Subtle Psycho

The front door swung open angrily, disturbing her studies of the multiplication table. The piercing, banshee-like scream of her mother tore her from her seat and forced her to creep out to the stairwell. Tora’s uncle Joe was standing in the entryway wielding a rather shiny object in his right hand. A closer inspection told her that it was an axe. A large, sharp axe. She sat cross-legged on the balcony of the second floor, overlooking the entryway. She could see my father, with his back to her, in front of Joe, and she guessed that her mother was under the balcony and unseen by her 12-year-old eyes.
Joe scared her. She knew instantly there was something wrong with him – his clothes were dirty and messy, and his hair greasy and unkempt. She had never seen him mad drunk before. It was scary. Though not as scary as the axe he was wielding.
Joe started shouting obscenities at her father, Mark. Joe’s first swing at him was a miss. Her father was sober and easily dodged the bone-splittingly sharp blade.
"Marie!" he called while dodging the axe-wielding madman. "Grab Tora and get out of here!" She knew her mother well, and Tora knew how she would react in this situation. She was most likely cowered in a corner somewhere under the balcony, watching the horrific scene unfold. She, like Tora, was too afraid to move. Tora was sure her mother’s mind was racing with fear and memories and more fear, just as her own was. She never heard her mother move, and neither did her father. He, unfortunately, made the fatal mistake of turning his head to look at his love to make sure she was all right. Unfortunately, it was his last look at her. In the very same moment he turned to look at her, Joe swung the axe and sliced through her father’s neck just as easily as he would a tomato. Her mother let out one long, bloodcurdling shriek, shaking Tora to the bone.
Tora saw Joe’s head move from her father’s body to underneath her where her mother cowered. He had bloodlust in his black eyes and matching heart. In a split second, he raised the axe and hurled it across the room. Tora heard it sink into her mother’s flesh and heard her last gasp of air before she fell to the floor. Tora stopped breathing. She couldn’t believe that her entire world could collapse in a matter of seconds. But it did. And it wasn’t over.
After the murder of her mother, Joe reached under his coat, and tucked in his belt was a gun. He looked up at Tora as if he knew she had been there the whole time. He smiled grimly as he put the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger. Pieces of him scattered in every direction. And then it was over.
It was a good couple of hours before Tora could muster up the courage to even stand. Then she practically fell down the stairs in shock as she saw her parents slowly decaying in pools of their own blood. Joe certainly did not look like Joe anymore, except for the flannel shirt he had on. She still couldn’t believe that it had really happened. Only when she touched the hands of her parents and realized how cold they were becoming did her mind start to register what happened. Then she broke down in tears.
At least, that’s the story she told the police when they came. Luckily for her, no one ever thought to look for the extra round of bullets she hid under her mattress.