And All My Devotion Turns Violent

Chapter Ten

Police have put out an alert for St. Julian University Sophomore Katie Ober who was reported missing this morning. Ober was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, a green sweater and black jeans. She is 5'6", white, with long brown hair that was last seen in a braid. Any knowledge of her whereabouts should be reported to campus police immediately.

Maybe there's something wrong with me, because getting knowledge that yet another girl was missing didn't faze me at all this time... That could be because no one really noticed when Callie's friend went missing, it was one note and then it was over... Like the university was slowly accepting the deaths and disappearances... Well, unless someone important gets taken. But even I'm reacting like it's not a big deal, and I found Regan's body.

If it's the same psycho... Good luck.

"Huh." I tossed my phone down beside me and sighed, running my fingers through my hair as I stretched my back, feeling a pleasant pop between my shoulder blades. "Katie's missing." Bethany raised an eyebrow, looking over at me in confusion.

I swear she's in my dorm more than hers at this point, always doing something in here, stealing my clothing, my snacks... I don't mind it at all, I just think it's funny. We might as well just see if she can get in this room at this point, no one has been knocking down my door to fill the spot... She probably could.

"Who?" Oh. Yeah, that's right.

I should've just said 'the creep from a few days ago', that would've cleared it right up.

"The girl who was hitting on me." Bethany's eyes flashed in recognition as she leaned closer to my mirror, carefully applying her mascara. "Her name is Katie." I said, and she grimaced, clearing her throat as she set her makeup down, folding her hands together as she looked over at me.

Hello?

"You seem calm about that..." She said, and I shrugged... That was surprising to me too, but I just didn't feel stressed by it... Maybe that was because I knew that I could probably fight back against whoever was doing this just fine and survive, maybe it was because at this point it just kept happening.

Eventually I was bound to get used to it, right?

"I think I'm becoming desensitized." I said, and Bethany frowned, but nodded like that made sense, which was good because I'm pretty sure it did.

Humans adapt, right?

"Well... If that's the case, can I share a theory with you?" She asked, and I nodded.

She could share whatever theory she wanted with me, granted I don't really know what I could add to it - my brain doesn't work that way.

"... Sure?" I asked, and Bethany sighed, putting down her makeup so that she could really give me her attention.

Oh. If this was big enough to make her stop getting ready it was fucking big.

"Okay, I'm really starting to see a pattern with these missing persons being people who have had interactions with you." That... Well, that was circumstantial, right?

These people knew plenty of people, this campus was small, a lot of people knew a lot of other people... Plus, I don't actually know the people who were killed, they were acquaintances, arguably I was not the one to be watching.

"I mean, it's a small campus, I'm sure she interacted with a ton of people, it's probably just a coincidence." I said, and Bethany frowned, folding her hands in front of her mouth as she bounced her leg, looking pensive.