Broken Guitar

“I fear we may have made a mistake, guys.” I couldn’t make my terror if I tried. It didn’t help that the dark clouds overhead cast an eerie glow in the studio. We sat hunched together, rubbing our arms and casting frantic looks at one another while thunder boomed mercilessly above us. It was just like the night when we hatched the plot. But tonight felt different. Something was going to happen to us. Something bad. I could feel it.

Jamai gave me a scathing look. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

Usually, I’d stay mute. Jamai could be menacing when she wanted to be. But I was far too terrified to care at this point.

“I’m saying that maybe we took things too far? You know how much she loved that guitar. She’d even said that it was an heirloom passed down through generations in her family. Don’t you think destroying it and leaving it on her carpet was — ”

“You know what’s funny to me?” Colin, the only one of us who wasn’t huddled up, and was rather smoking quietly in the corner of the room, asked quietly.

“When we planned this, you were the most vocal. Talking about who she took your boyfriend, how she was becoming more popular than you, how you hated to see how you were no longer the most adored in the student body.” He paused and pointed an accusatory finger at me. “You! Of all people, do not get to be a chicken about this. Suck it up, and shut the hell up while you’re at it. Your whining is making me sick.”

And with that, he turned his back on the rest of us and resumed smoking.

It felt like the rest of us had calmed down. I, on the other hand, couldn’t shake off the sense of foreboding that had seized me. I should have just swallowed my jealousy, and when that anonymous call, calling me to the school’s abandoned art studio if I had a vendetta against Khaleesi came, I should have minded my business. Now, even the tiniest sound made me lose my mind.

“Maybe we should have just left the coldest person in the world alone.” Casey said, in between making a lunch out of her fingernails.

I latched onto her statement like a drowning man. “What do you mean?”

“She lacks sensitivity to everything. Remember when Jamia and Colin bullied her, throwing stones and sand and water on her? It was like she couldn’t feel it. She kept walking like nothing was happening, a serene smile on her face. I’d never seen anything like it. It was almost like she was not ...”

“Human?” I supplied, awash with terror.

Casey nodded feebly at me, while Jamia stood up, gave us an exasperated look and began walking over to where Colin stood.

The door opened then with an ominously sounding creak, blowing an unnatural gust of air into the room.

“Colin, didn’t you say you locked the door?” Casey squeaked.
I felt a hot drop of urine slide down my thigh. This was truly the end. Everyone came together facing the door, even as we heard light footsteps accompanied by the glide of something sharp scraping the tile. It almost felt like the pointed end of something broken. A broken guitar, perhaps?

Khaleesi came into the light with an odd smile her face and the end of the broken guitar in hand. It took me a second to realize why her smile was odd. Her lips stretched all the way to her ears like a Cheshire cat. It was not possible for a human’s lips to stretch that wide. That’s when it hit me, and that’s when I let out a scream. But it was too late. I felt before I saw the broken head stock of the guitar swinging sharply towards me.

Jhymi🖤

Inspired by Freeweiters' Daily Prompt: Lacks sensitivity.

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