Free House of Skin by Jonathan Janz Page B

around her and into her open mouth.
    “At this point, Billy walks over and pleads with his mother to stop. Samantha was trying to answer her mom’s questions but she couldn’t catch her breath long enough to say anything. Mrs. Hargrove pushed her daughter’s head under a couple more times, and Billy said these were the worst because each time his mother dunked his sister’s head, she’d bear down with all her weight and Samantha’s head would thud against the steel basin. Without letting go of her daughter’s hair, Mrs. Hargrove pushed the faucet to the side so that instead of pouring down the drain it poured onto the counter and onto the floor.
    “Dazed, hurting, Samantha finally came to enough to tell her mom the only lie she could think of. That the baby was Lucas Bramer’s, a boy she’d dated earlier that year.”  
    Barlow spat and wiped his lips with his coat sleeve. “Samantha figured this would buy her some time because Lucas Bramer was a few years older than her, which would make her look the victim rather than the seducer of a twelve-year old boy.
    “But her mother flew into a rage. Trask knew old lady Hargrove and said that Samantha was doomed whether she said Lucas Bramer, Myles Carver, or Immaculate Conception. No father was good enough for Mrs. Hargrove because it was impossible to her that her only daughter, not even out of school yet, had gotten herself pregnant, had let some boy put his thing in her. Her mother started slapping her and boxing her ears, and that was when Billy intervened. He stepped between them and Samantha saw her chance to escape. She only took a couple of steps before her mother reached out, snagged a handful of her long black hair and yanked back hard.”
    Barlow fell silent. Paul walked beside him, waiting. He wished he had a flashlight. The woods had grown dark very fast, the sky above the path now an indigo snake winding its way through a tenebrous black sea.
    “Samantha fell. Billy said her feet swept out from under her and up in the air like she’d slipped on ice. When the back of her head smacked the floor, he said it sounded like someone had stomped on an egg. Billy stumbled away and leaned on the kitchen table, and as he watched his sister’s motionless body lying there, the water pouring off the counter and flooding the floor around her, he felt like he was watching a dead body floating down a river. He and his mom stood and stared as the blood trickled from Samantha’s mouth, the back of her head. From between her legs. All of it leaking out and swirling and joining together, and pretty soon the whole floor around her was stained bright red.”
    “Samantha died?” Paul asked.
    The sheriff shook his head. “No. Though that would have been better. She lost the baby, of course. She was only three months from carrying it to term, so Doc Trask’s father, the original Doctor Trask, had to deliver it stillborn.”
    They walked then without speaking, the trail taking them gradually eastward. Paul wondered if they’d end up back at the house. The sheriff had flicked on a flashlight. That, at least, was something.
    Barlow continued, “Samantha spent a good while in the hospital and even more time in bed. Lots of people came to see her. In a few weeks, she began to recover. Billy Hargrove had achieved something like celebrity status because of the scandal, and he loved telling people the gory details. He was a good boy, but according to Trask he couldn’t shut up to save his life.” Barlow stopped and spat. “Of course, you could say the same thing about Doctor Trask.”  
    He regarded Paul grimly and after a moment, went on. “With Billy talking like that and the town being so small, word was bound to get around to Myles Carver about what had happened.
    “Now…” Barlow’s voice grew quieter. “This is where the story gets strange. Not to be cold-hearted or anything, but I would think that a boy of twelve would be relieved to have a burden like that lifted