Read Psych Investigation Episodes: Episode 1 (A Young Adult Scifi / Fantasy) for Free Online

he
stepped into the warm night.
    I’m going to kill people.
    He stopped short. The thought penetrated his
mind like a dagger.
    I’m going to kill people.
    Andy tried to force it from his mind, to turn
off his brain and continue on. But despite his best efforts, the
words repeatedly entered his head. He could no more control them
than he could his own crippling fear.
    I’m going to kill people. This … this is
really happening. What do they mean by “I have to cleanse my soul?”
Who am I supposed to kill? Richard from school, he makes my life
miserable. Yes, him for sure. But how do I pick two others? How can
I simply kill people who have never wronged me?
    The shelter led out into an abandoned
construction site. Old broken vehicles, unusable wood, and other
junk lay in pieces on the gravel. The area was completely desolate,
making the site the perfect—if not a little creepy—place for a
meeting ground.
    Lost in thought, he walked aimlessly, anxious
to leave behind the scent of burnt wood. The quiet of night
amplified the crunch of gravel underfoot, the only audible
sound.
    After a quarter-mile of walking, he left the
site behind him, returning to town and the comfort of light. The
town of Elms was a residential area, with houses along most streets
and parks at the ends of many blocks. The first thing Andy noticed
was the pleasant scent of freshly mown grass.
    As typical of larger towns, it had its own
school district, plenty of shops, community centers, and a usually
reliable transit service. To his left, Andy spotted a bus stop
across the intersection of Oak Street and Cedar Road. He walked
over to it and examined the small writing on the bottom of the
sign.
    Fifteen minutes until the next bus, but it
goes in the opposite direction of my house.
    Andy shook his head. He might as well take it.
He had no clear goal—wherever the bus dropped him off would be as
good a place as any.
    A few minutes passed, and then the dark street
brightened with the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. With a
screeching halt, the bus stopped in front of Andy. He gave a curt
nod to the driver then chucked whatever spare change he had in his
pocket into the meter before heading to the back.
    It was late, so there weren’t many people. To
the front of the bus, a mother sat with an infant on her lap,
bouncing and hushing him. Three college-aged kids mumbled amongst
themselves in the rear, with thick textbooks on their laps and
backpacks casually slung over their shoulders. Andy walked to the
middle of the bus and took a seat across from an elderly woman
staring absently out of a window.
    He struggled to clear his mind but to no avail.
He was aware that each person on the bus, each living soul, could
have his or her life stripped away as if it were nothing. It was a
disgusting, tainted feeling of empowerment.
    Andy knew he had the power to end life, to
deprive someone of their most basic right. But now that he had been
commanded to do so, now that he would bloody his hands, Andy
couldn’t help but feel the weight of it all on his
shoulders.
    Any one of these people
—w
ith a
single thought, I could end them.
    He released a breath he was unaware he’d been
holding. He had to take life. It was not optional but demanded of
him. Andy’s mind whirled in thought, his rational mind conflicting
with his emotions. He knew the longer he delayed the harder it
would become, and that if he waited too long, he would lose the
will to go through with it. Each second saw a reinforcement of his
reluctance, a growing distaste for the night’s dirty
work.
    “ It’s such a warm night tonight,
isn’t it?” a soft voice said.
    Andy turned to look at the elderly lady sitting
across from him, a kind smile upon her face, her silver hair
dangling over her eyes. Andy returned the smile. “It is,” he
said.
    “ I’m off to see my grandson.
Tomorrow is his birthday, and I bought something very special for
him.” She smiled. “His name is Tommy and he turns