“Let’s go to the arcade, Caden.”885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7DHHpnUDH
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.”885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXxWtOA8cc
“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!”885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnlhQn9anv6
He turned around defiantly, snow piling on his batting eyelashes. “It’s no fair, you’re a 6th grader!”885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOW1eYwE2FF
“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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pzXiLfA9j
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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7F2uZi5hmB
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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnbaS37Jd3
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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJy2Q3G6yX
“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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmMqq819IRq
“I bet you can’t! But mommy said the water is really fast and cold! That’s why nobody goes no more!”885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUrntpkMAP
“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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH59xmYuKMY
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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88WIOIRlwV
Caden’s mommy was right. There was no one around. No one would see us from below the bridge.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHcQvC7fvyy
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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaUvBwvOWDL
He turned, a smile ear to ear on his ruby cheeks.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYySheCeIV
“Are you ready?”885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0txOQnNII
He nodded.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eHbGcrazW
“Then come over here!” I coaxed him further beneath the bridge.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmris3Sn7EF
He came to my side, skipping stones piled in his thick jacket pockets, and slipping out of his woolen gloves.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD3H7T1onr8
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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2LR3CSQZo
He gasped, inhaling sharply, before his whole body went limp, falling to the ground like a giant, lifeless doll.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMfrjjOMyvg
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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBRNKSlkpC
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. 885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bMm2C4OC1
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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0WCRMrSMx4
The exposed skin of their privates was soft in innocence, never once having been exposed to the lewd nature of the world.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4n0Zot5tg
And I despised every piece of it.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMrtjQJz5kO
I reached around for the largest rock, and I gave it a few tosses in my palm to wage its weight.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cSYTOKc1Q
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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEAqNJb9GG
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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6SfvLuepSt
“It deserves the same treatment as the first,” I muttered to the child as I sloppily yanked out the second.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKmqDTR9O2
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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRS65BGBQ5
And I rolled the body into the river, along with the bloody rocks what gave away our secret.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJ3ztOTEji
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.885Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjrLikPbmW
