The Hand

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in. Hard to believe you're already up. It's not even ten! Come on, you can give me a hand and chop up that onion."

"...."

"Oscar?"

"...."

"Hey, you good? … Ozzie, Baby, what's wrong?"

" ……… there, out there, hallway-fuCK-FUCKING SHIT!"

"Woah! Hey, chill, come on, breathe, just breathe with me. In … and out … in … and out … there we go. You've got it, you're good. Couple more. ……… Alright, what's going on then? You said something about the hallway?"

—------------

"..."

"..."

"That-that's a hand."

"I know."

"Why is there a hand here?"

"Why the fuck should I know?!"

"Muffin, what the fuck? Where did you get a hand? You don't even go outside!"

""Oh god Damian, we've gotta call someone! The police! We have to call the police!"

"Well, hold on, let's not rush into anything."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, we don't even know if it's real."

" … you're joking."

"No I'm serious. I mean, how stupid would we look if we called the police all in panic and had them come out here only to find out it's fake? Really fucking stupid that's what!"

" Smell the damn thing Damian! Of course it's real!"

"Well I'm sorry for finding it hard to believe that our cat, who doesn't go outside mind you, was able to find an actual disembodied human hand and drop it in our front hallway like a little present. Excuse me for being a little skeptical."

"Ok, I don't know if you're being purposefully obtuse or what, but I'm done with this. Give me your phone."

"Hey! Get your hands out of my pocket!"

"Give me your damn phone!"

"Knock it off!"

"Then you call them!"

"No!"

"Why the hell are you being so weird about this? There's a hand in our front hallway. Of course we should call the police! …………"

"Why are you looking at me like this?"

"Why are you so against calling the police?"

"I already told yo-"

"Cut the crap Damian! Any sane person would immediately want to call the cops when they find a disembodied hand in their house! Unless …"

"Unless what? They're the one that chopped off the hand? Killed the person? What the fuck Oscar!? Are you seriously accusing me right now?!"

"Then why are acting so weird!?!?"

"Because I don't wanna look dumb in front of the cops!!!"

"That's it!!"

"Oscar wait! Fuck, give me my phone back! Oscar! OSCAR!!"

"Oh my god, oh my god, holy fucking shit, fuck. Ok, ok, gotta hide, gotta find-woah. … why the fuck is the basement open?"

"OSCAR!! Baby!! Let's talk about this!!"

"Right. Wonder about the open door later. Run from possibly murderous boyfriend now."

"Wait! Oscar! Don't go in th-"

** SLAM **

* click *

"Oscar!"

* BAM *

"Oscar! Please! Come out so we can talk!"

"Like hell! Ok, 911, 911 … ugh, what the fuck is that smell? Smells like someone di- … oh shit. Oh shit, what the fuck? Holy shit Damian, what kind of satanist shit is all of this? Oh my god, my boyfriend is actually a murderous psychopath. I've been living with a murderous psychopath for three years, and the whole time he's had this freaky murder basement, right below us. And I had no idea! Ha, haha, ha, oh my god, hahaha, I must be losing it. I have to be. There's no way any of this is happening. ………………………………………………………………………………………. what the fuck ………………………………………………………………………. what the fuck what the fuck what thefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckfuckfuckingufckfuckfuck!!!!!!! That's not real. That's not real. Not real. Not real!"

** SLAM **

"Oscar! Baby, I can explain! Just please, listen! Oscar? Osca- oh."

" ……"

"Baby, you okay?"

"What is this?"

"Ozzie, come on, you shouldn't be in here."

"What is this Damian!?"

"Please, just, come with me."

"Screw that Damian why does that dead body look like me!?"

"...."

"Well?"

"......"

"Well? Answer me asshole!! Why the fuck do you have a dead body that looks exactly like me in our basement!? … please, Damian, what's going on? What is that? Please?"

"You didn't remember."

"What? Remember what!?"

"When I brought you back, you didn't remember, the accident, so I figured it would be best to pretend like nothing ever happened."

"Accident? What are you talking about?"

"There was an accident …. I …. I couldn't bare it, the thought of being without you. So I …"

"What? Used some fucked up satanic bullshit to bring me back to life?"

"Not really. And it's not satanic, more pagan I guess if we're talking about the religious labels. Whatever, that part doesn't matter. See, the problem is that I didn't, actually bring you back to life, as you can see."

"Then what am I? Cause I sure feel alive! Walking, talking, I'm holding your phone just fine!"

"It's hard to explain. You're a spirit bound to this house. You can interact with anything within it's bounds. But if you were to try to leave, you couldn't."

"What are you talking about? I've gone to the store and other places plenty of times with no problems. … Haven't I?"

"That's just it. You're starting to remember, aren't you?"

"What the fuck Damian? Why do I remember going places I never went to!?"

"It's part of the spell I put on you. I knew you'd realize te truth eventually if you couldn't go outside, so I put a sort of suggestion spell on you. Any time you tried to go outside, your mind would conjure the memory of going somewhere without you actually doing it. It was supposed to help you stay happy."

"Do I look fucking happy to you Damian!?"

"You were! For over a year it was all perfect!"

"A YEAR!? Oh my god, I can't fucking believe this! How could you do this to me Damian?"

"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, I just, I couldn't live without you!"

"And you didn't think about how fucked up this is? Keeping me trapped here like some, some, some sort of fucked up painting or, pet or-"

"Oh, would you two please stop with the dramatics?"

" ….. Damian, did Muffin just talk?"

"Yes, I did. Very astute observation."

"Damian, why the fuck is our cat talking?"

"Cause he's not a cat exactly. He's my familiar."

"Your familiar. Like, a witch's familiar?"

"Sure, let's go with that."

"Perfect, now that that's out of the way, it's time for you two to stop with the nonsense and listen to me. Oscar, yes, you are dead, it is truly tragic what happened, but does it really change anything all that much? You've bean dead the entire time and you never had a single complaint."

"Cause I didn't know! If I did, I'd-"

"What, complain, cry, curse? What does it matter? If anything your life is even better than before because you can't get sick or hurt or die again."

"But I can't go anywhere!!"

"Tell me, honestly, did you really go anywhere to begin with?"

" ……….."

"I thought so. And Damian, you said you were going to tell him the truth. First it was about your magic, then it was about his death. I've given you plenty of time to come clean and you didn't even try once. So I decided to take matters into my own paws."

"Then why not just say something yourself? Why freak out Oscar with the hand?"

"My hope was that it would force you into coming clean on your own. I hoped you would take responsibility and explain the situation yourself."

"By ripping my hand off of my corpse and dragging it into the front hallway?"

"I will admit it wasn't a very well thought out plan. But in my defense, I was tired of having to tiptoe around the truth. Do you know how hard it is not to say a word for a whole year? A whole year you haven't left this house and I haven't had a chance to say a word. I'm quite chatty I'll have you know."

"Alright alright, we get it you windbag … look, Oscar, I'm sorry, really, about all of this. I should have been honest from the beginning. But when you died, I was so messed up, and when you didn't remember, I was so scared that if you did, something would go wrong and I'd lose you all over again. I just couldn't bare it."

"Well, I guess I can kind of understand from your perspective. Hell knows how well I'd handle it if you died."

"If you really can't stand being tapped here, then I can end the spell and set you free."

"Really?"

"Of course. I love you. And I don't want you to be miserable and feel trapped."

" … Ya know, it's not like it's absolutely terrible. I mean, Muffin's right, it's not like I went out all the time to begin with. And hey, if I do end up hating it, you can always end the spell later, right?"

"Yeah, of course, at any time."

"Then let's do this. Wow, I'm dead and you're a witch. What a crazy day."

"Again, I

m sorry for not telling you sooner."

"Hey, forget it. I understand. Now lets go eat. That was way too much cardio at this time in the morning and I'm starved!"

"..."

"That went well."

"Yeah, no thanks to you."

"Oh please, you said so yourself, it was bound to come out eventually."

"I guess you're right. It does feel a bit better, him knowing the truth now."

"But of course … now when are you going to tell him that you're the one who killed him?"