Bookview Valley 2

Prologue

Sunday, January 11th 2011 (Edited 10/25/24)

The rain fell hard on the sleeping town of Bookview Valley...this sounds familiar. Barely lit neighborhood, check. One light on in a bedroom, check. Hmm...have we been here before? Feels like dejavu...

Mia Carson, a pretty young sophomore of Bookview High, stares longingly out her window. The stars twinkle just outside her room. If only she could see them; about nine months ago her paranoid parents added permanent window shades. She taps the metal sheet, receiving a small ting noise.

Sighing, she opens up her book, once more. She scoots on the window seat until she gets comfortable and takes a sip from her cup of tea. It would be such a lovely night, if she could see it. The lamp beside the window seat flickers, causing Mia to glance up. The lamp stays on, it's light as strong as ever. Shrugging, Mia turns back to her book.

The lamp flickers again and goes out. Setting down her book, her breath quickening, Mia rises from her comfortable seat. She listens as hard as she can for any knocks, thudding footsteps, or anything at all. Hearing nothing, she sits back down and stares into the dark.

"Miss me?" The voice comes from nowhere and from everywhere all at once.

"No, no, you're in jail!" Mia exclaims and then lets out a piercing scream. Of course she's heard of the infamous Bookview murders, she lived them. She's not about to let our killer murder her outright. Scream when you can, you know?

The Skeleton laughs, "Come on, you can do better than that." She goes to scream again, but a gloved hand covers her mouth, "On second thought, I've got a headache." 

The Skeleton slowly removes their hand, "How are you here? Jamie, I know it's you. How did you escape?"

"Jamie? I'm not Jamie," The voice growls, "That amateur can't do anything right."

"You're...you're not Jamie?" Mia's panic begins to rise, "Then who are you?"

"Really, you think I'm going to answer that?"

"It's been ten months, why start killing now?"

"I have my reasons," The voice hisses, low right next to Mia's ear. A tear slips from her eye, "You know what happens next, don't you?"

Mia whimpers, pressing her self further against her sheet of a window shade, "Please, I'll do anything. Just don't hurt me."

"What an interesting bargain," The voice says as Mia's lamp flickers on. The Skeleton stands in front of her in full glory; the medieval, black cloak, the black hood, and of course, the skull mask.

"You're willing to bargain?" Mia asks, resisting the urge to scream at the sudden reveal of the very real serial killer.

"Who doesn't like a good bargain?" The Skeleton's mask grins in the most eerie of ways, the cheekbones high, the smile stretching from cheek to cheek, the teeth the same shade of bone white as the rest of the mask, but the worst part of all is the eyes. Dark sockets stare down at Mia, no vision of human eyes in their shadows; it's inhuman, alien, unreal.

"Okay, um, what is it you want?" Mia asks.

"That's for me to know and you to find out. This wouldn't be so much fun if I told you, would it?" The Skeleton laughs.

"I..I have a brother," Mia tries, "You can have him!"

"You don't have a brother."

"Um..okay, what about-"

"I'm getting bored."

"Ah, okay, okay, what if I help you kill other people?" Mia begs.

"You? Help me? Kill people?" The Skeleton lets out another raspy laugh, "You are good at the jokes. Goodness, I've missed this."

"You've missed jokes?"

"No, I've missed killing people," The Skeleton draws close, unsheathing the well-known antler knife.

"I thought they put that away?"

"I have my ways. Can't do the killing without the best part, can I?"

"Please, don't kill me," Mia begs, again.

"Alright, for a kiss."

"You won't kill me if I give you a kiss?"

"Sure."

"Okay, deal," The Skeleton's grin gets wider, "But remove your mask."

"Tsk. Tsk. You know I can't do that."

"Then how are we supposed to kiss?" Mia looks actually confused. The Skeleton takes a strip of Mia's long brown hair and twirls it around their finger.

"There's a secret hole for my lips, just for a moment like this."

"Really?"

"Only one way to find out."

"Fine," Mia stands and walks up to the killer, "Kiss me."

"As you wish," The Skeleton leans in to kiss Mia, a hole magically opening to reveal normal looking lips. Mia stifles a sigh of relief and closes her eyes. She presses her lips against the Skeleton's and she wouldn't tell you if you asked her, but she rather enjoyed it. At least, the first part. The light turns off once more as the Skeleton plunges the antler knife into Mia's chest. It slides through with a sickening crunch followed by more crunches; that being her sternum breaking.

Blood instantly soaks through her shirt and onto the cloak of the Skeleton. Thick pools of blood stream down Mia's chin, "But you...promised.." She chokes out.

"I never said 'I promise'. You took me at my word," The Skeleton laughs, the mask closing up in front of the killer's mouth, "Do you know how foolish that is?"

Mia's eyes widen, "Wait...I know..your..voice.."

The Skeleton slices the antler across Mia's throat, her blood oozes down her chest, soaking the rest of her shirt, "So what?"

Mia doesn't reply. Mia is dead. The Skeleton wipes off their antler knife and sheaths it. Smiling down at Mia's body, the Skeleton says, "It's good to be back."