A body was propped flat on our dinner table. This wasn’t the first time. I remember that first time, when my heart was beating so heavily in my chest that I thought I would faint. I had been 3 years old. Now, I was eleven, and my heart was still. Just another day.

“We’ll need to dispose of this,” Father said, his hands clasped behind his back. “Jackie knows what to do.”

That was me. I nodded.

“Show your brothers how it’s done, Jackie. Make me proud. Make Mother proud. She’s too sick to help out right now, but she used to love nights like this. I can see Willie is shaking left to right, Billie too. Show them there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Father had always been an imposing figure. Willie and Billie were young, and sensitive on their good days, so seeing this dead man on the table now must have really given them a shock. It was their first time.

“I’ll show them, Father.”

“I’ll leave you to it, then. Make the family proud,” Father smirked and left the room to sit with Mother.

I showed Willie and Billie all I knew about disposing of the human body. They cried, they trembled, and they shook their heads at me. Willie said he didn’t want to get dirty; I said there was no way around that in this line of work. It was a family trade.

Father inspected our work some time later and patted me on the back. “You make a fine butcher, son. The others did good, too,” he winked. “With this one taken care of, how about you find another? Bring them here. Some way, some how.”

I nodded and ushered Willie and Billie out the door. For Father to trust me with this was a large task. I was becoming a man.

We ran out the front door of our cabin towards the city at the other side of the forest trees. Willie in the front, Billie in the middle, and me at the back. We would find our prey and make Father proud. The family depended on it.