“Let’s go to the arcade, Caden.”701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9mxiNhsz4
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.”701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRJdA3vIzQr
“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!”701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbrDZEce2B
He turned around defiantly, snow piling on his batting eyelashes. “It’s no fair, you’re a 6th grader!”701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuZOYbacTxT
“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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURsHjwB2hT
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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8N3blCPXHt
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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ko4z6V5Gm
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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJWa0OqlnE
“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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAiqV67dZbV
“I bet you can’t! But mommy said the water is really fast and cold! That’s why nobody goes no more!”701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIg1tbOqnHf
“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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRAgllZ4XKD
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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb37Y4D3A2a
Caden’s mommy was right. There was no one around. No one would see us from below the bridge.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxvQzGlaWEi
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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRbNihCiadr
He turned, a smile ear to ear on his ruby cheeks.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxdDsaF0jz
“Are you ready?”701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWJGjHwPSm
He nodded.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrjrrGhuKJq
“Then come over here!” I coaxed him further beneath the bridge.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0COJ1k0Mur
He came to my side, skipping stones piled in his thick jacket pockets, and slipping out of his woolen gloves.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwS2KomDj3i
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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1FukaRyfOr
He gasped, inhaling sharply, before his whole body went limp, falling to the ground like a giant, lifeless doll.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0IlID0qUtd
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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTIE9JGfAi
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. 701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SOHlmCszq
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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡImEEj8YOoy
The exposed skin of their privates was soft in innocence, never once having been exposed to the lewd nature of the world.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgmTTH9xDY
And I despised every piece of it.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1enCSse8e
I reached around for the largest rock, and I gave it a few tosses in my palm to wage its weight.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkC5nYvmXui
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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6TjbasZbJB
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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTOyuUtpY9
“It deserves the same treatment as the first,” I muttered to the child as I sloppily yanked out the second.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRqDK7QP7I4
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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7dB6gEbbc
And I rolled the body into the river, along with the bloody rocks what gave away our secret.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1WnTdpOEbp
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.701Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHDBmGXxWfB
