The Pineapple Murderer

On a mid- August summer morning, you walked up to the mailbox retrieving the mail for your mother. You were rummaging through the envelopes, hoping to find a letter from your boyfriend, Steve, who you hadn’t heard from since he left for football camp. The camp he was attending wouldn’t allow any electronics and only letters. You hoped to find a letter from him. The last time you received a letter was over two week ago.

Woefully, you sighed. You reached for the mailbox to close it, then noticed a small envelope with a red, wax seal in the box. You picked it up, wondering how you could have missed it, and examined the paper. On the front was your name.

Eleanor Kingston

Slamming the mailbox shut, you ran into the house.

You dropped your mom’s mail at the kitchen table and ran up the stairs taking every other step. You practically skipped into your bedroom eager to have heard from Steve. You opened the envelope carefully hoping not to rip the envelope that he had touched. You removed the paper from inside and unfolded it, waiting to hear all about the camp and how Steve has been.

Instead of seeing all the words Steve used to describe his summer activities and see his signed name, Love, Steve, all it said was Pineapple. Pineapple was your code word for danger, but what could be dangerous at football camp with a bunch of teenagers just like Steve?

You didn’t understand what could be dangerous but  knew why he couldn’t explain if it was. Before Steve left he said that if anyone were feeling homesick or wanted to inform their family and friends how they were, they could send letters to them, but they couldn’t call or text. All the boys had to leave their phones and electronics at home.

Before they sealed it up their letters and sent them home it had to be approved by whoever ran the camp. If something bad was happening, or if Steve noticed something suspicious, he wouldn’t be able to tell you. The man in charge wouldn’t approve and wouldn’t have let him send it. And he would know that Steve knew there was something dangerous going on. Steve could be in trouble. Or even worse, hurt. Killed. Tortured.

Without even thinking, you grabbed your car keys and headed out the door. You knew the address of the camp from writing to Steve over the summer. It was only an hour drive, without traffic, but the camp didn’t allow any visitors. Now that you thought about it, this certainly was a weird camp. You’ve never heard of it before.

Nobody you knew from your school football team ever attended, and Steve said there was something dangerous.

You didn’t know what it was, or who, but you knew you had to see for yourself.

On the drive up you thought of a plan:

Step 1. You would not be parking near the entrance or entering through there.

Step 2. You would find some way through the woods or find a fence to get to camp and find Steve’s cabin.

Step 3.  You would ask Steve what was dangerous and who’d been involved and help in any way you could.

Step 4. You’d solve this mystery and drive home with Steve by your side. (Hopefully, nobody gets hurt in the process)

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As you were driving down the street you saw a Dunkin' Donuts a couple streets down from the camp and decided to park your car there then walk the rest on foot. You did this so nobody would see you there and nobody could rat you out before figuring out what was going on at this mysterious camp.

You approach the camp and noticed a fence low enough that you could climb. You  pulled yourself over to the other side and yelped when you landed. You fell and landed on your side. You stood up tall and brushed any dirt that was on you off. You then made your way to the main cabin, where you hopped was where the names of the boys in each cabin were.

To your great luck there was a list. Steve was bunking with Cam and David in Cabin B. You started running off to the direction—that you got from a map in the main cabin—to where Steve would be.  

You saw a wooden stand in front of the cabin stairs claiming you were in the right place. Cabin B. You walked up the stairs, but when you saw a figure in the window you scrambled beneath it,

hoping not to get caught.

You breathed heavily as the shadow of either Steve, Cam, or David in the window slowly descended. That’s when you heard the door creep open.

“Eleanor?” A boy say.

“Steve? Oh my god, are you okay? You’re not hurt are you?” You stood back up, embracing him.                                                

“Elle, you can’t be here. John doesn’t know that I know something is going on. You have to leave before your hurt.” He grabbed your arm and pulled you inside. Cam and David were sitting on the sofa with warm smiles on their faces.

“Ah, the famous Eleanor we keep hearing about. Sit. We have much to explain.” Cam patted the seat next to him for you to take.

You felt Steve’s grip on your arm tighten. “We are not explaining anything. Elle, you’ve got to leave. Now. You can leave through the back door and go the way you came.” You looked into Steve’s eyes and saw fear.

“I’m not leaving until someone tells me what’s going on,” you demanded. You wanted to know exactly what had made Steve so frightened.

“No, we cannot risk it. You’re leaving. Now. If John figures out you’re here he’ll—” Steve was interrupted by a low, dark voice coming from behind us.

“What will I do? Oh, please, humor me,” the man said.

“N—nothing sir.” Steve’s body tensed up beside her.

“Tell me, Steve, what is my diabolical plan?” he asked, taking a step closer to you and the three boys. Even though you did not know who this man was, you felt frightened.

“I have no idea what you're talking about. Sir.”

“Oh, you mean, you don’t know? I had better hopes for you. Maybe Cam or David had no clue, but you? I sure hope you had figured it out by now, considering your history.” Cam and David’s eyes turned to Steve.

“I…” was all Steve could say.

“Well if you aren’t going to share, then I will. Miss Eleanor, so glad you could join us this evening,” he said his gaze now on you.

Your body froze and, like Steve, no words could come out.

“I thought that a one-word letter was quite odd. Pineapple, huh? That’s your code word. For what though? Murder? Danger? There’s someone here to kill me? Anyway, I knew what you were trying to do. I know what you and Elanor have done before. And now, I must act fast.”

Murder? Was John a murderer?

“I’m going to kill you,” he looked at Steve, and then you, Cam, and David. “I’m going to kill all of you!” His lip twitched with delight and in his right boot he pulled out a knife. A sharp dagger that he planned to kill the four of you.

How did he plan on killing you all without the rest of the campers knowing? Or was that the whole plan? To kill everyone attending this wretched place?

“I think I’ll start with you, Steve, my boy.” He took another daring step towards Steve.

“Wait!” You shouted, hoping to delay time so you had a moment to think. “Your “diabolical plan,”  you paused, “is to kill this whole camp, isn’t it?” you asked.

“Look who’s catching on quickly. Yes, I plan to draw this knife into every breathing human attending this camp.”

“Why kill a bunch of innocent teenagers?”

“Because I want you two,” he pointed his knife at you, then Steve, “to pay for what you did to my sister.”

“Who was your sister?” you asked. Perhaps he had his people wrong and you all are about to be murdered for something you didn’t even do.

“Annabel. Remember her? You killed her.”

You thought back to the girl. She murdered many students at their school. She was just a year younger than you and Steve. She was killing boys and girls, left and right, and was about to kill the two of you, then planned on dropping your bodies on the stage during a school assembly. She told them the whole plan in one of the classrooms after school. While she spoke about her plan Steve grabbed a pair of scissors at the teacher’s desk behind him and stabbed her right in the stomach. You  took the knife out of her hand that she planned to kill you with as she gripped the scissors and pointed them at you. As she was running towards you, the scissors, her only weapon, you jumped out of the way, striking her through with the blade. She fell to the ground and the girl and boy ran for the door of the classroom. They never knew why she killed all those people and planned on killing them too.

After the whole Annabel incident the news was her family moved away and was getting too much hate for Annabel’s actions. They never knew she had an older brother. An older brother that now wanted to finish the job.

“You killed her. You.” He pointed his knife at your chest. “So now, I will make you watch me kill your boyfriend. Then I’ll kill you, and everyone at this senseless camp. I created this camp for revenge, and I will not rest until the killers of my sister are dead.”

“She killed 9 innocent students at our school and planned on killing us next! You’re mad!” she yelled. John and his sister were killers and psychopaths.

“And you killed her! What makes you any better?!”

“She was not innocent—”

“I’m going to kill you.”

“No—” I started.

“I am going to stab you and leave you here on this floor to die.”

“No you’re not.” This time it was Steve who spoke. You hadn’t noticed him pick up the vase of flowers he held in his hand, and neither did John. Steve threw the vase at John’s head and he stumbled back, dropping the knife on the floor. You then picked it up and pointed the end at him. A big burst of Deja vu flowed through your veins as you stepped forward dropping to the floor, remembering what happened when Annabel said she was going to kill you.

“Screw you,” he spat in your face. You stayed there crouched down next to John. You didn’t have to kill him. You just had to call the police. You patted your pocket for your phone, then remembered you left it at home. And neither did the three boys.

Right then John jumped on you and you fell on your back. His face was red and a vein on his forehead throbbed. You gripped the knife that you’d dropped when John lunged at you and thrust it through his stomach.

“No,” you said. “Screw. You.”