Murderers Dream Landscape

The First Victim

James Witt POV:
The smell of eggs wakes me. Slowly, I get out of bed and walk down the hall into the kitchen with my pajamas on. My new roommate was making breakfast.
    "Morning James! I made some eggs for you, over on the table." He points to a plate of scrambled eggs on the table.
    "Thanks Louis, these smell great." I sit at the table, and shovel eggs into my mouth. I check the time on the microwave, and almost choke.
    "Crap! I'm going to be late for work!"
    I finish the eggs and hurry to my room. I search for clothes, going through my closet. I throw on a light blue polo shirt and some jeans, and wrap myself in a jacket. Heading towards the front door, I grab my wallet and step into my shoes.
    I say goodbye to my roommate, and duck out into the hallway. We live on the second story of a tall apartment building, the interior has an old rustic look to it, and the outside is built with grey bricks. It was the best we could get for cheap, especially since I only work at a library and Louis at a bar.
    I walk down the busy street, heading towards my favorite coffee shop. Our apartment is on one of the most crowded streets, mostly in the morning when everyone is off to work. I crossed the street, narrowly avoiding being hit by a taxi, and entered the shop, the door bell jingling.
    Surprisingly, it wasn't very busy. There were only three other people, each one sitting at different tables.
    The shop was a cozy place, with comfy chairs and a warm decor. The menu is written in bubble letters, and it gives me a feeling of peace. The cashier, dressed in a black shirt and pants with a white apron, steps up to the counter.
    "How may I help you, Sir?" She asks, pressing a button on the register.
    "I'll have an iced coffee, please." I say while pulling my wallet out of my pocket.
    "That will be $3.67, Sir. Can I have a name for this order?"
    I hand her my debit card, "Oh, yes. James."
    After I make my order, I hear the bell on the door jingle, and glance behind me. The woman who enters looks pretty, dressed in a coat with leggings. The only problem is that she gives me a cold feeling, like something isn't right about her. I am still not sure why, but girls make me a bit uncomfortable, maybe because I grew up with three sisters giving me a chaotic childhood filled with teasing.
My name is called for my order, and I turn back to grab my drink. I hold my cup with both hands, as I take a sip.
    I stepped out of the way so the lady behind me could order. When I walk past her, we make eye contact. Her eyes were a blue-green color, and very curious. The same cold feeling comes over me again, and I freeze up. I stop and stare out the front window, ice piercing my chest. I can feel that my breaths are irregular, and try to calm myself. With slightly shaky hands, I take another sip of my coffee.
    I slowly take a step forward, then another step. I continue taking slow steps until I'm at the door. I shake my head, and open the door to the chilly air outside. It takes the icy feeling away, and I feel almost normal. I look back into the shop, through the window. The lady had already ordered and was gazing out the window, while leaning on the counter waiting for her food. We make eye contact again, but I quickly turn my head and walk down the street towards the library.
***
    The heaters in the library were already on, so it was nice and toasty when I walked in. I push my glasses up my nose, while walking behind the circulation desk.
    I check my schedule for today and see that I start out returning books to the shelves near the historical section. I look toward the book cart and see very few books that were checked in.
    "Hey, how was your weekend?" The lady sitting in front of the circulation desk computer turns towards me.
"Very uneventful," I sigh and rub my neck, "I was home alone while my roommate visited his family."
    "Well, at least you got time to yourself." She chuckled, "I babysat my sisters kids over the weekend." She turned back to the computer, and started to type.
    Nodding and smiling, I turn towards the book carrier.
I push the cart to the back of the library, where we keep most of the history books. Most of them seem to be World War II books. I pass people in the isles, each one one holding a book and skimming through it.
I shelve the books on the cart, and start to roll the cart back to the circulation desk. As I take each step, I feel eyes on my back. I choose to ignore it, and continue my path.
Next on my schedule, was to stay at the circulation desk for a couple of hours, checking books out to people, and answering any questions. This is probably one of the easiest tasks that I have. Since it's the morning, not a lot of people are checking out books, kids are still at home or out to school. Most of the people here, though not a lot, are probably university students, studying in their spare time.
Only two people checked books out while I was at the desk. I had strange feelings while I was working, though.
My final task was to use the copy machine in the back, to copy papers chosen by the head administrator of the library. I try my best to not read through the papers, but sometimes they catch my attention. Most of the time, it's old newspapers that need to be put on fresh paper, or people requesting papers to be printed.
Before I get to this task, I get my lunch break. Instead of eating, I use this time to go into the library and search for interesting books. Non-fiction happens to be my favorite, where it has actual facts and real events.
I don't get much time to look, though. I didn't find much, we haven't gotten any new books recently. While I was out, I noticed the woman that I had saw this morning. I completely tried to avoid her as much as possible.
Soon I was able to escape to the back room with the copier, and a pile of papers meant to be copied. This task takes the longest because I can get distracted easily by the interesting papers I can find through the pile.
***
    It has been a couple days since I saw that one girl at the coffee shop, but this eerie feeling has been following me around since then. I see glimpses of her in the crowd: walking home from the library, through shelves in the library, looking through the window at the coffee shop.
    I am too scared to tell my roommate that he would make me stay home. If that happened I wouldn't be able to pay my half of the rent.
    I had already stopped by the coffee shop this morning, and got my usual. I rushed to the library, and finished my first task quickly, starting my work at the circulation desk.
    A tall man comes up to the desk with three books in his hands. He sets them on the counter, and pulls out his wallet.
    "Just these books?" I say, pulling the books towards me and opening the cover of the one on top.
    "Yes sir," He pulls out his library card from his wallet, "here this is." He sets the card on the counter as well.
    I scan the books, and stack them back on the counter. I take the card and scan it, pulling up his name on the computer.
    "Here you are, you have two weeks to read these books, and then you will start to receive a twenty-five cent fine for every day you miss to turn them in." I say, while printing out the receipt.
    "Would you like the receipt?" I rip it away from the printer, and hold it up.
    "Sure, thank you." He takes the paper and places it inside one of the book covers.
    He steps aside, and she appears behind him. She steps forward and leans against the counter.
    "H-how can I help you?" I stutter on accident, and try to swallow my nerves.
    "Oh, nothing. I just wanted to say that you look kinda cute." She smirks and looks me up and down.
    "My name is Charlie, what's your name?" Her lips are red and her eyes are bright.
    "Er... James." I say, feeling a cold sweat on my neck.
    Her face shows a sign of victory, and her eyes appear to shine brighter. I glance to my left, and see a coworker walking towards the desk.
    "I'm sorry, but my shift is over." I say, while the other employee enters behind the desk. I stand and back away from the desk.
    Charlie straightens as well, and smiles at me. I give her a brief nod before ducking into one of the hallways.
It's almost like a labyrinth in this part of the library. On my first day as a volunteer, I got lost in the many hallways that were behind the circulation desk.
I walk down the hallway, and take a right. I open the second door on the left, and step in. The room is small, with a table in the corner holding the copying machine. On another table right beside it, has two stacks of papers. There is a small couch just across from the tables. I take a few steps and collapse on the couch.
It's lunch break right now, but instead of being out in the library to see if there are any new books, I am laying on a couch in the copy room. I close my eyes, and try to even out my breathing. I lay there for about twenty minutes, until I heard footsteps walking down the hall. I turn onto my back and wait until they pass.
The door opens. Why does the door open? No one else comes into this room except me during lunch. My muscles clench and I can't move.
"Hey there handsome." The girl, Charlie, is standing at the door in a big coat and leggings. Like the day I first saw her, in the coffee shop. Her black hair was cut short and she used some kind of product to spike it up. She has her makeup all done, like it was a special occasion.
This stranger steps in and closes the door. Pulling the zipper to her jacket, she walks towards the couch. It slides off her shoulders and she sets it on the floor, revealing a white tank top underneath. Her structure is small and thin.
My body refused to move when I attempted to sit up. She is now standing over the couch, and I no longer want to move, afraid that even if I twitch, I will pay the consequences.
"I thought you'd be here, it took me a while to memorize the library maze." She grins, and places a hand on my chest.
I move my hands to push her hand away, but she moves quickly. Before I realize it, she is on top of me, holding my arms down with her hands.
I start to panic. I have never been in this kind of situation before. What do I do? I am cornered by a woman, she is sitting on top of me, pinning me to the couch. I think about struggling to possibly make her lose her balance and fall off.
"Such a shame that this is how I introduce myself. Usually it would be a lot more formal. But you have been giving me headaches for the past couple days and it was such a pain." She smiles down at me, like a predator ready to kill its prey.
"G-get off me." I say through my teeth.
"Oh, that wouldn't help me at all." She pouts, and sticks out her bottom lip. She then frees her hand, by holding my arms with just one of her hands. She leans towards her jacket, and slips her free hand into a pocket. She pulls out a rag that seems to have already been soaked in a liquid. She turns towards me again.
"I hope you don't mind, but before I get rid of you, I am going to knock you out. I would have really loved to dissect you alive, but that would give me away." She grins once again.
She brings the cloth to my face, and covers my mouth and nose. I try to hold my breath, but my lungs give up and take a deep breath. My vision starts to black, and I can feel myself slipping away. I couldn't help but think of why my life ended like this. I thought of my family, my roommate, my job. Thought about how this lady was going to get away with this.
Though, my life wasn't heading the way I wanted it to. My future was deteriorating with my every action, and nothing was going to fix it. So maybe this ending wouldn't be so bad, I won't be losing much.
I feel pain throughout my body, like strings of fire have wrapped around me, burning me alive. I can't see anything, everything is black.
I scream in my head, feeling pain in my throat. My heart begins to slow, and so does my breathing. Once they stop, I feel that I have left my body. Ascending to another world.
What is sad is that I never found love, and now I will probably never have a choice.
I saw a light, and walked to my fate. Sealing my decision to enter death