Storymania - Let Me Be Your Friend by Brian Nilson

Let Me Be Your Friend
Brian Nilson

Let Me Be Your Friend
By: Brian Nilson

Dr. Redmond closed the door and locked it. Fixing the small crooked brass label on the door that read “8G”, he peered through the window for a moment. He checked the door to make sure it was locked, then walked over to the nearby nurse station.
“Nurse Welcher.” he said as he approached the counter. She looked up from her Cosmopolitan magazine.
“Yes, Doctor?”
“I’ve just given medication to the patient in room 8G…”
“Isn’t that the one responsible for that massacre in Bordentown a few years back?”
“Yes. Highly dangerous. Monica Jennings. Been here ever since the murder spree, three years. Lot of violent acting out, one of our most dangerous patients. I have to go file something in my office. Don’t answer if the patient in room 8G buzzes for you. I’ll be right back… watch the door.” He picked up his clipboard from the counter and disappeared down the West Wing.
Nurse Sandra Welcher closed the magazine and set it on the desk, getting up and cautiously approached room 8G. A muffled bump came from behind the door and she gasped quickly and stopped, waiting a moment. After a couple minutes of silence she continued to approach the door. She looked through the window in the door.
The room was a mess, as if someone had torn it apart in rage. The small table by the bed was tipped over, the tray and books that were on it scattered around it. There were scratches on the wall, like a wild animal had been clawing at them. The curtain rod on the window had come off on one side, the curtains in a heap on the floor. Through the bars on the window Sandra could see it had started to rain and there was lightning in the distance. Her eyes trailed to the bed. The patient, Monica, was laying on her side, her back facing Sandra. The blanket was twisted around the edge of the bed.
“What a psycho.” Sandra muttered under her breath. Her eyes scanned the room once more before she returned to the desk. She looked at her watch. It was 11:47 PM.
Why did I take the night shift here? she thought to herself. In a few minutes she finished the magazine and sighed, bored. Looking onto the counter, she noticed Dr. Redmond left behind a box of syringes. She got up from her seat and walked around to the front of the counter, picking up the box and examining it. The hallways were empty and she figured all of the other nurses must be on a break. Her footsteps echoed the halls as she headed down the West Wing to Dr. Redmond’s office.
Moments later she knocked on his door. “Come in.” she heard him say from inside. She open the door and stepped inside. Dr. Redmond looked up from a pile of folders, an annoyed expression on his face.
“I asked you to watch room 8G. We’ve just had an outbreak, and most of our security guards are handling the situation. She’s escaped before.”
“I’m sorry, it’s just that you left a box of syringes on the counter.” Sandra said.
“Oh. Thank you.”
“I’ll, um, get back to the counter now.”
“I’ll be done here shortly.” Dr. Redmond said, looking through the folders on his desk. Sandra left his office, her footsteps echoing back down the West Wing towards her nurse station. She yawned as she walked around the counter to her desk. On her desk was the work she left unfinished. About to sign a paper, she sensed something was wrong, looking up. The door to 8G was open a little bit. The pen hit the desk as her jaw slowly dropped.
Oh my god, she’s out! Sandra jumped up from the desk and ran for 8G, stopping at the threshold and putting her hands on the doorframe. The woman that was lying on the bed moments before was now gone. Sandra put her hands up to her mouth and backed away from the room.
Oh my god. Oh my god. I’ve got to get Dr. Redmond.
Before Sandra could do anything, the lights dimmed and suddenly went out. She stood there in the silent darkness for a moment, holding her breath. All she could hear was her heart thumping wildly. She started backing away again and gasped when something touched her back. Realizing she backed into the counter, she frantically felt around it, as if looking for something that could help her. A noise behind her made her stop. Turning around slowly, she tried to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Bare feet hit the floor loudly as she heard someone running towards her.
“Hello? Who is that?” her voice was shrill and high, a quiver of fear in it. The answer sounded inhuman, a screech of insanity. Something whacked Sandra across the face hard and she cried out in pain, holding a hand up to her nose and feeling the blood already trickle out of it. Getting hit again in the back of the head, she fell to the floor. The pain was excruciating and she felt dizzy, trying to get up. Finally getting her balance and wincing at the pain, she managed to yell out.
“Help!!” She could hear heavy breathing through her call for help. The attacker pushed her up against the counter. As she was about to call out again, she felt something sharp pierce her stomach, screaming. Clutching her stomach, she fell to the floor again, the sound of bare feet hitting the floor growing fainter. The backup lighting flickered on, crimson fluid oozing out of her mouth. She could see Dr. Redmond and the security guards running for her, their voices seeming far away. The attacker was gone, and everything faded to black.

The two moving vans sped up the dirt road, a dark green van following closely behind them. Thick woods lined the sides of the dirt road. The moving vans creaked every time a bump came along in the road. Inside the van was Jacob Burrwick, his wife Emily, and their sixteen year old son Kenny. Jacob was at the wheel. He was in his late forties, wrinkles already starting to cover his face. It must’ve been the stress Emily has given him over the years. They were both non-stop fighters. Kenny was sort of drawn away from his parents because of the fighting.
“I don’t want to do this.” Kenny whined, but his voice remaining deep. Emily sighed and turned around in her seat to face him.
“None of us wanted to move, but your father got a better job, and it happened to be out here…” She looked out the window at the seemingly endless forest that surrounded them. “…in the middle of nowhere.”
Jacob shot his wife a look.
“The woods are relaxing. Better than that town we were in. Now don’t complain, you’ll learn to like it out here. I came up here to look at the house a few weeks back, it’s pretty nice. Bigger than our old one. Now don’t complain.” Emily sighed again, twisting around in the seat to face forward again. Kenny rested his head against the window and looked out. He thought of his old town, his old friends. Looking at the back of his father’s head, anger suddenly swelled inside him, the same kind of anger that he felt when he was told about the move. The anger quickly turned to hate, he hated his father for getting the job and causing the family to move. Suddenly feeling guilty, Kenny shook off the hatred.
“How much longer until we get to the house, Jacob?” Emily asked, in a calm voice. Jacob thought for a moment. They had been driving for about an hour and a half.
“About fifteen or twenty minutes.” he replied. Emily looked out the window at the forests blurring by.
“Are there forests everywhere around here?”
“Well, our new back yard will be a forest, but the town is an open area.” Jacob answered. The rest of the ride was in silence. Just as something tall and white was slightly visible through the trees on the right side of the road, Jacob announced the arrival.
“We’re here.” The moving vans pulled into the unpaved driveway next to the house. As the family approached the house, pulling into the driveway behind the moving vans, Emily rolled down her window and leaned out slightly, getting a good look at her new home. It was a two-story white house with dark green shutters. The house was obviously not recently painted, as the paint was peeling on some areas. Several shingles were missing from the roof. A porch extended out from the front door, a couple old rocking chairs on both ends.
“This house is going to need a lot of work.” Emily said, giving Jacob a look hinting that she wanted it done immediately. Jacob gave a look of disgust in return.
“Can’t you ever be positive about things?”
“Well, look at this place, it’s probably older than all of us combined!”
Kenny sighed, listening to his mothers childish retorts as they continued to argue. He wondered why his parent’s hadn’t divorced years ago.
“Will you both shut up?” Kenny said, annoyed. His parents stopped fighting and stayed silent for a moment. Usually they would threaten to punish him but were surprisingly quiet this time. They gave each other a look, then got out of the van. Kenny pulled the sliding door open and got out himself. One of the moving men approached the family.
“There were some problems with the other vans but they’ll be here shortly.”
Jacob nodded to the man and thanked him, then put his arms around his wife and son.
“Let’s go take a look inside.”
Kenny pulled out from under his father’s arm as they started for the house. The boards creaked loudly as they stepped onto the porch. The movers began to open the vans to unload the family’s belongings. The front door was slightly open and Emily shook her head, a disappointed look on her face.
“Now there’s probably all kinds of bugs in there.” she said. Kenny rolled his eyes.
Jacob pushed the door open and they went inside. Seeing that the inside of the house was much nicer and well-kept, Emily was surprised. They were in a small room, a door on each wall. Look straight ahead, they could see the living room. To the right, the kitchen was visible. Kenny opened the door on the left and found it was a closet. They split up, Jacob and Emily heading into the living room and Kenny heading into the kitchen. The living room was large, with a fireplace in the center of the back wall. Jacob looked to his right and found a set of stairs climbing the wall. Emily looked down at the hardwood floor then to the stairs. It seems as if they were just polished. The floor of the kitchen also seemed freshly mopped. The counter shined under the sunlight coming through the window above the sink. The family switched rooms and Kenny was soon climbing the stairs in the living room to the second floor.
At the top of the stairs Kenny found a long hallway. Checking each door, he found another closet, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. Taking interest in a regular-sized room with navy blue walls, he entered. The sounds of the moving men taking things out of the van were heard from outside. Kenny peered out the window to a house next door which was partially hidden by pine trees. Something caught his eye. In an upstairs window, a hand slightly pulled back the curtain. Kenny quirked an eyebrow, and squinted to try to see who it was, but the hand pulled away as quickly as it came.

Glass shattered into seemingly millions of pieces as the vase slipped from his hands. He cursed under his breath as he knelt down to scoop as much of the pieces as he could. Emily crossed her arms and sighed angrily. The mover looked up with pink cheeks and apologized.
“Well, I told you to be careful with it.”
Emily opened up the closet and handed the mover a broom and a dust pan. The moving men had gotten most of the furniture inside. Emily went into the kitchen and joined her husband and son at the table.
“That’s the third thing one of those oafs have broken.” she said to Jacob.
“Make that the fourth. One of them sat on my reading glasses.” he replied. Emily and Kenny shared a laugh. Muddy footprints from the front door led to a moving man who was now before them, setting down two boxes on the floor next to the table.
“This is the rest of your stuff. That’s about it, we’ve got another call to answer.”
He set a piece of paper down on the table and Jacob picked it up to read it after the mover left. Holding the paper close, he squinted, trying to read it. His eyes were good enough to see the price and his mouth dropped in awe.
“One thousand dollars to move our things?” he shouted, standing up from his chair. Emily took the bill from him to get a look for herself.
“That’s ridiculous. They broke our things, we should get charged less.” she said. She sighed and set the paper back onto the table. Kenny was bothered by his mother’s habit of sighing. Emily paused a moment.
“I’ve noticed we’ve got two neighbors. Thank God the houses aren’t close, or else they’d probably spy on us.”
“Would you relax?” Jacob said irritably.
“Fine. I’m making a pot of coffee.” Emily said tiredly. She walked over to the green tiled counter and prepared the percolator. There was a moment of silence as Emily was making the coffee.
“So Kenny, how do you like your new room?” Jacob said to him, looking at the top of his head as he was looking down.
“It’s fine.” he replied softly. Jacob inhaled.
“Well, we’re probably just going to order a pizza for dinner.”
“Okay.”
Jacob was just about to attempt to try to start a conversation again, when the doorbell rang. Jacob got up from his chair and headed into the foyer to answer the door.
“Wonder who that could be?” he thought aloud. Opening the door, he was greeted by a blonde-haired woman, smiling and holding an apple pie in her hands.
“Hello, I’m your new neighbor from down the street.” she said, pointing to her right at a dark green house.”
Jacob accepted the pie and gave her a half-smile.
“Thank you, come in.”
The woman wiped her feet on the welcome mat and Jacob led her to the kitchen.
“Emily. Kenny. This is, uh…” he said, looking at the woman.
“Etta Jones.” she stated her name. Emily nodded and smiled to her.
“Hello, I’m Emily, that’s my husband Jacob, and my son Kenny.” Kenny looked up a little and gave a shy smile.
“Would you like some coffee?” Emily said, offering a cup of coffee over the table. Etta sat down where Jacob was sitting, accepting the cup and thanking her. She took a sip.
“No one has been in this house for a while now, how do you like it?” she asked.
“It’s very clean inside and much bigger than our old house.” Emily told her.
“Ah, yes, it is very clean inside. That’s strange, I haven’t seen any cleaning service over here lately.” Etta Jones said.
Emily shrugged. There was short silence in the room. After talking with the family for about half an hour, Etta sipped the last of her coffee and set the mug down and smiled.
“Well I’d better be going, I have some house cleaning to do, it’s a mess in my house. My son spent the weekend.”, she chuckled. “I just wanted to see how you guys were making out so far. Hope you’re happy in your new home.” she said, getting up from her chair.
“Alright, I’ll see you out.” Emily said. Etta went out the front door, smiling once more as she headed for her house. Emily shut the door and returned to the kitchen.
“Well, she seems like a nice woman.” she said.

Later in the day the doorbell rang again.
“Kenny, get that.” Emily called from somewhere in the house. He sighed, getting up from the couch and pulled open the front door. Standing there was a tall woman with auburn hair which was pulled up in the back with a clip, smiling. She wore a forest green sweater which was strange because the weather was warm. Dark blue jeans were loose on her legs. She seemed in her late thirties. Kenny got a chill up his back. Her smile was creepy.
“Hi. I’m Jennifer, your other neighbor.” Kenny wondered how she knew Etta had already visited.
“Come in.” Kenny said shyly. Jennifer stepped in still grinning. Emily had come down the steps to see who had arrived. Jennifer looked to her.
“Hi. I’m Jennifer.” she said, offering her hand to Emily. Emily smiled and shook it.
“Hello, I’m Emily, this is my son Kenny. My husband Jacob is out grocery shopping.”
“Nice to meet you.” Jennifer said.
“Come sit down.” Emily said, leading her to the living room. They got settled.
“Would you like something to drink?” Emily asked. Jennifer was still smiling.
“No thank you, I’m fine. I’m so excited that I have new neighbors!”
“So are we, believe me. We’re glad to get rid of our pesky old neighbors.”
Jennifer laughed. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Jones and I are the ideal neighbors.”
After a while Kenny came into the room.
“Well hello again, Kenny.” Jennifer said cheerily. Kenny just smiled slightly.
“Oh, Kenny, I almost forgot. I want you to clean off the porch later.” Kenny gave his mother an annoyed look and mumbled something under his breath. Jennifer’s smile disappeared. Kenny noticed the mean glare Jennifer was giving him and he looked away quickly.
“Excuse me, young man?” Emily asked.
“Alright, fine, I’ll do it.” Kenny said and walked out of the room, his cheeks red. Emily shook her head and sighed.
“Sorry about that.” Jennifer’s smile returned when Emily looked back at her.
“No problem. I know how kids can be.” she replied. The front door opened and Jacob stepped in, carrying some grocery bags. He smiled to Jennifer.
“Hello.”
“Hi, I’m Jennifer.” Jacob nodded and looked to Emily.
“Come help me with the bags.”

Jennifer stayed for a few more hours.
“Well, I guess I’ll be heading back now.” she said
“You can stay for dinner.” Emily told her. Jennifer looked surprised, as if she had just received an award.
“Wow, thank you.”
“It’s our first night here, let’s say we order a pizza.” Jacob said.
“Sounds great.” Jennifer smiled her smile. Jacob reached for the cordless phone and ordered the pizza. Twenty minutes later it arrived. The family and Jennifer gathered around the table.
“That’s funny, the box is already opened.” Jacob said slowly. He opened it and they all saw that one slice was missing.
“Oh, that’s just great. He must’ve eaten one.” Emily said. Jennifer’s expression changed once again.
“Call the place and tell them what happened. We’re getting our money back.” Jacob said to Emily.
“What a jerk.” Jennifer said quietly.

They had called the parlor and had gotten the delivery boy fired. Jennifer had finally left at eight o’ clock.
“Hey, why don’t we all play Scrabble?” Emily suggested.
“Count me out.” Kenny said as he sat on the couch. Emily set up the game on the kitchen table and Jacob joined her. Kenny opened up the book he had checked out from the library earlier. It was about vampires. Vampires had always intrigued him.
“Date, D-A-T-E.” he heard his father say.

Later that night, Kenny sat up in bed. He looked at his digital clock. It was 2:25 AM. He had trouble sleeping all night Getting adjusted to a new house, he figured. Getting out of bed he approached his bedroom window. The woods were pitch black.
Maybe I should take a walk. Kenny thought to himself. He got dressed and silently crept down the stairs. If his mother or father had caught him, they’d make him stay in the house. Opening the front the door, he stepped outside and slowly shut it. He breathed in the cool night air and made his way down the street. There were no streetlights. The loud chirping of crickets came from all around. He was nearing Jennifer’s house. There was a light coming from an upstairs window. Kenny looked down the street and decided it was better to stay around his own yard. He made his way back and disappeared into the back yard. He stopped at the entrance to the woods and wondered if he should enter.
Before he could decide anything, he heard the snap of a twig. Startled slightly, he scanned the dark area quickly with eyes. He couldn’t see anything. Suddenly there was a sound of someone running amongst the trees. A chill ran up Kenny’s back as he spun on his heel and ran towards the side of the house. He was stopped short as he reached the corner. A black figure stepped out in front of him, a sharp axe poised and ready. The figure swung, missing Kenny by inches. Kenny fell on his back, frantically scrambling to his feet and running towards the woods. The figure’s black boots thumped against the ground as it started for Kenny. Kenny tripped, tumbling to the ground. The figure reached him, holding him to the ground with a heavy black boot. Kenny turned his head as the figure’s black hood fell. It raised its axe, embedding it into the side of Kenny’s skull.

Emily woke up before Jacob did. She sat on the edge of the bed, stretching and yawning. Getting up after a few minutes, she threw on her robe and made her way out of the room and down the hallway. She slowly opened the door to Kenny’s room. He was gone. Emily felt cold with fear.
Relax, he’s just downstairs. she told herself.
Emily searched the whole house, but Kenny was nowhere to be found. She ran back up the stairs and into the bedroom. She nudged Jacob as he mumbled sleepily.
“Jacob, I can’t find Kenny anywhere. He’s not in his room!” she said. Jacob mumbled again and eventually sat up, rubbing his eyes.
“Let’s go call the neighbors.” Emily suggested. They called the neighbors.
“He hasn’t been here.” Etta had said.
“Nope, he’s not here.” Jennifer had said.
“Jacob, where is he?” Emily trembled. Soon they both called the police. The police said that they would send out a search party to look for Kenny.
Nightfall arrived and there was no word from the police. The doorbell rang and Emily got up from the couch to answer it. She opened the door to find Jennifer standing there.
“I’m so sorry to hear about Kenny!” she said as she rushed in. She placed her hands on Emily’s arms. “Are you okay?”
“No.” Emily replied miserably. “I’m so worried.”
“Why don’t you both come to my house and relax? We can have some tea and we can take our minds off of all of this.” Emily gave her a questioning look.
“That won’t make this any better.“ she said.
“Well… um…”
“Well.. Alright. We’ll come with you.” Emily finally said. Jacob nodded slowly and got up off the couch.
“It’ll be nice.” Jennifer she said as she lead them to her house. At the house, they entered the living room and sat down. None of them spoke for a moment. Jennifer broke the silence.
“I’m sure they’ll find him soon.” Jennifer said.
“I just don’t understand.. I don’t know. If he ran away, I don’t know why…maybe I just ordered him around too much.” Emily said, seeming to zone out.
“It’ll be fine. Believe me.” Jennifer said with a smile. She even let out a little giggle. Emily gave her another questioning look. She wondered how Jennifer could be so optimistic about all of this.
“Jacob, would you help me with the tea? The kitchen is over here.” Jennifer asked Jacob.
“Okay.” Jacob said quietly. It was the first word he’d said all night. He got up from the couch and disappeared into the kitchen with Jennifer. Emily sighed sadly. She regretted asking Kenny to clean the porch.
“I just don’t know why he would run away.” she said aloud to herself. Suddenly she heard Jacob cry out loudly in pain. She gasped and from the couch she could see through the entrance to the kitchen Jacob fall to the floor, bloody hands clutched to his chest. She gaped in horror as Jennifer entered the room, holding a bloody knife, laughing.
“Well, he’s out of the way. You’ll never have to worry about anyone else, Emily. You and I are going to be the best of friends. Kenny had to go, did you see the way he disrespected you? I can’t let people treat my best friend that way.” Jennifer said.
“You -- you --” Emily stuttered. Jennifer started to approach her. She jumped up from the couch, backing up from Jennifer. Jennifer cornered Emily. Emily saw that she was next to a door and quickly opened it. She saw it was a set of stairs leading to the basement. She felt Jennifer grab her and turn her around from behind, a huge grin on Jennifer’s face.
“Please… let me be your friend.” she said. Emily’s fear soon turned to anger.
“You psycho!” she screamed as she slapped Jennifer hard in the face, knocking the knife from her hands. Jennifer held her red cheek in disbelief, her expression angry. She pushed Emily forcefully, sending her tumbling down the basement stairs. Emily hit her head on the hard basement floor and cried out in pain. She got to her feet just as Jennifer flicked the light on at the threshold. Emily screamed at what she saw. Two bodies. The pizza delivery boy, his throat slashed. Her son, the axe still stuck in his head. She screamed again, covering her mouth, backing away.
Jennifer was slowly descending the stairs.
“Oh my… I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you. Friends don’t treat each other like that, but I forgive you Emily.” she said as she looked at the bodies.
“I’m sorry Monica I didn’t mean to be eat that slice of pizza!” Jennifer said in a high pitched voice, imitating the pizza delivery boy.
“I’m sorry Monica, I didn’t mean to disrespect my mother.” she said in the same voice.
Emily looked around frantically and spotted a small fire extinguisher hanging on the wall. She quickly ran over to it, ripping it off the wall. Monica turned to face Emily.
“How ‘bout a hug?” Monica said smiling, arms open and approaching Emily. Emily swung the fire extinguisher as hard as she could, a loud metallic clang as it hit Monica in the face. Monica cried out and fell to the floor, holding her nose. Emily slammed the extinguisher into Monica’s head and ran for the stairs. Tripping on the third step, she fell forward onto the stairs. She looked behind her and Monica was already coming at her, her nose bleeding. Monica wrapped her hands around Emily’s neck, choking her.
“You’re just like everyone else! I thought we were friends!” Monica raged. Emily saw the knife that Monica had dropped at the threshold and reached for it.
“No!” Monica yelled.
Emily plunged the knife into Monica’s thigh. Monica took her hands off of Emily’s throat, screaming in pain. She lost her balance and fell backwards down the stairs. Emily got up and ran for the front door. She sped back to her own home. When she got inside, she double locked the front door and turned all the lights off. She opened the closet door next to the kitchen and stepped in, closing the door and crouching down. Soon she heard a window break and heard someone climb into the house.
“Come out, we need to talk. I won’t hurt you. We can still be friends.” she heard Monica say. Emily heard footsteps walk by the closet door. There was silence for a minute. Suddenly Monica threw the door open, her axe raised. She let out an inhuman screech as she swung the axe at Emily, but Emily dodged to the side. She scrambled out of the closet and into the kitchen. Monica dove for Emily and tackled her to the floor. She slammed Emily’s head to the floor and started to slap her repeatedly. Emily raised her leg up, kicking Monica in the back, causing her to roll off. Emily turned onto her stomach and got to her feet. When she turned around, Monica was gone. Suddenly Monica was standing in the doorway to outside. Emily ran for the axe near the closet, ran at Monica, swung and chopped her head off. The decapitated body stumbled a moment and fell to the ground. The head landed beside it. Emily was breathing rapidly and in the moonlight she noticed something was wrong.
It was not Monica. She had just killed Etta Jones. Police sirens were heard in the distance.

“It was Monica! It was Monica!” Emily had screamed to the police.
“It was Monica.” she told the nurse.

“She’s settled in her room, Doctor.”
“Good. She keeps rambling that Monica did it. It’s obvious she killed poor Etta herself. She’s also responsible for the death of her son and husband, and a pizza delivery boy. She’ll be here a while.”

Dr. Redmond closed the door to 8G and locked it.

The End