{"id":68,"date":"2026-08-27T15:11:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/?p=68"},"modified":"2026-09-03T16:30:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:30:26","slug":"chapter-5-butcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/2026\/08\/27\/chapter-5-butcher\/","title":{"rendered":"CHAPTER 5 – BUTCHER"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n \n
\n \u2190 Previous Chapter<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n \n
\n Next chapter \u2192<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cNow explain you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butcher stood in front of me.<\/p>\n

I said nothing.<\/p>\n

Horseman\u2019s breathing filled the room. He sat on the floor beside the coffee table, holding the wrist Butcher had twisted. The empty handgun lay nearby.<\/p>\n

Nobody reached for it.<\/p>\n

I stopped looking at it too.<\/p>\n

Sweat crawled down my temple beneath the fox mask.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou knew about the lipstick,\u201d Butcher said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou knew the towel stayed in the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou knew the bedroom drawer stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

I looked at him. \u201cWant me to start over?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pulled out a chair and sat across from me.<\/p>\n

No gun between us now.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t need one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to know how you know those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

I kept my filtered voice level.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I was there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe night Lena died?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore she died or after?\u201d<\/p>\n

My heart stalled for one beat.<\/p>\n

One beat can be too long.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to catch me like you caught Horseman?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n

I leaned back. \u201cThen keep asking.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

He just watched me.<\/p>\n

I hate people who know how to use silence. You can answer a question. Silence makes you answer yourself.<\/p>\n

Horseman laughed weakly from the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the fox gets skinned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShut up,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think you beat me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t playing with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He braced a hand against the floor and started to rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat woman deserved what happened. If I\u2019d really killed her\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Butcher turned his head.<\/p>\n

Slowly.<\/p>\n

Horseman didn\u2019t notice in time.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2014I wouldn\u2019t have regretted it. Married and still\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Butcher stood.<\/p>\n

No warning.<\/p>\n

He crossed the space between them, grabbed Horseman by the hair, and hit him.<\/p>\n

The sound was smaller than movies make it.<\/p>\n

Horseman went sideways into the couch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the hell\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Butcher pulled him up and hit him again.<\/p>\n

Blood appeared at the corner of Horseman\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n

I stayed where I was.<\/p>\n

Butcher had used force before to control him.<\/p>\n

This was different.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t talk about her like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

His voice was so low the filter almost disappeared.<\/p>\n

Horseman breathed hard. \u201cWhat was she to you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Butcher didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n

But I heard what I needed in the silence.<\/p>\n

From the beginning, he had been the calm one.<\/p>\n

Horseman bragged. Butcher questioned.<\/p>\n

Fox tensed. Butcher watched.<\/p>\n

I lied to his face. Butcher waited.<\/p>\n

Even the gun had been planned.<\/p>\n

But one insult aimed at Lena Tran and he lost control.<\/p>\n

Not principle.<\/p>\n

Not disgust.<\/p>\n

Personal.<\/p>\n

Butcher zip-tied Horseman\u2019s wrists behind him and pushed him against the couch.<\/p>\n

\u201cStay there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he came back to me.<\/p>\n

There was blood across one knuckle. He took a tissue from the table and wiped each finger slowly.<\/p>\n

For several strange seconds, the room became almost peaceful.<\/p>\n

Air-conditioning.<\/p>\n

A wall clock advancing one minute.<\/p>\n

A car passing outside and disappearing down the road.<\/p>\n

I realized I was waiting for him to explode again.<\/p>\n

Instead he became calm.<\/p>\n

That frightened me more.<\/p>\n

\u201cContinue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. How did you get into Lena\u2019s condo?\u201d<\/p>\n

I considered the answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLocked?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t remember getting into a place where you supposedly killed someone?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome things aren\u2019t worth remembering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the stuck drawer is.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n

He stepped closer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more you talk, the stranger this gets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou remember the apartment better than you remember the murder.\u201d<\/p>\n

My hands went cold.<\/p>\n

He was right.<\/p>\n

Because the apartment was real.<\/p>\n

The murder story I\u2019d just told was not.<\/p>\n

I needed him looking somewhere else.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou care about this case a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve asked more questions than anyone here. You knew the writing wasn\u2019t blood. You knew Horseman was wrong before I said it. And the gun was a test.\u201d<\/p>\n

I tilted my head.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what is tonight really about?\u201d<\/p>\n

Horseman looked up from the floor.<\/p>\n

Butcher kept his face turned toward me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a killers\u2019 meetup,\u201d I said. \u201cYou\u2019re looking for someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The room tightened.<\/p>\n

I knew I\u2019d hit something.<\/p>\n

Before I could push further, Butcher bent and picked up the handgun.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t point it at me. He dropped the empty magazine, then tucked the weapon into his waistband.<\/p>\n

The motion pulled his collar aside.<\/p>\n

Just enough.<\/p>\n

A piece of tattoo showed on his left shoulder.<\/p>\n

I stopped breathing.<\/p>\n

Nothing dramatic. A black curve. Two narrow lines crossing below it.<\/p>\n

Only part of the design.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d seen it before.<\/p>\n

Not tonight.<\/p>\n

Not in this house.<\/p>\n

In Lena Tran\u2019s bedroom.<\/p>\n

The beach photo on the nightstand.<\/p>\n

I remembered it because the frame had sat beside an expensive watch. I\u2019d picked up both and weighed which one was worth taking.<\/p>\n

Lena stood barefoot in the sand, sandals dangling from one hand, hair blown across her cheek. Her smile pulled slightly to one side, like the photographer had caught her between laughing and complaining about the wind.<\/p>\n

A man stood beside her with his arm around her shoulders.<\/p>\n

Tank top.<\/p>\n

Left shoulder exposed.<\/p>\n

The same tattoo.<\/p>\n

I looked away from Butcher.<\/p>\n

Too much attention and he\u2019d notice.<\/p>\n

I lowered my eyes to the blood-stained tissue on the table.<\/p>\n

The photograph came back in full.<\/p>\n

Lena\u2019s crooked smile.<\/p>\n

The sandals in her hand.<\/p>\n

The tall man beside her.<\/p>\n

At the time, it had meant nothing to me.<\/p>\n

A family photo has no resale value.<\/p>\n

Now I knew who I\u2019d been looking at.<\/p>\n

Lena Tran\u2019s husband.<\/p>\n

Horseman spoke from the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou knew her, didn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Butcher turned toward him. \u201cQuiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horseman gave a painful laugh. \u201cI knew it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butcher took one step.<\/p>\n

Horseman shut up.<\/p>\n

I looked again at Butcher\u2019s shoulder. His collar had fallen back into place, hiding the tattoo.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

Everything rearranged itself.<\/p>\n

The questions about the lipstick, the cord, the timeline.<\/p>\n

The private board.<\/p>\n

The locked house.<\/p>\n

The unloaded gun.<\/p>\n

His reaction to Lena\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

Butcher hadn\u2019t brought people here to swap stories.<\/p>\n

He had built tonight to find the person who killed his wife.<\/p>\n

Horseman had just proved he wasn\u2019t that person.<\/p>\n

Which left me \u2013 the only person in the room who had just announced:<\/p>\n

I killed Lena Tran.<\/p>\n

My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d told a lot of lies tonight.<\/p>\n

This might have been the most dangerous one.<\/p>\n

Not because it was false.<\/p>\n

Because of the man I\u2019d chosen to tell it to.<\/p>\n

Butcher turned back.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve gone quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first time that night, I wasn\u2019t thinking about the door. Or the hammer. Or Fox tied up in the bathroom.<\/p>\n

I was thinking about one thing.<\/p>\n

If Butcher really was Lena\u2019s husband, he didn\u2019t need to prove I was lying.<\/p>\n

He only needed to believe me.<\/p>\n

That was worse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n \n
\n \u2190 Previous Chapter<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n \n
\n Next chapter \u2192<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2190 Previous Chapter Next chapter \u2192 \u201cNow explain you.\u201d Butcher stood in front of me. I said nothing. Horseman\u2019s breathing filled the room. He sat on the floor beside the coffee table, holding the wrist Butcher had twisted. The empty handgun lay nearby. Nobody reached for it. I stopped looking at it too. Sweat crawled Read More “CHAPTER 5 – BUTCHER”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-https-horrorstories-online-index-php-2026-08-27-i-broke-into-a-killers-house-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions\/201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horrorstories.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}