"ONE!

TWO!

THREE!

FOUR!

FIVE!

SIX!

SEVEN!

EIGHT!

NINE!

TEN!

ELEVEN!

TWELVE!"

"The lights, OUT!" Putting my hands over my ears, I tried to drown out the loud cheering. "MIDNIGHT! Alright, this is it! LET THE DAY, BEGIN!"

Rolling my eyes, I turned my head slightly to loom at Alex, "Could he be anymore of a ass?"

Snickering, he punched my arm lightly, "Chill Amber, be happy for once in your life. We're sixteen!"

Sighing, I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands, turning to look back in the direction of the stuck-up jock once more.

Yeah, you heard right. Amber Waylin, sixteen years old, with messy black hair and dull gray eyes was born on, you guessed it, Ripper Day. Fun, right? WRONG.

"Happy isn't my thing, Alex. You know that," I mumbled, wanting nothing more than to go back to my lumpy mattress and sleep for the next two years. "Hey, where's Bug?"

He just shrugged before he too turned his attention back to Brandon O'Neil, the number-one man whore in all of Riverton. Also, the self-proclaimed 'leader' of the Riverton eight.

"As you all know, Ripper Day marks two things. One of them bad, one of them good. The good part is that it's the birthday of eight of us here, born sixteen years ago tonight."

Loud cheers from all the teens in the surrounding area was heard.

"Jerome King, hey Jerome," Jerome gave a small smile and wave as everyone cheered, "Alex Dunkelman," he added, Alex raising one hand in recognition, "Jay Chan, with a new Ripper puppet tonight," Jay pursed his lips and raise both of his arms in the air, "Riverton's very own resident emo, Amber Waylin," I scowled at him, seeing him smiling smugly and hearing laughter and some cheers, "Bug Hellerman… Hellerman?"

Turning my head at the sound of bushes rustling, I saw Bug making his way through the crowd to stand next to Alex.

"About time!"

"Better late than never, I suppose," Brandon continued.

"Hey Buggie, where've you been?" I questioned, looking at him curiously.

He glanced at me quickly before looking at the ground, "Sleeping."

"It's okay," Brandon continued, "Bug, uh, takes a little longer cause he's a little slower," I laughed a little but stopped myself when I saw Bug's face.

"Sorry," I quickly muttered, patting his shoulder.

"Moving on, to Penelope Bryte over there by the ambulance who, incidentally, knows God. They speak daily." Brandon joked, getting another chuckle out of everyone. "And then to the beautiful and gorgeous Brittany Cunningham." A couple wolf whistles sounded from the crowd and she shook her head in irritation but smiled anyways. "And last, but certainly not least," he said with a cheeky grin.

"Brandon O'Neil!" everyone shouted.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you very much, you're welcome. Now, it's time for the bad part, people. We of the Riverton eighthave had to share our birthday, with a monster. The serial killer, Abel Plenkov, who died at midnight the day we were born. It's the Ripper."

Brandon told, his expression one of complete seriousness. "Legend has it that we, the Rvierton seven, are the mirrors of Abel Plenkov's personalities. The one's that turned the Ripper in and that, The Ripper still wants revenge,"

Brandon's voice got softer. "So Abel Plenkov is dead, but his ghost isn't. No, it lurks underneath the old railroad bridge. You've seen it. Sleeps in the river, roams the darkest corners of the woods, just waiting for the next Ripper Day to come around. Cause on that day, our birthday, tonight, the Devil has told him that he can take his revenge."

Then Brandon turned and pointed to the river. He raised his voice, "BUT, he can only come out of the river at this spot! And every year, since we have been able, one of us Riverton Eight has volunteered to drive him back into the river, where he belongs! And tonight, is no exception! And I, personally have chosen to volunteer."

My eyes widened, "Well, that's a first." I turned to look at Bug, only to see him shaking in what looked to be relief.

"To volunteer Bug Hellermen, that is." Brandon said.

Bug stood there, his eyes wide. All color seemed to have drained from his face as he stood still, as if he were frozen where he stood.

"It's your turn Bug!" Brandon shouted. "All the rest of us have done it!"

"We will now summon the Ripper from the river. If he appears yet again, then Bug must slay him or we'll all die!"

Shouts of "Can you do it, Bug? Save us!" were heard from all around the campfire.

"If you can hear me Ripper, make yourself known!" Brandon yelled to the river.

Everyone began to shout, "Make yourself known!"

Bug fidgeted nervously. "Hey, Bug, relax. It's just a puppet, not the real thing." I comforted giving him a little push forward.

"Fear ye the Ripper!" they all shouted.

Alex smacked Jerome's shoulder. The blind boy rubbed his hurt shoulder, "What'd I do?"

"Bug's freaking out." He explained.

The sound of branches breaking made everyone turn to face the woods to the left of us. A large hulking figure emerged from behind a tree. It had greasy looking hair and no eyes. Seeing it made me shiver a little bit. Something about that puppet gave me the creeps.

Alex gripped Bug's shoulders and pushed him forward. "It's a puppet. Just knock it over." Bug just stood there and stared at it.

"Ahhh, get in there you pussy!" Brandon cried, pushing Bug forward.

"I can't do this." He said, turning back to look at me and Alex. His eyes were ten times wider than before.

Sirens could be heard and a police car pulled from around the corner. I yelped when I say the lights, and Penelope yelled out, "COPS!"

Rushing forward, I grabbed Bug by the arm and pulled him with me as Alex ran beside us. "Time to go." He said.

We rushed into the woods like everyone else.

"Watch the trees, Jerome!" Alex called to the boy just ahead of us. Racing every which way to dodge the trees (which I was very impressed with how well he managed considering he couldn't see anything around him). Not two seconds after I thought that he accidentally slammed into Alex who in turn, bumped into Bug.

I let out a loud laugh as I saw Bug fall down the hill and into the river. "Nice one, Jerome!"

"Oh, he's still alive! He's okay!" Alex laughed, stumbling down the hill to help Bug up.

"Ahhh, I'm blind, Bug! Not you!" Jerome called out, hanging into a tree with one arm.

I continued to laugh as I ran over to them and wrapped my arm around Bug's shoulder, pulling him the rest of the way out of the water.. "Come on, come on!"

"Why the hell are the cops here?" Alex asked, as we continued to run farther away from the campsite.

"Big log! WOO!" I shouted, jumping over it, the others close behind me.

"What the fuck was that? Why'd they stop us?" Alex laughed.

"Go home! Ripper Day has been officially canceled!"

I chuckled, grabbing Jay's jacket and putting it around Bug's shoulders. I patted his face gently, "You okay, kid?"

He nodded slightly, snuggling a bit deeper in to the jacket.

"Why so glum, chum?" Jay asked Bug, who had water dripping down his still pale face.

"I failed," he said sadly, "Now we're all gonna die and it's my fault."

Shaking my head at him, I ruffled his hair before crouching in front of him, my hand still placed on top of his head. "You know that story is a bunch of bull."

"That's bullshit that Brandon made up. If he was so worried about it, he would have killed it himself." Alex spoke up.

"That puppet was scary." Bug pointed out, still quiet.

"Thanks!" Jay replied, taking obvious pride in his 'masterpiece.'

I scoffed, taking my hand and smacking Jay on the back of the head. "I don't think he meant it as a compliment, genius."

Jay smiled, "You think I'm a genius?"

Rubbing my face in frustration, I stood, preferring to stand behind a tree rather than crouched behind a log, "Yeah, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"That coat was creepy, you added some moss and grass and shit, right?" Alex asked, looking at Jay.

Tuning out the guys' conversation, I stared out at the old railroad bridge, not very far from where we stood. I hate to say it but the thing gave me the creeps.

"We should go to. Quint's going to kill me if he catches me out this late." Alex's voice snapped me out of my daydream.

I looked around us, but Jay and Jerome mysteriously disappeared. You'd think I would've noticed them leave. Huh. Whatever.

"Amber!"

Looking up, I saw Alex and Bug looking at me. "Yeah?"

"Come on, time to go."

I nodded and jogged over to them. "About time, I'm fucking tired as hell."

Alex nodded, "Yeah, me too. I'll see you guys tomorrow, right?"

I nodded, not really paying attention.

"Yeah, I better go home too. See you tomorrow, Condor." I smiled at him, giving him a quick hug before walking off towards the old railroad bridge.