The wall

489 words

Dust from the drywall hung thick in the air burning Justin’s eyes and throat, as the heavy sledge hammer rocked the wall of the small room. Julie stood in the door way watching with the collar of her shirt pulled up over her chin and nose.

Justin stopped long enough to wipe sweat away from his eyes. 'Not even two days and she already has me tearing down walls.' Drawing the hammer back he felt her small hand slip over his shoulder.

“Look.” Julie said, as she pointed to a wall of bricks behind the broken drywall and splintered two by fours. “Whoever did this was in a hurry; the bricks are all different they must have grabbed whatever they could to put this up.” She walked over to the wall and ran her hand over the bricks. “I heard voices coming from this room earlier and a baby crying.” She said, not turning back to look at him.

“No way Julie, no one has lived in this house for years.” Justin said.

“You need to get out of this room; you and the baby don’t need to be breathing all of this crap in.” Justin told her as he slipped his hands around her shoulders to pull her away.

Her body became ridged in his arms. “I’m not going anywhere till I see what’s behind those bricks.” Her pleasant blue eyes found his but now full of anger and hate.

Shocked and unsure of how to handle it Justin grabbed for the sledge hammer and waited for her to move out of the way. After a few good swings a small hole appeared in the bricks, and that’s all it took to loosen the rest up as they all fell in a cloud of dust. Justin turned his head away from the choking dust; he caught Julie’s figure rushing past him into the solid mass of dust.

“I was right.” Julie said.

The room must have been a small walk in closet at one time. There was no space as he squeezed past Julie to see what she was talking about. In front of him dried up remains of a man seated on the floor with his back slumped against the wall. His skull had been crushed by a heavy blow. In his arms laid bundled up rags, as Justin kneeled to the floor he could see the bones of a small hand sticking out of the rags. “Shit!” He stumbled backwards into Julies legs. “There’s a baby in here too.”

“Yes I know; I put her there.” Julie said.

“What—,” Justin said as he turned around and looked up to his wife.

Julie stood before him the giant sledge in her hands. “First you die and then the creature inside of me.”

Justin pushed back to get away but the last thing he saw was the head of the hammer tearing through the air at him.