Heroine of Holly Ridge

Chapter sixteen

Finally they saw the caboose come into view. Wow, it really is red, I thought. "Little red caboose chug chug chug, little red caboose chug chug chug," I sang. That was a song my grandmother had taught me when I was little. Strangely Duffy joined me and we sang a duet. Alan looked at us strangely.

I love weirding people out. And apparently Duffy does too.

Alan then started singing. So we skipped along singing a nursery song. These are my kinda people, I thought, now if only Melody were here. Wheezing from laughter, singing, and leaping ,we collapsed in a heap. We have to keep going we told each other. So we did.

Finally we reached the "little red caboose". Just as we got to it, a familiar head popped up.

The torturer.

He has on a protective coat and glasses. The sun had no effect on him right now. Alan paled and stood in front of me. "So I finally found you. Alan ,the traitor, Valen's own son. Fell for that thing," he pointed at me.

Jeez, I hate that man.

"That thing??!? This is Quinn. She is a hero," Alan said bravely. "And Duffy? What's up with that?" the torturer asked. "I'm her sidekick," Duffy proclaimed proudly. Wait, if I could just wrench that black coat off of him maybe he'd shrivel up in the sun.

While he is distracted by Duffy's odd announcements I lunge for the kill. "Quinn," Alan dashes after me. I punch the corrupted man in the face and rip his glasses off. Alan helps me grab the coat and we wrestle it off. I wait expectantly for him to burn.

Nothing.

He cackled and rose up. "You will all die a long and painful death," he screeched. But then the cloud blocking the sun graciously moved. And instead of us the torturer died a painful death. We watched as his skin grotesquely shrunk. His eyeballs bulged and his nose shriveled to nothing but holes.

He screamed and clawed at his yellowing skin. "You!" he gasped. He tried to reach me but his now stringy muscles wouldn't allow it. He finally lay down and burned until he was nothing but skin and bones. Literally.

And there's nothing we could've done. You may think the guilt will stay with me forever. But just think, he was consuming kids, people with real lives, on a daily basis. I shared a look with Alan and remembered just how blest we three are. That we are nothing like the rest.