I'm glad to see everyone likes the direction this story is going. I had several plots that I had came up with for Unnatural History stories, but this one seemed to make the most sense. You can look forward to an upcoming Unnatural History Greek mythology story, I just have to work out some kinks before I post it.

I would also like to say, I posted this Sunday morning instead of Sunday evening because I have several art projects due that I have yet to complete. I definitely would have procrastinated if I had put off both this story and the projects for tomorrow. That, and Thursday afternoon I came down with a Cold (Or some other ridiculous illness that involves hacking, runny noses, stopped up noses, watering eyes, fevers, and tiredness) and I've had a lot of time since then to focus on this story.


It was 4:28 A.M. when Henry woke up early Saturday morning. The previous night he had gone to bed not long after getting home, exhausted by the long school week he had endured. But going to sleep early always had a downside, and being up at this hour was one of them. Gently moving back and forth, Henry's hammock began to gently sway. He liked the motion, reminding him of his many adventures in which he had slept in hammocks around the world. After several minutes he jumped off his resting place, landing on his feet with a soft thud. He had decided that meditating would be a great start to his weekend. Incense, gentle humming, and softly spoken chants this early would surely wake Jasper, so Henry just sat in his meditating position focusing inside himself. But one could only meditate so long, and eventually Henry found himself restless. By now the first rays of the sun could be seen coming up over the horizon. The sky was clear telling the D.C. area that today would be a nice day to go outdoors. Getting up, Henry changed into a pair of loose athletic shorts, a worn out t-shirt, and a dirty pair of sneakers. Henry had opted to go out of the house using the roof, least he wake Uncle Brain. He had opened the window in Jasper's room, slipping out before jumping to the ground below. With all his training from around the world, he knew just how to land to prevent hurting himself. After righting himself, Henry took off towards the park. Today was a good day to go running.

The D.C. area boasted many parks, both large and small. Some were historical or memorial in nature, while other were solely for nature conservation. Henry had to run several miles just to get to his preferred park, but it was worth it. The park was large and forested with no displays or exhibits. The only amenities the park had were a few strategically placed restrooms, benches, and a few long winding paths that cut through the thick amount of trees and brush. To Henry, this was perfect. The only sounds he could readily hear were small chirps and the distinct sound of scurrying animals. Henry had earphones resting on his neck, the sound of Tibetan monks gently mingling with sounds of nature. Jasper had helped Henry purchase one of those, 'iPods,' and the young adventurer had been using it a lot recently. It was a lot easier to tune out all of D.C.'s hustle and bustle when you could instantly be listening to the best sounds of the many cultures from around the world.

This fine morning in late September was rather cool, and Henry had only seen a few other people in the park. He had ran about six miles now including his jog to the park, and for the last few minutes had been walking to avoid blood pooling. Finding a bench along the path, Henry sat down to rest. He gently relaxed his head on the back of the bench, listening to world around him. He softly hummed along with the monks, remembering the many wise words they had told him. After a decent expanse of time, Henry went to get up only to catch a whiff of a faint but distinct smell in the air. Standing, Henry closed his eyes before taking a deep breath in. Like a bolt of lightning striking him, realization dawned upon him. He had smelt this odor many times, but had never grown accustomed to it. A smell that no matter how many times it's breathed in, always leaves your stomach in knots. It was the smell of death. The smell of rotting flesh. Taking off in the direction of the scent, Henry reached into his pocket pulling out the cellphone he had gotten. He had never quite learned how to use it fully, but he did know that if he pressed down on the button labeled, '2', for several seconds that the device would call Jasper. He brought the phone to his ear, silently praying that Jasper would answer. Relief flushed through Henry when he heard the groggy voice of his cousin.

"Hello?"

"Jasper!"

"Henry? Why are you calling me?"

"I'm at the park! I need you to get here as soon as possible!"

"Henry, what's going on?"

Henry stopped as the stench in the air seemed to concentrate in the area where he was standing. He could tell that the smell was coming from his left, deep in the forest. The decaying creature was most definitely large to produce such an odor, though he knew the average citizen wouldn't be able to identify the stench. Henry could feel the bile that was rising in his throat, and the fear that gripped his chest. Even though he knew what was deep within those woods, he didn't want to acknowledge it. He didn't want to think about who could have done such a thing. Wrapped up in his thoughts, he didn't even notice that he was still on the phone until Jasper's voiced loudly reverberated through the phone.

"Henry! Henry, are you there?"

"Jasper..."

"What?"

"...I think I found a dead body..."


It wasn't even twenty minutes later before Henry could see Jasper running down the path towards him. He was right in thinking that the other teen would know exactly which park Henry was talking about. It wasn't like he really went to any other ones. The skinnier, nonathletic teen looked exhausted as he approached his cousin. He bent over, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

"I got...here...as fast...as I could!"

"Did you call the police?"

"Yeah...they should be on the way here."

Jasper, having finally caught his breath, stood up looking at his cousin expectantly.

"So...where is it?"

Henry pointed towards the woods opposite of them on the path. They looked thick and menacing, sending shivers up the teens spine. Jasper looked as far a he could into the deeps of the flora, but didn't see anything of interest. Assuming he wasn't close enough to see, he took a hesitant step forward. Now don't get the wrong idea, it wasn't that Jasper actually wanted to see the body. In fact, he really didn't considering he had a weak stomach. But it wasn't often that things like this occurred, and he could feel his teenage curiosity winning over his usual cowardice. He was about to take another hesitant step forward when he felt a strong hand catch his shirt sleeve before pulling. He felt his back collide with something solid before looking over his shoulder at Henry. The young adventurer gave him a disapproving look, something the other teen had never seen on his cousin's face.

"What?"

"...I can smell the body from here, Jasper. The less involved we are the better."

He had never seen Henry with such a serious and hard expression. His cousin almost looked physically pained just from being here, something that he credited to the smell. The intensity of the situation started to hit him, fear seizing him from the inside. The two stood together on the opposite side of the trail until the police arrived. Henry quickly told the authorities what little he knew, and after a brief explanation of Henry's unique smelling abilities by Jasper, the police squad began searching through the trees and brush. A half an hour later the police were carrying out a body bag from the vegetation. The two boys had been called in for questioning, seeing as it was rather odd that one of them had known the location of the body. They had quickly excused Jasper, seeing that he knew absolutely nothing about the situation. Questioning continued for several hours for Henry, but the investigators eventually learned that he too had nothing to do with the crime.

The car ride home was generally quiet, except for Jasper asking Henry if he was hungry. A solemn shake of the head told Jasper all he needed to know. When they had arrived home, the young adventurer had gone straight to him and his cousin's shared room. When Bryan Bartlett asked his son where the two had been all day, Jasper told him that they had gone to go get breakfast early in the morning and had gone to several other places throughout the day including the movies. Accepting this answer, he left the two boys alone. Jasper went to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water before ascending the stairs. When he opened the door to his room, he saw a strange sight. Instead of his cousin resting in his hammock, the teenager was face down on his bed. Normally he'd be pissed, but something was obviously wrong. Jasper gently padded over to his bed, sitting his glass of water on the nightstand before climbing on the mattress beside his face down cousin. He just sat there, waiting for Henry to say what was on his mind. No amount of mental preparation though could have helped Jasper for the sound of his cousin's voice as he shared the burden that weighed upon his heart.

"It was just a kid, Jasper. He couldn't have been older than fourteen."

Jasper looked down at his cousin, confusion on his face until recognition hit.

"They showed you pictures of the body."

The way his cousin tensed was all the answer he needed. He himself hadn't seen any pictures, but they also didn't question him as long as they had questioned Henry. He could see his cousin's shoulders shake as he spoke again, whether it was from hurt or anger he didn't know.

"This guy's sick, Jasper...What he did to this boy...it's terrifying...The kid...he was beaten...and gagged...and carved...with all types of weird symbols...and raped over and over again...It's just terrifying."

Jasper didn't know what shook him worse: that somewhere out there was a man who was capable of these horrific acts, or the pure venom and hurt in his cousin's voice. But the words that left his cousin's mouth next made the blood in his veins feel as though they had frozen over.

"And Jasper...I have a feeling this isn't over."

He was right. It wasn't over. It was only beginning.


Have I ever mentioned I hate being sick? 'Cause I do. When I'm sick, it's hard for me to type and my chapters come out weird. So please excuse any grammatical mistakes, etc. Also, I'm not familiar with the D.C. area, so I don't know much about the parks up there. For all it's worth, there's probably no parks up there like the one I've described. If you live in the D.C. area and know of one like that though, please tell me.

I apologize now for my crappy description of our poor victim's condition. He was treated far more violently than Henry is willing to say, and it's just all around a touchy subject. As the story goes on, you'll truly get to see more inside the mind of our killer (who's a lot more intelligent and complex that I let on in this chapter) and his many victims (whom he all treats differently). This is just as small taste. And yeah, Henry and Jasper probably seem a little OOC, but seriously...serial killers and dead bodies would sure as hell make me act weird.

Uh, review please. Thanks.