The Beast Within

 They were standing at the front door knocking, when they heard a tiny sneeze out behind the house. They looked at each other puzzled. Richard''s hand plopped over his mouth. Too late.
“Gotta be a cat or a dog.”
“Yoo Hoo, anyone home? Kitty-kitty-kitties.” Halliana called out pleasantly. Holding hands, they cautiously walked around to the back of the small structure. No one had ever come to the house before that day, and he feared what his mother would do to him if she came home and found out he had been discovered. He would have hid if he could, but could not because of the chain. That was when they saw each other for the first time. He would never forget the shocked look on their faces upon his discovery.

 At first, Richard was sure the man who stood before him was the same man from the Life magazine cover. However, he had never seen the woman’s face that he could remember. Richard had never seen another real live person, besides Hannah Malinda, and his thirsty eyes drank them in.
“Mais, jamais d''la vie!” Halliana exclaimed, pressing both palms of her hands to the sides of her fat pink cheeks.
Her heart screamed when she saw the dirty little boy, tied like a dog in the yard. The child''s hair was a ratty, filthy, scraggly mess down to his shoulders. She grabbed Olivier''s arm, her voice broke into a sob, “J''ai gros couer Olivier.” Her dark brown eyes glistened with dewy commiseration as she stared at the little boy with the dark haunted eyes. He had a distinctive look, with high cheekbones, straight nose, dark eyes and hair. He didn''t know what she was saying. He had never heard those words before. Suddenly he became frightened and his head swiveled chaotically from side to side, looking for an escape as they slowly approached him. His heart pounded madly in his bony little chest, as he lowered his eyes and bowed his head in shame.
“What is your name ma chere?” she asked.
He said nothing. He was too ashamed to answer.
“Oh bebe,” her voice sounded like a birds mournful coo.
Richard looked up with dark circles around his eyes, as the white-haired man''s eyes flicked toward him, and his lips compressed into a tight line. He heard the man tell his wife to stay with him and he left. The tall man appeared angry; by the way he stomped off carrying a white hat in his hand. Olivier was so enraged by what he saw that he broke out into a sweat. Who in the hell would do this to a child!
A surge of fear crept up Richard’s spine, and he wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. The pain of being an abused child had taken a heavy toll on his psyche. Richard had grown into a little boy who was not sure that he really did exist, or that he was worth anything. He cinched his eyes shut to hide from her, and held his knees and rocked back and forth, retreating inside his protective shell, certain that she would soon realize he wasn''t even a real person and she would go away. Then Richard heard foot steps go up on the front porch again. He reopened his eyes, his face was wet with perspiration, and he looked at her. He became scared that the man knew his mother and now he was going to get a whoopin from him as well.
Halliana strolled over to him, cheeks getting redder as she walked and opened her arms, beckoning him with her fingers; “Come here Honey chile.”
She spoke in a way that was very unlike his mother, reminding him of falling snow. Richard was nonetheless still frightened, and pulled back, trying to get as far away from her as the rope would allow. She took a hanky out of her pants pocket, and started to dab at her eyes as she looked at him. Richard crouched low on the ground, and warily watched her with a timid, puppy dog look on his face. She pulled her backpack off, unzipped a pocket, reached in and pulled out a beignet (bin-yay) Richard’s eyes lit up, and he licked his lips when he looked at the square doughnut sprinkled with powdered sugar.
“Do you want a sweet, Honey chile?” The woman smiled, showing dazzling white teeth, and held the sweet out to Richard. Her hand was chubby, but her fingers were long and delicate, the nails a soft pink. Richard looked up at her. He knew he did not deserve her kindness. He licked his lips again, eyeing her with suspicion as she eased herself down onto the back porch stoop.
“Oh bebe.” she said with a sigh.
Her soft, melodious voice was very comforting to him. But he could not understand why she would be offering him something. He was an ugly bad boy, a nuttin. He was not even fit to breathe the same air as her. Richard desperately needed to be loved, protected and emotionally nourished. Yet, those feelings were overshadowed by the knowledge that only he could satisfy his emotional needs.
Olivier tried the front door, but it appeared to be locked, so he broke the glass with a stone and entered the house. Richard flinched as if he had been struck, and his head whipped up as his eyes darted toward the sound of the broken glass. Olivier opened the creaking door and went inside. This house was teeming with flies, they settled in black swarms, covering everything. The room was dark and musty smelling, it looked more like a forgotten shed than a house. In one corner a mattress of sorts was on the floor, covered in flies, in the other corner, a primitive looking wooden baby bed, which looked more like an old army cot with rails, also covered.
“Hello,” he said to the silence, looking around to see if anyone were there, or by the looks of the crude baby bed, another child. He went into the second room to discover a small kitchen that was simply a hive of them, along with the strong fetid odor of decay. There with just one chair and a table scattered with outdated magazines and an overflowing ashtray. He opened the pantry to find it bare, but for three cans with no labels. “What is going on here?” he said with disgust, and then slammed out of the house.

 

“It is ok, really. Here you go.” she said, as she held out the cookie to him again, “Come on now sugar pie, here''s a beignet just for you.”
His dirty limp hair hung in his face; he lifted his head up once more to meet her gaze. At this point hunger was his dominate emotion. With uncertainty he stood up and approached the woman on his skinny, wobbly legs. Keeping a safe distance, he held out his dirty hand, and she noticed his tiny fingernails were tinged faint blue. She looked at his distended belly and her eyes again filled with tears. She wanted to reach out and grab him, pull him to her and hold him tightly in her arms. She wanted to take him home with her and smother him with kisses. She wanted to ask him where his mommy or daddy was, but did not want to frighten him any more than she could tell he already was.
By the time the tall man came back, the front and back of his yellow shirt was drenched with perspiration, and Richard had eaten the doughnut and had a ring of white powdered sugar all over and around his mouth. Olivier looked at the boy and his heart skipped a beat. He’s just a boy. Richard looked up at the green-eyed man with his face full of kindness, similar to the ladies. He saw them look at each other and got the idea they were talking to one another without moving their mouths, the same way he and Hannah Malinda did. The tall man told her to stay there with the boy, that he was going into town to get the police.