Aston looked at Mace in the corner of his eye with shock. She had a gun pointed to the side of his forehead. He turned to face her. She looked horrible. She had patches of bald spots in her hair, dried up blood on her arm, her face, and legs but somehow the most horrible thing Aston could see on her was her smile. Her smile was so devious.
“Mace, What?…when?…Why are you doing this?” Aston said. He didn’t even know what to think. I mean she used to talk about hurting people in the school, but he definitely remembers her not doing anything about it until now.
“Aston, Aston, Aston, so courageous but so stupid. Do you know how much I had to suffer in this school for three years? Warren and I?” She pointed to Warren when she said that and I notice that Warren had his gun up to Roxie head. For some reason, Roxie didn’t look as terrified. “Our parents don’t care for us and never did. They treat us like animals. My mother went crazy, she has been on suicide watch for three years. Plus my father doesn’t love me. He doesn’t even want to see me so I decide to do something that makes them feel horrible for how they had treated me. I going to show them how crazy a child can get when they are left alone.”
Aston stared at Mace and finally realizes how insane this girl is.
“Mace, do you realize how mess up that is? You and your little crew over there killed about 20 people tonight just so you can get back at your parents?” Aston asked furiously to Mace. Mace laughed and her laugh was so sinister that Aston had to back up a bit. Mace stopped laughing and uses the clip to place the bullets in her gun. Aston had so many feeling going through his system; he was afraid, angry, hurt and detached. Aston thought it might have been his time so he closed his eyes.
“So the people who were after us the entire night was Mace, Warren and some creep guy? The main question here is who can the creep be?” Aston heard Roxie say. Mace took the gun off Aston’s head and walk towards the other side of Aston where Roxie was. “Aston, I don’t know why it took me this long to find out. There is only one mutual friend that Mace and Warren have in common.”
Aston thought to himself, Who can it be? And then it all came back to him. He remembered when Mace used to say Warren and her always had to meet with the guidance counselor. He remembered her saying how her guidance counselor always wanted her to talk about her parents.
“Mr. Boris?” Aston yelled out and the creep took of his mask.
“Wow, Roxie you are so smart. It’s just sad that you’re too late.” The creep, who was now revealed as Mr. Boris, said.
“Well done with corrupting their minds! Your job was to help them work on their struggles that they had with their parents. Instead you encouraged them into becoming psychopaths .” Roxie yelled at Mr. Boris. Mr. Boris had a devious smile on his face, similar to what Mace had.
“I didn’t do this to them, they were meant to become what they are today. You can’t repair a mind that’s already broken, nobody helped me with mines. I had the worst family, my father left my mother with five children. My mother was a drug addict, addicted to PCP where I saw her cut out my brother and sister own tongues. The people in my community called me names and didn’t want to hang around me because of my mother. They threw things at me, called me names, and would beat me every day. She ruined my life! I had to change what was happening to me. So one day when she was high, I decided I couldn’t take it anymore. I told her I wanted to play a game. Yes, she played the game, alright. The game had its rules. She had to go in the house and search for all of the lighters she had in laying around the house. She knew exactly where all of them were. They were all in the kitchen draw. I told her if she finds them, she can have some of my cigarettes. She went to the house and grabbed each of her lighters. I left the cigarettes on the kitchen table but what she didn’t know is that I disconnected the gas to the stove. She burned that day alive and I watch my house crumble. I never regretted it. I’ve helped every student that has come to me their problems. Especially those with issues similar to mine. I’ve worked at five schools and none of my students have gotten caught. There has never been any survivors.” Mr. Boris and Warren pointed the gun at Roxie. Aston didn’t make a sound but he knew what he was going to do. He snatch Mace’s gun and shot her in the leg. Mace screamed and fell to the ground. Mr. Boris and Warren looked at Mace while Aston grabbed Roxie by the hand so they could run.
Mr. Boris started shooting at them but they ran fast enough to be out of the tunnels light. Aston and Roxie tried to run as fast as he can but Roxie could barely run because of her twisted angle, Aston blood was leaking by the second and he was becoming a little droopy, and they couldn’t see where they were going.
“Roxie, do you still have your little flashlight?” Aston slurred his whisper. Aston could hear Roxie feeling on her leg and then he felt something fall into his hand. Before he turned the flashlight on, he had smelled the worst stench he had ever smelled.
“Roxie, do you smell that?” Aston asked. He turned on the flashlight and Aston saw 12 dead bodies and rats eating the guts. Roxie covered her mouth and Aston just threw up.
“Roxie, we have to walk around it so we can get out of here,” Aston said.
“I rather die,” Roxie said, but then Aston grabbed her arm with his one good arm and walked around the rats. The rats weren’t bothering them at all. They just enjoyed the meal that was presented to them. Aston flashed the light on the bodies. The tunnel straight ahead was completely dark.
“Roxie, look! It’s a cell phone,” Aston said. The cell phone was near a puddle of blood with rats everywhere. He shushes the rats away and reaches through the blood for the cell phone. Then he recognizes the person that was dead. She died tonight when the shooting massacre happened. The cell phone had 2 bars for battery life but no reception. Maybe it was because they were in a tunnel. Aston gave Roxie the flashlight while he used the cell phone searching for bars. They walk through the tunnel but Aston couldn’t get anything, no reception at all. He finally got a faint reception but he needed to get to higher ground.
“Aston, look there’s a tunnel opening and a ladder.” Roxie announced. He saw the ladder and the tunnel. The ladder was a little high to reach and he knew he couldn’t lift up Roxie with one arm so he started climbing the ladder.
“Shine the flashlight on me,” Aston said. She did what he told her but she couldn’t hold a steady grip. The flashlight kept on moving. Aston saw that he was getting more bars when he climbed higher. He finally had enough bars to call the police. He dialed 911. The phone rang for at least 5 times.
“Hello 911, what’s your emergency?” the lady asked with a nosily voice.
“Hello,can you please help us. We are being chase in an underground tunnel by three serial killers. They killed many people at Portland Valley High, and they are still chasing us. We don’t know where we are but we have to be somewhere near Chinatown.” Aston shouted.
“Wait, sir. I’m going to try to locate your call.”
“Hurry because they are coming after—.” Aston didn’t get to finish because he got shot in his hand and he fell to the ground. He fell unconscious. Roxie ran to him when she saw Warren and Mr. Boris walking towards her.
“It’s a shame you couldn’t have joined us, Roxie. Your family is just as messed up as ours but–,” Mr. Boris said as he stepped on the cell phone.
“Killing people isn’t right. I’ve learned from my parents mistakes,” Roxie said confidently.
“Well, you’re mother is a prostitute and your father’s a drunk. They killed your brother but the social worker kept you in their custody. They deserved to die more than you, you can join us, get rid of that frustration and make them pay for your brother.”
Roxie didn’t say anything. Roxie was slowly reaching for the gun that Aston had in his pocket but it wouldn’t come out. Roxie gave up and Mr. Boris put his gun up to Roxie’s head. Tears went down Roxie’s eyes and she begins to close them. Roxie heard a gunshot thinking she was dead but then she heard a body drop.
“Hands in the air! Put your hands in the air now!” A stern voice yelled. Roxie’s opened her eyes and saw all of the flashlights and guns. It was the police! The police shot Mr. Boris in the back and was handcuffing Warren.
“Excuse me miss, are you and your friend alright?” The police officer said.
“If you can get us to a hospital, we will be.” Roxie said with a smile and she finally breathed out a sigh or relief. She looked at the police officer’s cell phone on the side of his belt.
6am
(8 months later)
Roxie was coming home for her winter break in UCLA. She didn’t want to come back here. It brings so many memories that she wanted to forget. She didn’t want to see her mother and father, any of her dead friends, and she never wanted to step in Portland Valley High school, again. She went where any college student would go on their winter break: the mall.
She walked in the mall. It was empty even though it was around Christmas time. Maybe it was because she was there at exactly when it opened, 10am on Wednesday morning. She looked in the stores but didn’t buy anything. She didn’t want to be here in Portland but it was all for her aunt. She was in the food court when she saw somebody that she never thought she would see again. It was Aston. He spotted her too and stared at her from across the food court. Ever since that unforgettable day, Aston moved with his father in Texas. Roxie heard he was trying to convince his mother to move down there, too. Aston walked over to Roxie, and Roxie walked closer to Aston.
“Hey,” Aston said. He gave her a hug. She started the hug jumpy and frightened. But then she thought of Aston as that person who protected her and she sank into his arms. They separated and Roxie looked at his hand to see that the bullet wound from that night was still imprinted on his skin.
“Hopefully, we can finally have peace.” Aston said but he sounded hesitant because both of them still knew one was still out there, and they probably would never have peace until that person was dead.
Mace
© Kendyl Walker and Hide and I’ll Seek, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kendyl Walker and Hide and I’ll Seek with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Hide and I’ll Seek by Kendyl Walker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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