The Serial Killers (Complete)

River 03/29 7:30 AM

"Get up, or you'll be late for class!"

I groaned and threw my pillow across the room towards the epicenter of my annoyance. "Noooooooooooo."

Kate giggled and flung herself onto my back. "Up, up, up!"

"How am I supposed to get up when you're sitting on me?"

"How do I know you aren't just going to fall back asleep?" But I felt the pressure leave the base of my spine. I lifted my face and squinted at my roommate.

"Where's Raelyn?"

Kate began lacing up her sneakers. "Running the two mile circuit before Dr. Becker's morning lecture."

"So that gives me at least 30 minutes before class, why am I awake?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "I thought maybe you'd want to go to breakfast with me."

"I'll eat a cereal bar," I moaned, tossing an arm over my eyes.

"Suit yourself," she replied, and shortly afterwards, the door clicked shut.

I let my eyes stay closed for another five minutes before giving up on sleeping, instead electing to scroll through my emails.

"Daniel emailed me back," I said to no one in particular.

The message came up slowly, featuring the image of a mansion with log siding, following with details on the property and, what I most desired, the renters price.

"Holy shit," I whispered. "Looks like we're spring breaking in Maine."

Below, Daniel had written a short message.

Dear River,

Thank you for responding to my ad! My brother has been trying to rent out this property ever since he refurbished it, but it's difficult to find many customers in the middle of desolate Maine. I left the number for my office, hope we'll see you in a couple weeks! Enjoy your vacation!

Daniel Carson

I quickly closed the application as Raelyn came stumbling into the room. "Ouch, oh damn it!"

"Did you hurt yourself, little girl?" I swung my legs out of bed and slipped on a sweatshirt over my Avenged Sevenfold tee.

"I think I pulled a muscle coming up the stairs," she said, clutching her ankle.

I swung my messenger bag over my shoulder. "Which one?"

"How many muscles are there in the ankle?" she asked sarcastically.

"Well, there's the tibialis anterior, peroneus longus, the..." I began facetiously.

Raelyn cut me off. "Yeah, I get it, you're a med student."

"You did ask."

I tossed one of Kate's books out of the way just as she came through the door. "Be nice to my books!" She ran to check on her baby.

"How do you guys feel about going to Maine over spring break?"

"What? Won't there be snow or something?" Raelyn glanced up at me, alarmed.

Kate grinned, hopping in place. "That sounds awesome!"

"It's Maine. It's not like I said I was taking you all to Cancun."

"Speaking of which, why Maine?" Raelyn had a hip cocked, momentarily pausing in her scurry to change out of her exercise clothes. She stood there, wearing only a bra, panties and her defiance. Her cheeks were tinged pink by the frigid air whistling outside of our dorm.

"Well," I began, sitting as Kate went to gather her other books. "I was perusing cabins we could rent and it just, I don't know, popped up."

"Popped up? Are we even going to be able to afford said cabin?"

I shrugged, choosing to play along with this hostile game of Reasoning. "It had a really good deal with it. The guy I was talking to said it's in a remote location in Maine so not many people know it's even there."

Before Raelyn could argue any more, Kate jumped in. "I've always wanted to live in Maine."

"So I guess that's it then, we're going to Maine on spring break?" Raelyn glanced out the window at the brilliant robin's egg blue sky.

"I guess we are."

Raelyn threw up her hands and spun away. "Lord help us all."