Trauma

Chapter 12 (The Maniac)

    The chief walked out of the interrogation room and put his hand on his head.

    "Why would he confess so easily?"

    "He's ill." I stopped. "Mentally ill"

    We walked back into the room where Jenkins had sat. His hair was undone and maniacal looking and his face brought chills.

    "Tell me, what the hell happened, Jenkins." The chief said with anger.

    "When I was a boy, my life was hard." Jenkins started.

    "Shut up man, and tell me what the fu-"

    "Hold up, let him say it." I interrupted the chief.

    "You got a lot of balls to do that kid." The chief said to me.

    Jenkins shook his head and began talking again. "When I was a youngin' I was bullied left and right. One day, Johnathan Knight came up to me and told me that I was so fat and in the way that I should kill myself. Since, Travis is pretty much a reincarnation of him, guess what I did to him. Well, he did it himself but I told him. Then came Mary Alison, mother of Mackenzie Rivers, she told me that because I wasn't athletic, that I should hang myself. And oops. Mackenzie just happened to do that." He said sarcastically.

    The chief and I were shocked, even though I knew half of this story.

    "Bring me water." Jenkins demanded.

    The chief walked out and told me to come with him, but I didn't.

    "What was the vandalized lockers all about?"

    He laughed. "You did that, kiddo. You and your late friends."

    I was confused. "That's not possible. We were never friends until we got to the shack."

    "Oh that's right. I was testing out my hypnosis tricks to see if it would work before the shack came along."

    "You used hypnosis on us?!" I stepped closer to him. "I will torture you for the rest of your life. You ruined my life, so bitch, I'm gonna ruin yours."

    Chief Mark walked back in and gave me a look for staying in there.

    "Back to your story, Jenkins."

    Jenkins grabbed the water and took a sip. "Marcus Cruz, bullied the shit out of me, so when I was planning on killing his son, Brandon, someone in the shack had killed him already for me. But I don't know who."

    "Do you know who, kid?" Mark asked.

    "No, that was after I escaped." I lied.

    "And then Ryan Matthews. His daughter, Rylie Matthews was the perfect example of a perfect reincarnation, besides the gender swap. I was told by Ryan to slit my throat because I wasn't important enough to live and 'take up space'. So I killed Rylie by slitting her throat. I'm glad my daughter didn't turn out like the poor kids I had killed. Emotionally stunted teenagers."

    Mark looked at me and then back at Jenkins. "You don't have kids."

    "You idiot, you think you know everything about everybody. My wife died sixteen years ago when she gave birth to my daughter, Tara Jenkins.

I stood in awe. Surely that couldn't be Tara Masters. It would explain the literal backstab, but we had was genuine. That couldn't be her.

"Do you know Tara Masters?"

He stopped to think. "Not from what I remember. My girl Tara Jenkins ran away two years ago after I forced her to take self-defense classes. She was particularly good with knifes. But she got that from me."