Status: Critique greatly appreciated, nitpickers welcome! Don't be a silent reader!

The Key Chased the Blade

Knife

I shivered in the slight breeze and crunched through the gravel to the rusty swing-set. Rhode wasn't facing me and her black dress was fluttering around as she swung. The blotchy red and grey chains creaked with her motion.

I had a sudden flashback of seeing John, his face pale and blue, hanged from here.

"Rhode," I croaked.

She turned and smiled her wide, crocodile smile. "I thought you'd still be at the cemetery," she said.

"I'd say the same for you." My mouth felt dry, so I said no more and walked up next to her. I couldn't touch the swing-set at all. I remembered the last time Simon and I were here. It seemed like such a long time ago.

"You ever think about fate?" Rhode asked.

I shook my head.

"I do," she said. She slowed her swinging to a small pendulum motion so she could look at me. "I think about it a lot. I think a lot of things happen without our control. Bad things, you know?"

"Are you talking about John?" I asked. My voice was no more than a whisper, but my heart was racing in my chest and my nerves were flying out of control.

"No. I'm talking about that damn Bryce and his wandering hands. That was out of my control." Rhode looked away and continued swinging. The creaks were loud and splitting. "With John, someone put fate into their own hands and killed him. Killing changes fate."

I couldn't say anything. I heard some vocal music in the distance, but I couldn't tell who the artist was by her voice. Rhode dug her combat boots into the gravel and stopped her momentum. The chains let out one more screech before going silent.

"Do you have that key?" she asked. She met my gaze. "You should probably leave it over here."

"It's not with me," I said. I was glad at that moment Alex had it. "And about that, Rhode, I think you should come with me and get a ride back to your house. I don't think it's safe here."

Her eyes were wide and a bit glassy. She reminded me of John when I saw him in the alleyway. "Where's the key? I think it'd be safe to leave it here."

"It's in my pocket," I said. "Come on, let's go. I'll take you home."

"Okay." She shuffled around with her boot for a moment before getting up. I heard the music louder now. It was only singing. And I didn't have to guess twice to know who was the singer.

"Come on, let's go!" I grabbed her wrist. "Hurry, let's go now!"

Rhode only looked at me. But at that moment I realized something changed in her. Her glazed-over look was gone. Her vacancy was gone. Now there was only a dark intensity that made every cell in my body scream to run.

"I'm taking control of my fate," Rhode said, and I only saw the glint of a knife before it was too late.
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You know what the scariest book I've ever read was? The Turtle Boy. I can't remember who the author is. It's a shorter story that's free on Amazon for the Kindle. I've never actually read a book that really scared me before this one, and that's saying something. I mean, some books are gory, but that's not scary, it's just gross. This one actually kept me up at night thinking about it.