This Little Light Of Mine

Detective Martinez cowered over each body, examining each one; taking mental pictures so he'd have answers for his boss later. He wasn't used to this kind of call. Usually, he worked on the missing children cases... but not today.

"Smith! Have you found any clues?" he called into the hallway. Smith was in the kitchen on the other side of the house. If there was any evidence to take back, it wasn't showing up very easily.

Smith didn't respond. Martinez wasn't worried though, because Smith always had to be sure with an answer before he gave it. That was just the way he ticked.

Looking back to the bodies, he shuddered. They really must've pissed someone off to be murdered so brutally.

The mother's eyes had been jabbed with forks. Her arm bone was poking out of the skin and her head was cocked in a sickening angle. When Martinez took a closer look, he noticed that her ears had been cut off and placed into her hands. When he lifted her hair to get a better look, he nearly threw up at what was sitting before him. Where her ear should've been, was her pupil. It had been removed and sewn to where her ear was supposed to be. It was the same on the other side.

The rest of the bodies looked the same as the mother, all except for the toddlers. His body was broken and sickly mangled. Nothing seemed to be missing until Martinez examined his mouth.

Inside, nothing looked proper. It wasn't unusual for a toddler to have so few teeth, but it was unusual for their gums to be raw and covered in blood, or for the tongue to be gone. Frankly, Martinez was far past being creeped out. Now he was just plain scared. What kind of a sick animal would do such a thing? He couldn't stand being in the room for another second.

Instead, he decided to help Smith search the house for evidence. Martinez would make it his personal mission to convict the monster that did this.

He searched every room for his partner without any luck. "Where could he be?" Martinez asked himself. He continued to search until he came across a door that led to a basement. He hadn't seen it before, but it looked suspicious. Smith liked to check out all the rooms, including the ones that he thought could have important evidence. This door looked important, so Martinez went in.

"Smith where are you? We have work to do, stop messing around!" There was still no response. Now he was starting to get mad. Smith had been known for his practical jokes, but this really wasn't the place, or the time for that matter.

The basement was dark and cold. Martinez didn't like it one bit. All he wanted to do was finish up here so he could go home to his wife and new son, Isaiah.

He finally found a light switch, and flicked it on. The room lit up, but only enough so that he could see the outline of objects. In the far corner, he was sure he saw a person. Not standing up, but laying down on the ground.

That's when Martinez remembered his flashlight. He had never used it before, but if there was ever going to be a time, this was it.

The beam of light traveled around the room to the corner. He didn't have to see the man's face to know it was Smith's.

"Smith? What happened here?" he asked, concerned, as he ran over to where his partner was lying. When he turned Smith over so they were face to face, Martinez let out a strangled scream.

Smith's face was completely disfigured. The way his nose caved in wasn't normal, not even if it was broken. It was almost as if... someone smashed it in multiple times. But Martinez needed to assess Smith and get him out before he could think of anything else.

Where were Smith's lips? It looked like someone cut them off. Then Martinez saw them. They were nailed to his forehead with pins. Yet, Smith was still alive. The pain he must be going through...

Behind Martinez was a crash of something falling to the floor. He spun around and pointed the beam of light toward where the sound came from. He was surprised at what greeted him.

It was a girl. She looked to be about eight years old. Her white sundress was stained with blood, and both of her hands were shaking uncontrollably. "The poor girl." Martinez thought.

"I'm Detective Martinez. I'm here to help you." he said in his voice that meant: I mean business.

The little girl smiled innocently. "Finally, someone's come to help me." she whispered sweetly. "My leg's hurt. Could you help me up the stairs? I need to wash it before it becomes infected."

Martinez nodded, but his mind was on Smith. How had this happened? Did the girl not see him? If she didn't, he wanted to keep it that way. He was a grown man and he wished that he hadn't seen it.

He walked to the girl and was about to picked her up, when he noticed what he had heard drop. Sometime between the time he had found her and the time it dropped, she had picked it up.

In her left hand was a knife. He hadn't seen it before because she held in between her dress and her skin.

Martinez backed up. The girl smiled. "What's wrong?" He shook his head and kept backing up until he bumped into the wall that Smith was leaning against.

The girl took a step toward him. "You know, I never did like cops." She took another step toward him. "They always act like they have more rights than everyone else." Another step. "I don't think it's fair, do you?" Now she was so close, he could feel her breathe. In one movement, she could have him killed.

"No. It isn't fair. Ill be sure to tell my boss that when I get back." Martinez mumbled. If he had to humor the girl to stay alive, that's what he'd do.

"You don't want to stay and play for awhile?" she asked, running the knife against his neck. He could no longer move. His body was glued to its place.

"Please!" he pleaded. It was too late.

The girl plunged the knife clear through his throat and watched as the blood ran like a waterfall to the floor. He tried to manage a scream, but all that came out was bubbling blood.

The girl smiled, and walked up the stairs to the kitchen. She started singing her favorite song that her song that her Mom used to sing to her - not that she'd ever do that again. She was dead.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine."

She striped of her dress and got into a clean one. Then she looked at the knife. She brought it up to her nose and inhaled.

The smell of rust inhabited itself to her. It became imprinted into her brain, leaving a craving to smell more. Not the leftover stuff from her family, not the detectives downstairs. She wanted fresh blood. But there was nobody else here.

"Oh well," she said to herself. "Aunt Lauren is coming over to baby-sit after school tomorrow."

Then she went back to the family room and turned on Spongebob Squarepants.