Dinner Invitation

“Odd noises? Yeah, I’m not hearing anything. Not hearing anything except cows mooing and these damned bugs flying around,” the man shook his head irritatedly, peering with a rather unimpressed expression at the door.

“Let’s just knock and get it over with,” his partner replied, letting out a sigh before also approaching the door, rapping the back of her hand against the wooden surface. The two waited, though no one arrived. A second attempt proved the same; the woman frowned, before shouting out loudly.

“Police; we’ve been called about a disturbance. Would you come out?”

“It’s empty; odd noises my ass.”

“Sh! I hear footsteps. Someone’s coming.”

And so someone was; the creaking of floorboards and groaning of hinges was loud enough to be heard even through the door. When it finally swung open, the two had to do a second take; neither had expected the one opening the door to be so young. Both had been expecting an old couple, and having this unruly, tired looking man that towered at least a head over even the male officer, took them off guard.

“Hello,” the stranger greeted, a small, polite smile on his face despite the dead look in his eyes. A for trying to appear cordial— It was 3 in the morning, after all.

“Justina Niece and my partner, James Warden. We were called regarding a disturbance, or rather, we were told there was screaming coming from your house. Is everything all right?” Justina introduced, flashing her badge for him as James did likewise. The man was silent for a moment, looking as if he were thinking— Or blanking out. Finally, he frowned, and stepped back.

“Oh, the yelling must be from my grandmother. She fell down the stairs to the basement an hour or so ago; I’ve been trying to fix her myself, but...” He glanced down, brows furrowing.

“I don’t have first aid training, so there’s only so much I can do. Do you mind helping me?”

The two officers glanced at each other, before reaching what appeared to be a silent, but mutual agreement.

“Of course; it’d be our pleasure. We can call the ambulance in the meantime while we take a—“

“No, my grandmother doesn’t like ambulances very much,” the man interjected, shaking his head and stopping James mid sentence, his hand stopping just before the the receiver on his walkie talkie could light up. “The last time she saw my grandfather alive, was when he was being taken away by an ambulance; I know she’d rather try her best to heal on her own. Will you help? It won’t take too long; I just need to be told what to do.”

There was another brief moment of silence, before the two finally nodded.

“All right then; excuse us.”

He stepped back, opening the door even further. The house was dark, with hardly a light on except for a faint glow seeping in from around the corner, where the stairs leading to the basement likely were. The house smelled heavily of disinfectant, almost as if someone had only just recently drowned the place out with it.

“How much alcohol did you put on her to clean her wound, exactly? Having enough to make the house smell like a hospital isn’t the best way to help injuries,” James joked as they were ushered forwards towards the staircase, the door closing quietly behind them.

“Sorry. I panicked, so I used... Quite a bit,” came the sheepish response from behind.

They were descending the stairs now, the faint glow beneath the door growing stronger, as did the odd scent of sterilizing and cleaning products. Cleaning products?

“Hey, is your grandmother okay...? The cle—”

“Ah— Oh, oh no, you’re absolutely right...! I shut the door on habit when I came up to answer the knocking— Please, hurry and open the door!”

Something was off. She didn’t know what, but something felt off, and she was beginning to think that maybe, it would have been a better idea to have called in and given a report before entering the house. But this was just a small farm house on the country side... It wasn’t as if... As if...

Her eyes widened as he watched her partner open the door, the yellow glow spilling out, along side another wave of disinfectant and—

“Blood? Huh, your grandma must h—“

He never got to finish his sentence, as his body tumbled loudly down the stairs, before coming to a stop with a sickening crunch; Justina turned around, hand reaching for her gun, only— It was missing, in its place, that same, polite smile staring back at her eerily. That was all she ed, before a pained howl ripped through the air, her stomach burning painfully as something hot began to dampen her uniform.

“Y-You—“

“Oh— Guns are dangerous,” he commented almost chidingly, before shoving the barrel further into her wound, and pushing her back. She stumbled, and then she fell, toppling down the much too long flight of stairs loudly as curses left her mouth, until she came to a stop on the unmoving body of what could only be her partner.

“Well, in any case, thank you for coming in to help.”

Her head was stuck facing the ground; it hurt to move, but if she... If she just strained a little more...! There was a chair, a table... There was the steady sound of dripping, and... The sounds of footsteps descending slowly down the stairs. But she couldn’t move.

“James,” she wheezed breathily, painfully, choking on the sound.

Something ed over her; the shadow of the man she, come to think of it, hadn’t even gotten the name of before entering his home. She craned her neck a little more, struggling to look up at him, though the furthest she could go before she let out another yelp, was to the table. And what was on the table.

Hacked up limbs, blood oozing down and dripping off in thick, heavy, streams. A hand here, the face of an old woman— The face of an old man as well, the— She wanted to throw up, and she did, the bile pooling in a disgusting mess next to her face. And then another face entered her sight, one that was smiling, and very much alive. There were utensils on the ground, bloodied napkins and alcohol wipes.

“N-no,” she sobbed, as the pieces began to click in her mind. But that didn’t matter.

“To show my appreciation,” the man announced with a light smile, “you’re more than welcome to stay for dinner.”