Page 27 of Burning Souls

She’s not there. Only now did I realise that I pushed her ten minutes ago, and I had been spaced out, letting Jessie taunt me when the act was already done.

I turn, running down the stairs out the front door to get to the body.

To the person who no longer gets to live. It makes me happy, giving me a sense of purpose in life. Something I haven’t felt for a long time.

I stand looking at the body.

“What the hell did you do, Ash?”

Sean stands beside me, looking me up and down. Why does he look mad? I only did what needed to be done.

“What does it look like? I pushed her.” I roll my eyes. I should just move the body and burn it to ashes.

It would be easier than disposing of it and having to cover up.

It’s already going to take time to clean the blood. I’m so fucking tired, all I want to get into bed and free my mind as I convince myself I’m going to blackout while picking my skin.

I wasn’t lying when I said I did, but sometimes, I lie to myself to make things sound better and give myself a decent excuse.

“I can see that. Did you have to throw her out the window?” Sean places a firm hand on my shoulder, startling me back to reality.

“I want to burn her,” I announce, lifting my head and meeting Sean’s eyes halfway.

“Course you do.” He rolls his eyes, walking over with his pocket knife and cutting the rope off the body, making her fall to the floor as more of her brain empties.

He lifts her arms, dragging her along the floor.

I follow him as he approaches a gate. He drops the body and looks over at me for several seconds, not moving or saying a single word.

“If at any given point you feel like helping me move the body you killed and want to burn it, it would be much appreciated.” I lift both her legs as we walk through the gate, the metal lock swinging back and forth, making a super annoying noise. I’m tempted to go and rip it off, but I can sense Sean would be thrown off, and then I might be the one getting burned alive.

That sounds quite lovely and peaceful.

“Oww!” I screech as my leg catches on a bunch of nettles, making my skin go red.

“Quit being dramatic. I’d like to get this done before the sun sets and it's pitch dark.” We walk until we come up to what I like to call the dump site, where we dump anything that can be burned. Old chairs, clothes, wood, anything we can find.

This is off-limits to me normally, but today I’m allowed to carry on my adventure to kill.

I know she’s already dead, but burning her gives me some type of thrill I haven’t felt before, and I’m loving it now.

Sean places the body on the floor. Walking to peek over the slightly broken wall, I follow him as we lean against each other.

“Want to tell me why I was looking into a guy called Mark Anderson?” Sean asked. I was hoping he had forgotten aboutthis by now, but this is Sean, and he’s not going to stop until I give him a straight answer.

I won’t give him one. I can’t. It’s unfair for me to put this on him when I’m not even sure what I’m looking for.

The guys are well aware of what happened to me and how I met Jessie. They also know about my father.

He knows my father is Mark Anderson but will never say he acknowledges him as someone he knows.

“Nope.” I jump off the wall and walk over to the body lying helplessly.

“Pass me my knife, I want to have some fun." I place my hands out, kneeling and hovering over the body. Sean moves, walking over and kneeling beside me.

Sean dips his hand into his pocket, retrieving my knife and placing it in mine. Once a year, I get to kill a female, so every year I cut off some of their hair and put it in my secret place to keep it as a little souvenir.

The top of the knife is brought to the woman’s dark, cherry-like hair. I cut a piece off, shoving it in my pocket for later. While I’m there, I take the tip of the knife down her stomach, cutting a line like you would if you were getting a C-section.

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