The Eyes of the Few

Hungry

“Zuko! Katara! Slow… down!” I yelled after my friends.

Katara peered over her shoulder, and smiled when she caught my eye. “Hey Rikki, where’ve you been?” She asked, turning back to the pavement in front of her. Zuko acknowledged me with a slight nod of his head.

I sped up and burst through their clasped hands, changing my pace to a backwards walk once I was facing them. “I found the perfect place.” I said with obvious excitement. “You know that run-down house old-man Jenkins was murdered in? Well, the town finally ended the investigation, so no cops are going to be lurking around the property anymore.”

            “Great. Last time Zuko picked the place, no one was interested in staying. The house of a murder victim? That sounds better.” Katara said with a smirk. “I’ll spread the news. You should do the same.” She told Zuko and me, not waiting for a response before she ran off.

            “I’ll get the school,” Zuko told me, “Why don’t you cover the park?” I reluctantly nodded to his suggestion, knowing a few hundred teenagers would be at the school and maybe a dozen would be at the park, but also that he wanted to be recognized to Katara as the one who recruited the most people.

            I wondered off towards the park, stopping only twice to invite people. When I came to the park, I sat on one of the four black swings, impatiently waiting for someone older than eleven to show up. Finally, after what seemed like hours, a girl of around fifteen showed up. I quickly stood and rushed over to her.

“Hi, I’m Rikki. What’s your name?” I asked the girl, trying to sound polite.

            “I’m Sierra.” She said with a smile. “You must be new around town. I know everyone, and I don’t remember ever meeting you before.”

            With a smile, I responded. “Yeah, I’m an outsider. Is it that obvious?” She answered with a laugh and a nod of her head. “Anyway, my two friends who moved here with me and I kind of have this tradition. Every Friday, we throw a huge party. Today’s Friday, and you seemed like you might be interested in something fun.” I finished giving her the details, and after she promised she would come, I left her alone.

~*~

            Ten o’clock came, and the house was set up. A table was in the corner of the large living room, covered with food and soda. The floor was cleared of all furniture, minus the couches that had been pushed to the side of the room. There was a stereo with a docked iPod, volume set to the highest possible; and the doorbell was ringing.

            I stood by the door, watching as at least three hundred teenagers filed into and around the house.  By the time everyone arrived, it was midnight, and I was hungry. I found Katara and Zuko and gave them each our signal; a tug of the ear and two taps on the nose. Understanding, they returned the signal. Zuko went with a group of guys to order pizza, and Katara walked off with a few girls to refill the punch bowl. I found a few people who wanted to play a game, so I took them upstairs.

            We each returned to the living room alone.

            It was then two a.m., and when I looked about the room, only thirty people were left. Those thirty were all in a panic, because none of the other guests had gone home.

            “Everybody calm down,” I said with a shaky voice, standing on a table. “I’m sure everything is going to be alright. They’re probably just playing a prank. Hiding or something. Zuko, you take ten out back to look. Katara, you take ten upstairs, and I’ll stay here with the rest of you.” Everyone nodded in agreement, following their respective leader. I then called forth six from my group and went into the kitchen with them.

            With a scream, I returned with no one.

            “What happened?” A short girl said with a yelp.

            “I don’t know! One minuite they were there, but the next… they were just gone!”

            “I’m going to go out and check on the other group.” The girl said, and two others followed her out.

            “Rikki, I’m scared.” A familiar voice said from behind me. I turned around and saw it was Sierra. I gave her a reassuring smile.

            “You should be.”

            “What?” she asked.

            I laughed. “You should be.” With a gasp, she fell to the floor, blood coming from her mouth. I looked up and saw Zuko standing over her with a blood covered blade. We smiled at each other as Katara walked in, then the three of us knelt over her body and ate the last portion of tonight’s meal.