Alexopoulos

Disclaimer: The characters used in this story do not belong to me and I used them just for fun and do not intent to use this story in any profitable way... I hope this does it.

“Cough-cough-cough… When was the last time someone lived here?” Skally asked, removing the spider-nets from her hair and simultaneously trying not to step into the spills of blood on the floor.

Neighbors were the ones who reported about a strange noise coming from the Alexopoulos House to the police. It was named after its first and only owners. The house was built on an isolated hill, away from any other people, more than five decades ago. Agent Skally, along with her partner Moulder, went to the house to investigate the case. The X-files bureau was assigned to this case as there was too much blood that, after some DNA tests, belonged to the same one-and-only victim.

The body was all covered with blood as well. After searching the place and finding nothing valuable to the investigation, the two agents went to the neighbors who called the police.

“What exactly did you hear?” Moulder asked the old little woman.

“A howl,” she whispered. She went to the window and nervously closed the curtains. For a while, she seemed to listen to the silence and then suddenly said, “A howl like every other time… but this one was very different…”

“Every other time?” Skally inquired.

“Don’t you see?” the old lady asked rising her voice. “There’s a creature livin’ in that house. One of the Alexopouloses. That’s why the windows are sealed. Nobody knows what exactly happened… but thirty years ago, they stopped comin’ out of the house. Nobody suspected a thing as they were not that social at all. Nobody suspected a thing until the howls started repeating every night. Some people left the area and the ones who couldn’t – stayed in their homes and feared comin’ out. A couple of days ago, a youth came here. He claimed to be a creature hunter. We have warned him a lot but he refused to listen… Poor boy.”

Agent Moulder believed every word of the story while, on the other hand, Skally thought of it as nothing but an insane fantasy of the old and bored. The question that kept Skally from believing that tale was, “Why didn’t they find any so-called creatures in the house?”

Moulder refused to go into the house again so Skally had to go alone with a couple of local police officers. She started looking around the house for any signs that could disapprove with the old lady’s tale. “There has to be a logical explanation,” she said to herself. Her eyes stopped on a small wall-chandlery. There was nothing odd except the absence of dust on its surface. Immediately, Skally pulled the chandlery down.

The wall beside the chandlery turned, opening a small gap enough to let a thin woman or a skinny man inside. Without hesitation, Skally went in. After passing through a short corridor, that lead down, Skally came into a big room with loads of chemicals, different instruments and books. She started looking through the books until she reached a book with the title “My Diary” and a signature at the bottom of the cover.

“June 15, 1958
After two years of hard work, the house is finally finished. Now we can move there and my son will get better. I just wish we will face no disappointment.

June 20, 1958
It was a shock when doctors said that they wouldn’t be able to help him… I refused to put him in the hospital… I’ll find a way to cure him. This house and the peaceful environment will be good for him. I hope it helps.

July 23, 1958
He is not getting better. He feels worse with every day. My poor beloved, Megan… She never stops crying. I will start on a cure from this moment… I guess that pure air and quiet surroundings do him no good. I must find a cure. But where to start form?

September 9, 1958
I have something done. It looks pretty grouse and smells awful as well… I must not let the looks deceive me… But I can’t try this on him. What if it harms him? What if it doesn’t work the way I’ve predicted it to?

September 13, 1958
His state has gone very bad. I can see the pain in his eyes. He refuses to eat at all and rarely get up from the bed… Megan says that we should try the cure. But I’m afraid…

September 14, 1958
Yes! It worked! At least the pain is gone… I don’t know what are the side effects might be – if there are any at all. I also don’t know the duration of it… I must make more… Suddenly it all seems possible…

December 29, 1958
Till now, everything is going well. We are getting ready for the new year… The tree is ready and we bought him loads of presents… We hope this coming year will be a joyful one… especially to him.

March 5, 1962
Something started changing… What might have gone wrong? I am giving him the same portions at the same time just as I used to do all the past four years.

March 27, 1962
I used to give it to him once a month and it was perfect. This month isn’t over and his appetite has dropped to the minimum and pain has come back. What is happening?

April 1, 1962
I’ve given him the cure and he feels better now. We’ll see what happens next.

April 15, 1962
God, what is happening?! I am sure that I am giving him the same quantities. His body doesn’t react the same way…

April 17, 1962
I see… I guess there is a side effect after all. I guess the long term of regular drinking of the cure either made his body addicted to it or gave the disease immunity from it. I’ll try giving it to him twice a month.

August 21, 1962
From twice a month to trice a month; from trice a month to once a week; from once a week to twice a week. God… Now I am giving it to him every day. I am sure that it is the disease not his body. This is a relief – at least I didn’t make him addicted. I must come up with something else…

November 12, 1962
Now he’s drinking it three times a day. If I hadn’t come up with this new cure he might have switched to drinking it every hour. As usual, I’m hesitant to give him this liquid… But I have no other choice…

November 13, 1962
It worked. I am still unaware of the regularity of taking it. Time will show us what this cure can really do.

December 13, 1962
That was a total failure. It showed strange side effects. His skin has gone yellow and mind has slowed. He doesn’t understand what we are saying or showing him… as if the potion produced a wall that isolated his brain from everything else. I’ll stop giving him this one. I need to work harder. I must come up with something else before Christmas…

January 4, 1963
I must not loose hope. If I loose hope so will Megan and I should not let that happen.

February 6, 1963
I wish I was dead every time he says, “Stop the pain… please.” I can see that Megan has horrible thoughts in her mind. She has even mentioned, in many occasions, that it would’ve been better if he was dead. I know she means it and I’m afraid she’ll do something horrible one day. “If he was dead he wouldn’t feel all this pain,” she says.

February 16, 1963
A new cure – I hope.

February 20, 1963
Finally! He feels perfect and it seems like life has filled his soul… This smile on his face… I think it ‘is’ the cure.

May 6, 1970
We need to stay here no more. The cure has been working perfectly and I see no point in staying here. Frequently taking the medicine, Peter will be able to lead a normal life. Wonderful!

July 14, 1971
I was so wrong… I believe that so many years of isolated life only with his parents had lead him to a state where he became aggressive to everyone else. Megan and I were home-schooling him all these years and we tried to get him into a school… It seems that he doesn’t link with regular people… We had to come back… It was much better here. I continue giving him that cure and results are stupendous.

July 24, 1975
Sadly, his manly instincts have been appearing in his behavior. I can see his craving for a female… Huh! Destiny plays a cruel game! If it’s not one thing it’s another thing! I shall find something that will put off those cravings. Megan disagrees with me. She doesn’t want to put his total life on medicines I come up with… But we can’t do anything else… We can’t get him a woman. Besides, he won’t even get near anyone but us…

September 15, 1975
What have I done?! What have I done?! How could I have been so foolish?! I believe that those two potions have somehow reacted together giving a horrifying result… We can slowly see our son turning into something… His skin has gone pale and there’s nothing left but bones covered with skin…

September 16, 1975
I will stop giving him the medicine. I don’t know what to do anymore… God help us.

October 21, 1975
It seems that he is doing well without both the medicines… He is totally cured. However, he is still the same…

January 19, 1976
His eyes… they became red months ago. He is becoming less human with every day. I’m afraid that something bad might happen…”

There the diary ended. Three black-and-white photographs were put in the end of the diary. On one, there were one man and a woman with a baby on her hands. The second photo was of a boy with dark circles under his eyes and sick look. The third photo was of a youth with pale skin and an evil smile.

Skally pulled out the gun, turned around and shot the thing that jumped at her. She felt how a cold body fell on her. When she managed to stand up, she saw an incredibly thin man lying on the floor. He was shot in the head yet… there was not a single drop of blood…