Broken

Chapter 13

When we reached the fancy house, there were two insane women, playing "ring around the rosy" in the front yard. There was an insane little boy sitting the middle of them, squealing strangely and playing. Hank stopped the car and stared in horror at the little boy. I looked at boy again and I saw what he was playing with. It was a baby, and the baby looked okay, like, not insane. The baby was screaming and crying, and the boy was yelling back. The women didn't notice, they just continued their song. They all had the welts on the sides of their heads and on at least one arm.

The three of us hopped out of the car quickly and I began running to the three insane. I had to save the baby. I heard Seth and Hank following me. The women noticed us and they froze and stared at us, but didn't stop singing, making this a way more creepy moment than it needed to be. The women began walking towards us, their arms outstretched to us, as if begging for something.

"Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posies..."

I ran to the left and went around them, leaving Hank and Seth to deal with the insane women. I rushed up to the boy, who was now slapping the baby, who was crying harder than before. I yanked out my knife. The insane boy was punching the baby now. I hesitated only a second before stabbing the boy on the top of the head, stopping his punching. He looked up at me one final time. I grabbed the baby and pulled my knife from his skull. He screamed in anger.

"We all fall down. Ring around the rosy..."

Blood was pouring from his head and he grasped for the baby before falling to the ground. All his welts burst, and blood splattered on the ground. I looked away and checked the baby. It was a girl. She seemed fine. I immediately named her Ashley, hence the song. I looked back at Seth and Hank, to see how they were doing. I noticed the women were much more agile, unpredictable, and could carry a good fight. Seth was fighting a blondie, and Hank was fighting a ginger. The blondie noticed the dead insane boy and she immediately filled with rage.

"ASHES ASHES WE ALL. FALL. DOWN!"

She lunged at me, fire igniting her crazy eyes. I managed to get out of the way, but the blondie snagged Ashley's torn outfit, bringing Ashley down with her. I yelled and whipped around. The woman was gently caressing the baby. She bared her teeth at me and kissed Ashley. I clenched my fists and took out my knife. She clucked her tongue and snapped her fingers. Someone grabbed my hair and held a knife to my throat. I felt unsteady breathing on the back of my neck and I became rigid in fear. The blondie blew a kiss at the person behind me, and a gruff voice answered to her, making me realize it was a man holding me captive. The woman yelled to her ginger friend.

"Dinner's ready!"

The ginger glanced at us, and ran over, leaving Hank finishing a punch at air. Seth growled and aimed his shotgun at the blondie. I yelled,

"NO! The baby!"

Seth took aim at the ginger, but the blondie called out again,

"Dinner's ready! Fresh human flesh! Johnny! Get up from the ground! Dinner's ready!"

I looked at the unmoving boy (who's apparent name was Johnny) and then glanced up at the blondie, who was flushed with anger. She glared at me.

"You made Johnny fall asleep! I told you to keep him awake! Bad girl! Bad girl! Baby, tell your daughter she has been bad."

The gruff voice said, "Bad girl. You've been a bad girl, Jamie."

My breath hitched as he said that. I was in their world and playing a character that didn't exist. They were playing these characters, yet they didn't have a choice. They were stuck in a world that captured them.