It was like seeing a hornet fly out of an apple with no hole in it.
Samantha was eating dinner, normal.
Samantha said the shower curtain had secret messages in it. Like it couldn’t be argued.
Like it was fact, like our house is bricks.
The shower curtain was just some pattern, Mom got it on sale, I was there.
But she stopped bathing, so we got a new shower curtain.
Then we couldn’t watch TV after dark because the men were watching back through the TV.
Only after dark. She started screaming, screaming about the men watching.
I was scared for her and for me, really.
She threw a flower pot through the TV.
Mom said “we’ll live without TV at night.”
Dad didn’t go for that, so they set Samantha up a sweet bedroom in the loft of the pole barn.
No TV. A black shower curtain. A woman in an office near the public pool to talk to once in a while.
Samantha told the woman I was gonna steal her soul, from inside, while she slept.
They got her a lock for the barn for something I couldn’t and wouldn’t steal.
I can’t even ride my minibike.
Then it was the birds outside.
I can see being kind of scared of the TV. I’ve seen some people say some crazy shit on there.
But birds? Worst they can do is shit on you.
And when you’re afraid the birds are watching, nobody can do anything for you.
They say this kinda thing runs in families.
It better run around me.
I’m not afraid of shower curtains or birds, and the TV’s got an off switch when I get sick of it.
But now I’m afraid of my own sister, and worse yet, what might be lurking inside my own head.
And I don’t want to think about it.
Wanna clear my head, take a ride on my minibike, but it’s locked in the pole barn, with Samantha and her soul.
***
This is really, really good.
Accommodating crazy is one thing.
Giving it power is crazy.
Excellent story.
A real keeper.