December Flash of the month: EVERYBODY'S HAVING FUN, by Steve

“Father! Father! Where are you? Please come out. We’ll be serving dinner soon. It’s turkey. You like turkey, don’t you?”
The bitch knows I hate white meat. My guts can’t handle it anymore. She knows it, but still she makes me eat it, just so I don’t upset her routine. Well, I’ll upset her routine now. Oh yes I will. It’s my house and I’ve had enough of her and that husband of hers and all their greedy little bastard children running around in it like they own the place. I’m doing things my way from now on. Yes I am.
“Mr Rosen! Pops! Don’t make us come and get you!”
“Shush, Bernard. Don’t talk to him like that. He’ll never come out.”
“I don’t care if he doesn’t. I’m sick to death of it. If it wasn’t for us, the mad old fool would have been dead long ago.”
“Bernard!”
“Well, it’s true. And what gratitude do we get? He treats us like unwelcome guests when we’re really unpaid baby-sitters.”
Unwelcome is right. I’m in the third bedroom of the east wing. Two floors above the lobby. Stupid Bernard doesn’t realise how well sound carries in this building. There are conduits and hidden passageways everywhere that funnel it. I can hear every word from his filthy gold-digger’s mouth. I can hear both their footsteps as they separate, still grumbling, at the landing on the second floor.
“I’ll check along here, but after that. . .”
“Bernard, he’s my father. Anyway, he must come down for dinner. He must!”
“Yeah. I suppose. But it’s the last time I’m telling you.”
“It will be the last time. I promise.”
Probably going to poison me. Wouldn’t put it past them. Evil bitch. Evil bastard. Go away! Leave me alone!
I’ve tried running from room to room before. I know all the secret doors. But they’re too fast.
They won’t find me here, though. Nobody ever comes up this far, and, on the floor next to the four-poster, my nightshirt makes me look like a pile of abandoned washing. I know. I checked in the mirror. Now if I lie perfectly still there’s no chance they’ll recognise me.
“Have you found him yet, Melanie?”
“No. He must be on the third floor.”
“I’ve had enough of this. Enough, enough, enough. Did you hear me? Enough!”
“Yes, Bernard, I heard you. Now come on. Here’s a torch.”
A torch? I don’t like the sound of that. The electricity has been cut off to this part of the house since that inspector came years ago. I was relying on the darkness.
“Bernard, you take the west wing, I’ll take the east.”
I hear the second bedroom’s door open, and her footsteps moving around inside. She is being thorough. She moves out into the hall again and I see the light from the bitch’s torch flickering under my door. She’s going to see me. I’m sure. The handle turns. I make a decision and scramble under the bed just as the beam of light stabs into the room. I hold my breath. Her stiletto-clad feet pass below the ruffles of the valance. They stop and bend.
“Oh, father!”
I blink in the sudden yellow glare.
“Why are you doing this to us?”
***
I keep my dignity as they escort me down to the dining room. The oldest daughter, Charlene or Charlie or something is already serving up the food. The other two have started on the wine, no doubt from my precious reserves. They look up when I’m led in in my nightshirt and slippers. Their eyes are cold. They stare at the stain on my nightshirt. They should try being old sometime.
“Now let’s all settle down and have a proper family Christmas,” the stiletto bitch smiles, “Come and sit down, Dad. Here. I’ve got a hat ready for you.”
She forces a pink and purple construction on me. I feel the paper cut my head. My blood is too thin to gush. I know the party hat will, instead, suck it slowly, like a leech.
“That’s better, isn’t it?” Bitch talks baby to me, “Now everybody’s here, we can all enjoy ourselves properly.”
The others glare at me, then at their plates as the bastard slices the meat and hands it around. The old clock ticks loudly in the room. The silence is only interrupted by the siren of an approaching ambulance. As it roars past, the room lights up briefly with its flashing red and white.
My family turn as one to look at the clock.