Eve of Reaping

Linda

Today is Eve's Birthday

It is also Linda's birthday, the 8th of August. The two friends, ever since they met, always celebrated with each other. Eve always yearns for more presents that supplement what she was given for the previous celebrations; dolls for dollhouses, more building blocks, and so on. Linda always has a hard time deciding what she should ask for.

"Why don't you just make one big wish list? That way, you get more stuff!" Eve says, beaming as she takes a gift from her pile. She has many more gifts than Linda, but that seems to bother her more than it does Linda.

"If I get everything now, then what will I get later?"

"But you can think of new things to ask for after you get all your stuff!"

Linda sighs. Eve is greedy, and her parents wealthier than Linda's. She knows she won't win this argument. Eve always presses the matter until she gives up.

Eve tears off the wrapping paper; it's a big box of special pieces for a marble track. She giggles.

"Don't lose all the marbles, though," Eve's father tells her, smiling.

"I won't, pinkie promise!" She giggles.

Linda subtly opens one of her presents. She's fine with letting Eve take the attention off of her. Eve's far more outgoing, after all.

She smiles. It's a deck of UNO cards - she always wanted to have a deck at home so she could play with Eve outside of school. The only response this warrants is her mother bending down to kiss her on the cheek. Linda blushes.

As the day went by, both girls blow out the number candles on their cakes - an 8 for Eve and a 9 for Linda. Their parents cut the other girl's cake; the two liked it that way. Giggling, they each took the first bite out of the other's piece.

"Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting again?" Eve asks, licking the frosting off her lips.

"Oh, come on. You always get that yellow cake with cream," Linda retorts, smiling.

The two laugh the rest of the evening away, Eve and her parents packing up and going home around six. Linda helps her mother clean up the mess Eve left.

"She always leaves little bits of paper in the funniest places," Linda comments, crawling under a couch to retrieve a large, crumpled and torn piece of paper.

"If you had fun, then it was worth it," Her mother reassures.

"Thanks, mum!" Linda says happily.

"Now, go see if your father's ready to take you out for ice cream. I can finish up here."

Linda happily skips off to the front door, where her father holds the screen door open out to the car for her.

Linda's mother had just gotten laid off. Finances were tight, and Linda had stolen an ice cream cone a few days ago. She hadn't been caught — by her parents...

At seven, Linda's father drops her off in front of their house.

"Sorry, we took a bit longer than I thought. I can't stop in, or I'll be late for work," He says, feeling more bothered than Linda about it.

"It's okay. There's always tomorrow, right?" She says, smiling meekly.

He sighs, unable to resist a smile.

"I love you, sweetheart. We'll finish this tomorrow."

Linda watches her father drive off, soon distracted by a rustling bush.

A bird hops through to the backyard. This distracts her, and she silently stalks it. She and her father used to go birdwatching, and she was confident that telling her father what kind of bird she saw when he got home would make him proud.

The man hiding in the bush, obscured by the shadow of Linda's house, slows his breathing. He shifted sooner than he wanted, and he did not want to get caught.

Luckily for him, she did not notice him, but the sparrow that hopped by into the backyard.

Linda continued to follow the sparrow, scaring it off a bit as she steps on a branch.

"Please stay..." She whispers to herself, keeping still.

After fluttering around a bit, the bird lands on the climbing tree. Linda takes one more step, close enough to see the shape of the tail, and—

A figure leaping out of the bush beside her scares the bird off, Linda turning hard to see a cloaked man lunging at her, a sharp curved blade in his hand... in her. She screams, but not for long. Still, it was enough.

Panicked, Linda's mother rushes out into the backyard, just in time to see a bloody scythe dragging her daughter's limp body over the fence.

In tears, she shouts curses at him, sobbing as she drags herself back inside.

-----

That night, Linda's father receives a call from a woman who's an absolute wreck.

"911, What's your emergency?"

"H-honey? O-our... our daughter... s-she's dead..."

*click*