Read Psycho Thrill--Girl in the Well for Free Online

Lukas at that point, but Lukas just laughed and … Robert lost control and kept hitting Lukas. Then Robert eventually stopped.
    Your big brother Jochen was always jealous of your cock, Robert. Because he only has such a tiny one. That’s why he stuck his tongue down the throat and in the pussy of your first great love when you were on a school trip. Lukas said that just before he simply collapsed and fainted.”
    Mrs. Falkner swallows, tears well up in her eyes, the fingers on her left hand are bloody because she keeps scratching her nails against the nail beds.
    “And then?” Johanna pushes the interview onward. Because it’s steadily getting colder, because Henning looks more and more worried.
    “Robert fought with his brother, they left with wild insults being thrown back and forth. Anyway, it was clear that Lukas had told the truth. Even if neither of them … spoke openly on the subject. Then Lukas wouldn’t eat for three days, and chanted to himself. We took Lukas to a psychologist, but that didn’t help. Lukas couldn’t remember anything. He was tested for Tourette’s and epilepsy. We even let ourselves be talked into a family consultation, but nothing helped. Robert distanced himself from us more and more; he hid away with his work and avoided his sons. Ben and Lukas felt … .”
    She pauses, her eyes widen, her glance rests on a vague spot in the kitchen. She listens. A tremble goes through her body; Johanna looks at the thermometer, which is now at 72.1° F. She is not sure if she heard a rumble in the attic.
    “Let’s continue,” Mrs. Falkner pulls herself together. “I find it very difficult to recount what happens next. I hope you can forgive me if I sometimes …”
    “Of course. It’s no problem,” Johanna interrupts. Mrs. Falkner nods. She takes a deep breath.
    “From then on, Lukas kept having … fits. But only in his sleep. Either Ben would come down and tell us about it or we would hear them ourselves. Robert didn’t go into Lukas’s room anymore. I think he was afraid he would hit Lukas. Then I would sit on his bed, stroking his hair until he was himself again. He didn’t curse anymore either, but only spoke in that strange language, as if someone were talking in his sleep.”
    Once again, she takes a deep breath, as if preparing to make it over a hurdle.
    “It was Pentecost. We had wanted to go to the Baltic Sea, but Robert had to help out at short notice. I planned trips with the children, but it rained constantly and they were not excited about visiting a museum. The first two days of the long weekend were harmonious enough. Lukas and Ben played together a lot, and they had constructed an entire city across both rooms with their building blocks. When they ran out of ideas, we just got cozy and watched a movie. But then they fought more and more. Lukas kept teasing Ben and Ben exploded. They fought tooth and nail — they were like cats and dogs. In the afternoon, I had lain down briefly in the living room when I heard screams. Ben! Then a crash. Something fell to the ground.”
    They hear a door slam in the house. Then clattering like shattered glass. The curtains at the kitchen window start moving without any outside force.
    “Jo, below 68° F!” Henning points out.
    Mrs. Falkner stands up. Johanna wants to put the recording device away, but Mrs. Falkner shakes her head and grabs her arm.
    “I heard that strange voice speaking a foreign language again. And I heard Ben, as he cried. And the clattering of furniture being smashed, there was crashing and creaking,” Mrs. Falkner frantically continues.
    There’s more clattering. The whole house is collapsing , Johanna thinks, and grabs the recording device, which is still running. Plaster crumbles from the ceiling, glasses and mugs tip over, house beams creak. Mrs. Falkner jumps and keeps talking. Henning pushes Johanna into the hallway.
    “I ran upstairs as fast as I could, but the door to Lukas’s room — where I had heard