Cry for me

1 Bloodless

The first body was left drained of every single drop of blood. It could have been mistaken for a bloodless crime if it weren't for the crimson streaks on the girls' faces. Her terrified expression was frozen as her pierced eyes glared into the nothingness. What looked like her real tears blended in with the crimson streaks on their pale cheeks. It looked random until we learned that it must be the M.O. of the killer seeing as his second victim, my sister held those same markings. It had been an odd sight; she had looked peaceful and unharmed except for the bloody tears that couldn't be washed off no matter how hard they tried.

My father, the head sheriff of the Southwood police station, swore that he would bring my sister the justice she deserved, but things escalated fast. A new body was found nearly every month; Girls would go missing and would later be found with unremovable blood streaks on their faces. The blood was always old, and it belonged to other victims he killed.

The stained faces of his victims led most parents to hold closed-casket funerals. Only after nearly a year since the murders began did the cops learn that most of the bodies of the bloody-faced victims had disappeared. It was a secret that they had yet to reveal to the public in fear of the people of Detroit making a mockery out of them. Surely, they had enough experience in their fields to not be outsmarted by one guy!

I groaned in annoyance as I stared at the teacher that had been going on and on about nothing for the last 35 minutes. Nothing could stop me from feeling uneasy as I had to sit through another boring class.

''Kevin Jonson! You know the rules; if you can't participate in class you go to the library and you can work on your co-curricular assignments.''

Miss Simpson opened the door and gestured for me to get out and I couldn't have moved faster if I tried. She reeked and she was dripping sweat while she nervously tried to regain some control over the unruly class. No one wanted to be there.

I closed the door behind me, and the sound of my classmates yelling could be heard in the empty hallway. The hallway was filled with posters about the upcoming prom but what got my attention was the pictures of two girls. Alexia and Mariam, they were in my science class before they went missing. They had been gone for less than a week, but it didn't stop people from decorating their lockers with flowers. No one said it, but people didn't think that they were still alive. It had been nearly a year since my sisters' death and the killer was still roaming free.

The cold December wind slammed the door shut and I started my walk to the separate building near the parking lot. It was clear that the school barely invested in maintaining the Library. The inside was even worse than the outside. The tiles seemed to be breaking and there was always an unpleasant smell. The lights were dim as I walked past the main area and right up the shady stairs that creaked loudly at the impact of my heavy yet muscular frame. No one was ever on the second floor, because there was nothing of value here as far as people knew. I had cleaned up a little space where I could work, but something seemed off. The air felt ticker and the dusty smell seemed rustier and more metallic.

I looked through the tiny dirty windows down the railing and I could see most of the library. There were some people there. Alice, the shy introverted class assistant, was trying to clean as much as she could. It barely made a difference which was perfect, because neither did her existence. She was just barely there. Then there were the couples with no standards and Mrs Jack who did a terrible job at being a school surveillance. She had her headphones in, was holding a newspaper in front of her and she seemed to be taking a nap on a red couch.

I rolled my eyes and turned away from the windows. I grabbed my backpack to reveal the file that I had ''borrowed'' from my father. He had selfishly decided to not share any of the details of his cases in order for me to ''just focus on school''. I was just about to open the cases when I heard a scream. I looked down to the second floor and then I saw it. Alice stood by Mrs Jack and one hand was resting on her arm. The newspaper that covered most of Mrs Jack's face was now on the table in front of her which revealed her face with cheeks covered in red streaks.

I quickly ran down the stairs and moved through some of the empty shelves to the red couch that she was sitting on. The blood on her face looked old and dry just like she had been. I quickly pulled out my phone and snapped a couple of pictures before I saw something that I knew wasn't there in any other cases. The newspaper seemed to have a list of names and a message written in blood.

I heard gasps of air and noticed that Alice seemed to be frozen with her hand resting on the dead lady. I rolled my eyes as I ripped her hand off and shoved her away. This seemed to shake her out of her state of shock as she ran away with tears streaming down her face. She'd seen the list and the message.

Cry for me

I took another picture.

Things were only going to get worse.