The Rage

Amanda (Mandy to her friends) was struggling again, ever since the birth of her son, George, she hadn’t been able to sleep through a whole night without needing to visit the smallest room and tonight was no different. She crept quietly out of bed, trying not to disturb her husband Jeremy and eased open the bedroom door slowly to avoid it creaking. As she tiptoed down the hallway she peeked in to George’s room and watched him sleeping soundly, his arms flung over his head as he gently snored, his dummy had been flung across the bed, though his teddy was nuzzled up to his face. Every time she saw him sleeping so peacefully her heart skipped a beat as the intense love she felt burst through her body. Mandy opened the bathroom door, closing it gently before turning on the light and using the loo. Much relieved, she decides to go downstairs to make a hot chocolate. As she walks into the kitchen she doesn’t notice the shadowed men who ease through the lounge window. So intently focused on making no noise they do not seethe swiftly moving lady and sneak straight upstairs, completely unaware of leaving Mandy in the kitchen. The blades of their nine inch steak knives shine in the moonlight as they quietly make their way up the stairs. The men were already well known to the police and had rap sheets as long as their arms. Knowing that any chance of arrest would mean a long jail sentence they decided that they had to avoid any witnesses. The only way to stay truly anonymous was to kill any members of the households that they robbed, and they were already responsible for the deaths of seven people. The first room they came to has the sleeping form of Jeremy snoring quietly and they are able to creep up to the bed, slap a gloved hand over his mouth to stifle any noise and stab one of the knives deep into his chest, piercing his left lung and cutting through one of the valves of the heart. “Damn it, didn’t want that mess.” said one of the robbers under his breath as the blood jettisons its way out of Jeremy and splashes across his arm and the bed. Jeremy made no voluntary noise, but the blood seeping into his lung as the air escaped made a low whistling sound, like an old kettle and the blood bubbles out onto his chest. Jeremy rears up once, in a powerful death spasm and then lays still, the blood pooling around him as his heart beats for the last time. “Fuck man, Jack be careful when you stab these guys, you’ve got to get the lung only, blood gives DNA and the cops love that shit.” the second robber growls at his accomplice. “Well you can do anyone else then, if your so fucking clever!” came the angry hissed retort. The second robber led Jack out of the late Jeremy’s room and started down the hallway, they had still neither been heard by, or heard, Mandy in the kitchen. Jack checked the bathroom as his associate pushed open George’s room, “Ah, damn, I hate it when there are kids. Jack, I thought you said there weren’t no kids here.”, “Look, Bob, I cased this joint all week and there were no kids in that whole time, maybe they were away or something”. Bob sighed as he walked over to George’s bed, “Sorry, kid” he said as he plunges the knife into the sleeping toddler. Down in the kitchen Mandy had just cleared away her mug of hot chocolate and starts to head up the stairs when she feels a draft of cold air from the window left open by the robbers in the lounge. “J! I’m always telling you to close up properly before bedtime.” she muttered under her breath as she closes the window to. She quietly walks back up the stairs, trying not to wake her family and eases her way into the bedroom she shares with Jeremy. She thought it strange not to be able to hear his snoring, and tapped one of the side lamps, assuming that he had gone to the loo. As the light came on she saw the blood stained bedclothes and her husband of five years dead and she let out an ear piercing scream as the tears well up in her eyes. “Oh my God, George....” she cries as she rushes out of her bedroom and starts to run down the hallway. Jack had, on hearing the scream, left the bathroom his knife raised at waist level and as he walks through the bathroom door the knife goes straight into Mandy’s stomach. The fear is evident in Mandy’s eyes as the knife plunges into her body, but so too was the intense rage. The anger providesgreat strength within her and she pushes Jack hard out of the way and smashes into George’s room. Bob had just been cleaning the blood from his knife on the bedspread and, on hearing Mandy’s agonised scream of fear, stands up quickly and heads towards the noise. The door slams open and Bob sees Mandy fly into the room, a knife already stuck deep into her stomach and he thrusts his knife at her, burying it in her right shoulder. “Jack, lets get the fuck out of here before the pigs arrive. She’ll never make it.” Bob shouts as he rushes out of George’s bedroom. The robbers quickly run down the hall and stairs, throw open the front door and rush out into the night. They notice bedroom lights were on in several of the nearby houses and, correctly, assumed that the police had been called into action. Mandy kneels by George’s bed, cradling her dead son in her arms, tears of rage stream down her face and the blood flows swiftly from her two, mortal, knife wounds.