Home Renovation

“Are you sure you want to tackle this on your own?” Deanna asked her husband. 

“I believe we can do a big part of the demolition and then we; I, will call the contractor.” Cameron reassured her as he picked up the sledge hammer and slammed it into the wall. The third swing created a hole big enough to see through. “Oh, there’s more room than I thought back there.” He told her excitedly as he swung with more gusto.

Deanna watched with growing anticipation as the hole grew bigger and bigger. “Wait!” She said with delight, as she ran up to the wall and grabbed a piece of the sheet rock and pulled it free, making a big enough space to get through.  She squeezed herself into the new room. “There’s stuff back here, a hidden room.” She said as Cameron kept swinging the sledge hammer.

Deanna walked through the space. “It’s an art studio or something,” she called out. She looked at the makeshift human face on a wooden dowel and the colorful fish hanging from a hook on partition that was built in the middle of the room. It was strange; everything felt odd and was dirty, maybe because it was so old she thought. She noticed a big smooth rock and a glowing light that sat on top of it. She noticed the weird light was plugged into a socket and followed the cord around the partition to unplug it, no telling how long it had been on. Once she rounded the temporary wall, she let out a loud scream. 

Cameron thought he heard a scream but went on smashing the wall with the sledge hammer. Yup, it was a scream. “What? What is it?” He yelled back. He dropped the sledge hammer and pushed his way into the room. “Deanna, what is it?” He asked again.

Deanna just looked at him and pointed toward the partition.

Cameron brushed by her and looked around the little wall. “Eww, that’s just really gross.”  Cameron said to no one as Deanna had left the room and was gagging and dry heaving over the kitchen sink. “I’ll call the police.” He told her as he tried to console her.

Later

“What the hell is this place?” Detective Hurley asked as he stepped through the narrow hole in the wall. 

“The new owners of the town home were starting a renovation project and found this room when they knocked out that wall you just walked through.” One of the local law enforcement officers told him.

Gene Hurley looked through the weird room. It had odd figurines and equipment lying around. He didn’t want to touch anything, because he didn’t yet know why he was called to this place. The room was covered with layers of dust and looked as if it hadn’t been touched in years. There were art supplies of all kinds to sculpt, paint, draw and construct things. Sitting on top of a stone anvil with a pottery wheel, was a light peculiarly shaped like a banana which glowed in the dimly lit room.  Detective Hurley‘s arm hair stood on end as he stepped over the cord that supplied electricity to the bizarre light, which hummed softly and emitted a small electrical charge.

The shelves held more paints, brushes and other art supplies. He even noticed awls, punches and carving and leather crafting tools of all kinds. When he rounded the makeshift partition he stifled a yell and took a step back.

 “Call Detective Miller, he’ll want to see this. Gene said as he moved back out in the open. “Has anyone else been in here? Gene asked.

“Just the home owners, but they said they didn’t touch anything.” The officer responded.

Detective Hurley donned a pair of gloves and looked at the art more closely. There was something familiar about the art, but he couldn’t quite figure it out. 

Detective Paco Miller arrived and was briefed about the scene. He too, walked through the room and eyed the white head. He crouched down and looked at it closer. He ran a gloved finger over the surface. “Get this bagged up as evidence.” He said to the local officer who was still there.  He leaned in for a better look at the fish and again ran his finger over its surface.  “The fish, too.” He added.

Paco stood and looked around the partition, when he saw the two cadavers impaled on a metal rod looking like classroom skeletons.  Only they weren’t white, they were deep, dark red and still had skin on them.

Without missing a beat, Paco turned around, pulled the electrical cord, to the humming banana, out of the wall socket and left the room.

“What do you think? Is it a serial killer?” His partner Detective Hurley asked him.

“I can’t say for certain, could be, I haven’t run across this before. After I get the tests back from the fish and head I will know more.” 

“Fish and head?” Detective Hurley asked?

“Yes, those were made from skin and bones.” He stated simply and left.

Credit: Photograph by Isamu Noguchi of his studio at Kita Kamakura, Japan, c. 1952