It was a cold autumn night, 11:59 pm, and 3 seconds to 12 am. 1...2...3.
As the bell rang I yanked down my clown mask, so my glistening green eyes were fully covered. I picked up my metal Louisville Slugger baseball bat and turned my car on. It was 12:00 am and it was the one day of the year. The purge. All crime was now legal for 12 hours. Now listen, please, don't consider me a bad guy or anything. Typically I wouldn't partake in the purging part, but this year is different.
By different I mean "Kendra" different. She had been my best friend. Key word; had. She had talked though. About me. Behind my back. With everyone else. And now she's gonna get what she deserves. Overreacting some might say, but I say fate. Destiny. Payback. She would pay. And so would everyone else.
As I pulled up to her house I saw Kendra's door thrashed open. Her windows were broken, glass scattered everywhere, glimmering in the midnight moonlight. Her door split almost in half and the doorknob suddenly fell down off the door and rolled to my feet. I hopped over the fallen doorknob and went inside to find her belongings thrown everywhere. My eyes scrambled to focus on something. I thought to myself, Oh my god it's a madhouse here. I walked into her living room, chairs tipped on their side, vases smashed, and tables crushed. And pictures. Pictures that the moon beamed over. I snatched up a picture that was in a wooden frame. I looked closely, trying to get my focus off of the shattered glass all over the floor, and saw that the picture I had seen was of Kendra and I at the public pool when we were 7.
I was ripped out of the photo, but even with me ripped out I could tell it was me in the picture because of my name scrawled with deep black ink at the bottom. I looked for the other ripped up piece on the ground, trying to be cautious of the broken glass. I finally found it. In my pocket. First off, I didn't even remember putting it in there. And second off, I hadn't even found it yet. I heard a creak behind me, and then saw Kendra; barely, in the darkness. The blackness almost swallowed her, but not enough to cover the glimmer of my bat she was holding. The only thoughts in my mind were, Where could she have been hiding or how did she get my bat?! Without warning she slowly walked toward me, dragging the bat across the ground, making a painful noise as it's tip dragged across the hardwood floor. At once she grabbed it up abruptly once she was about 12 feet away from me, and threw it over her shoulder.
"Been awhile, huh Faye, too bad this will be the last time you see me." Kendra said with a snarky tone.
"Kendra don't," I pleaded. "I'm sorry."
"I am too." Kendra said with a frown. Then it slowly turned into a grin. In a flash she swung it. She swung the BAT right at my head. I ducked and ran.
"You can't run forever, Faye!" she yelled in a psychotic tone. I ran into the luminous forest behind her house and tried to focus on getting out alive rather than listening to her voice. Her horrible, horrifying voice. As I sprint I see my cold, wispy breath leaking out of my lips.
I ran until I reached a circle of what seemed to be trees? The tree-like things were huge, looking like they were touching the sky. They had a slim, tall figure taller than a building. They were also greenish with red spots. Poison Oakwood. Kendra had taught me that. These trees were Poison Oakwood. My mind flashed to a memory of when Kendra and I were 10. "If you ever lose me, find the Poison Oakwood and you'll find me." Kendra's voice whispered to 10 year old me. My mind flashed back to reality as some leaves crunched behind me. I snapped my head to look behind me to see what had made this noise. Those leaves were the last things I saw before I blacked out.
Instantly I felt an agonizing head rush, and then sudden pain. My god, I thought, I'm gonna die. The pain burned, my head tightened, my thoughts everywhere. And so many of them. My vision went in and out. I saw Kendra holding the bat, with the ripped up picture of us in her hand.
"It's too bad. I thought you stuck by me, and trusted me. But first rule you should have figured out, don't double cross me. Ever." Kendra said with a low tone, sounding like an entirely different person.
In the distance I heard her laugh; that horrible laugh. The picture dropped to my side as the pain came in. My head burned, feeling like I was trapped in a fire. Little by little, I could feel my eyes close. All of a sudden every one of my senses were gone. Extinguished. Inaccessible. She had gotten me, but I had many others who were going to get her. The things that broke her windows and slashed her door. The shadow things. The fables nobody wanted to believe in. The sweat drenching nightmares. The monsters in the dark, crowded closet. Under the bed. In the tall, stretching doorways. They prey on the weak and unsafe, and Kendra, fit into both categories. As I listened I heard Kendra scream, and the sound started to echo. My job was done.
