Cut: The Bystander.

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“It took a lot of effort to code this message for you, so I really hope you’re legit, Foster. But even if not… no one else would believe me, I’ve tarnished my reputation as a conspiracist. No one takes me seriously, and it sounds like no one takes ***you*** seriously either. I guess we’re two peas in a pod…

I guess I should introduce myself, I’m Barbra Simins. You can call me Barb if you want. As I said, I’m a conspiracist, I see the things going on here in Augury. I thought I was doing a good thing, trying to show people the truth. Everyone here thinks I’m a fucking *joke* now. And they won’t listen when I try to warn them about a rising threat, my used-to-be best friend.

I live across the street from the Bandleys, or I used to. I’m sure you saw that news report 2 months ago, and if you didn’t or don't remember, allow me to recap. A father dead, a son with critical injuries and permanent brain damage, and a daughter ‘missing’.

I say missing that way because I *know* she isn’t. She’s not missing, she just doesn’t want to be found.

Anyway, that news report says that Phill Bandley attacked his son in a drunk rage before dragging his daughter off to be disposed of. They’ll tell you he committed suicide in the forest after getting rid of his daughter’s remains. Police think they’re looking for a body. *That’s exactly what she wanted them to think.*

Avril Bandley is the mastermind behind the massacre. She moved in next door to me when we were little kids, we grew up together. I knew that girl better than she knew herself. She was terrified of everything: people, animals, the creeks and cracks that went on in the night, her own damn shadow. That was up until 3 months ago. She started changing, it happened so fast I couldn’t even see it.

It started when she found that knife. Her grandmother passed away those 3 months ago, she actually offed herself. The poor woman was sick in the head. Her belongings were passed to her son-in-law, among these belongings was a knife from an old case. The woman was a detective, the one who would’ve brought down one of the most vicious criminals in Augury in her younger days.

His name was Andrew Bosman, ever heard? They called him “Master”, no one had ever seen someone quite like him. He was a king among the scum of the earth, ruling and killing for a full 18 years till he kicked his own bucket. He committed his crimes for as long as he did, not because he was sneaky, because he was smart. Unlike most famous serial killers, he didn’t have a pattern. Well, his pattern was no pattern. He killed anyone, save for kids, any time, any way, any how. The only thing that never changed was what he used, a simple kitchen knife. That’s the knife Avril found.

Ever since she found that knife she was different, at first she was more on edge. Then she started really changing.

She would talk to herself, she would carry that stupid knife everywhere with her,-- sometimes I swear she was talking to it-- she started mouthing off to our shady teachers, things she would never have done normally.

We have this one teacher, well, *had*. Professor Apriscott, Adam Apriscott, was his name. He was a huge creep, always hitting on the female students. No one ever got on him about it because the university we attended wasn’t really a university.

Since the official one was abandoned, this lady in town dedicated her house to teaching new college students or students going back to school for a higher education that didn’t want to or couldn’t leave Augury. There weren’t many students, just me, Avril, and a few others. Our instructors were licensed and knew what they were doing, but some of them were just strange. Apriscott was the strangest.

Avril was his favorite, it used to be me until she started taking classes too. She always ignored him, or played dumb with him. But like I said she was acting differently. 3 months ago she gave into his cat calling, she agreed to go home with him for the night. I was shocked, this sheepish girl agreeing to do something like that.

They found his body under his house last week. However, last week wasn’t when I knew my best friend was gone. I knew 2 months ago, when she showed me herself.

\*\*\*

I’ll set up how that night went down for you. I was sitting at home, we didn’t have class because Apriscott had been missing. I have this spot outside on my front porch, it’s got a comfy swing and I do a lot of thinking there. I was thinking about what kind of story to do next for my blog, I’m a conspiracist, remember?

It was dark and quiet out, I found myself absently listening for any noise from next door. Avril’s home life wasn’t easy, it became second nature for me to listen for any commotion so I could run over and get her out if I had to.

That night unlike any other night, I heard yelling. But these yells were different. The ones I was used to were usually full of fear and sadness, or anger. I could hear Phill’s angry shouts, along with something else… These were yelps of pain, and I was unfortunately familiar with them.

I jumped from my swing, the momentum nearly knocking me over in the process. My body was on autopilot, I raced next door without thinking. With swift steps up to her door, I started trying to open it. It was locked. This only surprised me because Phill usually left it unlocked, he was a cop so he wasn’t afraid of someone breaking in. *He was unaware of the ticking time bomb of danger already inside with him.*

I could hear the screaming clearer now, and I quickly realized that the screams didn’t belong to Avril or Phill. They were her older brother, Daniel’s.

I called out to him, **“It’s okay, Daniel! Barbie’s coming!”**

Barbie is what he used to call me… I miss that teasing voice calling to me from next door…

I managed to break the door in, I pushed it open to see something that will haunt me the rest of my days, the sight made my blood run cold and I feel sick thinking about it again.

Daniel was lying there, quiet as a mouse. In the time it had taken me to get inside his screams stopped. He was choking on and covered in his own blood, his chest and stomach were littered with stab wounds. There were so many. His head was-- God his head-- he’d been bludgeoned with some sort of heavy rock. He was twitching and coughing, he looked to be barely hanging on. He seemed to have noticed me, but instead of acknowledging me he weakly pointed to the back door of the house. It had been left open, I could see bloodied footprints leading off outside.

I ignored that for a moment, kneeling beside him, he looked worse up close. I lifted his head slightly to help him breath, I could feel tears stinging my eyes and threatening to fall onto my glasses.

**“Danny, honey, what did he do to you..?”** I remember whispering to him. At the time… I’d been so sure that Phill was to blame…

I had to leave him, I thought Avril was in danger, I thought I could save her at least. I called an ambulance and raced off to follow the bloody trail left for me.

The trail died off about halfway into the forest… I hate the forest…

I remember walking for a while, it was so dark… I couldn’t see a thing. While I was trying to figure my way around, I felt something cold and big grab onto my ankle. I screamed, kicking at whatever it was while trying to get a better look at the same time.

I realized… it was Phill. His throat had been slit, he was clinging to any bit of life he possibly had left. I covered my mouth to muffle another scream, I noticed a knife on the ground next to him. That was what had been used to cut his throat.

Before I could even try to assess the situation, I felt an awful pain in my shoulder. I barely caught my cry of pain in my throat. There was something in my shoulder, when I looked back to see what it was… I saw that damn knife.

And who was wielding it? None other than Avril Bandley.

Although her body was there, the person before me was *not* Avril. On her sweet face was a wide, sick grin, showing all of her teeth. That grin… it just screamed “I’m going to hurt you”. Her eyes were opened wider than I thought possible, and the color was different. Her eyes were usually a soft pale red, but now they were a piercing bright green. She let out a quiet giggle, pulling the knife out of my shoulder and kneeling down in front of me. I couldn’t contain my scream this time, but Avril did it for me. She clamped a bloody hand over my wide open mouth, staring at me as if I were prey.

Her twisted grin widened, even though I didn’t think that was possible. She laughed, hushing me by closing her mouth and pressing the back of her knife to her lips.

***“Shhh… You can’t be too loud, Barb. There are things out here that might hear you…”*** I know Avril’s voice. And the way she spoke to me was not her. Her voice had a higher pitch, and a low echo to it.

She pulled her hand away from my mouth, I could taste iron. She pressed the knife’s blade against my throat, it was so sharp it was almost cutting me. ***“Don't move too much, you don’t want to bleed out. I’m really sorry about that, but he told me to cut you, and he’s been helping me so much lately… I can’t disappoint him.”*** She giggled, her wide smile returning to her face.

***“He wanted me to kill you, so you wouldn’t go telling everyone what really happened here. I assured him that you wouldnt, because if you did--”*** She cackled mid sentence. ***“--I would gut you like a fish.”***

   Avril pulled the knife away from my throat, running a bloody hand through her cream colored hair. ***“And I’m sure that even if you did tell someone, they wouldn’t believe you. You cried wolf too many times… First it was ghosts, then zombies, then aliens… You know what you really should have been warning people about? Other people, like you and me, because we’re the scariest when given a little nudge towards the edge.”***

   She stepped back, letting out a small sigh. ***“I think I’ll let you go, you’re not any danger to us. I need you to remember, remember that we will find you if this gets out. We don’t need to rack up the body count too high just yet, after all the fun’s just getting started...”***

 With that, she left me there, disappearing into the dark.

**\*\*\***

   I eventually lugged myself home, I treated the wound myself. It healed okay I suppose… I didn’t say a word to anyone, about Phill or Daniel, or Avril… Not until now.

   I’m leaving Augury in two weeks. I'll be picking up my education in Texas. I never want to set foot in Augury again. Something happened to Avril Bandley, and it wasn’t natural. I know it has something to do with that knife, the knife that belonged to Andrew Bosman. There’s something going on and I’m afraid of what it could be. I’ll leave you with this story, this tale. Do with it what you will, I don’t want anything more to do with it or this town.

   I have to say thank you though, Faith Foster, it feels good… Knowing somebody else will know what happened, what *happens,* in the Town of Augury.”

-Sincerely, Barbra Simins.