Small Town

Cadence Reinke.11 Small Town

The cold breeze softly blows in the air, softly dancing against a woman’s exposed shoulder. The goosebumps rising on her skin through the ripped brown sweater and black straight ripped jeans. The dark, but bright red liquid stains her body and clothes. The wood crackling and burning in the fire, sending the heat outwards, almost like it was creating a bubble; a bubble of security. The smoke rises into the dark night air, making its own form of clouds. She brought the cigarette up to her mouth, breathing in the drag, feeling the smoke fill her mouth. She blew it out from her mouth, a small, but devilious smile on her face. There was no going back, nothing could change the past, nor the future...or maybe it could. Who is she? Just the little evil nightmare that lives in the small friendly town. The girl with a plan, the girl who knows everything about everyone. She knows every secret. She had transformed f the girl everyone loved and trusted l to the girl everyone feared. They don’t know she is the nightmare running around the town. The girl with a bright shiny smile on her face has some demons in her life. She has many secrets, secrets that would haunt many people, scare them so badly they’d have nightmares every night,

~ ~ ~

“Who would even hurt her? What even could have been the motive?” the woman said. Her skin was like a dark chocolate, almost like the dark night sky, and her bright green eyes shone like stars. The black dress she had on blew softly from the small breeze in the air. Serena was her name: peaceful and tranquil. “She was an innocent and sweet girl” the girl next to her said. Her hair was just above her shoulders, almost like the banging bob cut. She was tall and skinny Even without her heels she was tall. She was smart, loving, kind, and had a great sense of style. Courtney was such atypical name for a girl like her.

“Revenge.” A voice came from beside them. They turned their heads to the side to seea woman wearing a black shirt with black ripped jeans. Tears stained her face, her eyes were red. Her bottom lip quivered, holding back the tears and sobs. She was the new girl;the girl people found mysterious anddifferent. Marianne, or Anne, : rebellion and grace. “We need revenge.”

“Just because your name literally has the word ‘rebellion’ in it…” A brunette woman said. Jane: a gift from God. She had medium length hair, resting just two inches below her shoulders. She was wearing a black lace dress with black and white converse. Black sunglasses covered her face, she didn’t want people to see the pain on her face. “Stop trying to act like this tough person, Anne. You try to act-” “Jane!” Another woman snapped at Jane.

“Sorry Hannah” Hannah, the popular girl, the girl that knew everyone and everyone knew her. “Just stop trying to act all bad and dangerous, when everyone knows you wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Jane reached into a small green bag she had in her possession. She pulled out a lighter and a cigarette. She handed one to Courtney, Hannah, and Serena. Anne never smoked, hated when people smoked. Jane lit them all, since they didn’t have any lighters. It was the 80s, people didn’t care about teenagers smoking. At least not in a small town. Smoke left their throats as they looked down at the grave. This was going to change everything.. Wallace was a small town in Idaho surrounded by mountains and pine trees. This wasn’t the typical place for murder to happen. The last murder dated back 60 years ago. It was a peaceful town with lovely and caring people. This murder was going to change the history here. “17 year old Rose Bartley was murdered going for a run in the park. We have very little evidence about who the attacker was or why this reason could be.” The sheriff said into the microphones. “I know everyone who is watching is scared and worried about their family and themselves. “This is a small town with a bunch of angry people. He couldn’t have gotten far in a town this small.”

He walked away from the stage. A commercial quickly came on. The people broadcasting tried to get the disturbing thoughts about the case out of their minds, but it wouldn’t work. People felt unsafe, like they were being hunted, watched, like someone was peaking through the curtains. Danger could be anywhere the murderer could be your next door neighbor; heck it could even be someone in your family.. Maybe someone

had escaped the insane asylum and continued an old murder spree. Ted Bundy, Jeffer Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Robert Hansen or even Richard Ramirez. All the horrible and dangerous murderers. Maybe they broke out; maybe they moved to a small town, murdered an innocent girl. Tried to strike again and make the news, become famous for what they once were.

The sound of a telephone made Jane snap out of her daydream; she didn’t realize how long she had been sitting there. Those thoughts buzzed her brain, making it feel like it could have happened. Like she was murdered by aserial killer. She pushed herself off the ground, stepped over the dog, and walked into the kitchen where the phone was at. She grabbed the bright, green phone. She brought it to her ear. She didn’t know what she was expecting, maybe someone else had died. It would have been easy for someone to strike again in this sleepy town.

“Hello?” Her voice was small and soft, like a whisper. Maybe she didn’t even say anything, maybe she just imagined it. “It’s me. Serena. We’re all going to the hangout tonight if you wanna come?” Serena sounded off. Like something was bugging her. Something was bugging her. The death of her friend. She’s never experienced death before,, so this is all new to her. She didn’t know how she should react or feel. She felt numb. “We hope you can come.” “Yeah I’ll be there.” She didn’t feel like going. One of her best friends had died.She had been Jane’s closest friend, the one she bonded with the most. Her footsteps landed heavily as she walked along the side of the road. There was that nice warm fall air everyone loved in Wallace. The pine trees and tall mountains made everything feelpeaceful, safe, like home.The sky was clear and clean; the stars were so bright it looked like they were twinkling, almost like waving at you. Sometimes at night people swore they could see the galaxy. The only noises that could be heard were the sound of cars driving, the leaves and trees blowing, the sound of footsteps, and faint music playing. The music was coming from Jane’swalkman. Her headphones wrapped around her head. making her feel safe. This was her comfort place. She felt the happiest here, everyone did. Well...almost everyone “Wait a minute baby, stay with me a while, said you’d give me light, but you never told me about the fire,” she mumbled to herself as she listened to the rhythm of the song. It felt like it was dancing along her body, like a little bug jumping on her skin up and down.. The old mansion that once was owned by the wealthiest people in the past, was now just an old, abandoned mansion.

The girls surrounded themselves in the middle of the place, in front of the locked door, with only the flashlight visible. They told each other ghost stories, talked about Rosie, and talked about life. Suddenly, they heard something creepy outside. They didn’t dare to move, to speak, or do anything. “Someone is probably just messing with us.” Serena snuggled into the blanket more. “Are you sure?” Anne worried.. She was always the girl to worry.

“It’s nothing.” Hannah pushed herself off the ground with her palms, using the last strength she had in her body. She walked over to the door and opened it. There was nothing but the wind blowing into the house, sending a chill over them all. The moonlight shone into the place. She turned around towards the group, hands on her hips. “See? Nothing.” In a matter of a second, something plunged right through her stomach andblood splattered on the girls’ face. They did nothing, not even a single scream, just a gasp. Hannah looked down to her bright orange shirt; the blood soaking through already. The knife left her stomach, causing Hannah to fall to the ground. They finally screamed, running away from the fuzzy blankets towards the big white stairs. They all ran into a room, locking it behind them. “Hannah died! Hannah just freaking died!” Courtney shouted at the group. “Court, you’re just in shock.” Serena placed one of her hands up, slowly walking towards the blonde. “Don’t you dare come any closer to me!” She pointed at her. Her hand was shaky, but adamant. She was scared; she was the girl who was afraid of death and blood. “We just want to help you.” Anne stepped a little closer, she let her guard down a little. “Don’t worry, Courts. We’ll protect you.” “Promise?” she questioned softly. She breathed heavily and put her trust into Anne. “Promise.” She gave Courtney a soft, but simple smile. Anne reassured Courtney she was safe. There was one person and four of them. A pounding on the door made them all jump. They watched the door jiggle. Since this was an old house, it wouldn’t hold much longer. “Hide.” 43

someone hiding underneath a bed grabbed Courtney’s ankles.. She was pulled right on out from underneath and dragged into that darkness, never to be heard from again. No words were spoken between the remaining girls, just the sound of running from their hiding spots, into the hallway to try and look for her It was too dark to see anything. Without a warning Mairanne ran off, too scared to look or even think, leaving Jane and Serena by themselves. Jane revealed two small pocket knives she always kept on her and offered one to Serena. Serena didn’t want it, didn’t like violence. As Jane slipped the knife in her pocket, a sudden hand gripped Serena’s legs, knocking her to the ground, and pulling her away. Jane quickly, grabbed onto her. She had to do something. “Serena!” Jane screamed, holding onto her hand tightly. She couldn’t let go of her, not after everyone had left her. The grip started to become lighter and lighter. “Let me go.” Serena said calmly. Jane looked down to the girl in her hands. She frantically shook her head looking at her friend . “I’ll buy you some time.” Serena brought her eyes down to the wound that was on Jane, and then to Jane’s pocket. “I’ll take the spare knife now.” “Serena…” Jane pleaded. She reached into her pocket grabbing the switchblade before placing it in Serena’s pocket. “I can’t let go of you.” “Then I’ll do it for you.” Serena sunk her teeth into Jane’s arm, causing her screams to ripple out from Jane’s throat. She let go, groaning in pain as she held her arm. Serena was dragged away down the long and dark hallway. Jane watched with tears in her eyes. It was just her and Marianne. She had to find Marianne first. She stood up, but didn’t move. She heard something. Crying. A woman’s crying. Marianne’s crying. Jane followed the sound to a small walk-in closet. “We’re gonna die.” Marianne said simply. Jane grabbed her by the shoulders. “We are the last two people standing! Get your shit together and help me!” Jane yelled at her. Marianne sniffled softly, nodding her head frantically. Jane let go of her, a big sigh followed quickly afterwards. “We need to find some kind of information about the killer before they get to us. Can you help me with that at least?” Marianne nodded her head frantically a second time. Jane was going to get out of here alive, no matter what it would take. She let go of Marianne’s shirt, letting her go back to her normal self. Marianne noticed something shiny on the ground; it was blinding her. She walked towards the shiny spot and noticed it was a knife. The knife. “I think I found something.” Marianne held the knife in her hand. It was still speckled with blood, and there was dirt visible as well. She ran her fingers along the handle and felt an indent. Her eyes scanned the knife. There it was. J.W. “J.W.” She mumbled to herself. “Josh Wilburn? James White?” “The sheriff? But that doesn’t make any sense,” Jane stated. “Those are the only people that come to mind with the name of J.W.” She kept looking at it, thinking hard. She couldn’t put her finger on it. “Jamie Wilson, but there’s also…” She stopped herself when a sudden name came to mind. The next name hit her so badly she forgot what she was doing, who she was with. “I mean the only other person that comes to mind is Jane-.” The realization hit her. She didn’t want to believe it, she couldn’t. This was her best friend since they were kids. She remembered all the wonderful and happy moments she had with her.. The times they went to get ice-cream, went to the mall, listened to music, talked about all the boys they wanted to marry in the future. “Seems like you finally figured it out.” The sound of a gun clicking made Marianne’s heart sink to the ground. She wanted the earth to just swallow her up right then and there. She turned around slowly, the black barrel of the revolver pointing right at her head. One click and she would be dead right there. Her body would fall to the ground, knife in her hand, her DNA on it. Jane was willing to make it look like the murderer was Marianne. “Why?” Was the only word that came out of Marianne’s mouth. “I’ve had a troubled life, Anne. You know this.” She chuckled softly. “My family has this game; we have to see who will win. You have to kill more people than everyone else in the family.” “What do you get if you win?” She was trying to stall, get her distracted. An evil grin spread onto Jane’s face. What a dumb question to ask. ~ ~ ~ “Marianne! Courtney! Jane” The sheriff shouted. A small dark figure started walking out from the building, there was something in that figure’s hand. As the figure got closer and closer they realized who it