How To Kill a Songbird

Chapter 47: Remembering The Forgotten

We entered the dark abyss of the mineshaft.  Our footsteps echoed in the tunnel. We approached where Nate Harlow shot the supports to cause a cave-in. It was almost damp in there. It even reminded me of one of my childhood movies, "Journey to the Center of the Earth."

"Does this creep you out Ash?" asked Morgan. "It feels like we are going down to hell."

"Don't worry Morgan," I smiled as I held her hand. "I will protect you."

"Sure," laughed Morgan. "From what the monsters under the bed?"

"Maybe," I laughed.

I suddenly felt like I was going to have a heart attack. I started breathing heavily and I stopped walking.  I was shaking like a scared puppy. I started getting dizzy. Was I having a panic attack? What was causing it? Morgan looked back at me with concern written on her face.

"Baby what's wrong?" she asked me. Her voice was getting further away. I felt like I was in the fog of Silent Hill due to how the world around me became so dreamlike. "Ash?"

I started screaming suddenly. I wasn't with her anymore. I wasn't even in the mineshaft. I was back in the woods behind Dodsfall Road. I was fifteen again and wearing my bibber, which are matching uniform overalls, and my band shirt. I was back to the night Jackson was murdered.

I was in the woods behind Dodsfall Road. I ran after both Harlow and Jackosn when I saw Jackson being taken. Harlow slit his throat. I was running as fast as my bibber and marching shoes would let me. They are made to march in, not run in. I was trying to keep my footing when I hit the forest floor because of the shoes. I am not abandoning him. I am not abandoning Jackson. He didn't abandon me when I was hurt. I wanted to repay the favor by getting Mr. Harlow off of him.  I finally reached an altar-like table in the woods. It was made of rocks from the nearby woods. Mr. Harlow had his back to me. He looked like he was doing something.

"Mr. Harlow?" I called out to him. It made him freeze. I made the excuse, "The freshman brought alcohol to the game and are drunk in the stands."

"Oh Adrastea," he snarled as he turned to me. "I know that trick. It isn't going to work this time."

When he turned around, I realized what he was doing. I screamed as I fell on my knees in shock. I held my hand over my mouth as I started to cry. Jackson was dead. He killed him and not only that. He was mutilating his corpse. He was in the process of wrapping barbed wire around his body.

Mr. Harlow was furious. He walked towards me with an aggressive stride. The fear and anguish I felt were very hard to put into words. My ears were ringing from fear. He grabbed me and threw me across the woods. My back hit a tree and I howled in pain. I was dazed, but I needed to get up. I think I walked in on something I shouldn't have. I shouldn't have come here.

I was horrified and terrified. My only friend who took me in when I had no one... was gone. The boy who cleaned my wounds in the school bathroom was dead. Mr. Harlow got to me as the world was in slow motion. He grabbed me by the throat and started hitting me in the face. He threw me to the ground and started beating the shit out of me with punches and kicks. I eventually pushed him off and it made him enraged. I was in the wrong clothes for a fight. My bibber was very restrictive because it was made to look sharp. It was never meant to be worn for a fight for survival against a madman.

"Mr. Harlow. I'm sorry. I won't tell anyone, even my mom. Please don't kill me. I'm sorry," I gasped.

"Adrastea, you think I would believe that?" he snarled as he attacked me. I tried to fight back. He growled at me, "You tell your mom everything. You shouldn't have made it this far. I should have killed you the day you set foot in my middle school band room. Your mother is a dyke for not having a husband for this long and you are her little red-haired bitch."