New Excerpt: ALTERED BEGINNINGS

Prologue



The door squeaked softly when it opened. Six-year-old Leigh Lawson hid her face in her pillow, stifling a whimper. It was him—the monster. He came every night; sometimes in her dreams, but mostly in reality.

She squeezed her eyes shut and wished for morning. Tears welled up in response to her fear. Unable to resist, terrified to look and too frightened not to, she snuck a quick peek to see if he was there. Her eyes were adjusted to the dark room and she had no trouble seeing his silhouette by the door. He was staring in her direction. His eyes glowed in the dark just like a demon.

She immediately sunk her face back into her pillow, drying her eyes, feigning sleep. Please don’t pick me. Please, please, please, she chanted silently. She was helpless to do anything even if he did. The other girls wouldn’t interfere. He would cover her mouth so she couldn’t scream, and even if she could, it wouldn’t do any good. She knew better than to do something to get him into trouble. He had already told her what would happen if she told someone what he did. He would torture her and kill her. Leigh knew it was true. He was a monster. Who could stop him?

During the day, his name was Henry Bernard. He didn’t look scary in the light. He looked clean cut, shaven, neatly dressed in his orderly uniform. He got along especially well with the other staff. He did his job with exceptional care and treated the children with warm smiles when anyone was watching. His transformation occurred around 3:00 AM.

In the dark, he looked ugly and mean and scary. His eyes glowed. He stunk of body odor and his breath reeked. The smell always made Leigh gag when he got too close to her. His breathing got quicker and heavier when he was near her. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like him. She hated the things he did to her and made her do. Mostly, she hated All Heritages Family Home for allowing monsters to come to her in the dark.

When in monster form, he liked torture of all varieties. Pain seemed to excite him more than anything. Sex was one of his many means of hurting her, but not his favorite method. He used a specific closet down the hall for most of his dirty work, a makeshift little room that proved to be mostly soundproof with extra clothes and insulation, and probably more tricks than a six-year-old could think of.

She heard his slow footsteps coming toward her. He didn’t need any type of light to see around the room. He knew his way easily. Those glowing eyes could see in the dark.

Sensing him near, she stiffened, still trying to pretend to be asleep. She knew he was kneeling next to her bed when she caught the scent of his breath near her face. No, please.

The employees at the home were required to work three consecutive twenty-four hour shifts per week. Fortunately, that meant the monster was gone for four days a week unless he worked an extra shift. Leigh slept soundly exactly four days a week. It was during the other three that her teachers and counselors couldn’t quite understand why she fell asleep so much during the day.

Tonight was the first night of the monster’s work week. He would be around for at least two more nights before she would get a break, before the other kids would get a break. She wasn’t the only one.

He paid no attention to the fact that she acted like she was asleep as he quickly slipped a piece of tape over her mouth and picked her up from her bed. Her eyes went wide open with terror and stared into the depths of those glowing eyes. Sometimes she could swear they even turned yellow instead of white.

She knew she wasn’t supposed to cause trouble, but each time he dragged her to the closet was more unbearable. She was horrified by the closet, the enclosed space, by the unspeakable things he kept there. She kicked and punched and fought for all her six-year-old weight was worth.

In response, he chuckled softly. “This is why I love you so much. It doesn’t matter how many times we play, you always fight me tooth and nail. Some of the girls have just given up, but not you. You’re a fighter.”

His voice carried through the room, but none of the other girls stirred. They knew better. They, too, would pretend to sleep, Leigh knew.

She continued to struggle. She would not just sit back and let him take her to that evil closet! She would fight and fight and fight some more! Or she tried with all her might anyway, but he had her out of the room only a few steps later.

Some of the girls had filed complaints against Henry Bernard. But the staff was so charmed and taken with him that they refused to believe he was capable of such monstrosities. Other girls that continued to raise a ruckus would just disappear. Leigh got so scared when she thought about where those girls had gone. This demon told her every single night what would happen if she told anyone what was going on in that place.

Despite her struggles, the monster reached the closet and opened the door as easily as if he held a doll instead of a kicking girl. She was thrown inside where she hit her head on the floor, dazing her long enough for the demon to join her and shut the door firmly behind them. The click of it quickened her pulse and her breathing grew labored. No!

He had everything already set up with a battery powered light aimed at the ceiling to fill the small space with a soft glow, and all his toys laid out on the shelves way above her head. She didn’t need to see them to know they were there. They always were.

Leigh didn’t wait for him to get started. She stood to her full height and kicked, hit and clawed until he wrestled her back to the floor. He put a knee into her stomach to painfully pin her to the ground.

He was chuckling again. “I love your spirit, Leigh. You are mean as a snake. No one will ever adopt you. Don’t you get that? You’re unlovable. They can’t even find a foster family willing to take you in.”

His words always hurt, but they were true. It was impossible for anyone to love her. Both her parents had died and that was how she’d ended up in the system. But that didn’t explain why every foster family refused to take her in, or why no family had considered adopting her. She was not worth their love and this demon knew that.

He got off of her to reach for his first toy. He began the night with what he knew she hated most—the bag. She couldn’t stand the small space of the closet, but when he put that plastic bag over her head, she couldn’t breathe. She began to tremble just at the sight of it.

An older girl at the facility told her to do a-rith-metic problems in her head when things got bad to calm herself. She began doing some now to keep from thinking about the horrors in the closet. More likely than not, the monster would play this game until she got knocked out. At least that way she wouldn’t be awake for anything else he did, she thought bitterly.

She was so distracted that she almost failed to notice that he was struggling to get the bag open. He also hadn’t locked the door yet. She quickly stood, ducked by him and ran out of the closet and straight for help. As she went, she pulled the tape from her mouth and began to scream. She would not go through another session in the closet. No more!

“Leigh, stop!” he yelled from behind her.

She didn’t listen. She sprinted straight down the hall, looking for the first employee she could find. It didn’t take long. Mrs. Sheppard was hurrying toward her, probably in response to the yelling.

“What’s the matter?”

“Help me! He’s a monster. He’s trying to take me to the closet,” she said, the words pouring out of her in a rush.

“Oh honey, you had a nightmare.”

“No! It’s real! He put a bag over my head. He does it all the time. He…he even tries to…touch me,” she said, hiccupping and crying in absolute desperation to make someone save her from the monster.

Mrs. Sheppard gripped her by the shoulders with a frown. “I won’t listen to lies, Leigh Lawson. If you had a nightmare and you’re scared, that’s one thing, but lying is another matter entirely.”

“No, no, no, please believe me. I’m not lying. He hurt me.”

“Stop that! Right now. There is no one here that will hurt you. Is this like that story you told me yesterday about your friend Melissa? We don’t even have a child here named Melissa.”

Leigh continued to cry. She had lied about Melissa. She wished she hadn’t. She was so sorry. She was really telling the truth this time!

“Mrs. Sheppard, is everything all right here? I heard screaming,” a male voice said from behind Leigh.

The monster was there. He had caught up to her. He was right there!

“Everything is just fine, Mr. Bernard. Leigh and I were just talking about her fibbing. She’s making a habit of it lately and we won’t tolerate liars around here.”

Leigh was sobbing uncontrollably when she turned to see the monster. He winked in her direction, whether directed at her or Mrs. Sheppard she knew not. “No, we certainly will not,” he said. “Come here, Leigh, let me take you back to your bed.”

She turned, grabbed onto Mrs. Sheppard’s leg like a two-year-old in a tantrum and refused to let go. Her sobs could be heard throughout the building.

“We have simply got to find this child a foster family,” Mrs. Sheppard said over Leigh’s head in a loud voice.