Secret of the Siblings. 🩸

Morelda watched as the designer attired, flawlessly made-up, lovely on the outside group of high school bullies headed in her direction. For her entire scholastic years of high school life they had relentlessly harassed and tormented her. It was now senior year and she could not wait for it to end.

So it was no surprise why they were now headed in her direction. She tried to hurry away...but the six ruffians cornered her before she could escape.

Something seemed different though ...they were all smiling - not the kind of menacing smile they always wore - but a friendly, weird, 'be my friend' kind of evil grin...the type you just knew has some kind of malevolent and terrible intention behind it. This much Morelda knew...and she grew extremely agitated and wary.

"Hi Morie". They all chimed in sickly unison. Morelda did not answer, but with head down, still tried to walk away. How she despised them.

"Wait up, we have an invitation for you"...Carla, the head bitch of the bunch offered, grabbing her hands.

"Let me go, I have to get to class".

"First, just listen". Morelda had no choice.

"What do you want, why would you want to invite me anywhere, you all hate me"?

"Oh, we don't hate you at all. That's why we are inviting you to a trip up into the Hondo Mountains this weekend. My father owns the range and it will be fun to hike and explore. You just need to bring your gear, food and everything will be provided". Carla's father was loaded, and he spoiled her so much it was sickening, he always agreed to everything she demanded.

"Even if I wanted to go, what about the Slasher that everyone is talking about, doesn't the news say not to go out unnecessarily"?

"Oh, no one would dare go up to daddy's mountains - its private property". Chimed in Carla's younger sister Marva.

"Since when do murderers respect boundaries anyway". Morelda murmured. They all laughed, no one was actually listening.

"No thanks, I am not interested". She tried to hurry off, but to no avail.

"Your mother works at my father's Mill, right, and she is not well. I can make sure she is well taken care of, but only if you agree to come this weekend. It will be so much fun". Fun...fun...what they considered fun was misery to everyone else.

Morelda considered the matter. Her mother did need to be promoted, they needed the extra money for her and her brother's medications.

"Fine, but I need the agreement in writing, I know your father will honor your decisions". Carla grabbed her phone and texted a message to Morelda with a pledge to have her father honor it.

"Ok, I will go, but I need to bring my friend Madge with me".

'That little mousy girl...ok - the more the merrier. See you tomorrow after school, bring your stuff with you".

Morelda hurried to the library to print the text, you can never trust people. She made Madge endorse and date it, it that was worth anything.

Madge knew that the bullies picked on Mor because of her high IQ, like most people who were extremely intelligent, she had no friends except for Madge who looked out for her. This was a most suspicious invitation.

What were they planning.

Part I — The Invitation

The weekend came too quickly.

Madge tried to talk her out of it twice, then gave up when she saw the copy of the printed agreement folded neatly in Morelda’s backpack. The original was left at home.

“If they try anything,” Madge whispered as they boarded Carla’s father’s oversized SUV, “we stick together.”

Another SUV was filled with boys whom Madge and Mor barely knew.

The bullies were unusually cheerful. Too cheerful. Their laughter felt staged, like actors reading from a script they didn’t fully understand.

The drive into the Hondo Mountains took three hours. By the time the paved road gave way to gravel, cell service had already vanished. The trees grew taller, denser, leaning inward - madge thought they were listening.

“Daddy’s cabin is just ahead,” Carla chirped.

But when they arrived, it wasn’t a cabin.

It was a lodge --- huge, dark‑wooded, and strangely windowless on the first floor. A private mountain range, Carla had said. But the place felt abandoned, as though no one had visited there for years.

“Where’s your father?” Morelda asked.

“Oh, he’ll join us tomorrow,” Carla said, too quickly.

Madge shot Morelda a look. Lie, her eyes read.

Inside, the lodge smelled faintly of pine and something metallic. The lights flickered when they turned them on, Mor and Madge felt like insects trapped in glass.

Dinner was awkward. Forced jokes. Forced smiles. Forced friendliness.

Morelda kept noticing the same thing:

Every time she looked away, at least one of the bullies was staring at her... maybe not with cruelty. But certainly with mockery.

With a kind of expectation.

As if waiting for her to do something.

As if she had already agreed to something she didn’t know about.

Part II — The First Night

The first scream came at 2:17 a.m.

High. Sharp. Cut off too soon.

Everyone bolted from their rooms ... except Carla.

Her bed was empty. Sheets thrown aside. Window cracked open, the latch ripped off.

“Carla?” Marva whispered, voice trembling.

No answer.

They searched the lodge. Then the porch. Then the tree line.

Nothing.

But the forest felt wrong. Still. Watchful. As if something had paused between footsteps to listen.

“Maybe she went to the bathroom,” one of the boys muttered.

But the bathroom door stood open. Empty.

Madge tugged Morelda’s sleeve. “We need to leave. Now.”

“We can’t,” Morelda whispered. “The SUV keys were in Carla’s bag.”

They checked. The bag was there.

The keys were not.

Part III — The Second Night

By morning, the group was unraveling.

Marva insisted Carla was playing a prank. The others agreed too quickly, clinging to the idea like a lifeline.

But Morelda noticed something else:

They kept glancing at the forest.

Flinching at small sounds.

Whispering to each other when they thought she wasn’t listening.

As if they knew something she didn’t.

As if this wasn’t the first time someone had vanished up here.

"We have to go into the woods to find her". Marva said. No one wanted to leave the relative safety of the cabin.

"I agree". One of the boys said.

Tentatively, they ventured out, there was no cell service and Marva admitted to Carla having the satellite phone, which had also gone conveniently missing.

For hours, they searched high and low. The hiking trip had now turned into a nightmare, no one was planning to venture beyond a certain distance without finding Carla safe and sound. She was the one who knew the place well.

Exhausted and hungry, they returned to the lodge.

That night, it happened again.

A thud. A dragging sound. A muffled cry.

This time it was one of the boys - Jace - gone from his bed, the sheets torn as if he’d been yanked downward.

But there was no hole. No broken floorboard.

Just a faint trail of pine needles leading to the wall.

The interior wall.

Madge backed away, shaking. “Morelda… something is inside this place.”

“No,” Morelda whispered, throat tight. “Something brought us here.”

Part IV — The Truth in the Walls

By the third day, only four bullies remained - and their friendliness had evaporated. They were pale, frantic, snapping at each other.

Morelda cornered Marva. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Marva’s eyes filled with tears. “We didn’t want to bring you. We had to.”

“Why?”

“Because it wants someone smart. Someone who sees things. Someone who notices.”

Morelda froze. “What wants someone?”

Marva pointed to the walls.

It was not the forest...Nor the mountains.

It was ...The lodge.

As if on cue, the wood groaned - a long, low creaking sound like something stretching after a long sleep.

Madge grabbed Morelda’s hand. “We’re leaving. Now.”

"No, we're not". Madge stared at Morelda...at the look on her face. Something had changed. She ran to the door.

But the front door wouldn’t open.

The handle turned. The lock clicked.

But the door stayed shut.

As if held closed from the other side.

Or from within.

Part V — The Hondo Quiet

Night fell fast, swallowing the last light.

The remaining bullies huddled together, whispering prayers and apologies. Morelda and Madge stayed apart, backs to the wall - until the wall pulsed beneath them like a slow heartbeat.

Then the lights went out.

In the darkness, something moved.

There were footsteps. ..there was breathing.

A shifting. A sliding. A sound like wood bending around a body.

Madge reached for Morelda’s hand. squeezed. “Don’t move.”

But the thing already knew where they were.

It had always known.

A voice - Carla’s voice...but not Carla - whispered from the darkness, thin and stretched, as if spoken through splintered wood:

“Thank you all for coming, Morie was very happy for the invitation. She invited me along”

Madge’s blood ran cold.

The bullies screamed.

The walls answered.

A perfect replica of Morelda stepped into the dim light...A BLOODY AXE RAISED HIGH.

A chilling laugh emanated from the once timid voice of the bullied girl.

"Run away Madge...If you value your life". A key landed at her feet. Madge grabbed the key and sprinted for the door. Strangely, it immediately opened.

Morelda's twin, Anna...handed her an axe.

🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸

..................................

To my Grandmother, Morelda. Who always used her axe to chop her wood for her baking fires.