I made my way down the gray, mucky stairs to the sidewalk. There were several kids playing in front of the yellowish brown building I live in.
I remember when I was little once, too, and played outside this building with my older sister, Victoria. Ria always wanted to play outside. She loved the outdoors. I never saw Ria anywhere without her hair tied up. Her hair was really long so she always tied it up to keep it out of her face.
I made my way to the end of the street and waited at the bus stop. It was getting dark outside. I had to go to a party tonight for my best friend, Elizabeth. She was a coordinator for night club parties. This party was really important to her so she begged me to come. I usually don’t go to her parties, no matter how much she asks, but today was an exception. I tapped my foot against the sidewalk, waiting for my bus to come so that I could get to Vanity. Vanity was the name of the night club. Liz was originally the manager, but after some hard work she now owns it.
Suddenly, I heard a tune making its way out of my green messenger bag. I rustled through my bag until I grasped my phone. I pressed on the green button and immediately Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata silenced.
“Hey Liz,” I said, knowing it was probably going to be her. No one else really called me.
“Avalaine Brooks! Where in the world are you?” she screeched through the phone so loud that I winced. I had to hold my black Samsung phone away from my ears. Liz always uses my whole name when she is mad at me.
“I’m coming. The bus isn’t here yet. I’ll be there in 15 minutes max. I promise,” I said, while catching the view of the bus rolling towards me.
“Okay, just come soon, Ava. I don’t want you to miss this party.”
“Yeah, okay. Don’t worry, I’ll be there.” I clicked off my phone and threw it into my bag as the tires of the bus screeched in front of me. Making my way onto the bus, I looked for an empty seat. Not many people were in it. I decided to take a seat in front of a faceless man who had the Toronto Star in his hands. I could see the headlines in bold. “Blue Ribbon Serial Killer on the Loose with 3 dead! By Marshall Farrell.” I had heard about those rumors. All the bodies had a blue ribbon tied around their finger. A serial killer. I scoffed. As if this person was a serial killer. The killer was obviously targeting these people for another reason, other than a psychological benefit.
I was lost in my own thoughts, twirling a piece of wire I found in my bag when the speaker on the bus announced: “Next Stop, Old Vintage Road.”
I pushed myself off the seat and made my way to the doors. As I stepped out of the bus, I noticed the trees, naked and defenseless from the cold gust of wind. I flinched as the cold air hit my cheek. I jogged up to the doors of the large warehouse with the large, worn down sign “VANITY” and let myself in. I was immediately knocked over by none other than Liz.
“You finally made it! I was so worried. Have some drinks. I have to take care of some things,” Liz hollered over the blazing music pounding in my ears.
She dashed off to my right in a mix of tangled bodies. I pushed myself further into the labyrinth of sweaty bodies and made myself to the bar.
“One Coke, please,” I ordered the bartender, whose name tag read Cole. He was wearing a black t-shirt, from what I could see, that was not covered from the shiny black bar counter. He winked at me and turned around to get my drink. Cole placed my drink on the counter and gave me a full-tooth smile.
“A pretty thing like you shouldn’t be alone at parties like this,” he began.
I cut him off before he could get ahead of himself and said, “I can take care of myself.” He held up his hands in surrender.
“I’m just saying,” he replied. I just rolled my eyes and turned around. As I sipped my drink I analyzed my surroundings. Everyone was lost in their own worlds. Everyone but one. There was a man standing on the other side of the bar intently staring at me. He had a leather black jacket that matched his jet black hair. He noticed me staring and made his way over to me. Perfect.
“Hey, you look bored. Wanna dance?” he asked me casually, with his hands raking his hair into a heavy mess. He then held his hand out towards me. I shrugged and took his hand. Act casual. I followed him as he tugged me to the heart of dance floor. We swayed around to the beat of the hard core electric music for a while.
“I’m Colton. What’s your name, beautiful?” he slyly asked. I smirked on the inside.
“I’m Ava,” I answered, with a shy smile. Keep it cool. Keep it together.
“How about we head outside?” he invited.
“Sure. Let’s go.” Colton grasped my fingers with a tight clasp and tugged me through the maze of people. We finally made our way to a back door and let ourselves out.
“So, Colton,” I started, once we got outside, “what do you do for a living?” I attempted small talk. A mighty halo glowed above us.
“Me? I’ve started a financial business,” he said. He smirked. We were still in front of the closed door. A dumpster was to my right and a metal fence was barely visible from the pitch dark to my left. We were in an alley. Colton leaned closer to me, trapping me between his lean body and the brick walls of the warehouse. Exactly what I wanted.
“You know, you’re really bad at small talk,” he murmured.
“Maybe you should teach me how to then,” I purred. He leaned in closer and I felt his cheek rub against mine. His breath tickled my ear. Just close enough. I reached into my bag and pulled out wire, a wire thin enough for no one to notice, but lethal enough to tear flesh. I looped my arms around his neck and pulled the wire with me, tightening it around his neck.
…
Officer Ben Thomas concluded his investigation and placed the one piece of evidence that was found into an airtight bag; a blue ribbon that was tied around the victims finger. It was ribbon that most young girls would tie in their hair. The blue ribbon serial killer had struck again and he still had little lead.
All the victims were only related by one financial business, owned by a girl who had died some years back. The only other piece of evidence that was found was a small crumpled piece of paper that said: 4 dead. 2 more to go.
