Summer Dream

Kimmy

She had dreamed of blood and death her entire life. The warm, rich, intoxicating taste of blood on her hands, in her mouth, covering her entire body. Nothing in the world could be sweeter. 

She had only had small tastes of it so far. She had tormented her younger siblings all their lives, and neither of them were brave enough to say the first word against her for fear of her retaliation. She couldn't do all the things she wanted to do to them, but the occasional slice or scrape or bruise or broken bone? Those were easier to deal with. Kids were just so clumsy sometimes, after all.

She had tried experimenting with animals, but most of them avoided her. Baby birds were generally something she could get hold of easily enough, and she had had a lot of fun there. Her parents remained stubbornly set on there never being a pet allowed in their household. Sometimes she wondered if they knew. She had a good act now, after all, but maybe she had slipped up before, when she was young and stupid.

She had studied people when it had become apparent that she needed to blend in more with society, as stupid as it was. She watched girls her own age, learned how they acted, learned how to be popular... and she acted on it.  People didn't expect the popular kids in schools to be like her after all. No, it was always the losers and outcasts, like that freak Peter Stillwell. It was freaks like Peter who shot up schools and went on rampages, never someone as popular and well liked as she was. 

Peter Stillwell... Now there was a waste of a perfectly good prey animal. He hid and shrunk and scuttled and didn't meet her eyes, as if somehow the combination of those things would keep her from noticing him. If anything, it drew her attention in further. It was like being on the African savannah, if she was a lioness and he was a wounded gazelle... and she was constantly having to remind herself that she couldn't just devour him in front of the other gazelles. So instead she contented herself to insulting him in the hallways, yanking on his hair whenever he sat in front of her, teasing him mercilessly, and generally trying her best to make his life as miserable as possible. On special occasions, she even body-checked him between classes when his back was turned... but only if no one else was watching; years of sports had been good for that much at least. 

No, if she couldn't kill him outright, Peter was going to remain her special project. He would be her test if sustained torment was as good as that first rush of blood or the sight of a creature breathing its last breath. Each time, he drew into himself a bit more and even tried a bit harder to make himself unnoticeable... which just made it all the more fun. It was a rush. It was like the greatest high she could ever imagine. And it wasn't like anyone important cared. 

Come on, who cared about the freak anyway? Just that idiot Sarah, who probably only hung out with him because otherwise she wouldn't look as compassionate and caring in front of her real friends. Kimmy's own boyfriend Danny thought it was hilarious. He wasn't the same as her; that much was obvious; but he loved the idea of someone tormenting Peter Stillwell. And he benefited from it: nothing got her hotter than doing everything she could to make the boy miserable. The time she had hit him in the face during netball and made his nose explode in blood, she and Danny had fucked in the men's room for the entire next class period.

And oh, the plans she had for Peter Stillwell... Even just thinking of them was a wonderful thing. She wanted to tie him down and see if it was possible to cut off the circulation of his hands and feet until they fell off. She wanted to flay him down to the bone, peeling layers off one by one, and maybe even make him eat the flesh she removed. She wanted to cut the tendons in his knees so that he couldn't run, pretend to let him escape, and then smash his face in with a cricket bat. She wanted to sneak up behind him and see if it was actually possible to stab someone between the ribs with a screwdriver. Honestly, with a name like that, screwdrivers just presented so many damn possibilities that it would be hard to know where to start.

Danny's hand tightened on her arm, and she frowned hard in response. Yeah, maybe she was staring, but this was just all too good. That little idiot Sarah had invited the freak along, but she had made the mistake of telling Jennifer Cassidy to come too. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together knew that you only told Cassidy if you wanted everyone to know. And Cassidy had indeed started blabbing on about this opportunity. 

And Cassidy was so keen on being in with Kimmy and Kimmy's crowd that she had extended the invitation to her as well. She had given a good impression of hemming and hawing over it, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up, even before she had realized the freak would be there too. Two weeks, no adult supervision, big house on the outskirts of town, *and* the freak to torment as much as she wanted? It was like all her wildest dreams had suddenly come true. 

She would still have to be careful, though. There remained a possibility for witnesses, given just how many people Cassidy had apparently managed to invite along on this little excursion. It looked like half their classes, but in reality, she realized it was more like fifteen or sixteen people. It looked like a pretty even split between males and females. If it came down to it, Danny could handle the males, keeping them out of her business and occupied... as long as he remembered that the freak was hers to play with and hers alone.

After all, a house this size... Who knew what kind of accidents a person could have?