Reaper

CHAPTER 4 - Pretty Little Psycho

Aren't children amazing?

They have such pure and raw energy that generates from within which they unintentionally spread. Children can be inquisitive yet profoundly insightful which sometimes makes adults around them speechless; that's probably the reason why people say that it is a learning process when it comes to children.

With a smile on her face, the teacher quietly closed the book and placed it on the desk beside her. "So cute" she giggled to herself as she scanned the room of fifteen sleeping children. I can understand why people associated them with angels; with redness in their pinch-able chubby cheeks, eyelashes that were long enough to sweep away any potential optical danger, smooth skin that anyone above the age of twelve would never again have, and perfectly pouty lips that give the best smiles.

I certainly agreed with the caretaker, children were indeed "cute", when they are asleep that is.

So why am I in a class full of innocent little humans and one smitten adult? Well, that's simple, I'm here to collect one of them. Alexa Harper to be exact. Little Alexa is what adults call "mature", she minds her manners, helps out all the time, is mindful of adults, rarely gets upset, and takes care of her friends when the teacher's hands are full.

Alexa is referred to as the big sister of the class by the smitten teacher that sees no fault in her actions. However, if she had taken her blinders off and observed Alexa she would've come to realize several things.

One: Alexa's behaviour does not match up with her age, yes it's true as children grow and reach the age of two that their independence is established and grows the more they age. However, Alexa's independence is on par with a teenager who's been taking care of themselves for an extended period of time. She has a habit of cleaning her surroundings, always double-checking that she's done things the way she was told to, and never leaving a crumb on her plate.

Two: Alexa's speech puts even her teacher's to shame, she speaks a little slow to not stutter and always considers other people before herself. Not the typical behaviour of a young child who loves to be showered with attention.

Three: the most worrying aspect of this child is her ability to mask her emotions, earlier one of her friends had spilled water and ruined her painting. Her lip curled as her brows dipped when she glared at the boy, she had looked like a wild animal as she glared at him.

Alexa was able to change her expression within the second as the teacher approached and by the time "Miss I am Smitten" had reached Alexa and her friend, the child's face held a smile as the boy stood there nervously muttering his apologies. The little girl was full of secrets which everyone was oblivious to.

The teacher took the free time that she had to leave the room, on her way out she mumbled something about ice-cream. As I levitated above the sleeping children, I patiently waited to see what would unfold.

Turns out I didn't have to wait long at all, about forty-five minutes into their nap, the same child that had ruined Alexa's painting earlier was in the midst of having a nightmare. His little face twisted in pain as he began to sweat profusely, whimpers fell from his lips as he gripped his blanket.

Whatever the little boy was seeing was frightening enough to cause him to lose control of his bladder. He quickly jumped awake with a yelp and almost immediately he started to silently cry.

He managed to calm himself down enough to stand, looking at his ruined bed, he gathered the blanket the covered him and pulled it out of the way, determined as the boy was, he was clueless to the person now standing beside him.

"What happened Kody?" Alexa murmured while rubbing the sleep from her eye.

She stared at Kody who jumped in fright at her sudden presence, Kody's embarrassment was written all over his face as he held his blanket in his hands. Alexa looked down at Kody's bed and saw the wet area, she immediately deduced that her friend had wet the bed.

"Please don't tell on me" Kody pleaded,

"You wet the bed. That's bad." Alexa simply stated, her features had taken a stern expression "You need to be punished."

Kody whimpered and began to cry as Alexa continued to berate him for wetting the bed, his crying only serving to agitate her more. Anger burned in Alexa's eyes reflecting a much more mature persona than that of a four-year-old, her face tinted red, showcasing exactly how furious she was.

"Stop crying! You are not a baby!" she snapped, at the same time her hand had connected to Kody's left cheek.

Extremely shocked, Kody stumbled away from the smoldering girl, he trembled as he stared at her, there wasn't a doubt that the boy was terrified of Alexa, he had woken from a bad dream to the actual nightmare. Alexa stomped toward the corner of the room; the strength she displayed as she picked up one of the chairs was beyond that of what a child her age should have.

A scream left Kody as Alexa charged for him with the chair raised above her head, though he tried to run away Kody tripped making his effort futile. Whether or not it was instinct, Kody curled himself into a fetal position just as Alexa reached him. The little girl wasted no time exacting Kody's "punishment"; with each hit from the chair, the fragile bones in Kody's body broke under the heavy pressure.

Unable to handle what Alexa called "punishment", Kody vocalized his pain loudly, startling the rest of the class from their peaceful nap to what they could only decipher to be a nightmare. Alexa slammed the chair into Kody's body eight times before he became unresponsive, as blood began to pour from his head all the children began to cry and shriek drawing the attention of others outside of the class.

It wasn't until the fifteenth hit with the chair that the door to the classroom slammed open, the cheery teacher dashed across the room, horror and desperation etched on her face as she yelled for Kody and Alexa. The woman in her desperate disposition pushed Alexa with all her might not thinking of her strength; the shove caused Alexa to stumble resulting in the chair she was holding to slip from her tiny grip. It knocked her hard on her temple and by the time Alexa collapsed on the floor, she was already dead.

Sighing I came down from my levitated position to the spirit of the child who was now standing next to her teacher trying to explain why she punished Kody. "Miss Hart, I was only punishing him so he would know not to do it again. Mommy and daddy say that bad deeds should be punished."

"Indeed they shall" I stated.

Alexa flinched as she faced me, with wide eyes and her hands tucked into her chest the child took a tentative step away from me. A reaction I was quite used to getting from children. Alexa tried calling out to her teacher about the strange person she was seeing but Alexa had yet to understand that she could no longer be heard.

However, the more she called out the more she realized she wasn't just being ignored. More teachers rushed in as the teacher Miss Hart, tried to get Kody to respond, two of the teachers ushered the other children out while one dialed the appropriate authorities, and the other assisted Miss Hart.

Alexa tried to touch Miss Hart but found that she could not, slowly she turned to me and asked me if she was a ghost. Smart girl. "Yes," I replied honestly.

"So I won't see anyone anymore?" she frowned.

"No. you're going to be punished because you did something bad," I told her. Alexa frowned further, she didn't understand what she did wrong because she herself was used to being punished in such a manner.

"Then does that mean mommy and daddy are wrong too?" she questioned quietly.

"Yes, they are. You shouldn't have been punished that way or at all for what you did."

"But why?"

Sighing, I held out my hand, "you'll see why." Whether or not she would see anyone would depend on if she learned her lesson.