Revenge of Cornelius by Tanya R. Taylor

wind. It was them. They were there again. She inched
closer to Theo and pulled the covers up above her chest.
    Another passed by, then another, then
another. Her head was darting in all directions hoping to get a
glimpse of them, but it was too dark and she was simply too afraid
to reach for the light. The last time proved a terrible mistake as
the deep gash had bled profusely for the longest time. Her fear was
tangible, thick and debilitating. Then…
    "Ow!" she shrieked in pain.
    Theo was jerked out of
sleep.
    "Ow!" Andrea felt another one. She was
sitting up now.
    After reaching for the lamp switch,
Theo instantly spotted the long trail of blood that had seeped
through the back of his wife's nightgown.
    "Oh, no!" he quietly exclaimed.
"Andrea…"
    The look on her narrow face was one of
consummate terror. Theo pulled the thin straps down from her
shoulders and what came into view were dozens of gashes across her
back, mostly around four to five inches in length—some of them
completely mended, others only partially, and then there was the
freshest one. "My God…" Theo was at a loss for words.
    "They did it again, Theo…." Andrea
sobbed. "They won't leave us alone!"
    Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream
escaped the vicinity of Alex's room and Theo and Andrea pitched up
and shot down the hallway in the boy's direction.
    On arrival at the bedroom, Theo
switched on the light and Andrea flew right past him toward her
son.
    Alex was buried under the thin covers,
shaking uncontrollably.
    Andrea threw the covers off and
cradled him in her arms. "What's wrong, honey?"
    "I saw them Mama. Even more came this
time."
    Andrea glanced up at Theo.
    "Saw who, Son?" Theo
probed.
    "You know who!" Andrea snarled. "This
isn't the first time we're having this conversation."
    She turned to Alex again. "Did they
hurt you, honey?"
    "No, Mama. They never hurt me, but he
wants to… I just know it!" His eyes were glued to the
closet.
    Andrea and Theo's followed
his.
    "No one's there now, honey. They're
all gone." She tried to assure the frightened child.
    "But they always come back, Mama. They
always come back!"
    "Everything's fine. Mama and Daddy's
here now." She could still see the fear in those innocent eyes of
his. "Let me have a look, okay?"
    "Okay," he softly
consented.
    Andrea pulled up Alex's shirt and
carefully examined his chest, back and neck, then proceeded to the
lower extremities. When she was finished, she pulled down his shirt
again and breathed a sigh of relief. Theo stood nearby, silently
watching.
    "He hates me, Mama," Alex
said.
    "Who are you talking about, honey?"
Andrea asked.
    "Mister Koney."
    Theo and Andrea glanced at each other,
then re-focused on the boy.
    "I don't know why he hates
me."
    Andrea was puzzled by the child's
claims as she had no idea who this Mister Koney was.
    "Don't worry, I will sleep in here
with you tonight, okay?" she said.
    Alex nodded.
     
    Theo remained in the room as his wife
sang softly to Alex. The child eventually drifted off to sleep in
his mother's arms.
    "You see what you've caused?" Andrea
looked at her husband who had been strangely quiet the whole
time.
    "I haven't caused anything!" Theo
wasted no time defending himself.
    "I told you we should get out of this
house. How much longer must we take this torture, Theo, and what on
earth is preventing them from seriously hurting Alex? You see what
they've done to me. Are you blind? What kind of man are
you?!"
    Theo started pacing the floor. "How do
you think we'd look running out of here like a bunch of frightened
idiots? What would people say?"
    "You mean after they warned us not to
buy this place and you pretty much laughed in their faces,
huh?"
    "I think you're blowing this whole
matter out of proportion. Look…if this place was really haunted,
why isn't anything crazy happening to me? Why am I the odd one out
here?"
    Alex was snoring lightly now and
Andrea gently pulled the covers up to his waist. She then got up,
walked over to Theo and