“Let’s go to the arcade, Caden.”836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fRij2VmQQ
He turned back to the street, where the school bus should pick us up at any moment. His auburn hair was tousled and tucked beneath his knitted, olive beanie, and his chocolate freckles shivered on his nose. “I don’t know. My mommy said to come straight home after school.”836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfyMIEeR1H
“Do you always do what your mommy tells you? I thought you were a big boy now! I mean, you’re already in the 5th grade!” I punched his arm playfully. “Come play at the arcade with me, or I’ll tell everyone in Mr. McGuirk’s class that you lost Tekken to a girl!”836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMu32JPm13
He turned around defiantly, snow piling on his batting eyelashes. “It’s no fair, you’re a 6th grader!”836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpzhFxrTym
“I still beat you, though!” I stuck out my tongue, my gloved hand cinching around his forearm. “Come on, let’s go. Your mommy won’t be mad, just tell her you were out with your friend Jason again. Not me, remember?” I put a finger to my smiling lips, leading him away from the bus stop.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxRcE1whqm
He followed obediently, his eager fingers wrapped around my own. I smiled back at him, remembering how much shorter he was to me. We had hung out at the arcade a few times after school, and he would tell his parents he was out with Jason, his playmate.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7P34wyW1BA
And that’s what I loved about this homey town. Despite the circumstances, parents are naive enough to believe they’re blanketed by this false sense of security, a “It-will-never-happen-to-me” attitude. Lying to their faces was effortless.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7ofdWqAo1
As we turned the corner, I stopped at the bridge that would lead to the main part of town. The streets were unoccupied. The school bus hadn’t even made it to the stop.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5omRajJRT
“Why don’t we go down to the river, Caden? I bet I could skip more rocks than you!” I was already leading him off the sidewalk, down the gravel slope to the river beneath the bridge.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13iFH6Ttj2
“I bet you can’t! But mommy said the water is really fast and cold! That’s why nobody goes no more!”836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAH94ReORt
“Then it’ll make the rocks skip faster! And we wouldn’t have to share with anybody,” I bluffed, helping him down the rest of the way.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJhv1pjapZ
As we made it to the lip of the gushing river, he let go of my hand and happily began collecting rocks for our contest. I quietly followed suit, looking up and down the rushing river.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IxiJNcDAz
Caden’s mommy was right. There was no one around. No one would see us from below the bridge.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ40f3xlrf5Z
I tucked the few rocks into my pocket, my other hand tearing open a ziplock bag in my jean pocket. I dipped my hands into its contents, until my gloves were just soaked through, then I called for Caden.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ535vtkOCUY
He turned, a smile ear to ear on his ruby cheeks.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1zWr63uOPL
“Are you ready?”836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj7Sh1ityVU
He nodded.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1mLFoE3zy
“Then come over here!” I coaxed him further beneath the bridge.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx63YvBeqvX
He came to my side, skipping stones piled in his thick jacket pockets, and slipping out of his woolen gloves.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbONvYQRTrj
And as he turned to toss a rock into the river, I pulled the beanie over his eyes and clasped my grasp over his nose and mouth.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoV7Paa8Krs
He gasped, inhaling sharply, before his whole body went limp, falling to the ground like a giant, lifeless doll.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fWCqfhSgl
I stopped for a moment, staring at the listless body. The world suddenly freezes over, and it says you still have a chance to walk away and forget this ever happened.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡur3xncUe1H
Sometimes, I listen to that heavy tugging in my chest. Most of the time, the screaming rage in my gut would immediately drown out that silence, and I would...attack. 836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgo0cTUXlc
With a growl screeching at my lips, I would undo the child’s pants, violently yanking them off and tossing it to the side along with the underwear. This time, it had landed right at the edge of the river, dampened in its hungry tongue.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIMN1BQhpb
The exposed skin of their privates was soft in innocence, never once having been exposed to the lewd nature of the world.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusgqTM7CSD
And I despised every piece of it.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6VDovkZnqo
I reached around for the largest rock, and I gave it a few tosses in my palm to wage its weight.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4hjNRshEb
And then I smashed it into that soft, supple skin, the drugged hand still at the child’s lips so they wouldn’t wake as I banged and crushed and degraded that private area between their legs. I didn’t stop, not when my arm was tired, not when I figured the child had enough. I beat them until I felt like I was almost finished. Until I felt like I was at my peak. And I sat back gasping, admiring the bloody, pulpy mess I had created, this euphoric wave of relief I was about to release.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0CWheFu7A
I pulled the wool from the child’s eyes, taking the spoon from my lunchbag. With a rush of urgency, I stabbed the spoon right into the corner of the child’s eye socket, scooping out that jelly ball and giving it that final yank at the vein that connect it to the head. Then I hurriedly went to the other.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQsdg54Ct1
“It deserves the same treatment as the first,” I muttered to the child as I sloppily yanked out the second.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy1aqWGxwwi
I stopped, leaning over the child. As the empty sockets stared back at me, relief washed over my body. And I looked over the child, who was now completely empty of whatever soul was within it before I had met them.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhiIvLYxPKO
And I rolled the body into the river, along with the bloody rocks what gave away our secret.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFVZahzzfnF
I didn’t even watch the body drift away. I marched up the river for a mile before making it back up to the outskirts of town. I made my way to my empty home, where I tossed my gloves in the fire pit before lighting it ablaze, washed my lunch box and the silverware I took to school that day, and started my homework just as my mother walked in through the garage door.836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVdk6wbtSw
