Scalpel's Edge

Chapter 2- It Begins

She screamed and slid down the wall in horror, holding her hands in front of her mouth with wide eyes. Her mom and dad rushed up the wood stairs toward her room, calling out to her constantly asking her what was wrong. They both gasped when they seen what was painted on her wall in fresh red blood, that was also slowly drying after dripping all the way down her wall. Her mother hugged her daughter tightly as Ashlyn stared at the red and white. The colours seemed to mix together as she blinked. Her mother helped her up and ushered her out of the room and into the dining area to eat. Ashlyn ate her salad with a blank expression. Her father trotted down the stairs with a frown tugging on his lips, Ash saw his hands and part of his shirt spotted with blood as her mother got up to join him on the way to the bathroom to clean it off. She crept around the corner to eavesdrop on her parents, she heard their hushed conversation clearly when she pressed her ear to the closed bedroom door. 

"Mitch, did you clean it?"

"Yes Elinor I did, it's as gone as it's going to be, I think we should move Ashlyn to a more secure place, we can move her underground."

Ash left after she herd that, and made her way upstairs to her room. She wearily opened her door and stepped into her dark room. Ashlyn turned on the light and gasped, her clothes where strew about her room like someone had gone though her drawers and threw her clothes everywhere. Taking special care about her panties and bras laying them out gently on her bed. 

"What the hell?"

Ashlyn was confused beyond belief, she picked up a bra and underneath it was a paper. She turned the seemingly blank paper over in her hands and resisted the urge to scream again. It was her name, written in messy, red scrawl. She decided to hide this paper from her parents or they really would ship her away to some lonely white room under the ground. She slept fitfully that night. 

The next morning was slow and Ash was late to her first class, in which her teacher Miss. Karr ripped her a new one. She just rolled her eyes and sat in her desk, taking out her note book and looking at her blank lined page. Ash began doodling, she had no idea what she was doodling, her mind just took over and drew what it wanted. When she was finished she had drawn a creature, a huge bony thing with long claws and a long dog-like snout. It had large teeth and black rimmed eyes, it was snarling and bearing it's huge fangs at the invisible threat beside it. The thing had to be at least 12 to 14 feet tall. Her mind took over once again as she zoned out, this time when she looked she had drawn a shadowy creature that looked slightly like the first, but with a shorter snout and shorter teeth, they had a dark aura surrounding them and short hair covering their entire body. they where considerably shorter at around 10 to 11 feet. She was snapped out of her stupor when the fire alarm rang loudly, and that's when everybody panicked. People sprang up and ran, all at once trying to get out of the door. A few boys stood up and pushed Ashlyn down onto the floor kicking her on the way out. Ash got up grabbing her backpack and books and ran down the slowly burning, evacuated halls, on the way out she herd screaming. It was male screaming coming from one of the class rooms, Ash ignored it and ran harder out of the burning school, getting out of the front doors before the entrance collapsed behind her, covering her in a layer of dust. She tried to wipe some away but smeared it onto her face instead.  

"Your still alive?! Your kidding right, I thought you would have died in that fire Ashes"

Cindy, one of the more popular girls at the school and Ashlyn's personal bully, looked at the dirty girl before her with a not-so-real pity look, and as Cindy passed her she whispered.

"Shame..."

When Ashlyn returned home that night, her parents had fussed over her, cleaning her up and making sure she wasn't hurt. She waved them off telling them that she only needed sleep and to get off her case and away from her. They left her alone for the time being and she made her way to her room. A gentle sigh escaped her as she didn't bother turning on the light. Ash flipped her computer open and turned it on, going to a news report of that day that caught her eye. The report told of 3 boys that had been murdered at the sight of a fire, but not by the fire. As she read on her eyes grew wide, those where the three boys that had kicked and pushed her down just hours before. She grew pale as she read farther on, the boys had all had their kidneys removed and their faces cut into a big, unnatural smile. Then at the end of the news report they said that the letters AE where carved into the body's of the victims. 

The word document popped up again and typed, this time in gray letters and a different font. 

"I hope you liked our little service for you Ashlyn Evens. -EJ and JTK"

"Oh god.... Oh my god no....They're doing this for me...."

She shook and turned off the laptop. 

"This can't be happening... this is impossible.... I can't be the one causing this...."

She fell into another restless sleep that night, tossing and turning from her constant bad dreams.