If at first you don’t succeed
Skinner #2
There was a loud knock at the door.
Startled, Valerie pulled the curtains back slightly to peer out of the window into the darkness. The headlights of the car in the driveway, created a long silhouette on the sidewalk. She turned on the porch light and through the window, she could see officer Potts. She wondered what he was doing back, he had given her a ride home hours earlier, after she was checked out and released from the emergency room.
She opened the door quickly, almost relieved that she would have some company. As the door swung open, the phone began to ring. She turned around and hollered over her shoulder, “come on in Dave, I need to grab this. As she reached for the phone, it stopped ringing. She called out again to the officer, hey, I’m getting a soda, would you like anything? I have to say, I am surprised to see you so soon, but I am kind of relieved, I don’t really want to be alone.” She grabbed a couple cold sodas out of the refrigerator and a bag of chips, then headed into the front room. She paused for a minute and smelled the air, she noticed a strange smell.
She began to mention it to Doug, but as she came around the corner, she noticed that he was gone. “Dave?” she called out. “Hey, where did you go?” She saw the light under the bathroom door, so she sat in her chair and waited for him to come out. She had known Dave for some time, being from a smaller town, and working at the most convenient, convenient store. Everyone knew everyone. And with what had transpired earlier, they now shared an incredible bond.
She heard some banging around, and asked if everything was ok, he didn’t answer. As she was waiting, she reached over to place the soda she had gotten for him on the table by the sofa. She noticed that her crafting Fiskars scissors were on the table. “How did those get there?” she said softly to herself. She laughed nervously, still shaken and said out loud “It seems like everything has me a little jumpy tonight, I suppose that is normal, right?” He still didn’t answer, but she could still hear him in the bathroom, so she asked him, “hey is everything ok?”
The phone rang again. As she stood up to go to answer it, she caught another waft of the smell she had noticed earlier. Bleach, lemon and a coppery-like, raw acrid air, a heavy and festering scent. She covered her nose, shook her head a bit, her face scowled, and her tongue watered, like just before you throw up. Such a weird sensation, she thought.
She answered the phone and the voice on the other end was almost frantic, “hello?” She said, “who is this, I’m sorry, I can’t understand you, you’ll have to slow down.” She heard the bathroom door hit the end of the sofa table, as it often did when you opened the door too quickly. She was facing the window and she noticed Doug’s reflection, she calmly tried to listen to the caller.
“Valerie, don’t let anybody in the house, lock all the doors!” She was confused, they kept talking at the same time, “Wait, what?” she asked, “I can’t understand you.” The caller was nearly screaming now. “VALERIE, THIS IS SAM, THE CHIEF OF POLICE. STOP TALKING, PLEASE!! WE FOUND DOUG’S BODY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD BEHIND THE HOSPITAL! WE THINK THE SKINNER IS STILL ALIVE! WE ARE SENDING AN OFFICER TO COME GET YOU. WHAT EVER YOU DO, DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR UNTIL WE GET THERE!”
As what they were saying began to sink in, she felt his body directly behind her, she could feel his warm breath on her neck. She slowly turned around to find the skinner, wearing Doug’s skin. Before she could scream, he forced a rag into her mouth, that made her groggy, and then like a switched was flipped, she passed out. The skinner gently placed the phone down on the counter. The voice on the other end kept calling Valerie’s name, but there was no answer.
Moments later, a light show of flashing lights filled the room, and the door was kicked in. As the officers cleared the house, they discovered Doug’s skin draped over the chair, in his hand was a brand-new pair of Fiskars scissors, and a finger. It was positioned as if it were pointing, their eyes followed the direction of the finger. Shining their flashlights into the corner of the room, they entered the bathroom where they found the remains of an unidentified woman, completely skinned, every finger was missing.
They searched the surrounding areas with no sign of Valerie or the skinner.
As the day began to break, and the news about what had transpired overnight became known, the neighborhood was crawling with people. Everyone was on their lawns, talking about Valerie and Doug and any torrid event that might have ever happened in their lives. TV crews and gawkers. Everyone wanted a front row seat to this horrific mayhem, as nothing like this has ever happened before in this town.
While the police continued their search for clues and signs of where he might have taken Valerie, the coroner prepared the body for transport.
Above the trees they spotted a drone flying over the scene. It buzzed around the officer’s heads and nearly knocked the stretcher over. For a moment everything but the drone stopped. Everyone was looking up, as it hovered.
The humming sound was menacing, and soon the police began to swat at it. The drone buzzed back up and over the house and for a moment it disappeared. As chaos began to envelop the scene again, the drone returned. This time, something hung from it. It flew right up to the camera lens the reporter held. A note dangled from the base of the drone attached to an ear, that read, “ARE YOU LISTENING NOW”? It appeared to be written in blood.
The drone unexpectedly dropped to the ground.
The coroner ripped back the body bag to find that this body had both of its ears. They stared at one another in horror, where did this ear come from, what other surprises might be awaiting them?
The radios in the squad cars began to go berserk, squealing and humming. A song began to blast over both the car and body radios.
On the front seat was another note, it read,
“Oh mother dear please listen
And don’t devour me
Every girl I go out with
Becomes my mother in the end
The telephone is ringing
Is that my mother on the phone?
The telephone is screaming
Won’t she leave me alone”
They scramble around to shut it off, but nothing is working.
The music continues playing, as another drone approaches the crowd. This time everyone begins to run. The music gets even louder.
The trunk of one of the cruisers pops open, and then everyone screams. The officers pull their weapons, but they find the trunk is empty. One by one the trunks begin to pop open, and then, the last one…as the last one opens there is almost a sound that precedes the smell, (like when your gas tank is almost empty). It is so bad that the people nearest to the car begin getting sick. As the officers come around the back end of the car, they find another body. This one is in severe decay, completely covered in maggots. It is positioned in the car in such a way that immediately they notice that it is missing an ear. There are several other parts missing as well, including his face and skin, he looks as if he had been run through a shredder, at least the lower half of him.
As they remove the body from the trunk, the second drone spun around and at full speed, smashed directly into the face of the corpse, tearing what was left of his mouth completely open. The coroner yelled at everyone to stop. They laid the body on the ground, and the coroner reached his hand into his mouth and pulled out a brand-new pair of orange handled Fiskars scissors. Attached to the scissors with a bread tie is another note. “if you want to continue this scavenger hunt, keep looking for Valerie. If you feel the need to continue your search, you can begin by looking in the coolers at the Echo Bargain store. Otherwise, this is goodbye.”
Right away they send a car to the convenience store, where they find the face of the owner sewn onto the discount sign, hanging on the beverage cooler. As they are removing it from the glass, they hear moaning coming from the back office, weapons drawn they make their way to the back of the store. Tied to a chair is the owner’s wife, she is bound with a leather belt made from one of her husband’s legs and her mouth is sewn shut with her own hair. She is crying and holding a note that says, “I am done if you are.”
********
Valerie opened her eyes to see the back of skinner’s head, she was bound, but able to turn her head enough to see that she was in his van. It was getting light, so she knew that it must have been several hours since he grabbed her. She was trying to figure out where they were, when he said cheerily, “good morning Valerie, I hope you’re comfortable. I’m sorry this is how it has to be.” She answered him, “what are you doing, where are we, where are you taking me? Listen, if you just take me back right now, I will just let you walk away, nothing bad needs to happen.” He looked at her in the rearview mirror and smiled. “Oh, Valerie”, he said and laughed. “What bad could happen? We are together, and that is all that matters.” He looked back at the road. He started to whistle, she recognized the tune, then at the chorus, he began to sing…” I think we’re alone now, there doesn’t seem to be any-one arooooound…” He glanced at her in the mirror and smiled a slow smile, it gave her chills and she looked away.
After a short time, he spoke again. “We are making a stop here at my shop, I am going to need you to help me, you want to help me, don’t you Valerie?” His tone was ominous, he spoke very slow and softly, like she was a child, with little understanding. As he opened the van door, she could see he was covered in blood, his skin was a gray white tone, and his lips were blue. He said, “I can’t lift you; you will have to walk with me, you can do that, right Valerie?” She noticed he had his scissor pouch on his waist again, but that his scissors were missing, he noticed she was looking and said, “that’s what I need your help with. I need to get my scissors back where they belong.” As he turned, and reached for her, she could see just under his jacket, that they were still submerged in his chest. She gasped. He smiled and said, “oh, it’s ok, we will fix this right up.”
He attached a leash to the chains that bound her, and like a dog, he led her into his shop. As he opened the door, she fell back from the stench that escaped the building and filled her mouth and lungs, she started to choke. He encouraged her to move forward, by tugging the leash. As they stepped inside, Skinner waved his hands in front of her, like he was Vanna White introducing the next vowel. He said excitedly, “They have been waiting to meet you for a very long time, Valerie.” Sitting in a row of rocking chairs were 3 sets of skins, dressed and made up for Sunday service. He nervously says, “mom, dad, Beth Ann, I would like you to meet Valerie!”
Valerie begins to scream through her tears, skinner wraps her in his arms and says, “now, now Vals honey, it’s ok, it takes a bit for them to warm up to you, but they will, give them time.” He leads her past the skin draped chairs and to a table in the middle of the room. It’s as bright as a football stadium.
On the table she noticed all sorts of tools, string, needles, gauze, scissors and bags of blood. Skinner attached the leash to the table and sat on the edge of it, the scissors in his chest are now at her eye level. Valerie says, “what do you want from me?” “I want you to become one with me.” he answers. As quickly as he spoke the words, he pulled the scissors from his chest and with his blood covered hands swiftly slid the scissors across her thigh, pulling away a large piece of skin. Valerie falls to the ground, bleeding and crying in pain.
From the other room a male voice says, “looks like we’re ready.
******
Back at the convenience store, officers comb the scene for clues to the whereabouts of skinner and Valerie. An agent from the FBI stands in the doorway and announces that all the evidence found will need to be handed over to his team. He says, “we have worked up a profile and are convinced that Valerie may have gone willingly” The chief, Doug’s best friend, says “that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, have you read the report?” The agent answers, “yes, I have. We have come across some information that suggests Ms. Shawn may have had communication with skinner some years back. That is why he is here, to reconnect.” The room goes completely quiet.
The chief makes the call to hand all the information they had collected to the FBI. As he brushes angrily past the agent he says, “if you mess this up, just know, I am not afraid to get my hands dirty. It would be in your best interest to get this right.” He revs up his squad car and squeals out of the parking lot.
The agent smirks and says under his breath, “it’s ok skinner, I got you”
Originally published at https://vocal.media.
