Xylia snaps

Xylia had always been a great student and had good friends. She was the top of the class, determined, intelligent, but surprisingly quiet. Her friends had taken a long time to get to know her, and it was rare for her to say more than two sentences in an entire school day. She was incredibly kind, always helping people with homework or personal problems, always being there for those who needed her. Her teachers had nothing but good to say about her, and her friends knew she was one of the most loyal people in the world. When she was with her friends, she was always loud and goofy, however she was so innocent that she usually ended up being the butt of the joke a lot. Of course, this never bothered her, as she usually ended up laughing… sooner or later. Xylia was a small girl, only about 5 feet tall, and barely weighed over 100lbs. Naturally, she was somewhat afraid of people, being so small. Her best friend was named Elizabeth and they did everything together and told each other everything.

One day Elizabeth noticed that Xylia was not in school, so later that day she called to see if she was okay.

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks for asking buddy!” was the very happy response she got. “I just wasn’t feeling all that great today, so my mom suggested I stay home.” It was later decided that Elizabeth should come over as soon as Xylia was feeling well again. A week passed before Xylia returned to school and she was greeted by many questions.

“Where were you?” “What were you sick with?” “Are you going to be okay?” “Do you want help catching up?”

“I was sick. I had the flu. Yeah the doctor said I should be fine. Thanks for the offer, but no.” She responded quietly. That day school went as it always did, Xylia was quiet through her classes, then became loud and bubbly at lunch, then was quiet the rest of the day. After school her and Elizabeth headed over to Xylia’s house. As soon as they got to Xylia’s house and opened the door, Elizabeth knew something was different, the house smelled horrid. Elizabeth knew Xylia’s mother was not the type of person to let her house smell so bad, so she asked Xylia why it smelled so bad.

“What do you mean Elizabeth? I don’t smell anything.” She answered.

Elizabeth still wasn’t convinced. After they watched a movie they started to play some video games. Everything went well until Elizabeth had to use the restroom.

“I’ll be right back” she said with a smile.

As soon as she was out of sight, she began to look around the house. She looked in the hallways, the bathrooms, the kitchen, even Xylia’s room, but found nothing that could have been giving off such a strong smell. Then, as she passed Xylia’s parent’s room, the smell became unbearably strong, so naturally, she entered the room.

As soon as she entered the room she screamed, and wished nothing more than to look away, but could not. There in the bed were Xylia’s parents, her mother’s throat slit clean across and her father stabbed in his heart, both laying in a pool of their own blood, and both, so long dead that enough flesh had rotted away to reveal the shine of their skulls. She looked to the walls, and saw someone had written on them in blood.

“HELP US” “STOP! PLEASE!” “LEAVE HER ALONE!”

The worst was yet to come however, as she just spied an arrow pointing to the bathroom attached to the room. As she entered she saw that the tub was filled with blood, and that Xylia’s younger brother lay in it, drowned. She turned to run, but found Xylia standing at the doorway, perfectly calm.

“What’s going on here Xylia?” Elizabeth yelled “What happened here?”

Xylia simply looked at her and said nothing for a while. Then, she crooked her head to the side, looking past her best friend and said “shh… they’re sleeping… Don’t wake them up..”

By this point, Elizabeth had seen enough. She didn’t know what was happening, but she knew one thing; she needed to get out of that house, fast. In her panic, she didn’t notice Xylia slowly stalking towards her, didn’t notice her reaching behind her back, didn’t hear the faint click of the pocket knife in her hand. As she sprinted to escape, passing Xylia, she felt the cold metallic blade sink into the center of her back. She fell to the floor, wanting to scream, wanting to call for help, but all she could manage was a faint “why?”

Xylia looked down at her coolly and replied “Now you get to sleep too Elizabeth… don’t worry.. I’ll watch over you” Elizabeth then realized there was something else in Xylia’s eyes that had not been there before. She saw the usual intensity of her bright grey-blue eyes, but she also saw, as her consciousness faded, a small spark of insanity, with a deeper feeling of loss. The last thing she remembered was the faint sobbing of Xylia, over the death of her family and best friend…

Xylia returned to school the next day, and all seemed normal. A search was put out for Elizabeth and Xylia’s family by Xylia herself, but the bodies were never found, for she had hidden them well. And her knife had been cleaned meticulously, and the bodies scrubbed in case they ever be found. And no one ever suspected her, after all, she was small, innocent, peaceful.. There was no way she could’ve hurt a fly. She silently watched them all. And silently, she laughed.