Who's Next?

Prologue

PROLOGUE

Hannel threw the picnic table over and it somersaulted twice. "I'm going to kill those friends one by one. And I'll kill anyone else I need to, to accomplish this feat." She walked through the small park on its dying grasses and took in the lonely feeling.

She dissected thoughts in her mind until a devilish happiness overwhelmed her. When she was young, used to tell stories but her friends didn't find interest in them. They said they were too unrealistic, and they could never happen. They complained that her evil characters were too fake to be mere humans and still accomplish the feats they did. She persisted in telling her stories that way, and for that she became an outcast. Boys beat her and girls mocked her.

She sorted for a way to make people find her story believable. She met with writers, directors and producers, all of them either turned her down or couldn't help her. She hated the Christian ones the most because they didn't like the evil characters having a significant role in her stories. One almost slapped her when she told a story where the evil character prevailed and had a happy-ever-after finish. She always argued that evil prevails in the world and most times goes unpunished, so why not in her story.

Nevertheless, she persisted in her search for someone to help her with her stories, till she went to a beach one day and found a tunnel there. She walked into the tunnel and it felt endless but at the end of it she found the person she'd been looking for. She cherished one phrase he told her in their encounter, "Why make your story feel realistic, when you can make it real."

He helped her to kill her friends, creating one of her best stories ever. She didn't have to tell her story anymore, people told it for her. His brief teaching helped her carry out many other acts she did after then.

Seven months ago, she met the man again for the first time since the serial killing. Their meeting the second time was very different from the first. He didn't teach her, he didn't need to. She hasn't seen him since the second encounter, she would never need to.

"My friends didn't believe my stories when we were young. Now, these ones don't believe the story of my friends' death. The Bible explains that death is the reward of unbelief. They've sealed their fate this afternoon as none of them has shown up for my Sunday retreat."

She gathered memories of when she was a serial killer for a brief moment. "It's been a while since I did this. How many years is it? Thirty? I mean, that hiatus is too long to still call myself 'the greatest serial killer of my generation.' I need to make a glorious comeback."

Hannel picked three slices of bread from one of the loaves she brought and put them in her mouth. "I think of them bringing the Holy Spirit to help them because in God's word, He says, the light shines in darkness and darkness can't comprehend it. Unfortunately, I'm not darkness; I'm that alternate light.

"But, I'll be honest with myself now. It'll be boring doing this alone, I want an ally. Using someone familiar with them will make it epic and more interesting. I need someone that can play the role."

She downed the bread in her mouth with chilled water from her insulated plastic chiller ice box. She hunted through her handbag for the group picture of the friends and drew it out when she found it.

She raised the printed photo to her eye level and stared at it like the Yoruba witches in Nigerian movies. "I swear by all the blood in me that I'll make you taste pain, and make you lick your blood before it gushes out. I shall be your torment and I shall be your fear. I will bless you with death; with hope will I curse you.

"For this purpose, I was born and for this cause, I was made. O little ones, I'll never repent from my judgment on you and as long as I'm alive is as long as you'll run from death. But who can run from death?

"You won't run for long because it won't take long. I will do swift work amongst you. Your screams will be my praises and your tears mine worship."

Hannel reflected on what she said and thought, "The point is that I'll kill those friends one by one, in different and unsuspecting ways and I'll do it in a very short time. It's boring taking years to kill eight people, I want to come in like a flood and I know the perfect ally."

She unlocked her phone and sent a bunch of photos to someone - threatening photos. She smiled and stared at her potential ally's picture. "This will make you submit. The terror of Hannel begins."