B A E T H A N

My head shot straight up when I heard Amaris. "Why would my aunt be in the bathroom at 3:00 in the morning? Once she's asleep, nothing can wake her up except the smell of coffee."

Amaris shrugs her shoulders. "Maybe she had to go to the bathroom from the coffee." I frowned at Amaris' attempt to be funny.

"It seems out of character for her....."

"Don't think too much about it, Baethan."
Poking my cheek, she motioned for me to smile. As if on instant reflex, I relaxed when Amaris gave me her cute puppy eyes. I rewarded her with a smile which elicited one from her.

Walking towards our school, a feeling of cold dread filled me. In order to get to school, we have to pass the old abandoned library we had visited once. I turn my head towards it as we passed. The windows were broken and the front door that was hanging on its hinges, beckoned towards us as it opened and closed from the autumn wind. The grass, which probably sheltered all kinds of unknown species was overgrown and the metal gate which encompassed the circumference of the library was rusted. I gazed at the eerie looking library while walking, only to trip on something clunky.

"Ack. What was that?" I said as I did a funny dance in order to regain my balance and prevent myself from falling.

Amaris crouched down to pick up it up. It was an old book which was torn in many places. It must have rained last night because it was soaking wet! Amaris gingerly flipped it over to read the title of the book.

1450-1750 The Great Purge.

"What does the Great Purge mean?" I laughed as I continued to walk, dismissing the book. But Amaris didn't follow me. I turned around and saw Amaris still crouching near the book. As I got closer I noticed that her face had turned white as she looked at the book in fear. "What is it, Amaris." I asked as concern laced my words. I glanced at the object again but all I saw was an old soggy book laying on the pavement. Nothing special or terrifying.

"The Great Purge. I read about it in history class." She whispered

"Really? I don't remember anything about it." I crouched down beside her so that we were on the same eye level.

"That's because you were sleeping, you idiot." She said while slapping the back side of my head.

"Ow. What's the big deal?" I asked as I rubbed the sore spot.

Rolling her eyes, Amaris explained to me that the Great Purge was the era in history where people from around the world were purging or cleansing their land from witches and anything involving witchcraft."

"So?"

"Your Aunt was reading the same book this morning."

My mouth dropped open. What did she say to me....wasn't it something about Amaris being a witch?

I shook my head of such thoughts and grabbed Amaris' arm. Leading her by the elbow while mumbling something about being late for school. I ignored Amaris' confused look she gave me and we continued to walk in silence.

Suddenly, the most wretched smell hit our nostrils. It smelled of meat left outside for too long. Covering my nose with my shirt, I turned to Amaris and saw her follow suit. I grab her hand and we run towards our school in order to escape the smell. Unfortunately, the closer we got to the school, the more pungent the smell became. When we reached the metal gates that marked the entrance of our school, the most horrid sight greeted us.

The rhythmetic thumping hypnotized us as we gazed at a disfigured body that was skewered by the pointy metal rods. The gates that opened and closed by a motion sensor was malfunctioning, so the corpse made a clunking noise against metal bars every time it closed. I stared in horror at the sight.

Who is the unfortunate soul? The only thing I could make out of the bloody mass was that it was a male with a muscular physic. His face was twisted into a look of horror as his blood dripped onto the dry pavement.

I could hear screaming in the distance. The mesmerizing sound of his blood dripping onto the pavement and the thumping of the corpse against the gate caused it to sound as if it was a metronome. His face was frozen in everlasting horror and fear. I guess mine must have reflected the same.

"Its Mr. Kirkland!" Amaris shrieked.

The sound of Amaris's voice broke me out of my trance, but by then we weren't the only spectators around. Many of our classmates had gathered around us and were either screaming or taking pictures. Quickly, I took my phone out to call for help when the sound of sirens careened down the streat. The screaching of brakes and the smell of burnt rubber mixed with the coppery smell of blood that permeated the air.

"Is this the work of the serial killer that's on the loose here?" Amaris whispered in my ear as she clung to my arm.
All I could do was silently nod my head. He dominated the front page of our town's newspaper everyday. His "works of art" were known to strike fear into the hearts of the beholder more than the victim. Or should I say she?

A M A R I S

"Baethan? Baethan. Baethan!" I screamed at him. Finally he turned and gave me a blank look. I shake his shoulders. "Wake up! This weird guy keeps staring at us." I said while pointing to a rather suspicious person.

Shaking his head, he looks around him as if dazed. I roll my eyes. Baethan's eyes follow in the direction where my finger pointed towards. "Oh, that's our Sheriff. Actually.......he is our only sheriff. He represents the whole police department. This Serial Killer has been keeping him pretty busy lately." Baethan said.

"Oh no! He's motioning for us to come to him." I panicked as I tightened my grip on Baethan. He winced. He is so puny.

"Come on, Amaris. We were the first ones to find Mr. Kirkland, so of course he is going to ask us some questions." I heaved a heavy sigh and reluctantly followed Baethan towards the sleezy looking guy.

He introduced himself while offering me his hand. Trying to hide my disgust, I plaster on a smile and shake his clamy hand.

"Amaris."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Amahriz." I winced when he said my name wrong. "Is she your girlfriend, Baethan?" He turned towards Baethan.

"Yes" Baethan said without even hesitating! I jabbed him in the ribs causing him to wince in pain.
The sheriff chuckled, "You've got a lively one there."

Baethan gave the Sheriff a goofy smile. "Yes sir."

"Well listen, I'm just going to ask a couple of questions. Standard procedure, you know?"

"Of course officer." I almost hit Baethan again, but then I realized what he was doing.

Baethan was kissing butt with the Sheriff! I couldn't help but smile when realization dawned on me.

"How did you find Mr.Kirkland and what time was it?"

"Amaris and I were walking to school when we found Mr. Kirkland. It was around," Baethan checked his watch, "7:24 when we spotted him."

"Did you have any ill feelings towards Mr. Kirkland? Did he give you a bad grade or punish you that made you upset in anyway?"

"No sir. I enjoyed Mr.Kirkland's class. His knowledge of.........." Struggling to remember which class Mr. Kirkland taught, I couldn't help but snort in laughter. Idiot.

"History."  I coughed out.

"...oh! His knowledge of History was so....enlightning."

Not picking up on Baethan's hesitation, the Sheriff continued to question us. By the time we were done, my face hurt from smiling so much and my privacy felt intruded.

"Do you want to go somewhere before I drop you off at your house?

"We probably need to discuss what happened today."

"What if we go back to the library tomorrow?" He suggested.

"No! No,no,no! You are not taking me there even if you have to drag me screaming!"  I threatened. Baethan tilted his head as if he was actually considering dragging me to the library! Hitting him upside the head, I walk towards my house in frustration. My house would at least be better than that creepy library.

Hearing the sound of Baethan's footstep's behind me, I slow down so he could catch up.

"What are you doing?"  I asked slightly annoyed. "Your house is in the opposite direction."

"I wanted to make sure your mom was home."

"Oh." That's all I could think of since I've never had someone care about what happened to me.

As we walked in silence, the crunching of dead leaves underneath our feet made the awfullest noise as if we were crunching bones into powder.

The dull sky reflected my mood as I kicked a dormant anthill that overflowed onto the sidewalk. The closer I walked to my house, the worse my mood became as I dreaded what I would find inside. Feeling a warm presence beside me, Baethan draped his arm over my shoulder as if he was half hugging me. My instinct told me to shake his arm off, but I ignored it, because just this once, I needed someone to lean on.

When we walked up into my front porch, I could see my mom's car parked off to the side of the house. Baethan dropped his hand and gave me a thumbs up as he walked way. "Call if you need me." He yelled behind his back as I watched his figure slowly blend in with the shadows of the afternoon.

Taking a deep breath, I take out my keys from my backpack and slowly let myself in. The tv was left on as the blaring sound of a sports announcer filled the whole house. I peak inside the entertainment room and saw a huge mess that I would have to clean up later, but no one was in the room. I sigh in relief as I checked each and every room. Satisfied that I was alone in the house, I began to clean up the mess to get my mind off of this morning. Seeing a note that my mom left behind, I threw it away after reading the message. Evidently she is shopping for food tonight.

When I finished cleaning, I trudged up to my room and collapsed onto my thin mattress. The stench of the molded carpet made me wrinkle my nose in disgust. As my eyes were about to close in pure exhaustion, the sound of my phone alerted me of a text message.

My pillow muffled the sound of my groans as I searched for my annoying phone with my right hand. My finger tips graze the smooth surface of my phone, causing me to grab it and roll over on my bed.
The bright screen lit up my otherwise dark room, casting shadows upon the wall.

"Unknown number." I whispered out loud. Immediantly, I felt creeped out and decided to ignore the unread message. Placing it on the carpeted floor, I attempted to go back to sleep but my phone vibrated as if someone was calling me. Squinting at the bright screen, I recognize the number as the exact one from last time. Turning the silent mode on my phone I roll over and go back to sleep, unaware that someone was watching me from the shadows of my room.