Curiosity Killed The Cat
It was an ordinary night in Virginia -- cloudless, starry, and beautiful. Johnny sat at the edge of the lake, looking up at the sky, wondering how he was to ask Miss Valentine Roder to their Senior Class Prom. Johnny liked Valentine a lot, and was ever so curious as to why she only showed to classes when the sun was in the clouds or it was raining. Even the teachers wanted to know why.
Johnny liked a mystery, and had never backed down from one; he was too curious.
Later the next day, Johnny sat in his usual seat, with his normal classmates and his normal biology teacher, Mr. Trunk. Dissecting was the topic of the day, and Valentine was looking pale. She seemed to be sweating.
"Are you alright, Valentine?" Johnny whispered.
Valentine turned her head to look at Johnny and gave him a weak smile. "I'm not too big into cutting things up and poking around their insides."
Johnny nodded and raised his hand.
"Yes?" Mr. Trunk said. The torrential rain outside caught Johnny's eye.
"May I take Valentine to the nurse? She's looking a little pale."
Students turned to stare at Valentine, and she flushed. Mr. Trunk nodded, and Johnny helped Valentine to the nurse's station.
They arrived just as the class bell rang and Valentine stopped just before the door. "Thank you, Johnny," she said, giving him a peck on the cheek.
At lunch, the sun was out and Valentine was gone.
"What's with that Roder girl?" Derek, Johnny's best friend since freshman year, said.
Johnny shrugged. "I don't know, but I want to find out, and then ask her to prom."
"Oh no you don't!" Derek said, grabbing Johnny by the arm. "Paul King said there were strange lights coming from her house the other night, and it wasn't TV, bro."
Derek had a habit of gossiping, but he was never been wrong before.
"Fine. But tonight, meet me at the Roder house at 10 p.m. and bring a flashlight. I want to do some digging," Johnny said as lunch ended.
Derek chickened out and decided to go to the movies with one of his pals from church, but he insisted that Johnny tell him everything upon his return.
Johnny was walking down the road to the Roders's house and spotted Valentine carrying a large sack of something. Johnny shut his light off and followed her to her house. There, she met up with Mr. Roder and Mrs. Roder in the basement.
"Did you get the body?" Mr. Roder said.
Valentine smiled and nodded as she tossed the bag at his feet. "Fresh and alive."
Johnny wanted to run and go for help, but he couldn't -- he had to know more.
Mr. Roder untied the sack and pulled out Paul King, the kid from school Derek had mentioned.
"We have a cat. Nice work, Valentine."
A cat? Johnny thought. He's a human being.
Valenting helped her father undress him, and began to cut a line down his torso. Johnny panicked and screamed at the morbid sight.
"Get him!" Mr. Roder ordered.
Johnny ran and ran, though he could hear no one behind him. He stopped to catch his breath, but suddenly Mrs. Roder had him by the throat. She walked him back to the house, dragging him at her heels by the foot.
"Ah, a little cat," Mr. Roder said.
"I'm not a cat!!" Johnny yelled.
"Oh, but you are," Valentine chimed in.
"Who are you people?"
"We are what you would call 'aliens'," Mrs. Roder said pleasantly. "We only want to find out what makes you tick in the sun, my dear."
The Roder family stripped him down, just like Paul, and began to cut every piece of him up until they were satisfied with the answers. The last thing Johnny saw was Valentine's pale face in the moonlight.
Three days after Johnny went missing, his parents were devastated; no one knew where he was. Even Derek was in the dark, and he knew where Johnny had last been. He told the police the plan to investigate the Roders's house; the police nodded and went to check out the place themselves.
The Roders were gone. There was no trace left of them -- except for the basement, where the police found what was left of Johnny and Paul King. But they never found the Roders.
Later that night, Derek was home alone, shaking and scared, awaiting his parents return from a town meeting. He jumped at every sound.
The Roders were still loose, and no one knew where they were. To make it even more frightening, it had been announced on TV who told the police where to find the mutilated bodies.
The door swung open and Derek sat there, a gun on his lap, as Valentine Roder came in through the door.
"Why did you kill them?" Derek asks.
Valentine just smiled and shrugged. "Curiosity killed the cat, Derek."
Derek went to raise his gun, but she was gone. Mr. Roder stood there in her place, smiling as he chopped Derek to pieces.
