Big Time Nightmare; Part Three
The next day, the boys were heading down to the Palm Woods pool. James was talking to Kendall, and he didn't react fast enough and bumped into Mr. Bitters.
"Oh, sorry, Mr. Bitters!" James said sheepishly, adjusting himself.
"You just watch it, Diamond…" Bitters glared daggers at James, and the boy didn't seem to like his tone.
As Bitters walked away, James let out a demonic hiss, then whipped around, "Excuse me?"
"James!" Kendall cried, gripping James tightly and pulling him backwards before he could tackle Mr. Bitters.
"Whoa, James. Take it easy." Logan soothed, placing a hand on James' shoulder as he thrashed about, trying to free himself from Kendall.
"Yeah, dude. Just take a chill pill. Bitters is always like that." Carlos said, nodding once.
James growled, then snapped his arms from Kendall's grasp, "Fine…"
Kendall hissed in pain, shuddering a bit when he heard his arm pop as James tore away from him, "Aarg…"
James winced when he heard Kendall in pain, "Sorry, Kendall…" he muttered sympathetically, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You alright?"
"Y…yeah… I think so…" Kendall mumbled. "Let's just go to the pool before something else bad happens."
And so, the four boys enjoyed a calm couple hours at the pool. Kelly had convinced Gustavo to give them the day off so James could settle back in before being rushed right back into recording.
Eventually, they decided to head back to 2J for the rest of the day. Everything went on like same old, same old. Watching a few hokey games on TV, Carlos slamming into multiple walls, Logan ignoring them and reading some "nerd book", as James referred to them as, and then, night rolled around.
James began to grow a bit on-edge, as if he was expecting something to happen, but no one seemed to notice.
"Okay, boys, time for bed!" Mrs. Knight called, bringing a small smirk to James' face, but it went ignored.
The boys all shuffled off and got ready for bed, except for James.
"James, is something wrong?" Kendall asked, moving up beside James as the brunette browsed through the kitchen, observing mainly knives and sharp objects.
"Oh, no, not at all… Don't worry about me at all, I'll come to bed soon." James said simply, picking up a rather large knife, smirking a bit at the thing.
"What's with the knives? Is that like a weird new obsession?"
"I…guess you could call it that…" James spun the knife around in his hand expertly, causing Kendall to tense as he snagged it by the flat of the blade between two fingers. He then twirled it again and gripped it by the black handle.
"Alright, dude… Just come to bed, will ya? You're freaking me out." Kendall said uneasily, backing away from James a bit.
"And you need to relax!" James' hand shot backward and he slammed the end of the handle of the knife he gripped into Kendall's forehead, causing the blonde to stagger backwards and hit the back of his head on the edge of the counter. James smirked as Kendall sunk to the ground unconscious, but set the knife on the table and lifted Kendall into his arms, looking worried, and Logan and Carlos ran in.
"What happened?" Carlos yelped, gripping Logan's arm.
"Everything's fine, Kendall slipped and hit his head on the counter…" James said with a frown, then carried Kendall passed Logan and Carlos, smirking as he set the unconscious boy down on his bed. "Sweet dreams, Kendall… You'll hardly remember a thing in the morning…Heh heh…" He finished with a small, wicked snicker.
Pretty soon, the lights were off and everyone was asleep; except for James. James snuck back out into the kitchen and snatched up the knife he had left on the counter. "The Palm Woods will be in chaos tonight…" he snickered silently to himself, then slipped out the front door like a wisp of a shadow.
—The Next Day—
Kendall knew something was wrong when he woke up to the metallic small of blood. He sat bolt upright the second the small hit his nostrils, and he looked over at James, who was lying sprawled out on his bed, his covers messily thrown on top of him, and one arm dangling off the side of the bed, his hand centimeters away from a blood stained knife. James himself had spots of blood on him, but Kendall could tell he had tried to wash it off.
"James!" Kendall cried, unsure of what to make of the situation.
James startled awake, then sat up lazily, "Oh, uh…Morning, Kendall…" he said, clearly pretending to be tired.
"James, why is there a bloody knife on the ground and why are you covered in blood yourself?"
James looked puzzled, "What the…? What the hell happened last night?"
"I don't know; you knocked me unconscious." Kendall growled, crossing his arms.
"What? I would never knock you out! That's stupid!"
"Hey guys! Look! There's something crazy going on at the Palm Woods!" Carlos yelled, bursting through the door.
"All…right…" James and Kendall stuttered in unison, fallowing Carlos hastily out of the apartment and to the lobby.
Logan was already down there, his eyes closed tightly, and there were multiple police officers standing around a box of caution tape, yelling at everyone to back off.
James slowly peered into the boxed off area, then smirked a bit as he saw it was merely the dead corpse of a young boy. James had remembered him. He remembered claiming his life, slowly draining his blood from his body, letting it fall like crimson rain upon the ground, and he remembered throwing his lifeless corpse into the lobby. They would soon be finding some of the other corpses he's hidden around the Palm Woods, but he wouldn't say where they were; they'd just have to go and find out themselves.
"Dear lord…" Kendall breathed, then looked rather angry and he noticed James smirk for a split second. "Guys. We need to talk." he announced, forcing Carlos, James, and Logan to fallow him back to the apartment.
"What do we need to talk about?" Logan asked as they all sat down at the kitchen table.
"There's a murderer out there, at the Palm Woods. Whoever that may be, they could be picking off some of the greatest super stars soon. That boy, was probably just a warning." Kendall stated seriously.
"Who do you think would do such a thing?" Logan asked, leaning in a bit.
"I think I may have an idea…" Kendall growled, looking over at James.
"What? Me? Why would I have a reason to kill anyone?" He shouted in protest, raising his arms defensively.
Kendall sighed, then left the room, returning moments later with the bloodied knife James was holding this morning, and he sat it on the table. "I'd love an explanation for this." He sighed. "I found this under your bed James."
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" James hissed, "You could just be faming me and saying you found that knife under my bed…"
"James, you yourself are covered in blood. Look." Kendall reached over and smeared a small patch of blood on James' cheek.
James growled, then threw a punch, nailing Kendall square in the face, "So what, I may have killed multiple people last night, but that doesn't mean because it was me, that your butt's safe!" James snatched up the knife, but was held back by Carlos and Logan before he could hurt Kendall.
"James! Calm down!" Logan barked, squeezing James' wrist and digging his nails into the flesh, causing James to drop the knife.
Carlos and Logan managed to pin James to the wall, using every ounce of their strength to keep the struggling boy at bay.
Kendall slowly stood up straight, his eyes intense. He placed his hand gently under his nose and inspected his fingers, growling as he saw thick, crimson blood pooling in his palm. Kendall looked up at James, still struggling to get free of Logan and Carlos' grasp. "Who did you kill last night?" his voice was serious, demanding. He vowed to himself he would wring James dry of every last bit of information he had.
"That's not of importance now, is it? You still have your own miserable life…" James hissed, as he finally stopped struggling.
"WHO DID YOU KILL?" Kendal barked, seizing James by the collar of his shirt and pinning him to the wall.
James winced, "No one that important, really… Just…that boy, his mom, some teenage girl, and I did wound Mr. Bitters."
"Why?"
"Master's orders…"
"Who's this "master" person?"
"Oh, you'll find out soon enough…"
"Wh…what?"
James let out a wicked hiss, and in seconds, and Logan and Carlos on the ground, unconscious. The brunette turned to Kendall, his eyes a deep blood red, and before Kendall could react, all went black.
