The Villainous Children Retire

Chapter 5

Esther sat on the edge of the bed, watching her brother sleep. Whatever he had dreamed about had left him pretty shaken up. She didn't think he would ever go back to sleep.

She had been pretty startled herself when she was woken up by his screams. She had thrown her covers off and nearly flew to get to him.

Even if she didn't know exactly what he dreamt, she had a pretty good idea of what it was about.

She too often had dreams about their past life. Their deaths were usually far worse in the dreams than they had been in reality.

Esther got chills just thinking about it. She slowly touched her neck with prickly cold fingers.

She turned to Eli with worried eyes. She knew the recent events had shaken him up far more than her.

She reached out and gently placed her hand on his forehead. When he had first woken up from the nightmare, he felt hot to the touch, but now he felt a little cooler.

In terms of comparison, whether he was Eli or Ezra, his emotions always ran deeper than his sister's. Even though he had always followed her lead, he always held more compassion for others.

Esther knew that. She somehow got the feeling that no matter the life, he would always be far kinder than her.

In a hushed voice, Esther said gently, "Don't worry, I'll fix this."

After making sure her brother wouldn't wake up and be okay alone for a few minutes, Esther headed downstairs. She knew they didn't own any cloaks, so she dawned her grandfather's coat.

Putting on a coat that was ten times bigger than her covered her much better than any cloak could. She pulled the hood back a little so she could see, opened the door, and headed out.

Her destination was none other than the house of the bully they had encountered.

Thanks to Cheryl's generosity in spilling any and all information related to the boy, Esther had a pretty good idea of where he lived.

It was true that he lived with his mother; his house was the most prosperous one in the town. With business-oriented grandparents, who had recently grown sickly, he and his mother moved in, taking care of them and waiting for the day when they would be able to inherit all their money.

Esther darted out from the woods and hurried over to one of the only lit windows in the house.

She peered in and saw many toys and posters from kids' shows on the walls; immediately, she knew she was at the right place. She opened the window and waited, and not a moment sooner, the boy came bursting in. He was yelling about not being able to finish his show in peace while eating chips for dinner. Esther was a little surprised that he was even allowed to be up so late despite his age. Even she and her brother weren't allowed to stay up past nine.

Granted, they weren't as young as they appeared and would often sneak downstairs to watch television or eat snacks whenever their grandfather went to bed. It was easy to since he would only stay up thirty minutes later before he would have to retire for the night. Still, Esther thought ten o'clock was late for any child to be up on a school night.

The boy slammed his door, earning a warning from his mother, but he didn't seem to care.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. "You won't be yelling when I'm the one who gets all the money." He walked over to his desk filled with action figures and slammed his hands down. "Stupid Mom! Stupid Grandma and Grandpa! I don't need any of you!"

"Billy Winchester."

"What?!" he hissed, turning around sharply. "Who's there?"

Esther felt proud to have learned his name. It would make scaring him even easier. "Billy Winchester," she repeated. "I have come for you."

Wearing an oversized coat while sitting on the window in the darkness made her frightening for the young boy to see.

"Wha-what are you doing here?" he asked loudly.

Esther put a finger up. "Shhh. . . be quiet."

"You," he started, significantly lowering his voice. "Who are you?" He looked over at his door and rushed over to get to it. "I'm telling my mom on you!"

With a quick flick of her wrist, Esther moved the desk in front of the door.

Billy jumped backwards; he looked at his toys that were now all scattered across the floor.

"Y-you," he said in a voice filled with fear. "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to leave those siblings alone."

"Those siblings?" Billy scrunched up his nose. "Who are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about those siblings you bullied on the hill after school. The boy and the girl, they were twins."

"Ah," Billy replied. "The ugly girl and short boy."

Esther began to feel her blood boil. "Yes," she said more angrily than she wanted to sound. "Yes, them." Clearing her throat didn't help much. "I want you to leave them alone."

"No."

Esther was surprised by his response.

"No," he said again, even more clearly. "I won't leave them alone. They have magical powers. I got a bloody nose cause of them. I'm going to tell everyone those two are monsters."

"Is that so? You'll tell everyone?"

"Yes. I. Will."

"I see." Esther sighed and lowered her head a little, causing her hood to fall over her head more. "If that's the case. . ." She waved her hand causing all the toys, notebooks, pencils, and other little things in the room to lift into the air. "Then I'll just do this."

She used the softest objects to throw at him.

"Hey!" he shouted, "stop it!"

Esther began to pick up the pace.

"Stop it!"

She threw all his figures at the walls and the door.

"Stop it!" Billy screamed again.

"Billy," called his grandmother. "Is everything okay?"

Esther's hand went limp, and the floating objects in his room all fell down.

Billy turned to look around at the mess, his eyes falling on one of the figures that had hit the wall harder than the others. He went over and picked it up. As soon as he did so, one of the arms fell off of it. "Hey!" he said in a sniffling voice. "My Army Joe toy! You broke him!"

Esther hadn't intended to break any of his things, but she was glad she did. "Let that be an example of what will happen if you say anything about those siblings."

Billy turned to her with a tear-welling face. He looked angrier than ever, but it seemed like he was willing to listen.

"Don't bother those siblings anymore. In fact, I want you to apologize the second you see them at school tomorrow."

"Or what?" he sniffled.

Esther pointed at the toy in his hand. "You've seen what I can do to your toys. Just imagine what I can do to you. What I've done tonight is show you the very basics of my powers." She examined his appearance with dull eyes. "Do you understand?"

Billy, despite being angrier than ever, silently shook his head.

"Good," Esther replied coldly. She jumped down and hurriedly rushed back home.

Billy darted towards the window. His eyes were fixated on her as she raced into the woods. He watched her until she was completely swallowed by the darkness of the woods.