Destiny's Wrath (Destiny Series - Book 3) by Straight, Nancy (manga ereader txt) 📕

happy voices, music, the sounds of teenagers. As he sat with Jimmy in the dark room, there wasn’t another sound in the whole house.

Miles stood up, “I’m going to get a drink. You want anything?” Jimmy shook his head; he sat silently, wondering if there was any way to keep from killing Miles, too. He ran through the possibilities: there shouldn’t be any reason for him to go into the living room, so he wouldn’t see Miss Abbey; Jessie’s room was off limits to boys, so that would be safe. As long as Miles didn’t try to go check on Noah, it would be fine; he just had to play it cool a little bit longer.

Jimmy listened in the silent house; he could hear Miles’ footsteps in the kitchen, the cupboard opening, the refrigerator door open and close. Jimmy realized he was holding his breath listening for Miles’ footsteps to re-enter the room. He counted one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three….when he hit fourteen, he heard the words that sealed Miles’ fate, “Holy Shit!!” came from down the hall.

Jimmy leapt from his seat at the computer, stepped to the front door and locked it again, then made his way to Noah’s room. He saw Miles holding Noah in his arms. Miles was too stunned to say anything, Jimmy knew what he had to do. He didn’t feign surprise or even put forth the effort to look shocked.

Miles, as if he had not yet grasped what had happened, choked out, “I just found him like this, he’s dead…” Those were Miles’ last words.

Jimmy made no attempt to hide the bodies, but he did reach in Miles’ pocket and fished out his cell phone. He checked the call log. He knew Miles hadn’t had enough time to phone the police, but he looked anyway. Jimmy scrolled through the contacts, found the one that said, “Mom,” and sent a text to her:

“At Noah’s, studying for test late. Miss Abbey can take me to school tomorrow. Ok to stay over?”

It was now after 8 p.m. and Jimmy knew this wouldn’t send off any warning bells with Miles’ mother. Jimmy didn’t wait for a reply. Even if Miles’ mom said “no,” he’d be long gone before she came to check on him. He went back to the computer, printed instructions from a few more websites, then shut down the computer. Jimmy had looked out the front window to make sure the street was empty before he stepped outside. He put his hoodie up, reached down to the potted plant to retrieve the key to lock the door. He was four steps from the door when he saw Miles’ mother pull up in front of the house. Shit! It wasn’t just her; she had Miles’ little brother and sister with her.

Jimmy knew she had seen him. If he ran down the street, it would only be a matter of hours before the police caught him. He approached the car and said, “Hi, Miss Phyllis.” As she stepped out of the car, she had a backpack slung over her shoulder and a chocolate pie in her hands. As she held the door open for the kids to get out of the car, Jimmy got a knot in his stomach for the first time. He didn’t like the idea of killing little kids. He wasn’t scared to; he just didn’t want to. He knew if he didn’t go through with it, the other four had died for nothing. Somehow he convinced himself that he didn’t want his friends to have died for nothing, that now he was on course, he had to keep going.

Melanie bounded out of the car, “Hi, Jimmy, we brought pie!” She took his hand, pulling him toward the front door. Jimmy’s pace slowed as he looked at the tiny hand gripping his. Her brother Bradley passed them and pushed the locked door, announcing, “Miss Abbey, we brought your favorite!” Jimmy got the key and unlocked the door for everyone to get in. Miles’ mother followed Jimmy and Melanie through the door. Jimmy couldn’t help but notice the silence in his head: Samael was not encouraging him; this was something he had to do on his own. Jimmy remembered Miles’ family inviting him along last summer for a day on the lake, how Melanie had clung to him in the dark water; how she had made him wish that he had a little sister, too.

Fifteen minutes later Jimmy was again freshly showered, wearing clean clothes, and leaving Miss Abbey’s house for the final time. He took with him images of the kids with slit throats, and the sound of them drowning in their own blood. For the first time, the gravity of what he had done, as well as what he was about to do, set in.

He left in Miss Phyllis’ car. Leaving it in front of Miss Abbey’s house on the street would look suspicious. Jimmy decided he’d take it to the Wal-Mart near his house and leave it in the parking lot. No one would notice it there, but when he pulled in the parking lot, he noticed the security cameras trained on every corner of the lot and decided to find an alternate dump site. He didn’t want to drive around too much, taking the chance of being recognized.

He settled for a dark gas station about six blocks from his house. No one would even notice the car here. He stepped into the darkness and began making his way through the shadows toward his house.

Chapter 6

As he crossed a strip-mall parking lot on the other side of the gas station, a scrawny man was leaning up against a dumpster. Jimmy had decided to give the dumpster and the man a wide girth. He could avoid the smell of the dumpster, and he had no intention of going near anyone who was using it to rest against. His senses were heightened.