Amicidist

There was this kid on my street that, for the sake of his identity, I’m going to call Victor. He was kind of a weird kid since his parents were kind of obsessed with the idea that vampires could be living among us. They were a strange yet silly bunch that lived a few blocks away.  Victor always wore a black dress shirt with jeans and black boots and his hair was black and well-styled. The reason why I’m calling him Victor is because he looked a lot like Victor from Corpse Bride. He was thin and pale and he had dark circles around his eyes. Everyone at my school made fun of him for being “goth” but he kept assuring them that he wasn’t and he just likes to wear black clothing during the winter because it attracts heat.

We were friends as kids even though my parents thought that he was a bad influence on me. To be honest he did kind of change me. I started wearing black clothing as well, not to be like him but because I realized that I looked really good in black clothing and started wearing them more often. My other friends began examining me when they first saw me. We used to play on the playground together, talk about our favorite music and TV shows, and we even discussed our favorite books. Victor was obsessed with literature, being the weirdo that he was, and he wouldn’t stop talking about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and J.K Rowling. I kind of liked it since he could turn any situation into a novel, but it did get tiring after a while.

Although I loved hanging out with him, as we grew to become teens we began growing apart and for three years we didn’t really talk much. I began hanging out with some new friends and even though I was still into the same music and wore the same clothes, I sometimes looked over at him and realized that he had changed his hairstyle or that he was talking to some people that I didn’t even know he knew.  After having not spoken to one another for a long time and after having lost a friend due to some disputes we had between us, I realized just how lonely it felt to not have many friends.

I would search around at lunch for someone to sit with and I ended up sitting alone. I actually cried once because I wasn’t sure what to do or where I belonged. It was pretty pathetic and I hated myself for doing it since people started staring. It was kind of awkward to be eating noodles while tears were dripping down my face so I quickly finished up and headed to my next class early so I could take some time to relax and read a book. I opened the classroom door and realized that there was no one there so I took a seat and pulled out my book to read. A few minutes later, I saw a familiar face walk in and sit beside me.

I turned my head and realized that it was Victor, only his hair was styled differently now so it was a little messier than usual but it still made him look like a model. If he wasn’t so skinny and pale he would’ve been on the cover of a magazine. He was taller and looked older. He was more muscular than before and his jaw seemed wider. If I accidentally bumped him in the jaw with my hand, it would’ve left a cut because his jawline was so sharp. I felt like crying again after seeing a familiar face all grown up in front of me and I felt that sense of loneliness again, but I capped my emotions and let them sizzle until I could control them and start to feel comfortable again. He stared at my book for a moment before speaking.

“Is that book good? I saw it at the library but I never checked it out since I already had ten books out.” His voice pretty much shattered my heart. I came here to have a bit of solitude; not to sit next to Victor and talk about a book and cry. I sighed and closed the book, sliding it over to him without a word and letting him read the first page. We were awkwardly quiet for a moment as he read and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say to him.

‘Hey! You’re that goth kid that I used to hang out with three years ago! How’s the depression going? Your parents’ divorce? What about your sister who you’re probably never gonna get to see again? Oh yeah my life is just great! Your life is worse than mine and yet I’m sad because I have no friends and all I can do is read books even though my family is perfectly alright and I don’t have a family who thinks that everyone is a vampire and I have an allowance and a part-time job and I even have a sister for Christ sake! I’m perfectly fine even though everyone thinks that I’m some emo outcast who likes books and scary movies even though I’m not that dark. I’m so happy even though I have to sit in the middle of the f*****g lunchroom crying while slurping noodles because everyone that I cared about suddenly feels disgusted by me!’

I could’ve said that but I didn’t. I barely knew him anymore so why would I?

“This writer is so descriptive! How could I not have heard of them? What other books have they written?” He almost shouted in excitement. He always got excited over these kinds of things. To be honest, I wasn’t really in the mood to act as though we still knew each other, but it was nice to know that he still liked books nonetheless.

“She also wrote ‘The Crooked Boy’ and ‘Where Alice Died’ which are all dark stories. She writes some short stories too and a few fantasy novels but she hasn’t really written a ton. She’s kind of young for an author” I replied almost emotionlessly. To be honest, my feeling of crying was slipping away like dust being cautiously blown from a surface and the feeling of emptiness began taking its place.

“I should look her up.”

Quiet. I hated the quiet now. I hated not speaking with him. The quieter we grew, the more we grew apart. The more we grew apart, the less we knew one another. I felt even more abandoned than before. That feeling of crying was slowly drizzling back like the beginning of a rainstorm.

“My mom wants me to move with her if she gets custody over me” he blurted. I felt my heart crack a little. If he left, I wouldn’t have anyone. My parents rarely spoke to me and my sister was spending the week at my cousin’s house so I knew that if he left, I wouldn’t have much. I suddenly realized how much I always came to depend on him in the end.

“Where?” I asked, trying not to sound like I was about to cry. He sighed quietly and slid the book back over to me. I waited for him to tell me that he was gonna move far away. I waited for him to tell me that he was never going to see me again and that he just came to say good bye, but he only replied with something entirely different.

“Far enough to stop attending this school but close enough to be able to bike to the town library. I see you hanging out there sometimes by yourself. Speaking of being by yourself; where are all of your friends? I thought you all were, I don’t know, inseparable?”

Now that broke the ice. My chest just suddenly clenched like it was being pulled together by a sewing needle and my throat closed with it. My head was bent low and the tears stung the corners of my eyes before they started crawling down my face. I bent forward into a really crippled position and my face was only inches away from my desk. Victor reacted immediately but he simply stared.

He pities me. He thinks I’m pathetic. He’s exactly like the rest. He believes that I’m nothing. He thinks that my pain doesn’t mean anything because it doesn’t affect him and I’m just doing it to get attention. He couldn’t care less about what I was dealing with and I had to admit that he was right. I am completely and utterly pathetic and I just have to make a disaster out of everything.

I am a disaster.

“You know, after my parents divorced, my sister and I haven’t spoken to one another. I miss her dearly. I’m always worried about her and I know that my parents worry too, but I realized something…” he began but trailed off after a moment. I could tell that he was looking away.

He was casting his gaze away from the pitiful and sad excuse for a girl that was me. I didn’t want him to look. I felt terrible simply because I was doing this in front of someone, better yet someone I used to know.

“They aren’t afraid of what would happen to me. They’re afraid of losing me. They’re afraid that I might do something that will force them to stop being around me. Wouldn’t it be better to just give it to them now so they don’t have to suffer it later?” I shot him a glance; surprised by his sudden choice of words.

‘Give it to them now so they don’t have to suffer it later?’ What did he mean by that? How could he say that? I began to wipe away my tears and I made my reply very clear.

“You mean like….suicide?” I suddenly grew concerned since I had never heard him even so much as graze the topic of suicide before. He’s talked about death, torture, violence, ghosts, demons, terrorism, you name it, but he’s never once mentioned suicide. He chuckled, almost insanely.

“No! Not suicide! I want to kill them and then kill myself! It would be a murder-suicide!” he chuckled and what was worse was that his tone indicated that he was being serious. I stood up and looked at him with crazy eyes and scoffed as though I was going to laugh but it wasn’t very funny. He always had a dark sense of humor but not to this extent.

“What the f**k is wrong with you? Can’t you see that I’m f*****g lonely! I’ve got no friends and my parents ignore me and my sister is away at my stupid cousin’s house! Stop talking like that even if it’s a joke!” I was yelling but before I could finish my rant he suddenly deepened his faze, dropped his happy expression, and immediately changed into someone so serious so quickly it knocked me into a state of confusion.

“Why would I be joking? I mean it.” My heart stopped. Not only was it falling apart but now it had completely halted. This had to be some kind of prank or a dare. The Victor that I remembered would never do such a thing, let alone say it. What the hell was going on with him? I knew that something had to be wrong in order for him to say something so dark and so threatening. The kid that I knew my whole life had been a stranger to me for the past three years and yet now he was showing this whole new side of him that I had never seen before right when we met again. I shook my head and started moving my desk away.

“Stop. That’s not at all funny. We don’t know each other. Please leave me alone.” I started feeling slightly angrier rather than sad now. We had around two minutes until the other students would start filing in so I began tapping my fingers in impatience. He skid his desk closer to mine; ignoring my hint.

“What do you mean? I’ve known you since we were toddlers. Was it something I said? Sorry. I’m not good with words” he chuckled again. To be honest, he looked like he hadn’t slept in days, his hair had fallen slightly out of place, and his smile was wide but his eyes looked almost dead. Something was wrong with him. I wanted my old friend back but if this was what he turned into, then I wanted a refund.

I skid my desk farther away from his and sighed.

“Just leave me alone. You’re creeping me out. Get help” I said but immediately regretted it.

“If I do it, it’s on your hands just as much as it is on mine.” His words crushed me like a weight. What was sad was that he was right. If I just ignored what he said and let him possibly do it, it’s the same as murdering the people he wants to kill. I was shaking, looking around to see if anyone heard and if there were any security cameras in the classroom. This isn’t normal. He wasn’t normal. He was evil, wretched, and for a moment I couldn’t help but to despise him.

“You’re not him” I said before the teacher walked in and interrupted us. We started class and as the other students began filing in, I noticed that he was giving me an unsettling glare. We went through class without saying a word to one another and when the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, I was rushing to get out the door before he could catch up to me. As I was walking down the hallway, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and slipped it out to see who was texting me.

‘Meet me in the auditorium after school. It’s really important’

It was from one of my friends who used to hang out with me. For the sake of her identity, I’m gonna call her Tess. I decided to do what I was asked and headed towards the auditorium to see what was wrong.

The room was dark when I walked in and there was no light switch besides the one that was right beside the stage where the other door was that led to the Arts wing. I called out for Tess but there was no answer. I called again and again but no one was there. I considered it a prank and began making my way back towards the door when I felt something wrap around my face and pull me backwards. I shrieked once before I found myself getting pulled by a man wearing gloves and a hood into one of the storage closets.

I struggled to break loose but he was stronger than I was and as he pushed me into the closet, he wedged in beside me and closed the door. The closet was too small for either of us to be able to move much and once the door was completely closed, it was pitch dark and I began to scream for help. He cupped my mouth with his hand and began grabbing my hands with the other. I was moving too quickly and I was making too much noise, which angered him, so the last thing I remembered was the sensation of something pounding against my head before I blacked out.

“I told you that I wasn’t joking. Did you forget the promise we made?” the voice vibrated my whole body as I was just beginning to wake up. I was in some kind of basement but there was no furniture. There was just a light and I could just barely make out a figure standing above me. My head throbbed and my vision kept blurring. I constantly felt dizzy and I almost passed out a few times before I could finally wrap my head around the situation.

This couldn’t be the Victor I grew up with.

“W-what promise?” I asked, tears rolling down my face out of fear and my voice shaking like a cold leaf. His voice shifted into a mocking tone.

“When we grow up, promise me that we’ll get out of here and take this whole city down, like….” He paused to lean down and glare at me with these dead, evil eyes, “…urbicide.” He began to chuckle and I recognized the shiny object he was wielding in his hands. I began to scream, knowing that he was gonna hurt me. I remembered that promise but I had always thought that it was an empty one. He would never hurt an entire city. I thought he only wanted his family dead!

Not everyone! He continued to laugh as he made his way up the stairs, scraping the basement wall with his kitchen knife, and then disappearing behind the basement door before shutting it and locking it. I stayed planted for a few minutes, shocked and confused. I couldn’t help but blame myself for it. I had been kind of a b***h over the last three years by ignoring him but I didn’t think that it would lead up to this.

I began to hear footsteps and shouts and what sounded like banging coming from the floor above. I could hear Victor’s mom shouting at him to put the knife down and I began running towards the basement door. I started banging on it and as I did, I could hear his mother growing worried that someone might be trapped in the basement.

“Victor! What have you done?! Have you kidnapped someone! What the hell is wrong with you?! I’m calling the-“her sentence was cut short by a loud whimper. I pressed my ear against the door to listen in on what was going on and to my horror, a few moments after the whimper there was a loud thud like a body dropping to the floor. I slowly backed away from the door as more noises followed.

I heard him march across the room, open a door, and I heard his sister’s voice break through the air.

“What are you doing in here? Get out!” but before she could protest, she too made a loud whimper as his footsteps quickened in pace before stopping. Moments later, another thud could be heard. I covered my mouth in terror, knowing what he was doing, and knowing that I was about to either become the victim or the witness. I heard more footsteps before his father’s voice shouted in anger.

“What have you done?! How dare you do this to our family! I should have left this family the day you were born! I will kill you, you son of a-“and his sentence was never completed. Grunts and sounds of struggle followed, including the sound of splatters and choking. My feet were frozen in horror and I wasn’t sure what to do. The footsteps started after another loud yet more faint thud and I could hear them thumping towards the basement door. I fell backwards as the sounds amplified. I could hear someone struggling from the other end of the door and the lock click. The door opened to reveal a vibrant stream of light and two figures stood at the top of the stairs.

One of them was holding the other by the hair and shoulder while the other was making strange noises. I immediately recognized them. The first figure threw the other down the stairs, sending it tumbling towards the bottom like a lifeless ragdoll, and once it hit the floor, it made a loud grunt and soon began trying to inch away from the stairs as though it were painfully dying.

It was painfully dying and in the dim light I could see that the figure was Victor’s father. Victor was still wielding the same knife he left with and as his father inched away in fear, Victor mercilessly threw himself at him and to my terror he burrowed his knife into his father’s chest nine times before his anger was spent and he was covered in blood. The corpse laid lifeless and covered in viscous red. I stumbled backwards onto the floor and tried to inch away from the murderer that was once my childhood friend.

He stood back up, allowing the dark fluids that were staining his knife to drip onto the floor and he turned to me with this huge grin on his face. His eyes were wide and despite the darkness, I could tell that he was going to do something crazy again. I put my hands up in defense and was about to accept my death when I heard the c**k of a gun.

I removed my hands to look at him and came to the terrible realization that he was aiming the mouth of a handgun right at my face. I froze and was overwhelmed with fear of my inevitable death. He continued to smile as he was aiming and he seemed crazy yet somewhat calm. He had blood all over his face and gloves and he was still holding the knife.

“You were never alone like me. I’ll just end it so you don’t have to be.”

He suddenly turned the gun towards his temple and smiled one final time.

I turned my head as I saw his finger pull on the trigger.

Bang.
Whimper.
Thud.

Author's Note

I wrote this over a year ago and cringe a little bit at my old use of wording, but I still thought that the story was interesting. Dark, but amazing. What do you think?

Reviews

[Onlyme]

Hells bells, this is some powerful, emotion, phycological, spooky scare the s**t out your pants read, this should be an excellent dark movie. Had me gripped deeper into it I travelled.