CHAPTER 1

      Sally ran down the school corridor leaving a trail of warm blood behind her. She stumbled and lurched forward with the pain, and her screams were but little throaty, blood filled gurgles.

      Jimmy followed her, walking slowly down the corridor, being certain not to step in any of the icky blood. The sledgehammer dangled to his side, yet his grip was tight around the handle. "Come on Sally, just once more. You're such a sissy, it doesn't hurt that much." He mocked her.

      Her left ankle made a horrid cracking sound as it twisted and snapped, sending the young woman plummeting to the floor. This time, a scream did escape her lips, as her wrist bent back, tearing the flesh.

      Laying on her stomach she coughed and attempted to speak, "Ji... Jimmy..." Tears flooded from her glassy eyes, spilling over her pale cheeks. "Why?"

      His steps echoed with her screams, "It's all a matter of art Ms. McKinnely. A mural of red upon white. The agony of life. His voice seemed detached, emotionless. "You are my canvass Ms. McKinnely, you will be my masterpiece."

      While he spoke, she tried to pull her broken body forward, the pain from her wrist was almost paralyzing. The world behind her eyes was becoming blurred and gray. Her breath was sharp, each one sending a slicing blade of pain tearing through her lungs.

      The corridor echoed with several bone shattering, deep thuds. A faint gasp, a pathetic whimper and the voice of little James Corson Sarton filled the corridor.

*-*-*-*-*

      A shy boy who stood atop all of the grade nine classes in the school - there were three of them. He had no bullies picking on him, nor did he bully anyone. He was the top scoring member of their high school soccer team. He did everything right, and always on time. Still, one warm day in November, when Ms. Solace McKinnely shreaded his work in front of the entire class, did young J.C. Sarton receive a detention for incomplete work. A permanent mark to his school record.

*-*-*-*-*

      The voice of little James Corson Sarton filled the corridor, "I did my work Miss, you saw it right? I really did it do my homework. No, don't give me a detention. I will make it up during lunch. Please miss... please... give me lunch time, and by third period I promise... but Miss..."

      His words were silenced by the loud crashing thuds of his hammer to her back. Tears streamed down his face as he struck her continuously. The hammer dropping against he back, bludgeoning her spinal column, and sending fragment through various internal organs. He struck her again croquet style, this time driving the large, heavy weighted head of the sledge hammer between her legs, penetrating her deeply, and shattering the entire structure of her pelvis.

      Throughout the school, only the sounds of soft, wet thuds seemed to break the silence of the school's corridors.