The Boy In The Red House

Prologue

I was pulled from what may have been the best sleep of my life by the sound of my bedroom door being pushed open. My eyesight was blurry until I swiped my hand across my face and turned over to see my younger sister standing at the foot of my bed. Her curly hair looked to be in a tangled mess on her head and I could tell that she'd woken up in a panic because her night shirt was hanging off of her shoulder. This had been one of the hottest summers we'd had in years so the sweat that had begun to bead across her forehead reminded me of the thick, hot air of my bedroom. I need to open a window.

"Your pyscho friend from school is out on his front lawn." Journee informed me as if we were talking about the weather.

"Wait, Jacob?" I asked, my voice still laced with the sleep I was desperately trying to hold onto. When my sister nodded I sat up a little, "What time is it? Is he okay?"

"I don't know, Lani. It's 3 in the morning and all I know is Tracy called me talking about how I need to go see what the neighborhood nutcase is up to. Put your pants on."

I pat my bed down aggressively trying to find my phone that I was sure I had just seen. Journee tossed a pair of shorts at my head followed by the same phone I was so sure I was about to find. I hurriedly made myself decent before slipping my feet into the nearest pair of shoes I saw. Journee laughed, but I ignored her and took the stairs two at a time to get out of the house. My legs moved as fast as they could until I found myself face to face with a crowd of nosy neighbors.

"Y'all gon have to get the fuck out the way cause I'm pretty sure all y'all doing is looking." I yelled, pushing my way to the front.

Jacob stood in front of his bright red house covered in what I could only describe as blood. There was a kitchen knife dangling loosely from his right hand and his shattered cell phone was clenched tightly in his left. I took a step closer with every intention of making sure he was okay but a hand pulled me back.

"Girl, you don't know what he got going on over there. He is not about to slice your ass up so Ma can come home and beat my ass over it." Journee whisper-yelled, trying to divert some of the attention off of us.

"If that was Tracy ugly ass you'd already be over there. He ain't gon do a damn thing to me." I jerked away and walked over to Jacob's shaking form. His shirt clung to his skin and I could see tears streaming down his cheeks as he stared blankly towards the crowd.

I could faintly hear the sound of sirens entering our usually quiet neighborhood. Jacob wasn't well liked because he didn't talk to many people and his parents worked at the same bank that ran strict loans on most of the houses in our area. Unlike our other uppity neighbors, I befriended Jacob and even though we weren't super close, he made sure I was straight and I beat anyone who tried to mess with him in school.

My hands brushed Jacob's face and I looked into his eyes. The poor boy was scared senseless, yet all these people would do is stare at him.

"Jakey boy, what did you do?" I whispered.

"I didn't want to. I swear Lani, I didn't, but I had to. They made me." His voice was barely audible and I had to lean in real close to hear him.

"Who? Who's they?"

By now I could see the red and blue lights behind me so I was silently willing him to speak faster. Part of me hoped that I could get the whole story out of him before the cops pulled my hands from his bloody face, but all I got was a grunt as he was tackled to the ground.

My nosy ass neighbors stood behind me murmuring to themselves but that didn't go on too long before I heard Journee's loud mouth.

"Not too much on my sister! Cause y'all know we don't even play with y'all like that. Yes I'm talking to you Ms. Johnson. My momma will be right on that doorstep in the morning!"

I shook my head lightly, watching the cops aggressively rip the knife from Jacob's hand. They screamed at him, not letting him get a word in before a group of them ran into the house. My eyes never left his, even as the cops yelled the words I never expected to hear.

"We got 3 bodies in here!"

Fuck. Jacob, what the hell did you do?!