I tried and tried again, yet the code was wrong. Why did you leave the box locked without giving me any clues? I stared at the 4-digits lock for hours, yet I could not find the correct code for the lock.
What did you want me to know?
“HEY, Rabbit!” I turned around as I heard Julie shouting my name from far away. It was the day before Julie’s death. Julie ran towards me with her messy hair, holding onto a square box tightly in her arms. As I looked into her big blue eyes, I could see fear in them.
She gave me the box quickly while panting heavily. Before I had any chance to ask her, my boyfriend had slung his hand around my neck. We were planning to watch night movie together on Sunday after having a lovely dinner in the shopping mall. It was quite surprising to meet Julie here because I never told her anything about a date with Jason previously.
When Julie saw that Jason stood beside me, she smiled brightly as if she was trying to hide something from us. Probably, Julie didn’t want to interrupt our date so she left in an awkward way after saying goodbye. Jason noticed the box in my arms and asked me what was inside that box. I shrugged nonchalantly, “Maybe it is a gift from Julie? I have no idea.”
The next day, Julie was found dead in the alley near the shopping mall and a mark of being strangled was found on her neck. I had never expected that Julie would die in such a horrifying way when I got the news from her parents. This reminded me about her fearful eyes when she passed the box to me yesterday. After the night movie, Jason sent me home and we kissed before we were apart. It was a tiring day so I straight away lay down on the bed, leaving the square box on the table without any curiosity.
Slowly, I walked into my room and stared at the box on the table. It was not big in size but it had a 4-digit lock, which may have hidden something important inside. However, it was frustrating as I failed to unlock the code again and again. Julie’s birthday date, Julie’s phone number, Julie’s first day met with me in the hostel…… None of them was the correct code for the lock of the box.
What else? Julie had always been so mysterious and silent since the day I met her in our college’s hostel, which was so difficult to guess what she thought. We were housemates but we took care of each other like sisters. Although I could not understand Julie’s actions every single time, I always knew that there were some reasons behind them.
While I was giving up and trying to go for a walk outside, my hands lost grip and accidentally dropped the box onto the floor. Gasp! There were small hidden four numbers written below the square box. It must be the code!
Without hesitation, I picked up the box and unlock the 4-digits lock successfully. “Click!” The lock was opened and my hands automatically pulled up the cover of the box. As soon as my eyes locked onto the things in the box, cold perspiration drenched my back as there were strands of different hair colors and lengths with a letter.
“Whose hair was this?” That’s the first thing that crossed my mind. Immediately, I read the letter in the box.
Rabbit,
I’m sorry for not telling you any of these because I have no proof. It was really weird when I saw Jason always sniffed your hair without you knowing it on the day you introduced him to me. I know that you love him very much but you deserve better than this. His handsome features and built-up body are used to attract girls like you!
These hair you are looking at were found in Jason’s room.
My sixth sense was right – Jason is a psychopath.
On Saturday’s night, I met Jason at the pub. We were drinking all night and I acted drunk. As soon as I lay on Jason’s shoulder with my eyes closed, I could hear the loud sniffing sound came out from his breath. My heart was palpitating when Jason tried to carry me and walk away from the pub.
As soon as we reached his hostel, Jason placed me onto his bed. I started to complaint about his body odor rudely with my drunk acting so that he would take a shower. Everything went according to my plan. After he went into the bathroom, I searched his whole room quickly and found these tied hair in his drawer at the corner of the room. I quickly placed the hair into my bag and lay back onto the bed.
When Jason came out of the bathroom, I acted like I was awake and scolded him rudely for taking me to his hostel without my permissions. I leave his hostel as fast as I could, hoping that he would not notice anything weird and caught me in the middle of the road. Here is the shocking part of all this,
Those college girls who gone missing for months as reported in the news have the same hair colors as the hair in my bag.
In the silent room, I could clearly hear my heart was beating faster as I read the last sentence: “I will leave my choice to you.” My vision went blur as I never once thought before that this lovely, handsome, funny guy who always hugged and kissed me would lie to me. The worst part was could it be Jason who murdered Julie? Wait a second, Jason asked me to enter the cinema alone first without him because his stomach pain yesterday. It was the perfect time for murder!
“IDIOT! YOU SHOULD HAVE GIVEN IT TO THE POLICE!” I shouted to the air while tears streamed down my cheeks. Without a second thought, I grabbed the box and house keys, trying to dash out from the house immediately.
There he is, Jason stood in front of me at the moment I opened the door. I was frozen on the spot when Jason’s eyes were staring into mine. He was clearly not the Jason I knew anymore. The person who was standing right in front of me was a cold-hearted, psychopath murderer. Jason’s malignant smile made me felt uncomfortable and I knew that if I did not take any action first, he would.
At the speed of light, I tried to close the door as fast as I could but Jason’s built-up body was strong enough to shove the door open. I was thrown backwards as the impact was too strong. Fear and anger were mixed in my body when Jason grabbed both of my arms tightly. I struggled with all my might but it was no use, instead Jason tried to put even more pressure on my arms. Shouting was pointless too as nobody would hear me from my hostel since it was study break now.
“Gotcha~” That was the last word he said to me before he pushed me towards the wall. As i hit onto the wall, the box fell off my hands. I felt a stinging pain on my left arm while Jason tried to reach for the box.
“STAY AWAY FROM MY FRIEND!”
Out of the blue, a voice appeared from nowhere and I saw Jason was thrown back. The room temperature of the house dropped rapidly and drastically. My heart was pounding so hard as I saw Jason was flung backwards by a mysterious force and locked inside my room in a split second.
What was that? Julie?
“GO!”
A strangely familiar voice resonated in the air and had awakened me. Grabbing the box on the floor, I rushed out of my hostel without saying a word.
I was the next victim, but also the last.
