The Fifty State Nightmare

1

The blood is warm against your hands as it gushes from the wound of your victim. You watch as they bleed to death once you pull the knife out of their neck. You watch it pool on the bed and slowly trickle down to the floor. A soft sigh of delight leaves your lips as the blood fills your senses. The smell of iron was always a soft comfort. Killing was such a sweet release.

You brush the blood on your hands off on your black jeans, using your black shirt to wipe off your knife. You lift your white mask to wipe off your sweat before grabbing the bag you had brought with you. You pull out your old Polaroid camera and snap a picture of you and your victim, pulling out the photo and looking as it develops. You smile in satisfaction and set it inside your bag before you pull out a different photo of your previous victim, setting it on your current victim's chest and resting their hand on it. You slip your mask back on and make your way out of the house and down the street to where your car was parked. You climb inside and toss the bag to the side before you take your mask offs as well.

You sigh in relief as you start driving, looking carefully to ensure there you wouldn't get pulled over. You drive out of the suburbs and through the expansive farmland. This marked your fiftieth victim. You had been dubbed the Fifty State Nightmare. You were traveling the United States of America and killing someone in every single state. You had just finished your final kill, but that didn't mean you were stopping there. Oh no, you had more victims to go after. You were currently in Kansas and making your way back to Wyoming. Your family had a cabin up there you stayed at and it kept you hidden away from the world. You pull into a random rest stop and pop your trunk, grabbing a clean pair of clothes and heading into the bathroom.

You lock yourself inside one of the stalls and get changed, balling up your clothes and tossing them onto the floor before lighting them on fire. The fire highlights your features as you watch your clothes burn into nothing but ash, kicking your feet through the small pile to scatter it before you leave the bathroom. You'd need to buy more clothes soon. You climb back into your car and continue driving through the night and the morning. At last you make it to your home state and make your way through the mountain roads, following the path higher and higher until you're driving through the mountains. You make your way to the Bighorn National Forest where your family had a cabin, entering the trees and following a rough mountain path.

Thankfully your car had four-wheel drive so you easily made it up the mountain path. You pull into the smooth dirt driveway and park the car before grabbing your knife, mask, and bag. You head inside, setting your mask and knife away inside a safe in your room. You decide to get a quick meal in before you fully relax, checking the fridge to see if your parents had restocked it during your absence. You funded yourself through random jobs when it came to traveling the United States. You were lucky your parents let you reside in the mountains of Wyoming or else you wouldn't have a base to relax in when you weren't traveling. You're excited to see fresh foods in the fridge, smiling when you look at the note your parents left you.

'We stopped by on Friday and stocked up food. Hope your trip went well! You had best have a souvenir or two! Love, mom and dad.' The note read.

You decide to make a sandwich for lunch and settle in front of your computer. You were lucky the cabin was high enough to be able to get service for your phone or else you'd be cut off from the world. You hot-spotted your computer to your phone, thankful you had a set price for unlimited data or else you'd be broke just trying to manage up here. You check the Kansas news sites and smile when your murder is making front headlines, laughing in delight. This was amazing! You were free to travel the country and no one could track you! You plug in your headphones in order to listen to the news story, a grin coming to your lips.

"Tom, I'm standing outside the home of Amelia Lenova where a gruesome scene has taken place. It appears the Fifty State Nightmare has struck once again. They left their signature Polaroid photo in the victim's hand. Her throat was slashed and police say she bled to death quickly. One can only imagine the terror she felt encountering her murderer. Police are still baffled as to who this killer may be. They leave behind no fingerprints or DNA of any kind," The reporter explains.

"Do we know the murder weapon?" Tom questions.

"Police believe it to be a standard kitchen knife. They have no idea on the make or model but they're hoping to have the answer to that soon," The reporter says.

"Good luck. I change knives," You snicker.

You make sure never to mess up. You always wore your mask, you wore gloves, all black clothes, and kept your hair tucked away beneath your black hoody. Even if someone did see you they'd have no idea if you were male or female thanks to the clothes you wore. They weren't tight but they weren't over baggy either. As far as anyone knew you were just a black specter in the night, vanishing before you can blink and register what you just saw. The reporter gets interviews from the victim's family who had discovered her, all of them begging for information. Maybe you should send in an anonymous tip for the heck of it. What state were you going to strike next? You had to figure that out before you did anything else. You close out of the internet and close your laptop before relaxing against the couch.

You end up taking a small nap and head out of the cabin as the sun sets in the distance you collect some of the wood that you had chopped for the fireplace to keep the cabin warm tonight. You get the fire going before going to your room and crawling into bed after discarding most of your clothes. You yawn softly as you close your eyes, the many faces of your victims flashing through your mind. You chuckle as you replay your attacks over and over again inside your mind until you fall asleep.