Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94686 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94686 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
I rushed in and closed the door behind me. If blood drenched the air, then death would soon follow. Viv had no business seeing death. Her eyes were too perfect and pure. That was the life I wanted her to maintain. No one should’ve seen the things that I’d witnessed in my life.
Dear God.
And no person should’ve had to see the gory scene that I stood in front of.
In Dawn’s bedroom, ringing sounded in my ears and deafened me from everything happening out in the hallway. Tiny bits of flesh and human remains rested on Dawn’s bed. How else could it be described? Hamburger meat among bones. A desolation of anything that had ever been human or alive. This thing that lay in front of me was wrong—perfect pea-shaped pieces of flesh amidst torn veins and smattered organs. Only a madman could stand along someone and do this with no worry or feeling of guilt in his heart.
Someone with a pastry cutter or just a twisted idea of what was right.
That ringing lifted in my head. Pain thumped at the center of my skull. It was a headache that I knew wouldn’t go away until after I got this whole image out of my mind.
How can I ever forget shit like this? Are you like me, Benny? Do you like to make the murder messy so that you won’t forget? Or is it even worse, do you just enjoy the playing part?
A freezing shiver ran up my spine. Strands of blonde hair stuck to different parts of the mattress. On the floor was the top of a cracked skull. I had no idea where the other half lay. My heart beats boomed in my ears, matching my increased pulse. Sweat soaked under my arms. I had to get out of the room. It was hard to move. My feet stayed heavy on the ground as if weighed down by the world.
I wasn’t even sure if Dawn did it or not.
A shower started in the bathroom to my right. I stopped breathing, that simple. At one moment, oxygen swooshed in. The next second, everything inside of me froze.
Benny is still here.
Dawn had been unlucky. She had the room with a bathroom inside of it. I was sure Chase probably gave it to her because she expected it. No doubt she liked the idea of having better than everyone else. It made sense. But a bathroom would be ideal for someone like Benny. When Chase and I had Dawn downstairs talking, it gave Benny plenty of time to sneak into her room and hide in there. By the time she entered, her death was ready to come true. There would’ve been no saving her. Maybe he got her right in the bathroom. I was sure there was a thick shower curtain. I had a dark blue one in mine. I always checked the shower before taking a piss. It was just an odd habit of mine. My brothers used to jump out and scare me when I was a kid. Shit like that always kept me on my toes—looking under beds in strange hotels rooms, opening closets after a long day, and making sure all the windows were locked.
Fuck. Benny must’ve jumped out of that shower, knocked Dawn out, and dragged her to the bed.
The pitter-patter of shower water increased. Whistling sounded next. Benny’s signature whistling.
If anyone asked Viv or Jazz, they probably would not remember a time when he whistled. But I could think of many. The night he cleaned up the dead pedophile I’d killed in Jazz’s bed, Benny whistled. He made music with his lips like people played flutes or conducted an orchestra. As a kid, it had haunted me. Later, I caught him making more music. Lucy’s yapping dog had been lost. Only Viv liked him. The dog bit anyone who came near him or Viv. Regardless, Jazz had us searching for the furry bastard all day. I’d sneaked back to the house to steal some candy and juice out of their fridge. Benny stood in front of the sink, washing bloody hands, and belting out a tune with his lips.
Sometimes he picked us up, blowing a cheery tune and reeking of blood. The girls sat in the back. They never noticed as they talked about cute boys and the latest fashion fads around school. They didn’t have to sit in the passenger seat and spy the crusted red stuff caked under his nails or the odd glossy look of his eyes.
I knew you were fucked up, Benny, but not this bad.
“When in love, I go boop doo be woop!”
I flinched at Benny’s joyful singing.
“Oh, baby, when you’re around, I’m like dip do bee woop!”
I backed out of there. I could’ve run, but I didn’t. It wasn’t like an investigation would’ve been done. I was sure Benny had people coming to take care of his mess.