Suicidal Murderer

It was late one autumn night when I heard my two favorite voices walking past my house. Little Jean Louise was wearing some kind of pork costume, and along beside her was her big
brother Jem. For some reason I just absolutely love those two as if they were my own children.
"Get away from that window, boy!" my brother shouted from the dining room,
"You are to stay inside tonight, you hear? There will be many people out late tonight with that
show over at the school."
I just sorta' sit there and frown because that meant I don't get to go peak at Scout as she sleeps. She rests so peacefully in her bed at night.
"I've got to go take care of some business for awhile," Nathan puts his coat on and grabs his
suitcase, "Don't even think about leaving this house," He shoots a menacing glare at me. “You
hear me boy?"
I nod my head at him, but I was already thinking about it and how would he find out anyways?
I've never been caught by anyone else before. As soon as he left and was out of sight down the
road, I make my way out the door, and sticking to the side of the shadows, I went straight to the
school where I know I can wait and see Jem and Scout leave.
I wait about a half hour before I see them finally leave. Apparently Scout lost her clothes because she hasn't stopped whining about it and she's came out wearing that pork costume.
I follow close behind them; I think they heard me though because they keep stopping and
looking back as if they hear me walking.
'What was that?' I think to myself. I swear I just heard glass shatter. I don't think the kids heard
it though because they are concentrating on trying to catch me behind them. I'm afraid they're
going to catch me so I stop following them. I really like them and would love to talk to them but
I can't risk having them say anything to Nathan.
I get about thirty or so yards away when I hear a shout, wait a second. THAT'S JEM! I could
recognize that boy's voice anywhere. I run as fast as I can to see what's going on.
As I get there Jem is already lying on the ground, hopefully not dead, and I see Mr. Bob Ewell,
the town's second biggest alcoholic, attacking my Scout! With a knife in his hand he pushes
Scout into a tree and is about to stab her. I made it over to Bob just in time to stop his hand from
lunging into my baby girl's ribs. Bob Ewell, drunk and confused as to why he can't drive his hand
forward, turns around to see me. I squeeze his wrist as tight as I can do he drops the knife.
"Arthur," he says in shock, scared, and by the look in his face, with no clue what to do.
"Why, you stupid—" he mumbled,. I grin. "ass, son of a bitch."
I pull him away from the kids so he can't do anything to them. I notice his eyes looking down.
Not sure what at, but he swings at me, gets me good in the jaw. Not enough to hurt much. I deck
him in the eye, knocking him out. His body crumbles and falls limp.
I continuously punch him in the face, only thinking about what he's done to Jem. He must've
woke up because he grabs the knife. I suppose that's what he was looking at, he swings it effortlessly at me. After he misses me, I take the knife right out of his hand, pick him up, and
gnash it right into his stomach. I can feel his heart quit beating through the handle of the knife.
This man is so drunk he probably has no clue he's dying.
"Never touch my babies," the first words I have spoken in years, I whispered into the ears of a
dead man.
I hurry over to Jem and pick him up. I don't know if he's okay or not but Atticus will know
what to do. I carry Jem home, knowing Scout is not far behind me. As I approach the porch, I see
Calpurnia in the doorway so I wait a couple seconds until she steps away.
I scurry in through the door quickly but quietly so Mr. Finch doesn't hear me. I approach Jem's
room which is just down the hall and to the left. I lay Jem on his bed.
I lean over and put my ear to his chest, just as Nathan did to Pa when he died. I had no clue
why he did it or what he was listening for, but I kept hearing a loud "thud thud, thud thud" so I
figured, well, if it's making some kind of noise, he must be alive. That's just because I know
when you're dead, you don't do anything.
I hear footsteps down the hall.
"Oh no!" I think to myself.
"Someone's coming."
I step over to the corner, trying to stay quiet. Just as I get there the door opens and Scout,
Atticus, and some cop come in and head straight to Jem. Scout keeps going on about Mr. Ewell
attacking them and 'some strange man' saving the two of them and carrying Jem on back to the
house.
I stand there, stuck in my head. Too busy trying to figure out how I’m going to get out of here
to hear what they're saying. Oh god, I really hope I got him here soon enough for help.
"Why there he is, Mr. Tate, he can tell you his name." Scout says as she lifts a finger in my
direction. I still stand there leaning against the wall with my arms folded across my chest.
"Hey b-Boo," she says.
"Mr. Arthur, honey" Atticus corrects her, but I didn't mind being called boo. I sorta' liked it.
Scout runs over to her brother, and I feel a smile creep across my face seeing them together.
"Ah-ah, don't touch him," Atticus says.
The cop stands there glaring me down, he was about to say something to me when Dr.
Reynolds, the town doctor, steps in.
"Everybody out," he says.
"Evenin' Arthur, didn't notice you at first." He brings something in with him, covered innewspapers. Sets himself up over by Jem and takes his coat off.
"You're quite satisfied he's alive now?" he says to Scout. "Tell you how I knew, when I tried to
examine him, he kicked me. Had to put him out good and proper to touch him. So what," he
says.
"Er-" says Atticus, glancing over at me. "Heck, let's go out on the front porch. There are plenty
of chairs out there, and it's still warm enough."
Scout looks confused but joins them after a minute or so. I consider going out there with them
but don't really want them to question me. So I sit on the foot of the bed like Nathan always did
when I got sick or hurt.
"I guess you can watch," Dr. Reynolds says to me as he gets his equipment for some sort of
cast. Poor little Jem's arm is all mangled up.
Dr. Reynolds sticks a needle in Jem's arm, "It's just so he don't have to feel any pain while I'm
working." I flinch at the idea of the pain it would cause so I decide to go outside. Scout is
waiting for me outside the door and leads me down the hall and past the living room to the front
porch.
"Won't you have a seat, Mr. Arthur? This rocking chair's nice and comfortable," Atticus says,
but Scout leads me to a chair in the corner where it's nice and dark. I'm much more comfortable
in the dark so that's where I sat.
Then Atticus and the cop go on talking about the case in legal terms, and I don't quite
understand why or how Atticus tried blaming this on Jem. He didn't do it and this cop fellow,
who I supposes name is Heck Tate because that's what Atticus keeps calling him, obviously
knows it was me but is kind enough to make Bob Ewell's death a suicide. Or at least according to
the papers he'll fill out.