Scissors Are Sharp | Teen Ink

Scissors Are Sharp

February 12, 2024
By ALTKeys BRONZE, Lomira, Wisconsin
ALTKeys BRONZE, Lomira, Wisconsin
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

When you’ve known someone your whole life, you would think you know a lot about them. When you wake up, you never know what’s going to happen that day for sure, but you’ve always had a pretty good guess. Get up, walk to school, come home. It’s what you’ve done your whole life; But this morning feels off.

As you walk into the school, your twin sister Tammy following behind, you run into your two friends and part ways. You roam the fluorescent lit dirty halls and walk to classes with your friends Carlos and Judie. You’ve been friends since kindergarten. You may not remember how you met, but you know you 3 clicked straight away. You’ve been together through thick and thin, and you’re pretty sure nothing could ever break those bonds. You sit in your chair next to the girl Mary. She’s someone you don’t know well, she’s moderately popular. She gives you an insincere smile and taps her candy decorated nails on the shared desk. After what feels like days, the school bell rings for lunch. You wait by your locker for your sister but after a few minutes you decide to catch up with your small crew, she’s probably just hanging out with her own friends. During lunch, you search the crowds of hungry teenagers in search of Tammy, but to no avail, you don’t worry much, but don’t let it be said there wasn’t any at all.

At the end of the day you wait by the school doors for Tammy, once she’s shown up you notice she’s holding her favorite hoodie balled up in her arms as she greets you with a wide smile. “C’mon Thomas, we gotta get going.” She comments to you as she rushes out the door, 

causing you to stumble behind. You both walk home, cars whizzing by without a glance over at you two. “Why aren’t you wearing your hoodie? It's freezing!” You question your sister, shivering. 

“I’m not not super cold, in fact, I’m warm!” she replies, even more cheery than before. You follow the normal route home through a short, stingy alley but notice something odd. There’s a cold, clammy hand sticking out of a giant heap of trash and cardboard, once you notify Tammy, you watch her pull out her phone, calling someone. You don’t know who she’s calling, but you assume it’s 911 from the conversation. Your head starts pounding and spinning. Fear and confusion fills your body as you back away slowly from the pile. When you do, you recognise the hand, the nails are painted with candies… just like your classmate Mary. You just saw her that very morning, next to you in class. Once the police arrive the two of you are taken away for questioning, but neither of you could answer many questions. After many overwhelming questions and unintentional intimidation, your parents rush over to the two of you, giving hugs and words of care, but you can’t comprehend much of it. You were probably still in shock. 

Thankfully you were home fast, and you were able to isolate yourself from life, recharge, and work on your homework. You can't understand how or why someone would ever do something to a classmate of yours, you may not have known Mary at all, but that doesn’t mean that she could’ve deserved to die. After 30 minutes you just can’t get yourself out of thinking about what happened, so you walk out to the kitchen to make yourself a nice hot chocolate. While waiting for the milk to warm you look around and notice Tammy isn’t there anymore. When you asked your mom and dad about where she was they just said, “She told us that she was going to clean her muddy hoodie and go to sleep.” It seems reasonable, Tammy and her friends like to go outside, but it was mucky, so they probably got dirty fast. You’re awakened from your own thoughts as the microwave begins to beep, causing you to open the microwave 

and finish preparing your hot chocolate. You just head back to your room and try to relax a bit. You go to sit on a bean bag you have on the floor, and as you do you notice something out of the corner of your eye, something shiny. You brush it off and turn on your TV to watch some youtube. 

After 2 weeks all of the media calmed down a bit, there’s still a memorial paper or two on her locker, but most of the panic is over. You find your two friends again and talk about video game secrets and the new Game Theory video. You notice Tammy talking with some guy in your grade named Kain, you never knew the two got along, or talked at all. Kain was one of the athletic kids. You can’t remember if he’s captain of the baseball team, but he’s up there. He’s at least 5 inches taller than Tammy and clearly strong. Either way you gave a little wave and continued your way with Judie and Carlos. You reach your first class and sit at your respective table. You still feel weird knowing Mary used to sit right next to you. You shake off the chill down your spine and prepare for the lesson. As the day goes on you can't shake the feeling of being watched. You guess it's because you and Tammy were the ones to find Mary; Her friends are still probably upset. 

Finally you reach the end of the day after excruciatingly long hours. You drag yourself into your barely decorated apartment behind your sister and make your way to the couch, plopping down with a sigh. You hear a slightly unsettling chuckle coming from Tammy as she heads into the bathroom, starts a load of laundry and walks back out into the hallway. You close your eyes for a moment, but it seems as if you time traveled 2 hours into the future. Standing up, you look around for anyone else in the house. However, there doesn’t seem to be, so you just walk into your room. As you walk in you remember the odd glint you saw earlier that month and go to find it. Once you do, you pull it out into the light. You see a deeply red stained pair of kitchen scissors. You call Tammy into your room and wait for her arrival, if she’s even here. You 

do hear footsteps in the hallway so you stand up, but see something else odd. Tammy walks into the room, “What’s wrong?” she mutters, until you show her the scissors.

“What is that?” You ask her, she doesn’t seem shocked at all, but maybe she doesn’t think much of it.

“How would I know? It’s in your room, did you put it there?” You shake your head in response. “You sure?” she questions again, but you’re very sure. She shrugs her shoulders and walks back to her room. Once she’s left you go find what you saw earlier. On your bookself is another pair of scissors, splattered with more red, except much more vibrant… or fresh. You start to feel very uneasy. You know you should take these to the police station, but you don’t know how to- wait, you could get a bag. You hurry to the kitchen for a zip-lock back to pick up the other scissors, putting the other pair inside after it. Sealing it, you speed walk out of the apartment and down to the parking lot. As you get in the car, Tammy walks out questioning you again, “what are you doing?”

“I found another and I’m taking them to the police station,” you call back.

“Oh c’mon, it’s probably just a popsicle stain or something, don’t waste their time.”
“That’s why instead of calling, I’m going myself,” you shut the car door and pull out of the driveway. You look in the rear view mirror and watch as Tammy walks back inside swiftly, in a rush it seems. Driving to the station takes a bit due to traffic, but luckily only sevenish minutes.

Once you pull up to the station, you get out of the car and speed walk again, into the building. You talk to the woman at the counter and explain what they are. “I only touched one, but I’m sure what’s on them,” you explained. The woman thanks you and has someone take them for examination. 

“We’re not sure how fast we can get results, we’re very busy right now,” she explains, when you ask why she’s unable to answer. You thank her anyway and head out the doors, back 

to the car. On your way home you see what they’re busy with. At Least 3 police cars are in front of the alley you and Tammy take home from school, again. You arrive home quietly, in case mom and dad are back, but you don’t see anyone. However, you do hear noises coming from your sister’s room. You brush it off and turn on the T.V. The news broadcast pops up as the first thing you see. Bored, you decide you might as well and watch, unamused; Until the words, “one more body of student, Kain Strobalt found in an alley this afternoon. Two pairs of kitchen scissors have been turned in to the police and are suspected to be the cause of both deaths. The only suspect in this current case is Thomas Klavin, the one who brought the scissors to the police in the first place. Stay tuned.” What? You just saw him that very morning. Kitchen scissors, didn’t you just turn those in? Why am I the main suspect?!  Questions are racing through your mind as Tammy walks out to the living room, confused. You just sprint past her into your room. You slam the door and catch your breath. You can hear your sister outside walking in the kitchen. You look around your room and suddenly notice on your desk. A fresh, wet, deep red pair of kitchen scissors.

Suddenly, you realize something. You reach into your pocket and call 911. You hear her footsteps in front of your door.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

The door starts opening and before you can turn around, “I think I know who ki-.”


The author's comments:

A lot of my classmates have been wanting to read my story when it's finished, and now it is! I was given the idea to make a second story so I might.


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