Chester The Jester By Jake Brooks
It was 2003, the first time I saw true evil come to life. I was 15 and looked like I hadn't been through puberty yet. I had long hair and glasses, you know the type. The kind of guy who couldn't even buy a date. I played video games and jammed on guitar, the usual things a kid my age would do. If it wasn't for my mom and dad always on my case, I probably wouldn't even know I even existed. Deep down, I know they loved me. My dad was a real old school hard ass who believed "show me a bored kid and i'll show you a lazy kid". My mom was old school too but not as tough. She grew up in a house where the women always took care of the men. A women should always stand by their man's side. One of those cliche leave it to beaver types. I also had a sister, her name was Lizzy and was too young to realize what was going on around the house. She was 8 years old when Chester came into our lives.To young to know better, but what 8 year old wants to know anything anyway.They took her away shortly after the "problem" I've come to call it. something i'll get to down the road. My name's John, and this is my story about Chester the Jester.
I was walking home from school that day with my buddy Josh. He was a likable enough kid with short brown hair and bracess. A real loud mouth that said a curse word every three words. Everytime I would hang out with him, I felt like we were only friends still because we've known each other since 2nd grade. We walked down the alley way behind the old K-Mart building we use to take because it shortened the walk by a few minutes. A real dirty way to take home but hell, when you're a teenage boy, not much disgusts you. I remember there use to always be used condoms and broken glass everywhere. The type of place my old man would shit if he knew I took that way home.
As we walked along, we ended up running into a group of kids we knew from school by the old rail road tracks. I call it old because they don't run trains through there anymore. Of course Sabrina had to be with them. Sabrina was the love of my life back then. Tall and thin with the most goregous blond hair I'd ever seen. Big blue eyes and a chest... well lets say she was the one I wanted, but wouldn't give me the time of day. Josh and I walked over to them to say our hi's, and they said they were going to the new Walmart down the street.They asked us to go and of course I knew I had no chance, but with Sabrina there, I wasn't going to say no. So off to Walmart we went.
Once there, we did the usual things teens do. Looked at games and DVDs. I even bought Sabrina an Icee from the local pizza joint they built inside. On our way out, me wanting to score points with Sabrina, I saw one of those grab machines where you pay 50 cents and try to grab a prize with the claw. so I went over hoping to get a stuffed animal or somthing so I could give it to her.
I put the 50 cents into the machine and went for a white fluffy teddy bear in the back right corner. Josh told me I was stupid and shouldn't waste the money, but i was in love or so I thought. The claw came down around the bear but it didn't pick it up. I put more money in and went for the same bear. Only this time it landed behind the bear, and out from behind him the claw had picked up what looked like a little jester. Not what I wanted but hell I'll take it.
I grabbed it out of the slot and took it to Sabrina who looked at me like I just shit my pants and said "I dont want that ugly thing". They got a laugh out of my exspense and Josh said "Lets go home man". Not wanting to waste my money I put the thing in my backpack and we headed for home.
Once home, I barley got in the door before my mom started grilling me about where I had been. I had forgotten that I was supposed to pick my sister up from daycare after I got out of school that day, and my mom got a call from there telling her I never showed up. So she left work early to get her and take her home. Mom said she was scared and thought we left her there for good, and that I needed to apoligize. Luckily for me, she didn't tell the old man about it or sitting the next day at school would of been rough.
So I said my sorries and headed up stairs to apologize to Lizzy for not picking her up. I went into her room and she wouldn't look at me as she brushed her doll's hair. I told her I was sorry for not picking her up but told her I bought her a present to make up for it. I pulled out the jester and gave it to her. Hell, even if Sabrina didn't want it, I had no use for the damn thing. Lizzy gave me a big hug and said "It's ok, thank you." I asked her "So what are you gonna call him?" she said "Chester". I said thats a strange name for a clown". She said "He's not a clown, he's a jester, Chester the jester.". I just let things be and headed out the door to my room where I could finally relax.
The next day was luckily a Saturday, which meant no school thankfully. The weekend was mine to do whatever I wanted, but unfortunately, I had to wake up to mom and dad yelling at Lizzy. I wasn't sure what was going on, so I headed down stairs to see. when I got there, my dad was asking Lizzy "What were you thinking?" i asked "whats going on?" mom said "Lizzy broke your fathers trophy". If there was one thing in our house that dad loved more then us it was that trophy. He'd won it in high school for being the state champion in wrestling or somthing." To which Lizzy replied "He made me do it". My father screamed "That damn doll did not make you to do shit." At that point my mom intervened and told my dad to go outside and calm down as Lizzy's eyes began to slowly produce tears. Myself not feeling needed for this moment in time went to the kitchen to get some breakfest.
Later that day, I was hanging out with Josh by the comic book store. The place was run down and didn't apeal to the normal eye, but we didn't care. Plus they gave us good deals on comics. We went inside to look around and I couldn't get it out of my head what Lizzy was talking about. He made her do it. What made her to do what. I wasnt apart of the conversation so what did i really know. But who made her do it was all I could think about.
I was sifting through some comics when I came across one that looked interesting. It had a cover of a demon being sucked into a doll on it, so I took a peek. Inside, it said that when some souls are rejected by hell,they will be punished by being sent back to the living as a doll. To live out their existence as a statue. They can see but can not move, but it also said that sometimes certain powerfull souls can get through and come back to life as the doll. I kind of chuckled, not thinking much about and it and Josh and I went on our way.
We later ran into Sabrina and some of her friends at the local Burger shack. She started flirting with me, asking me if I'd get her a milkshake. Of course being me and her being her, I agreed. While in line, Josh asked "Are you a fucking idiot man, she's playing you like a fucking dog." I told him "I know but I cant help it, I just really like her." To which Josh replied "Well buying her the damn world isn't gonna fucking make her like you bro, i'm sorry." I shook my head and agreed but got the shake anyway.
We went over and sat down at a table. But while everyone else was talking about this and that I kind of dazed off. Staring at an old dying tree about 20 feet away, I kept thinking about what Lizzy said this morning. "He made me do it." what the hell does that mean? Who? What? and When? As I continued looking at the tree I noticed something out of place, near the base of the tree. I couldn't really see what it was with the sun blurring my vision. So I squinted a little harder to adjust my eye sight. As I kept looking, my eyes began to adjust and I saw what I thought was that damn clown, the one I gave my sister the day before. But just as I thought I saw it, Josh smacked me on the back of the head. He said "What the fuck are you looking at?" I told him "Nothing." We finished our meal and headed for the swiming hole.
The swimming hole as we called it, was just an old dirty creek where as kids we'd swim to cool off. As I said before, when your that young not much disgusts you. Everyone jumped in but I did not really feel in the mood. I sat at the edge and again began staring off into space. I can remember I had a rush of emotions and thoughts race through my brain like a race car going four hundered miles an hour. Thoughts of my sister, thoughts of my parents, thoughts of being with Sabrina, thoughts of what life could be like in the future, thoughts of what lifes like right now, then out of nowhere, Sabrina splashed me with water bringing me back to reality and said "Why don't you want to get in?" I told her "I don't really feel like getting wet." To which she replied "I do." and swam away. Now my mind being a dirty one, wasn't thinking she meant swimming anymore. Was she actually flirting with me? I thought. No she couldn't be. I'm not the guy girls flirt with. I'm the guy who flirts with girls and gets rejected, especially by ones like Sabrina. Just then Josh gets out and sits next to me. He said "Dude your fucking despressing me, what's fucking going on with you?" I told him about this morning and how Lizzy got in trouble and what she said. "He made me do it." He told me "Shrug if off she's fucking little, little kids do the dumbest shit. Hell, remember when we were her age? We did all kinds of stupid shit." To which i had to agree. I told him what Sabrina said, to which I got the reply "Dude how many fucking times do i have to tell you, she's playing your dumb ass." I once again agreed but told him "I think I'm gonna go home." Josh offered to go with me but I declined. I said "I'm gonna go home and take a nap." He said "Alright man, call me later if you want to hang out." I just nodded my head and off I went.
Once home, I walked in the door to my mom yelling at Lizzy again like I was only gone for a few seconds. Even though it was half the day. Once again I asked "Whats going on?" Like a broken record. To which my mom said "Lizzy poisoned the fish tank." I said "What do you mean?" mom said "She poisoned the fish tank, she put Anti-Freez in the tank and the fish are dead." To which Lizzy once again replied "He made me do it." My mom, furious at this point, just told Lizzy to go to her room as she stormed away. Lizzy visably upset headed upstairs. Me, not really wanting to be in the middle, but feeling bad for my little sis, went up to talk to her.
I went to her room as she laid on her bed sobbing. I asked "Whats going on Liz? Why are you doing these things?" She wiped some tears from her eyes and said "It's not me John, he made me do it." Annoyed, I said "Who made you do it?" With a little anger in my voice. She cried "I can't tell you, he said if I tell anyone then he would kill me too." These are the moments in time where you wish you had better anwsers but the questions are just to confusing to figure out. I told her "Nobody is going to kill you Lizzy, whats going on?" She replied "Chester." To which I thought in my head "that doll?" Not wanting to upset her anymore, I told her it will be ok and that Chester would not hurt her. I left her room and went to my mom who was on the phone with my dad telling him what had happened. She said "I dont know what to do with her Ray. I'm just gonna wait until you come home to figure this out." She got off the phone and I spoke up ."Mom I think somthing maybe wrong with Lizzy." Which I got in response "You think John? She's blaming a damn puppet for making her kill the fish, and breaking your father's trophy." I said "I know, but it might not be her fault. She might need to see somebody about this." Fed up with the situation, she said "We'll deal with it when your father comes home." and she left the room. Not really knowing what to do myself, I headed for my room to take a nap.
When I fell alseep, I remember having this crazy dream about my father chasing me through the house while he screamed "He made me do it." When my father finally caught me, he turned me around and was wearing clown face paint. Frightned, I screamed for mom as he said "I'm sorry son, he made me do it." Which then, he let me go and I slowly turned around to see my mother lying on the floor with a knife in her throat. With a pool of Thick, Dark, blood slowly forming around her as it drained from her body. But when I turned back toward my father, It wasn't him anymore. It was Chester!!! Crying to me with blood on his hands "I didn't mean to kill her." He began walking slowly twords me "I didn't mean to kill her." As an evil smile began to emerge saying "I was only clowning around!" Chester then lunged for me as I awoke breathing heavily from my sleep, inside what was luckily the comfort of my bedroom. My mom began yelling to me that Josh was on the phone.
I got up and answered the phone to Josh asking "You fucking alright man? You really seemed out of it today." I told him "I'm fine." As he began asking if I wanted to go to the train tracks and hang for a few. I told him "yeah, let me take a shower and I'll meet you there in about twenty minutes." He said "Alright, later dude." I hung up the phone and headed for the bathroom.
Once outside my room, I could hear my father's voice once again yelling at Lizzy down stairs. Muttled a bit, but still clear enough to understand. He said "Lizzy I am not and will not put up with this kind of bullshit." As much as I didn't want to, I headed down stairs to see if I could calm the situation down. Once there, I realized there was no calming anything, as my dad slapped Lizzy in the mouth for saying "He made me do it." I yelled "Stop that!" And my father looked at me like I had just took the lord's name in vain inside a church full of nuns. He said "What?" I said "She thinks Chester, that dumb doll I gave her yesterday will kill her if she doesn't listen to him." Lizzy now cowaring on the floor, crying as my mother tries to comfort her, says "He will, he said he's done it before and will do it again if I don't listen to him." My father the realist, said "I can't believe my fucking ears, have you all gone crazy? Talking dolls and disobedience are not what I raised this family to be." I yelled "Then what did you raise it to be?" Which right then, you would of thought if my father was capable of killing some one, that moment was it. As he stared me down like a hawk waiting to grab it's prey. He lowered his head and took a deep breath before looking me straight in the eyes and said "This isn't your buisness, take a fucking walk." To which my mom yelled "Dont you talk to him like that Ray." Which he screamed "It's my fucking house I'll talk anyway i fucking want to!" As he left out the side door. My mom then took Lizzy upstairs as I decided screw the shower, I got to get out here. So I grabbed my jacket and headed out the front door to meet Josh at the train tracks.
As I walked down the road, I began to wonder if it was my father and not lizzy who had the problem. Ever since he had that car accident last summer, he's been very moody. Some of what I could understand the frustration, but other times, it's never made any sense. So I continued on my way to the tracks when I started hearing noises that sounded like moaning, and not the good kind like you hear in the late night movies on Saturday nights. I ran faster and faster to get to the tracks, but when I got there I Couldn't find Josh. I yelled for him but got nothing in response. So I sat down thinking maybe he didn't get here yet.
I lit up a cigarette and inhaled the smoke. Blowing the hit out slowly as I felt the anxiety start to fade. Again I yelled for Josh with no anwser back. I stood up and walked over to some bushes to take a piss. Puffing on my magic stress releiver with my eyes closed. But when I opened them I looked down to see not only my best friend laying on the ground with his throat cut, but Sabrina lying next to him with hers as well. I screamed and jumped back falling to the ground, I began dry heaving with nausia trying not to vomit. I knew I had to react fast, but was frozen with fear. My mind blanking on what to do, but what do you do? This kind of thing doesn't happen all the time. So I did the first thing that came to mind, I got up off the ground and ran back home.
As I was running, the thought of "he made me do it" drove me crazy. This couldn't of been something that Lizzy could of done. She's eight years old, and surely It wasn't that stupid doll. Although a hard ass, and even though he didn't like Josh, there's no way it was my father. The blame escaped me like air in a balloon as I couldn't imagine anyone capable of murder. In so much shock over the situation, I couldn't even produce tears.
I got the house and ran in the front door, slamming it behind me and locking the lock. I turned around and noticed that all the lights were out. I went to the wall switch, but nothing came on. Startng to panic, I yelled for my mom and dad who didn't anwser. I yelled for Lizzy, who with the softest voice i've ever heard before or sense, said "John is that you?" I went to the staircase where she sat at the top, holding a flash light in one hand, and Chester in the other. I said "What's going on?" Once again like I didn't know any other words for the last twenty-four hours. "Why are the lights not working and where is mom and dad?" With a look of horror and pain molded into one expression, she softly whispered the words none of us ever wanted to hear again, "He made me do it."
My adrenaline kicked in as my worst fears might of came true. I told Lizzy to stay put as I rushed through the house looking for dead bodies or who knows what. It was so dark I could barley find a flash light in the kitchen drawer. I scurried through the living room annd dining room, but nothing was down stairs. I picked up the phone and dialed 911 yelling for them to come to the house right away. That I think my parents have been murdered.
I went back to the staircase saying "Lizzy we have to get out of here I called the police." But when I looked up she wasn't there. My heart sank deep into my stomach as my adrenaline faded into panic. I called for her, but she didn't anwser back. As much as I didn't want to, I slowly began to creep upstairs. "Lizzy this isn't funny, I told you not to move." I said as I crept closer and closer to the top.
I slowly crept my head around the corner, shining the light on anything around the hallway but saw nothing. I called again, no anwsers. I went to Lizzy's bedroom first, opening the door hoping she would be sitting on her bed. But nobody was in there. I shut the door and then went to my room. Once again hoping she would be in there, I opened up the door slowly but again nothing. So I went to my parent's bedroom. The last on a short list of places she could be. I hung my head down, closed my eyes, and took the biggest deep breath I ever have. I grabbed the door knob and twisted, praying that she was in there. I opened up the door and sitting soley on the bed was Chester. My parents and Lizzy lay on the floor in pools of blood. Blood so dark, it looked like chacolate syrup. I stared at the doll hard and heavy as I picked him up off the bed. Tears began flowing down my cheeks like rainfall dripping down a window pane.
I heard noise down stairs and the police burst into the house through the front door. Yelling for anyone to anwser them. They charged up the stairs like warriors in battle as I sat down on the bed. Closer and closer, they kicked in the door, guns drawn, and ready to fire at anything. They yelled for me to freeze and to drop my weapon. That's when I looked down to see that I had Chester in one hand, and a long sharp butchers knife in the other. Covered in peices of what used to be my family and friends. The cops kept yelling at me, but my mind tuned them all out as I didn't want to realize what was really happening. So I looked at them and said the only thing I could think of. "HE MADE ME DO IT!"
I've told this story many times, in many different ways, but each time it always ends the same. With me sitting on that bed with that knife in my hand. That's the one part that can never be changed. I am Chester, and I murdered my family, and nothing I add to the story will ever change that. In the end, I guess you could say, I made me do it. If you ask me why, I have no anwsers or reasons. And to me, that's the scariest part of this story.
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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 23.09.2016
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