The Village Ch. 2
#2 of The Village
The first year was good, if I do say so myself. It was actually the best year of my life, and I'm not exaggerating. Unfortunately, everything seemed to go downhill after that. Which is the true reason why I tell you all this from where I am now. But you needn't concern yourself with such details at the moment. Right now, let me just continue telling this tale....
I had been reading quietly in one of my very comfy couches when the knock came. I instantly wondered who that could be, since I had no plans on company that I could remember at that time. I got up, making sure to keep my place in the book as it was just beginning to get good, and walked to the door. Upon opening it, I found Patty, the bear. She was the local "Law enforcer" of the village. She nodded to me a bit "Hello Zackary, may I come in?" She asked politely. Now, dear Patty was a nice lady. She must have been in her mid 30's (though no one really knew exactly) and really had a kind air about her. But she was about 8 or 9 feet tall. So she was, of course, quite intimidating. Not that I wasn't going to let her in, of course. "Oh, sure, come right in" I finally said, breaking myself out of my own thoughts as I sometimes had to do.
She nodded once and stepped in, having to duck under the door way. "Would you like something to drink, Patty?" I asked, walking over to the ice box to get myself something "Oh, no thanks Zack" She replied and took a seat on one of my couches. I heard it creak and flinched, but I knew it could take the weight. Patty had been here before without problems. I walked over to her with a glass of water and sat down on a large chair nearby. "What's up?" I asked with a sip of the water. She looked over at me seriously "Zack...Violet is dead" I damn near choked on the water. "What??" I sputtered finally, clearing my lungs. "How? What happened?" Violet was a tiny mouse girl that lived a few houses away from me. She was a nice little lady, one of the people I grew quite fond of during my first year. Patty nodded sadly "Her body was found down near the stream. Mangled." She shivered and handed me a short pile of pictures. I almost threw up. Her head had, apparently, been removed. Her chest cavity was torn open and spread apart so that you could see her back bone. The next photo was that of the missing head, her eyes were missing and a few chunks of.....something...was hanging out of the empty sockets. The next picture was a close up of the torso. You could see where the small intestines were pulled out; I surmised that the things coming out of the eye sockets were the missing intestines. She had no clothes, so I assumed that whoever killed her raped her first.....or even grosser, after wards. This was just too much for me. I kept picturing her walking over to bring me another plate of cookies, or asking me if I wanted to join a small barbeque.
I quickly handed the pictures back to Patty, my stomach in knots. "How....How could this of happened, Patty?" I managed to say finally, staring dumbfounded at her, my muzzle slightly open. She sighed deeply and put the pictures into a small bag she carried with her (since most of the furres in the forest didn't wear clothes, many carried bags around with them, in place of pockets) "I don't know Zack, but who ever it is who is doing this is a real sicko.....I mean, you've seen what he's done." She looked worried, staring down at her paws folded neatly in her lap. I held my head in one paw, almost dizzy. This didn't seem possible....Violet was such a nice lady, who would want to harm her? "But anyway, the main reason why I came here was no to gross you out, amazingly. The mayor is holding a town meeting about this, its very important that you go, alright?" I nodded, not exactly looking forward to talking with the mayor. I didn't like him much, his personality didn't fit his body, like he was hiding something....Patty stood up and headed for the door. "I have a lot of other people to tell, see you tonight at eight sharp, alright?" I gave her another nod and locked the door after her.
And so there we all were, the entire population of the forest village (which came to about 100 give or take a few) crowded in the small meeting hall. I sat more in the back, listening to the worried chatter of the furres, talking about who it could be, and who could be next. Everyone seemed to share one emotion: fear. I, on the other hand, was not scared. At least not for myself. I was more sickened and suspicious, especially as the mayor walked in. His eyes were on fire almost, like he was proud of something. His face showed no sign of this, as his muzzle was pulled back into a grimace, but those eyes......
I was so transfixed I didn't notice that Jessie and Titus had sat on either side of me, that is until Jessie poked me in the side "Hey" She whispered to me, which made me jump a little "Oh shit...Oh man you scared me Jess....Oh! Shit, Titus, where'd you come from?" I looked between them, wondering how the hell they snuck up on me. They both laughed, though the laughs sounded kind of forced, seeing as how we were all in a very grave situation. Jessie was about to say something when the mayor spoke up over the crowd. "Excuse me! Excuse me everyone, may I have your attention please?" The whole room got quiet and all the heads turned to him. He cleared his throat before continuing "Right, I believe we all know why we are here? Yesterday, one of our residents, a Miss Violet Durn, was found dead near the river. Now, I do not wish to cause any alarm, but if anyone sees anything suspicious, please report it to Officer Patty here" He pointed to Patty, who sat somewhat behind him. As he sat down, she stood up and approached the micro phone. "Yes, Hello. I believe you have all met me and one time or another, so let's get right into this. I'm going to tell you guys some simple ways to keep yourselves safe....."
She went on, describing a few safety tips for the people. I wasn't really listening. I kept thinking about the first time I met the mayor, I could smell a kill on him. It couldn't be him, could it? He seemed so nice, and most everybody loved him in this small town of his. But his eyes right now....something was different. His eyes showed signs of a smug satisfaction, like he accomplished something. He still wore that grimace, looking genuinely concerned....but I just didn't know.
I walked through the dark forest alone, I knew not why. I hated being by myself in such a setting, usually. But something urged me on. It was some unknown force that coaxed me forward, deeper into the woods. I heard a noise off in the distance, still too faint for me to determine what exactly it was. The force continued to push me forward, the noise now growing louder. And then I saw him. A large black furred figure crouched over the body of poor Violet. Her body was how I remembered it from the pictures, mangled and almost unrecognizable. I Stared in horror as the figure was.....eating it? No.... I could see his hands.....and his muzzle was no where near the body. The realization of what he was doing to it made me vomit up what little I had to eat earlier. He was.....plain and simple, he was fucking the corpse. The noise of me vomiting made him sit up straight, and then turn slowly towards me. It was the mayor, just as I had expected. He grinned sadistically at me, his eyes full of an evil fire, and he spoke softly to me in that odd voice of his. "No cookies for you tonight." He said plainly, his voice oddly deep and much different then normal. And I just screamed.
Luckily, I screamed loud enough to wake me from that terrifyingly horrible dream. My stomach lurched as I recalled it. I was drenched in sweat and panting, fully awake. My throat hurt from screaming; apparently I had started screaming before I woke up. I got out of bed and shook myself, trying to get the images out of my head. I decided a bath would be wise, so I headed out for the waterfall. Since running water was hard to come by in the forest, there was a public waterfall where people went to bath. I hoped there was no one there, since I still had never bathed in front of someone, always preferring the times when no body was around. But at the moment I really needed to wash myself, and I would just have to get over it.
So I walked through the dimly lit forest dressed in nothing but my boxers with the sun just rising. Birds were chirping merrily, signaling the morning, and the ground was wet with dew. I reached the waterfall finally, and I was glad to see no one else there. I quickly stripped out of my boxers and jumped into the large clear water of the stream, the cold water instantly jarring my brain back to normal and washing away the thoughts of that horrible dream. I swam around a little in the water before finally sitting down on a rock under the water fall and just let myself be bombarded by the falling water, the pounding almost like a massage for my neck, shoulders, and upper back. The water was so loud; in fact, I didn't even hear some one approaching.