In the bayou country there is a tale about a spirit of vengeance known as Headcutter Jack. They say that if you really want it bad enough and you are willing to let yourself be ridden, that Jack will come calling and grant you the vengeance you desire. However, those who take on Jack can never hope to return to their lives unchanged. Most go mad and still others find themselves drawn to the twisted deeds they carried out under Jack’s influence only to become the very thing they sought vengeance against.
But that’s if you believe in Headcutter Jack.
Most folks these days dismiss him like they do the Voodoo ways or the Old Religions – wives’ tales and hoodoo stories to keep little kids in line. That was until recently. That was until Sally Mercury...
Sally Mercury was found in her home in a near-catatonic state, her hands rubbed raw, supposedly trying to remove the blood that covered her otherwise. The home, a modest Victorian-style affair was a veritable charnel house strewn with the parts of what most figure were her family who had been reported missing for several days now - mother, father, two sisters, all gone with only bloody gobbets and unidentifiable tissues to mark their passing.
Possibilities
1 Sally has always been a bit of a troubled child. Discussions with her school councillors and a delving into the local juvenile police records will show a long history of petty crime and acting out. Several calls to Child Protective Services have all been found to be the machinations of a vindictive pre-teen who cares little for her family. However, nobody predicted that Sally would be pushed over the edge and murder her family, all in the name of Headcutter Jack.
2 Sally claims that her house was attacked by a strange woman in a patchwork outfit. The woman was hooded and cackled the whole time she mutilated Sally’s family, but Sally never saw her face. When the woman came after Sally, she hid in an old coal shoot until she was gone. The woman, Sally claims, called herself “Jack”.
3 The remains are not those of Sally’s family. Forensics will show that most of the tissue is not human though it defies classification as anything else in particular. Sally claims that she “they” took her parents and that Jack saved her from “them”. The girl insists that her family is still at her home if not in it. She claims that they, whoever, they are, took her family to where they live. Sally cannot say much more, not knowing who they are or exactly where they took her family.
© Eli Arndt
But that’s if you believe in Headcutter Jack.
Most folks these days dismiss him like they do the Voodoo ways or the Old Religions – wives’ tales and hoodoo stories to keep little kids in line. That was until recently. That was until Sally Mercury...
Sally Mercury was found in her home in a near-catatonic state, her hands rubbed raw, supposedly trying to remove the blood that covered her otherwise. The home, a modest Victorian-style affair was a veritable charnel house strewn with the parts of what most figure were her family who had been reported missing for several days now - mother, father, two sisters, all gone with only bloody gobbets and unidentifiable tissues to mark their passing.
Possibilities
1 Sally has always been a bit of a troubled child. Discussions with her school councillors and a delving into the local juvenile police records will show a long history of petty crime and acting out. Several calls to Child Protective Services have all been found to be the machinations of a vindictive pre-teen who cares little for her family. However, nobody predicted that Sally would be pushed over the edge and murder her family, all in the name of Headcutter Jack.
2 Sally claims that her house was attacked by a strange woman in a patchwork outfit. The woman was hooded and cackled the whole time she mutilated Sally’s family, but Sally never saw her face. When the woman came after Sally, she hid in an old coal shoot until she was gone. The woman, Sally claims, called herself “Jack”.
3 The remains are not those of Sally’s family. Forensics will show that most of the tissue is not human though it defies classification as anything else in particular. Sally claims that she “they” took her parents and that Jack saved her from “them”. The girl insists that her family is still at her home if not in it. She claims that they, whoever, they are, took her family to where they live. Sally cannot say much more, not knowing who they are or exactly where they took her family.
© Eli Arndt
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