Chapter Five - Bloody Garden
About a year later.
After Jenny’s death, Camille had started waking up earlier as a new habit and would spend her mornings making her family’s breakfast. Now, fourteen, Belinda was pleased with the changes, so much so that she no longer felt the need to carry her doll as frequently.
Antonio was often left alone, thinking of Jenny and wondering what could have been. He knew perfectly well that nothing good would have come out of a possible affair. Wanting to move on but unable to do so after seeing Jenny’s melted and deformed body, he found comfort in gardening.
Every morning, Antonio’s routine would still consist of an early morning run. He would have a small breakfast, made by Camille, and a coffee he would brew himself. On days off work, he focused on lawn care.
Years of continuous breeding had caused the squirrels to multiply to plaguing numbers. Antonio had used acid in the past to eliminate weeds in the flowerbeds, but since Jenny’s passing, he had switched to regular weedkiller.
Once he finished a long day of yardwork and some mild sunburn, Antonio would stand in front of his kitchen sink to drink a cold glass of water.
Irritated, he would watch the squirrels dig into his freshly cut grass to bury their daily nut quest. He knew each of those nuts would sprout into a new weed to be killed within a few days. An endless job.
After spilling a little water from his mouth onto the counter, he grabbed a nearby kitchen towel to wipe off the wetness. He then slapped the towel back on the countertop while cursing the squirrels before retreating to take a shower.
Considering that it was mid-summer, the heat was unusually intense.
The A/C had to be turned on for the first time in a long while, making the heat more bearable.
Because Belinda wasn’t playing with her doll as much, she spent more days outside.
Even though her nightmares had slightly subsided, they were mostly about Pin sitting on their picnic rug.
The sky was hued dark blue and gray, and her doll seemed to lurk in her dreams.
One morning, Antonio got up for his routine run before getting ready for work. Since he was awake before anyone else in the house, he wanted to water the backyard grass before the midday sun. When he went outside, he nearly fell backwards at the gruesome sight of slaughtered squirrels.
He didn’t know where to look; everything looked the same. Each squirrel’s neck had been broken, and their guts, or what’s left of them, spilled out of their freshly ripped opened bodies. Unsure of what kind of animal would leave such a massacre behind, he called animal control right away.
Antonio went to open the gate; he didn’t want animal control to ring the bell and wake his family up.
He wanted to clean as much as he could before any word of the animal bloodshed got out.
After quickly going inside to inform his employer of his absence, he rushed back out with trash bags and a rake.
To his disbelief, Miss Nancy and her leashed dog had already made their way into his backyard.
“What in the hell happened here, Tony? Did you do this?” She asked.
“I have no idea what happened. Can you please leave?” Antonio replied.
“You sick fuck, you killed these poor babies, didn’t you? DIDN’T YOU?”
“I didn’t!”
“You’ve been complaining about the squirrels for years! Don’t you think I’ve heard you bitch, and bitch about them?”
“Leave!” he shouted at her.
As she continued to argue in pure rage, Miss Nancy felt as if she was being watched from above.
A flutter on her nose made her look up, only to see Belinda watching her from the window of her room.
She was partially obscured by shadows, but Miss Nancy could see her holding the doll and, with a grim smile, wiping blood off her chin.
Miss Nancy’s lips began to tremble as she scurried out of the gate, while Betsy tried her damndest to snag a dead squirrel off the ground.
While Betsy remained drooling and hyperventilating, Miss Nancy pulled on her collar, trying to drag her out.
“Your fucking kid did this, I know it! I want you all out of this neighborhood!”
Antonio closed the gate, but not before Betsy had taken a squirrel into her mouth, its spine protruding from the side of her jaws.
“Goddamn it, Betsy, drop it!” Antonio could hear Miss Nancy shout from the street as she continued to retreat.
Once inside her house, Miss Nancy peeked through her window blinds at the Santos’ home. She was left frightened after seeing Belinda’s bloody face. “I bet she killed that bitch whore Jenny too,” she whispered to her dog.
Betsy was still licking the blood off her face after swallowing the last bit of the squirrel.
Miss Nancy was so concerned about everything she saw that she forgot to remove the dead squirrel from her dog’s mouth.
Later that night, after she brushed Betsy’s mouth with her toothbrush, they had their snack and then headed to bed.
For many months, Antonio woke up to find several dead squirrels in his backyard.
Luckily for him, he thought, no one could see the frequent killings.
Some squirrels were torn apart, some were just gnawed on, and others appeared to have been poorly skinned.
Having no idea what kind of animal was responsible, Antonio decided to install a camera system outside.
After a few nights of unexplanatory footage, Antonio grew weary and confused. Then, the next morning, he found a new crime scene, and this time, blood trailed back to their back door.
He quickly opened the camera app on his phone and reviewed the video history.
He could see a shadow moving along the shrubs, but couldn’t identify the creature.
He regretted not having better lighting, but he couldn’t change it without overwhelming the neighbors, especially Miss Nancy.
The last thing he needed was her harassing him over a garden light.
After further review, Antonio noticed that the small shadow didn’t quite move like an animal. Although too dark to tell, for a moment he thought that it might be human. Nothing made sense, not even that pointless video.
Irritated, Antonio headed outside to clean up the bloody mess.
With gloves and a trash bag, he carefully picked up each squirrel and placed it in the bag.
Many of the squirrels fell apart in his hands as he transferred them.
He then chucked the filled bag into the garbage for pickup.
Whether his actions were right or wrong, he didn’t know; the city had stopped returning his calls.
Unaware of much, Camille went about her day as normal. Although she did wonder about the excessive amount of dirt on Belinda’s clothes, she never really cared to question it further. She remembered her childhood and how much she loved playing with dirt; nothing a quick wash couldn’t fix.
Later that morning, Belinda strolled down the street, enjoying short walks around the neighborhood. Sometimes she’d make her way to the large, creepy mansion down the street. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she felt drawn to the eeriness surrounding the house.
She often wondered why no one ever came out, but then again, she remembered that few people on the street spoke to each other unless necessary.
After High School, the animosity among the men in the neighborhood was obvious; no one even offered a simple greeting.
Everyone seemed to have an excuse to look away when crossing paths.
Most of the children in the neighborhood were around the same age, but they only spoke at school.
She tried not to think about school. Wisteria High was a good school, but she was glad to be out for the summer.
Belinda preferred to be alone and away from the other children after being bullied by her peers.
Many would call her strange and weird, but she never allowed any of that to brew within her.
As Belinda studied the mansion’s gates, Betsy popped out from behind her.
Startled, Belinda quickly became ill and began to vomit thick, chunky black tar onto the ground.
Due to Betsy’s learned habits, she quickly licked the tar up.
Watching the entire event unfold, Miss Nancy ran towards them, shouting in panic, “Get away from my Betsy, you demon child!”
Nearly out of breath, Miss Nancy tried to pull Betsy away, but not before she licked every single trace of Belinda’s meaty vomit.
“What’s the matter with you? Why did you let her do that?” Miss Nancy demanded.
“I’m sorry, I just got sick and couldn’t stop-” Belinda attempted to say before being interrupted.
“Shh, shh, shh. I don’t care. Stay away from my girl. Do you hear me?"
“Yes, ma’am,” Belinda cried.
“Now go on, get home. You have no business being out here.”
Belinda ran back home as fast as she could, angry at the way Miss Nancy had treated her. Not wanting her parents to know about her secret stop, she decided not to tell anyone about the altercation.
While in her room, Belinda couldn’t help but notice her doll sitting on the dresser as she looked for a fresh change of clothes. Still upset and with no one to talk to, she grabbed her doll and hugged her close. “You are my best friend,” she whispered into her doll’s ear.
After going to bed, in her dreams, Belinda dreamt of her doll. They ran through the fields of white linen and flowers, singing “Pin Pon’s lullaby” as they danced. Belinda never held her doll tighter; her pull towards Pin was uncanny, and she promised to never put her down again.
When she woke up the next morning, Belinda stretched her arms towards the ceiling as she sat up in her bed. She immediately began to gag. Coughing and choking, she shoved her fingers into her mouth and continued to pull whatever was stuck down her throat.
As she pulled gently, a gnarled ball of squirrel hair and flesh came out of her mouth. Belinda examined it, holding it close to her eyes, then quickly fell ill and ran towards the bathroom, leaving her doll behind on the bed. Belinda hovered over the toilet bowl and vomited violently.
Thick, coagulated, tar-like blood filled the bowl, some splattering onto the floor around it. Confused, she grabbed toilet paper, cleaned up her mess, flushed the toilet, and went downstairs for breakfast, where her mom waited. On her way, she grabbed her doll.