the end

 

  “Conrad, can you tell us more about Summer Collins?” she said.

 

            “She was so nice. She was one of my best friends.” He shrugged lifelessly, “whatever she did, it doesn’t sound like her. And-and she really loved her brother. She would never do that to her brother. I don’t think I need to explain her relationship with her parents either.”

 

            “What about her relationship?” the detective asked. She was a slim, fit woman with however a strict expression stamped on her face. Her face reminded Conrad of a fox.

 

            “Fine. She loved them all. I don’t think she really hated anyone,” he said. The world has been tilted and all its contents have been smashed and broken inside.

 

            “We’ll talk to you when you’re ready, how ‘bout that?” the detective said to him, but hardly in a kind way.

 

            He shrugged once again. “Can you please tell me what she did?” he asked wearily. “All I know is she did something so wrong that its involving the police,” his voice was rising, “She never gets in trouble! She skipped a goddamn grade. She’s a smart a*s!

Smart people don’t get themselves into anything more than a speeding ticket!”

 

            The detective grabbed his shoulder and held him so he was face to face with her. “We simply don’t think you would enjoy knowing it.” Conrad stared back. Summer would never do anything. The government was insane.

 

            “I think knowing what she did would make me feel a whole lot better,” he retorted, staring into the detective’s eyes. Her hand was still on his shoulder.

 

            The door opened and a male officer came in. the detective glanced at him before turning back to Conrad. “Do you think or do you know?” she asked him.

 

            “I know.”

 

            She released her grip on his shoulder and said to the officer, “show him the tape. Give him an intro if you can so he won’t fall into shock or anything.”

 

            “Yes, sir.” The officer gave her a salute and escorted Conrad out. Up close, he could see his badge. His name, Wilcox, and rank were on it. They paced down a brightly lit hallway and turned, left, right, left, left. Then Wilcox the officer reached a room and opened the door for him.

 

            “You sure you want to see this? Made me nauseous,” he told Conrad. He shook his head. He just wanted to know what Summer did that got the police involved.

 

            The room was concrete gray with rows and rows of computers, a person seated in front of every one of them. They wore headphones and all the monitors were different.

            “you’re friend, Summer,” Wilcox said to Conrad, as if admitting he knew her was a crime, “taped the entire thing. So we definitely know it’s her. We’ve matched her face, the fingerprints she left on the tape, and her voice. It’s her.”

           

            Wilcox held his hand out, a signal to stop, to Conrad and jogged to a nearby computer. The man who was staring at its screen looked up, startled. Conrad couldn’t hear what they were exactly they were saying. But they pointed at the screen often. Then, Wilcox beckoned Conrad to come.

 

            He sat down on a chair Wilcox just drawn for him. The monitor was on Windows Media Player. They sat, all of them looking nervous and silent.

 

            “You really aren’t going to like this, being close to her and all that,” he said finally. But he saw Conrad’s hard face. So Wilcox gave the computer man the signal to play the video.

 

            The video started facing a wall. Conrad recognized it; the video was in Summer’s house, the living room specifically. There was a soft rattle as the taper, Summer, placed in down. Then, the taper stepped into the video’s view.

 

            Oh god it really is Summer.

 

            Summer, who wears “I’m with Stupid” T-shirts at church. Summer, who changes career choices within days. And Summer, who was everything but a murderer. But there she was. But there was no blood. Her tawny red hair was in a ponytail where she curled the end. Her T-shirt was only slightly ruffled, and there were small pink spots on her cheeks. She was smiling.

 

            “Hey everyone!” she started, “You know those proverbs, like a man can’t grow taller than his head? Or,all good things come to an end?” she started to walk to her right. The camera was following her as she talked.

 

            “We can’t figure out how that’s happening.” Wilcox said, indicating the camera, “she’s definitely the only person in the room…”

 

            “Well, I like to prove them wrong. As a fun exercise for my brain, you know?” she said. Her smile was still as sweet as honey. “Sometimes, I don’t just want to find a situation where it’s wrong. I like to act it out.”

 

            Then the camera was swiveling rapidly to her left. And suddenly, Conrad doesn’t want to know what she did. The way she was so confident, just smiling the whole time, told him that she is going to show him what she did. The destruction she did.

 

            The camera stopped on her parents, and then Conrad’s whole body jerked in fright when he saw them. They were sitting peacefully at the dinner table. A window was to their right but the curtains were drawn. Her parents were soaked in blood.

 

            Her parents didn’t have their heads.

 

            Their hands rested on the dinner table where the plates and silverware were all set. Their backs sat straight up, rigid. Their skin had a yellowish twinge and had spots of something like mud all over them, only it was blood.

 

            And-and their necks, their stubbed necks where bits of flesh still crumbling off of them. They just sat there. Conrad screamed mentally.

 

            “a man can’t eat his own mouth!” Summer cried delight. “Or rather his head. I put the entire thing in that place. Did you know what a small place it is?”

 

            Yes, now he can see the bulge.

 

“We got the bodies. Their rib cages were cracked open and we found their heads in it. Not a single cut there though.” Wilcox pointed to their torsos. “The heads were smiling.”

 

Conrad stood up and tore his eyes away from the screen, “I know what she did now. I-I’m done now, alright?”

 

Wilcox took his arm and gently sat him down again. “This isn’t all she did. Her brother Cody hasn’t arrived yet.”

 

Conrad felt dizzy and lightheaded as he sat down. Summer was patting her dead father’s back – at least he thinks it’s her father. “I can’t wait for Cody to come back,” she said excitedly. “He’s going to be so surprised!”

 

The computer man fast forwarded the video. Summer hasn’t moved at all, the whole fast forward was nothing different than watching a picture for a few seconds.

 

The doorbell ran and a jumpy, giddy voice traveled through the door. Summer placed her lips close to the lenses of the camera.

 

“I hope he likes it guys,” she whispered, “but it’s going to be just as fun if he doesn’t like it.”

 

She exited the camera’s view and Conrad heard the door open.

 

“Summer!” he heard Cody say.

 

“I’ve got a surprise, Cody. You want to see it? It’s for your good grades!” Summer came into the camera’s view, beckoning Cody to come. Conrad’s insides froze.

 

“come one!” she coaxed. Cody’s happy face entered the screen, and instantly melted when he saw his parents. Summer knelt beside him, her hand fingering through Cody’s soft brown hair. For a moment, Conrad wished she would die a cold, bloody death. But she couldn’t have done this.

 

“If you don’t like it, I could give you another one,” she whispered softly in his ear. “Cody, do you like it?” Cody didn’t respond.

 

“The kid was in shock,” Wilcox explained. Conrad’s gaze was fixed on the screen.

 

“Alright,” Summer said quietly, “I’ll give you another one.” She took Cody’s arm gently and tugged him. But he stayed put, his eyes transfixed on his headless parents. Summer then hoisted him into her arms and said, “Here’s your other present.”

 

She walked out of the screen’s view slowly. There was a soft thump where Conrad guessed that was when she set Cody down. And then Cody started to scream.

 

            “Summer! No, Summer!” his voice was shrill and cracked. “Summ-“ There was a loud ripping noise and blood splattered the wall on the left and some on the already dead parents. Cody’s scream was cut off.

 

            There was rhythmic thumping noises getting louder and louder until Summer came into view, trying to bounce Cody’s head like a basketball. Her shirt and face was splattered completely and her hair was also matted.

 

            “Holy s**t!” cried Conrad, jumping up.

 

            “Hmm, wonder if this’ll float. It’s certainly not very bouncy, would you say?” Summer then tossed it out of sight. She walked towards where the head probably went. There were some fidgeting noises, and Summer came back into view, this time, completely clean, dragging Cody’s headless body.

 

            “Are you sure you didn’t fast forward this?” Conrad asked quietly. Wilcox shook his head.

 

            She pulled out a chair and placed Cody’s rag-like body up. There was a bulge in the middle. She placed his hands on the table delicately before leaving. Then the camera screen went blank.

 

Wilcox put a hand on Conrad’s shoulder gently. “I’m sorry about your friend,” he said simply.

           

            This isn’t happening, Conrad thought. I’m going to prove them wrong, I know it.

 
 

Reviews

[Sarah Grace]

Uh. That was totally and utterly disturbing. It mader feel...dirty reading it. Depending on how you interpret that... I dunno. It creeped me out badly.But I guess the actual quality was good. It was just really, really gory, and, truth be told, I think it took something out of the story. Leave just a little to the imagination. Not enough to where the reader doesn't understand, but maybe to where they aren't scared off. *shudders*