Chapter 5: Chapter 5

The woman stepped fully into the camera’s view, her back to it. She wore loose jeans held up by a tight belt and covered in a rainbow of stains; grass, mud, blood, and more. She also wore a holey tank top that looked like it had, at one point, been white but had now been so dirtied and sweat soaked that it was a dingy yellow. Her frayed blonde hair was tied back with a strip of dirty cloth.

She called out to End, “hey, kid!”

Still on the carousel, End’s eyes snapped to her. Quickly and fluidly he swung his leg over the horse and slid off. He leapt from the merry-go-round. When he landed in the damp grass, his feet slipped out from under him and he fell on his butt.

“Oh!” the woman exclaimed, jogging over to where End had fallen. “Are you okay?” she asked, crouching down in front of End, completely hiding him from the view of the camera. After a moment’s pause she said in a mother’s scolding tone, “you shouldn’t jump off when it’s moving like that, you’ll get hurt.”

End’s giggle rang out, “yes, ma’am!”

She reached a hand forward and helped him stand up, then looked all around, “are you... all alone?” she asked gently, hesitatingly.

“Nope!” End answered cheerfully, “I got Mr. Hopscotch!”

“Oh, um...” the woman seemed to struggle with her words for a moment, “is it just you and Mr. Hopscotch?”

“Yep!” End stepped out from behind the woman and started walking towards the camera. “What about you?” he asked, marching goofily towards the camera, his arms swinging in large arcs, a smile on his face that was just a bit bigger than any the camera had ever captured before.

The woman turned to the camera to follow End at a distance. She looked neither young nor old, her cheeks were gaunt, her lips chapped and bleeding. “No,” she answered, “there’s about twenty of us in an old school nearby. It was semi off the grid with solar panels so it still has electricity. And there are some other children so...” She finally saw the camera and her steps slowed as she stared into the lens in confusion. “Is that a video camera? How does it have charge...?”

End stopped getting closer to the camera and half-turned back towards the woman. Within the frame of the camera, a sideview of End from the knees up was visible and the woman, still a little bit of distance away, was fully in frame and looked smaller than End due to perspective. End ignored her question to ask his own, “so where is this school?”

“Oh, um, it’s just up the road that way,” she raised her arm to point, “you can’t miss-” the woman’s words were suddenly cut off and for a moment the only sound was the cheery tune from the merry-go-round as it continued to spin. Both of her hands flew up to her throat and her body convulsed like she was choking on air.

End walked towards her, the rest of him coming back into frame. End tilted his head to the side, and it was clear from his voice that he was still smiling cheerfully, “thanks for the tip! Twenty people is the biggest catch in a while!”

The woman’s knees buckled and she fell to the ground. She looked up at End, hazel eyes wide open in fear as she desperately tried to breathe.

“Hmm.” End paused thoughtfully, “I suppose I should give you a quicker death in thanks.” End took another step forward. The woman scrambled back, frantically shaking her head ‘no’ even as her face turned red.

End held his hand out towards her and drew a horizontal line in the air with his pointer finger. Blood spurted from her neck, splattering on End’s front. Her eyes went glassy and she fully collapsed to the ground, blood pooling under her body.

End turned on his heel towards the camera, holding up the hand he used to kill the woman in a peace sign. A few drops of blood dripped off his fingertips. He grinned into the camera lens and happily announced, “we finally found some people!”