the ripper || irwin

[ 7 ] pentagram

“So you did leave the hospital?” She asked him, afraid of the answer.

“What do you think?” He smirked before walking away.

She went back into the lunch foyer after Ashton disappeared into the room.

Her eyes scanned the place, looking for her seventeen year old brother, until she found the blonde haired boy with his cliche blue eyes. He was like a typical perfect boy, only he wasn’t even normal at all.

A small smile showed up on his lips when he saw her.

As she approached him, she scolded him. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

He poked at one of the potato bits on his tray and popped it into his mouth. His expression contorted slightly, indicating that he didn’t like the taste of his food. After swallowing the mushy tasteless food, he replied, “You looked so peaceful sleeping there, I didn’t think I should wake you. You hardly even slept.”

Sliding into the seat next to him, she said, “I still think you should have woken me up.” Her head unconsciously leaned to rest on his shoulder.

Her slender hand reached out to grab something on his tray.

She grabbed a small lump of potato and brought it to her lips. She popped it into her mouth and ate it as if it were nothing. All the years of spending time at the hospital, she had gotten used to the food they fed the patients. Sometimes, her mum didn’t have time to cook and would often take her to the hospital’s foyer to grab some lunch.

“Hey,” He began, poking at the rest of the food on his tray. “I saw The Ripper wandering the halls in the middle of the night.”

“When?” She asked him.

“A bit after you fell asleep.” He responded.

“Do you know what he was doing?”

He shook his head. “He was walking really slowly, like a zombie...I went outside to see what he was doing and he walked past me like I wasn’t even there.”

“There is something seriously wrong with him.” Alice commented. “I really wish I could help him.”

“There was something weird about his eyes. And there was a creepy blankness to his stare.”

“I’m going to talk to mum and dad. I think he has some sort of personality disorder. Maybe they can get an expert to meet with him. When I saw him this morning, he was like a completely different person.” She explained, recalling the way he acted and how his behavior quickly changed at the end.

“I don’t like you spending so much time with him.” Luke said.

Her hand intwined with his, giving him a light squeeze. As it happened, the sleeve of his patient gown rolled down past his wrist slightly. Alice was able to catch a small glimpse of a scar on his wrist, but he quickly pulled the sleeve back over to cover it.

“What do you have on your wrist?” She asked him, her hand pulled away from him.

With her two hands, she now tried to pull the sleeve back down to get a better look at it.

“Its nothing, Alice.” He shrugged it off nervously.

“I want to see.” She said, in an authoritative voice.

“Alice,” He grunted in annoyance at her stubborness. She continued trying to see the scar that she never noticed before.

“Luke,” She replied with the same level of annoyance.

“Stop!” He growled, his blue eyes darkened with anger. His large hand grabbed onto her small wrist to stop her from trying to see what he was trying to hide.

She blinked at him in surprise. He never yelled at her. Yet there was something bone chilling in his voice and eyes. His eyes softened when he saw her eyes watering over. She told him, “Luke, I’m concerned about you. You need to let me help you.”

The bell that announced the end of breakfast hour rang through the foyer.

Luke got up from his seat and picked up his tray. “Alice, this isn’t something I need help with.” He told her blankly.

He walked towards the trash bins to throw away the remains of the food he didn’t finish. Alice followed closely behind her brother. When he went to set his tray on top of the trash containers, his sleeve slid down his wrist again, exposing the scar she wanted to see.

Her heart stopped.

The scar was similar to the one described by Ashton in his story.

It was a pentagram.