The Eyes of a Lamb

Designs

Will Graham stood beside Clarice Starling, their bodies wanting to go inside from the heat to the police taped house, but both of them knew what was inside. Will looked over to Clarice, her blue eyes cool to the gruesome surroundings while he fidgeted beside her, a headache on the rise no doubt from the increased heat of the summer.

They were at the first victim's house, Jessica Hink, the blonde. Clarice had been insistent that they go to the very beginning and work from there.

"So you want to go in?" he asked as she stood with her hair blowing behind her shoulders. She was dressed a little more unprofessional today, her curved legs sporting shorts while a humble T-shirt supported her torso. Will had dressed casual too, his khaki shorts and plaid top very simple yet he had chosen his hiking boots just in case they needed to trek through the forest line that lay behind the house.

"Did he come in through the back?" Clarice said moving towards the house.

"No, through a window on the side of the house near the girls room" Will said following her as he squinted at the house through his glasses.

"Strange" Clarice said as she looked down at the ground.

"You said you were the fourth girl" Will said being blunt as always "What did you mean?"

"I was his fourth victim" Clarice said as she moved to the side of the house.

"But how are you still alive?" Will said surprised.

"Simple" Clarice said "I got away. Is that the window where he came in?" Clarice was pointing to a window a few feet up from where they stood.

"That would be it" Will said noticing Clarice obviously changing the subject.

"Strange..." Clarice said.

"You keep saying that" Will said a little frustrated "What do you mean?"

"Well see" Clarice said stepping over some broken glass as she made her way to the back of the house "Usually he would come up to the front. He would take the time to wait till the girls were outside and then ask them if their parents were home. The little girls would run to get their parents, he would enter, and then chaos would ensue."

"Is that what happened to you?" Will said trying to understand Clarice.

"It's just strange that he would go in through the window" Clarice said looking up, avoiding the subject.

"Well he couldn't wait for them to come outside" Will said looking around "This house is in the outskirts of town."

"Which meant he had to find a different way in" Clarice said looking around "He would have to scope out the place from somewhere. Have to find out which room she was in, what her parents did, things like that."

"He's patient" Will said as he watched Clarice move around him with tenaciousness.

"Very" Clarice said looking around the ground. Footprints were almost non existent from the rain that had come in after the murder. Will watched her for a couple of moment before his head began calming, his eyes drooping as he imagined how the killer would have staked out the house.

The shifting of light passed behind Will's eyes, and when he opened them the house was in view, only it was night. Clarice stood in the field with him, her eyes looking at the house too. Will started turning back, his feet backing away from the house, his eyes still set on the lights that showed out through the darkness.

He would have to have waited till night, daylight was too obvious and he had been caught once before, so things needed to be different now...

"That's why he went in through the window" Will said to himself outloud.

"Why?" Clarice said still staring at the house, the night wind floating through her hair. Will could still hear her although he was moving away towards the forest.

"Because he had been caught once, he needed to change things up, learn from his mistakes" Will said as he started in through the trees "He needed to find a new way to see things. People today just don't trust each other like they used to. A person walking up to the house would be considered a threat, but when you are all alone out here, far from the city, you could hide more easily."

"He's changing the game" Clarice said quietly although Will could still hear her perfectly.

He found himself climbing a tree about fifty paces back, the density of the forest cloaking him perfectly as he climbed.

"He could see everything from up here" Will said "Every aspect of their lives before him as he watched their perfect world."

"Their perfect family" Clarice said.

"This" Will said "Is my design."

Suddenly Will opened his eyes and Clarice was staring at him with an expecting look.

"So that's how you do it" Clarice said turning but not taking her eyes off him.

"Did you talk to me just then?" Will said blinking his eyes in confusion "Usually nobody talks to me when I...do my thing."

"No" Clarice said shaking her head "I didn't talk to you. I just watched you close your eyes and then open them. You were muttering to yourself though."

Will shook his head, so sure that Clarice had spoken to him as he dreamnt up what the killer was doing. It was easier to do it with Clarice around for some reason, easier for him to think of what was going through the mind of whoever had taken these girls.

"We should probably go inside" Clarice said sighing "I've got to get out of this sun."

They walked to the front of the house and opened the door, stepping lightly over the tape and past the evidence markings forensics had placed around the house. The door opened to a hallway where a staircase led up to the parents and Jessica's bedroom while a dining room stood to their left and the living room to their right. Clarice went straight upstairs while Will went into the living room, their minds on two separate things at the moment.

Will moved towards the couch, seeing the soaked blood stains where the bodies had been tied up in the twisted family posture. He could see the killer positioning them, their frightened faces looking up at him in horror, all while the little girl behind him sobbed. He started with their eyes, and then worked his way down, all the while hearing her screams behind him. This was his design, letting her see what he was capable of. Letting the fear sink deep within her so when he was done and he untied her...

"She came with him" Will said to himself "Willingly. She followed him out the door, because she knew what he could do if she didn't."

That's how he got her to come so easily, that's why there wasn't a struggle out the door. Just a deep shocked awe of what had happened to her family, and the dead motions to follow the killer of her parents.

Will moved backwards out of the house, wanting to leave soon because it was beginning to get to much for him. His head pounded as he walked up the steps, ready to call out for Clarice. But when he turned to where Jessica's room was, he saw Clarice huddled up in the middle of the room, her head buried in between her legs as she held something tight in her hands.

"Clarice?" Will said automatically alarmed as he went over to her.

"He touched this Will" Clarice said lifting her head "He touched it after he killed the parents."

Will saw the stuffed bunny rabbit, it's face covered in blood like something out of a horror movie. Black paint had been dribbled all over the top of it's ears.

"He's giving us hints" Clarice said sniffing "I bet you anything if we go to the next girls house something will be painted there as well. It might just give us a hint on who the next victim is."

Will took the bunny and looked at it hard, it's dead black eyes staring right back at him through the smearing of red on it's face.

"Let's bag this and take it with us" Will said to Clarice who simply nodded her head.

They walked downstairs and quickly exited the house, ready to go to the next scene.

Will prayed there would be a clue to help him save the third girl, while Clarice prayed that they wouldn't, and that it wasn't really Jame Gumb that they were after.