I’m not sure there are words to express the last moments of a person’s death. I’ve seen it a dozen times, and yet, even I can’t find the words to describe it. All I know is that it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Every time I see it, it seems more beautiful than the last time.

Like this morning, when I watched the girl intently as I slid the knife under her ribs and into her heart. I watched as her struggles against the rope restraints grew fainter and her wide fear-filled eyes grew glassy. Her body twitched a bit, like they always do. The girl fell still, never to move again. That was always my favorite part. One second they’re alive and kicking, begging for their life, the next, they’re still as a doll and just as pretty. There were some large old blood stains marring the concrete floor, but I’d since learned how to kill much more cleanly.

I lifted the girl’s body into the large freezer. I could take care of getting rid of her body later. I washed my hands and grabbed my bookbag before heading to school.

Usually classes were so boring and I passed the time going through how I’d make such lovely corpses out of each person in the room and how I’d kill them. What their faces would look like as their life left them. I’d never kill someone I went to school with though. That would be foolish. It might lead the authorities sniffing in my direction if a bunch of kids disappeared in a cluster from here. Mostly I just took people who wouldn’t be reported missing.

Today was different from the boring sort though. Some girl who was always getting into fights started one in the hallway with pretty boy Shawn. It was so exciting, I thought she was really going to kill him! I was cheering her on from the sidelines. She was messy about it like I had been in the beginning. It was over quickly, too quickly. I was disappointed to see that Shawn was still alive.

That girl though...I had to know who she was. It wasn’t hard to find out; everyone was talking about her.

“Luella.” I whispered under my breath. Such a pretty and fragile sounding name for such a rough girl. I watched her locker until she came back and approached her. The wonder must have shown in my eyes.

“What are you looking at?” She snapped at me.

“I saw what you did to Shawn… That was awesome.” I replied breathlessly.

She looked uncomfortable. “Whatever. I have to turn in my books now.” She walked away briskly. I watched her go. I was used to this kind of reaction from people. It must have been that “murderer” vibe. The rest of the day, that was all I could think about. I resolved to finish Luella’s business for her. The poor amature wouldn’t have a chance of doing anything right now.

I knew I had to act before Shawn’s parents came to pick him up. I faked being sick so I would be sent to the nurse’s office. As I walked in, I saw Shawn laying on one of the cots with bandages covering his face. He was crying like a little pathetic baby. He deserved to be beat up by Luella.

The nurse looked up at me with a bright smile. “Oh, hello Donovan. Are you feeling well?” I shook my head pitifully and hunched over my stomach, like it hurt to stand straight up.

“It hurts.” I moaned. The nurse quickly stood up to help me to the other open cot.

After she’d laid me down on the cot, she moved to go to her computer. “I’ll just look up your mom’s number and call her to see if I can give you some pain medication.”

“She just changed her number.” I said, inserting some contrition like I was sorry for such an inconvenience. “I have her new number in my phone, but it’s in my locker. Number 237.” It was all the way on the other side of school. It would probably take her 10 minutes to walk there and back, and an extra 5 or so for her to rummage through my messy locker and finally find my phone where I’d placed it behind all my books.

As soon as she left the room, I stopped faking sick and stood up. Shawn’s eyes looked up at me between the bandages, confused. I guess he’d been listening when I came in.

I glanced around at the corner of the ceiling, making sure there weren’t any cameras. It would be a major slip up to let myself be caught after so long in this profession. “That looks like it hurts. And I bet they only gave you some weak painkillers right?” Shawn still looked confused but he slowly nodded his head.

I walked over to the nurse’s desk and found a key in one of the drawers. I tried it in the lock of the glass cabinet that held all the medicines. Bingo! I got it right on the first try. I pulled out a bottle of Acetaminophen and a sterile needle. I carefully measured out 20 mL. Once I pulled the needle out, I pulled the plunger back a little bit more and allowed air into the needle. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. Better painkillers are more expensive so they try to use them as little as possible.”

I walked back over to the cot where Shawn lay. He still looked unsure. I rolled my eyes. “Come on. If the nurse gets back soon you won’t get any at all and you’ll just have to deal with the pain.” That seemed to convince him. Shawn glanced at the door as if he expected the nurse to come through it at right that moment and flipped over his arm palm up. I calmly injected the needle into his arm and pushed the plunger down.

“There. You should start feeling the pain go away soon.” I grabbed a few disinfectant wipes and wiped the needle clean of fingerprints before throwing it in the hazard bin. Then I wiped the Acetaminophen bottle, the glass cabinet handle, and the key before putting them all back exactly the way I found them.

Shawn didn’t even notice what I was doing. His eyes were unfocused and the tense look of pain eased from his face.

By the time the nurse came back, I was back to laying curled up in pain on the cot and Shawn had fallen asleep. His breathing sounded troubled. The nurse called my mom, who let me have aspirin. I took the pills from the nurse and thanked her before swallowing them.

“Alright, get back to class now and if you start feeling pain again come back.” She said to me and handed me my phone.

“Thank you.” I said and left. I was a little sad that I wouldn’t be able to see Shawn die, but I knew he would. They’d probably pin it on the nurse, especially after they found the needle injection in his arm. With the medicine cabinet locked and the key still in her desk drawer, there’d be no reason to think it was anyone else.

I smirked as I walked away. Flawless. There wasn’t much school left so I didn’t go back to class. I just went to my locker and got ready to go home. The nurse had left my locker more organized than it had been before, books to one side, notebooks to another, my bookbag on the hook.

It was a long walk home, but I enjoyed it. Shawn was the first person I’d killed from my school. I hope Luella appreciated that. It was a bigger risk than I would normally take. I wasn’t worried though. The time had passed when I was always jumpy and expecting to find a cop or someone who knew my secret accusing me around every corner.

When I walked into the house, I smelled cookies baking. Mom must have been baking. I could hear her in the kitchen. I threw my backpack down on the couch and walked into the kitchen. Too late, Mom gave a warning. “I just mopped!” My feet slid out from under me and I hit the back of my head on something and everything grew black.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a well lit cave with three other people. I was surprised to see Luella standing across from me. I was pleased to see that her eyes widened in recognition of me. I tried to wave my hand at her but it wouldn’t move. I noticed a skinny little girl with straw yellow hair and freckles to my left and a boy to my right that looked like a douchebag. Strangely enough we were all facing towards a small pool of water.

“The fourth Seal has been broken, and the fourth Rider summoned.” A voice echoed through the cave. What happened next was strange. A horse’s head appeared out of the water and without even making a ripple, it stepped up and out onto the stone of the cave. It walked towards me with a slow and measured pace, keeping its eyes on mine the whole time. They were the color of the palest ice blue I’d ever seen. They almost looked white.This horse seemed different from the others in the cave. The white one was also still and silent as well, though it seemed to hold its head with immense pride and condescension. The red horse was impatient and unruly, snorting and tossing its head. The black horse was so skinny and weak-looking, but it had a certain feel of life and strength about it.

This pale horse had an almost cold attitude compared to the others. I had the suspicion that if I felt for a heartbeat or listened for its breath, I would find none. Yet it looked just as powerful as the other horses. It came to stand by my side as the other horses did. We all seemed to be waiting for something, but for what I had no idea.