The next three days were spent gathering her courage to at least touch the chest but at last fear would overcome the determination and she would cover herself in her blanket, inhaling the scent of her mother’s shawl instead of even peeking at the chest.

She feared the simple idea of a heart rotting in that chest, kept beneath the very bed she was lying in.
She feared that the authorities would take her to the gaol, believing her to be the murderer or worse still, she feared that this was some sort of a game by the murderer, which in her absolute opinion was the butcher’s assistant, to decide the next victim and she feared that anytime he would come barging the door open and would cut her heart out.

As if on cue, her bedroom door barged open with a loud thud and Jill jumped up with a squeal, expecting the knife to slice through her skin anytime now.

But instead, there stood her father with a very relieved face, panting heavily as if he had run a marathon. He immediately scooped her up in his arms, holding tight and breathing in deeply.

“Oh god Jill! You scared me to death! Thank god you’re okay!…What happened? I was calling you but you weren’t replying…” He spoke as he seated her back on the bed.

Jill looked back at her father in confusion. What did he mean?
And wasn’t he supposed to be at work? As if reading her mind, her father said-

“I have taken a half day…”

Jill nodded her head in understanding.
So…she was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t heard the front door open and close and neither did she hear him calling her name…

She smiled back at him as brightly as she would.
“Sorry I scared you Papa.” She said.

“No my child…No...” her father stroked her cheek gently.

“I actually bought something for you…” he said, reaching into his trouser’s pockets.

He took out a chain with a beautiful butterfly pendant but in the process his wedding ring, which he still always wore, except at the time of work, rolled out and settled beneath the bed.

Jill sucked in a breath…She knew what was going to happen next and exactly that happened…

Her father bent down on his knees and taking support of his palms, peered under the bed, before Jill had a chance to protest.

“What’s that?” she heard her father speak while pocketing the ring…which he had found.
Jill cursed her luck.

She had removed the cardboard obscuring the chest just an hour ago…in order to at least look at her but the sight of it gave her such a fit that she had immediately curled in her bed.

Her words were stuck in her throat as her father took the chest, still wrapped in the cloth, out from under the bed.

Her mind was shouting for him to stop but her voice was lost. Her father looked at her in confusion but seeing her stoic face, retraced his attention to the chest and began removing the layer of cloth. Jill was shaking in fear by now…

“It’s a chest! But…how come it’s in your room Jill?” her father was curious and apprehensive at the same time.

“What’s inside?”
Seeing that there wasn’t going to be any reply from her part, he went downstairs, the chest still in his hands.

Jill couldn’t stop herself anymore. She followed him down the steps…

“Stop Papa…” She willed her voice her voice to be strong but it came out as a squeaky whisper instead.

Her father immediately opened the toolbox, kept on the kitchen shelf, and took out a lever. Jill’s eyes widened in horror after realising his intention…

“No….” she let out a horrid whisper, her head shaking vigorously but her limbs felt numb.

Her father, unaware of her condition, went on about the task of opening the latch.
After one or two tries, it gave away and the chest fell open with a thud…and at the same time, Jill, not able to contain her fear anymore, gave out a gut-wrenching cry of terror and fell down in a heap on the floor...

____

“I heard that the murdered was caught…” her father’s voice reached her ears. She tried to pry her eyes open but was unable to do so at the moment…

“Yes…and you’d be surprised to know who it was…It was the chemist’s clerk Billy! Imagine that!...And he’d been trying to commit more murders…”

An audible gasp, which she could only guess was from her father, reached her.

“What?” he exclaimed.

“Yes Billy…He had a jar containing the boy’s heart in his bedroom…Jesus! The horror!”
Both the men clucked their tongues.

“So, what’s been done?” her father asked just as Jill was finally able to separate her eyelids.

She squinted at the men sitting at the side of the bed, her vision was still blurry.
One was her father, sitting just beside her, his one hand resting on hers, and the other was their trusted family doctor, Dr. Jimmy…though he wasn’t much of a help at the time of her mother’s death...

“He’s being sent to the mental asylum…I say the monster deserves to be hanged to death…”
The doctor said, shaking his head vehemently.

Her father nodded and then turned her way. Noticing the fact that she was awake, he immediately leaned down with a relieved smile on his face and kissed her forehead.

“You’re up Jill! Well…you’ve made it a habit of yours to give me scares! Don’t you ever do that again…”he whispered softly against her skin.

Jill simply nodded, still too weak to say anything…her mind however, was quickly processing the words spoken by them a few seconds ago…That meant that her chest didn’t contain any human heart…

“You are taking way too much stress for your age young lady…You need to take rest and take the medicines that your father gives you without any fuss…Will you do that?” Dr. Jimmy spoke, while picking up his briefcase from the chair.
Jill nodded again.

“I should get going now Billy…Don’t worry, she’s awake…She’ll be well now.” he said to her father.

Her father stood up and shaking his free hand with both of his own, said-
“Thank you so much Jimmy!"

The doctor nodded and lest the room, her father escorting him outside…
___

That night Jill’s father tucked her to bed. She felt absolutely okay but he insisted that she should rest and had made her stay in bed the entire day. She even had her dinner in bed.

He suggested to take a leave from work the next day but Jill outright refused reminding him that he had been taking way too many leaves this month and that she was absolutely well…Finally he had to give in.

After a lot of contemplation, Jill finally decided to ask the most dreaded question,
“Papa, where is that chest?”

Her father looked at her oddly before replying-
“It’s under your bed, at the same place where you’d kept it.”

He was then silent for a moment, as if deciding on something but then spoke-
“Jill dear, if you liked the mask, you should have told me…I would have bought it for you…There was no need to hide it like that…And where did you find it?”
To say Jill was confused would be an understatement…
What mask? She wanted to ask but she was again left tongue-tied.

Her father sensed her confusion and anxiety then fearing for her health probably, tried to drop the topic for now…

“You don’t have to tell me now…We’ll talk afterwards…Okay? Take rest…Go to sleep now.”

Jill nodded absentmindedly, still dwelling on her father’s words. He kissed her forehead, muttering ‘goodnight’ and went downstairs to his room while Jill lay wide awake in her bed…