Thud. Jay awoke to the sound of what seemed like a body hitting the floor. At first, he thought he had only heard the noise in his head, and that it wasn’t real. We wiped away the sweat that had gathered at his brow, and pushed aside his long, black hair that swept across his face. He got out of bed, making his way towards the hallway. His tall figure stumbled down the hall, making his journey to the kitchen. The tiles on the floor cooled his feet as he reached for a glass. Thud. The sound that seemed to echo around the house made Jay drop his glass in fear and he rushed to his parents’ room, the source of the sound. He barged into the room, and his jaw hit the floor. Before him was a sight he could neither comprehend nor ever forget. His parents’ room was illuminated by red and black candles that had been set up around the room. He saw a figure in a black robe and hood, reading from a book in an alien language. Next, he saw his parents, blood running from their split-open throats. Tears welled up in Jay’s eyes, and he wanted to expel the contents from his stomach. He saw that the figure had smeared a crude pentagram on the floor, and the figure started chanting. Jay rushed towards him, his bare feet thudding on the cold wood floor. The figure, a man, turned to face Jay just as he tackled the man to the floor. They rolled around, each fighting for the upper hand in the brawl. Jay was losing, he could tell, and being overpowered by the freakish strength the man possessed. The man wrapped his hands around Jays throat. Jay started coughing and wheezing, his vision starting to go dark from lack of oxygen. Then, the world went black.



When Jay awoke, he thought it was all a bad dream. But reality split through his head like a hot nail. He tried to get up, but he found his wrists and ankles were tied tightly to a chair. He started to panic, thinking he would surely die if he did not escape from the chair.

“It’s no use trying to free yourself,” snarled a deep voice from across the room. Jay jerked his head up to look at his captor.

“Why are you doing this to me?” asked Jay, his voice quivering from fear.

“I was only sent for your parents, but you were an inconvenience in the way. You brought this upon yourself,” the man replied

“What do you mean you were sent for my parents?”

“Someone had some business with them. Don’t bother asking; there is client/contract confidentiality.” The man then pulled out of his leg knife and dangled it in Jay’s face. “And you're not going to tell anyone what you saw, or it will be the last thing you ever do.” The man pushed the knife into Jay’s leg, and slid the knife down his calf. Jay bit back a scream, certain that the man would kill him if he would. The man walked out of the room after wiping the bloodied blade on Jay’s face. Jay stayed silent as tears rolled down his face, mixing with the blood and falling to the floor. Before he knew it, Jay felt strong arms wrap around his neck again, choking him, suppressing the flow of oxygen. Jay was, once again, drifting into the darkness of unconsciousness.


Jay could hear someone calling his name, but he couldn’t understand the words that seemed to be in a different language. The left side of his face was sore, and he was laying on the floor in his parents’ room. He saw flashing blue and red lights, and knew that the police were there. He looked around, and saw that there was 3 policemen in the room with him, but they were being leery of him. He was slow to thinking, but he soon realized there was something in his hand. He looked up, fearing what it could be, and he saw the knife that the man had killed his parents with was loosely gripped in his left hand. Blood stained his fingers, and he understood what had happened. The man had untied him when Jay blacked out, and had manipulated the scene to make it look like Jay had killed both of his parents. Before he knew it, tears were once again falling down his face and racing over his cheeks. He released the knife and tried to get up. The policemen helped him to his knees, but stopped him from getting to his feet. He felt the cold sting of metal as they place handcuffs on him. They got him to his feet and walked him to one of the police vehicles. He was still disoriented, and felt like he was going to be sick, but he had nothing in his stomach to puke up.

This isn’t real. This can’t be happening to me. He thought to himself, courage fleeing his body. This is the kind of thing that happens on t.v., not in real life. The officers questioned him, but he wasn’t listening, his mind a slideshow of the man. The tattoos that ran up his arm, across his hand, but he couldn’t focus on any of them, just the way the man had carried himself, so casually, as though he were reading a newspaper. That is what sent the deepest chills sprinting down Jay’s spine, causing him to fidget in the back of the car. The cops gave up on getting any sort of answer out of him. They drove off, leaving Jay’s house to shrink into the horizon of the rising sun.

The next twelve hours went by in a blur to Jay. His mind was slow to catching up after what he had witnessed. He was in a gray room, one light hanging down from the ceiling. He was sitting in a cold metal chair, a file sitting on a table in front of him, and a one sided window showing him his reflection. His face, caked with blood and covered in bruises, would send bolts of pain tearing through his body when it was touched. His wrists were red and worn from his feeble attempts to break free from his restraints.

A creaking to his left made his face jerk towards the sound. A woman walked in, her heels clicking on the hard concrete floor, and made her way to the chair opposite of Jay. She opened the folder with a flick of her wrist, and pulled out images of his parents, their mutilated bodies exactly how he remembered them. She slid the photos towards Jay, letting him look over them before speaking.

“Do you remember what happened?” she asked, her expression cold, her eyes trying to force an answer from him.

“Yes,” replied Jay, his voice failing to be louder than a choked whisper.

“Can you tell me what you remember?”

“No.”

“Why can’t you? You are safe here. We want to help you, but we can’t unless you tell us what you remember,” the woman said, almost urgently. Jay shifted his weight in his seat, looking around the room, keeping his head and eyes down. He wasn’t sure what would come out of his mouth if he looked up. He could feel her eyes burning into his skull, searching for an answer. Suddenly, he felt the temperature in the room drop dramatically. He heard soft footsteps circling the table, but saw nothing. Then he felt it, a knife pushed against his throat, a harsh voice that he could never forget.

“Remember what I told you kid. I will find and kill you if you breathe a single word of this to anyone. You may think you’re safe behind these walls and cops, but everyone is alone at some point. I have ways of watching you, and i will execute my threat if you break your end of the deal. Even if I get caught, you think I’m the only one in on this? There are more of us. We are everywhere, and nowhere. Have fun with the pleasant conversation you’re having here kid. I’ll be seeing you around.”
“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Jay shouted, his voice filling the silent room. The woman jumped back, gun drawn and pointed at Jay, finger on the trigger. Jay cast his eyes around the room, but seeing nothing out of place. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice small. The woman was in the corner by the door, waiting for the door to open and let her out. Her eyes were wide, fearing that the boy in front of her would lose all hold on reality. “I can tell you exactly what happened. I know what I have to do.” With that, Jay calmly asked the woman to sit across from him, and he began the tale of what happened on that horrific night. He told her of the man, threatening his life, killing his parents, framing him for the murder of family. She sat by, her face blank of any emotion, her mind drinking in the information spewing from his lips. When he finished, she leaned back in her chair wordlessly. Men opened the door and took him in handcuffs to a holding cell. He figured they’d discuss it with themselves, and he was informed that a warrant had gone out for the man. They would catch him, and no harm would come to him. But two weeks after he went home, Jay was found dead, head laying on the same floor his parents bodies and blood had been. Now his blood pooled there, his body ripped apart with a vengeance. A bloody note had been smeared across the way. It read, “I told you what would happen.” Days passed and the police finally caught the man that had killed Jay’s parents. He was put away for a long time. But nothing would be done about Jay. But he had made the right choice. After all, it is not evil men that destroy the world, but the people that stand by and watch.