The Manheim Horror by Brett Williams

Author:Brett Williams [Brett Williams]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horror, Short Story
Goodreads: 22083559
Publisher: Zoe Books
Published: 2014-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

Deaths Before

An introduction to

Legend of Kill Creek Woods

Available April 28, 2014 from Comet Press

Deaths Before

He buried his eldest son behind the house. It had taken his wife nearly a year to conceive their first child. The boy they named Tate made his father's heart swell, as the boy embodied everything the man wanted in a son. Tall, broad shouldered, solid, just like his father. When Tate became old enough he began helping in the fields, working from dawn 'til dusk in the summer. When he wasn't busy tending crops Tate helped his mother, a woman named Mary, whom the man had married at a tender young age.

Mary taught her son to read and write. In the winter evenings Tate could often be found curled up in a corner with a book or his journal. The boy also learned to hunt and fish. Many a day did the boy help put meat on the table.

So it was heavy heart, that after fourteen short years, the man buried Tate behind their house. Mary wept for fourteen long days – a day for each year of her firstborn's life – and ate nary a bite. Their boy had contracted a virus, which settled in his heart. A doctor had been unable to save him. He died quickly.

During his wife's period of grieving, and subsequent depression, the man toiled long and hard fashioning a headstone to commemorate the life of his son. Although untrained in the art of stone carving, the man, nevertheless, remained determined to carve one. He used stone located in the woods not far from their home, and, after much trial and error, eventually completed the marker to his and his wife's satisfaction. Mary brought fresh flowers to the grave daily, until, when spring came, she planted flowers all around.

The void left by Tate could never be filled by his younger brother. Jared, two years his junior, died six months later. The boy had always possessed an independent streak. Rarely a week passed that his father didn't ask him to pick a switch to be lashed with. It wasn't until the last shovelful of dirt had been tossed onto Jared's grave that his father realized that he admired the tenacity of his younger son. The boy didn't want to spend one minute more in the fields than was required of him by his father and Mary fought with the boy to sit still long enough for proper schooling. But the young boy loved to help his father with the terriers.

The man chose to breed a bitch but once per year, in the spring. And every year men came from miles around to offer top dollar for the offspring. Breeding dogs and raising them, the man thought, took a keen eye and steady temperament to bring out their best. While Jared and the man had their differences, together, working with the dogs, they acted as one. In the spring of Jared's third year, a bitch went into labor. At first the man was reluctant to allow the boy into the barn.

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