Fendall Woods (Part I)

I remember when I was a boy, living with my parents in Longbow, Maryland. It was a quiet town, a few miles away from Annapolis. We were grateful that we didn't see any of those military or government people; my mother was a bit distrustful of those people. My parents were distrustful of just about everyone. We were hermits. My dad worked down the street at the local saw mill and I went to the school around the block. My mother was a housewife, and a darn good one. Though my dad and I left the house daily, we never really talked to anybody.

There was one day that I remember particularly well. It was Valentine's Day, 1974. I was 10 years old, in Mrs. Dorsey's fourth grade class. We had to give valentines to the people in our class that we cared about. There was one girl, Nicole, who I had the biggest crush on. She was so pretty, and I wanted her to be my valentine, naturally.

I came into school that day with a gigantic pink heart under my arm. I brought it into the classroom, but I hid it when she walked into the room. She was wearing a red skirt, and whenever there was a breeze...

Mrs. Dorsey was sitting at her desk, watching all of us with welcoming eyes. Once everyone was seated, she told us to begin passing out our valentines. Everybody got up and began scrambling for their friend's desks. I was fortunate enough to put mine on Nicole's desk quickly and quietly, and nobody seemed to notice it.

I got back to my desk, and I wasn't surprised to see it empty. Did it hurt? Hell yeah. Nobody likes to be left out. But then again, I really didn't talk, and nobody even knew me.

A few hours later, the bell rang and we all ran home. As I was leaving the school, I heard a voice shout to me.

"Carl!"

I knew who it was, and I turned around so fast I almost lost my balance. There she was, Nicole Elliott, in the flesh. She was walking towards me, and my head was spinning.

Am I dreaming?, I asked myself.

No, I wasn't dreaming. She came closer to me, and was smiling. "Can I talk to you... alone?" she asked.

I readily agreed, and we walked in the direction of her house, through Fendall woods, named for the 4th Royal Governor of Maryland. As we were walking, I began to sense that something wasn't quite right. And soon enough, my fears were confirmed.

"I read your card, Carl," she began. I became paralyzed upon hearing it. There was no turning back now.

"It was sweet, really sweet. And don't get me wrong, you seem like a nice person,"

I was sweating. My heart dropped. I knew where this was headed.

"But the thing is... you're just... weird."

We had stopped walking, and were now facing each other. I was pretty sure I was going to do something stupid. I disregarded what she had just said, because I was fixated on the way she looked under that sun. I made my move, and planted a kiss right on her mouth.

She freaked out and pushed me away. "What are you DOING?!" she screamed at me.

"Doing what I've always wanted to do," I replied.

"No, Carl! You creep! I'm gonna tell everyone, and you'll never walk down the street again!" she then slapped me, something I probably deserved.

"I never want to see you again!" she exclaimed, and stormed off towards her house.

I was furious. I poured my heart out to this chick in a nicely-done valentine, and she was going to push me away like that? Nope. I picked up a nearby rock and threw it at her, hitting her on her heel, hard enough to make her fall on the ground and scream in pain.

I ran over to her, feeling remorse over what I had done. But as soon as I got over to her, she kicked me (with her uninjured leg), and bit me.

I screamed in pain, and kicked her in the stomach. After that, I lost all sense of reality, I blacked out. But when I came back, I was holding a bloodied stone, I was covered in blood, and I was standing over the bloody, mangled, and limp body of Nicole Elliott.

I soon became overcome with terror. I heard stories about jail, about what would happen if you "dropped the soap"... I was afraid. I dragged Nicole over to the bushes and covered her up as well as I could. I then jumped in the nearby river, to clean off the blood. I ran home after that, and manged to get into my room without my parents seeing my bloody clothing. I hid those in my closet. I then ran into the bathroom and puked into the toilet. I didn't sleep that night, and I didn't sleep for the next week.

Days went by, then weeks. Nobody had found Nicole's body. Finally, on May 16th, 1974, more than two months after I killed her, Nicole (or what was left of her) was found by a tourist.

Things were never the same after Nicole died. The entire town lived on the edge of chaos. A murderer was still roaming the streets, possibly waiting for their children to be alone.

I became even more isolated as time went on. I was bullied more often as I aged, eventually being seen as the ugly, lonely kid who should just go kill himself. I continued to act the part until I became a senior in high school. By then, things had gotten so bad that I just couldn't do it anymore. I had two choices: remove myself, or remove them.

I went with option number two.