Edited on: 09/21/2021
Updated on: 07/12/2023
Please Read! Trigger Warning: Murder, violence, animal abuse/cruelty, mention of blood and grotesque imagery of murder, sharp objects (knife and a pair of scissors)
This chapter contains murder, violence, animal abuse/cruelty, mention of blood and grotesque imagery of murder, sharp objects that may be upsetting for some readers. Please proceed at your own risk or you can skip to the next chapter.
Aurora's POV
A few days have passed and I'm just laying on my bed and texting Eddie.
He didn't bother to go to school cause he ended up getting grounded for a week. He's grounded for getting into a fight, which he told his parents of course. I also heard Heather just got charged out of the hospital and she doesn't want to go to school either.
I may not be grounded but I'm still not coming out of my room. I just ignore my Mom's knocking on the door, Steven's loud voice outside of my room at night, and even Toby's pleadings.
I also heard Steven is grounded for four weeks and Mr. Anderson makes him go to school and he always makes sure that he gets to go to school before going to work. Right now, he's in school, which made me feel a bit safe. I decided to go to Miss Victoria's house once again and I still have a lot of questions about Steven and his twin brother.
I get off the bed and change into warm clothes. After that, I head out of my room and quickly go down the stairs.
As I slowly reach out to the doorknob, I can hear footsteps which made me turn around and I saw Mom, entering the living room with her arms crossed. Oh and also, Mom decided not to go to work for a while, just want to make sure that I won't do anything to myself.
"Aurora, where are you going?" She asked, approaching me.
"Um... just going over to Miss Victoria's house," I answered. She nodded but puts on a confused look on her face.
"You need something from her?" She asked another question.
"Yeah, and I just want to talk to her about something. Can I just go?"
She let out a sigh and nodded her head, saying yes. "Sure. But don't go anywhere else. Once you're done talking to Miss Victoria, I want you to go straight back home."
I nodded and slowly head out of the house. I close the door and walk towards Miss Victoria's house. I saw one of her cats by the front porch and pick her up and don't want the poor cat freezing due to the weather.
I gently ruffled its grey fur before knocking on the door. A few moments later, the door opens and Miss Victoria greeted me with a smile on her face.
"Oh hello again, Aurora. You found Lola." She took the grey cat into her arms and let me inside the house. She motioned me to follow her to a room, which is the living room, and we sit down.
"How are you doing these days, Aurora?" She asked, petting her cat.
"I'm okay I guess. Um, Miss Victoria... I have some things that I would like to ask." I said as she puts her cat down.
"And what is that?" She asked, putting on a curious face with a hint of concern in her eyes.
"It's about... Steven. And I remember the past incidents that you told me about. About a little boy who fell off the slide and broke his leg and the old man who got food poisoning... are you certain it was Steven doing it?"
"Well... I was there and I happened to see Steven here and there, specifically during those incidents. The incidents are coincidental and those kinds of incidents rarely happened in this neighborhood."
3RD POV
As Miss Victoria continues telling the incidents to Aurora... little did they know that there was a specific person, wearing clothes as dark as a black night, who quietly enters the house and hides in the shadows as he listens to their conversation.
"That reminds me I have a journal that I kept for quite a while and I've written all about the incidents and the suspicious behavior of Steven that might help. I even have some old newspapers about the incidents." Miss Victoria said.
This caught the attention of the dark-haired guy and decided to leave the house quietly, with a plan cooking up in his head.
Aurora's POV
"You happened to observe Steven around?" I asked.
"Well, he's quite suspicious and if there's anything that could lead him to be the culprit, then we have a little bit of proof." She said. "It's not much though but I can't remember the last time I placed it so it might take a while."
I nodded and I decided to head back home. I stand up from the couch.
"I should head back home, Miss Victoria but I'll come back tomorrow for that journal," I said.
"Okay, take care." She said. I give a small smile and head out of her house. I walk back to the house and I can feel someone behind me.
I slowly turn around and I saw a glimpse of someone walking by. I furrowed my eyebrows and decided to follow that person. I walk over to where he's going however I found nobody there. I shake my head and walk back to the house.
I enter and close the door behind me.
"Welcome back, sweetie. Are things okay with you and Miss Victoria?" Mom asked as she takes off her reading glasses.
"Yeah," I said.
"Do you need something? Do you want me to fix you a snack? Do you want to talk about something?" She asked. "If you want to talk about something that's bothering you, we can talk about it if you like. I'm worried about you, sweetie. I wish you could just tell me. You know you can always talk to me about anything, right?"
I can tell her yet. She's stressed about me, I don't want to make it worse.
'Still a coward.' My conscience spoke.
"Yeah, and I'm fine, Mom. I'm actually kind of tired. Can I go to my room?"
"Okay. I'll call you when it's dinner time and you really need to eat something, sweetie. I'll make your favorite meal." She said.
"Sounds good, Mom. I'll head upstairs to my room now." I head upstairs, on my way to my room. I walk towards the door but stopped in my tracks.
Since Steven is not around... I decided to look for more evidence and unravel the secrets he's been hiding.
I walk over to his room and head inside. I look around his room and search for some evidence. I open one of the drawers of his desk and found a red journal notebook with the name 'Steven' engraved on it. I pick it up and head out of the room.
I enter my room and close the door. I sit down and begin to open the red journal. It's just some pictures of Steven and his twin brother when they were little. They look so identical. Too identical.
I flip through the pages and I happened to find a picture of their mother. And she looks so young.
I continue to flip through the pages and I found another picture of a white rose bush. I furrowed my eyebrows and flip the picture and found something written on it.
'Father said that Mother loved white roses. That's why he likes to plant white rose bushes around the house.'
I put the picture down and flip the page. There's nothing much in here. Maybe Miss Victoria's journal could really help. I close the journal notebook and hide the red journal in a safe place and decided to take a nap.
I lay down and look up at the ceiling. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.
__
Steven's POV
Some time passed and it was already night time and I waited for Stefan to get here. I managed to sneak out of the school earlier and I pretended that I'd been in school the whole day. I heard footsteps as I look up and saw Stefan walking towards me.
"What is it now?" He asked.
"Well, Miss Victoria had a small chat with little Aurora and we need to do something about it," I said.
"And why do you want me to get involved?" He raised an eyebrow.
"She's going to expose everything and let Aurora report it to the police once she has all of the evidence, not only in Miss Victoria's hands but also in our own house," I said, rubbing my face in frustration before putting on a pair of gloves
I hand him a pair of scissors and a pair of gloves and I pull out a knife.
"Now let's not waste time and get this over with," I said as I started walking over to the house.
I look back and Stefan is not following me.
"Stefan, I said let's go," I said, walking back towards him.
"No, I don't want to do this Steven." He said.
I rolled my eyes, grabbing the pair of scissors from him.
"Fine, if you don't want to do it, then I will. Try to make yourself useful." I said.
Then he grabs my arm.
"I'm serious, Steven. Don't you think you've done enough?" He asked.
"Well, look who's finally making an effort to look after his younger brother after many years of... nothing."
"I refuse to be part of this." He said, locking his jaw.
"Try to make yourself useful, and if you don't want to be involved, leave then. You're great at doing that anyway." I repeated and I start walking towards Miss Victoria's house without him.
I open the door and it looks like Miss Victoria forgot to lock the door. I head inside and I found three of her cats sleeping.
I decided to destroy some stuff in order to wake Miss Victoria up.
"Who's there?" Miss Victoria called out.
She's awake.
I quickly kill two of the cats and grab the third cat by the neck, ignoring the sharp sensation of the claws as it scratched me.
I always hated her cats. Ever since I was little.
I heard the footsteps of Miss Victoria, going down the stairs and I decided to surprise her with the last of her precious cats.
I throw the cat to the ground and quickly cut its head off. I grab the bloody head of the cat and I happened to come face to face with her as I smirked.
"Hello... Miss Victoria." I said and before she let out a scream, I walk towards her before pushing her to the ground as she groans.
I drop the head of the cat and hold her down.
"Such a shame to see you go. But I think your time is up." I raise my hand up before stabbing her again... and again... and again.
"Ah!"
__
Aurora's POV
I let out a gasp and jerk out of bed. I can feel my heart beating faster and faster and beads of sweat forming on my neck and forehead despite the cold weather.
Something's not right...
I look at the time and it's already 10 in the morning. I quickly get off the bed and head down the stairs.
"Aurora? Where are you going? Aurora!" Mom called and I ignore her.
I run towards Miss Victoria's house and stop in my tracks. I noticed that the door is open and I push the door to let myself in.
I look around and there has been a lot of damage going on. Some of her vases are smashed, and her paintings and picture frames are scattered... it looks like someone was on a rampage and it couldn't be Miss Victoria obviously.
I look to my right and I saw three of her cats dead and one of them got decapitated. I cover my mouth and swallow the vomit that threatened to come out of my mouth.
I found a trail of blood going up the stairs and decided to check up on it.
I follow the trail and it leads me to a room. I gulp and slowly open the door. I head inside and I can't believe what I'm looking at right now.
It's Miss Victoria's dead body and all of her guts are found hanging out of her stomach with a pair of scissors stabbed on her chest.
"Ahh!"
__
The police arrived and I'm wrapped in the arms of Mom as I cried on her shoulder.
Almost everyone came out of their houses and they're all disgusted and despondent once they hear the news.
"She was okay yesterday, she doesn't deserve any of this!" I cried and Mom hugs me tighter.
"None of it, baby. " She said.
"Um... excuse me, Miss Aurora?" I turn around and realized it was Detective Brian. I wipe my tears and sniffled.
"I'm so sorry. But one of the police found this and it says it's for you." He said, handing a dark blue journal.
I took it from him and he decided to interview my Mom as well. She agreed and they left somewhere else.
I look down at the journal and I run my fingers through my hair in frustration. I look around and I saw a familiar black hooded guy isolating himself from the neighbors and quickly starts walking away.
I decided to follow him and he started to run off. I begin to run and follow him.
However, I run out of oxygen and I stopped in my tracks as I fall to my knees and take a breather.
I panted as I watched the hooded guy continue to run off as far as possible until his figure grew smaller and smaller until he disappear.
Edited on: 09/21/2021
Updated on: 07/12/2023