Horror D'ourves, Page 2

Tommy liked fire. He liked the way it danced when he lit the match. He liked the way it smelled. Most of all, he liked the way it burned the ants that he would set fire too.

  He was getting bored with the ants though. He wanted to burn something bigger. Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. An orange cat was watching him, his head just visible beneath the fence that separated his yard from the neighbor’s. The orange fur reminded him of fire.

  The cat’s name was Frank, a funny name for a cat. Frank’s belly was swollen and Tommy suspected that Frank may be a Francine. He wondered how Frank would look, if he were on fire. Probably spectacular! Tommy licked his lips and held his hand out, trying to entice the cat to him.

  “Here kitty, kitty,” he said, trying to keep his voice friendly. The cat just blinked at him, then backed away, pulling his head from the hole under the fence.

  Tommy pocketed the matches and went to the fence. Peering under he saw the cat lying on the ground a few feet away. Thrusting his hand under the fence, he stretched, trying to reach the creature and pull the new play thing to him. Frank was just beyond his grasp.

  “Here kitty, kitty,” Tommy called, wriggling his finger. The cat just stared at him.

  “Fine,” Tommy said, sitting up and accessing the situation. The hole under the fence wasn’t very big, but it wasn’t that small either. And Tommy wasn’t overly big for his age. His uncle called him a runt. With a little work, maybe he could get through. Tommy began digging, using his fingers to remove dirt and rock from under the fence. The hole grew bigger. Finally it was big enough he thought he could get his shoulders through.

  The boy stuck his head through the hole, wriggling forward with his arms held out. He felt his shoulders pass the fence and smiled. Tommy wriggled a bit more than stopped, frowning. His pants were stuck on something. Twisting, Tommy looked over his shoulder and saw that a belt loop on his jeans was caught on a piece of wood that was jutting out.

  “Just great,” Tommy said, trying to back up and loosen the snag. He couldn’t move. He tried to reach behind him to pull it loose, but he couldn’t quite get the right angle. Sighing, he straightened himself and flopped his head on the ground. What was he going to do now?

  Frank stared at him from across the yard, his yellow green eyes seeming to laugh at him. “Go ahead and laugh,” Tommy sneered, “I’ll get loose eventually and then we’ll see how much laughing you do with your tail on fire.”

  Tommy laughed, picturing the feline running across the yard, his tail blazing behind him. That would be a sight. Maybe the little girl that owned Frank would come out crying, screaming for someone to help her pet. He could light her on fire too. If it was after school, no one would know it had been him. They were both alone, both their parent’s working. He could do it and pretend he’d heard her screaming and come running to help.

  “Yeah,” Tommy thought, “That would be awesome.”

  Tommy was busy thinking about how he would like to set the little girl on fire and didn’t notice at first the tickling on his leg. But then the tickle turned to burning and he couldn’t help but notice the pain.

  Tommy kicked his leg, trying to shake whatever was crawling under his jeans off. His arms began to burn and he looked, seeing red fire ants crawling on the exposed skin. He brushed them off with his hands, but they just came back, leaving small red bites on his skin. His stomach and back were beginning to burn, the heat spreading throughout his body like he was on fire.

  Tommy looked around desperately. Frank just sat their staring at him, the cat’s eyes laughing even more. A few other cats had joined him, a black one that Tommy recognized as Mrs. Thomas’s cat and they skinny grey one he had thrown rocks at last week. They all seemed to be mocking him.

  “Wait until I get loose,” he growled, “I’ll show you to laugh at me!”

  Tommy struggled more and he thought he heard his jeans rip. It felt like he might have worked himself loose a little so he continued to fight against the wood holding him in place. As he fought, more and more ants crawled over his body, sinking their tiny mandibles into his skin and leaving angry red welts. Tears filled his eyes as they continued to invade and Tommy realized he must have disturbed their nest when he wriggled under the fence.

  “Stupid ants,” he growled, “when I get loose, I’m going to burn you all!”

  Tommy looked around. He was shocked to see that the cats had grown from three to about seven and a few dogs and birds had stopped to watch. What was going on?!? One of the dogs woofed at him; the one that belonged to those stupid twins down the road.

  “Are you laughing at me,” Tommy yelled at the mutt. “Don’t forget what I did to you last week! I’ll do it again, once I’m loose.”

  Indeed, the dog had not forgotten how Tommy had tied him up and poked at him with a stick. The rope had been too short for him to reach Tommy, who had enjoyed listening to the dog’s baleful wails with each prod. Eventually the boy had gotten bored and ran off for some other sport, leaving the dog tied up in the corner of the yard. He’d come back later to finish playing with the dog before his mother came home from work, but the dog was gone, the rope lying limp in the back yard. Tommy didn’t know how he had gotten loose, but as soon as he got free of this fence he would make sure that dog was never seen again.

  A movement from a window caught his attention and Tommy looked up to see the little girl watching him.

  “Help,” he yelled at her. She just stood there and watched, a smile playing around her mouth. A chill went down Tommy’s spine. He had seen that look before. He’d been torturing the hamster his mother had given him for his birthday. He’d squeezed his pet’s middle and had felt a thrill, seeing its eyes bug out, the hamster’s tongue lolling from its mouth. He’d looked up in the mirror and seen a smile similar to that on his face. That’s the way the little girl looked, watching him now, like she was playing with him and enjoying the pain she was causing.

  The ants continued to swarm, biting him. Tommy screamed for help, realizing that they were tearing away pieces of his flesh. The girl and the animals all continued to stare and as the swarming ants covered the boy’s body all they heard was his scream, and when the ants finally moved on, nothing of Tommy remained.

  Other stories from Psychotic Mumblings include:

  Psycho Babble

  The Institute

  The Snakeman

  The Beast Inside

  Without A Trace

  Avenging Angel

  Superstitious

  The Other Child

  Best Friends

  The Things That Kill

  Isabelle

  The Wedding Veil

  The Curiosity Shop

  Free Cat

  A New Life

  Fire

  Ghost’s From the Past

  A short story from

  Night Terrors

  Ghost’s From the Past