There's No Place Like Home 1 "Brother & Sister Erotic Coming of Age" (Extremely Taboo Series) (2 page)

Peter felt the wall behind him too late to realize what his mother had done, now he had nowhere to escape. She kept inching closer, the knife again glinting in the light, Peter knew how sharp she kept her kitchen knives. She was slicing the air as she got closer, doing her best to intimidate peter before she got close enough to actually cut him. Peter was searching his mind for something to do to calm her or at least distract her long enough to get out of the predicament he was in.

"You don’t want to do this." He tried.

Irene laughed at the words. Too late for sorry, you should have thought about this sooner. We’ll soon see just who rules this house."

BOOM!

The sound startled Peter, he didn’t know what it was. His mother suddenly dropped the knife, a look of shock and surprise on her face. That quickly turned to disbelief as Peter saw the spreading red stain on her abdomen.

BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…

Jenny was holding a pistol, aiming it at the slumped figure of her mother.

CLICK…CLICK…CLICK…CLICK…

She was in shock, seeing the fury of her mother and what she had to do had pushed his sister over the edge. Peter stepped over his mother’s body and took the pistol from Jenny. Her eyes were glazed and she let go the gun without protest but simply stood there staring at the woman on the floor.

Peter took the gun and laid it on the table, holding his sister close and saying "It’s OK, Jenny."

Jenny continued to stand impassively and stare off into nothing, her mind had gone numb. Peter held her and rubbed her back, speaking softly to her for 15 minutes before she started to respond.

"I…I had to do it. She would have killed you." She offered as she looked at the body and shrunk back from the sight.

"Ssshhh. It’s OK." Peter repeated.

"Peter, what are we going to do?" she asked, suddenly realizing that there would be consequences to what she had done.

"I don’t know. Where did you get that gun?"

"I found it wrapped in a rag in the back of the shed last month. It was in a box under a lot of other boxes, I guess it was some of Dad’s stuff he never came back for. We have to tell someone, they have to know I only did it to save your life!" she stated.

"Let’s think about this for a while. You know she has relatives with some influence in the county. Maybe they might not believe it was to save a life, but to get her out of our lives." Peter added after a minute of thought.

"You think they would believe that?" Jenny asked uncertain of what to think.

"I don’t want to take any chances. I think we need to get far away from here."

"Run away? They won’t have any doubt if we do that. Where can we go? What can we do?" Jenny asked as she realized what Peter had suggested.

"I don’t know, but we will have to do something soon. I don’t think anyone will miss her for a day or 2, but no longer than that. If we are going to leave, it will have to be today."

*****

Peter was pushing the wheel barrow toward the woods near their home, he had waited for dusk to fall before loading the body. He found a plastic tarp in the shed and had wrapped the body of Irene in it before deciding to take her far away from the house to bury. Jenny had volunteered to help but peter told her to clean up in the house while he was gone. He didn’t want anyone else knowing where he would bury her and the blood in the house needed to be attended to.

As he walked, Peter wondered just what had set off his mother. He had seen her lose control many times in the past, but this time she was way beyond anything he had ever seen. He wondered if she really would have hurt or even killed him as she came at him with the knife. Her words that he and his sister had been problems all their lives stayed with him. He knew deep down that they had done just about everything she asked of them but she could still intimidate him even in death. He could still see the look of shock on her face as he rolled her into the tarp, her arm flopping out as he picked her up and set her onto the barrow. He remembered her face looking up at him with the blank stare, accusing and demanding, imprinting the image on his brain. He tried hard to force the image away from his mind.

Peter went more than 2 miles from their house before he felt he had put sufficient distance into his trek. He was deep in the woods and hadn’t seen a soul during his trip, hoping this was a sign that he was far enough away that the grave would remain undisturbed. He started digging, knowing that scavenger animals would dig up the body if not buried deep enough. Fortunately, the ground was damp and sandy enough that he could dig easily and after working for 30 minutes, had a hole he thought would be sufficient. He tried to be careful, but the body wrapped in the tarp was cumbersome to lift and he ended up letting go before he wanted, the weight hitting the bottom of the grave with a solid thump. He was going to toss the gun in with her but had seen the lake several hundred yards earlier and the revolver found its way to the bottom as he passed.

*****

Jenny was cleaning up the blood on the floor, tears in her eyes. She had no love of her mother, but still felt that somehow there would be a void in her life. She couldn’t stop reliving the event and even though she had examined it second by second in her mind, she knew she had been given no other choice.

She took towels from the bathroom to soak up the blood, the linoleum floor making it easy to do. She had swept up the remnants of her formerly long hair, something she had been quite proud of before this happened. She took the clumps and threw them to the light wind outside, letting them blow around the yard. They would soon be gone and so too would be the cause of her mother’s tirade. The towels inside were in the washer, soap and bleach would get any trace of blood out of them, no evidence of what happened remaining. Jenny sat solemnly waiting for the wash to finish, wondering what she and her brother would do now.

*****

Jenny was removing the towels from the dryer when Peter returned. She wanted to ask him about what he had done, but knew that he had done what he did alone to prevent her from getting any more involved than she already was. He would be the only person to know the whereabouts of his mother, something he hoped he could take to his grave. His intent was to protect his sister as well as he was able, something he had tried to do since they were small.

Peter was washing his hands as jenny asked "What do we do now, Peter? I’m scared."

He dried his hands and hugged her to him, saying "Me too, me too!"

They held each other for several minutes before peter started "We have to get out of here. I’m not sure where to go, but we have to get far away. We can get those old suitcases out of the shed but we won’t be able to take much. Only what we can carry."

The last bit didn’t need saying, neither of them had much of anything.

Jenny started to put together some of her clothes as her brother retrieved the cases from the shed. He did the same in his room, finding that most of the clothes he owned would fit easily into the bag. Jenny had her own filled shortly and they were almost ready to leave. Peter made a final search of the house to see if there might be anything else they could use. He got his mother’s car keys from her purse, finding $2800 in her wallet. He didn’t know where it had come from or what she had planned for it, but he put the money into his pocket. Since they had been so sheltered much of their lives, he knew the purpose of cash but not much about the value. He did know that they would likely need money before they got to wherever they were going.

The clock on the wall chimed 10 just as they left the house. Peter got into the driver’s side of his mother’s car, although neither he nor his sister had ever been allowed to drive it. He had a general knowledge of how it worked, but this would be his first time behind the wheel.

"Do you know how to drive?" Jenny asked.

"Sort of." Peter answered, sounding more confident than he felt.

He put the key in and turned it to start the car. So far, so good, the engine came to life and idled quietly as they sat, Peter pondering what to do next. He pressed the accelerator a bit, hearing the engine speed increase. He next tried the brake pedal, although he didn’t know what it would do until the car moved.

"You have to pull down on that lever." Jenny pointed out.

Peter knew that but had forgotten as he tried to familiarize himself with the car. He pulled it down to the ‘R’ position and the car moved backwards before he lifted the lever back to ‘P’.

"Did you do that on purpose?" Jenny asked.

"I guess so. That ‘R’ must be for rear. I wonder what the "N" and "D" mean?" he said wondering if he should try to move the lever again. He knew he had to if they intended to go anywhere in this car.

He remembered seeing his mother put her foot on the brake pedal before she moved the lever, so he did that too. The car jumped a bit, but when he got the lever to point to the ‘N’ the engine settled down and they sat as before. He cautiously took his foot off the brake and nothing happened.

"The ‘N’ must be for nothing." He offered.

"That doesn’t make much sense." Jenny responded. "Is there a ‘G’ for go?"

"Just a ‘D’ and some numbers." Peter replied. He put his foot back on the brake and moved the lever to ‘D’. The car again jumped a bit and Peter cautiously let his foot come off the brake pedal, the car now moving forward slowly.

"’D’ must mean do something." he said to his sister, happy to have figured out what to do for now. With some trepidation, they drove in circles around the yard to get a feel for the car and how to control it.

"Ready Jenny??" Peter asked.

"I am, but are you?"

"I think so. I’ll take it slow for a bit until I have some practice." He answered.

They drove slowly to the street and then started toward the main road that would lead to the highway. Peter’s turns were wide at first and he knew he had to get better or else people would know he shouldn’t be driving. He took several side roads before daring to go somewhere he might meet other traffic. It was late enough that they met few other cars and Peter turned onto the road that would lead to the highway. He was more comfortable driving but still apprehensive about getting further away from the local area that had been his comfort zone for his entire life.

The siblings had made their way to the highway, getting on and settling into a rhythm. Initially some cars had honked as they passed the slow moving vehicle, but peter realized he had to maintain a reasonable pace lest they stand out and perhaps attract attention they didn’t want. He stayed in the right lane and tried to hold his speed close to the posted limit, although he was white knuckling the steering wheel for the first half hour. He realized that since they were in Florida, many drivers on the road had dealt with the senior citizens who drove overly cautiously so they didn’t really stand out as much as he first thought they might.

*****

The ride had been quiet for a while, neither of them wanting to talk. They didn’t know but each was reliving the episode from earlier in the day, each wondering what had happened and what would be in their future.

"Are you OK?" Peter started.

"What? Oh, yeah I guess so." Jenny answered, roused from her musing.

"What happened this afternoon? You know, what set mom off?" he asked cautiously.

Jenny started to sob, he could hear her crying softly. "I didn’t mean to…" she said before choking up.

"Didn’t mean to??" Peter asked, hoping he wasn’t prying where he shouldn’t be.

Jenny was still sobbing, but tried to talk between the tears. "Beth Ann told me she could make me look pretty. She said no one would be able to tell but that I would be prettier."

"You have always been pretty." Peter interjected.

Jenny only sobbed louder. "I look horrible. I am ugly!" She hid her face in her hands and moved all the way against the passenger door.

Peter wanted to comfort her, but he knew he dare not let go of the steering wheel. He thought of stopping, but once they had gotten moving he didn’t want to have to stop until they arrived at their destination if he could help it.

"You’re not ugly, Jenny!" he started.

"Yes I am. What am I going to do, everyone will look at my hair and know just how ugly I am."

Peter didn’t think she looked ugly, but having most of her hair chopped off with a kitchen knife had certainly taken away from her normal appearance.

"You’re pretty with long or short hair. Why did mom cut it off?" he asked, hoping she could face the issue without breaking down.

"Like I said, Beth Ann said she could put some highlights in my hair to make me look prettier. As soon as mom saw me, she was screaming and swinging the knife. Now what am I going to do?" she replied, sniffling between tears.

"We’ll figure something out, Jenny."

*****

They did not speak for several minutes and peter noticed that his sister had gone to sleep. He wasn’t sure where they were going, but continued to drive, crossing into Georgia after several hours. He wanted to avoid the true super highways but also not get onto local roads where he might face more obstacles. Fortunately, the gas tank was nearly full when they started and before it had reached the point he would need to stop to fill up, saw a sign for the Augusta airport. He carefully got off the highway and followed the signs to the long term parking. It took him a few tries to get the car properly centered between the lines, but once done, he woke his sister.

"Time to go Jenny."

"Where are we?" she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"We are at the airport in Georgia." He answered.

"Are we going to fly somewhere?" she asked, becoming more alert.

"No, but I want to leave the car here. We should be able to catch a bus. We just have to figure out where we want to go."

Taking their suitcases, they caught a shuttle to the terminal. Once there, they got on another shuttle to take them to the Greyhound terminal in town. Jenny was self conscious about her hair and several people would look and even stare at her. She tried not to notice but it was hard and Peter realized what she must be feeling. Inside the terminal, he stopped at a shop and bought her an Atlanta brave’s baseball cap. She wasn’t the only one around with a hat, so wearing it didn’t make her feel as though she stood out from others.