I was walking down the sidewalk, the day slowly coming to an end, as the summer tree’s bristled in the wind. It was in the middle of June, nearly the end of the school year when it happened. It wasn’t my first time walking down that sidewalk, in fact, I did it so many times over the year that it was ingrained in my blood at that point. It was like going along with the status quo for a job. Until I felt the unnerving feeling of something staring at me. That dreadful feeling, where your stomach sinks to your knees.
After a short and unsuccessful effort to shake the feeling, I succumbed and looked into the forest, and what greeted me, made my body go still, and my blood slow. Looking back at me, was a tall and big man quivering behind a tree deep in the forest. His navy blue sweatshirt had some dark shade of red splattered on the shoulder. With his hands in his sweatshirt pockets. His gaze ripped a hole through my confidence, and I too began to quiver.
I didn’t know what to do, so many options ran through my head. Do I run? Do I call the police? Should I say something? My brain scrambled for answers, and as the man took a step forward, my fight or flight kicked in and made the decision for me as I sprinted home.
I slammed the door shut, with my lungs burning up. my mother shot down the stairs and immediately questioned me,
“WOAH! Nathaniel! Baby, what’s wrong?”
I took a quick breath, and slowly explained everything to her. Her face sunk, the fear, of an intruder.
“Ok…Uh, here, go sit down on the couch. I’ll call the police. Did the man say anything to you?”
I shook my head, still struggling to catch my breath. She pulled her phone out as she walked over to our windows to observe the neighborhood. Once the call started, I turned to listen in on it.
“Hello, this is the Bell residence, and I’d like to report a suspicious man in our neighborhood, he appeared to have blood spattered on his clothing, and was in our forest. We’d like for you to send a patrol car immediately to search in the forest for him.”
“Ok mam, and do you know if he has a weapon?”
My mother turned to me and shouted from across the room the same question.
“Not that I saw ma.”
She turned back to the phone
“We don’t know.”
“Ok, and what did he look like mam?”
“Tall, big, he’s wearing a blue sweatshirt-“ She turned to me again,
“Did he have a beard? What pants was he wearing?”
“I don’t know what pants he was wearing, I was too busy looking at his face. And yeah, a pretty big beard. Like an old man’s.”
She returned to the phone, and discussed a bit more, before ending the conversation with a thank you. She began to lock all the doors and windows in the house, shouting at me to do the same.
After double-checking every lock, we heard the sirens arrive outside. And a stern knock on the door. My mother unlocked it and opened up,
“Hello mam, I’m Sheriff Malcolm Bridge,-“
He whipped out a little pad and pencil, his badge glinting in the sun.
“You called in to report a suspicious individual, we’d like to know any information you could give us.”
My mother stood aside, and nodded to me,
“You’ll have to ask him, sir, I wasn’t there.”
I walked up to the man and explained everything in the greatest detail I could have. He wrote it all down, double-checking my wording, and making me repeat it.
“Is that all you have for us, young man?”
I nodded, as he closed the pad and shook my hand.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
He then turned away, walking off our porch and speaking into his radio. My mother shut the door, locking it again, and sat down on the couch. She let out a deep sigh,
“Y’know, when you got home, I didn’t expect to be told about some lunatic in the forest.”
I sat down on the couch next to her,
“I know ma, neither was I. But look, the police are searching, they’ll hopefully find him, and then they can sort the whole thing out.”
My mother smiled,
“I sure do hope so.”
A couple of hours pass as the sun falls like a teardrop in the sky. My mother cooks some dinner, and I discuss with her my day at school. Almost, as though, it’s a normal day. We’re enjoying the food when we hear a knock.
My mother stood up and walked over to the door. But… Something felt wrong, I felt sick to my stomach. My heart began to beat a bit faster, and my hands began to shake. I turned to the door, gripping my fork for dear life. As the door opened.
“Hi, Ms. Bell, is it?”
It was an officer. He was wearing a big jacket, tall, and his badge was in his hand.
“Yes, that’s me, what’s wrong?”
The man peeked inside, and when we locked eyes, my heart sank. A slight smirk rose on his face, which was disguised by his big beard. But I saw it. He turned to my mother,
“Oh nothing mam, I’m just here to give you an update, the man has been caught, we’ve got him in custody in one of our other cruisers. Your safe now.”
My mother sighed, and her shoulders fell.
“Oh thank god, thank you, sir! Thank you so much!”
My mother shook his hand, as the man smiled and nodded.
“No problem mam, all in a day’s work.”
As the door was shut on his face, for a split second, I noticed the wide grin forming on his face whilst our eyes met once more.
“Mom…We need to get a weapon, right now.”
She furrowed her eyebrows, and scrunched up her face,
“What are you talking about Nathaniel? We’re safe now! That officer just told us-“
I sprang out of my seat, tossing the fork to the ground,
“NO MOM! NO, WE AREN’T! THAT WAS HIM!”
My mother’s face coiled, as her eyes went past me, and looked somewhere else.
I turned to see what she was looking at, and when I spotted it, my entire body, once again, went still.
The man’s face was pushed onto the glass of one of our windows, a mad grin that hit the base of his ears, with saliva dripping onto the window, is what stared at me like a beam. In one of his hands, was a badge. And the other, a knife caked in blood. The man’s gaze was locked onto me, like a predator finally spotting his prey in a vulnerable position. My mother and I stood frozen in fear, unsure of what to do. His body was visibly shaking, and the more we stood staring at him, the more it shook. After what seemed like hours, my mother ran over to our knife block, pulled the sharpest one out, and thrust it into the window. The man backed away in time to dodge a deadly blow to the face, but it still hit him in the shoulder. The window shattered and the shards exploded everywhere, my mother grabbed two more knives, in both hands, and stood in front of the window.
“NATHANIEL! CALL THE POLICE!”
The combination of shock and instruction got me out of the stillness my body was in, and I pulled out my phone to dial 911.
“This is the Bell residence, there’s an intruder outside of our house, it seems he may have killed a police officer with a knife, and we’re afraid he might come and kill us.”
My breath quickened as the words I said carpeted my brain,
“Ok sir, where do you live?”
“Upper Lamart Drive”
As the last word left my lips, I could hear the man snickering deep in the darkness of the night.
“We’ll send police right away, is there anybody hurt?”
“No, nobody is hurt.”
The man went quiet,
“Not yet”
Those words echoed through the house as my voice went cold, and my mother began to physically shake.
“Sir? Hello? Are you there?”
My mother grabbed the entire block of knives and motioned me to follow her, which I obliged. And when we came close enough, she yanked the phone from me.
“Send all the people you can, please. We’ll be hiding up in our attic, the intruder is now inside the house.”
We ran upstairs and pulled down the attic door, and whilst climbing it, we could hear the man begin to climb through the shattered window, the sound of his feet hitting the floor, and the glass shards cracking beneath each step. My mother dropped the block of knives onto me, and pulled down the ladder leading to the attic, shouting at me to go. As I was climbing, I could hear the man slowly walking closer, inch by inch.
“I’ll get you Nathaniel…I’ll get ALL of you little BRATS!”
The sinister laughing afterward sent a chill down my spine, as my mother followed me up the ladder and pulled the door up.
“Nate, baby, get a knife, the sharpest one you can find, and be ready to use it if he somehow gets up here.”The steps grew closer and closer.
“Ok mom, I..I’ll try.”
I tried to grab one of the knives, but my hand was shaking and my stomach was churning. I felt almost like I was going to throw up.
The steps stopped, right underneath the door.
“Nathaniel… I know where you are...”
And with that final whisper, a knife was thrust up and into the door and ripped out.
“I’m going to tear down this door Nathaniel…And believe me…”
a cackle echoed through the house,
“Your mother? She won’t stop me.”
Another attack on the door.
“YOU!?”
The cackling turned into a full-throttle menacing laugh,
“YOU, definitely won’t stop me.”
Another attack
“So what’s going to happen, when this here door,” Another attack,
“BREAKS!?”
This attack was much more ferocious than the last, making a big wide hole in the door.
I could see his smile through the hole, it was even bigger, the drool from his mouth so much more, and his bloodshot eyes refused to look away from me. He pulled back his arm, knife in hand,
“MOVE!”
My mother sprang into me and pushed me out of the way, a loud gasp shot through the room. And as my mother fell to the floor, I understood what just happened.
He threw a knife at me, and my mother got in the way.
I stared at her, her breath erratic, and her face squinched up in pain. The knife was lodged into what seemed to be her back, a pinpoint shot that would’ve killed me.
“What…The…Fuck…Mrs.Bell! Don’t be so GREEDY! That shot was for NATHANIEL!”
He groaned as tears welled up in my eyes.
“Kid…You got a bad mom, such a greedy bitch. NOW I have to find ANOTHER knife!”
I stared down at my mother, she put her hand on my arm,
“Nathaniel…Always know, that…I love you. Always”
The grip of her arm remained strong, she hadn’t passed away yet, but it was clear her and I both knew her chances were slim.
The man went on, rambling and rambling. Until we heard police sirens come into earshot distance, my eyes shot up at the man, and as I saw the smile fade from his face, and the drool dry, I realized, that he was screwed. And so did he. The man, in a newly awakened panic, looked around for an exit, his head examining all areas like a ping pong ball. Until he sprinted down the steps. And when I saw his back to me, the coward running away from his judgment, my brain and emotions recoiled and exploded. I went over and pulled a knife out of the block, shot down to the man as quick as my body would let me, and in an unbridled rage with unrelenting tears, I blindly whipped a knife at him and hoped it would connect.
And it did, just not in a kill zone. Instead, it hit him right in his calf, a smile was crafted on my face, I pounced on him, pulled out the knife from his calf, and stared him dead in the eyes as I went to plunge the knife into his throat.
“POLICE! GET ON THE GROUND!”
A deep, intimidating voice shot through my head, and then I got thrust onto my back. I stared up into the scrunched face of a police officer, holding me down.
I was so close
The police grabbed me, handcuffed me, and tossed me in the back of a squad car. I overheard one of the men calling for an ambulance, I sat in that car, waiting for what felt like hours as the ambulance arrived and I watched as my mother and the man got stretchered out of the house. My rage built up inside of me, the fact that it seemed like I was the bad guy boiled my blood and strangled my heart. I sat and watched as my worst fear was put in the back of an ambulance with the woman that saved my life. And as the cars began to drive away, the crack in my heart and the scars in my brain left me scrambled and in a state that can only be compared to a comatose.
I didn’t even realize we arrived at the station, as I slumped out of the car and tossed into a dark room with a steel table. The police officers locked my hands to cuffs on top of the table and left. I sat in wait wondering what was going to happen, before a lady walked in, bearing a doctor’s mask and gloves, She took my fingers and placed them into some black ink, rolled them on a piece of paper, then walked out. Once again. I sat waiting in the cold room. I took the time to think about everything happening, and what led to this. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t even notice another man walking in,
“So, Nathaniel, am I saying that right?”
I snapped my eyes at the man, and nodded, examining his face. He had glasses, wrinkled skin, chapped lips, and the bags under his eyes were an indication he doesn’t sleep much. He sat down with a cup of coffee and would occasionally sip out of it.
“Here, take this.”
He pushed a can of soda to me from across the table,
“I’m sure you need a break.”
The cross necklace he wore barely moved, it just sat there seemingly staring at me. Like god was judging me for my actions.
“Son? You alright?”
I brought my eyes back up to his,
“No.”
“Well, talk to me tell me what’s going on-“
“You think I’m the bad guy don’t you.”
His face scrunched up a bit, his eyes furrowed,
“No, we just want to figure out what happened. At the moment, you do seem a bit like the aggressor, but, if you tell us what you can, we can help you.”
I took a deep breath and the second I exhaled, I noticed a red ball on a camera in the side of the room light up. I could only assume this was being recorded, but, I continued. Explaining everything to the man. He would occasionally nod as he took many sips out of the cup.
“Alright, well, see, that’s all I wanted from you, son. Let’s see how your story holds up when your mother awakes-“
I shot up out of the seat, my eyes straining to look at the man,
“How is she!? Is she ok? “
“I personally don’t know. We’re waiting for the hospital to report on her condition. I hope she is kid, for your sake.”
He went to go open the door, but he turns back to me.
“And by the way, my name is Robert Lee.”
He then opened the door and walked out. A few minutes later, another man walked in, uncuffed me, and took me to a cell. It was cold, just like the room. All it had was a toilet, a bed, and bars blocking me from anywhere else. I sat in that room, again, waiting. I wasn’t cuffed thankfully, but it’s not like I was free. and at least I was safe.
I sat in that room long enough to get tired, and when I laid in bed, I tried to not think about the situation. I pretended I was back in my room, listening to youtube and remembering the taste of mac and cheese cooked by my mother. But now, I could only taste blood.
I woke up in the morning to a smack of the baton on the bars,
“Get up.”
I stood up, my back in awe of the rock I had just slept on. I walked out of the cell, and to my surprise, I wasn’t cuffed. He took me to the door leading to the front room, and right before I even hit the door, through the glass, I spotted her.
I busted through the door and ripped out of the man’s grip, I took a moment to recognize the disheveled woman. And indeed, it was my mother.
“NATHANIEL!”
I stood in awe, my mother, was fine. Not in a wheelchair, or a casket, but only a cast for her arm. I ran up to hug her, lightly of course.
“Easy there! I may not be dead, but it doesn’t mean my arm doesn’t hurt! The knife hit me in the shoulder ya doofus!”
I let go, and stared at her, a bit confused.
“Mom…Why, why are you so happy?”
She smiled,
“Because we’re safe baby!”
My face lit up in shock and confusion.
“What do you mean mom?”
“He confessed baby! He confessed to it all! He’s an idiot!”
A police officer walked in from the outside, and I immediately recognized the man to be Robert.
“So Nathaniel, to elaborate, while in the ambulance, the man was constantly trying to hold in a laugh, hiccuping the whole ride, even talking to himself under his breath. And it only got worse when we actually arrived at the hospital. And he thought he was alone. In the morning, while you were still sleepin’, I went over there to check on your mom and got to see him up and awake. while your mother was asleep. I watched him try and contain a smile, pretending to seemingly stab something, even drooling. And in the true breadwinning action, he spoke out loud, easy to hear, these words:
“Nathaniel…Oh, Nathaniel. You were always such a cockroach, but not in the same way Sid was. Or Natalie, Elizabeth, or any of the other kids. They were all just lambs following Sid to the slaughter. My slaughter… But you? Not you…Your different…”
“After this, he began maniacally laughing. And kid,-“
Robert rubbed some sweat off his face,
“Do you remember your 2nd-grade elementary school teacher?”
My mother cut in,
“His name was Mr. Clark, you liked him. You would come home from school talking about how much fun class was. Do you remember?”
I nodded in confusion
“Yeah…But, what are you getting at here?”
Robert began speaking again,
“Mr. Clark is a murderer, to put it as bluntly as possible. He killed one of your fellow classmates, Sid Rivera, and due to his crooked lawyer, was able to get a shortened sentence. He got out only about a week ago, and we can only assume he’s been hunting you down ever since.
He pulled out his phone,
“This is the last thing he said before I walked in to awake your mother.”
“Sid was the first, Nathaniel’s next.”