• Blood Bound •||• Simon Kalivoda X Female Reader •

8 - Discovery

Kate parks the car and takes out the keys. "You think anyone will notice an ambulance parked at your house, Deena?" I sarcastically ask Deena as we climb out of the back door. Josh says, "Come on, guys." before Deena can answer me.

We all follow him inside as he leads us to their basement. "I research Shadyside killers down here. I'll show you what I came up with. Sit down."

All five of us take a seat in around the desk in the middle of the room. "Why? Out of everything you could research." I mutter under my breath. Josh rips a page off of the corkboard and places it on the desk. "This is Ruby Lane. The girl who attacked you." He points to a newspaper clipping with the picture of the same girl who attacked me and Simon. Only nicer looking and without scars.

"Holy shit!" Simon exclaims, moving the page closer to get a better look. "She sang as she murdered her boyfriend, her friends... Then she killed herself. Slashed her wrists," Josh explains. "Jesus. Why didn't I see this on the news?" Kate questions after taking a look at the picture herself. "Because it happened thirty years ago. 1965," Josh says.
I stare at the bandage wrapping around my own wrist. That doesn't make sense, though... Why is she alive? It's been thirty years since she died.

Josh stands back up to get more articles from the board. He quickly tears them off and returns to the table, clutching all of the papers in his hands. It makes me wonder how nerds can come in handy at the best times. "Ruby is one of Shadyside's killers, just like Skull Mask. I mean... Ryan Torres," Josh says, slamming yesterday's news article on the table.

"Look, 1978! Sixteen years ago," he says, turning our attention towards yet another sheet of paper. " 'Masked psycho murders kids at-' " "Camp Nightwing," Kate finishes for him. "Yeah, my mom's sister was there... That screwed my family up for a long time." She sullenly says, keeping her gaze focused at the newspaper.

Josh places down another newspaper article. "1950, Harry Rooker, local milkman slashes a bunch of housewives." He places down another sheet of paper before I can even look at the other one. "1935, Humpty Dumpty Killer." He slams another news article on top of the Humpty Dumpty one. "1922, Billy Barker." He puts down another piece of paper. "1904, Grifter guts girls, and on and on." He places the rest of the papers down. "It happens in Shadyside over and over. Normal people turn into psychos."

"Jesus!" Simon whispers, taking a drawing of an eyeless person in his hands. "Look at this guy." "That's the pastor, Cyrus Miller." Me and Simon look up at Josh again. "1666. He was the first one recorded. He... Killed kids and cut out their eyes."
Suddenly, Sam abruptly gets up from her seat and walks upstairs. She's clearly upset about what she's hearing, and I don't blame her. "Sam," Deena calls out, following after her.

"Okay, so why are people randomly going insane and killing people here?" I ask, folding my arms across my chest. "None of this is random," Josh says, putting another paper down on the desk.

I look at the picture of a woman hanging by the neck from a tree branch. Her hand is dismembered from the rest of her body and laying in front of her. "It's Sarah Fier. She's turning Shadysiders into killers."
"Do you really believe that? I- I mean no one actually thinks this witch shit is real," Kate asks, darting her eyes between Josh, Simon, me, and the picture. "Yeah, it's just a creepy nursery rhyme about a random girl who was accused of witchcraft," I mutter, unable to peel my eyes away from the picture. "It's something babysitters make up to scare kids," Simon adds, showing utter fear in his voice.

"No, no! Just listen to me," Josh calmly says, grabbing Simon's shoulder. "1666, Sarah Fier was hanged for witchcraft. Fact. But ever since she was executed, she's been possessing people and turning them into killers to take revenge on the town." "Just like the rhyme..." I muse. "Yeah, yeah!" Josh agrees."

"Before the witch's final breath, she found a way to cheat her death," Simon begins to recite. "By cutting of her cursed... hand..." he shutters. "She kept her grip upon our land. She reaches from beyond the grave to make good men her wicked slaves." "Yes! Don't you see what's happening to us? This is all proof," Josh says, pointing towards the pile of papers. "Shadyside isn't just some hotbed for psychos. All these massacres are connected to Sarah Fier! The witch's curse is real!"

"Fine, let's assume that the witch has been possessing people for some sort of messed up vendetta. This isn't the same as the mall massacre. Something different is happening to us. Something way worse," Kate says. Simon grips at the sides of his hair and brings his knees to his chest. "Okay, we have two killers after us and both of them are dead. Why is she so mad at us?"

"I saw her." We all turn to look at Sam. "Last night, I don't... I don't know, you know. I thought I hit my head... It was... It was her," Sam explains. We all look at each other in pure confusion.

"I saw the witch."

"Wait, wait, wait!" I quickly say, standing up. "You saw the witch?!" She nods her head gravely. "At the car crash?" "Yeah. When I got out of Peter's car. After the crash." "First of all... How?" I say, my eyes widening. "I don't know! I just saw her there!" Sam raises her voice and shrugs. "Then we go to the crash," Josh announces. "We need to find out how Sam saw Sarah Fier and why."

"We're going on another road trip," he says, walking upstairs. I stare at him, incredulous as we all follow him back outside.