"The Laughter and The Breathing"


"Hello Julia. How are you today?" Ms. Kimberly asked. She quietly shut the door and came in and sat in the chair across from me. I turned my head to look at her. I was confused. What was I doing here?
"Julia, do you recognize me? I guess not. Julia, I need you to pay attention," Ms. Kimberly said. I turned my eyes away from the wall. Leave me alone! I screamed in my head. I don’t want to be here.
"I need you to tell me what happened, Julia. I know you have been through a lot but this is very important. We need to know what happened. So would you like to spill the beans?" She smiled a little, trying to make me laugh. I stared at her some more. What did she want me to tell her? I was so confused. Panic rose in my chest. I looked back at the wall. I felt the tears in my eyes. I was remembering something. What was I remembering?
Her smiley faded and turned serious. "Julia, what did Jack do to Ben?" I suddenly realized what she wanted me to tell her. I looked down at the floor and raised both hands to my head, twisting my long, brown hair in my fingers. This chair is kind of hard, I thought to myself. Well, I guess I should tell her what happened.
"Jack never came out of his yard. No one even knew what he looked like…." I began to tell my story.
Mama always told me and Ben never to go past The House when we go to and from school because Jack lived there. Everyone knew who Jack was but no one knew what he looked like. The adults said he was different and that nobody should go near him. My papa said he had a problem, one that made Jack slow and not able to be normal. At 13 years old, I knew enough to listen to Mama and look after Ben and make sure he would stay out of trouble and away from The House, as the children in the town called Jack’s home.
The House was a small shack that had overgrown bushes and weeds everywhere and junk piles that contained the grossest of things. It was really a disgrace, even in our small town. It was pig-sty. All the kids were scared of that place because of Jack.
Jack had a mama, too, and she was a haggard woman, with long, knotted gray hair and dirty skin and her body hunched over. I saw her in the post office once, and she scared me so bad, I ran out as fast as lightening and forgot to mail Papa’s letters.
It was my fault, what happened to Ben. I should have watched him closer coming home from school. I should have been a better sister. But I didn’t watch him close enough and my seven year old brother slipped away.
"Ben! Ben! Where are you? I’m gonna get Mama to give you a good beaten if you don’t come out! Ben!" My throat began to ache from the yelling. Then anger turned to fear as I watched Ben’s green shirt slip into the trees around The House. I screamed, "Ben, no!" Dropping my bag, I ran after Ben, the sick feeling in my stomach rising to my throat and choking me as I neared The House.
I slowed to a stop and looked at The House. It was as scary this close as it was far away. It reminded me of Uncle Handy’s Haunted House on Halloween for the town children. I took a breath and stepped onto the side of the house, following where Ben had gone.
I walked slowly and began to whisper, "Ben, where are you? Please come back!" I heard a rustle in the leaves. I froze. I didn’t even breathe. Then someone grabbed my back. I cried out and ran forward, tripping over branches, falling hard to the ground, and scraping my arms and knees. I leaped up and turned around, expecting to look into the eyes of Death, but instead saw Ben’s grinning face.
I hit him on the arm. He still laughed. I yelled at him, "What the heck did you do that for? Never mind, let’s go. We shouldn’t be back here. Wait until I tell Mama you…" I stopped as I saw his grin fall off and horror take over his face. I closed my eyes and knew what was coming next.
The breathing still lingers in my mind. The heavy, raspy breathing is forever in my ears. It what I hear when I am all alone in silence. I turned around and opened my eyes. There stood Jack. I will never forget what he looked like. His hair was to his shoulders and dirty. His eyes looked hungry and wild and he was smiling with his mouth open and I could hear him breath. He was tall and appeared to be about 18, if you looked close enough. He was very skinny, but you could tell he was strong. He was dressed in a filthy shirt and grimy overalls.
Jack fixed his eyes on mine and we held each other’s gaze for what seemed like hours. I couldn’t look away. Then I remembered Ben. I broke the gaze, whipped around, grabbed Ben, and began to run.
I heard a blood curdling scream and then a hand wrap around my ankle, and Ben and I fell hard to the ground. Branches snapped like gunshots. I wrenched away and picked up Ben and tried to get away but Jack was too fast. He grabbed Ben away and knocked me over the head. I felt my head explode into pain and I felt something warm trickle into my mouth. My head lolled and my eyes attempted to focus.
By the time I regained composure, I just saw Jack running, with Ben underarm, around the back of the house. I began to stumble towards them, over branches and tree roots.
I took a quick glance around and felt completely alone when I saw that the trees blocked most of the house, which meant no one would see what was happening. I finally reached the corner of the house and crept down and crawled behind some bushes and looked for Jack and Ben. I quickly found them underneath a giant oak tree.
Jack threw Ben towards the tree and I heard a sickening thud as Ben’s head hit the trunk. I could hear Jack giggling insanely. He picked up Ben and I watched him tie a rope around Ben’s neck. Ben came back to consciousness and saw me. "Julia, help me!" He pleaded. Jack slammed Ben’s head against the tree again and tried to finish tying the rope, paying no attention to me.
"No!" I screamed. Jack was going to hang Ben! Jack was a psychopath! I couldn’t let him to this! I ran towards Jack and jumped up onto his back and wrapped my arm around his neck. I pulled Jack backed onto the ground, ripping the rope from his hands. We struggled but then Jack somehow grabbed something and brought it back and shoved it into my face. Blood sprayed from my mouth onto his face and clothes. Jack laughed wildly and jumped up. He loved having play time.
I lay there, crying. I couldn’t move. I was too disoriented. I was too confused. I watched Jack grab my brother and take him up the tree and rap the rope around a branch, with Ben on the other end. He and I looked at each other. "I am so sorry, Ben!" Then, Jack dropped Ben towards the ground, and the rope caught him and Ben swung back and forth, his eyes rolled up into the back of his head, mouth open, body limp. I sobbed as Jack laughed and laughed and laughed.
"The end," I looked Ms. Kimberly in the eyes. She was the one staring now.
I turned my head towards the wall. "All my fault. Should have watched him closer. All my fault. Jack did it. All my fault," I was whispering to myself now.
"Thank you, Julia. I am so glad you decided to tell me today." Ms. Kimberly gave a strained smile and stood up stiffly and walked out, leaving me with the laughter and the breathing.