one of the brothers has it.

Anthony was thinking the same as you, “Hey uh.. dude, I don’t want to look like a downer or anything but this key is like.. nowhere to be found.”

You sigh in response, “I know, it might be up or down stairs… maybe one of the brothers has it.”

It wasn’t a thrilling thought to say the least, having to somehow get the key off of the brothers. That means you’d have to see them again, and be in their presence.

(Maybe being in William’s presence isn’t THAT bad, but you wouldn’t dare tell a soul that.. He had some sort of calming energy that had interested you, despite how scary and quiet he could be.)

Eventually you’d both come to a consensus: check up and downstairs before getting down to the last hope of freedom.

You remember seeing a hallway that leads to the basement, so based on your memory you both head that way.

Having to shoot a couple cows on the way, you’d finally made it to the basement. “Dude.. this place is giving me the heebie jeebies. I hope we don’t have to stay down here long.”

Anthony wasn’t wrong, if the house was a dumpster, the basement was an absolute landfill. “Me too, but the quicker we find the key, the quicker we get out of here.”

However, you’d have to make a decision on which way to go, left or right. To your left had a stench of dead corpses, and to the right smelt of metal.

Naturally, you both settle on the smell of metal.

Walking to the right, with you in front, there were big metal canisters, and beyond that was a mini hallway. In the middle of the hallway was a door, at the end was another right turn.

It appears the hallway made the decision for you, to go right once again. This room contained multiple metal tables, but also extra ammo for your gun. Jackpot!

In the back of the room was a metal cage, which had bolt cutters in it. Suddenly, an idea formed in your head. “Anthony, we could use these bolt cutters to cut the barbed wire and fence to the garden!”

He automatically lit up at the mention of an escape out of this dreaded house. “Of course!’ You’re so smart dude!” He must’ve really liked the idea of escaping, as he instantaneously came over to you and smothered you in a hug.

It shocked you to say the least, being frozen for a few seconds before reciprocating his hug. It felt nice, you’d probably hadn’t had human contact for at least four days.

When the hug had reached its end, you’d spoken up, “Alright, let’s get out of here.”, you said. “Sunlight here we come!!”

——————-

Finally coming back to the original paradox that was the garden door, you got out the bolt cutters and started cutting the barbed wire.

What seemed like ages of cutting the wires was really only about ten minutes, and you were able to slip through the hole you’d made.

Anthony followed you through the hole, albeit a bit more clumsy, but still through it nonetheless.”That was quite a doozy, getting out of there!”

You agree with him, “Now all we have to do is find my car keys and get out of here.” So you both start a search once again, but this time for your car keys.

A shed is about twenty five feet away from where you guys are standing, so you settled on looking there first.

Today seemed to also be in your favor, as your car keys were lying on a wooden table in there! “I found them!” You exclaim, as Anthony cheers along with you.

You both walk out of the shed with a newfound hope of breaking free. “Let me make sure they still work”, you say as you stop in front of the shed, with Anthony right beside you.

“Good thinking dude! We wouldn’t want any-“

An extremely loud gunshot interrupts Anthony as his head suddenly explodes. The blood sprays all over you as his hat flies away.

You stand there completely still and shocked, until the thump of his body finally snaps you out of the daze you’d been put in.

Looking next to you, all you see is his headless body and the crimson blood everywhere. It also hits you what exactly just happened, the adrenaline making its way through your veins as you let out a blood-curdling scream.

Said adrenaline kicked into your brain and forced you into fight or flight, so you ran fast and far. Until you go through a gate and trip over a tree root, causing you to hit your head and pass out… Again.

——————

The cold, wet feeling of an old bag of frozen peas pressed against your ankle was the sensation that had resulted in your stirring from your deep sleep.

Groaning lightly, you open your eyes and are hit with the ceiling lights from above. Looking around, you notice that this time you’re laying on a couch. A coffee table is in front of you, the surface filled with trash like the rest of the house, and a small tv.

You must be in the living room of the house. Then, in the corner once again, you noticed a figure there which resembled the familiar shape of William.

Or you think it’s William, you had to squint your eyes to see the figure at all. At this point, you’re pretty sure that you’re concussed; you wouldn’t be surprised if you actually were.

The figure stepped out into the light from the shadows, and it confirmed your suspicion: it was William.

(Okay when you said you wouldn’t mind being in his presence again, you didn’t mean THAT soon..)

You made eye contact with him when he came closer to you by a few feet. Then he looked at the table, then back at you.

He does it one more time, and you think he’s signaling for you to look at the table. So you do, and you see a slice of pie that doesn’t look completely rotten. And next to the pie is a glass of milk.

“You must be hungry. Eat.” Is all Willam says before leaving abruptly, and before you could even thank him.

“Hmm..” the pie does look delicious, and now that William had mentioned it, you haven’t eaten at all since you’d been kidnapped.

You sit up, careful of the peas on your ankle, and put the plate on your lap, giving it a closer inspection before eating it; you don’t necessarily trust what’s in it.

However, it is a fruitless attempt to be cautious, as about five seconds later you’re devouring it. After you’d eaten the pie, you drank the glass of milk as well.

As you sit on the couch, you zone out watching the small tv, pondering things to yourself…

Who killed Anthony? You’re already starting to miss his lively energy around you.

How did you get inside? Did William carry you in, and give you the food and drink?

If so, why is he being so nice?

Does Jackson know that William did these nice gestures for you?

So many questions, yet you can’t come up with a single answer. It’s quite frustrating, being in the dark that is.

Speaking of the dark, you’re getting sleepy again. This time it isn’t out of unknown objects hitting your head, you’re just truly exhausted.

Eventually you lay back down and fall asleep, still wondering so many things..

—————-

A little while later, as Jackson is walking down the stairs to the living room, about to go sit on the couch and sharpen his beloved cleaver, Hilda, he notices a person on it.

His footsteps stop as he looks at the person, discovering it’s you, one of the survivors! He’d been looking for you and that ditzy baseball hat guy all day!

And now, you’re here, sleeping on the couch? That’s a bit odd. And where’s your partner in crime? Even more peculiar.

What confuses him the most, however, is the empty plate and glass on the table. Maybe you knew where the living room couch was, but knowing where the plates and glasses were, definitely not.

No, someone got them for you… Someone with an edgy side part and a snarky attitude. Someone with the name.. William!

Once the realization hits him, he runs to go find his brother, in a desperate need to talk to him. Who does he think he is, letting someone sleep on the couch, and eating their Mama’s recipe for pie!?

Gosh, he is definitely going to tear William a new one!

—————-

A/N- More to come! So much suspense..

When your car had broken down seemingly in the middle of no where, trees in every direction, you thought you’d never be in civilization again.

It was quite sad, considering this would be your first and last road trip by yourself. Maybe you should’ve listened to your parents and packed that emergency toolkit.

But a black-haired miracle named Jackson came to save the day. He was just ‘passing by’ when he noticed your car was broken, so he offered to help you, saying he was good with cars.

He gave you his name and started to fix your car. Or so you thought…

While Jackson did ‘work’ on your broken car, he was actually just breaking it more. Whether by inexperience or malicious intentions, you weren’t sure.

He had asked you to open your trunk to see if there was a spare tire, so you had turned your back to him and opened it.

What you hadn’t anticipated, however, was the blunt feeling of something hitting the back of your head as everything turned black.

Eventually you awakened from your concussion, and the first thing you smelt was pure rot. Looking around, you noticed the bed beneath you and decorations around the room. Pictures of two young children, a middle-aged woman; statues of different creatures; old books, and many more things.

The most noticeable thing was the state of cleanliness of the room, or lack of it. It was disgusting to say the least, whether it was the stuff on the walls or the molding food, it was hard to say.

Of course the first thing you did was try to get out of the room; so you opened the door and walked out, only to be met with a six-foot something mutated cow that had extremely sharp teeth.

You almost screamed out but decided against it, you definitely don’t want its attention on you.

Luckily you dashed past the cow and it didn’t notice or care enough to chase after you. Somehow you ended up in a laundry room, where a handgun was lying on a table.

Just within earshot, a door slammed and you heard people talking. “Jackson. Where is the person you caught?”

“What are you talking about William? I put her in the bedroom!”

“She’s gone.”

“… WHAT! But I put her in there well-“

William, the other guy, sighs and states “I guess I’ve got another pig to catch.. This is the second one today, I’m getting tired of it.”

“I’ll look upstairs, and you look downstairs, William.”

All the William guy does is grunt in response before walking away, his footsteps getting closer to where you’re hiding.

“Shoot!” You whisper before tip-toeing away, that is before you trip over a bucket and make a huge ruckus.

Before you can even get up, you hear a voice above you. “Need some help with that?” Your eyes widen as you look up, see an attractive guy with a side part in his hair, glaring down at you. His footsteps didn’t even make any sound!

After your concussion-riddled brain is done processing what happened, and what’s going to happen, you scramble up and run away. This time you’re successful with not hitting any buckets.

The victory is short-lived however when you get that same blunt feeling in the back of your head followed by darkness.

——

This time when you wake up, it’s by a bright light in a new room you’ve been put in. And instead of a bed, you’re on a cold metal chair in what appears to be a garage.

“Well well well, look who FINALLY decided to wake up! I’d thought you’d stay asleep forever!”

Then the agitating, loud voice of Jackson pierced your ear drums, and you can’t help but grimace due to the headache you’re starting to get.

To try to comfort the ache in your brain, you move your arms, only to find out they’ve been roped to the chair.

Before you could even form another thought, a loud banging noise is heard, causing you to jump. It had been Jackson throwing down his cleaver onto a wooden table.

“I wouldn’t try to get out of those if I were you, you’re just going to waste your energy.” A familiar voice says from the corner of the room, looking back you see William.

Gosh you didn’t even notice him again! He has to stop sneaking around, you’d think you would hear someone his height.

“I was quite surprised you got out of the room I put you in! Normally no one gets out of the first room! Besides that dumb baseball hat guy… but that’s irrelevant! I always lock up-“

“Who are you.” Jackson gets interrupted in the middle of his rant by William’s question to you. It must of suddenly occurred to Jackson that he never did get your name, or where you came from before kidnapping you.

He looks mildly annoyed being interrupted again, as he rolls his eyes and tsks; which tells you they’re definitely brothers.

You sigh and tell them your name, “Why am I here? Why did you kidnap me??” You narrow your eyes at Jackson as you ask those questions.

“Well, you’re going to be-“

“No.”

….

It must of been a good thirty seconds of silence, with Jackson looking at William flabbergasted; jaw dropped and all.

Finally he snaps out of it, “Okay. Two things. One, you’ve GOT to stop interrupting me! Especially in front of guests! It’s rude! Two, what do you mean no??”

“I think it’s pretty self explanatory Jackson, I thought even someone like you could understand what it means.”

“Of course I know what no means but in this context, what do you mean no??”

“Well-“

At that point you completely zone out, already tired of the siblings’ animosity towards each other. While you do so, you look around the room for anything to get out of your rope.

You spot the handgun you’d picked up on the wooden table next to Jackson’s bloody cleaver. You then look on the floor and notice a knife, and an idea pops into your head.

“Fine! If you don’t want to use her towards our future experiments, then let’s just feed her to the horse or something! Since for some reason you’re against it!”

“No.”

“You and your stupid one word, vague answers! What does no mean?? She has seen too much already, we have to kill her!”

Seeing as they’re still squabbling with each other, you very discreetly extend your leg towards the knife and slowly bring it back to you.

“We’re discussing this later.” William then walks out of the room abruptly, taking his wrench as well.

“What!! No we’re not done talking! We’re finishing this conversation right now!!” Jackson then takes his cleaver and sprints after William.

Wow. This is actually working out in your favor very well. Checking to make sure they’re really gone, you maneuver the chair so you can get the knife off the floor while unseated.

After many minutes of shifting around, you finally get the knife in your hand and start to slowly but surely cut the rope.

You let out a sigh of relief rubbing your now free wrists, getting out of the chair and taking your handgun off the table.

You pocket the knife too, it could be useful in the future. As you reload the gun, you warily walk out of the garage, peaking out from the corners and listening out for any noises.

During your search for the exit, or better, maybe your car, you realize the state of the house. Just like the room you first woke up in, the entire estate is basically rotting away.

Takeout boxes, dirty dishes, dirt everywhere. It almost makes you feel a bit sad for them, wondering why they don’t clean up their house.

Perhaps you could clean up this house, you think. It would just be throwing out a bunch of trash and deep cleaning, definitely a project but it would pay off.

But underneath it’s gross exterior, it used to be a home with warmth. The photos of the young kids and woman are still on the walls, showing the mood that used to inhabit the house.

Now that you also think about it, you haven’t seen that woman at all… The little boys are obviously William and Jackson, but the woman isn’t present on the property.

You shake off those thoughts though, you’re getting distracted, and now is not the time to be distracted. Just as you’re walking through a door, a figure jumps out at you holding a mop.

You jump and almost pull the trigger on your gun, that guy scared the crap out of you! “Jeez!” You say, catching your breath.

“Yo dude, or dudette, sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you, I thought you were one of the brothers.” He puts down his broom, and you’re able to actually analyze who this is. He’s wearing a red baseball cap.

Maybe this is the ‘dumb baseball hat guy’ who escaped the first room, just like you did! “It’s alright, I understand why you’d be on edge walking around here too.”

That seems to sort of relieve hat guy, he relaxes a bit and moves out of the way so you can get out of the door. “I’ve been walking around trying to find my way out, but this place is a labyrinth!” He says to you while walking next to you.

“Me too, but I haven’t really gotten that far. I’ve only seen about three or four rooms.”

He looks at you and asks “How long have you been here?” “I’m not sure, maybe a day by now? What about you?”

“Hey, me as well! Far out dude.” He smiles a bit at you, and you return it with a small one as well. “What’s your name?” He asks.

You both exchange names and manage to make it to a door that actually leads to the outside. Anthony, the name of the hat guy, wiggles the door knob on the door with a flower on it.

He sighs, “I hate to say this but I think it’s locked dude.” You sigh too after hearing the bad news, going over to the door and also wiggling the door knob.

“Hmm..” as you both try to think of how to open the door, your thoughts are interrupted by a groan of a nearby monster cow.

You both look at the cow about fifteen feet away, then at each other with terrified expressions. Then you remember, you have a gun, you could just shoot the cow!

To shoot the cow you build up the courage inside of yourself, taking deep breaths while aiming the gun at it’s head. As it comes closer you take multiple shots, and it eventually falls down dead.

Afterwards, you put down your arms and let out a deep breath. “… Wow dude! That was, like, totally cool!!” Anthony says to you a little excited. You look at him and thank him.

“Of course! I would’ve never gotten the bravery to do that! I probably would’ve ran away screaming.”

“I hope I don’t have to do that again..” you say with a slightly somber tone. Anthony puts a hand on your shoulder, “Hey. It’s going to be alright, you won’t have to do it again because we’re escaping this place, today!”

The smile on his face is contagious, and it spreads to yours too. “Yeah.. Let’s continue to look for a way outside.” He agrees and you both walk around, looking for a key.

After looking around for what seemed to be ages, you’re both extremely tired and are desperate for sleep. So, you go to find a bedroom and come up with a simple system, one will sleep while the other takes watch.

Then you’ll take shifts for the night, in the morning you’ll start looking for the key again. Hopefully it will be found tomorrow.

———————————

Thank you for reading!! More chapters coming soon, so stay tuned. Constructive criticism is much appreciated! :)

Chapter 2! Chapter 3!