The Correctors

Chapter I

Nine Years Ago......................................

She walked down the path with her friends, a girl and a boy around her age of ten.  They laughed, talking about school, and they gossiped about the other children.  She didn't realise that someone was watching her.  She didn't know that someone had been watching her for a very long time.  That this would be the last time she saw her friends for a very long time.

"Hey, Niall, McKenna, I'm going to head home now, yeah?" She said, smiling, and waving goodbye.

"We can walk you," Niall said, and McKenna nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to get killed or anything," McKenna added in a joking voice.

If they only knew.

"No, I'll be fine.  Thanks, though." She said, laughing, as she walked away.  The man in the long coat behind her followed, trailing behind.

Niall and McKenna waved, and continued.  No one questioned the adult following the young girl, although Niall did frown, noticing.

"Ni, you okay?" McKenna asked, her eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"Um, yeah," Niall said, watching his best friend walk away. "I'm fine."

Later that night, the police were called to that very street.  Niall heard the sirens, so he texted his friend.

What's going on?

No reply.

He got out of bed, not bothering to leave a note for his parents, as he disappeared frequently at night to visit his closest friend.  They wouldn't worry.

He walked quickly down the street, his panic and concern increasing with every step.  When he came upon his friend's house, he saw the  cop cars, and that was when he started running.

"Niall?" Mr. Halway, his friend's father, said, coming up to him. "What are you doing here?"

"Did something happen?  I texted your daughter but she didn't respond, is something wrong?" Niall said, frantic with worry.

"Niall, let's go over here and have a chat..." Mr. Halway said, leading Niall off from where Mrs. Halway was crying.

Niall took the news in silence, not showing any emotion other than shock, until he got home.  There, he punched a hole in the wall, screamed, and finally, started sobbing, desperate to have his friend back.

The story surfaced on the news the next day.

Amelia Grace Halway, just ten years old, had been abducted from her room in Mullingar, Ireland, just after ten o'clock, after she had gone to bed.  There were signs of a struggle, and some blood.  Police had no idea who took her, no leads.  The only information they had was that her best friend, Niall Horan, had seen a strange man around them all day, and he seemed to be noticing every little thing about Amelia, the way her long, brown, curly hair shone, the laughter in her jade green eyes, and the rosiness of her cheeks, against her cream skin.

Amelia left a big hole in the community.  But the biggest was in Niall's heart.  Every day, he wondered where she was.  If she was okay, or hurt, or raped.  If she was even alive.

The only thing he had left of her was his memories, and his pictures, one of which he always kept with him.  It was a picture of Amelia laughing, the last one Niall had ever taken of her.

Every time Niall looked at it, he remembered all the times they had laughed together, gotten in trouble in school, and hung out with McKenna.  He swore he wold find her, so they could do those things again.

Present Time...................................................

The girl awoke in a dark room, alone, and scared.  The room was completely empty, but the walls had something that looked a lot like blood splatters on them.

"Hi." A voice from behind the girl said. "I'm Lillian.  What's your name?"

The girl turned, and saw a girl, around her age, behind her.  She had brown curly hair, and jade green eyes.  Her hair was braided down the side of her head, and she was wearing a light purple dress that went to her knees.

"I-I'm Jessica.  I'm seventeen." The girl said shakily.

"I'm nineteen, pretty close." Lillian said, smiling.

"W-why am I here?" Jessica said, clearly terrified.

"Well, that's a long story." Lillian said, sitting on the ground next to Jessica. "See, some people do things that other people don't like.  They think what they did was wrong, but the idiots who run what we call the justice system ignore it."

"But what does that have to do with me?" Jessica asked.

"You tell me." Lillian said, raising her eyebrow. "Was someone in your family recently in some trouble with the law, but they got out?"

"Someone framed my dad for murder." Jessica whispered. "But he was cleared of all charges."

"Well, someone didn't think he should have been cleared.  So they called us in." Lillian said, smiling.

"But who are you?"

"We like to call ourselves 'The Correctors'.  Catchy, right?" Lillian said, laughing. "We correct wrongs, through taking out someone the wrongdoer loves."

"Taking out?" Jessica repeated.

"Yep." Lillian said, standing up.  She pulled out something that was tucked in her boot.  A gun.

"No." Jessica whispered, mortified.

"Uh huh." Lillian confirmed, cocking the gun.

"Please...don't do this." Jessica said, as she started to cry.  Lillian smiled coldly, as Jessica tried to get up.  She pushed her back down.

"This will hurt more if you struggle." Lillian said, laughing.  Jessica didn't listen, and she tried to grab the gun from Lillian's hand.

Lillian kicked her in the gut, and Jessica fell again, groaning and crying.  Lillian aimed another kick at her shin, then another at her head.  A cut opened up on her forehead.

"I told you it would hurt if you struggled." Lillian punctuated every other word with another kick to some part of Jessica's body, all pretence of sweetness gone.

"Please." Jessica pleaded.

Lillian snorted, as she pushed the barrel of the gun to Jessica's temple.

"You're going to go to hell," Jessica sobbed.

"Really?" Lillian asked? "Then I guess I'll see your daddy there."

She pulled the trigger.

The shot echoed throughout the empty room, and Jessica struggled no more.

"And that's why I'm the best." Lillian said, as she kicked the lifeless body away, and walked out of the room.

Chapter End Notes:

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