By P.W.

Her, the love of his life, Fiona, a police officer has been in the police force since she was 20, going on 28. In love with the idea of arresting the bad people and helping the good people ever since she was a child, but her boyfriend,  Arden, is a hidden serial killer, someone you wouldn’t suspect, from a man who helps the elderly and helps with Fiona’s children. Will she find out about his murderous ways or will the man she’s deeply in love with not get caught, and live with her? Until death do us part is a big saying with big meaning, will that meaning still be true, or will they part ways. Permanently. It’s the Thirteenth of August in 2011, the temperatures are hot but not horribly overwhelming. 

Salem was a big tourist attraction especially for the movie Hocus Pocus. Tourists flew in from everywhere. For Fiona it was a struggle, trying to get to an emergency with crowded crosswalks was a challenge, especially for urgent situations. Over the (almost) eight years she’s been working, she’s found a back road that gets her to different areas in town,  and it avoids the tourists. It’s a win for everyone. On the day of August 11 at 6:23 p.m she comes home to a horrid stench. She makes it inside, her little girl, Lillithan greets her eagerly.

“Mama! Mama! I’ve missed you so much! Ardy made me Cheese pasta!”

Fiona smiles happily,”Does he make it as good as I do?” She pulls Lillithan into a warm hug, picking her up and resting her on her hip. Fiona then walks over to Arden, kissing him on the lips smiling.

“How was Little Lilli today?”

“She wasn’t a problem at all, I don’t know why you don’t trust me.” Arden says smiling at her, Fiona knows he loves her,  but something lies beneath that mask. She just can’t figure out what she wants to figure out, she’s wanted to for the past two years they’ve dated.

“Im going to put this silly girl to bed, then I’ll come back out.” She leans over and kisses him one last time before leaving and putting Lillithan to bed. Once she comes back out she talks to Arden.

“Hey, I think an animal crawled under the house and died, if you could look into that, I would love that.”

“Of course honey, I will tomorrow.” He kisses her on the forehead and grabs his stuff.

“Bye , Sweetie. I’ll see what’s up tomorrow”

He leaves, Fiona is still extremely on edge Why was there a stench, it didn’t smell like a dying, or rotting animal, but could she be wrong? No. She shakes it off and heads to bed. The next morning she wakes up at 5:00, it’s a Friday so she has the day off, she tries to go back to bed, but she can’t, it’s like something is pulling her away from sleeping. She feels a presence behind her, but she’s lying down, how she could Feel something behind her. Fiona gets up and makes herself some coffee, careful not to wake up Lilli. As the coffee brews the sounds are not loud, but also not exactly quiet. The coffee finishes brewing and she puts in her “essentials”.

• 1 spoonful of sugar
• 1 whole cup of coffee creamer
• A splash of milk

As Fiona makes her coffee, she’s pleased with herself, when all of a sudden she hears small footsteps from behind her, she turns around to see Lilli running at her scared, almost petrified. Of course, it’s one of her small night terrors and it’s easy to calm her down. This time though, it was different. 

“Lilli? What’s wrong?” Fiona says, setting down her coffee and picking up the crying five year old in front of her,

 Lilli clings to her shirt crying relentlessly, clearly not calming down any time soon. “Hes in my room! I told him to leave but he won’t! He won’t leave! He’s not listening to me!”

Fiona freezes, she knew that feeling wasn’t just her. She knew something was coming, she just couldn’t place that feeling until right now.

“ Ok baby, I’m going to set you down so I can take a look at the monster, ok?”

Lilli nods, her tiny hands coming up to wipe her tears and her cute little lip sticking out, making her look adorable even while frightened. Fiona puts Lilli down and grabs her pepper spray, just in case. As she makes her way to Lilli’s room, her footsteps are quiet, it makes it feel like the house is screaming, because of how quiet it is. As she steps in front of Lilli’s room she turns the doorknob slowly. The door creaks as it opens. She turns the light on and steps into the room quickly. Nothing. She checks under the bed, nothing. She opens the closet doors one after the other, first side nothing. Second side, something? 

There’s this big white trashbag, now stained a light pink, the stench is strong, but not overwhelming. She puts the pepper spray in her back pocket. She walks up to the bag and kneels in front of it. The tie sucks, so it’s easy to open. Once she opens it she finds different red splattered shirts, the red splatter looks like paint because of how thick it is. She digs through the bag, She reaches her hand in and cuts her finger on something sharp. She pulls her hand out and mutters a curse. Why would something sharp be in a bag of Lilli’s ruined shirts? She opens the bag more, slowly, more red paint comes into view. Her eyes widen, why didn’t I get rid–

“I’m here to look at your infestation!” Arden, he arrives, Fiona didn’t even hear the door open, or close.

“Ardy, Ardy”, Lilli says, her little feet on the floor. “There’s a monster in my room! mama ‘s lookin’ at it right now!” Ardy laughs and walks towards the room with Lilli, Fiona comes out holding her cut finger.

“Holy cow, Fiona. What happened, are you ok?” Fiona heads to the bathroom to wash her finger off, whilst talking to Arden.

“Lilli, she had a trashbag of paint stained clothes in her closet, I reached my hand in and something cut my finger.” Fiona runs her finger under the water stinging slightly, but thoroughly cleansing it.

“Jesus Fiona, I’ll go get started looking at that dang rodent that went under your porch.” He kisses her solemnly on the forehead. “Love you.” he says then leaves. Fiona grabs an antiseptic and sprays the liquid on to her fingers, disinfecting it. She then grabs a bandaid and lays it on her finger carefully, trying not to hurt herself more. Once she heads out of the bathroom she grabs the bag of stained clothes and takes it outside to the trash, as in doing so she sees Arden dragging a black trashbag to his truck, its sagging. There’s weight to it, almost like a carcass, or a cadaver, Fiona freezes momentarily.

“Hey Arden.” Fiona says, still frozen in place.

‘Yeah?” He says while dragging the trash bag to his truck.

“Can I see what rotten animal crawled under my porch?” Arden freezes clearly caught off guard by the question.

“W-why would you want to see? It’s probably rotten, and looks horrible.” He says, clearly scared of being caught, but what would he have to hide?

“Show me the animal. Now”

“No!” He throws the trashbag in the truck. “It’s been dealt with now, don’t ask about it.” He says angrily, frustration evident on his face. He storms past Fiona brushing past her shoulder. Fiona throws Lilli’s bag of trash into the trashcan then heads back inside to be greeted with Arden, stabbing Lilli with a knife right in her back. Fiona screams. Arden turns around. Her screams are too loud, but Arden says.

“This was  always coming. Eventually” 

Fiona tackles him reaching for her phone, She manages to tackle Arden pining him under her with practiced precision. She manages to call 911 and puts it on speaker, putting it far away from his reach.

“911, What your–”`

“Wideria street apartment eight, I have a murderer at my house, I’m Police Officer F. Smith.”

“Backups being sent your way now Mrs. Smith. I need you to stay on the line”

“I have him pinned”  “He’s struggling pretty roughly im not going to be able to hold him forever”

“The police are about a minute away, hold on for me Fiona.”

As Fiona holds down Arden, her daughter’s crying, and she hears the police sirens getting closer, and closer, and then the sirens arrive, doors shut footsteps on the grass. The door bursts open, medical calls are made. Her daughter gets rushed to the hospital, and Arden gets arrested. Fiona and her daughter come back home two weeks later, Arden missed all of Lili’s organs thankfully. Lilli now has a big scar and stitches on her back. She healed about three years later, the pain faded the memories not. Fiona was eternally grateful for the police and medical care they provided to her daughter. The police station and hospital both expressed their gratitude and awarded Fiona and Lilli each five thousand dollars. Lilli and Fiona are still scared to trust people to this day, after the day Lilli’s life was almost taken. Lilli is now twenty while her mother is now forty-eight and still in the police force helping people and busting the others.