Chain Letters

1~ I swear I was Alone!

         I've never really enjoyed rivers. The water isn't clean and they always run quite frigid.

Yet, I had decided upon the river. Yes, this would be the best place to do this.

We walked through the forest. It was nighttime, and rather cold, might I add. The leaves were crunching underneath our weight. The wind howled past us.

Nevermind how cold I was, I had an objective.

Finally, I could hear the river water running as I approached a river.

Well, we approached the river.

Am I supposed to refer to a corpse as another human with me? Or is it just me, and a corpse?
Or is it we? Are we two?

I shook the thought away as I stood at the edge of the trickling water. Finally, after my journey here, I took her body off my shoulder, and dropped her in the water.

Bye bye, victim. I watched as the river took her body away. Then, suddenly another body came down the river towards me.

Weird, I've never dumped her before now.

I looked up the river.

How could this be?
I had checked I was alone?!

Another body peered back at me.
A LIVE body.
A..
Man.

It was a man. I think. It seemed he was doing the same I was. We stood staring at eachother in the dark forest for atleast 45 seconds.

Then this stranger just ran away.

It was then I decided, this man was my competition.

And I would kill him.

17 hours later:
[new mystery POV:]

I cut myself a piece of coffee cake, and turned on the news. As I did every morning.

There was a crash next door. I set down my coffee cake and went to investigate.

A moving truck came into our town home complex, and I watched as the movers moved dozens of boxes into the home next to mine.

It had been empty for quite some time, but I didn't mind. It was quiet.

As I stepped back inside, I heard the news reporter on the TV.

newswoman: It seems there were two bodies, both identified as female, one older, and one significantly younger, were dumped in the river. Investigators have found the older woman, named Risa Price, Age: 52. The younger still has not been identified.

I lost my appetite.

This wasn't the first time this happened.
I immediately picked up my phone and dialed my brothers number.

It rang three times before he picked up.

"hello?" He groggily said.

"Dante?" I asked. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, Domi. What's wrong?"
"Dante, stop it! I told you to stop last time! You can't go on like this!" I yelled into the phone. He sighed on the other side and replied very calmly.
"I know, Dominique. I'm sorry. I won't do it again. She was pissing me off!"
"That's not an excuse, dumbass! You're going to get caught!" I paused. "You said that last time." I said quietly.
"Domi, can I tell you something?"
"Anything, Dante. You know that. You wet blanket." I had added on the insult to make it seem like I wasn't too upset with him.
"Last night when I was.. You know.. I saw someone else there Domi. It was a man. significantly larger than me. We stared at eachother. I don't know what to do. I sprinted from him, but he looked so familiar. I have this feeling he's after me. And if he knows who I am, he's after you too. Maybe even our friends." Dante said, quickly. He sounded genuinely worried.
"Fuck, Dan! I told you to stop killing people! If you had just stopped we wouldn't be in this!" I yelled.

Then, there was a knock on the door.
What if someone had heard me?

"I need to go Dante. Bye bye." I hung up hurriedly. I didn't even hear his goodbye.

I made my way to the door.
"Hello?" I asked, and peered through the peephole.

"Let me in." It was the new neighbor, and his husband.
I let them in.

"We heard." The neighbor said. "We know about your brother."
My eyes widened. "Please don-"
He cut me off. "What's your name?"
"I'm Dominique De Chaton Archisade. What do you want from me?" I asked.
"Anyone who is involved in your crime sprees, call them over." The other husband demanded.
I obeyed.

I called Blaire Fletcher, Dante De Chaton Archisade (AKA, my brother!!), and Eduardo.

Eduardo was the last to show up, Of course.
We all stared at him.

"What?" He asked. "Some greeting. Is everyone too busy to welcome me?"

"Lay off, Eddie." Dante said.

Eduardo scoffed but listened and took a seat on the couch next to Dante.

A moment of silence was shared.

"Listen." Eduardo said, and looked up. "Make this trip worthwhile. I am not wasting my time. Who the devil are these two, and why did you call us here?"

I just stared at him, then looked back to my neighbors.
I could feel Blaire shaking next to me.
"Don't tell me-" Blaire stopped and looked at us all.

Eduardo had put together the pieces. His eyes widened. "Shit." He whispered.
"No, no, no, no. Listen. What do you guys want? Do not tell anyone!"

Dante still sat in silence.
Molly looked around in her Shit-We-Got-Caught face.

Even though she was apart of a crime organization, she hated getting in trouble.

Finally, the first husband spoke. "Listen. We're not going to rat you out. We wanna help you all. My name is Olivier, and this is my husband Roland. You don't get to know our last name. Let us help you."

I looked at everyone. They all seemed scared.

There was a knock on the door again, and Molly practically flew up to the ceiling.

A letter fell through the mail opening.
I picked it up.

It wasn't addressed to anyone in specific. It just said: "De Chaton Archisade, and her accomplices."

I opened the letter.

"Dominique, I hope this finds you in good health. Do not forget this. I know about Dante, Blaire, and Eduardo. Every letter will have a task, mainly gruesome, for one of you to complete. Take a picture of the results of my task and mail it back to exactly ####, ####### street, #########, Massachusetts.  Disobey me and I'll turn you all in to the police and kill any remaining family you have."

I looked up at everyone.
"It's a chain letter."

I read the note aloud.

"The first task is for Molly." I was reading it out for everyone. "Molly, slit your right wrist. You have exactly a week to do my task."

I looked at Molly.
She gulped but nodded her head.
"Eduardo, go get a kitchen knife." Dante ordered.
Ed obeyed.
We were going to do this first task.