Psych Investigation Episodes: Episode 1 (A Young Adult Scifi / Fantasy) (5 page)

“
We welcome you to our little club,
Brother Andy,” the young man said. His mature voice was at odds
with his youthful face. His innocent smile was disturbing, but not
quite as disturbing as the girl’s. Her grin carried madness, a
deeply etched insanity that chilled Andy to the bone.

“
For the time being, you shall refer
to me simply as Ruin, and you shall refer to my sister here as
Requiem.” They were odd names, but Andy didn’t press the
point.

Andy looked around the room. It was some type
of disused bomb shelter, dark, with row upon row of empty wine
racks. He sat in a wooden chair with his feet resting on the gravel
floor. The room was noticeably quiet—the only sound was the soft
echo of their voices.

Andy had no recollection of how he’d gotten
there. This was not the first time they had met, and it probably
wouldn’t be the last, either. The pair of them had approached Andy
that morning and asked if he was finally ready. After Andy had
nodded yes, he’d lost track of time.

“
Do you know why you are here, Andy?
Why you have come to us?”

Andy inhaled and pushed back his fear. He had
been reluctant to join them. It was the most dangerous commitment
he had ever had to make. Yet he knew he had no choice. In the end,
society made the decision for him.

“
I am here because of my right, the
one that God has given me. I am here because the three of us, as
well as those that will join, will reshape the world.” Andy looked
around at the unchanged faces of the two. Did he say the proper
words?

Requiem was the first to speak. She slowly
licked her bottom lip. Her madness did little to betray her beauty.
“Excellent answer, Darling.”

Ruin nodded. “But before you can join us in
changing the world, before you can possess the greatness we offer,
you must first be cleansed.” Ruin’s smile grew until his teeth were
visible.

“
It is almost dark,” he continued.
“Tonight, you must kill three people. Any three you wish. Bring to
us something personal from each, and your admittance will be
complete.”

A shudder spread throughout Andy’s spine.
“Please, anything but that. I don’t know if I can just kill
people.”

Requiem sighed and met his eyes. “What is the
first tenet, Darling? What did we teach you above all other
things?”

Andy’s eyes fluttered around the room before
answering. “That we, as superior beings, have the God-given right
to take life from any we please.”

“
Correct. So why, then, does this
disturb you?”

Andy thought for a moment. He didn’t want to
kill anyone. He wanted to change the world, for sure, and he knew
this would be asked of him, but now that it was all on the table,
it wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be.

“
Because, well … shouldn’t we kill
people that deserve to die? I thought that maybe you would have a
list of our enemies, or something.”

“
Ah, but the people who deserve to
die are the ones you pick,” Ruin said. “You have these abilities
because you are great. Your strength gives you the right to
choose.”

Requiem placed a hand on Andy’s knee. “Ah, my
poor baby, you still don’t get it, do you? It is
because
you want them dead that they deserve to die.” A look of something
resembling sadness crossed her fiercely beautiful face. “These
gifts we have allow us to make choices that others cannot. And one
of these choices can be made at this very moment. Are you a
frightened sixteen-year-old boy? Or are you a great man, capable of
great things? We will leave you to think on it, but I do hope you
think quickly, Darling.”

Andy was entranced by the soft, soothing sound
of her voice. Even with her madness, he felt an instant attraction
towards her.

“
I understand.”

“
I knew you would, Darling. I knew
you would.”

Ruin and Requiem stood up from their chairs
then climbed the dirt-filled steps to the door.

“
When night falls, go and accomplish
your task,” Ruin said. There was a surprising touch of sympathy in
his voice. “And know this. What we’re asking you to do, we’re not
asking out of cruelty. This kind of business was difficult at first
for us, as well. But while you’re out there fighting your guilt and
having second thoughts, try and remember how everyone in your life
has treated you. We understand. We understand more than anyone.
Andy, you will be our brother now, and we will be the only family
you need. But first, you have to prove to us, you have to really
prove to us, that you will do anything to change this wicked world
we live in. And for that, it takes three.”

Andy heard the creaking door open and close,
leaving him alone in the dark room. One hour, that was when he
would begin.

Andy climbed the shelter’s steps, gravel
crunching under his foot as he walked. Popping open the door, he
stepped into the warm night.

I’m going to kill people.

He stopped short. The thought penetrated his
mind like a dagger.

I’m going to kill people.

Andy tried to force it from his mind, to turn
off his brain and continue on. But despite his best efforts, the
words repeatedly entered his head. He could no more control them
than he could his own crippling fear.

I’m going to kill people. This … this is
really happening. What do they mean by “I have to cleanse my soul?”
Who am I supposed to kill? Richard from school, he makes my life
miserable. Yes, him for sure. But how do I pick two others? How can
I simply kill people who have never wronged me?

The shelter led out into an abandoned
construction site. Old broken vehicles, unusable wood, and other
junk lay in pieces on the gravel. The area was completely desolate,
making the site the perfect—if not a little creepy—place for a
meeting ground.

Lost in thought, he walked aimlessly, anxious
to leave behind the scent of burnt wood. The quiet of night
amplified the crunch of gravel underfoot, the only audible
sound.

After a quarter-mile of walking, he left the
site behind him, returning to town and the comfort of light. The
town of Elms was a residential area, with houses along most streets
and parks at the ends of many blocks. The first thing Andy noticed
was the pleasant scent of freshly mown grass.

As typical of larger towns, it had its own
school district, plenty of shops, community centers, and a usually
reliable transit service. To his left, Andy spotted a bus stop
across the intersection of Oak Street and Cedar Road. He walked
over to it and examined the small writing on the bottom of the
sign.

Fifteen minutes until the next bus, but it
goes in the opposite direction of my house.

Andy shook his head. He might as well take it.
He had no clear goal—wherever the bus dropped him off would be as
good a place as any.

A few minutes passed, and then the dark street
brightened with the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. With a
screeching halt, the bus stopped in front of Andy. He gave a curt
nod to the driver then chucked whatever spare change he had in his
pocket into the meter before heading to the back.

It was late, so there weren’t many people. To
the front of the bus, a mother sat with an infant on her lap,
bouncing and hushing him. Three college-aged kids mumbled amongst
themselves in the rear, with thick textbooks on their laps and
backpacks casually slung over their shoulders. Andy walked to the
middle of the bus and took a seat across from an elderly woman
staring absently out of a window.

He struggled to clear his mind but to no avail.
He was aware that each person on the bus, each living soul, could
have his or her life stripped away as if it were nothing. It was a
disgusting, tainted feeling of empowerment.

Andy knew he had the power to end life, to
deprive someone of their most basic right. But now that he had been
commanded to do so, now that he would bloody his hands, Andy
couldn’t help but feel the weight of it all on his
shoulders.

Any one of these people
—w
ith a
single thought, I could end them.

He released a breath he was unaware he’d been
holding. He had to take life. It was not optional but demanded of
him. Andy’s mind whirled in thought, his rational mind conflicting
with his emotions. He knew the longer he delayed the harder it
would become, and that if he waited too long, he would lose the
will to go through with it. Each second saw a reinforcement of his
reluctance, a growing distaste for the night’s dirty
work.

“
It’s such a warm night tonight,
isn’t it?” a soft voice said.

Andy turned to look at the elderly lady sitting
across from him, a kind smile upon her face, her silver hair
dangling over her eyes. Andy returned the smile. “It is,” he
said.

“
I’m off to see my grandson.
Tomorrow is his birthday, and I bought something very special for
him.” She smiled. “His name is Tommy and he turns four.” Her face
beamed with pride. She cradled a box on her lap—a remote-controlled
helicopter.

“
Wow, that’s nice of you, taking the
bus this late at night to bring him a present. You must be one very
special grandma.”

The woman nodded. “Well, I love my little
Tommy. He’s my son’s child, but he’s still my boy. Whenever I come
over, he runs to the door and yells ‘Grandma!’ He’s such a little
angel.”

“
He sounds like one. I’m actually
heading home myself. I got held up in afterschool club activities,
so I’m gonna be a bit late tonight. Here’s to hoping Mom doesn’t
have a fit. I’m Andy, by the way.”

The woman giggled. “I’m Grace, and my, it is
lovely to meet you, young man.”

“
The pleasure is mine,
Grace.”

Andy made idle chat with the woman for several
minutes, until eventually she leaned over and pulled the yellow
cord above the window to call for a stop.

“
Again, it was a pleasure meeting
you, Andy. I get off here, and I can hardly wait to see my little
Tommy.”

The woman stood with a shaking leg and held the
back of her seat for support. She grabbed her walking cane and
slowly made her way to the front of the bus with the gift under her
arm. Without realizing he was doing so, Andy followed.

“
I get off here too. My house isn’t
far from this stop.”

 
Despite her wrinkled face,
Andy could imagine she had been quite beautiful when she was
younger. With a quick “thank you” to the driver, he stepped with
her into the warm, but temperate night.

“
My son lives two blocks from here,
over on Powell court,” she said.

“
Wow, really? I live only a bit
after that. Hey, I’ll walk with you.”

At that moment, as the sounds of their feet
clicking against the sidewalk echoed in the night, Andy knew she
would be the first. An ocean of guilt washed over him, and he
fought not to be drowned underneath it. If he could just get it
done, then he could worry about the consequences later. But if he
faltered now, he would catch the next bus home and never work up
the will to do it again. Not to mention there was no telling what
the two creeps who ordered the killings would do if they found
out.

“
When I was a little girl, I used to
love taking walks at night. But these days with my arthritis it
gets to be just a little too painful.”

“
That can’t have been very long
ago,” Andy said. “You don’t look a day over thirty.” Grace laughed
louder than Andy would have expected from such a small
woman.

“
Oh, don’t you go flattering me now.
I’m not ashamed of my age.”

They turned left at the end of a narrow street
onto a slightly wider one. Neat, ordered houses with freshly
trimmed grass lined each side. Most had swimming pools and some had
hot tubs, as well.

They were getting closer to the home, and Andy
was running out of time. But with each step he took, he felt more
despair. He wished he didn’t have to do this, and he tried to
remind himself that he still had a choice. He could call the police
and explain everything to them. He could beg for forgiveness and
put all this nasty business behind him.