Chapter 4

I open the door to my house and the reek of blood fills my nose. I ignore it and walk through the hall to the living room.

My brother sits on the sofa eating some chips as he watches the news.

"It smells horrible in here," I mutter and walk into the kitchen to grab a quick snack.

"I know. I didn't feel like cleaning up the mess." He answers,"Can you?"

I roll my eyes and close the fridge,"Yes sir! Oh, and where's Emily?"

"The doctor's office," My brother answers.

As I leave the kitchen my brother notices the bruises and scratches on my face and tilts his head,"What the hell happened to you?"

"I played dodgeball in P.E…" I pause,"And then I got beat up by John and Billy."

"Hm, are you gonna go put bandages on it, little baby?" My brother smirks.

"Yes," I glare at him.

"Well, make sure to clean up the mess before~!" My brother yells..

"Where?" I ask.

"My room."

I turn to his room and the smell of blood becomes thicker. I look around and see blood covering his bedsheets and the floor.

"Crap… You've just gotta make it hard on me…" I mutter and throw off his bedsheets.

I plug my nose as I carry the bed sheets to the laundry room. I shove them into the washer and throw in some soap before starting it on extra hot water. I grab a towel from the laundry room before running back to his room and cleaning the blood off the floor.

I throw away the towel in the restroom before grabbing the Lysol in the cabinet. After the smell is better, I throw away the empty bottle of Lysol and walk to the living room to update my brother.

"All clean." I state flatly and become curious,"Who was it this time?"

"That one girl that lives next door~" My brother laughs.

My eyes widen and I gulp,"Um… that's kinda risky. The police are gonna come knocking on the door asking if we've seen anything suspicious because we're in the same neighborhood and-"

My brother's glares at me causing me to gulp and shudder.

"Don't tell me what's dangerous and what's not," My brother starts,"I don't need to hear your sense, acquaintance."

"R-Right… sorry," I mutter and walk into my room to have time by myself.

He doesn't even treat me like his brother. He called me an acquaintance. That's just the lowest of the low...

I sit at my desk and pull out my homework from my backpack and get to work on the confusing numbers and jumbled words.

Once I'm done jotting down random answers I shove the papers back into my backpack and sit at my desk not knowing what to do.

I grab my phone and watch the news.

"Another girl goes missing after Susie Jones. The police department is on the case now. We'll see how the case is going right now with Chief Curt." The grey hair guys says as the screen changes to an outside area with the Chief.

"We're investigating now, but have found no evidence of where these missing girls are going. The big question right now is: Whom is doing this? We still don't know the answer, but we will continue to work on this case."

I gulp and turn off my phone.

"The news isn't worth watching anyways…" I mutter.

"Bored~?" My brother's voice rings throughout the house from the living room.

I jolt up before my muscles tense.

"Um… no, not really~" I answer and sigh.

"Is there anyone?" He yells.

My eyes widen and my arms begin to shake.

"N-No! No one…" I answer.

"Really? There must be someone~"

"W-Well… there is John…" I reply.

"Oh, okay~" My brother laughs and I hear shuffling before I see him walking into my room.

Fear twists onto my face as I look at my brother's creepy smile, the insanity in his eyes.

"John?" My brother repeats.

"Y-Yes…" I nod, not making eye contact with him.

"Bring him over~" My brother claps his hands.

"Um… W-Well you see… We aren't the closest of friends…" I mutter.

"That doesn't matter. All you've gotta do is bring him over. It isn't that hard, right?"

"Yes s-sir!" I yell and look at my hands on top of my desk.

As he walks away I slowly calm down and finally I feel like myself again.

I sigh as I get up from my desk and walk out of my room. As I pass my brother, who is back on the couch, I stop for a moment and turn to him.

"I'm going to grab some ice cream. Do you want anything?" I ask.

"I'll take a quart of strawberry ice cream," My brother comments.

"Okay~" I wave as I walk out and towards the convenience store around the block.

I open the doors and wave at the girl at the cash register. I walk to the frozen items and look for the ice cream. Once I find all the ice cream I grab a quart of strawberry ice cream for my brother and a chocolate popsicle for myself.

I carry them to the cash register lady and watch as she scans them. She types something and looks up at me,

"That'll be 9 dollars and 25 cents~!" She smiles and waits for me to pay.

I stare at her for a moment before digging in my wallet for my 10 dollar bill. I hand it to her and she takes it from me.

I grab my ice cream from her.

"Come again~!" She says wearily.

As I walk back home I eat my popsicle until it's completely gone. I throw away the stick and wrapper at the park trashcan before crossing the street to my house.

I open the door and walk into the living room.

"I'm back," I mutter and hand my brother his tub of ice cream.

He opens the lid and notices he doesn't have a spoon.

"Hand me a spoon."

"Of course," I answer and force a smile as I open a drawer and grab a spoon.

Once I hand it to him I run back into my room and sit on my bed silently.

I can still smell the scent of blood although it's just a little and it makes me gag.

"Horrible…" I mutter to myself.

The image of my brother's creepy grin causes me to jolt upright. I shutter and shake my head in attempt to get the thought away, but it won't go away.

I remember Susie's body as I dragged her across the backyard to the shack.

I gulp and tears fill my eyes, but I won't let them fall.

The picture of my brother, my sister, and I sitting on the hill seems to pop at me again and I find myself staring at it. My eyes widen at the baseball bat in my brother's hand in the picture.

I remember the blood splattered on my brother's bed sheets and on his floor.

Murder... There's … a murderer in my house.