I stood next to Alex with a bunch of other kids around a big campfire. Behind us was a burned down ambulance that was covered with lit candles. I pulled out my iPhone to check the time and found out that it was almost midnight.
"Yo, you guys!" Alex called. Two guys walked up to us. One was Asian with spiky black hair and the other was black and he had a walking stick in his hand. "Jay, Jerome. This is my lovely cousin, Evelyn." He introduced.
"Hey" I said.
"Jay Chan!" Jay stepped forward, taking my hand to shake. I smiled greeting to him.
"Nice to meet you." Jerome said. I smiled, even though he was obviously blind.
Alex introduced me to the rest of the kids. Unfortunately, he just had to tell everyone that I was also born the same day the Ripper was killed. I met all six of the other seven Riverton seven kids. Jay and Jerome seemed nice enough, clearly buds with Alex. Then there was Penelope who was super sweet. Brittany, nice enough but kind of snobbish. And Brandon. Can you say douche?
"Hmm. I wonder where Bug is." Alex pondered. He mentioned Bug, but I haven't met him yet. Apparently he was one of the birthday kids.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Brandon shouted, standing on a stump so he towered over everyone else. "The countdown is near! If you may all please turn your attention to the church please!"
Across the lake you could see buildings, and the only one with a light remaining lit was a small white church. Everyone counted to twelve. Then five seconds later the lights went out and everybody cheered.
"As you all know, Ripper Day marks two things. One of them bad and one of them good." Brandon began his speech.
Alex nudged my shoulder and smiled. I pushed him back, giving him a what is the point of this shit look.
Brandon went on. "The good part is that it's the birthday of seven of us here. Oh wait, actually eight of us now. It seems that the lovely Evelyn Anderson was also born sixteen years ago tonight at Riverton Hospital."
I felt eyes on me and I made a slight wave of my hand nervously.
"And there is also Jerome King. Hey Jerome." Everyone cheered and Jerome waved. "Alex Dunklemen." Alex waved. "Jay Chan, who made our puppet for tonight." Jay threw his hands up as people cheered. "Bug Hellermen… Hellermen?"
Everyone looked around for the guy, but he didn't seem to be around. Then there was a rustling in the bushes behind us and a tall guy with shaggy dirty blond hair walked through the crowd with his hands in his jacket pockets. His eyes looked tired and his hair was all ruffled. He stood on the other side of Alex.
"Where've ya been?" Alex asked.
"Sleeping." Bug replied monotone. I looked at him with narrowed eyes. There was something about him I couldn't put my finger on.
"Bug, uh takes a little longer cause he's a little slower so." Brandon added to Bug's arrival.
"What a dirtbag." I muttered.
"Hush!" Alex shushed me. "You don't want on the guy's bad side, Eevee. Trust me."
"Pssh! What's he gonna do? Hit me?" I sneered.
"He's not afraid to hit girls. I'll tell ya that much." Alex replied.
"He doesn't scare me." I replied smugly.
"And 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. I was seriously starting to hate this kid. "And then to the beautiful and gorgeous Brittany Cunningham." A couple wolf whistles sounded from the crowd and she smiled.
"And last, but certainly not least," he said with a cheeky grin.
"Brandon O'neil!" everyone shouted.
Oh jeez. What. A. Tool.
"And now the bad part people. We of the Riverton eight have had to share our birthday with a monster. The serial killer, Abel Plankof, who died at midnight, the day we were born. The Ripper." Brandon told with a serious look on his face.
I was starting to feel uneasy as he kept talking. I don't know why this story was freaking me out, even a little bit. I watched scary movies at home all the time and they never bugged me.
"Legend has it that we of the Riverton eight are the mirrors of Abel Plankof's personality. That the Ripper still wants revenge. So Abel Plankof is dead… but his ghost isn't."
"Alex, I don't like this." I muttered.
"Chill Eev." Alex whispered back. I figured he was right and I was just being a baby. I mentally slapped myself and listened to Brandon.
"No, it lurks underneath the old railroad bridge. You've seen it. It sleeps in the river. It roams the darkest corners of the woods, just waiting for the next Ripper Day to come around. 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 at this spot, and every year, since we have been able, one of us Riverton eight has volunteered to drive him back to the river where he belongs! Tonight is no exception, and I personally have chosen to volunteer…"
A few muttered to themselves in disbelief.
"Have volunteered Bug Hellerman that is." He gestured to Bug, I looked at Bug. He looked genuinely not thrilled about it. His eyes widened a bit and he stood there frozen.
"It's your turn Bug!" Brandon shouted. "The rest of us have done it!"
I could feel my heartbeat in my wrist and I was getting nervous. Why am I getting nervous? Dammit.
"We will now summon the Ripper from the river. If he appears yet again, than Bug must slay him or we'll all die!"
Kids cheered and shouted things like "Save us Bug!" "Come on, Bug!" and whatever. I stayed silent and watched the poor boy seem to become more and more terrified by the second.
"If you can hear me Ripper, make yourself known!" Brandon yelled to the river.
Everyone began to chant over and over, "Make yourself known!" Bug shifted from one foot to the other nervously.
I sighed and reached over to touch his arm. "Hey, Bug. It's ok." I said.
Bug looked down at me, being he was way taller than me. "Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Eevee. I'm Alex's cousin."
"Oh." He replied, but he seemed too focused on being scared to really pay attention to me.
"Alex." I said. He looked at me and then at Bug and realised.
"Fear ye the Ripper!" they all shouted. Alex smacked Jerome's shoulder.
"Bug is freaking, man." He explained.
The sound of branches breaking made me jump and I whipped my head to face the woods to the left of us. Out of the woods a huge body emerged. It had long hair and large black holes for eyes.
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.
"AH, get in there you pussy!" Brandon cried, pushing Bug forward.
I ran up to Alex and grabbed his arm. "I'm not sure about this."
"It's not real, E. Bug can do it." He said.
As the huge puppet got closer, Bug started to step back. He looked at me and Alex. "I can't do this." He said. His eyes were ten times wider than before.
Sirens could be heard and a police car showed up. Alex grabbed my wrist and pulled me along. "Time to go." He said. I looked at Bug as the puppet collapsed at his feet.
"Come on!" Alex called to him. We ran passed him and I grabbed his sleeve as we did. We booked it to the woods like everyone else. In a hurry to escape, Bug fell in the river at one point. I kind of laughed in the excitement of it all and helped him out of the water. Then we all ran and hid behind a big fallen log.
"What the fuck was that? Why'd they stop us?" Alex laughed.
I sat down on the cool dirt between Jay and Bug and sighed. "Well it's not like it was much fun."
"Don't be a buzz kill, Eevee." Alex sneered.
"Bite me, Lexi." I replied, sticking my tongue out at him.
"Why so glum, chum?" Jay asked Bug. Who was soaked and kind of staring off.
"I failed." He replied simply. "Now we're all gonna die and it's my fault."
I sighed and thought about the whole story, not really paying attention to what Jay was saying to Bug. It still wierded me out how the story of the Ripper scared me so much. I do gotta give Jay his props for making such a badass puppet.
Alex smacked my shoulder and I snapped back to reality to hear the last bit about something about a presentation that Alex and Bug were doing. Than Jay took off and so did Jerome.
"We should too." Alex said. "Quint will kill us if he catches us out this late."
"He'll kill you." I corrected. Quint wouldn't dare touch me. From the way I threatened to call my social worker and get him arrested the first time he tried to hit me, I doubted he'd pull a stunt like that again.
I winced when I tried to stand up. My leg felt seriously strained and it even started to tingle from lack of circulation.
"Are you ok?" Bug asked when he noticed me.
"Stupendous." I replied. I tried to lift myself up my grabbing the log, but I guess my ass was too damn fat and a shot of pain went through my shoulder. I dropped down, landing on my butt hard. "Dammit." I cursed.
"Here." Bug said, holding his hand out to me. I smiled and took his hand and he helped me up.
"Thanks." I huffed.
"Are you hurt or something?" Bug asked as we started to walk back to our homes.
"Um, kind of. I was in a car accident six months ago." I replied.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Bug replied.
I smiled at him. "It's alright. I got off easy."
"What do you mean?" Bug asked.
I frowned a bit, not answering him. Why did I bring that up? I trudged a bit past him so I was ahead of him and Alex.
"What did she mean, Alex?"
I sighed and proceeded to tune them out. As my feet trudged through the underbrush of the forest trail, I couldn't help but frown at the horrible feeling I was getting in the pit of my stomach.