Scary Kids (NaNoWriMo 2019)

Chapter 15.

I jolt back, gasping in fear for the first time since blood pumped through my veins.

"Why did you do it?!" the hooded figure yells at Rebecca.

"I-" she can barely breathe from her throat being locked in between the tree and her assailant's arm, "I... I don't know what you're talking about."

"Just admit it!" the now clear female voice quivers in her strength.

"I swear!" she tries to shout. "I swear that I didn't do this, Alice!"

Alice?!

"Stop lying!" she shoves harder. "I know that you did!"

"What?" Rebecca questions under pressure. "How?"

Alice pulls out a crumpled up piece of lined paper.

"This!" she shows her, a tear running down her face despite her sturdiness.

"I have no idea what that is?!"

Alice only gets angrier, "Why would you leave something like this?! My brother's dead and it's your fault!"

"I've never seen that piece of paper in my entire life!" she pleads.

For a minute, I thought that I wanted to know what all of this had to do with Elijah, but I don't think I was prepared to hear what was about to come next.

Alice is one step away from falling under her cries, "Why didn't you do it?"

"I-" Rebecca's eyes water up.

"Please?" Alice begs.

"I'm sorry," she cracks.

I don't think my mind has ever been this lost before.

They're both on the brink of falling into their own personal oblivion and I stayed in the dark and did nothing. I am not a good friend or person for that matter. Anyone else would have done something if they saw what was going on, two girls who seemed just about ready to rip each other's skin apart. I wish I knew why I was this way, cause I don't think I want to be this person anymore.

"I was scared," Rebecca cries, "I knew it was me they were after and I just couldn't do it."

Finally, Alice let her go and they both stood staring at each other's sorrowful eyes.

"I didn't think they would try again so soon," Rebecca whimpers.

"I don't think anyone did," Alice replies wiping her tears up with her sleeve before pulling my once friend into a deep hug.

"I'm so sorry," she wails in her arms.

They're silent for a moment before Alice dare's to speak up again, "I wish I knew why they were doing this."

"It's just so sick," Rebecca spews, "we're kids! They've never hunted us down like this before."

Hunted down? None of this made sense.

"I guess it's hard to deny superstition when it sinks its teeth into your family," Alice confesses.

When they separate, all I could sense was nothingness surrounding them. No fury or despair, only the smoke of everything that once existed but now is gone.

"They probably know we're here," Rebecca points out, looking for lingering eyes.

I couldn't hold myself back anymore, so I run up to them and yell to the point where I hoped they could hear me, "Who are they?!"

What hit me in that instant was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I barely got within a footstep of them when this immensely strong gust pushes me as far back as it could.

"We need to go," Alice says shakily.

"Yeah," Rebecca agrees.

I only catch a glimpse of them running away, back into the trees, when I sit up.

"Hunting us down?" I talk to myself. "What the hell does that mean?!"

When I eventually make it back to Busker street, I take a second to look around. All it reminded me of was how Elijah compared it to the rapture, and now it somehow was taking a deadlier approach than it had before. Fresh crows stood impaled on all the sharp posts that stood out of the ground.

My first instinct was absolute dread, yet the image slowly made me feel in the grasp of comfort.

Leading down an alleyway I noticed a trail of dead birds lying on the sidewalk, which jumped out at me as being odd. So, I followed the line down amidst the rough brick walls of this dying town. At the end, the crows were sparsely laid on the gravel surface of Fishers avenue. Every few hundred meters there was another one, practically the same colour as the sky.

When the line of death finally stopped, I was at the one place I never thought that I would step inside again. It was home. Rundown and abandoned, but still the place where my dad raised me. I've hated him so much for leaving.

The lawn hadn't been cut since the day I died and the laminate panels were covered in dust and soot. My dad never even sold the place and no one has even moved in.

I take a few steps closer but stop in regret.

"This is a horrible idea," I tell myself, "don't do it, Harper."

I would be lying if I said I wasn't the least bit curious as to why I was led here. My Adrenaline was taking over every thought that I had and I found it impossible not to indulge my desire, so I make a run for it through the closed door, my eyes shut.

When I flutter my eyes open again, I'm standing in the entrance with the kitchen and living room on either side. Nothing had moved, it was all the same, the only difference was the sheets and cobwebs that now called this place theirs.

Right ahead of me was the staircase up to the second floor. On the very last step at the top, another crow's carcass was perched. For a moment I thought it may have still been alive, but it didn't move a single feather. It was the only sign I had, so I make my way up to it and step over the decaying body.

The wood floor creaked as I turn to the left to face the door to my room. My name was still painted brightly on it and as much as I tried to avoid, it reminded me of how much fun I used to have as a kid when everything was still okay.

I finally twist the knob and open the door. The air was static-like and dusty, but someone was sitting at the end of my bed.