Down Under

Chapter 1

The rain fell harshly against your skin, sneaking into any crevice it could find as you ran. The night sky provided little light and the limited amount of streetlights didn't give any comfort to you. Was it a mistake on your part to stay at the library far too long and miss the last bus? To a certain extent it was, but your last-minute studying was something you took seriously. The librarian had to kick you out; they were another student that you had seen around a couple of times before but never interacted with.

A few other students also fell victim to the same fate and gave you their awkward goodbyes at the door before heading to the parking lots. You only lived a twenty-minute walk away from the school anyway but the early afternoon drizzling had grown into heavy rain. You were ignorant enough to not have carried a backpack with you and didn't have enough money in your bank to order a ride home. It was nothing at first. Just a little night walk in the rain that would probably lead to a small cold in the morning, nothing you hadn't dealt with in the past.

You passed by multiple other people, all carrying umbrellas, that were running their own late-night errands before turning a block to the dreaded area. Your commute was only a twenty-minute walk because of a small shortcut you had found early on. There were no bodies you could make out from the shadows, so you settled for using your phone's light to guide you through the small path. A minute passed by with your senses on high alert before you heard it. The heavy footsteps, which were not there before, followed closely behind you. At first, they were a few feet away from you, but then you could almost hear the person right behind you.

You didn't need to see before you could sense that they were trying to reach out to you. That's when you broke out into a run; you just needed to reach the end of this path to reach a relatively populated area running with other college students like you. You could already see the bodies of passersby at the end of the path when the person managed to get a hold of your backpack. Quickly letting the straps slide down your shoulders to let the backpack fall off, you ran faster. It was a fast response on your part but your chaser was faster on their feet. They threw your abandoned backpack at your back and effectively brought you down to the mud.

Adrenaline coursed through your veins as you felt the body of your attacker get on your back and flip you over to face them. A mask covered the bottom half of their face, and they wore a hood that managed to form a shadow over any other feature on their face. You squirmed under them, punching and kicking to give yourself the chance to get out, but it was futile. The rain fell into your eyes, messing with your vision, and the mud made it difficult to get any solid support for your back or legs. Your attacker waved a kitchen knife in front of your face, one that you could hardly make out, but the light blare was enough for you to know.

Letting out a deep chuckle, they dug their knee into your abdomen before shoving the knife directly into your side. You let out a sharp scream that was muffled by their muddied hand. "You should feel honored, being my final piece for my art should be," they sharply whispered. It was a man, his voice gave it away, but that was nearly nothing to work with other than the fact that you weren't his first victim. He brought the knife up your side, making sure to go as deep as he could while shoving his dirty fingers into your mouth so that you would choke on your screams. "Girls can be so dumb, but I guess I should thank you for the opportunity."

He yanked the knife out of your side and rubbed the sides against your cheek to clean the blood off of it. Digging his knife nearer the area where he cut, he observed the blood ooze out of you and mix into the muddied ground. You certainly weren't going to be his cleanest kill, but it was a great ending to his work. Killing you right next to a busy street was no easy task. However, how alert would sleep-deprived college students be to catch him in the act - not enough.

You noticed his dazed look, falling in and out of focus, and took the opportunity to punch his face and push yourself up. It wasn't enough to get him off of you, but it gave you enough time to dig into your pocket and jam your house key through his cheek. Putting as much pressure as possible onto your side, you rushed to your feet and ran the few extra feet you needed to make it to safety. Your throat felt raw from all the muffled screaming you did as well as the mud mixing in with all the saliva. You didn't turn back once to see if he was still there. The lit-up street was your only goal and with one more step, you finally made it. Running directly into an unsuspecting group of girls, one of them quickly held you up and screamed for help.