The Campus Killings {#LGBTQ #HORROR}

Prologue.

"I can't stay here anymore."

Thick, wet words spilled from a trembling mouth and large, wooden doors were pushed open as Laura Lee Armstrong came desperately running out of the main entrance of Aileanach College into the dark, stormy night, rain pelting down onto her skin fiercely.

Laura was a girl of eighteen, almost nineteen years old, a pale, curvaceous and yet angelic-faced redhead who had mesmerising emerald green eyes that hung above a pointed nose, sharp cheekbones and rounded, glossy pink lips. Smudged lipstick hung off her mouth and around her eyes was the traces of streaked eyeliner, cutting through the picturesque and seemingly perfect portrait of her face.

The girl was clad in a notably dishevelled outfit, her slim-fitting blouse slightly unbuttoned as it hung above ripped jeans. Around her neck hung a red and black checked scarf, which she briefly reached out to clutch, sadness falling onto her face as well as a twinge of something akin to fear.

She fled from the relative safety and warmth of the inside building into a cavalcade of spiralling wind and spitting rain, pulling her hair from her face as she wiped fruitlessly at the messed makeup, instead making it worse and dragging it along her skin until she resembled a red, blotchy raccoon.

Laura listlessly wandered further from the college, grabbing her phone from her bag as she headed down to the gate, looking out into the seemingly endless surrounding woods.

At this time of night, in the dark, it looked as if the college was completely residing in its own world, the opulent, Victorian buildings of the campus shut away behind endless alder trees. It was utterly impossible to see where the rest of the world came in, it was so empty and black.

Laura's eyes stung with tears as she frantically tapped at the device, huffing at the delay from being waterlogged, as well as the oncoming cold from not grabbing a jacket.

Eventually, she came across her desired contact, marked only as 'MUM', but as she tried to phone, was only met with a lack of service, the fatal screen which read simply as 'Call Failed'.

"Fuck!" she grumbled thickly under her breath, wiping again at her face.

She tried again, to no avail, screaming out her frustration into the air before heaving an exasperated sigh.

"Tomorrow." she stated under her breath, determined, "I'll phone again tomorrow. I can wait until tomorrow."

With that, she put the device back into her pocket, shivering from the cold as she headed back down the pathway towards her dormitory, taking in the sights of the college at night.

Aileanach College was a prestigious, private school hidden away in the recesses of Aberdeenshire, far away from the rest of civilisation — Laura had been sent there to study makeup, or so that was what she had been told by her mother.

In reality, she knew it was just a way to get rid of her. Her mother had vehemently denied it but she knew it was the truth, she knew people, and to her, they were all capable of such abandonment.

Laura sighed heavily as she came across the campus' pond which was situated close to her dorm building, itself to the side of the main building. Water lapped wildly against the bank as she stared out onto it — whenever she felt homesick, and recently, that had been often, she would come to the water and think.

Originally from the coastal town of Dunbar, Laura was used to the water and the peace it would bring her and so the pond, though hardly comparable to the beach of her hometown, would bring some comfort and allow her to get lost, if even for a moment.

Raindrops splattered into the water, causing little whirlpools as they landed and her gaze remained transfixed, even as she was starting to feel the cold really catch up to her, losing sensation in her fingers, which had found themselves back around the scarf, clutching the thin material in hand.

Laura sniffled, her head jerking up as she heard the distant voices of campus security on the other side of the building, the men unintelligible through the rain.

Allowing herself the brief distraction, she looked back onto the water, not noticing as distantly behind her, someone was watching.

***

Early the following morning, one of the campus security, Cameron, decided to do one final sweep of the grounds before checking out for the day shift — he bid farewell to his coworker Angus before heading back around, starting at the main gate.

It being five in the morning, most of the students and faculty were still in bed, and so it was predictably quiet as he wandered around past the new gym, the science building and the east wing of dormitories.

He continued walking, turning off his torch at the subtle break of daylight coming in through the trees as he passed the track and basketball court, the old, defunct gymnasium, and the old chapel before finally coming around by the front of the west wing, his loafers sinking in the muddy grass.

He looked up the dormitory building, seeing little to no activity before deciding he was satisfied, turning around to face the body of water before it, which initially seemed normal until he distantly spotted something that made his blood run cold.

Floating towards the centre of the pond, face down with her red hair spread around her head like a wet halo was Laura, or at least, what remained of her. Her arms were spread out, one of her shoes floating near her with her scarf no longer around her neck.

Horrified, Cameron backed away, slipping and falling in the mud as he choked on a horrified scream.