The Burgess Massacre

I knew I was going to kill her. It didn't matter how, really, I didn't even care if anyone found out. No that's wrong. I wanted everyone to discover what I had done. I wanted the students, the teachers, the media, the police, the government, maybe even the world; yes I wanted the world to discover that I was a killer, the killer. I wanted, no needed for the world to realize and respect that I was someone who should be feared and loathed, someone who deserved to die. That is the reason I am writing this memoir. As I sit in solitude I have decided that my story needs to come out. As I wait for the guards to haul me to my death, I write down my treacherous deeds. What surprises most people is that I didn't even care about her. Who I'd killed made no difference; there wasn't even anything particularly unpleasant about her. Why I'd killed her, because she was a mind-numbingly simple target, just too easy to kill.

We may as well start from the beginning if this is to be a memoir, I was born to a wealthy family. I lived part of my life in a small manor not too far from London and the other part in the Burgess Academy which my family had founded. All of my ancestors had been headmaster at the academy at one point in their lives and no generation had ever given birth to more than one child. It was never necessary for more than one child to be born, which is really a miracle considering the probability for a child to survive to adulthood in, lets say, the 1300's. My generation had been another case entirely. My parents had their first child in 1994, he was a small boy named Gregory, all my parents had ever wanted. He died soon after. My mother had 5 still born children over the course of 10 years and then we came along. My brother and I were born January 8th 2004. They named us Gregory and Amillia, I being the latter. My brother was born with numerous diseases and deformities that kept him bed ridden until the age of four when he finally died. Both my parents were devastated, their little Gregory had been taken away from them, again. My father took his death the worst of all of us. He blamed me for the untimely death of my brother, and when my mother tried to talk some sense into him he beat us both, even then my mother wouldn't dare leave him. "Our family has been respected for hundreds of years, I will not tarnish our good name with a divorce." I have remembered those words to this day. One day after a particularly nasty fight between my parents he left. He had been gone for 3 days when the police came to our door, bringing the news that Aurthur Evans was dead.

Ever since, I've blamed myself for the deaths of my brother and my father, and though my mother has told me not to, I can't help it. Life after that was as normal as it could be for a single mother and her daughter. My mother took the position of headmaster and I soon enrolled at Burgess and spent almost all of my time there. I had little friends and I liked it that way, the whole notion of a "social life" was truly beyond me. I excelled in all of my classes and was student counsel vice-president, only because the teachers picked the vice-president. Now this is all good and well but you probably want to hear about the murders, everyone loves a good murder story.

It was a Monday and the start of a new term, a warm August day. I passed the iron gates, and stared intently at the antique marble steps that lead to the Victorian-style school that I knew all too well. There were 82 of them, the steps I mean. Every Monday I would climb these 82 steps, always at the same time, and I was never late. As I started my assent, I counted '1, 2, 3' I rarely looked around when I came this way, but that was mostly because I knew what would be there. The same rows of black cherry trees, the same lush green grass that the gardeners all raved about, the same lilies, roses and adel vise that were all neatly arranged in rows on either side of the cracked marble stairs, it was all the same. None of it ever changed, it had been this way since I was 4 and according to my mother it would stay that way until I was dead and gone… poor mother.

Each day when I would climb these stairs that I knew so well, I would take a quick stop at stair 50, to check the time. I glanced at the clock that was embedded in the cream colored brick above the large oak doors that lead to the inside of the school. The time was 7:37 as it was every time I climbed these stairs, and as at that time I thought it would be for a long time.

That was when I saw her. She was on the 74th stair, I could tell because, as I've said, I knew these stairs all too well. But she on the other hand, with her awkward stance, her arms folded across her chest, and the puzzled look on her face, obviously did not know these stairs. I also had a puzzled look on my face. No one had told me that there was to be a new girl. Sure we had new students from time to time, but I was most often the first to know. And on top of that she was here before me. Classes don't even start until 9o'clock and no student in this school arrived before me, but she's probably just kissing up on her first day. I called to her.

"Hey, are you new here?" She suddenly turned to face me, she looked truly alarmed and almost genuinely terrified. She hadn't even noticed me, like we need another space cadet.

"O-Oh" Her stammer was very cute, "Y-yes. This is my first day. I-I hope you don't think I'm trespassing." She was very soft-spoken and seemed a little too paranoid, but I let it slide.

"Oh, no you don't need to worry" I replied, "You see, I'm a student here too."

"W-Well of course I know all about you. You're the daughter of the headmaster. What kind of student would I be to not know you?" She was still scared stiff

"A normal one, maybe." I was trying to lighten the situation but I could tell by her body language that it had failed miserably. While I climbed the stairs to try and get eye level with this girl I tried to introduce myself.

"Well, my name is…" she cut me off,

"O-Oh you don't need to tell me." She was still nervous but she had calmed down quite a but. "L-Like I said I know everything about you. Oh but you probably want to know my name, that's really very rude, I apologize, I really should of told you my name, 'cause now you're at a disadvantage because I know your name but you don't know mine." Well she was completely calm now. She kept rambling about how she should have told me her name and how she was now putting off telling me her name now. She apologized a lot, but I was glad that she was calmer now. I don't believe she ever got to telling me her name, but I got it later from the school files. I interrupted her.

"Um… Do you need any help finding your classes… or something?"

"Oh! Sure that would be great."

We climbed the remaining 8 stairs to the newly polished marble courtyard, it spanned about 50ft. in every direction and right in the middle of this seasoned terrace was a statue with the figure of our founder, my great-great-great-great, well… just add a bunch of greats there you'll get the idea, grandfather, held high on a majestic stallion while he rode into the imaginary sunset after the unforgettable attack on the school during the Hundred Years' war. We got in the building and I went into the front office,

"Hey mom, I'm here!" I called to her and she gave her usual reply.

"Good, glad you're here safe." Like always she didn't go out of her way to come out and greet me. I shuffled through the papers that needed to be sorted before classes started and I noticed that the girl was standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"It's rude to hover in doorways, please come in." Again I had tried to lighten the situation and failed, again.

She walked into the office and I noted her appearance for future reference. She was short and had a very girly figure. She was a brunette and her hair hung just below her waist even when it was pulled up with a large pink ribbon. That made me think at once of Young Goodman Brown, and I do think that she was a lot like Faith, the innocent good girl that had a great deal of, please excuse the pun, faith in whatever it was that she believed. Her clothes were about 2 sizes too big for her and by the looks of it hand-me-downs. I found her papers at last and took a glance at them, not necessarily allowed, but I knew my mom wouldn't mind. Age: 15, Hair color: brown Eye color: blue excreta, excreta, all normal until, Birth Mother: Deceased, Birth Father: Deceased Legal Guardian(s), this was left blank. She had no family, no guardian of any kind. She had either lived in a shelter or on the streets, and yet she was able to get here, into this, the most expensive school in England, she must have been a child protégée, or something. I said nothing, and started to sort papers into the right places. She probably didn't want anyone to know, so I kept quiet. I got to her class schedule and handed it to her, again without a word, and went to my mothers office.

"The new girl's here. You wanna talk to her?"

"O-Oh, yes. Yes send her in." She said in that frazzled way of hers, she quickly straightened her shirt, fixed her hair and checked her makeup in the little mirror on her desk, I loved my mom.

I motioned to the girl, signaling her to go in. After she left I quickly closed the door and hurried back to my paperwork. I let out a laugh, the kind of laugh that made your stomach flip and your blood curdle. I had been careful, very careful not to let this girl see my emotions for I was completely slap-happy. Ever since the moment that I'd learned about her parents I was ecstatic, for I knew. I knew that I had found my victim, and the plan that I had been so meticulously laying out for months could finally come to fruition. I was about to let another laugh slip when the door opened,

"Thank you very much Ms. Patel" I heard my mother say "I'm sure that you will be very comfortable at Burgess." a line I had heard so many times.

"Oh yes I'm sure, and thank you. Ms. Evans for giving me the opportunity to go to such a wonderful school." My mother chuckled softly.

"Bye, dear" "Goodbye Ms. Evans." She just about skipped out of that office.

"It went well I presume." I said almost mockingly, I tried not to but I couldn't help from smirking, but she didn't even notice.

"Oh yes, your mother is everything I dreamed she would be, and more." she sounded like she was in love.

"So how do you know so much about my family?" I asked, only mildly interested in her reply.

"Well, i've always dreamed of going to this school. This is where my great-grandmother went to school. I have been researching ever since I could go to a library and I learned everything about this school and your family." She paused and I felt the need to respond,

"Well... Congratulations and welcome to Burgess Academy."

Now I hadn't decided to kill her the moment I'd discovered the truth about her parents, at that time she was merely a candidate. After I had escorted her to her first class and sat through all the teachers routine 'What'd you do over the break?' and 'this term is going to be hard' speeches, I went to my room. After locking my door and shutting the blinds, I turned on some music and began to mull over my victim choices, the song very appropriately was I can't decide by the Scissor Sisters. "It's not... easy having your self a good time." I sang along while I thought. You see I'd had a victim chosen already, but after meeting this girl I realized that she would be so much more entertaining to kill. "I can't decide weather you should live or die." Not necessarily true I knew I was going to kill her... it was how, how I was going to kill my victim had been troubling me for quite some time now. There were just too many choices, the human body is so fragile I could lock her in a closet for three days and she would die. I imagined her screams for mercy and her pitiful insults as I locked her in the closet. But that was not the way I wanted to kill her, It would be too much of a hassle to dispose of the body and I would probably have been found out before she died. I had to think of something else. Stabbed to the heart, decapitated, drowned, buried alive, shot, I decided to ask the internet. I searched "How to kill a man". The first thing that came up was "22 ways to kill a man with your bare hands" I quickly scanned the article and the only interesting one was the Russian Omelet, don't ask. After searching for a good 15 minutes I concluded that the internet would be no help. I would just have to think of something on my own.

And I did. I didn't execute my plan for another two months, just enough time to observe the girl to make sure that my original judgements were correct and to gather the materials for my divine murder. During those months I had to develop a relationship with Ms. Talya Patel, without which my plan would have never worked. It was a day in October, a thursday to be exact, I had asked Talya to come over with me to do some studying after classes were over at five.

"Are you ready to go yet Amilia?" Talya was getting impatient.

"Yah, just a second! I have to set something up." After I was done we started on our hour walk to my house. We talked about trivial things, nothing of real importance, and we arrived at my house. I looked back at Talya, stared straight at her and jabbed her in the philtrum and I heard a crack. Hard enough to leave her unconscious, but not enough to kill her, that wouldn't be any fun. I looked down at her seemingly lifeless body as it lay limp on the sidewalk, I couldn't have picked a better victim.

I carried her to the van and placed her in an upright position in the passenger seat, part of my cover if we were pulled over by the cops. I started to drive. I took the M6 from Manchester to Dundee, having no trouble at all on the 5 hour drive. To my surprise she never once showed singes of consciousness, she was really out. After getting to Dundee I drove exactly 50 miles out into the country then hiked, with Tayla on my back, for another 10 miles, until I finally found what I had laid out weeks before. The tools of my grand murder. I laid Talya on the ground and got out my knife, I couldn't have her sleeping for hours, that would ruin the plan. I started to make small cuts on her arms and legs, the blood was slowly starting to escape the confides of her Ody when she first stirred, perfect. I slashed across her stomach and she screamed, the scream that you could never imagine yourself screaming, and it came from her lips so easily. She stared at me all wide-eyed for a minute

"W-Why?" her voice was very shallow and she almost had to choke out the question.

"Because I can."

She whimpered in fear as I towered over her. I grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the cage I had all ready for the occasion. Even though her body was still limp from being knocked out she was screaming and calling out for help. It wasn't a problem though, no one would be within 20 miles of this location, I had chosen it well.

"Don't worry Talya, it will all be over soon." I made my voice as sweet as possible. "You will finally be able to see your parents again." She was about to respond to my threat, but I threw her into the 10 ft. long 4 ft. wide and 3 ft. tall cage. It was small enough that she had to kneel to fit. She was yelling at me and calling out for help, but I just waited. She soon figured that no one was coming to her aid and that I wasn't going to respond to her obsessive yelling, so she quieted down. I observed her as she looked around her area of confinement, her look was first puzzled but it slowly turned to a look of horror and shock.

"N-No! You can't do this! THIS IS WRONG! You'll be arrested! You will be hated by everyone!"

"That's exactly shat I want." She looked at me, I could see the fear in her eyes, the small tears that had been forming in her eyes were now slowly dripping to the bottom of the cage.

I pressed the button. The flames burst from the end of the cage opposite Talya and she wailed, teared now pouring relentlessly from her blood shot eyes. She backed to the door of the enclosure and stared at the quickly approaching fire, she turned around and tried desperately to open the door.

"Looking for this" I held up the key and laughed. She glared at me as I threw it to the ground just out of her reach.

"You're sick, you know that!" I laughed but said nothing. She didn't reach for the key, too proud or something, she said nothing and just stared at the ground in front of her while silently crying from the confides of her cage. The fire engulfed her. She didn't scream; she barely flinched.

"Goodbye Talya." she used whatever strength she had left to glare at me again and then she fell. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell backwards for what seemed like an entire minute, then her head hit the floor of the cage with a resounding thud. She was dead, there was no mistaking it she had really died. I had really done it, I had killed someone. If you had asked me what I was feeling at the time I couldn't have told you. I wasn't able to form a complete sentence I couldn't form a complete thought.

I had to rush back to the school, I had only five hours and a half hours to get there. I shut the machine off and collected the cadaver in a velvet bag. I rushed back to the car and drove to the shore. After finding a spot where no one would see me, not a hard thing to do at three in the morning, I tossed her limp body into the ocean as far as I could manage and fled the scene. I drove as fast as I could. I had to arrive at the school before 8:00. After the five hour drive I parked the car about a mile from the school and I walked the rest of the way, a seemingly norma student on her way to school, nothing wrong with that, right. I was about 200 ft. from the gates of the school when I saw it. The smoke and flame that went along with an explosion was rising from the location of Burgess Academy. I almost laughed but I was able to keep the cover of a normal student. I stood for a minute secretly waiting for the time when it would be safe to examine my work. I had placed a bomb in the school, in my very dorm the day before, set to go off at exactly 8:00 am and destroy the entire school. I ran to see how much damage was done, the stairs were gone, those marble stairs that I had always climbed to get to the school. As I looked around the area was completely still. Not a creature stirred, there were no survivors. All 1198 students and 100 teachers and staff were dead. I got out my cell phone and dialed the local police.

"Hello, Manchester police department?"

"Yes what can I help you with?" Some important sounding man answered,

"Hi my name is Amilia Evans, the daughter of the headmaster at Burgess Academy and I just wanted to tell you that I've blown up my school."

"I'm sorry is this some kind on joke"

"No in all seriousness I have just blown up my school."

"Ok you wait there we're coming to check it out."

"No prob." I didn't bother shutting the phone, I just let it drop from my hands. I laughed, I laughed hysterically for the ten minutes it took the police to arrive. The rest is history.

There has been a lot of controversy about my trial. Some say that I'm crazy, some say that I'm not. Some say that I should have been given the death penalty, it's reallyp a shame that I wasn't. Two months ago in November I was sentenced to life in jail without chance of parol. On this date January, 8th 2022 I am going to kill my self but before I do. Dear Father and Gregory, I'll see you two in hell.