“Let’s go to the arcade, Caden.”552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLCktLSHxr
He turned back to the street, where the school bus should pick us up at any moment. His auburn hair was tousled and tucked beneath his knitted, olive beanie, and his chocolate freckles shivered on his nose. “I don’t know. My mommy said to come straight home after school.”552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWY5jLkbSfc
“Do you always do what your mommy tells you? I thought you were a big boy now! I mean, you’re already in the 5th grade!” I punched his arm playfully. “Come play at the arcade with me, or I’ll tell everyone in Mr. McGuirk’s class that you lost Tekken to a girl!”552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4jUdMM6Rqx
He turned around defiantly, snow piling on his batting eyelashes. “It’s no fair, you’re a 6th grader!”552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqlQ6LJAUMl
“I still beat you, though!” I stuck out my tongue, my gloved hand cinching around his forearm. “Come on, let’s go. Your mommy won’t be mad, just tell her you were out with your friend Jason again. Not me, remember?” I put a finger to my smiling lips, leading him away from the bus stop.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbJOVFZmMU
He followed obediently, his eager fingers wrapped around my own. I smiled back at him, remembering how much shorter he was to me. We had hung out at the arcade a few times after school, and he would tell his parents he was out with Jason, his playmate.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5g9rL7Pwlf
And that’s what I loved about this homey town. Despite the circumstances, parents are naive enough to believe they’re blanketed by this false sense of security, a “It-will-never-happen-to-me” attitude. Lying to their faces was effortless.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCGhEHMvos
As we turned the corner, I stopped at the bridge that would lead to the main part of town. The streets were unoccupied. The school bus hadn’t even made it to the stop.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12SdjmJ1sy
“Why don’t we go down to the river, Caden? I bet I could skip more rocks than you!” I was already leading him off the sidewalk, down the gravel slope to the river beneath the bridge.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHX09V0LFpd
“I bet you can’t! But mommy said the water is really fast and cold! That’s why nobody goes no more!”552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKbWabhjiF
“Then it’ll make the rocks skip faster! And we wouldn’t have to share with anybody,” I bluffed, helping him down the rest of the way.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDJegNF3UXm
As we made it to the lip of the gushing river, he let go of my hand and happily began collecting rocks for our contest. I quietly followed suit, looking up and down the rushing river.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwtGP5Id0AB
Caden’s mommy was right. There was no one around. No one would see us from below the bridge.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfrQSPHYkwW
I tucked the few rocks into my pocket, my other hand tearing open a ziplock bag in my jean pocket. I dipped my hands into its contents, until my gloves were just soaked through, then I called for Caden.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXiXcz7rwF
He turned, a smile ear to ear on his ruby cheeks.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf29ZFc3wVk
“Are you ready?”552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4RqGA1NmM
He nodded.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCPYfn4Xjxa
“Then come over here!” I coaxed him further beneath the bridge.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLIC8NSKX85
He came to my side, skipping stones piled in his thick jacket pockets, and slipping out of his woolen gloves.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9QZXa2GQd2
And as he turned to toss a rock into the river, I pulled the beanie over his eyes and clasped my grasp over his nose and mouth.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlof67DLryT
He gasped, inhaling sharply, before his whole body went limp, falling to the ground like a giant, lifeless doll.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2lmJJx6kjk
I stopped for a moment, staring at the listless body. The world suddenly freezes over, and it says you still have a chance to walk away and forget this ever happened.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0OBt0dgUkK
Sometimes, I listen to that heavy tugging in my chest. Most of the time, the screaming rage in my gut would immediately drown out that silence, and I would...attack. 552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydH1bSP5ZD
With a growl screeching at my lips, I would undo the child’s pants, violently yanking them off and tossing it to the side along with the underwear. This time, it had landed right at the edge of the river, dampened in its hungry tongue.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDvK8rdeRYJ
The exposed skin of their privates was soft in innocence, never once having been exposed to the lewd nature of the world.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FTHngU2va
And I despised every piece of it.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzvlrjAGpY
I reached around for the largest rock, and I gave it a few tosses in my palm to wage its weight.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoI58WX5AYw
And then I smashed it into that soft, supple skin, the drugged hand still at the child’s lips so they wouldn’t wake as I banged and crushed and degraded that private area between their legs. I didn’t stop, not when my arm was tired, not when I figured the child had enough. I beat them until I felt like I was almost finished. Until I felt like I was at my peak. And I sat back gasping, admiring the bloody, pulpy mess I had created, this euphoric wave of relief I was about to release.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMXiNbZFNw
I pulled the wool from the child’s eyes, taking the spoon from my lunchbag. With a rush of urgency, I stabbed the spoon right into the corner of the child’s eye socket, scooping out that jelly ball and giving it that final yank at the vein that connect it to the head. Then I hurriedly went to the other.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7ed2Qd5rY
“It deserves the same treatment as the first,” I muttered to the child as I sloppily yanked out the second.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ioNwNTCMX
I stopped, leaning over the child. As the empty sockets stared back at me, relief washed over my body. And I looked over the child, who was now completely empty of whatever soul was within it before I had met them.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4eVVAiezy
And I rolled the body into the river, along with the bloody rocks what gave away our secret.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡILZPXwQfeb
I didn’t even watch the body drift away. I marched up the river for a mile before making it back up to the outskirts of town. I made my way to my empty home, where I tossed my gloves in the fire pit before lighting it ablaze, washed my lunch box and the silverware I took to school that day, and started my homework just as my mother walked in through the garage door.552Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZP8puzx4s
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