Read Slash (Novella I) for Free Online

kitchen and headed into the living room to rejoin the rest of the partiers. She grabbed the hand of the cannibal and they headed off to find the slasher. After much convincing, they got Ford to hit the dance floor with them.
    The party ended around midnight. Bravo and Ford helped clean before heading home. A tired Sidnee headed to bed, not noticing her floorboards breathing and the growls coming from the walls.

Chapter 5 - Empty
    The crashing pots in the kitchen, the loud outburst and cries of madness only meant MT’s mother was awake. MT had been awake for hours waiting for the sun to rise. In a pair of red underwear and a cut-off shirt, MT rose from bed. She stepped over the piles of clothes as she arrived at her bedroom window.
    MT parted the white silk drapes, darkness still covering the town of Mt. Springer, Carolina. “Rise already.”
    The small town started to awake as sunlight climbed over the high mountains and down onto town center. The lights of neighboring homes powered on as those who were still faithful in this mad world were opening their eyes and dressing for church service. The sun light reached MT’s windowsill and crawled up her narrow, caramel toned arms, onto her neck and against her face.
    MT closed her eyes and thought back to her childhood.
    She imagined herself running on the beach in pink swimming trunks alongside her laughing father. Her mother lay on a beach towel shouting for them to come join her for a lunch she had prepared. So much had changed since those days, her father long gone, along with another important part of MT.
    As she stood before her bedroom window, she could remember the warmth of the sun from that day on the beach. She could not feel any warmth this morning. A tear traveled down her face.
    MT closed the drapes and after a quick shower, changed into gray sweat shorts, a white tank-top that hung loose off her narrow body and straightened her dark hair. She exited from her bedroom into the mess she called her living room.
    Her mother had written mad thoughts on the walls and damaged nearly all their furniture. MT entered the kitchen. Her mother didn’t put a top on the blender and some kind of orange substance was plastered all over the kitchen. MT kneeled down to find her mother under the kitchen table eating a banana covered with her blended creation.
    “ I’m going out for groceries momma,” MT said.
    The rose colored mumu her mother wore was wrinkled, but MT was glad the woman managed to dress herself this morning. There was nothing more exhausting than trying to hold down the hefty woman and slip her into her clothes.
    “ I want cookies,” Fran said. “Just make sure you bring cookies. There’s never anything to snack on.”
    “ I will but you have to promise me something in return.”
    Fran looked at her daughter, widened her eyes and bit her chapped, bottom lip. “What is it, MT?”
    “ That you’ll behave when I do your hair later.”
    Fran tugged at her knotted hair and looked away from her daughter. “But it hurts. I rather just cut it all off.”
    “ I remembered how much you once loved your hair. Trust me; you’ll regret getting rid of it all.”
    MT found herself constantly reminding the woman of whom she once was before she went mad.
    Fran fanned her hand at her daughter. “Maria, cookies.”
    MT nodded. “Fine, but only if you behave, do we have a deal?”
    “ Chocolate chips, no oatmeal.”
    MT smirked. “I’ll take that as a yes. I’ll be right back, I love you momma.”
    “ You can’t love me.” Fran pointed towards her daughter’s stomach. “You’re empty.”
    MT quickly stood, not needed to be reminded of what she did not possess. She grabbed her purse, unlocked the series of locks on the front door that kept her mom from breaking away and left.
    The government assistance her mother received wasn’t enough for MT to buy a car. And her mother had depleted all the life insurance they received after her father’s passing. MT had to