THE MURDER NEXTDOOR

chapter:12

1992.

"Let's try this again," an elder brother said to his youngest brother, trying to hid the frustration in his tone with a tight smile, " What's you're name?"

"My name is," the little brother started, " Samuel Cinnam..." But then he breaks into to a laugh. The elder brother's frustration is visible but it slowly turns to worry. "Am sorry," the little brother apologizes," I can't help it... Cinnamon," he says with a laugh.

"This isn't a joke," the order brother says as he bends down to straighten his little brother's shirt. "They can't know who you are if this is going to work. Your name is Samuel Cinnamon. " Samuel gives a little nod.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. The elder brother opened it as little Samuel hid behind the stairs.

"Hi there," said the lovely woman on the door. She had a large smile on her face as her eyes radiated with joy. Her blonde hair was in a tight bun, with an apron tied on her waist. A round pie laid on her palm. "It's a Willowdon proud tradition to welcome new neighbors with a sugary treat. We are the town of Sweet delights."

"Thank you," he said, trying to be charming,

"Everyone in Willowdon loves a little sweetness in everything," she said with a nervous laugh," am Mrs Harper but you can call me Barbra," she then stares at him patiently waiting for him to tell her his name, " and what should we call you?" She asked when she realized he was taking too long.

"Oh, am Charles. Charles Cinnamon."

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The present.

Kale opened his eyes. He didn't know why he even bothered because when his eyes were open he saw the same thing he had been seeing for hours if not days _ darkness.

His face laid flat on the cold sticky floor, his hands tied behind his back. His hearing was now his most dominant out of the five. He could hear the rats rushing past him, sometimes they were on him if he stayed really still.

He tried not to focus on smell. The stench was awful. It was a sharp, sweet, rotting smell. Like a corpse covered in strawberry syrup. He tried his best not to move. Everything around him was sticky and slimy.

He was really hungry. He had been hungry for a while. His abductor hadn't feed him yet so maybe he had been gone for a day, or maybe the abductor had no intention of feeding him at all.

He wondered if people knew he was kidnapped. Draged from his bed and no one noticed. Maybe they didn't care. Maybe they never cared. Maybe there were happy he was gone.

He was always a screw up. Never did anything right. Never quite fit. He was a nerd but not a good one. He wasn't as wild and exciting as Bexie and Danny, though he did try. He wasn't the perfect son his parents always dreamt of but he wanted to be.

He realized that all he ever wanted was to be appreciated, but this turned him into a people pleasing slob that nobody was ever really fond off. At least there, in the dark, all alone, he could breathe, and not worry about who he's disappointing.

A while later, the door opened and a bright light coming from a flashlight revealed a staircase from the door, he was down stairs somewhere. He was in a basement.

"Just so you know,am not surprised it's you," he tells his abductor.

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Sophie slapped the thin case file on the cafeteria table where Bexie, Danny and June were having lunch. She gives each of them a warning gaze, giving them the impression that they should brace themselves for what she was about to deliver.

She sat beside them then looked over her shoulder cautiously. Everyone stopped what they were doing in anticipation. She takes the file by the edge and before opening it, she takes a couple of deep breaths," are you ready."

" Just open it before I explode," Jude complains.

Sophie opened the page and everyone's gaze was met with a gruesome image and they froze in disbelief.

"I found this in my dad's office. Stashed away with the other previous case files that belonged to the past sheriffs," Sophie said.

"What am I looking at?" Jude asked, horror churning in her gut.

They were looking at the picture of a little girl sitting in a dark corner. She looked like death. Her limbs were long and thin like twigs, her skin was dry and pale almost looking transparent, her eyes were like red swollen spheres and her cheek bones sharp and protruding like they could cut through her skin.

The worst part was her teeth. Black large gums and rotting teeth with a lot of large dark cavities, sharp edges and red, shining thick liquid pouring from her mouth.

"Candy Clot?" Bexie asked, completely sickened by the image.

"Not quite," Sophie answered, using it as an excuse to steal a glance at Bexie. "These are the effects of candy clot."

"Was it some kind of drug?" Danny asked.

" Nope, it was a local candy and guess who came up with it."

"Charles," Bexie exclaimed, turning to Sophie for clarification only to meet with her eyes stopping her heart. She was looking at me, she realized.

"Look at the name just below the picture," June points at the paper," Agatha Harper," she reads it out loud," Kale's mom."

"And it wasn't just her," Sophie says as she turns the pages of the file reaving other sickly children," Jasper Smith," she starts listing.

"Our English teacher?"

"Lucy Summers," Sophie continued.

"That's mom," Bexie said.

"Jordan Cross..."

"My dad," Danny whispered

"And a bunch of other kids, including my dads."

"Oh my god," June exclaimed with a hand to her mouth," these are our parents, our teachers even my dentist is in here. Is this going to happen to us if Samuel Cinnamon comes back?"

"I think he's already here."

A/N. Candy Clot really did a number on Willowdon and that's not even the half of it.

Sam is gonna eat this whole town up if they don't catch him first.

Bye.