The Killer

The streets were practically deserted at this late hour. As Seth drove, he kept glancing at his beautiful wife, Julia and their even more beautiful daughter, Annabel, who was asleep in the back seat. The smile never left his face. ''Are you happy?'' Julia startled him from his reverie. ''Baby,'' he answered slowly, ''I'm so much more than 'happy' right now. Life is too perfect.'' She leaned toward him to rest her head on his shoulder and he put his arm around her. When they came to a stop at a red light, he gently lifted her chin and kissed her. Julia realized this was the street of the old barn and every time they drove past, it gave her chills. They were still in the moment when the light changed and he slowly lifted his foot off the brake and focused his attention back on the road. ''Tonight was amazing,'' she said after a moment. ''Yeah,'' he agreed, ''Annabel was radiant in her solo.'' They were on their way home from their daughter's dance recital. She was the best in her class by far and even at the young age of twelve and everyone knew she was a prodigy. Seth was about to comment further on the experience he had, when out of nowhere a child appeared in the street causing him to jam on the brake and turn the wheel. He didn't know how he missed the child but when the car came to a stop and he looked back, the child was still standing there in the road. ''What the...'' Seth's fright was replaced with anger but asked his wife ''Are you alright?'' ''Yeah,'' she answered and looked back at Annabel who was still asleep. Seth got out of the car and began walking toward the child. She couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 years old. ''Hey, Sweetie,'' he said softly, ''Are you okay?'' She shook her head in response before turning and walking off. ''Hey, where are you going?'' he called out to her. She didn't reply but he followed her, not knowing what else to do. ''Where do you live?'' he asked. Still no reply. She looked back again and kept walking. ''You want me to follow you?'' he asked. She turned again and nodded her head yes and continued on. ''Seth, Dear?'' Julia called out from the car, ''What's going on?'' ''I'm not sure,'' he replied, ''Call the police because something is off about this situation and I've got a bad feeling.'' The child was heading toward the old barn that had almost burned down a few years before. She disappeared through the open door that led to the stables. He jogged the distance to the door and walked in just in time to see her climb the last step to the steeple. Seth called for her but she didn't answer and he could no longer see her. He was deathly afraid of heights and did not want to climb the stairs. ''You okay up there?'' he yelled out. No one responded… he thought to himself Oh, God why me. He was gripping the railing as he climbed and the way it shook was extremely discomforting. ''Please come down, Sweetie,'' he begged. ''I'm scared of heights and it's not safe up there.'' Of course there was still no response. When he got to the top of the stairs he was met with a horrific sight. He raced to the child who just a moment ago had no type of visible injuries but laid here battered as if by a grizzly bear or something had attacked her. Seth laid his ear against her chest and couldn't hear a beat. He pumped her chest like he'd see them do in the movies and breathed air into her lungs. He repeated it and again listened for a heartbeat. Nothing. He was startled when she began coughing and gasping. ''Can you move?'' The answer to that was obvious. She looked up at him … hesitated and spoke ''You're.... real…" her wheezy voice attempted to speak and reached her hand out to touch his face as if to confirm her last observation. ''What happened to you?'' he asked her. Her hand froze and her eyes grew wide. ''Where's the bad man? Did you get him?'' Seth had a quick mind and it didn't require a genius to put the clues together and come to the conclusion that someone left her here to die. Where was he? Seth wondered. He coaxed her to a sitting position and began lifting her to her feet when he heard the sound of shuffling feet. ''Shhhhhh,'' he barely breathed the warning as he lay her back down. He tiptoed softly to the top of the stairs and peeked down. He couldn't see anything or anyone. He looked around the steeple for something to use as a weapon and came up with a broken pitchfork. He gripped the handle and again peeked down the stairs. A man was coming up with a child held over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. His heart began beating wildly as he moved to hide behind a pile of old wood. He watched as the man came to the top and laid the other child down gently. Seth's chest clenched in anger and his face grew tight as all his muscles flexed involuntarily. He sat with his back to the wood pile and took deep as he mustered his resolution. He absolutely had to save these two children and put this guy out of commission. He peeked around the pile again and saw the man with his back to him. He was whispering to the child he just brought up and Seth could hear her whimpering softly. He had the points of the pitchfork aimed at the man's back and he began thrust with everything he had. The man began turning just in time to not take the three prongs directly through his back but he was still skewered through his shoulder by one of the points. He roared in rage and pain as he swung a log sized arm aimed at Seth's head. The blow knocked him to the ground but he was back on his feet and moving, watching the man writhe in agony. Seth hoped Julia had called the police when he told her to. This was a monster of a man, big and fierce looking and he was angry. He realized he couldn't get the fork out of his shoulder and so the man began aggressively walking toward Seth. The child he had just brought had scurried backward to the stairs and climbed down. ''The police are on the way,'' Seth told him, "You better get outta here.'' ''I'm ready to die,'' he said simply and lunged at Seth. Seth was agile and so was able to sidestep and evade the man's attempt. The man absorbed the flailing punches like they were nothing and swung one lumbering blow that sent Seth sliding across the floor, almost knocked unconscious. He tried to get up but fell right back down. He watched in horror as the man came toward him with a sadistic smile.

Visions of Julia and Annabel flashed through Seth's mind as he contemplated what death would be like. He just knew it was over. The man stood over Seth just as the sound of sirens reached their ears. ''Too little, too late,'' the man said in response to the sirens and began kicking Seth with powerful, breathtaking blows. This is it, Seth thought calmly. He almost laughed out loud at the strangeness of the thoughts that filled his mind in his last few moments of life. Am I dead already? He looked up to see the man on the floor with blood pooling around his body from a gash in his head. Julia was standing over him with a tire iron in hand, breathing heavily. ''Baby,'' Seth breathed in amazement as he struggled to his feet, ''you never cease to amaze me!'' They embraced for a moment before rushing over to the child that lay still. He could hear the sirens growing louder and the screech of cars braking, doors opening and slamming. Julia gently nudged the child and she opened her eyes. ''You're safe now, Sweetie. What's your name? ''Alexis,'' she answered.

Seth looked at the girl, a puzzled expression on his face. ''I don't understand,'' he thought aloud. ''You came for me,'' Alexis, ''You came from my dream to save me.''

''POLICE!!!,'' they heard from downstairs.

''Up here!'' Julia shouted.

''Come down with your hands up!'' they yelled in response.

''I'm the one that called you guys!'' she yelled back, ''there's a hurt child up here and I'm not leaving her side!''

All this was like background noise in Seth's head as he tried to make sense of what happened. The first police peeked his head from the stairs and glanced around before coming all the way up and holstering his gun. Cop after cop came up from below and the steeple was soon crowded.

Julia pointed to where the man lay bleeding with a pitchfork through his shoulder and explained to the cops that he had presumably kidnapped these girls. A couple officers went to him and one checked for a pulse, then shook his head.

Seth exclaimed and jumped to his feet, ''there was another little girl! She was here but ran... Julia interrupted, ''she's in the car with Annabel. She's safe.'' Seth let out a sigh of relief. Julia grinned at his concern. She found it humorous that he was afraid of heights because he was such a tough guy. Julia wanted to go to the hospital with Alexis but the ambulance had not arrived. Officer Bac asked Seth and Julia what had happened in the meantime. Seth begins to explain the story… "So, we were headed home from my daughter, Annabel's, dance recital when I damn near ran this child over. She was standing in the middle of the road.

She didn't have any of these injuries, though,''...

''Hold on,'' one of the cops interrupted, ''these injuries were inflicted at least twelve hours ago, if not, longer.'' It didn't make any sense to Seth but Alexis continued to repeat the same thing. Alexis looked at Seth and smiled. ''You saw me in my dream. I saw you too and you helped me.''

Just then the paramedics arrived and began to do their thing. Alexis mouthed, ''Thank you,'' to Seth before they took her to the ambulance. To be continued ...