No Rest for the Wicked

Chapter Twelve

Cassidy's newly found status in the chess club had been keeping her mind and body busy. She had gotten along so well with the other members that she'd managed to exchange numbers with a few, the first ones being her new friends Issac and Mia.

Issac was a bit distant at first, but once the two started talking more he seemed to open up. He had admitted that he didn't have many friends, always being the odd one out when it came to friend groups, so he'd settle for just one or two friends occasionally.

The same had gone for Mia, except her lack of friends came from her hyperfixation on her school work and hobbies. She was often too busy with some kind of project or assignment, rarely making the time to go out with people even if she had it. She would always fill that time with something else she found more useful than social interaction.

The fact that everyone knew about her obsession with serial killers and murder in general didn't help her case. Such things are frowned upon in a town like this, even more shunned now that the town was under siege by an insane lunatic.

Some students even found it suspicious. Maybe the crime nut that had a couple of screws loose finally had lost her mind, her brain filled to the brim with knowledge and fantasies of deaths and brutal murders that she finally had decided to play out.

Mia couldn't be the culprit though. Cassidy had known her for long enough to know Mia was harmless, just a bit strange. She was actually quite kind and caring despite her interests.

Besides, anyone who knew about the hidden details of the murders knew that the killer was a man. He always raped his victims; the autopsy reports had shown what the sicko did to them before they died, some of the damage having been done in a very specific and disgusting way.

Cassidy didn't like to think about it.

Fortunately she was barely thinking about it now that she had an outlet. She was more focused on her new friends and school work to really think about the mental toll her fathers work had been taking on her or how she missed her old home.

Occasionally she did wish she was back in Alnwick with her hillbilly friends, back when there wasn't a killer on the loose that made her check to make sure the front door was locked twice every night; once before bed and once when she'd get up for a glass of water in the middle of the night.

Things were finally looking up for Cassidy, even if she was still slightly paranoid about this killer. With her now found friends, she felt like she was on top of the world. Besides, her father was a police officer. No murderer in their right mind would mess with him or his family. She really didn't have anything to worry about...

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Cassidy was lounging on her bed, her head propped up on her pillow and her eyes glued to her CRT box TV as she watched the latest episode of Codename: Kids Next Door. Her hands lay clasped together on her stomach, her attention focused on her screen as she watched the latest episode of her current favorite series.

She didn't care how old she was; she felt shows like this could be enjoyable for any audience, even if it was meant for younger viewers.

A bowl of cereal sat idly on her nightstand, the once crunchy cereal now soggy from sitting dormant in milk for so long. It was currently 9 AM, much earlier than Cassidy had wanted to be up on a Saturday morning, but school had screwed up her internal alarm clock.

Her father still hadn't come back from his night out. He had left late the night earlier with the sheriff and presumably was still working. Cassidy chalked it up to the man just being his usual self and working overtime down at the station.