The Ladies of Horror
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Uncle’s Room 
by Elaine Pascale

Minnie finally felt free.

This governess position was the remedy for her loneliness. It had been two years since her husband had walked out on her and she was ready to engage with the world again. The bright colors and joyful toys of the elaborate nursery were like a salve to a wound and, as she was given the tour of the rest of the home and grounds, Minnie could imagine herself fitting in very nicely.

There was one room she was not shown and she asked the children about it as she served them jelly sandwiches.

“That’s uncle’s room. We aren’t to bother him,” little Tilly said, reaching for another sandwich half. The children were entirely delightful and it surprised Minnie that she was part of a long succession of governesses. What could make someone want to leave this secure position?

“What’s uncle like?” Minnie asked.

Andy, with sticky cheeks and lips, shrugged. “We never see him.”

Believing the children were pulling her leg, she put the room out of her mind. Perhaps that was where their parents hid their Christmas presents, or where their father kept his important business papers. She assumed there was an innocent reason the room was kept private.

Her assumptions were proven wrong by the end of her first week of employment.

She was woken by the sound of heavy footsteps outside her bedroom door. Grabbing a candle, she quietly turned the knob and peered down the long hallway. She saw a tall man in an evening cloak heading toward “uncle’s room.” He carried something in his arms.

A gasp escaped her, giving her presence away.

The uncle looked at her. His eyes reflected the moonlight and his mouth was tainted dark red. His lips had the same look as Andy’s after eating jelly sandwiches, but Minnie knew it was not jelly he had consumed.

The uncle dropped what he was carrying and, in a flash, was on her.

As his sharp teeth penetrated her neck, she knew she would never be free.

She woke the next evening and realized that she was now inside uncle’s room. The windows were covered with thick blinds, but she could make out the form of the uncle as he moved about the room and finally left.

She crept back to her room, where she found that her belongings had been packed into boxes. She wondered if the boxes were meant to move into uncle’s room with her, or if they were to be discarded. She realized she did not care about her earthly things, only in fighting this existence that had been thrust upon her.

The items on her dresser had not yet been packed and she grabbed her cross necklace, bracing herself for its impact.

The cross did nothing. But she knew what would.

She went back to uncle’s room and pretended to be unconscious as he returned, smelling of raw meat. She could not imagine an eternity spent with him; she could not imagine an eternity being like him.

She did not sleep at daybreak. Instead, she slowly tore at the blinds and let the sunlight in.

She was finally free.

.

Fiction © Copyright Elaine Pascale
Image courtesy of Pixaby.com

More from Elaine Pascale:

The Kitchen Witches

The women of Cape Cod have a story that is dying to be told. If only they could live long enough to tell it.

When Fiona Walker is contracted to write about a party attended by her social circle, her friends begin dying. She captures the competition and misery of the women around her through three different stories.

In Wishes, Melanie Voss discovers a Time Between Time where nothing that happens counts. Initially, Time Between Time is a welcome escape from a life spent watching the clock while doing chores for her family. But something sinister is in the Time Between Time and it is headed straight for Melanie.

Death and Taxes tells the story of Nashville DeCota, the Cape Capo. Nash swears that she is not the Island Impaler, nor the Tooth Snatcher, but she has just as many skeletons in her closet. When her husband, Derrick, is kidnapped, she has to come clean about her crimes if she ever wants to see him again.

Fiona tells her own story in Hazing, where she finds that the real source of evil behind the deaths of her friends is worse than she could have ever imagined.

Available on Amazon!