Till The Mountains Flatten

“Ahhhh”

The housekeeper, Laura, screamed as her eyes fell on the gory sight in front of her. There was a puddle of blood on the perfectly washed tiles. The body of a man probably in his mid-thirties lay lifelessly on the ground, his long, full hair covered part of his face. The white shirt he wore was soaked with blood.

This man who could steal the hearts of women with just a glance had become unable to even look at anybody; he had lost the ability to see, to breathe.

To live.

A young girl, seemingly seven or eight years old, stood in the midst of the bloodied scene, her hair in loose pigtails, with strands of her deep brown hair stuck to her face.

Laura took a tentative step towards the child, her arms lifting instinctively, ready to pull her into a hug.

The child pivoted to face Laura, a bloody knife gripped tightly in her small hands.

Laura’s steps halted.

Laura’s eyes moved from the bloody knife to the crimson stains on the floral dress the child wore. The child’s eyes moved from Laura towards the dead body, her expression neutral as her chest rose and fell heavily.

Laura turned away in a flash, pushing open the door to the kitchen. On the counter was her cellphone. She reached for it, hastily dialing 911.

The child lowered herself to her knees, the knife slipping through her loosened grip, hitting the ground with a clang.

Tears slipped from her eyes as her fingers lightly caressed the body. The familiar warmth stolen.

Despite this being the third body she had seen since the year started, her heart still ached.

She let out a shuddering breath. For a child, the ache of loss could only be expressed with overflowing tears.

She wiped the tears with the back of her hand, almost as if she did not deserve to cry.

She knew that this would be the last time she’d ever let herself feel emotions.

Laura walked back into the living room, tears streaming down her face. Her focus rested on the child. The child she had been with since the day she was born, the child that had lost her parents in a tragic accident four months ago.

Before her parents died, they had made their best friend the guardian of the child, to run the company until the child was old enough to take over, but the child had killed him in cold blood; she had murdered her parents’ most trusted ally.

Laura’s face drained of color as the child picked up the knife next to her, her movement unhurried. Laura took a step back, her pulse thundering in her ears. She watched the child grip the knife tightly.

Never had it crossed Laura’s mind that a day would come when this child would incite fear in her.

“When will the cops get here?” the child asked, the hoarseness of her voice laced with pain and devastation.

Laura’s lips parted, but no sound was made.

“You don’t have to be scared of me, what can a child like me do to a woman like you?” the child asked.

A child like you killed this grown man, what can you possibly be incapable of doing? Laura thought.

Laura glanced at the front door, itching to run through it. However, her legs remained rooted.

She stared back at the child and unexpectedly met a pair of cold, murderous dark blue eyes.

Laura’s heart skipped a beat.

The sound of sirens cut through the air.

“The cops are here already,” the child let out a small laugh.

Her eyes moved over to the knife in her grip. She could vaguely recall how it looked in her mother’s hands, a smile on her face, never fading.

“Even if I decide to run away now, the cops would eventually catch up with me.”

Laura shook her head disapprovingly, watching the apathetic child stare at the body of her guardian.

Laura shifted her gaze, bringing it to the driveway through the window as vehicles pulled over.

The first car to arrive was a simple black Ford. Two men alighted from the car, both dressed in black jeans and leather jackets like a pair of twins, but they looked nothing alike.

One of them was a young man probably in his late twenties; he had blonde curly hair and freckles on his face, he looked well-built and he was pleasing to the eyes. His partner looked older; he looked to be of the same age as the lifeless body in the living room, he was fairly good-looking.

“I’m Detective Jim Beck and this is my partner Detective Luis Forest,” the older guy introduced as they simultaneously showed Laura their badges.

“Were you the one who called?” Detective Luis inquired calmly as he noticed the fear in Laura’s eyes.

“The body… the killer…” Laura finally found her voice; though shaky, it was enough to convey the information.

The detectives walked past her into the mansion.

They both scanned the house. The interior design of the house was one that would push any visitor to give a million dollars to the designer for a job well done. Some parts of the walls were painted red and others white, and the antiques placed at conspicuous areas of the house shined as the sunlight coming from the opened door caressed them. They were either gold or silver or wooden, but they all had one thing in common: they were utterly beautiful.

Their eyes fell on the corpse that tainted the decor of the mansion. No one else in sight.

“Where’s the killer?” Detective Jim turned to ask Laura, whose eyes stared blankly at the living room.

The child was gone.

“She was here a minute ago,” Laura muttered softly, her eyes darting around in search of the missing child. She turned to face the detectives, screaming, “She was just here, that brat, that murderer, she was here a minute ago.”

“I’m still here, Laura, pull yourself together, I didn’t run away,” the child walked out of the kitchen holding a glass of water, still clutching the bloody knife.

At the sight of the child, Detective Luis, in a split second, pointed his gun at her.

The child laughed. “Are you going to shoot me, detective?” She let the knife slip from her grasp.

“Sh...she...she’s the one,” Laura said, pointing a finger at the child. “I came back from a restaurant and found her standing beside the body holding that knife, she killed him, she killed him.” She fell to her knees wailing bitterly.

“Did you really kill him?” Detective Jim asked, unable to believe a child could have overpowered such a grown man.

The glass slipped from the child’s finger, shattering upon contact with the tiles. The child kept her gaze on the dead body as she let out a shaky sigh.

The child nodded.

“I killed him, he was saying rubbish, he deserved to die,” she said matter-of-factly.

Laura wailed louder. “He was your parents’ best friend, he was your guardian, he showed you nothing but love, he…”

“How do you know what he showed me?!” the child screamed, pointing at Laura. “He acted like a saint in front of everybody, but do you know what I had to go through when we were alone?!”

In a split second, she stood in front of Laura, her hands clasped around her throat. “You’re quick to judge, you bitch, but are you any better?”

Laura gasped for air, trying to push the child away.

Luis grabbed the child and pulled her away from Laura.

“Shamelessly throwing yourself at him to curry favour, it was both him and that lousy uncle of mine, you tried to seduce both of them, but at least you succeeded with that shameless man that calls himself my father’s brother, you slept with him, didn’t you? You bitch!” the child yelled angrily.

Laura shook her head repeatedly, coughing hysterically.

The detectives dragged the two of them away in handcuffs.

From a corner of the house, a man stood behind a pillar, watching the scene play out. His eyes dropped to his hands covered with blood, a slow smile creeping onto his face.

“Everything is falling into place,” the man said to himself.