Without further adieu, here is the beginning to the latest Riley story! WARNING: this chapter specifically involves murder and child abuse.
Smithtown, Virginia: 6 months earlier:
"Please! Let my family go. Please!" the man begs as a larger fellow circles around him, tapping a knife against the palm of his hand. Beside him, the rest of the man's family struggles against their own restraints. His son whimpers as the larger man brushes the knife past his cheek.
"Leave him alone!" the man's futile scream echoes off the basement walls.
A chuckle comes from the man in charge and he continues to encompass the family. Each of them sits in a chair with their backs to each other. The husband, the head of the family, the strongest, faces the wall away from the stairs. The mother, the caregiver of the home, faces the stairway. And lastly, the son, the fruit of the family, the apple of their eyes, sits between them, facing another wall. All three form a triangle of wooden chairs in the center of the room.
The man limps around to the wife and brings the knife up to her throat. She tilts her head back as a reaction to the dagger and tears stream down her cheeks. A sob escapes her lips and the man smiles before moving toward the son. Both of the parents turn their attention to him and quake with fear.
Petrified, the boy looks up at his assailant. The man smirks down at him and drags his knife down the boys' arm, leaving an oozing valley of tissue. A cry of pain comes from the boy and his parents shriek with horror.
"You know I had a family once," the man says ominously with his head cocked to one side. "It didn't work out." With his free hand, he reaches up and touches the scar across his eyebrow and forehead. Shaking his head and forcing the memories back into his subconscious, the man returns to the woman.
"I had a wife. Just like you." He slaps the woman and she gasps and cries out. Her holler is cut short as his blade slices her throat; she takes her last breath and droops in her seat.
The husband turns to look at his beloved wife and desperation sweeps over him. "Violet? Violet! Stay with me sweetie! Come on, Violet!"
The man staggers in front of the husband and looks down at him. Anger wells in the husband, this man killed his wife, a white hot intensity burns through him as he imagines ripping this man's throat out. He pulls at the restraints around his wrists but nothing budges, so he finds it sufficient enough to glare at the killer.
"You sick son of a…" the husband doesn't get a chance to finish his sentence. The attacker slices his throat without skipping a heartbeat.
Disregarding him like a piece of last week's lunch meat, the man returns to the son. The young boy looks from his mother to his father and tears spring to his eyes.
"Why are you doing this?" he sobs.
The man ignores his question and slaps him across the face twice. The boy looks up at him with anguish in his eyes. Why is this happening to him? Who is this man? What does he want with this family?
"And I had a son, just like you; always crying and sobbing and just being a persistent pest." The man snorts and continues. "I like this feeling." He takes the knife and drags it down the boy's forehead, stopping at the tip of his nose. Blood and tears mix as they stream down the boy's face.
"I've never done anything this…extreme before." He grins. "Until now." He dances the blade across the boy's exposed chest leaving a few jagged cuts.
Breathing heavily, the man proclaims, "It gets better and better!" Another slice goes across the boy's collarbone.
"Please, stop!" The boy exclaims as fat tears roll down his face.
"You're as worthless as my son! Stop blubbering! Just…just shut up!"
A split-second cry is heard before the blade finishes the boy off. Pleased with his work, the man slips the knife into his pocket and thinks as he walks up the basement stairs. It does keep getting better and better. I want to make it even better. I want to make sure I save the best for last though. A cruel smile sprawls across the man's sinister face as he realizes his ultimate goal, his final project.
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