Chapter 3

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"David looks at the woman with apprehension."

The voice took me back to reality, and broke the spell that the video had put me under. I became aware of my breathing, and the fact that it had stopped. My heart was pounding, and I was certain my eyes had dilated. I must have looked like a deer caught in a pair of headlights, or the way a rabbit glances backwards at you, its whole body shaking with each heartbeat, and swelling with each intake of air, the eyes transfixed, wondering if you were going to take just another step, before it bolted away. I had never felt so strangely about watching a video, but then again, I had never seen a video of someone I recognized being killed. I wish I never had to again.

"God damn." Joe was the first to break the silence. Riley took in a breath, and nodded.

"Yeah, shit, right on campus," he agreed. "That's insane."

"It's not related to the woman at all, is it?" I asked, and instantly regretted it.

I was, of course, thinking back to the redhead in the gas station, because the voice had made me. Of course, it did not direct my thoughts, or my actions, but it had mentioned her. It had said the woman, and I had known which woman the voice meant. I could have told by the time, and the delay that the voice narrated at who exactly the voice was talking about, but I didn't have to. The voice was inside my head, I knew what it meant. Well, not entirely. There was a part of me that still believed that I didn't exactly understand the voice. The bits of my life that it would talk about were seemingly so random, that I felt as if it had to be picking up on something that I wasn't. Yet, when I had these thoughts, I had to take a step back, close my eyes, and smile a sad smile. Like when a child destroys something precious to you, by a complete accident, and has no idea the value it had. You cannot be angry; there is no point. You can only suffer silently. Just as I did. I smiled that way because I had to remind myself of one simple fact: that was not the voice of a sane person. I was not hearing that voice because I was special, because I was chosen, or because I was destined for something greater. I was hearing that voice, perhaps by chance. Because I, out of all the others in college working just as hard, if not harder, than I was, were less susceptible to stress. They were a harder egg to crack. Yes, I had cracked.

I was grateful that it was able to be hidden, my insanity — for that is what I thought of it, because what else do you think of yourself when you start to hear voices? No one had to know that I was, well, that I was crazy. No, no one had to know that except for myself, and the voice.

"What?" Riley looked at me.

Of course, it did show sometimes. Not that I had lost it, but that something was off. The voice made me ask strange questions, and remember the strangest of things at the strangest of times. I hated it. I really hated the voice.

"Nah man, I said that before we watched the video," he shook his head smiling. "The report says it has to be a psycho... Though, the way he got in and out of the building makes it seem like he's a professional to the police. Not a single trace except for the body, and this video. Some talented psycho."

"It's crazy that happened just on campus," Joe breathed out, in disbelief. "There will be police everywhere for a while I bet."

"Yeah, this stuff never happens," Riley agreed.

I just nodded and smiled, in the same way I would if I couldn't hear someone, but had asked them to repeat themselves too many times.

The next day passed uneventful, and the next few would as well, and I tried to live my life as normally as I could with a psycho killer on campus, and a voice in my head.

Joe had been correct though, and the campus was swarming with police. At one point we speculated if it would actually be closed for a bit, and I was sure the police were debating it. It was one thing to have someone die on campus. That had happened before; it was a large city, and the campus itself was close to downtown. There was always more than three car accidents a year, though for the most part people walked away unharmed, but of course there is always an exception. Then, it is something else to have someone be killed on campus, and by killed I mean with an intent. I was not sure if that had happened, save for the previous night. There were gunshots, or at least reports of them, but that was very rare, and when it happened, the police were dispatched instantly. It had always been someone not affiliated with the school, like two gang members, and even then, like I had said, I was unsure if anyone had died. This though, this was something else. It was unheard of. It made Riley and Joe forget about the woman. It might have made me forget as well, if it weren't for the voice.

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