Deception: (An Introductory Tale)

by Robert Atkins

  ‘Bobby!’ Dad called out one final time. With my head hung in dejection, I trudged up the staircase.

  I awoke early the following morning (earlier than usual) with an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. It remained with me for the entire duration of the school day, gradually worsening. I literally felt like vomiting as it was getting that bad. The medication the school nurse provided me during the morning did absolutely nothing to ease the feeling, and so I returned home and went straight to bed in agony. And after a few hours’ rest, the pain inexplicably faded and I felt a great deal better. So much so, I even met up with Rachael outside of her home later that evening, at the agreed time of 7 p.m. I did so unbeknownst to my parents, who believed me to be resting in my bed, still suffering the ill effects of my queasy stomach.

  Wasting very little time, Rachael and I adjourned to the local park, Caledonian Park, which was roughly a half a mile away, through the gloomy, bitter cold residential streets. We made it there in good time, approximately fifteen minutes.

  We headed deeper into the heart of the park. With the exception of the occasional chilling sound of leaves rustling in the cold wind that weaved through the towering trees that lined both sides of the wide, meandering tarmacked path we followed, the park itself was eerily quiet, practically lifeless. I found it rather unnerving by how such a place so vast in size, so tranquil whilst bathed in a rich golden sunlight would have been the perfect setting for a scene in a horror film once shrouded in darkness.

  The overall atmosphere enveloping us felt very unsettling, and I simply couldn’t wait to return home. With Amelia absolutely nowhere in sight, I began to grow increasingly anxious, as I feared I was walking into certain danger. I was also suspicious of Rachael, too, who skipped happily by my side, humming tunes to herself.

  ‘Feels like we’ve been walking for ages, Rachael,’ I complained. ‘How much further?’

  ‘Relax, Bobby. We’re nearly there.’

  ‘Where does Amelia usually hang out anyway?’

  ‘You’ve asked me that already. Twice. And I told you, she and her crownies hang around by the disused public toilets. We’ll be there any minute now. Just keep calm and, above all, quiet.’

  We continued walking for an additional five minutes or so, and there was still no sign of Amelia, let alone the disused public toilets. But then, just as we passed the large duck pond, I distinctly heard the faint but unmistakable sounds of voices and laughter coming from directly ahead.

  ‘You here that?’ Rachael whispered, clutching my left forearm.

  ‘Y-Yeah. But I can’t… It’s hard to see who’s over there.’ I had to squint in order to try to distinguish exactly who it was ahead of us. But because there were too many gnarled trees and low hanging branches obstructing my view, it proved very difficult to make out exactly who it was and the exact distance they were away from Rachael and I. ‘Could it be them?’

  ‘That’s them, all right. I recognise Amelia’s laugh. She has that very distinct raucous type of laugher. Right. Shhh. Keep down. Keep quiet.’

  Rachael and I crawled through the tall blades of uncut grass, keeping as low to the ground as possible, remaining as quiet as possible, too, so as not to be detected by Amelia and her posse.

  ‘It’s like what those soldiers do on TV, isn’t it, Bobby?’ Rachael whispered. ‘Isn’t this fun?’

  ‘It’s more fun to watch it on TV. My knees and elbows are hurting.’

  ‘Oh, you big girl. The ground is soft.’

  ‘Yeah, and wet. How’s Mum gonna get these grass stains out?’

  ‘Shouldn’t have come out dressed in your best light-grey tracksuit, should you? Or that nice beige parka. We’re supposed to be inconspicuous after all. You should’ve worn black, like me. Now, shhh. Keep your voice down. Keep moving. Just a few more meters, then we’ll stop…and watch what happens.’

  ‘I wish I stayed at home. I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to go through with this,’ I complained. ‘My parents have probably entered my bedroom and found that I’m not there. They’re probably worried sick. Probably out looking for me by now.’

  ‘Oh, Bobby, please stop whining.’

  I continued crawling until I could physically crawl no more. I squeezed my eyes shut and rolled onto my back to try and catch what I could of my breath.

  ‘You okay, Bobby?’

  Lying sprawled on the ground, I gasped, ‘Can’t breathe properly. Give me a minute, please, Rachael.’

  ‘Okay. In the meantime, I just… I’ll be right back. Don’t go away.’ Rachael took off, leaving me staring up at the few scattered glittering stars. I had no idea where she was going, nor how long she would be. I feared she wouldn’t return. Too cold and exhausted to get to my feet and follow, I stayed motionless on the floor, thinking to myself.

  Suddenly, I felt something crawling along my scalp, through the damp strands of my windswept hair. Fearing it was a spider (one of my biggest phobias) my eyes widened and I sat bolt upright. After shakily running my fingers through my hair, I was relieved to see a minute ladybird scurrying down the back of my left index finger.

  ‘Bobby,’ Rachael called from behind me. I looked to her over my right shoulder. She stood motionless a few feet away, with both hands behind her back. She had a suspicious smirk on her face, and her eyes were menacing. ‘How are you feeling?’

  I kept my eyes fixed on her as I struggled to my feet.

  ‘Do you know what I have behind my back? You’ll never guess.’

  I feared she was concealing a weapon of some kind.

  ‘Come on, guess. I’ll give you three guesses.’

  ‘Rachael, what’s going on?’

  ‘That’s a question, not a guess. Come on…guess.’

  ‘I-I-I don’t know and I-I don’t… I don’t care.’

  Rachael sighed. ‘Not one for guessing games, I see.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘You’re no fun, Bobby.’ She then set down a large, bulky, wireless CD player by her feet. ‘I borrowed this from Amelia’s bedroom. Oh, and speaking of my beautiful sister…I’m afraid she…isn’t here, nor are her friends.’

  ‘Then where are they? You said Amelia was going to be here. You said she often hung out here with her friends.’

  Rachael winced. ‘Yeah, I kind of…made that up. Sorry.’

  ‘So… So if they’re not here… I mean, if you made that up, then whose voices did we hear?’

  ‘I’m glad you asked me that.’ Rachael squatted down behind the CD player. I watched her every move intently, though I felt as though I should have run for my life. ‘Are you referring to these voices?’ She pressed the “play” button. A very loud, crystal clear audio recording of people laughing and conversing emanated from the two large speakers. It was at that particular moment that I realised I had been duped by the seemingly innocent Rachael.

  ‘Heard enough?’ she shouted over the deafening audio.

  I placed my fingers into my ears and squeezed my eyes shut. Suddenly, with the exception of a slight ringing in my ears, all suddenly went quiet.

  ‘Funny, isn’t it? The things one can do with modern technology these days. Remarkable piece of equipment, this radio,’ Rachael said, her voice slightly muffled.

  I found myself helplessly staring into her eyes.

  ‘Suppose you’re now wondering why I brought you out here, aren’t you? Well, I’ll get to that in a moment. First, I really must apologise to you. You see, I totally lied about Amelia. Unlike yours truly, she’s a very good, kind-hearted, caring and devoted young lady, and she was only thinking of your safety. You should have listened to her, not me. Just proves you are an incredibly gullible little boy.’

  My heartbeat accelerated to a point where the sound of the rapid thumping replaced the ringing in my ears. I could even feel each rhythmic beat in the back of my throat, too, making swallowing incredibly difficult.

  ‘Now, to why I brought you out here, to this lovely park. It dates back to that evening when you were conversing with Amelia a
t your front door. I saw you approaching on the corner of my eye, clutching that soft orange sponge football while Amelia was “embracing” me. I wanted you right then and there, but she held onto me tight, whispering to me, “No, Rachael. Please. Not him. He’s so young. Run. Just run and don’t look back.” Little did you know, she wasn’t embracing me. No. She was actually preventing me from making a grab at you. And because I spared you, someone else – yet another poor, innocent, underserving soul – suffered the fate which was actually intended for you. And so did someone else the following evening, too. You remember that evening, don’t you? When I came marching out of the house? When you were spying on me from your bedroom window?’

  ‘I-I wasn’t spying on you.’

  ‘No longer matters. Just be thankful you were safely locked away in your home. Because if you were not, if you were outside and had crossed my path… Well, you get the idea, I’m sure. Of course, I still wanted you. I racked my brains trying to think of a way in which to lure you away from the confines of your home when I returned home later that evening. A simple half-hearted apology was to be the answer. And you fell for it, along with all of the other bullshit I fed you.

  So, the bottom line is, I’m the cunning one, not Amelia. I prey on the vulnerable, lonely, quiet type, not Amelia. I’m the one you should have kept a safe distance from, not Amelia. So, in the words of my dear, sweet sister, “Run. Just run and don’t look back.” Better be quick, though. My thirst is increasing. And I do so relish the delectable ripe taste of young blood. Sustains me far longer than the blood of the more mature adult. Kind of bland, really. It’s all that caffeine they consume on a daily basis. Pollutes the blood. Ruins the natural good flavour.’

  I recoiled in wide-eyed horror as Rachael started towards me, eyeing me hungrily, baring a pair of elongated fangs.

  ‘Rachael, please!’ I dropped to my knees, clasping my hands together in prayer. ‘Please, d-d-don’t hurt me!’ I cried.

  ‘Too late for that, I’m thirsty. Now, run. I’ll give you a ten second head start. Go on. Run. Time’s a-ticking.’

  I turned and ran. I ran as though my life depended on it (which it quite literally did). I made the foolish mistake of looking over my shoulder once too often, and I slammed into a tree at high speed, rendering myself instantly unconscious.

  I eventually came to. My vision was slightly blurred. I was very dizzy, I felt nauseous, and I had an agonising throbbing pain in my head. The lower left side of my neck felt numb. I tasted blood. I spat out teeth. I also felt blood dripping from my nose, which I feared was broken as it was difficult to inhale. My collar bone was hurting severely and so was my left shoulder, too. I was in a bad way. I was terrified.

  I struggled to try to sit upright, when I suddenly heard Rachael’s voice coming from my immediate right: ‘I would strongly advise against moving, Bobby. Just stay there and let nature take its course. Won’t be long now.’

  My neck cracked as I turned my head slowly to the right. Rachael’s vague figure slowly came into focus. She was standing motionless in a bed of stinging nettles. Her piercing bloodshot eyes were once again boring into me. Her mouth and chin were caked with dry blood. I couldn’t help but wonder whose blood it was.

  ‘You know, I should have just killed you,’ she said coldly. ‘And to be honest, I really don’t know why I’m fighting the irresistible urge to do just that. I mean, look at you. You’re as good as dead anyway. The kindest thing for me to do right now would be to speed up the process, just bleed you dry, end your suffering once and for all.’

  ‘But you’re not going to do that, Rachael,’ Amelia said. She emerged from nowhere and strode fearlessly towards Rachael. She threw her right arm out and pointed at me. ‘Look what you’ve done to him!’ she screamed in Rachael’s face. ‘Look at him! An innocent school boy on the brink of death!’

  Rachael glanced at me worriedly. ‘Look, all I did was bite him. I didn’t inflict any additional harm on him, I swear. He did it himself. He was like that when I found him earlier. I saw an opportunity literally lying there in front of me, so I seized it while I had the chance.’

  ‘Oh, did you now?’ Amelia folded her arms. ‘So let me get this straight. You fed from a poor, defenceless little boy who was unconscious, therefore totally incapable of defending himself? Is that what you’re telling me?’

  Rachael shrugged her shoulders. ‘Being unconscious made it easier for me to—’

  Amelia slapped Rachael hard across the face. ‘Fuck off home, you despicable little bitch! I’ll deal with you later.’

  Rachael hissed at her irate sister, and then quickly fled the scene of her heinous crime, leaving me and Amelia alone.

  Amelia took pity on me and carefully helped me back to my feet. I was in so much agony, and I was so incredibly weak that I could barely stand, let alone walk without assistance.

  Just as we were clear of the dense trees, I cried out, ‘It’s burning! Amelia, help! It’s burning me!’ I slumped to the ground. I writhed in agony as what literally felt like pure acid began coursing through my veins.

  Amelia thoroughly examined me, even sampled some of my blood. (Yes, it turned out that she was a vampire too, but you probably already guessed that by now. Quit being so smart.) She informed me that I was suffering the effects of Rachael’s venom which was relentlessly working its way through my bloodstream, mutilating my blood cells. She also informed me with an immense sorrow that there was very little else she could do but stay with me until one of two things inevitably happened: succumbing to the venom and dying within minutes, or undergoing a rapid metamorphosis that would drastically alter my entire DNA and transform me into a nocturnal creature with an insatiable thirst for human blood. (In other words, I’d become a vampire too.)

  The combination of the unbearable pain I was enduring, internal bleeding and being basically burned alive on the inside proved too much for my young, feeble human body. And so, Amelia’s distraught visage faded into a peaceful blackness as my brief existence was brought to a premature conclusion several minutes after my collapse. (At least I was to be at peace, right? Wrong.)

  The chill of a cold gust of wind sweeping past my face roused me. My eyes slowly focused in on the illuminated crescent moon overhead. I turned my head sharply to my left and saw scattered trees adorning pastures of uncut grass. I then looked to my right and saw the large duck pond Rachael and I had passed earlier in the evening. I was still in the park. I was alone. I should have been scared, but I wasn’t; I was more disorientated than anything. I sat up and took a moment to assess the situation.

  I suddenly heard whimpering, and it was coming from directly behind me. The whimpering turned to a low growling. I slowly turned my head to the right and peered over my shoulder. Standing behind me, snarling at me, was a mangy stray Alsatian. It didn’t look at all friendly, and it certainly wasn’t pleased to see me. I stared into its bulging eyes as I cautiously got to my feet.

  ‘Stay back,’ I warned. For each step I took backwards, it took a step closer to me. I meant the rabid animal no harm, but I was fully prepared to defend myself by any means necessary if I had to. ‘I’m warning you, you mutt. Stay back or I’ll—’ The dog pounced on me. I tried to overpower it, but it was tremendously strong. With both bony hands squeezing at its throat, I fought with all my might to prevent it from mauling my face. I squeezed tighter and tighter until the dog started to wheeze and gag.

  I took a chance and slowly decreased the pressure I was applying. The dog slumped to my side, where it laid on its side gasping for air. I hurried to my feet, where I stood watch over it. I felt a small sense of guilt for what I had done. Then again, part of me also enjoyed it, too.

  I was never one of those who condoned cruelty to animals, but seeing as the dog attacked me without warning, I felt it only fitting that I returned the favour. First, I kicked it in the stomach. (Didn’t even faze the mangy mutt.) I then kicked it again, harder. It let out a high-pitched yelp, the sound of which gave me such a thrill
. I then kicked it repeatedly, harder and harder and harder each time, until blood from obvious internal injuries seeped out from its nose and mouth, the sight of which excited me even more.

  I wanted to inflict so much more pain and suffering onto the incapacitated mutt, that I searched around for an object to punish it with. (By punish, I really meant kill.) I directed my attention to the duck pond, where there was a mound of large, heavy-looking rocks stacked by the base of a weeping willow tree. Perfect, I thought.

  I returned to the dog with a large, heavy, jagged rock firmly grasped in both hands. My intention was to simply drop the rock onto its head, shattering its skull. However, as I loomed over it, with the rock held high above my head, I questioned myself aloud, ‘What am I doing?’ as I was suddenly consumed by guilt. So much so, that tears began to well up in my eyes as I stared in horror at what I had done.

  The dog stared up at me with partially opened eyes, quivering with fright. The damage had been done, and no words could define how I felt when I watched as its body finally became still, lifeless.

  I honestly didn’t know what came over me. It was as though a new instinct, an instinct to inflict serious harm, wound and even kill, had taken over me.

  I wanted answers for my sudden and inexplicable change in demeanour, and I knew that there was only place where I would get those answers, so I hastened to my next-door neighbours’ house to confront Amelia and Rachael. On the way, I was plagued by haunting visions of what had transpired during the course of the evening.

  Once outside of their front door, I pounded on the surface and repeatedly pressed the doorbell.

  ‘All right! All right! I’m coming!’ Amelia shouted. After hearing the clacking of multiple locks, the rattling of the door chain, the front door finally creaked open. Amelia stepped out. As soon as she saw me standing at her door, her jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock. ‘Bobby? Oh, my… You’re… You’re alive?’

  ‘Evidently so.’

  ‘Oh, my dear sweet child!’ Amelia threw her arms around me. ‘I thought you had died. You have no idea how glad I am to see you right now.’