The People Of The Town

The People Of The Town: Chapter Five

  I crawled over to the table where John Huffmen was killed. He was a very superstitious man. It was his idea to do what they did to Hannah. I was thinking about the town meeting they held, where they were convinced to kill her. Tori and I had snuck into the meeting at the local church.

   Tori were very pretty. She acted a bit young for her age, but we accepted her. She wore a faded plaid dress and I wore I white shirt and a red skirt to blend in, but we were both filthy. "We need to get them at their core." John announced over the crowd of towns people. "Kill their leader, kill their leader!" the people chanted. "Do we even know who their leader is?" one woman recognized their lack of knowledge when it came to the P.T.K.S. club. I stared straight at John. Just John. I didn't allow my eyes to wander and follow the movement beside me. "I bet it's the pretty one!" someone shouted. Tori looked down like she was about to cry. I knew I couldn't let her down. "Or is it that mistake child. Isn't she a bit sketchy? She could be the real problem!" I heard myself shout this. Everyone silenced. "Or, that other girl. Hannah? Is that her name? She is the problem. I heard her parents gave her up and she was scarred, and now she wants to kill." I heard a familiar voice say this. Wait. it couldn't have been, it was Hannah. I looked over and my eyes met hers. I shook my head in disagreement, but she continued to talk herself up as a killer. She concluded with "If we kill the leader, that Hannah girl, they will be nothing. We can be done with them."

   The towns people cheered her on and the meeting ended. Everyone fled the church and I grabbed Tori. With her, I chased Hannah to a path in the woods leading to our club's cabin. It was the longest way to get there, but the other paths were out in public in the town. "What were you thinking back there?" I asked in disbelief. "What do you think? I was saving you and everyone else!" She said with much confidence. "We don't need a hero. We need to stay together and stay alive. No matter wha-", "Why do you care if I do it? You were doing the same thing. Our club will not survive without you, and that's the truth. I'm just another girl, you're the leader." This is what I meant when I said we were in charge. We got what we wanted with strong voices and deadly stares.

   Right at that moment We heard some voices. I looked behind me and saw ten men. They were following us in secrecy. Thankfully they hadn't heard our conversation. I slowly grabbed Hannah and told her to run to the cabin. Then I pulled Tori closer to me. "Missy, no." Hannah whispered. "Run!" I screamed as loud as I could. Hannah had no choice but to run to the cabin. The men followed us at a slow run. Tori and I slowed our pace so Hannah would be in front of us. When there was finally a fork in the road, Hannah took the path leading to the cabin. Hoping that the men didn’t see her, tori and I took the other path, and the men followed down the path to an old lake. When we got out of their sight, I jumped into a big bush and pulled Tori down with me. When the men finally got there, there were only nine men. They jumped into the lake and swan. "That's unsanitary!" Tori shouted.

   We snuck out around the lake and towards the cabin. Tori pointed out that the other girls were near us, walking on the trail. Once they got to us, we opened the cabin door laughing, telling stories about what had happened. I was glad to see Tori happy, not worried about someone dying. But, as we walked in, her face completely changed. She was already shaken up about what happened and she was tired, so I just ignored it. Then, our laughs were silenced by her scream. I was so oblivious I didn't even notice the dead body on the floor. We all gathered around it. It was Hannah. The tenth man must have followed her here.

   After that, Bethany tried to convince me to relocate us, but I decided to stay in the cabin I had been living in for year.