The first thing I started to read the note Kasen left me with. All it said was “be careful we might be in over our heads.”
I balled it up and put in back into my bag then pulled out the folder. Staring at it I knew that what was inside of it might lead me to who killed Lena. I dragged my hands over its rough edges and vanilla surface, forced it open ripping through the cheap clear tape used to keep it closed. The first thing I pulled out caused my stomach to curl forcing my lunch back up. I dropped the picture onto the roofs of the school building and grabbed onto the nearest garbage can. I took a second to calm my stomach, but I got myself back together and picked up the photos. Laura Jewel, that was her name. It took a second to come to me and luckily, I could hold down whatever was left in me. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but the only thing left in place was her head.
I went through the photos and stopped at the one of my sister. She looked so lonely and cold. I thought to myself that it must have been terrifying, every second that led up to her death. I couldn’t think of a single person that would want her dead. Out of everyone this town hated it loved her the most. When we first moved here I wasn’t open to the idea of leaving my friends behind, but Lena was the one who helped me readjust to the town. She did more than help me, she helped the town adjust to us. Lena was regularly called graceful charity giving her time to help others. It was a trait true to her alone. She made Dona a great place to live.
I didn’t think much of the photos, I only wondered where Kasen got them from. I put the pictures aside and grab a report it was signed by a Dr. Keen, Kasen’s dad, that explained everything. Apparently, it was a forensic report about the crimes. This was good information and now I know why he didn’t want me to read it in class. I looked at the report and found out something that wasn’t made public. There were two theories that forensics were pointing to. Either two killers or just one that has two M.Os. The report seemed to be leaning towards the first theory of two killers. One that strangles their victims and one that stabs them. That seemed believable, but it didn’t sit right. Then there was the second theory that I thought made more since one killer, killing girls with Brown hair and grey eyes.
That made since too, but something still seemed off. The report seemed like it was lacking in information. Just like the new it seems like forensics was holding back information too. I took a deep breath and looked over the file again specifically at the part about the features similar to each girl. Lena had Brown hair and grey eyes, so she did fit the similar traits. It still didn’t make much since as why these girls were being killed. Why does the hair and eye color matter? Are there any other similarities? Why doesn’t this make since?
I burrowed my face into my hand and thought about how confusing this whole thing was. It felt like no matter who I asked or where I turned to, information was being withheld. The reports from Kasen’s dad seemed like they specifically skipped parts that involved the victims. Other than saying they had similar hair and eye color. The news reports failed to say how the victims were killed. Only reporting that four girls had been found dead with no reports how. Even worse, during my sister’s funeral, we weren’t allowed to see her dead body. There was no way that all of this was a coincidence. It felt like the whole town was trying to hide something. Everyone had the same secret, and everyone had to keep it.
“I need some water after all of that,” I said lifting my head and placing the files and photos back into my bag
“ All I need is to find her,” said a girly voice. I started to look around the wall I was behind to see who it was. When I got a glance at the girl quickly someone from behind me put their hands over my mouth and pulled me back.
“If you don’t want to die. Then stay quiet and don’t let her see you,” He whispered into my ear. I didn’t want to test this guy, knowing that murder was the new craze I did what he told me to do and didn’t say a word. Before he pulled me back I managed to see that the girl I heard was Cecil. I was worried about what was going happen. From what this guy said I should be afraid of her, but there’s something about a guy holding me from behind that doesn’t make me feel safe.
“Oh, Joseph. I love you, and I’ll paint this town crimson to make you mine. Every single one of those disgusting girls that want to be with you. None of them can do for you what I can. They don’t have what it takes to make you happy.” She said out loud to who I could only assume was herself. Last time I checked there where only three people on the roof, but I couldn’t be sure since the guy behind me came out of nowhere.
“I’ll kill her next. Just for you. I’ll lead Lux right to our friend,” She said in a sweeter tone.
This didn’t make sense and I didn’t understand what was going on. The only thing going through my head was that at any moment this guy could give me up to Cecil. Which usually wouldn’t be a bad thing, but with her new found personality, I’d rather take a rain check. It was silent for a few seconds, then I heard Cecil start to go uh huh. It sounded like she was agreeing with someone, and since I couldn’t hear them I assumed she was on the phone talking to someone. About a minute went by before she finally started to reply.
“Lux. I’ll find her and make her pay for hurting you, Joseph. We’ll kill her the same way we killed the rest of them. I’ll make you happy,” She said sweetly like she did before.
I kept trying to listen in for more, but nothing else was said. The next thing I heard was the roof door close. After that, I and the mysterious guy with his hand still covering my mouth stood there waiting for something else. Eventually, I guessed he figured that Cecil was gone because he finally let me go. As soon as he did I took a step forward and turned around to see who this guy was.
“Light!, what the hell was that and when did you get up here?” I said confused
and he replied with a simple, “You need to pay more attention,”
Irritated with his answer I put my hand on my head and let out a big sigh.
“Please, Explain,” I asked still confused.
“You have the file right,” He asked sarcastically. I wasn’t going to question how he knew I just assumed he’s that good and saw all the information.
“Yes. Now go on,” I said still irritated with how he was going about his explanation.
“From there it’s simple. Joseph’s mother was killed first,” He explained
“Okay so what does that mean,” I asked more confused than when we started.
“If you paid attention to the marks on Laura’s neck you could tell the hands are too small for a grown man, but too big for a small child,” He said
“So, a teen did it?” I asked
“There you go. More specifically Joseph did,” Light said making a huge accusation.
I felt inclined to disagree with him, but part of me felt like he was right. There’s no way Cecil would act like that for no reason, and she even mentioned Joseph’s name when talking to whoever she was talking to. Even if He didn’t kill his mom, there was no doubt that he was a part of this somehow.
“So now what do we do?” I asked wondering if we should go after them ourselves.
“We should find Lux. It sounds like she’s next on the list,” Light said
“Ok, then where is she,” I asked light who now looked a little more irritated than anything. He let out a long sigh and then gave me a look letting me know with his eye that I should stop asking questions.
“Find Winter. The two of them are best friends. Find one and we can find the other,” He said.
I said okay. It was the best plan either of us said out loud and I didn’t want to waste any more time. After we agreed he ran down the stairs. I pulled out my phone and saw a text from Kasen it said, “Where were you? you missed our second to last class.” He was totally right. It had slipped my mind that I had to go to class. I sent him a text telling him that I’m not coming to the last either. Instead, I would be looking for someone and that he should help me try to find them. I told him their name was Lux and that he should tell me when he finds her. locking my phone, I ran towards the door when I opened it blue eyes and white hair was what greeted me.
It was Winter, I wasn’t questioning why she was here. I just assumed even the princess needs a break from classes.
“Excuse me,” I said trying to ask her a question.
“You’re looking for Lux, right? she’s in art for her last period,” She said stopping me in my tracks. I turned to her and slowly started to back up. Confused with her mind reading abilities I asked her
“How did you know I was looking for Lux?” I took another step back not taking any chances.
“Well, Light’s a good friend of mine and he said you really liked her and wanted to tell her, and I believe in that stuff now after I met Lan,” She held her hand and her eye started to sparkle. Her excitement was so bright that it was almost blinding. At least I got the information I wanted. I said thanks and ran past her without stopping out of sheer fear of what else Light had said to her.
“Don’t die before your first date,” she said
It caught me off guard, but I didn’t stop, and I didn’t look back. I ran straight to the art class and made it just in time probably 20 minutes before class was out. I caught my breath and opened the door. Everyone’s eyes were on me as I look at the teacher and asked her if I could speak to Lux for a second. I looked over towards the students, but I didn’t know who she was. The teacher said sure told Lux to step outside. That was easier than I thought. I look at the students again and saw her walking towards me. She had hair down to her neck colored brown with grey eyes. She was a perfect match. We stepped into the hall and instead of telling her she’s going to be killed. I asked her if we could walk home together because I and another friend of mine live near her and it’s dangerous to walk alone. She was grateful but had to decline.
“Cecil and I are going out to eat. Sorry,” She said as she started to walk back into the room.
I knew I couldn’t just say out of nowhere, she’s a killer you can’t, It would get me into a world of trouble.Pulling out my phone I saw school was just about over. I went toward the entrance and by the time I opened the door, everyone was in the hall about to leave too. I ran outside and hid waiting for Lux and Cecil. It took about 10 minuets, but they finally showed up I let them go ahead a bit and started to follow them at a distance I knew I wouldn’t be noticed. They walked for a while stopped in a few stores and got something to drink at the café. For all, I knew there was nothing wrong. They were being normal. Maybe I misunderstood what happened on the roof.
The sun had finally started to set, and I wasted my day being a creep tailing two girls from my school. I decided to head home which happened to be past the girls, so I started to walk normally and stop hiding. When they took a weird turn into an alley I didn’t think much of it, but then a strange man walk into the ally right behind them. I started running, and before I got to the ally a scream met my fears.
I Bolted down the alley hoping I wasn’t too late. When I caught up I saw Lux held up by her neck by a strange man in a cloak and without thinking ran and tackled the guy to the ground. He dropped Lux and I quickly started to fight back punching the guy as hard as I could, yelling a Lux to run, but she couldn’t. She was too terrified by what just happened. I decided to focus on the guy in front of me and kept hitting him hoping it was doing something.
“Watch out!” Lux yelled, and it caught me off guard. Something hit me hard in the side of my head and knocked me off the guy and onto the floor. Dazed, and my vision was blurred, but I was able to make out Cecil holding something long. Assuming she was the one that hit me I made a mental note to keep an eye on her. I put my hand on my head to see if there was blood, and luckily there wasn’t but it left a knot that hurt like hell.
“I fu**ing hate kids!” The man in the cloak screamed as he slammed his boot into my side. I rolled and landed on Lux pushing her down to the ground with me. Grabbing my side I started to moan in pain and pulled myself off Lux before he could come in for a second hit and get us both. I yelled at Lux again telling her to run, but it looked like she was in pain too. She was holding her arm, and her hand was covered in blood. My vision were still a bit blurry, but the sight of red all over her arm was as clear as day. She must have scrapped it when she was pushed down by me. I tried to get back up to my feet and then I got another boot to the stomach. I tried regaining myself again, but he stomped on my hand and kept his foot there. With all the pain I hadn’t noticed that he was dragging a girl by her hair I assumed it was Lux. She was screaming bloody murder I was surprised she could even speak anymore let alone scream.
“You see kid. You shouldn’t put your nose where it doesn’t belong,” He gritted his teeth as he lifted his foot from my hand and step on my head pushing it into the ground. The pain was infuriating, but I don’t know what hurt more my face or the fact that I couldn’t save one girl. I could taste the negative emotions or maybe that was the dirt. I wanted to keep fighting, but I couldn’t keep my eye open. They slowly started to close, and I couldn’t take the pain anymore. All I could do was listen as her screams became muffled by the sound of her choking to death.
“That’s one. I’ll save you for last boy after. I kill the other girl,” What that man said was the last thing I heard before I black out.
When I came to I was in a hospital bed with the Light and Kasen. I looked over to the right of me and saw Lux passed out laying in a bed next to me. I was beyond confused about what was going on, what happened to the killer or how I got out of there. Looking at Kasen and Light I asked them what was going on. I wanted to know what they were doing there and how they I got away. Most of all what happened to the killer.
“I called the cops,” Light answered
“And after the cops, he called me because my dad works with the cops,” Kasen answered taking a sigh of relief. I assumed it was because I woke up.
“But how did you know,” I asked him still trying to put the pieces back together that just didn’t add up.
“That’s not important what is important is we got the killer,” Light explained what happened after I passed out. According to him when the cops got there I was passed. The killer had Lux by the neck, but she was still alive just barely struggling to fight for her life. The cops told him to drop the girl and he pulled out a knife, so they shot him. One of the bullets hit Lux in the leg. Other than that, she was deprived of oxygen and need to be rushed to the hospital as soon as possible.
I was relieved that Lux was okay and that the guy was dead, but Cecil’s body was gone. In the eyes of the cops, I’m pretty sure they got what they wanted, the killer. I was too tired to dive into why Light had so much information, but he was helping me, so I was fine with it. I rolled back over and told them both I’d be fine I just need some rest. They said goodbye as they walked out the room and turned off the lights.
I was let out of the hospital two days later. My parents came to visit me to see how I was doing, my mom couldn’t stop crying it was the same with Lux’s mom. Her parents thanked me for being brave and bought me some food. Winter also came to visit Lux. I guess they were good friends Winter wouldn’t stop hugging her. That comment she made that day has me wondering what she knew too. I Lux is still checked in she needed more time than I did. For her physical and mental recovery. Before I left she did thank me and then took me up on my offer to walk her home after class. We laughed about it and it seemed like she was just a bit better. I went home finally I was ready to see my sister again and lay in my own bed. When I got home there was a note Taped to door. I pulled it down and read it.
“I’ll let you know that we have Cecil and you’ll see her again soon. You don’t have to worry your kind soul Ater. I hear that you have a thing for Lux. I’ll give tell you this once. Stay away from the grey-eyed girls if you want to live. Other than that, enjoy your life with your family and be happy we saved you from the grey eyes that watched you in your home.
P.S. You don’t know what world you’ll be stepping into.
Sincerely,”
I looked at the note for a second more than balled it up went inside and threw it away. I stopped in front of my sister’s picture and said a long-awaited hey sis. Then let out a long sigh. I really wish they would have written a note that said welcome to Dona a truly mysterious town. Thinking back the forensic report might have been wrong. Two killers, maybe we’re thinking too small.
–END–
