Maddison Winchester: Journal 8 {Supernatural} (Editing)

10 Creeping Death: Part 2

We picked up some take-out on the way back to the motel and walked into our musty old room.

"Ugh." I groaned. "It smells worse."

"I think it adds a kind of charm." Nate smirked.

I rolled my eyes and chuckled. "Can you open a window?"

He nodded and walked over to open the window, but it wouldn't budge.

"Damn, it's shut tight," he said, "Guess you're just gonna have to deal with it."

"Ugh, fine." I groaned.

Nate grabbed the laptop and set it up on the bed while I got our food ready. He started looking up the funeral home, and I sat down on the bed, passing over his lo mein and a fork.

"Thanks, beautiful." He took the plate and set it down on the nightstand.

"You're welcome," I said. "So, did you find anything?"

"Actually, yeah, there's a ton of hits. It looks like there's a lot more to Family Heart than it being a haunted funeral home," he said.

"Really?" I asked.

He nodded. "There are several articles about the owner. There was actually a horror movie inspired by the funeral home."

"Seriously?" I asked as I picked up my chopsticks. "How have I not heard about this?"

"Eh, the movie reviews are pretty bad," he said, "They stopped showing it in theaters a day after release."

"That bad, huh?" I asked.

"I guess it's not because the movie is bad, but it's too accurate," he explained.

I furrowed my brow. "What?"

"Yeah, I mean, the movie came out in the '80s, and the murder scenes looked so real, people actually thought it was a snuff film. Other people felt it was disrespectful to the actual victims and portrayed the murderer as some sort of twisted hero," Nate said.

"So, there were legit murders there?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm reading. Hold on." He continued scrolling, periodically taking bites of his food. "It looks like the owner's name was Mathew Carter. His wife died and left him with two step-kids named Pete and Maya. Maya was just a teenager, and he killed her in her bedroom and then locked her body in one of the morgue chambers in the basement."

"Wow, what a stand-up guy," I said as I continued eating.

"It gets worse," Nate said, "He killed his stepson too when he started asking 'too many' questions and hid his body along with his sister's. When asked why he did it, Mathew said, 'the children were burdens to him and would've grown up to be burdens on society.'" He shook his head as he continued to read. "Wow, this guy is messed up."

"What?" I asked in anticipation.

"He wasn't caught for almost ten years after he killed the children. Apparently, after that, he 'went on to clean up the streets,' is how he put it," he said.

"What's that mean?" I asked.

"He would lure people back to the funeral home that he thought weren't contributing members to the town," Nate explained, "He promised them food and a place to rest until they got back on their feet, but once they were inside. He would quote-unquote 'exterminate the vermin.' He'd torture them and leave them inside the morgue chambers until they died, and then he'd cremate them."

"Ugh." I set my food down on the nightstand. I had lost my appetite. "What a horrible human being." I nodded at the laptop. "Does it say how long he would keep them alive?"

Nate nodded. "Yeah, months."

"Good," I said.

He furrowed his brow. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I mean, obviously not good for his original victims, but maybe if he's still at the funeral home. Maybe the people we're looking for are still alive," I said.

He nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. We need to go check this place out before it's too late."

"Does it say if he's still alive or anything?" I asked.

"It says they buried him on his property," he said.

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