Aberrant (short)

By Jo-Anne Sieppert

In 1961, the town of Echo was like any other small town: peaceful, remote, and safe. The picturesque island near the town was a favorite place for the local teenagers until something sinister moved in and they started disappearing. The search party sent to the island to find the judge’s daughter and her friends never returned. As fire engulfed the island, their empty boats drifted back to shore. The town was abandoned and the truth remained hidden.
Fifty years later the town had become home to newcomers. One of them was Delilah Dale, a student at Echo high, and her workaholic parents.
The Painfully Perfects, Echo High’s It crowd, tormented Delilah. When she could no longer tolerate their heartless attacks, she escaped to the island where she met Jack. The island, feared by the town, became Delilah’s refuge.
When The Perfects followed Delilah to the island to test her, Delilah fell victim to one girl’s jealous rage. Not wanting to lose the girl he loved, Jack decided to save Delilah the only way he could think of; by making her Aberrant.
Delilah’s new-found strength and understanding bring with them a fresh confidence and rage. It is time for The Perfects to pay; after all, what goes around, comes around.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jo-Anne Sieppert
• Release date: Oct 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466020122

Jo-Anne Sieppert

Jo-Anne Sieppert is the president and creator of Pen to Paper Publishing, was born in Leeds England and is currently living in Calgary, Alberta with her husband of fifteen years and her two sons. Jo-Anne has a level 2 in early childhood education and has worked with children now for over ten years. Jo-Anne is a member of CHADD Calgary and CADAC Canada, both of which are organizations for Attention Deficit Disorder. After being diagnosed with ADHD at age twenty-two, Jo-Anne has focused on learning, and advocating for ADHD. When her youngest son was diagnosed at age five, this became her passion. Jo-Anne runs an online support group for parents raising children with ADHD, she attends the monthly support meetings at CHADD, and presents in schools to teachers and parents.Jo-Anne uses her own personal experiences to help others facing similar struggles, she does so with honesty, care, understanding and humor. She focuses on the positive aspects of ADHD along with the real life struggles, ideas and solutions to help overcome those struggles.Jo-Anne also writes youth fiction, children’s books, poetry and articles for the online website and magazine, The Family Room. She is a regular guest on the radio show, Real Life with Susan J Sohn. Along with running the writing group Pen to Paper, Jo-Anne also attends a writing group that runs bi –weekly, and makes a point to support all local authors in her community by attending their events and adding their work to her library.

Book preview

Prologue

1969

Kill them. Every last one of them, I want them gone. I don't care how, I just want them dead and I want it done now!

Come on Frank, you can’t be serious, all of them? There are women and children there too. Besides, we don't know it’s them that's doin’ it. We have no evidence.

Charlie, I gave you an order. Kill them all. I don’t want any left alive, make sure of that. We can’t risk it; do you want the whole town to end up the same way those kids did?

Oh Frank, you know damn well I don’t, but I can't kill them all because they are different. There is no crime in being different.

There is when you start killing people because of it.

We don't know it was them Frank.

We both know it was them. The whole town knows it was them. They hide out on that island, we’ve all seen it, and the kids are being killed on that island. That right there is all the evidence we need.

Charlie Peterson knew Frank was right, although it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, Frank was the sheriff and Charlie was the new deputy, on account of the brutal murder of the previous deputy. When Frank gave an order, Charlie had no choice but to carry it out.

Echo had always been a relatively quiet town, the only excitement was when the teenagers got a little rowdy and smashed mailboxes as they drove along the back roads. But nothing like this. The town had only had one murder on record, up until a few months ago. Now, there were eleven.

I saw the bodies Frank; it looked more like they were killed by animals, wolves maybe. Nothing human could have done that.

Wolves? Charlie, you know as well as I do it was no wolves; wolves wouldn’t leave so much behind, no animal would.

What killed my boy was not human! Them creatures on that island ain’t human. They were sent by the devil, the Devil!

Mrs. Palmer, what are you doing here? Frank asked.

I came to warn you. They will do it again, they will kill anyone else that goes on that island. And it’s only a matter of time before they start coming to town, then what? Nobody will be safe, nobody.

We are so sorry for your loss Mrs. Palmer. We will do everything we can to keep the town safe, you must know that. The woman sobbed and left the police station, clinging to the cross in her hand.

Even Mrs. Palmer agrees with me Charlie, you must see what I am saying is right.

Sheriff, we just got a call from Marla Thompson. Their girls didn’t come home last night. They were out boating yesterday afternoon with Ted Mathews and Dale Jamison. I just got off the phone with their parents, the boys didn’t come home either. The Sherrif’s secretary said.

Charlie, get the others. This time we’re looking on the island first. I'm not wasting any more time; let’s finish this once and for all.

Judge Thompson is in court this morning, do you want me to let him know what's going on?

You best wait until you hear back from us Shirley, no sense causing a commotion if the girls are just up to no good with them boys.

Charlie and the other officers were ready and waiting at the docks when the sheriff arrived.

Do you really think they are okay, that they were all just up to no good Sheriff? Charlie asked.

Those kids are dead Deputy, that I am sure of.

The now recovery mission set off for Echo island, the single mountain in the middle of the lake at the edge of which the town of Echo was quaintly perched.

The empty boats on shore, the crushed beer cans and smashed bottles was all the indication needed, the kids had been there.

Let's split up in to two groups. Deputy, you take half the men and go that way, I will take the other half and go this way. One hour, then we go back, don't miss the boat.

What do you mean don't miss the boat?

In one hour the boats all leave this island, and I'm only looking back to watch it burn.

The two groups split off and went their separate ways. Whether the sheriff was serious or not couldn’t be certain, but Deputy Charlie kept a very close eye on his watch, he wasn't taking any chances.

Once off the beach, the trees became very thick, making it almost impossible to see more than a few feet in front of them as the men began their search. The ground was extremely uneven, and fallen trees covered in moss made an abundance of hiding places for the missing teenagers, animals or creatures on the island.

The island was unnaturally quiet; the bugs, the birds, the animals, none of them made a sound. The air was still and the damp chill of the morning fog wrapped the island in a blanket long after the mainland’s had burnt off by the rising sun.

As the men searched, their hopes of actually finding anyone alive faded fast. They half heartedly called out the names of the missing teens, their voices echoing off the trees and the mountain.

This is creepy out here Deputy, why would kids even want to come here? One of the men asked. He turned around again, trying desperately to see what he felt was watching him.

Kids will be kids Tom, they try to find some place that grown ups won’t go to.

Well they found it all right, I don’t want to ever come back to this place. I don’t like it here one bit.

Well, the sooner we find them kids, the sooner we can leave here and not come back. Charlie said. He didn’t like the island either, and he was certain the other men in their group felt the same way.

What was that? One of the men asked, as a branch snapped under someone’s foot. The sound came from in front of them and there was no way the other search party had made it that far around the island yet.

It was probably just an animal or something, Deputy Charlie said.

They all stood very still, guns ready, waiting for what ever snapped the twig to appear. But only silence returned as the men held their breath and stayed very still. A sudden ear splitting noise shook the group, they looked around franticly to find the source. Something moved around them, darting so quickly none of them could see more than a blur.

That was no animal, what is it? The Deputy called out to the others. They merely shook their heads, as terror took hold. The sound of the heavy gargling breathing made the hair on the back of their necks stand up. Thumping footsteps sent their eyes darting to catch a glimpse of the source of their fear. Whatever was circling them was definitely not an animal, but it wasn't a person either. The men didn’t even attempt to hide their fear any longer, ego and manliness had no place on this island.

Let's go back to the boat, one of the men shouted, the words barley out of his mouth when the blur attacked.

It almost looked human, as it slowed enough to be more visible, but it didn’t move like a person. It was quick, flawless, almost gliding. Its eyes were blood red and fierce.

Gun shots rang out, bouncing off the trees. The men were panicked, shooting at everything but hitting nothing.

Your weapons make you more harmful to yourself than anything, a deep, vicious voice said.

Who was that? The deputy asked, terrified of a reply.

Back to the boats everyone! Another man shouted.

Fire! He lit the fire early! Flames could be seen devouring the trees of the island. The flames seemed to spook the creature, causing it to attack. It effortlessly ripped the deputy and his men limb from limb, eating their hearts and discarding the rest.

The fire engulfed the entire island that day. The empty boats drifted solemnly back to shore. A few days later, the island was still burning but no one cared. Most of the town was gone, all word of what happened, leaving with them.

No one spoke of what happened in the small remote town of Echo in 1961 again.

* * * * *

1

Today

I was sat in my desk staring out the window as I usually did; it’s the best way to not accidentally look at one of them. By 'them' I mean the Painfully Perfects. If they were to catch me looking at them again I would be in for it. And I knew all too well what 'it' was.

The sky was the colour of blue that usually appears on a postcard, along with a beach and 'wish you were here' written mockingly across the top. I was lost in the sky and the few clouds that I could see. One in particular was shaped like the face of a great mystical dragon, with horns on the top of its head, and fire coming out of its mouth. Another was shaped like a bunny; how odd that the mismatched pair would be in the same sky, so close to each other.

My mind completely drifted from my control. I had no chance of hearing Mrs. Watson call on me to answer the question, on whatever it was she was teaching the class, let alone getting the question right.

I sheepishly dropped my eyes as low as I could while she scolded my ignorance and lack of attention. I added my apologies in all the right places, and assured her that I would refrain from looking outside again. Making it even harder to keep my eyes from the Painfully Perfects.

The Painfully Perfects was a clever name I came up with for the group of popular kids in my high school class at Echo’s one and only high school. They were the kids that everyone wanted to be, or at least be friends with. They were perfect. Good looking, rich, smart, funny, or at least they think so, like I said, perfect. The painfully part was what they inflicted on me, pain.

I twirled my hair around my finger, counting the number of times it went around, a trick I had taught myself when I first started school. It kept my mind busy so it didn't wander where it shouldn't. Twirling and untwirling, counting away. I was so focused on my hair I hadn't noticed the bell had rung and the class was almost empty.

Thirteen times around, that’s the most so far, said a voice I had heard enough times to know whom it belonged to. I looked up at Sebastian, for just a brief second, to make sure he was really there. He was. And then I did exactly what I would expect myself to do. I ran. I left my books and pencil case along with my diary; how could I be so careless? I ran out of the classroom, down the hall and right into the girl’s bathroom.

I felt a bit dizzy, most likely the result of getting up too fast, not to mention the gold medal timing of my sprint. What on earth did he do that for? Why would Sebastian Dale, a well known member of the Painfully Perfects, talk to me? He didn't just talk to me, he knew the number of twirls. Why would he know that? Was he watching me? Why? Why would he?

My heart was racing. I was sure I was going to have a heart attack right there. This was it, it was over, my life was coming to its end right there in the girls’ bathroom. Gross. I closed my eyes, made my peace with god and was ready. God, however, was not ready for me.

I let out a curse, which I liked to do as long as there was nobody around to hear me. I left the bathroom, only to find my books, pencil case and my, as far as I could tell, untouched diary on the floor outside the door. I looked around, down the hallway both ways, but nobody was there. I wasn’t sure how they got there, I assumed Mrs. Watson, but it didn’t matter really. I was late for my next class. The classroom door was open, thank