Peter Pan The Killer

Chapter 5: Peter Pan Makes A Slip

The cold night air clung to Gwendy's skin. She pulled her jacket tighter, wrapping it even closer to her skin. She shut her car door, staring at the scene ahead. Police cars and an ambulance had already made their way to the scene. A group of passer-bys were standing outside the yellow tape that the police put up, trying to get a look at the scene.

Gwen squeezed past the crowd and made it to the front, the yellow tape pressing against her torso as she leaned forward to get a better look. A few police were around an old house, questioning some people. She guessed they were the ones in the house.

A stretcher carried by a few paramedics, occupied with a body, was just beyond the fence. Looking over at the scene, she noticed blood splattered on the wall of the house near the garden. Directly above the blood splatter was a bedroom window. It was ajar, curtains fluttering into the room.

She must have jumped. She concluded.

Gwen began looking around the compound as much as she could, behind the yellow tape, trying to find some clues, but there was nothing much. Only a splatter of blood and a window wide open above it. She sighed in frustration. And here she thought she could get some evidence.

Not looking at where she was going, she bumped into a person. She lifted her head and noticed it was a woman in paramedics scrubs.

"I'm sorry," she blurted.

The woman shook her head. "It's okay. Please move aside. I have to go," she said in a hurry.

Gwen stepped aside, then a thought occurred to her. Why was the ambulance still wailing, and the paramedics are in a rush to get it to the hospital? She knew that they would have switched off the sirens if the patient was dead. Which meant...

The victim was alive!

The two paramedics shut the back doors of the ambulance and the white van began speeding to the hospital. Gwen's mind opened to new possibilities. The victim survived. She started observing the scene from a new perspective.

She noticed, just below the window was a thick bush. Gwen eyed the cops. They were busy interrogating the house occupants, so she seized the opportunity. She crawled under the tape and sneaked her way to the bush. Blood was splattered on the wall behind the bush, but they were pieces of ripped fabric clinging onto the branches of it.

The bush reduced the impact of the fall. The victim made it.

Gwen knew this was her only chance. She could get useful input from the victim.

Sneaking back out of the scene, she slipped into her car. She waited inside till police ushered the witnesses into the car. They drove off. They left a few of the house occupants. She got hold of one of them and asked a few vital questions about the victim.

Once she was satisfied with the information, she drove back home. 

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"Like I said, she's a close friend of mine. Please let me visit her," pleaded Gwen at the hospital reception desk.

The receptionist sighed. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. You are the first to visit in her days since she got admitted," the petite woman said, a sympathetic look in her eyes.

"Thank you!" Gwen exclaimed.

Following the directions of the receptionist, she made her way to Sandera Rue's ward.

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Gwen could not help but feel sorry for the young girl resting on the plain white bed. She beamed with relief at the girl's willingness to speak more of the tragic event. However, as strange as it was, the event seemed less tragic but more joyful.

"I didn't make it. Oh, I bet I did not believe hard enough," Sandera began in a hoarse voice.

"Who exactly came into your room?" Gwen asked. The pale girl smiled, wistful.

"A wonderful person," she said, exhaling.

Gwendy tried her best to keep up with the girl's lunacy. She was talking about a serial killer for crying out loud! What do you mean wonderful? Gwendy cried in her head.

"He would set me free. From those monsters, from that house," she continued. Gwen bit her tongue to prevent her from commenting, allowing her to continue.

"He said I would never be alone. He said he would bring me to a paradise I can only imagine," she mumbled, almost slurring the words. Gwen realised her eyes were drooping. The painkillers must have been taking effect.

"Where did he say he would bring you? Who is this person? What's his name?" Gwen pestered.

She knew she had little time before the girl knocked out. The girl giggled lazily and let out a peaceful sigh.

"I had to believe... then I could fly... fly... out the window... to..." the last few words she was about to say became a soft mumble, that Gwen struggled to make them out.

"Fly? Out the window?" Gwen repeated, dumbfounded.

"Please tell me where, Sandera," Gwen urged.

At first, Sandera mumbled the words. Gwen inched closer and made her repeat. The injured girl repeated once more before falling asleep.

Gwen stilled at the word. Her thoughts halted for a moment. She moved back and stood up. The gears in her brain started working.

The serial killer made a slip. The girl was supposed to die, but did not. He did not expect that, she bet. And the slip led to Gwendy finding out a very important key to the puzzle. She could not even understand it herself. She needed to study this through. Strange ideas started forming in her head.

She kept repeating the word.

"Neverland."