Stadler House: Book One: Chapter Ten

Stadler House: Book One: Chapter Ten

By: Roger Alderman 

Dr. Stadler thunders up the first flight of stair, “MAGGIE!” Emily startles him as she emerges from her room, “Is everything okay, Dr. Stadler?” He shakes his head no, “Go! Get outside find Rodney! Stay with him until I find you.” Emily looks concerned, but before she can speak Doctor Stadler scowls at her. 

“No, go now! Don’t look back until you find him,” Dr. Stadler yells. Emily rushes past him and down the stairs. He waits until he hears the front door open and slams closed behind Emily. He notices the bathroom light on inside the second-floor restroom.

“Damn it,” Dr. Stadler shakes his head against his thoughts to rush to his wife’s side.  The kids depend on him and he has to make sure they are all safe and out of the house. He runs to the bathroom door, but stops when he reaches the soaking wet carpet next to the door, “the hell?” He opens the partially open door to the restroom. 

Dr. Stadler’s eye widen seeing Julie’s lifeless body lying in a crimson pool of both water and blood, “No. Julie.” He slips at first in the pool as he crosses to Julie’s body, but stops short of her corpse. He raises his hand to stop himself from gaging.  

“Get away from her,” He yells, but he can do little more than watch as another shadow dog pulls at the fleshy inside of her wounded arms with its massive jagged maw. The sickening sound of the rubbery tendons pulling free from her bones fills the air. The disturbing noise is followed by the meaty wet crunching of the beast chewing on and swallowing the young woman’s remains. 

The beast raises its massive head and growls at the doctor, but it returns to its meal. He steps back into the doorframe with his arms raised defensively in front of himself. The beast makes an eerie noise almost like it was chuckling at the doctor’s actions.

Dr. Stadler slowly walked backward out of the large restroom making sure to close the door behind himself in an effort to keep the beast contained. He turned and ran up the stairs to the third-floor landing. Thoughts of his wife’s safety fueled his ascent to the third floor and his rushed pace to reach the master bedroom. 

A look of worry hung heavy on his face and brow as Dr. Stadler reached for the door handle, “Maggie?” He entered the room and quickly turned from the sight that awaited him. Maggie’s disemboweled body splayed out for all to see just inside the open master bedroom closet. He looked at his broken wife’s body and the color drained from his face. 

Dr. Stadler knelt next to his wife sobbing. He carefully lifted her remains and carried her to the bathroom tub. He had lost his composure and wits. He did not know what he was doing just that she loved the bathtub. He needed to bring her to the tub. He lowered her body into the tub and kissed her forehead.

Dr. Stadler broke down as he realized his hands are covered in blood, and he has blood around his mouth. He rushed to the bathroom sink and desperately scrubbed at the gore to cleans himself of it, “Why?’ He sobbed loudly begging for answers.

Standing in the open bathroom door was Anna, “we came to collect what was and is ours.” She entered the open door and walked to the side of the massive tub containing Maggie’s remains. Dr. Stadler lowered his head and cried out, “Just kill me... You have taken everything else from me.” 

Anna closed Maggie’s eyes and turned to Dr. Stadler, “I only came to collect what was mine, in the first place.” She stepped away from the tub and took the doctors hand in hers, “Silly boy. You have nothing I want.”

Dr. Stadler looked down at her small hand. His eyes widen as he sees her hands and now his yet again are covered in gore from Maggie’s remains, “She was mine, not yours.” He collapsed to his knees, “just kill me.”

Anna places her hand on his head, “You’re not mine to take.” She kisses him gently on to his cheek. She slowly raises his glance to meet hers, “Maggie, John, Tyler, and even Julie all died, but were stolen from me before I could take them.” Dr. Stadler’s expression turns to confusion amidst the young girl's disturbing words, “Anna?” 

Lightning Crashes and Thunder Booms outside the group home near enough to illuminate the master bathroom. Dr. Stadler looks deep into the near mummified and demonic face of the Anna, “What the fuck are you?” Anna laughs maniacally for a long moment then returns her gaze to his and whispers, “Death.” 

“Then Take Me, too!” he begs the specter beyond the innocent visage of a young girl. “Don’t leave me here,” he lowers his head in acceptance of what he hopes will follow. A long moment passes, but no end comes. Dr. Stadler looks to Anna standing above him. 

Anna shakes her head No, “We need you.” He stops crying and stares at the Spector that stands before him. “You will help us find those that were stolen from us. After, and only afterward, will we allow you to pass beyond the veil to the Fallen World of Shadow Do you understand us?” He shook his head, “how can I possibly help you murder people?”

“Not Murder,” She demanded, “They were already dead. We are here to return them to their proper place in the fallen world.” Anna kneels down next to him and continues, “You helped us pass into this girl’s body to seek those who fell but were stolen from us. This body laid dying and rotting and she fell to the fallen world, but as she did your words allowed us to enter the vessel.”

“The Hypnotherapy? I thought I was just easing her pain,” he exclaimed to the demonic Spector kneeling next to him. “How?” he asked. “By preparing another vessel for us to use,” added Anna. “Why would I do that?” he demanded. “Because we will make you undying and eternally rotting in this flesh suit,” She explained. “Once our ledger is clear we will both leave this world. To our final reward,” she smiles and proceeds to run her long-nailed corpse-like hands through his dark hair. 

Anna steps away from Dr. Stadler revealing Emily standing next to her. Emily drops a bloody claw hammer to the floor, it lands with a resounding thud. Dr. Stadler sees the hammer covered in gore on the floor, “Rodney?” The young girls stand holding hands, “We are sisters, but we need you to bring us together. Before they Take Anna from us forever.”  

Dr. Stadler shakes his head No against the girls' request for his intervention. “Refuse us again and I will drag Maggie out of purgatory and to hell myself,” Anna demands. Dr. Stadler nods reluctant agreement, “Fine.” He takes a deep breath and performs the hypnotic ritual.

The rain falls hard across the grounds of the group home. Rodney groans back awake, “what the?” He touches the side of his head in an attempt to discover the cause of his pain. He brings his hand back into sight and sees the rivulets of blood that fill his open palm. He struggles to his feet and staggers down the long driveway using the wooden fence to help him remain standing. 

Rodney stumbles onto the newly paved Grissom Parkway but is nearly struck by the car of a Sherriff’s Deputy on patrol. The car locks its brakes and slides into the ditch. The deputy slowly climbs from his car he sees the injured boy and makes his way to his side, “Son, are you okay? Where did you come from?”

Rodney points at the driveway, “She’s killing them.” He gasps again, “The dogs.” The deputy looks in the direction he gestured and barely spots the concealed driveway. The Deputy runs back to his car and retrieves the C.B. radio, “I need back up at the Stadler House Group Home and send an ambulance.” The radio operator agrees and announces the need of the officer on the new roadway. 

The deputy helps Rodney into the back of his car, “Just rest here, son, I have back up on the way and an ambulance coming.” Rodney closes his eyes and exhales in the safety of the deputy’s car. “Can you tell me who did this to you?” the deputy begs. “Anna,” the words fell from Rodney’s mouth as he lost consciousness. 

Rodney awoke to himself being loaded into the back of an ambulance in the driveway of the group home. He quickly set up terrified at what was happening, “Why are we here?” Paramedics tried to get his to calm down as he spotted Dr. Stadler calmly sitting in the back of a police car. His head leaning against the glass. Dr. Stadler waves bye-bye to Rodney and smiled.

Outside the police are putting up crime scene tape in front of and around the house. Rodney screamed to get the officers to notice Anna and Emily sitting on the porch of the group home, “No! Not him she did it!” He struggled against the paramedics and pointed at the girls. He fell silent as they sedated the young man.

The deputy walked to the paramedic’s side, “poor kid he watched them all get butchered by that sick fuck.” The paramedic shook his heads in disbelief, “I went to school with Dr. Stadler. He had real promise was supposedly working on a new therapy to help people overcome trauma and near-death experiences.”

The police car pulls away from the house with Dr. Stadler inside. Anna and Emily hold each other on the porch in the reflection on the car window in the doctor’s view. They wave a cheerful goodbye to Dr. Stadler as the car moves beyond sight.

End of Book One.