Killer

Garfield Takes a Tumble

Benjamin didn't sleep a wink that night. His heart pounded and his mind was racing.

Garfield, however, seemed to have slept like a baby. He had curled into his boyfriend's side and snored away.

The younger of the couple kept thinking over the conversation he had overheard. Were his boyfriend and cousin really murderers? None of it made sense to him.

Jett came in that following morning looking rough, like she hadn't slept well at all. "Your dad's making breakfast," she said, leaning against the doorframe when she saw her cousin was awake.

"Okay," he stuttered out.

"You good, Benji?" she asked, tilting her head. "How much sleep did you get?"

"Uh..." He looked between her and the sleeping boy on his chest. "Not enough."

"Were you thinking about Samuel?" she asked. "Look, whatever happened to him wasn't your fault. Just relax. You'll be fine."

"I just... I'm worried someone else is going to die. Why's it been our school specifically?"

"Just be glad it's not been one of our friends, alright?"

Garfield began to stir, groaning awake.

Jett snorted. "Make him brush his teeth before joining breakfast, 'kay? His morning breath reeks."

"Fuck you," the sleepy boy mumbled, holding up a lazy middle finger.

"Let Mom and Dad know we'll be down in a minute," Benjamin said quickly.

"You got it," the girl nodded. She walked away.

Garfield sat up, the blankets falling off his shoulders. "Morning," he smiled softly.

"Hi," the younger brunet smiled shakily.

The older leaned in to kiss him, but when it wasn't reciprocated he frowned and pulled away.

"What's wrong?"

"N- Nothing!" The curly-haired boy shook his head quickly, but his gaze slipped down to the hand on his chest. Had it been used to kill their classmates? There had been blood on his boyfriend's jacket.

"Benjamin," he frowned deeper. "What's going through that pretty head of yours?"

"Nothing! Honest!" His gaze snapped back up quickly. "I'm just... thinking."

"About?"

He closed his eyes and sighed.

It hit the older boy. "You think I'm the killer," he said, betrayal in his voice. "Oh my god..."

"No, Garfield, I..." He didn't have an excuse, not off the top of his head. "I'm just confused and anxious..."

He didn't know what he believed at the moment. Everything that had been leading up to last night, his boyfriend's behaviour, the time with Jett... It wasn't looking good in his mind.

"I can't believe this!" Garfield scoffed. He got out of the bed and started grabbing his belongings.

"Garfield, wait!" Benjamin called after him as he stormed out of the room. He hurried out of the bed and followed after him. "Garf!"

"Forget it, Ben," he growled back. "Apologise to your parents for me. I'm out of here."

Benjamin stared at the front door after it slammed in his face. Jett came up behind him and set a hand on his shoulder.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"I..." Benjamin's heart rate quickened. Tears pricked his eyes.

"Go get some breakfast. I'll talk to him."

///

Garfield sat at the kitchen table, socked feet swinging as he stared at his homework.

Sunny sat across from him, headphones over her ears as she worked on her own.

The older of the siblings sighed and tapped his pencil against his notebook, hand in his hair as he read through his history book.

The younger sibling looked up and gave a tight, sympathetic smile. She removed her headphones and spoke.

"You okay?"

Her brother shrugged. "A bit pissed off, if I'm honest."

"He's just confused and scared. We all are, I think."

"You don't think I'm a serial killer, right?"

"Of course not. You're my big brother. Besides, the only serial killing you've done is to the Hot Pockets Mama buys."

"Thanks," he snorted, resting his chin on his hand.

"Just give him time," she hummed. "He'll come around soon."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, I have a strong feeling about it."

The siblings smiled at each other before Sunny's expression turned to one of panic. "Garfield," she squeaked.

"What?" he asked, turning his head.

"Boo."

He came face to face with the mask of one of the killers. They didn't waste any time playing around, though. Before the teenager had a chance to react, a knife was plunged into his stomach.

Sunny screamed and jumped up.

Her brother's head slowly turned to look at her. His voice shook as he spoke, "Sunny... Run..."

The killer removed the knife and stabbed him again, and again, and again.

They were so aggressive with it, he fell out of the chair and cried.

Sunny wanted to run away, but her pounding heart told her to try and save her brother. She ran up to the killer and grabbed them, trying to pull them off of him.

They waved the knife around, trying to fight her off, and wound up cutting her arm.

She let out a cry and let go, stumbling back and holding her arm.

The killer quickly stood up, masked face turning from one sibling to the other and back again. Not sticking around, they ran off to the living room window and opened it, jumping out into the bushes below.

Sunny made a dash to the front door and opened it, running outside to try and stop them. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she fumbled with her phone. Blood made one of her hands slippery, causing her to struggle with calling the 911, but she managed eventually.

"911, where is your emergency?"

The girl sobbed as she answered the operator's questions.

"I'm sorry, you said you were attacked?"

"Yes, me and my brother. We— I don't know if he's still alive," she cried, looking back toward the house. She screamed as she saw her brother's bleeding figure stumble up to the door and fall down the front steps.

"Garfield!" she cried, rushing for him. She set her phone down, the operator still speaking, and helped him sit up.

By now the neighbours were outside and coming to help the teenagers.

An ambulance eventually arrived.