The Ripper

In the Daylight

"What is your name?"

"Why were you out tonight?"

"Where did you get this weapon?"

Despite his father's efforts to set him free, Erik still landed in the guards' prison. The guard who had captured him didn't believe that Erik's sword was too big to cause the knife wound on the body, that Erik was just out to check on his father, or that Erik's uncle was the head guard. Erik sighed and slumped against the cell's stone wall. His eyes hurt from being awake so late into the night.

A rat scurried past his feet.

Today, or tonight rather, just wasn't his day. First getting run over by one of his father's enemies, then getting arrested for being a murderer when he was walking home with his father.

A drop of water splashed on Erik's face.

This was his parent's worst fear come true. They always went on and on about how having the sword was dangerous, how Erik and Chris needed to be careful when they went outside. Now one of their sons was in jail because of that very sword.

Erik's shackled clanged together as he adjusted his body.

No, it wasn't the sword. He and his brother walked down the street without staring eyes before The Ripper. His parents weren't afraid before The Ripper. His hometown Meryl wasn't afraid before The Ripper. Everything had been fine before The Ripper. This was The Ripper's fault. The murderer using weapons from Erik's mother's home country. The murderer slashing lives apart and causing unrest.

Who was next? Erik had been arrested. What about his father? Mother? What would happen to Chris, the little kid, too little to understand why the town was getting more hostile to his family?

Erik rested his head on his knees. If The Ripper were stopped, this nightmare would end.

Unfortunately, Erik could not do anything while he was stuck in this cell. The thing was like a box with only two small openings, the small window at the top of the stone walls and the opening on the door. Everything was dark, as if Erik were sitting in a cage made of shadows. He was stuck in a cage with no way out because the guard couldn't see that the wound on the body lying in the street was smaller than any stabs his sword could make. The man's shirt was stabbed straight through. The incisions were half the size of his sword.

The man was the eleventh victim.

The Ripper had to be stopped.

With that one thought in his mind, Erik drifted off. The next morning, he woke to the sound of the door opening. Erik sat up and rubbed the gravel off his cheek. He could feel the indents the rocks left on his chin. His eyes squinted from the bright sunlight pouring in from the small window.

"I'm sorry about that, Erik," Erik's uncle said. Well, uncle in name. Erik still wasn't sure if they were related or not.

"I'm being let go?" Erik asked. He held up his arms for the shackles to be removed.

"The guard who caught you didn't know who you were," Erik's uncle said. "I gave him a stern talking to, but you had better not wander around the streets at night again. The Ripper is out again. You're young, and you have a good life to live."

Erik just nodded.

After giving Erik back his sword, Erik's uncle walked him outside, where everything was quiet, but not like the eerie silence from the night before. It was the quiet hum of life and brightness that belonged to the day.

The two stood awkwardly outside for a few moments. Erik's uncle cleared his throat.

"You can go now. You know your way home?"